Category Archives: Carbon Fiber Needles

Black Sheep Gathering Time!

Carbon Fiber Needles, Dyeing, Fiber

Black Sheep Gathering is almost here!  I  started prepping for the show about 2 months ago.  I knew MIL’s surgery/recovery would take up much of my time just before the show, so I had to start early. Of course I will have my fences full of handspun yarns, and a whole lot of hand painted spinning fiber.   I did pretty good in the dyeing department.  I will be taking 278 bags of hand painted Bam Huey Fiber, 56 bags of Baa Baa Huey Gradients, 67 bags of 1234 Huey 3 color gradients, 36 bags of my new line of Semi Solid Baa Baa Huey fiber, and to top it off 36 bags of Baby Camel Down. If I am doing my math right, that means I am taking 473 bags of spinning fiber to Black Sheep!  OK spinners come and get it!!!!!!

278 bags of hand painted Bam Huey Fiber
278 bags of hand painted Bam Huey Fiber

I thought about doing a “Fiber Pit” for spinners, you know, like they have the ball pits for children to play in at fast food joints…..Could be fun, but I just haven’t quite figured out how to fit one in my booth at Black Sheep.  I will have 473 bags of fiber at the show…….that’s a pretty good start to fill a spinner’s “Fiber Pit”!

I’ve been working on stuff other than painting fiber for Black Sheep.  I’ve been making stitch markers and shawl pins.

New Hue Handspuns
Stitch Marker Tree for Black Sheep is filling up!

I will have a limited number of our Newhouse Custom Carbon Fiber Needles at the show, and as always I will be taking custom orders for the needles. You can stop by and do a little test knitting.  Good news, Free shipping for all custom orders placed and paid for at Black Sheep Gathering.   Remember to bring your cash or check book, because we will not be able to take cards at the show. I am happy to accept Paypal  If you have a smart phone and can send a payment at the time of purchase.

Another big project in prepping for Black Sheep Gathering is booth planning.  For the past 18 years of Black Sheep I have been lucky to share a booth with Duncan Carders.  This year Black Sheep Gathering has moved into a new building and I thought this would be the purrrrfect time to get my own booth and quit crowding the Duncans out of their booth!   I’ve been working on the booth lay out to get the most out of the 100 square feet.   Biggest challenge I deal with now is finding enough space to try out the set up.  I can only do about 6 feet at a time in our little apartment so I am keeping my fingers crossed that I am doing my math right and that all will fit…lol. Here are some pictures of my test set ups….you really have to use your imagination.  I will be sure to take pictures once I am set up at Black Sheep so you can see how these set ups really look:)

New Hue Handspuns booth
Yes this really will be the South wall of my Black Sheep Booth…..
North West Corner where I will be spinning...
North West Corner where I will be spinning…

I’m in booth F-3, right up front by the doors to the concession stand and the ladies room……you just about HAVE to pass by me at some time, so be sure to stop by and say hello:)

Remember……. bring your cash or check book, because I will not be able to take credit/debit cards at the show.  Paypal is fine  If you have a smart phone and can send a payment at the time of purchase.

Back to the grindstone for me, for there are still yarns to be spun and shawls to be knit be for departure Thursday morning!

Until next time,

Happy Spinning and Knitting,

Cheryl <^..^>

Water Lilies in Ravellenic Winter Games 2014

Carbon Fiber Needles, Dyeing, Fiber, Handspun Yarn, Knitting, Spinning

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 Hueh spinning Fiber Water Lilies
Bam Huey in Water Lilies quick drying in front of the fire place.
Bam Huey Spinning Fiber
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.

Bam Huey Handspun Water Lilies
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 <^..^>

 

 

 

 

Mr X’s Sweater…..The Drama Continues…..

Carbon Fiber Needles, Handspun Yarn, Home Life, Knitting, Spinning

 

Mr X’s sweater is done…but not done….

The pieces were finished,

Aztec Mazes Sweater
The pieces are done and fit together!

