I'm Back!

Well, after a very long winter hiatus (due to the holidays, vacation, and lack of a computer), I'm back in the blogging world!

Due to the craziness of the holidays and starting a new job, I haven't really accomplished much in terms of llamas or fiber...  I did get a bunch of new knit items that my mom made listed on Etsy tonight...check them out!

A crochet scarf I made over Christmas vacation...up on Etsy now!

The exciting news from the past week or two is that I'm going to be growing my llama herd this year!  I found a fabulous new home for Mr. T, and in exchange Kara gets a date with a gorgeous part Argentine male next spring.  I'm also looking at purchasing a bred guard llama and a show female (possibly bred as well), so I could be doubling my herd in a couple of years!  Very excited to have some new blood in the herd, and especially babies!

Lamas in the snow.

I'm going to try and be better about posting for the rest of the winter, even though there isn't a whole lot going on.  I do have a ton of knitting patterns to publish though, so if you've been waiting you may just get lucky!

Rhinebeck!

I'm officially the worst blogger in the world!  I promise I'm going to start posting once a week...

Anyway, I figured it was time to share some pictures from Rhinebeck!  (aka the NY Sheep and Wool Festival)

It was a gorgeous (but cold) day at the fiber festival.

Lots and lots of people as usual!

I only took a couple of pictures of my stuff on display, and I can only show one of them as the other is of a gift that has not yet been given!

I walked all over the yarn display looking for my yarn, only to find it with the first place winners!  Boy was I shocked!

I took lots of pictures once I got all my stuff back though!

A superfine merino/cashmere/mulberry silk blend entered in the blended category.

Colorwork wool mittens entered in the special item (mittens & gloves) category.

Suri alpaca/llama entered in the exotic category.

A handspun camel/silk cabled lace cowl entered in the small item handspun yarn category.  I also entered a pair of socks in the commercial yarn category but they didn't place!  Apparently I have tension issues...

The winning skein...100% BFL in the 2 ply natural wool category.

100% merino in the 2 ply dyed category.

All in all I didn't do too bad!  I also had a shetland yarn entry that didn't place, but it was definitely the worst of my skeins.  Now to plan for next year!  And of course to get all of these gorgeous pieces up on Etsy!

Etsy Update!

I've been pretty good the past few weeks about doing Etsy updates!  I have so much yarn, and I hate adding them to Etsy, so I thought it would be good to do them a little at a time.

Wool & rayon yarn.

Alpaca & merino yarn.

Wool & rayon yarn.

I've also been adding batts.  I traded a few of them, but I still have a lot of gorgeous ones left.

Merino, silk, firestar batt.

Alpaca, sari silk batt.

BFL wool, bamboo batt.

Please take a look at my Etsy shop and find something that you like!

Farmer's Market!

I was so busy getting new listings up on Etsy that I almost forgot about the blog!

I got to spend a beautiful day on Saturday at the Hamilton (NY) Farmer's Market!  I once again signed up for the second half of the market season (August 9-Novermber 1), and Saturday was the first day for me.

It started out quite cold for early August, and my spot is right under a tree so it was pretty chilly for most of the day.  I'll probably regret that decision (wanting to be under the tree) once it gets really cold, but oh well.

I'm using my awesome new A-frame display to showcase most of my small knit stuff, and it worked out great.

I also debuted my new poop tea...aka soil health improvement tea.  Unfortunately no one bought any, but hopefully it will catch on!

Overall it wasn't a bad day.  It is hard to sell wool knit clothing in the summer, but things will pick up once it gets cold!

New Rugs!

When my parents (and grandmother) came to visit a few weeks ago, my mom brought me a present...new rugs to sell!

The first two are my favorites...they're made from sock tops!  During manufacturing, they cut the tops off the socks to get them to the right length.  These rugs are really soft and durable, we've used them for years.

The other type is my mom's favorite.  They are made from textured fabric remnants, and weave into very soft, thick rugs.  They would be perfect for a bathroom.  At the moment we have 2 colors to offer, a light tan/grey and a darker brown/grey.

All of the rugs are available in my Etsy store, just follow the links.  I still have some of the brown and purple cotton rugs as well.

Yarn, Yarn, and more Yarn!

Well its day 1 of my new organizational scheme for this blog, hopefully I can keep it going!

I had intended to post a new knitting pattern today, but I still haven't gotten around to writing it up so I will try again next week.

