The Ravellenic Winter Games 2014 are in Day 6 now. I’m playing on Team Knitspot, and have made some progress. I have 2 projects in the WIP Dancing event. I’ve added a few repeats to my Flamming Swan but my Blue Sugar Frosting is still awaiting some attention. What I have been working on is my Fleece to Finished Object game. I’m using my new colorway Water Lilies with Anne Hanson’s Hillflowers. I started by dyeing the Bam Huey Fiber with a new dyeing pattern I’ve been experimenting with. The dyeing pattern needs a little more tweaking to achieve the look I was going for, but I have to say I am pretty pleased with the results.
Bam Huey in Water Lilies quick drying in front of the fire place.Water Lilies split into 16 strips ready for spinning
I spun up 2 skeins of the Water Lilies. The first I split the 3 oz roll of fiber length wise into 16 strips and plied it against itself . I’m using this skein for the scarf. The second skein I spun up in a heavy sport weight and plan to make a set of mitts to go with the scarf. Here is the start of my Water Lilies and Hillflowers.
Water Lilies and Hillflowers
I’ve been finishing and testing the first batch of our size 2 and 6 Newhouse Custom Carbon Fiber Needles . We have had some rod issues and we have chosen to redo some of the needles. Sorry that this has delayed shipping by a day or two, but we want your needles to be purrrrrrfect!
Mr X’s Sweater is in a time out. The re-seaming is moving along slowly, hopefully I will get back to it in the next day or so and GET-ER-DONE!
I have another Trunk Show coming up at the end of February, and I will have all the details of that in my next post.Columbia Gorge Fiber Festival is looming. I’ve been making plans for that and will tell you about them soon.
Until next time,
Happy Spinning and Knitting!
Cheryl <^..^>
This is my first seaming project. I’ve not done a sweater before because I’m not confident in my seaming ability. I googled and watched videos about seaming. Before long I figured out how to do a mattress stitch, did a few practice runs, and dove into seaming up the sweater! The mega pound sweater then hit the bath.
Mr X’s Soaking Sweater
At last the sweater was laid out to dry.
Mr X’s Sweater laid out to dry at last!
I’ve enjoyed knitting Anne Hanson’s Aztec Mazes. I fell in love with the pattern and the ease of knitting it. I did drop the cables because I thought it suited my brother-in-law better with out them. Yes that’s right, my BIL Dan is Mr X. He loves the sweater….the problem…. I made the arms too big. I have been researching my best option to skinny up the arms. I’ve decided to re-seam the arms and cut off the extra materials. I have been working up my courage to start cutting, and this afternoon it is my goal to take the plunge! Wish me luck!!!! One more close up before the scissors attack.
LOVE this Pattern!!!!
OK a REALLY Really close up…..
how’s that for texture!?!
I’ve had some other knitting on the needles. I finished off my hat of old left overs. This is some of my Merino/Angora handspun used with handspun Alpaca. A VERY nice WARM hat!
A Very Warm Merino, Angora, Alpaca Handspun hat.
I’m getting geared up to watch the Olympics on TV and knit along with the Ravelry Games. I’m playing on Team Knitspot. I have 2 WIP’s to knit on and am contemplating a fiber to finished project. starting from dying the fiber, spinning the yarn, then knitting an Anne Hanson Pattern. That starts on Friday, guess I best be making some decisions soon!
We have good news on the needle front. Our Newhouse Custom Carbon Fiber Needles will be offered in two new sizes. We have a small delivery of the new US size 2 – 3.0mm, and US size 6 – 4.0mm raw rods on the way. We have been taking pre orders and have a few spots left for this first batch. The new sizes should be listed in the shop early to mid March, until then if you would like to order a custom pair, please contact me HERE through the shop.
There has been spinning too. I had fun spinning up 1,000 yards of Bam Huey in the Joseph’s Coat colorway. This turned out to be a very heavy fingering weight of about 14/13 wpi. Bobbins full of all the rich colors of Joseph’s Coat always makes me smile.
