spinning, knitting, and...

I love this stuff. It was a bit slow to spin, but is amazing to touch... It's half merino and half silk from Crown Mountain Farms. It's one ply in Chantefleur and one ply in Primrose. It's going to be big wrappish scarf thing...


I finally finished a sweater! Its' Fleece Artist Mohair garter stitch jacket, colour Nova Scotia. It was very easy and fun to knit... (the model is Virginia and she's lived with me 22 years. I haven't been able to get her to look for a job and move out on her own...)

This is a ball of alpaca/merino/silk from Susan's Spinning Bunny. It's ridiculously luscious and soft...

This is an earflap hat with some Targhee also from Susan's Spinning Bunny. This stuff is fiber-crack! and they ought to be ashamed of themselves for talking my money and feeding my addiction. I am powerless.

And this lovely hunk of yarn is the Make Waves Stole from Fleece Artist by way of Tidal Brook Yarns. Super soft, it's mohair and alpaca and yummy and snuggly and I must hide it from the doggies...

peace, and happy spinning, knitting, or whatever,
m.

kiln unloaded, spinning and knitting

the kiln spit these out this morning, there are 21 of them! they're about 3 inches across and will be given out at the next scc hunt as prizes... The clay is new for me and I am really in love with it. It's the yummiest black I've ever seen. The dog is Druid, I made a stamp and then mishima-ed the design on the black discs in an orange clay.

a detail of my koigu sock in the Child's First Sock pattern

the sock.

This is the latest off the wheel. It's the Crown Mountain Superwash in colourway Moondance. I might use this for a pair of mittens, or maybe a big cabled scarf...

And really, how far is too far??? Yes, I knit my ipod a sock... I think I need help...

cheers, and happy knitting!

m.

spinning barberpoles is addicting...

spinning this fiber is really addicting...
it's superwash merino crack.

finished Wild Thing sock above.


and this is Beat Goes On. The fiber is a bit lighter and more pastel than
I expected, but very yummy nonetheless. I spun the singles
with less twist than previously and the yarn is much, much softer.

I was worried that if I didn't put loads of twist into the singles
the yarn wouldn't hold together, but I didn't need to worry.

happy knitting,
m.

sneak peak!

here's a peak at sunday's bob prizes...

peace,

m.

I'm in barberpole heaven!

fleece artist wavy scarf detail
this is silk and cashmere and very yummy!!!
it might go to my mum for xmas
the colours aregorgeous!

Love Me Tender superwash merino fleece
spun into groovy barberpole sock yarn!
I'll start a cabled knee-hi sock tonight.

"Hey! Can you help me with this spot on my tongue? It

gets in the way when I eat!"
(this is the lovely kismet. she's hanging out with us
while Druid is in california)

the toe of the Wild Thing sock

A hat I'm trying with Claudia's Handpaints Yarn...
I'm using the shell pattern from nancy bush's vintage
sock book, so far I really like it!

peace, and
happy knitting

m.

sock hopping...

I decided to try to spin my own Sock Hop yarn from Crown Mountain Superwash Merino... My old Louet isn't famous for spinning anything fine and the idea of trying superwash merino was quite intimidating, but it was much easier than I feared and I got some yummy sock yarn!!! The ball of roving on the right is Wild thing and the left is Love Me Tender

and this is the Wild Thing Sock!
I was able to get about 22 wpi, which amazes me, so I knit the sock on size 2 needles. I wanted a simple, bold pattern so I did 4 giant cables on a bed of stocking stitch. It's very soft and I can't wait to wear it...

peace,
and happy knitting, spinning, and pottering

m.

My rabbit dawg!

My big bad huntin' dawg with his bunny...

Pit-fire grooviness

Yesterday, a beautiful summer morning found about 30 of us gathered ay Jill's house to bury our pottery in giant metal containers filled with wood, horse dung, charcoal, rock salt, copper sulfate, and anything else that would burn. We let them burn for a few hours while some of us swam, some of us knitted, and we all ate great food and played with the dogs, Duke and Frank.

Uncovering was very exciting, I had no idea what to expect...

I fired a bowl and a vase, and this is what they looked like after cleaning off in the lake... The vase was wrapped in seaweed and banana peel, then newspaper, with lots of copper wire holding it all on. I'm really happy with the colours I got, lots of red and silver, and a flash or two of creamy yellow...



The bowl was painted in blue slip and I didn't think I'd get so much red, but I'm very pleasantly surprised. It cracked when I dunked it in the lake, but I don't care...

Peace, and happy knitting, pottery-ing and spinning,

m.

I love unloading the kiln!

The kiln spit out lots o' pots this morning...
(all pottery is fired at cone 10) scgraffito bowl and vase. (teal porcelain slip and green ice glaze)

this is my celedaon blue glaze over a cobalt slip. it's not perfect yet, but getting close to the colour I want. Right vase is mishima and left one is scgraffito.

2 more mishima vases with teal porcelain slip and green ice glaze.

Left vase scgraffito, right vase mishima, both done with a cobalt slip and green ice glaze.

finished modified jaywalker in Covelite STR

I think this colour is Olive Garden(?) STR and the pattern is Child's First Sock in Shell Pattern from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush. (and yes, it's modified, I can't seem to stop myself from messing with patterns...)

happy knitting, spinning, and potting,
me

some handspun and STR

The amazing beauty of anything Blue Moon!!!!

This is STR, colour Covelite, and I love it so much I ordered enough of the heavyweight STR to make a sweater... ;-)

The purples and coppers are unbelievable...

this is Blue Moon's Blue Faced Leicester in colour Carbon Dating. It's about 200 yards and I have more to spin up, so I think it's going to be a poncho in the convertible lace stitch from knitty.com.

And this is some merino painted by Heike, plied with a green romeldale cross fibre from Reflection Farm. Both are very yummy and I'm tickled with them together... don't know what it'll be, but I think I have enough for a shawl.

peace, and happy knitting and spinning!

And good luck to our friend Cindi who's taking the bar exam!

m.

Chapman Springs STR

here's STR's Chapman Springs colourway. The sock has a jaywalker
top and a plain foot... I think this is my favourite colourway yet!

When did my Anna get so gray???

And Druid, trying to absorb some sun in the morning

peace, and happy knitting,

m.

finally an update!

I haven't updated because I haven't been doing any knitting! But, here's a bit of stuff from may and june... All the pottery were pieces that were
part of my finals. I made myself a set of porcelain dishes, using both stained slip to decorate and to wedge into the clay body. I also did a bunch of little porcelain dolls using stained slip, and a pocelain teapot for my mum, painted with little slip flowers... I also tried raku for the first time and the blue vase is the result. The blue and white vase is one of a pair, I stained porcelain with blue mason stain, wedged it with white and threw it. I also had a big bowl but broke it...

I've worked a bit on my mum's wrap and my mohair sweater from Fleece Artist, but finals left me not much time the first couple weeks of June, and now it's too hot to knit with wool. If the saluki is panting, you know it's bloody HOT!

and because it's a blog about dogs too, here's Druid at 19 months, looking pretty handsome to me!

peace,
m