Saturday, November 1, 2014

3 New Patterns and Beautiful Fall Day for pictures



I have 3 new items finished, now have pictures and patterns are partly
written!!!  I feel like I am getting something accomplished now I have 
my new bionic lenses and cataracts are fini!!!
First a new sweater now called" Old World Garden",
formerly "chickenwire", well it does have chickens and lots of
"wire". But friends made fun of the name!



Mollie and Harley the dog

Next a hat to go with Berit's Double Hearts. I like this one the best of
all the hats I have made. I love the 5 points. it fits perfect too.
Harley enjoying the picture taking! He is a very cute little guy!


And last my "Demon Locust" Mittens. You may think it is just a grasshopper
but it is adapted from a really old (18th century) Transylvania
embroidery pattern, and they say "Demon" like in Revelations.




See the little locust on the thumb?

Love the new green in the Finullgarn with the beautiful moss in my yard!!!
After my friend Mollie was kind enough to model for
me again, I went to the next farm of my friend Michele and visited
her Angora goats and sheep. They are in the middle of the breeding
season and pretty dirty, especially "Thorn" the big
Angora Goat buck, wait until you see him at his dirtiest!!
Quite the contrast with the clean little babies.
Thorn with his big beautiful, dangerous horns
He has gorgeous fleece and is a great stud, under all the dirt!!!
Thorn has been a very bad boy. He broke out of his fence
3 times and escaped into the hay barn where he munched!!!
You should see the big gate hook he broke!!! I would
NOT go in his pen for anything. He does have gorgeous
children though!!


Baby angora lamb, maybe a child of the Dangerous Thorn

This is a "blue" baby angora lamb

Some Gotland cross sheep, great fleece, nice sheep!!

Peanut, beautiful Angora "red" baby goat
this fleece just shines after it is washed, very silky!!!!

The black faced sheep in front is a Blue Faced Leiester/ Gotland cross and
will have marvelous fleece
Now I am spinning and weaving so much can you
see why I love living in central Oregon with all the beautiful fleece?
More than I could use in a lifetime!!!
It is sure fun to have friends with real farms! After a bit my friend
Michele, (her sheep and goats) is going to make a webpage and sell
some fleece, yarn (hand dyed) and such. I will make it known when it happens.

Thursday, September 11, 2014

Spinning Retreat of "Tweenies" at Prarie City Oregon

Some of us from our NWRSA spinning guild get together for
a Retreat in between the normally scheduled meetings, thus the "Tweenies"
was formed. This time we drove east to the lovely little town of Prairie City
to visit our friend Ginger. She is part of a co-op that is "Roan". It is a 
sweet little coffee shop with house hold decorative items and hand woven/
hand spun items woven by Ginger right in the shop. I have pictures of some
of her special garments below. She can't keep them in stock! but will
take orders.  What a special place to work!!!
The weather couldn't have been nicer.



Spinning in front of "Roan"
Old church becomes new Community Center for Quilt Show

This Saturday was also a Quilt show at the above picturesque church in
 front of the Strawberry mountains.


Handwoven/ hand spun shrug by Ginger

Her loom right in front draws the customers!!!!

Another wonderful one of a kind wrap
Teresa of "Skeins" knitshop in John Day ran away to be with us for the afternoon!
Skeins Yarn store and Kromsky Dealer

Nice article about this shop!

Spinning inside Roan

Still spinning at Ginger's house
For once I did get a LOT of spining done!

Wee "Z" supervising the spinning

We had a wonderful relaxing weekend. I only had to cook one meal! Yeah.
(much rather be knitting or spinning!!!)
I recommend Prairie City for a fun vacation get away. Lovely
quaint old town with quite a lot to see.

Progress on my new "Big Red Ship of Life"   the newest pattern by Tracy Horner
Ink Circles
 I started this embroidery only at the beginning of August. Warning!!!
 it is addictive. I just can't put it down. Using Gloriana Schoolhouse red
and a few other colors on Vintage Sand 40 ct by Lakeside linens. Tracy
designed it after the early 19th Century Tampan ship cloths of Sumatra.
1st Pretty much as the pattern below
 Here is what I just finished and am now working on:
2nd with new colors

3rd teppe where I made up the pattern from an old photo in Norway

1st made Telemarksteppe   Pattern by Laura DeMuth in Handwoven
My finished, framed, Past and Present after Karen Kluba's pattern

My version of Pot 4 Dickie
Julia Line/ Long Dog Framed!!!!

Sunday, June 29, 2014

Black Sheep Gathering was terrific fun again!!!