Bobbins of Bam Huey Joseph’s Coat
I forgot to take pictures before sending this skein off to it’s new home, but I did remember to take one pre bath, all tied up in it’s washing ties.
1,000 Plus yards of Bam Huey Waiting for the bath!
There was also baking going on…..what better to do on a freezing cold afternoon than warm the house by baking an apple pie?!!?!
mmmmm pie:)
I’m going to go grab a cup of coffee and a nice warm piece of pie right now…see ya!
It has been a loooooooong week! The New Hue Handspuns web store was down for week. We were forced to do and pay for an upgrade…….it didn’t go well, and support that we paid for was very poor….. 6 days to wait for a reply to a help ticket that was sent under their URGENT category?!?!?!?! When the long awaited reply came with a “pay us more money and we will fix the download” I knew we made a mistake in choosing our shopping cart service. Will kept working on it and eventually got the new download to work with out their help. I do like how the shopping cart works, but with such poor customer service you can bet that we will be shopping for a new service that believes in customer service the next time this situation arises.
Enough of my ranting, all is well now and to celebrate the web store being back up and running I am having a sale! I rarely if ever have a sale on handspun yarn, but for the next few days with the coupon code BackUp! you will receive a 20% discount on all handspun yarn in stock at New Hue Handspuns The discount is for handspun yarn in stock only, Needles, custom orders and spinning fiber are NOT included in this discount. Discount ends Monday night (midnight Pacific time) January 27th.
Table full of HandspunYarn
Thought I needed to leave you with a little yarn eye candy. I’m a little short on current yarny pictures, but here is one from the inventory I did on my 50th birthday earlier this year. The bowl of 50 birthday Gummy Worms is long gone but there is plenty of yarn in the shop to choose from.
Coming Soon…..
Mr X’s sweater will make an appearance next posting, still a few details to finish. Fiber dyeing has been going on, so look for some fiber updates in the shop. Details about where I will be for the Rose City Yarn Crawl.
Sorry to say, but New Hue Handspuns web store is still down. We are working on it, but trying to get help from our shopping cart makers has been SLOW! Who ever said upgrades were improvements needs to walk in our shoes for a few hours…lol
If you need to place an order please click on the contact button and I would be happy to help you!
I’m having a hard time believing that it is 2 weeks into the New Year. I remember when a year seemed to take for ever, now I blink and a year has passed! I’m going to have to kick it into high gear if I want to keep up!!!! I haven’t shown my face here for the past few weeks, but I have been busy. Let’s play catch up!
We left off with me doing a 10 pound hand painted fiber restocking over at New Hue Handspuns. My web host gave me a bit of a scare by going off line for several hours, but fortunately it revived itself in time for me to get the listings all done and up just after midnight. There is lots of fiber to choose from and I have been restocking the sold out colors as often as I can. Gneiss Rock has been a big hit and I am trying to find some time to spin one up for myself! I want to do a two ply fractal spin with very short repeats. I’m thinking of knitting it up in a very pebble like pattern.
Bam Huey Spinning Fiber in Gneiss Rock
More of the Gneiss Rock is being dyed this weekend and should be available in the store about Monday:)
After the fiber update and getting the shipping done I headed out to do some more farm sitting for Steve. I started to come down with a cold the morning I left. Sneezing and achy all I could think of was a nice hot bowl of chicken noodle soup. Fortunate for me Steve did an excellent job of food shopping and I had every thing I needed to make up a nice big HOT pot of Chicken Noodle Soup:)
Home made Chicken Noodle Soup at Steve’s
I love spicy hot food especially when my sinuses are clogged. I found a big bottle of hot sauce in the fridge and added a good quarter cup of it to the soup, that and a fresh grind of pepper just before serving…..just what I needed to blow those sinuses right open and chase the cold away…well that and lots of orange juice.
I felt better after the soup, but didn’t have the energy to do much knitting while I was there. I had Mr X’s sweater with me. I only have 1 inch left to knit on the arms and then it is time to start seaming…… or screaming as the case may be for me. I think I keep stalling on knitting that last inch because I’m not too confident about my ability to seam. Here is the Sweater, waiting……..waiting……..waiting…. Better just bite the bullet and get-er-done!
