After the Show is Over

Now that the shows are done for the year, we get to reflect on how things went and plan for the next year.  We also get a chance to do some new things, read some new books and knit as well.

This week I decided to take a quick break from the long white stockings I am still knitting, and I cast on a color work hat.  It was quick to do, taking only one day, fitting knitting in between the usual things one has to do.

 This hat is called "Faux Isle" on Ravelry, and I am using some handspun I have had around for awhile.  The turquoise yarn is really a part of a gradient skein.  The color goes from this lovely color all the way to purple.  I had hoped that some of that color change would happen in this hat, but it didn't.  I will just have to make some more hats with the rest of it.  Variegated yarn would also be a wonderful yarn to use with this pattern.

 Another new thing that has come into my house is the new book that Lou Ann mentioned on Tuesday!  "Reflections From a Flaxen Past" by Katie Meek, is a book that I have been stalking ever since I heard about it on Ravelry.  It is out of print, and on Ebay it can be quite pricey!  I set up a search that would alert me when a new copy would be listed.  When I found one under $50 I snapped it up!

The book takes a look at Lithuanian flax weaving, from growing the flax to finishing the woven projects.  It is full of photos, many from pre WW2, and weaving project drawdowns.  It is going to take several sessions to really grasp everything that is in this book.

I have also begun to wash Ernie's fleece.  Ernie is one of Nigora wethers, that lost his fleece due to an illness.  He is now doing great, and I am carefully washing his fleece handful by handful, literally!  Since it isn't a sheep fleece there is no lanolin, so a simple swish in warm soapy water and a swish in warm clean water a couple of times, and it is done.  When you wet this fleece it really packs down, so what you do is you have to fluff it up every five minutes or so, if you don't it will stay in that clump and be impossible to seperate.  Once it is dry you can pick out the guard hairs, which is probably the most tedious part of this whole process.  I am seriously considering sending the clean fleece off to have it dehaired, but I still need to check that out.

I will probably be out of town for a little while, grand baby #9 is due any minute, and  I can't wait to welcome him into the world!  So, until next time, Happy Spinning, Knitting and Weaving, Tina