As we walked in the door the cutest sheep ever greeted us!
 Everyone individual and named. Then there was more fiber than you could
imagine in every color of the rainbow. Wool, llama, alpaca, angora (goats and rabbits)
and even YAK!!!




My friend just started raising Gotland sheep, so they were on our
agenda. They are such friendly guys!!! Very soft and curly. I am thinking
about getting skins someday too, to put behind my Norsk weavings. 
Next year!

A nice Border Leicester
A good site to visit to see very cute sheep pictures is Bless Ewe Sheep Company
They have a great Face Book page with lots of pictures

Pretty and sleepy Angora Goat

Another one sleeping the day away!

Black goat babies
 

Looking good enough to KNIT!!!
It is kinda like going to the zoo, but you get to hug and pat the animals, and 
of course fondle the fiber!!!
Eventually we did get past the sheep and goats... and found beautiful handwoven
rugs.

Hand woven with hand dyes yarns. The man who wove them had a handful of
cochineal beetles that turned his palm red! Check out this site
on Wickipedia

And tools....
Ed Jenkins makes some very fine "Yarn Tools". Check out
his nice web pages. These were beautifully made and very colorful.
Also KCL Woods make very gorgeous handmade shuttles and spindles.



We did make it to the yarn. I restrained myself because I
do have a whole room full of stash. I did get one skein of
German angora yarn to make
the "Gather Ye Rosebuds" handwarmers. Pattern is Free
on Ravelry. It is 85% angora and 15% Cormo wool. So very
soft and pretty. I got 2 bags of Theodoza's Loose Prime
Angora too, to eventually spin a 50/50 mix with merino and
dye it to make another Bohus sweater. I had a totally Angora Day!!
 My friend Michelle got one of these white silk "Laps" to spin. Like a gorgeous
cloud.
Plum Crazy's beautiful fiber.
This gal has every fiber imaginable, including the afore mentioned Yak!!
 I have never seen such a variety of fiber as this year. The sun was out all
day, but not too hot and my friends and I had a fun packed day!!!
I will probably have to go to OFFF Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival at Canby)
 too as I am a confirmed fiber addict.


Saturday, April 5, 2014

A Sweater and Mittens for Berit Hilmo, Norsk Weaver Extraordinaire



discovered the weaving of Berit Hilmo when I got my new Glimakra
loom last summer and wanted to weave the Norwegian patterns
found in Katherine Larsons Book: Woven Coverlets of Norway.
I found Berit's fantastic weavings or åklær in a deflected double weave.
Every design picked out by hand with a weaving sword. Painstaking!!!
I can do some things with my 10 harness loom, but not this!!!
I don't have enough lifetime left! I kept looking at her coverlets and
thought what a great knitting design it would make. Little Pelicans for
Christian Charity marching across the top, åtte blade rosen in double hearts.
Protection wrapped in Love. The branch symbol of life and death, and the
crown of Saint Hallvard, the Patron Saint of Oslo.
The pattern just came together and was a dream to knit.

Katherine Larson's wonderful!!! Book, (find on Amazon)


File:Domkirka statuer 20.jpg
Saint Hallvard Vebjørnesson From the Nidaros Dommen in Trondheim


My friend Mollie and her horse, the wonderful photogenic Melvin




I made "Glittens" in this pattern too, Tops that flip back for driving
or whatever. Really cozy and warm. The pattern is in Norwegian also,
for my friends over there.


Top

Baclk too

Opened up!
Close up of one of Berit's coverlets

Berit Hilmo was born in 1764 in Tydal, Sør-Trøndelag county in Norway.
She married a farmer Ole Gudmundsen Hilmo, called Pedar. They had huge
financial problems after their home burned. A short while later Pedar died 
leaving Berit a young widow. She moved her children to a croft and began 
weaving åklær to support the family. It is believed she wove about 50 
before she started counting, and made it up near 500!!! She often wove in
lines from hymns, the initials of the people it was made for and the number. 
The oldest surviving is # 157 and the newest 455 in 1837. The full story can 
be found on the
Norwegian wickipedia site: http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berit_Hilmo



Berit's # 421 from a museum in Molde
Photo: Anna-Lisa Reinsfelt Creative Commons

Anno 1830  Beautiful layout of pattern
These last two are modern day weaving by my friend Berta Stiva Lid
in Norway, with her permission

Berta's hanging on a loom just like mine! She learned from her mother.
Patterns are now available on Ravelry under Cynthia Wasner Designs and
on Norsk Needlework.com.   Hat to come.....