Mr X’s Sweater parts waiting for seaming
I couldn’t completely give up knitting while I was vegging in front of the TV, watching movie after movie. When the Princess Lap Puppy allowed me, I knit on this….
Handspun Hat ala Left overs
I always have left over bits of handspun yarn rolling around. I rounded up a bag of them and decided that there was a hat some where in there. I’m am knitting with 2 yarns at the same time, something I haven’t done in a project before. One yarn is Alpaca that I spun up 17 years ago that is left over from a pair of socks. The other yarn is a Merino and Angora blend that has been hanging around for over 10 years. This is going to be one WARM hat! I’m making it up as I ago, but I’m liking the results so maybe I had better write it down now, before I forget what I did. Don’t you hate that…. you think “oh I’ll remember that”……yeah right….better go get a pen and paper…
There was plenty of football watching during my stay . The Seahawks manage to hold on to the win….had to start wondering about them at the end of the 4th quarter. There were some knuckle biting tense moments during the game, but I had set up plenty of munchies for my football party for one.
Football snack trayCheese and Crunchy for football day
I’m now back home and ready to play with fiber. My wonderful needle making husband has just returned from picking up 10 pounds of Bam Huey fiber for me…..time to hit the dye tables. I see Frog Ponds, Ancient Roses, Gneiss Rocks, and Carmels in my near future….
The past month has been a little hectic. I’ve been busy spinning, dyeing, baking, and playing catch up. I decided to start the New Year off with a bang, and have a fiber fill in at New Hue Handspuns . At 12:08 AM Pacific time New Year Day I will push the button and 20 fiber listing will appear in the shop! Seven are old favorites that are restocked at last and 13 colors that have never been listed on the website before! Here is a peek at what has been going on in the dyeing /dinning room.
Prepping for New Year’s Day Fiber Fill
The Drying /Sun room has been filled and the fiber is dried, waiting for packaging.
Fiber dyeing for the New Year Restocking.
The listings are ready to go live at 12:08 am, hopefully all will go smooth. Hostmonster was off line for a few hours this morning sending me into a little panic….lol…ok not so little. All seems to be well now, keeping my fingers crossed:)
The year is almost over and I am looking forward to brand new year. True it is only a date and a new calendar to hang on the wall, but for me it signals time to start new plans, to improve on old plans, and focus my energy on moving toward my goals.
I’ve disappeared for 2 weeks and the most important thing I have to say is Keurig Withdrawals????? Yup, that is all I can think about…. Two weeks of long hours and craziness and all I want to talk about is how much l love the Keurig! I promise to put those thoughts a way for now and get you caught up on the adventures over the past 2 weeks.
My adventures began with a trunk show at Yarntastic!
Chatting away with Dave at Yarntastic!
Setting up a show the morning after Thanksgiving was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I tried to start loading the truck after dinner on Turkey day….lol…. that lasted about 10 minutes and I was back in my recliner knitting away, or maybe it was snoozing away:)
I was full of energy the next morning and managed to load the truck in a half hour. Set up went fast, and before I knew it we were greeting the first customers of the day.
My Baa Baa Huey Line had Center Stage. The Baa Baa Huey Handspun Gradient Cowl samples adorned the Lady in White and JR mannequins . Yes, I did have pet names for the store props, seemed proper to call them something while dressing them:)
Baa Baa Huey Handspun modeled by Lady in White and JR
The Baa Baa Huey Handspun Gradient Shawl was worn by Miss Birdcage, I even let her borrow my favorite shawl pin. I enjoyed showing customers the fiber from start to finish. The non-yarny types were truly amazed that a pile of grey fiber could be made into something so pretty and useful. It was nice to introduce people to the wonderful world of wool:)
Miss Birdcage modeling Baa Baa Huey Handspun Gradient Shawl
My Bam Huey line of handspun yarn, and hand dyed fiber took over one of the front windows. Anne Hanson’s Sonnenblume that I knit up in sunflower colors using Bam Huey Lace stopped many people in their tracks. The bright colors lured more than one window shopper inside to take a closer look.