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.

Aztec sweater pattern by Anne Hanson
Mr X’s Soaking Sweater

At last the sweater was laid out to dry.

Aztec Sweater
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.

Aztec Mazes
LOVE this Pattern!!!!

OK a REALLY Really close up…..

Aztec Mazes 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!

New Hue Handspun Angora,Merino,Alpaca 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.

New Hue Handspuns Bam Huey
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.

New Hue Handspuns Bam Huey Handspun yarn
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?!!?!

Newhouse pie baking
mmmmm pie:)

I’m going to go grab a cup of coffee and a nice warm piece of pie right now…see ya!

Until next time, happy  Knitting and Spinning!

Cheryl <^..^>

 

Knitting and Sitting in the New Year

Carbon Fiber Needles, Dyeing, Fiber, Handspun Yarn, Home Life, Knitting,

 

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 by Cheryl Newhouse
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
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!

Aztec Mazes Mr X's Sweater
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….

New Hue Handspuns Hat
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.

veggie tray
Football snack tray
snack tray
Cheese 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….

Until next time,  Happy Spinning and Knitting!

Cheryl <^..^>

New Hue Handspuns/Newhouse Trunk Show 11/29

Carbon Fiber Needles, Dyeing, Fiber, Handspun Yarn, Knitting, Spinning

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!

Newhouse Custom Carbon Fiber circular needles
Newhouse Custom Carbon Fiber Circular Needles
Newhouse Custom Carbon Fiber Needles DPNs and SPs
DPNs and SP Newhouse Custom Carbon FIber 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
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!?!

Bam Huey and Baa Baa Huey dyed fiber
Dye day results

I will be knitting and spinning away at Yarntastic! throughout the week.  I hope you will stop by!

Until next time,

Happy Spinning and Knitting,

Cheryl <^..^>

 

Dyeing Day at New Hue Handspuns

Carbon Fiber Needles, Dyeing, Fiber, Spinning
Bam Huey Ancient Roses
Dyeing Ancient Roses

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

Bam Huey fiber dyeing to steamer
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.

handpainding Bam Huey in Carmel
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.

check in tomorrow:)

and until then, Happy Spinning and Knitting,

Cheryl <^..^>

 

 

 

 

Sweating out the Sweater and a Winner!

Carbon Fiber Needles, Handspun Yarn, Knitting

I’m knitting my first Sweater….or should I say I am sweating out my first sweater!   The sweater is for Mr X.  I don’t have his exact measurements, I’m making modifications to the pattern, and my yarn and needles are different than the pattern is written for….lol….I’m not making this easy for myself! The first attempt was ripped  after about 50 rows, it was WAY too big.  I screwed up on the math.  Second attempt is coming along well, but I am concerned that it is still a little too big.  I’ve decided that if it turns out too big I will give it a little time in a hot dryer and shrink it up a bit:)

Mr X's Sweater Aztec Maze
Mr X’s Aztec Maze

I am really enjoying this pattern, Anne Hanson’s Aztec Mazes .  The pattern is written with cables up the sides and intended to have some shaping.  We decided that this maze pattern is purrrrrfect for Mr X but the sweater needed to be a bit more manly so I’ve dropped the cables and shaping.

I learned a few things while knitting the sweater.  I am a  lever/pit knitter and have always use long dpns for knitting in the round.  I recently had to learn how to use circular needles to test all our carbon fiber needles.  I’m slower with the circulars,  but I did come to appreciate not having to deal with all the points involved with dpns.  I enjoy using  9 inch and 16 inch circulars.  For this sweater I pulled out the 40″ circs….. Uggghhhh! long circulars are NOT for ME! all that moving of stitches over all that cord was driving me batty.  I missed  my 14″ dpns, so I switched back over, but  once again I had to deal with all those points.    It finally dawned on me that I could have the best of both worlds.  A long needle to tuck under my right arm and attached to the other end of the cord a short needle to knit off of.  I plan to make a video of the needle in use very soon…pit knitting with circulars…I’m a happy camper:)

here’s a closer picture..