A sneak-peek at my next knitting pattern.  This is using some of my handspun yarn, a sport-weight mohair/merino blend that I had processed at the mill I work at.

Until then, how about some yarn?!

I've actually been pretty good for the past month or so when it comes to spinning.  I'm hoping to get a booth at the CNY Fiber Fest in Bouckville, NY in June, and want to debut my handspun yarn and patterns there.  So...I need to get spinning!

My yarn display at a previous craft fair.  I'll have to come up with something a bit bigger for the CNY FF!

Technically I have quite a bit of inventory (at least it seems like a lot to me), but most of it is at 2 yarn shops in NY and PA.  If I do get my booth I plan on getting all that yarn back (probably adds up to 40 skeins or so), but I felt like I should still spin as much as possible before June to build up some inventory.

One of my favorite skeins that is at the yarn shop in PA, a luscious blend of superfine merino, cashmere, and silk.

Most of what I spun the past few weeks is fiber that I got in various trades.  I found a great fiber trade group on Facebook last summer, and did quite a few trades since then.  It has really turned out to be a great deal for me (and hopefully my trading partners)!

So...onto the yarn pictures!  All of these skeins will end up in my Etsy store in the next week or so.

Merino.

Wool blend spiral plied with rayon embroidery thread.

Merino/silk/bamboo.  One of my new favorites, I'll definitely try to trade for more!

A Christmas present, BFL/tussah silk.

American-grown (and spun) wool.

My other big project before the CNY FF is to write up several more knitting patterns to use with my handspun yarn- my plan is to sell yarn (and fiber) with the patterns as kits.  So far I have 3 patterns done, 2 for worsted weight and 1 for sport weight.  I still need a DK, bulky, and art yarn pattern (2 of each would be even better!).  So, if you have any suggestions for patterns that you'd like to see designed, please leave a comment!  I'm thinking about a hat, ear band, and maybe a buttoned cowl.

One of my other knitting patterns, thrummed convertible mittens!

Don't forget, check back on Thursday for a llama update, and Saturday for my first gardening post!

Busy Knitting Month

January has been a very busy knitting month.  After spending most of November and December knitting big projects (namely my first handspun sweater and the convertible thrummed mittens that I designed and knit for my sister), I was ready for some instant satisfaction-type projects!  I'm trying to build up inventory for the farmer's market this fall!

My first goal was to finish a cabled scarf that I started back in undergrad.  I took it back to Indiana for Christmas to be my plane knitting project, and managed to get most of the second half finished.  Another few days of knitting and it was done!  After checking my Ravelry page for the project, I realized it took me 5 years and 9 days to knit the scarf!  Don't worry, there was a HUGE hiatus in the middle!

Before Christmas, I bought 4 skeins of blue-face leicester yarn from the fiber mill where I'm working to make my husband a fair-isle ear band.  The project only called for about 150 yards of yarn, but I needed 4 colors so I ended up with 4 times that much!  For the past year or so I've really been trying to use up scrap balls of yarn rather than buying new, so after I finished his ear band I decided I should use up the remaining 4 balls of yarn.  I figured that I would have enough to make 2-3 more hats, so I found some cool striped patterns and got to work.

I made 2 adult-sized hats, and then decided to make a toddler-sized one in case I ran out of yarn.

But I finished that hat and still had more yarn!  So I took the softest of the bunch and made a cute (and semi-original) bear hat.  With the remaining dyed colors I made an ear band, thinking that would definitely use up the rest of the yarn.

NOT!  By the end of the 4th project I still had parts of 2 balls left...not enough for an entire project, but more than I wanted to waste.  Luckily I had some gorgeous tan handspun llama yarn sitting around waiting for a project, so I cast on yet another striped hat!

Technically I still have 5-10 yards left between the two colors, but I'm calling it quits!  Eventually I'll make a few flowers and leaves out of the scraps, and use them to decorate other projects.

In between the knitting projects I got a little spinning done.  I had been wanting to sample one of the roving blends I had processed at the mill back in September, but never quite found the time.  So I broke out 8 ounces and went to work!  I really love how it spun up!  This is 80% llama, 10% turquoise merino, and 10% firestar, and is available in my Etsy shop!

In early January I was able to get 4 more fiber blends made into roving.  One was a gorgeous fawn alpaca/black baby cormo blend, and it really spoke to me.  So of course it had to be my next spinning project!  I just finished spinning the 8 ounces of singles this morning, and sometime this week I will get around to plying it all.  It is a bit more uneven, but oh so soft!

