Finished Wallaby Sweater - Yea!

Hot damn! I finished it! I love it! but have to wait 2 months to give it to oldest granddaughter. In the meantime, I'll start one for her younger sister who has her birthday just a week after Meredith's. I ordered some purplish self striping yarn at my LYS last week so hope that it is in tomorrow when our knitting group meets.

The Wonderful Wallaby

I'm a spinner! not a knitter......However both of my granddaughters have birthdays this spring so this is the opportunity to try to make, not one, but two, first time ever for me sweaters . Now these girls think that I'm a talented granny. I don't bother to tell them that most of the hand knitted stuff they get from me is purchased through Etsy. Pam has made a few things for them. I just need to finish the neck on this sweater and add the hood.

I'm sure the entire rest of the knitting world knows what a Wallaby is, but I didn't. When our Monday night knitting group decided to do the sweater or socks, of course, I chose the sweater. (You who know me, know about my 4 unmatched socks). AND, I bought yarn!!! Didn't think dear daughter, mother of grandgirls, would appreciate hand washing my hand spun alpaca. This yarn is the self striping Encore Colorspun. It kind of bothers me that it was made in Turkey because I am a made in the USA kind of woman. But it is fun to knit and is washable, Nikki.

I'm knitting Meredith's first because it is larger (think about my sock dilemma). Meredith will be 9 but is very, very tall so I'm making the child's large for her and probably the child's 8 for Elizabeth who will be 6. It's been great fun and I'm a little obsessive about finishing it.

The Wonderful Wallaby, A Hooded Sweater for all ages - Cottage Creations - copyright 1984

Alpaca Fiber to Create Tuxedo Kitty

Marianne, from Lawrence, Kansas, just listed this dear kitty that she made for her Etsy shop - MarianneW. Go take a look at him. His face, paws, and tail are made from Celeste's yarn that Marianne bought over a year ago, January 2007. It's so much fun to see what my yarn becomes. Thanks for sharing, Marianne.

Patsy Zawistoski Spinning Workshop

Patient, knowledgeable, teaching Patsy on the left, and kind, fun, knowledgeable Beth who is the owner and instructor at her shop, the Spinning Loft. Although painted wool was provided for the class, Patsy allowed me to use some alpaca roving that I had dyed. The class was titled COLOR OPTIONS for HAND SPINNERS.
I am sharing just a few of the highlights of the day that I think you might find interesting:

The class met for a couple of hours the night before so I came a little late and missed the instruction for a Tweed Candy Stripe and a Cable yarn. The first thing Patsy had me do was to wrap some roving around a card so that I could study my colors and patterning.

Before we spun this slub yarn, we hand carded the painted roving to make a neutral color to use to ply our slub yarn. I hope that you can tell from the picture that it was the perfect blend for the yarn. I know that I will do this again to make slub (thick 'n' thin) yarn.

I had never used hand carders before so bought myself a pair from Beth.

The really neat thing on this page is the Faux Boucle'. We spun a fairly firm twist of slub yarn and then plied it with Woolly Nylon Serger Thread that was elastic. As we plied, we pulled the Thread taut and stretched it a little. The Faux Boucle' yarn is the bundle on the right above the green and orange. As soon as I got home I went on line and ordered this Serger Thread that I had never heard of. I'm anxious for it to arrive so that I can play with it.

Navaho ply: I had been practicing this frequently before class. No matter how carefully I weigh my fiber into two equal amounts before I spin, I usually have a little left on one bobbin. That's what I have been using for practice. I actually did quite well in class but don't think that I will ever intentionally Navaho ply a whole skein. If I want 3 ply, I will probably just ply from 3 different bobbins.

Not only did I come home with these record sheets of our spinning experiments, but also a 13 page folder that covered what we did in class and a tutorial on dying roving.

Probably the most important part of the workshop is that it motivated me to leap outside of my nice, comfortable, predictable spinning and be more daring and creative.

Alpaca Slammie Goes to School

Slammie is practicing wearing a scarf to get ready for his school appearance. Needless to say, the rest of the boys think he's pretty special and think they need one too.
My friend, Beth's son, John is going to show Slammie at the Youth Fair next summer. This will be the our Fair's first ever alpaca classes.
For his Science project, John decided to do alpacas and to compliment his display, he took an alpaca to school.

John and Slammie in the van on the way to school. Slammie hesitated a moment before getting into Beth's van, but it was obvious that he trusted both of them and then stepped right in. Alpacas usually cush (sit with their legs under them) when they are in a moving vehicle, but not our Slammie Boy, he stood up looking out the front window all the way to school. He's a curious little guy.

..... and here's John and Slammie in front of John's Science Display about alpacas. The scarf says I ♥ Science.

☼

We did laugh when Beth brought him home. He was such a good boy about not pooping nor peeing the whole time that he was gone, but as soon as his halter came off, he ran right over to the communal pile.

Happy Valentine's Day from the alpacas

NS Orion (Slammie) says Happy Valentine's Day. Photo by Beth.

Cat and Mouse

Had to share this cute picture of her kitty that girlfriend Beth sent yesterday.