Pit knitter Circulars
Circulars for Pit Knitters!

I have a little more testing to do with these needles, but hope to have them listed in the shop soon.

It will have to wait for my next blog post for me to go into more detail of the yarn used for this project because it is getting late and I need to get some sleep and I know that you are all hanging on to find out who is the winner of the Spinzilla spun yarn

this one…

Bam Huey handspun
432 yards of Handspun Bam Huey – High Tide

There were 67 entries and I gave each of you a number in the order of entry.  I cranked up the old Random Number Generator and it spit out number 13……  and lucky #13 is Audrey!  If you don’t get my email Audrey, please email me your shipping address.

The fun isn’t over yet!  I’m hosting a  Yarn-a-Long over on Ravelry  Here in the New Hue Handspuns Creations group.  Rules and prizes will be posted on Saturday 11/2/13 and the Yarn-a-Long will start on 11/11/13.  You will need to join the group to play along and use something produced by New Hue Handspuns or Newhouse Needles.  This includes spinning fiber, handspun yarn, carbon fiber needles, or one of my free patterns on Ravelry.  Be sure to check in on the group on Saturday for all the details.

Until Next Time,

Happy Spinning and Knitting!

Cheryl <^..^>

 

 

 

 

A Win, A Dream, and A Frogging

Carbon Fiber Needles, Handspun Yarn, Knitting, Spinning

This week has been a busy one, but here are the highlights….. A Win, a Dream, and a Frogging!

Before I go on to explain the win, dream, and frogging I want to THANK everyone for the nice complements on my Spinzilla spinning.  I had wanted to reply to each one of you, but then I saw how that was going to muddy up the numbering for the drawing.  Besides thanking the kind writers there were also a few questions I’d like to answer.  Roxie wanted to know if my Hansen needed a rest… My little Miss Mini is a trooper and kept up with me the whole time!  Vicky asked when did I sleep……Let’s just say I don’t sleep a whole lot:)  Ashley thought I should do something rewarding for myself…..my reward is that I have all the yarn I need for Christmas gift knitting!…..now to find the time to get the knitting done..lol.

Now on to the Win, the Dream, and the Frogging

The Win was most yards spun by an individual during  Spinzilla.  Team Fancy Tiger was the first place team, and Team Storey Publishing (which I was a member of) came in 3rd place.  You can check out all the winners and prizes on the Spinzilla blog post My award, A Yarn to Yards Balance with the Spinzilla  plaque   arrived in the mail from the Woolery.

Spinzilla,sweater,High Tide
Spinzilla Award, Sweater yarn, and High Tide prize skein.

There are still a few days left for you to enter to win the High Tide skein of Bam Huey Handspun Yarn pictured above.  To enter for your chance to win,  leave a comment on the  Spinzilla: It’s all over but the Awards  Post  by Midnight October 31st!

Now for my Dream……

It is about the Spinzilla competition next year.  Those who know me, and put up with me, know I have done long marathon spinning sessions many times.  Spinning all day for weeks at a time  is what I love to do.  Some people run marathons, some climb mountains, and others swim the English Channel…. me, I  spin.  My dream is to spend the week of Spinzilla next year in a hotel.  This would be a fund raising spin in.  I would have a room at the hotel, and the spin in would be in one of the meeting rooms that would be open 24 hours a day.  Spinners could make a donations for the opportunity to spin along.   When I dream, I dream big, so in my dream there would be a fiber supplier/mill that  would donate the fiber, and all the spun yarn would be sold to benefit the Spinzilla education program, oh yeah…and my room and room service would be paid for:)  It’s a big dream and I know I don’t have the skill to organize it, but boy do I want to do it!