It looks like my last project of the month will be one of my own design.  I'm trying to design a few more patterns this spring, so that I can offer kits with my handspun yarn or rovings.  The project I have in mind will be a simple lace and texture cowl knit with sport weight yarn.  I should be able to post the pattern here and on Ravelry in a few weeks!

Knitting Pattern #4: Convertible Thrummed Mittens

A conversation with my mother-in-law today reminded me that I should publish this pattern, so here it is!  I designed this pattern because my sister is hard to please...she wanted a pair of thrummed mittens for Christmas, but she wanted convertible mittens.  And to make things even more complicated, she wanted half-fingers inside the mittens, rather than just a cuff.  I searched high and low for a pattern, but couldn't find anything close, so I decided to create one myself!

This pattern has not been test-knit, so please let me know if you find any errors!

Now available on Ravelry!

Size: Women’s Medium

Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Worsted (2 skeins)

Ashland Bay Merino roving (1 oz)

#4 Double Point needles

Gauge: 5.5-6 sts = 1”

Pattern notes:

• k=knit
• co=cast on
• bo=bind off
• pu=pick up stitch
• k2tog=knit 2 stitches together
• sl=slip a stitch
• psso=pass the slipped stitch over the last worked stitch
• 2x2 rib=*knit 2, purl 2*

Cuff
Cast on 40 sts

Join in the round

Work 2x2 rib for 2.75”

Knit 4 rows

Thrum row (*k3, thrum1*)

To work a thrum: Insert the right needle into the stitch below the next stitch to be worked (on the left needle).  Fold a small piece of roving in half, and place the fold over the right needle.  Pull the roving through to the front of the piece (using the right needle), and leave the roving on the right needle.  Using yarn, knit the next available stitch on the left needle (this is the stitch right above the one with the roving pulled through it).  Pass the roving over the last worked stitch and pull snug.

Thrums as viewed from the inside of the mitten top.

Thrum pattern: Throughout the entire piece (other than the ribbed sections and the half-fingers), use the following pattern:  *knit 4 rows, work thrum row (*k3, thrum1*), knit 4 rows, work alternating thrum row (k1, thrum1, *k3, thrum1*, k2)*.

Start thumb gusset (continue thrum pattern in the thumb gusset)

At beginning of next round purl 1 st, knit 5 sts, purl 1 st, knit to end of round

Work 3 more rows in this pattern

Increase row: p1, m1, knit to next purl st, m1, p1, knit to end of round

Knit 3 rows even

Repeat last 4 rows until 11 sts between purls (ending with the increase row, don't knit the 3 rows even)

Work 5 rows even

At beginning of next round slip first 13 sts to holder.

Using backward loop cast on, CO 11 sts to right needle, join with rest of round and knit to end (44 sts)

Continue knitting in pattern until palm reaches the base of pinky finger

Fingers (don't thrum these!)

Right hand

Rearrange sts so that there are 22 on each needle

1^st finger: k6, co2, k5, m1- work 10 rounds even, bo

2^nd finger: pu2, k6, co2, k6- work 10 rounds even, bo

3^rd finger: pu2, k6, co2, k6- work 10 rounds even, bo

4^th finger: pu3, k9- work 8 rounds even, bo

Left hand

Rearrange sts: knit 11, place next 22 sts on one needle, last 22 sts on another needle

1^st finger: m1, k6, co2, k5- work 10 rounds even, bo

2^nd finger: k6, pu2, k6, co2- work 10 rounds even, bo

3^rd finger: k6, pu2, k6, co2- work 10 rounds even, bo

4^th finger: k5, pu3, k4- work 8 rounds even, bo

Thumb (continue thrum pattern for thumb)

Move 13 sts from holder to needle, pick up 15 sts from around the thumb hole

K2tog, k9, k2tog, k2tog, k1, k2tog, k1, k2tog, k1, k2tog, k1, sl1, k2tog, psso (20 sts)

Work even for 2-2.5”

K2tog until 5 sts remaining- thread yarn through and tie off

Mitten top (continue thrum pattern for mitten top)

Pick up and knit 22 sts on back of hand (between last 2 thrum rows)

Using backward loop, co26 more sts (48 sts)

Work 2x2 rib for 6 rows

Work in thrum pattern until tip of fingers (3.5-4”)

Decrease: *k1, k2tog* across every round until 6 sts left- thread yarn through and tie off