Bam Huey Handspun yarns and fibers on display at Yarntastic!
It was a long, but fun week at Yarntastic! Owners Lesley and Dave were great to hang out with. Someday I will talk the shy Lesley into having her picture taken, but for now she will be a woman of mystery! Dave kept me in coffee, but this isn’t where the Keurig comes in, that’s later. During the trunk show some extra work came up at our bakery, so I was needed to help out more than expected that week. Many days I was up for work at the bakery at 4 am. I would finish up in time to be at Yarntastic at 11am and stayed there until 7pm, or 9pm. LONG day. Let’s just say that coffee was needed!
The week finished up at Yantastic! on Thursday night, and I was packed up and back home by 10pm. Now I had to get packed and ready to go farm sit in the morning.
My friend Kathy has Llamas and I get to farm sit for her/vacation at her house, when she needs to leave town. Kathy has had several what I would call “gentleman’s farms” over the years . These are in the 5 acre range, just big enough for a few hobby animals and a nice garden. The new owner of one of her former homes was in need for a house sitter and asked Kathy if she knew anyone who might be interested in the job. Guess who got the job! Steve, the new owner was pretty happy to hear the property comes complete with experienced sitter.
It was fun to get to stay there again. It was funny when I would reach for the spice drawer and it now has silverware in it, or when I kept trying to put garbage where there wasn’t a garbage can anymore. There aren’t any Llamas on the farm now, but there is a lovely home for 14 wild kitties. The Llama barn has been turned into a cattery for these kitties who previously had to fend for themselves. They now have vet care, a warm home, plenty of food, and a great kitty window to lounge in. There are several kitties in the house also to take care of along with 2 elderly dogs and one little Princess that rules the roost. Here is where the sweet little girl spent much of her time during the week.
The Little Princess was never far away.
We had some crazy cold weather during this week, and broke some record cold temperatures. Unfortunately that also resulted in many broken pipes in the area. When the city of Portland is having problems with water mains breaking due to the cold frozen ground, I guess I can’t be too surprised I lost a few battles with freezing pipes in the barn. The kitty barn is kept warm, but the pipes were in another part of the barn. The pvc pipes didn’t have a fighting chance against a week of below freezing weather. Fortunately all the house pipes are fine. I’ve been saying we are due for a cold winter around here and boy are we getting it!
Now comes in the Keurig! Part of the deal to get me to house/farm sit is that you provide me with food and coffee…lots of coffee. I hate shopping, and I love to eat! Steve did excellent in the food providing department. This was just the “dry goods” table. The fridge was full as well:)
Belly up to the food bar!
I like a well balanced plate….ok I admit it I like to play with my food, can’t help it I’m part kitty cat <^..^>
Balanced Food is Fun Food!
I have heard of Kuerig machines, but never got too interested in them , then Steve introduced me to his Kuerig machine,and said use it as much as you want. It was so simple even I didn’t have a problem using it. Oh how I miss it’s blue glow from across the room! Each morning the soft blue light guided me to the kitchen, in just moments I would be rewarded with a purrrrfect cup of rich coffee. Every time I needed you dear Kuerig machine, you were there, ready to make me happy. Oh how I miss you……… Many times a day I stopped by for a quick pick me up, and at the end of the day you lulled me to sleep with hot coco…..oh how I miss you Kuerig…..
I contemplated saving up and purchasing a Kuerig, but I know I could not control myself and those little packets of yummy coffee would take up our entire food budget. So for now I will fondly remember the Kuerig and look forward to the next farm sitting adventure:)
So that is where I have been and what I have been doing for the past two weeks. I just about have things caught up and back to normal here at home and the bakery. This coming week is all about spinning up some custom orders and dyeing fiber. Check back in a few days to see what I am working on and an update on the progress of Mr X’s Sweater!