Last but not least….the Frogging. …

I started a sweater from some of the yarn I spun for Spinzilla. I chose Anne Hanson’s Aztec Mazes This is my first sweater and I am a bit worried that it won’t fit.  I’m knitting this as a surprise for Mr X.    I don’t have exact measurements for Mr. X , and I am working with a different size yarn and needle than the pattern calls for.  This means I have to work a bit of math to figure out gauge and which size to knit.

Mr x's too big sweater
Mr. X’s sweater…Pre Frogging

One does start to wonder if the sweater is too big when it doesn’t fit in the photo box…. Yikes! it was WAY TOO BIG!  Turns out I rounded up when I should have been rounding down…lol…to the Frog Pile!  There were a few tears among the Ripppp- it Rippppp-it noises, but all is well now.  I’ve started over in a size smaller and will have some progress pictures of it next posting on November 1st  when I announce the winner of the skein of Bam Huey yarn in High Tide.  I will also have some pictures of a new needle style I made for sweater knitting.

until next time,  Happy Spinning and Knitting!

Cheryl <^..^>

 

 

Back from OFFF-On the Mend & Spinning Again!

Carbon Fiber Needles, Fiber, Handspun Yarn, Home Life, Spinning

Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival, OFFF  was quite eventful this year.  Set up on Friday went smoothly.  I share a booth with the Duncan Drum Carders.  After a few hours the booth was ready.

OFFF booth 2013
New Hue Handspuns and Duncan Carders

Lucky for me I live only 20 miles from the Canby Fairgrounds where OFFF is held, but the trip home that night wasn’t so lucky for me.  North bound I-205 was stop and go traffic the whole way.

I was looking forward to getting home to celebrate my 27th wedding anniversary with my husband.  Little did I know that we would be spending most of the evening in the emergency room…….  A distracted driver plowed into the back of my truck!  I ended up strapped to a back board and had a lovely ride to ER in the ambulance.  My dear Hubby met us at the hospital.  After a few hours and what seemed like hundreds of x-rays they determined  nothing was broken.  I was finally  turned  loose with prescriptions for pain meds and muscle relaxants.

My truck wasn’t hurt, and lucky for me I just have to deal with  sore muscles for a few weeks. I was pretty loopy on the pain meds, and unable to drive, so Will drove me down and picked me up from OFFF both days.  I wasn’t able to spin at all on Saturday.  Sitting upright in my chair and selling fiber was challenging enough!

The weather during OFFF was pretty nasty with the wind and rain.  Several outside vendor’s tents were blown over and some decided it was best to head home.  Lucky for me, we have an inside booth.

Despite the rain, wind, and the trip to the ER, it was a good show.  I got to see some old friends and make some new ones…..even if I was a bit out of it, and can’t remember names:)

I’m now back at home resting up and working on my  “Just Add Knitter Kits”  The last label has been made.

Brick-O-Brack
New Hue & Newhouse Just Add Knitter Kit tag

hopefully by the next posting  the first Neck Warmer Kit will be available!

I’m getting ready for Spinzilla !  I am on Team Storey Publishing.  Now to  line up enough fiber to spin during the week long event.  The goal  I’ve set for myself is to spin 20,000 yards in 7 days! now I just have to find enough fiber to spin……

Until next time, Happy Spinning and Knitting!

Cheryl <^..^>

Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival Bound!

Carbon Fiber Needles, Dyeing, Fiber, Handspun Yarn, Home Life, Spinning
Bam Huey Fiber
Bam Huey Fiber Drying for Oregon Flock and Fiber

The past week has been all about getting ready for Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival !   I haven’t had the time to make  plying videos because I have been dyeing up a storm,  putting the finishing touches on a new pattern, and developing the New Hue & Newhouse  “Just add Knitter” Kits.

The truck is packed and I am heading out to set up for Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival!  See you there.

Oregon Flock and Fiber
New Hue Handspuns booth at Oregon Flock and Fiber

Today is also a very special day….. Twenty Seven years ago today this is what I was doing!!!!

Will and Cheryl Newhouse 9/27/86
Will and Cheryl Newhouse 9/27/86

Now off to Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival!!!!!