Our Trunk Show is almost here! It will be at Yarntastic! Friday November 29th through Thursday December 5th. Stop by 6802 SE Milwaukie Ave. Portland, OR 97202 for a visit and some yarn/fiber petting:) We will also have our Custom Carbon Fiber Needles available. Don’t miss this chance to do some test knitting with these light weight strong needles!
Here is a sample of my “show”. For those of you who have found me at fiber shows this will look familiar. Come by Yarntastic and say hi!
New Hue Handspuns at Oregon Flock and Fiber
Unfortunately my shipment of dyes has been detained somewhere between Australia and Portland Oregon. That means I won’t have as much dyed fiber available for the Trunk show as I would like, but don’t worry there will be plenty of fiber and I will take orders:) I’ve been packaging up the fiber I dyed last week. How many people have a dinning room table as colorful as this!?!
Dye day results
I will be knitting and spinning away at Yarntastic! throughout the week. I hope you will stop by!
Yes that is what I have been doing this week DYEING!! My Trunk show is coming soon. Yarntastic! will be hosting my trunk show November 29th through December 5th. If you are in the Portland Oregon neighborhood, come on by. Saturday November 30th is Small business Saturday, stop by Yarntastic! to say hi and support 2 small businesses in one stop! I will have my hand painted fibers, handspun yarns and our Newhouse Custom Carbon Fiber needles all on display . There will even be tester needles waiting for you to give them a trial run. Just Add Knitter Kits will be available also….could be that purrrrfect gift for a knitter that needs a special treat for the holidays.
from fiber to steamer here is what my dyeing days are like
Fiber to Steamer
I will be dyeing more fiber all week. My neck is already in pain, bending and reaching over the dyeing table isn’t going to help matters any, but the dyeing needs to be done, so dyeing I will do!!!
here is another style of dyeing.
Bam Huey Carmel Dyeing
I have plenty more fiber that needs color and I enjoy a good James Bond movie along with a shaken martini, and a corny joke,so tomorrow I will pop in a movie, shake up a martini and…….. Dye another Day.
My first Trunk Show is coming up right here in Portland! Next posting in just a few days I will have all the details. I have done quite a few fiber shows over the years, but never a trunk show in a yarn shop. Fiber shows always seem to have a high energy buzz about them, where every thing is go go go!!! You have to move so fast from one person to the next and there are so many faces that they blur together. I’m not sure how the trunk show will go, but I’m expecting that it will be a bit more relaxed and that I can actually chat with people for more than 30 seconds.
Yesterday I had the chance to get some nice pictures of my latest shawl design.
Bam Huey Twister.
The Bam Huey Twister is 2 colorways plied together. This one uses a plying pattern of 1/3 – Wisteria X Wisteria, 1/3 Wisteria X Raspberry Sorbet, and 1/3- Raspberry Sorbet X Raspberry Sorbet. The pattern should be out on Ravelry a few days before Thanksgiving. I will be sure to announce it here.
Here are a few more views of the Bam Huey Twister Shawl
Not my backside view of Bam Huey Twister ShawlBam Huey Twister shawl in Wisteria/Raspberry Sorbet
I probably won’t be doing a large stocking of Bam Huey Twister until after Christmas. I do have one skein in blues you can check out here . I’m always happy to spin up a custom order, just ask:) Does the yarn store in the pictures look familiar to you? If it does, you just may know where my Trunk Show will be!
The work on the Just add knitter kits is almost done! The Neck Warmer kit is done and just a few more tweaks on the mitts pattern and it will be ready to go! Here is a picture of the test mitts…just one more mitt to finish.
Just Add Knitter Mitt Kits almost done!
The Yarn -A – Long over on Ravelry is starting up, it isn’t to late to join up. Come on over and play!
The next few days will be consumed with dyeing fiber. I hope to share some dying pictures with you next time along with the details for my Trunk Show! Mr X’s sweater didn’t get much attention this week, but it should make it’s way back to the top of the knitting pile once the mitt kit is finished.
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