yarn fairies

A few weeks before Thanksgiving, I discovered on my back porch a ratty bag from a now-defunct Ann Arbor yarn store, full of unloved, tangled half-balls of Wintuk and Red Heart. Buried beneath the acrylic was some greasy, dirty skeins of rustic wool. Simultaneously intrigued and disgusted I tossed the acrylic and left the wool on the screen porch. If ever wool had moths, it would be these smelly, scratchy skeins. By the next day I had forgotten them.

The next week my neighbor Don had a heart attack.

A few weeks later my neighbor's wife came over with a plastic basket loaded with more greasy yarn (see exhibit A). At home taking care of her husband (doing great now, thank god), she was channeling all her nervous energy into cleaning and organizing her house. Out with the 20 year old yarn from a farm in Ontario.

So now I had yarn with a story, from a personI cared about. I couldn't just let it live on the back porch all winter. There was a pattern for a large man's fair isle sweater, and part of a sleeve done in brown and gray. I just couldn't bring myself to make a mammoth scratchy sweater.

So what to do with it? I dyed some and made a scarf for Don. I hope this will help him to stay warm on his morning walks around the neighborhood. Michigan has been having record cold temperatures this past week.









But there's lots left over. I am not sure I want to make 5 more scarves. Ideas?

Coveting the scarves of friends

Two blogless friends came in the yarn store yesterday, both with new scarves.

Nancy designed and knit a scarf as a gift for her son. He asked for a scarf. He wore it once and declared it "too warm" - his loss, her gain. When did warmth become a negative scarf trait?

Nice work, eh?

















Ann is knitting a scarf from an unspun roving dyed by Tracy Bunkers. Very, very cool.

Went to see Pan's Labyrinth last night. Very melancholy and affecting, and definitely a big-screen film (vs. one for the Netflix queue).

Plus, with those subtitles, you might as well be in a dark theatre - you won't be able to knit.

someone stop them!

My co-workers keep reproducing, which has seriously cut into my sock-knitting time. This was for Meng's baby:

I had two balls of Artyarns Supermerino that were supposed to become socks. They reluctantly agreed to be a baby sweater. I added the grape, rose, and brown Mission Falls to stretch it out. I especially like the buttons:


Found 'em at Habermans, a truly amazing fabric store in Royal Oak. It is the sort of place that makes you want to dig out your sewing maching from underneath all the yarn and rovings.

You already saw this one I did for Jon's baby - here is a better shot of the sweater:



The pattern is Cottage Creations Babies & Bears; the yarn is Mission Falls 1812 Cotton. The buttons are little bears. This pattern is a bit fussy for me. I actually like kitchenering, but kitchenering up the back seam is a bit much, if you are a lazy knitter like me.

I have been looking at some beautiful yarn today by local fiber artists. Here are some links:
http://www.happyfuzzyyarn.com/ (great sock yarn!)
http://www.briarrosefibers.net/ (I have some of her Sonoma - yum!)

...for destruction ice

Is also great
And would suffice.

Global warming ended last night, at least in Ann Arbor.

Over the holidays I played with acid dyes in Anne's basement. The goal was to dye 15 yards of silk to make a fairy bower. Yes, there is a long, involved story about that, but I need to take some photos before I tell it.

In the meantime, here is some cheap wool I dyed to use up the leftovers from the fairy bower:



The skeins now belong to Nancy because she likes yellow. The balls will probably become socks for the kids.

Summer on the farm

Blog backfill, from the annals of our photodocumented life...
If it is as chilly where you are as it is here, you might like to see some images from our trip to the sheep farm B&B last summer.

Our young hostess had just gotten a new spinning wheel. She is a natural!	The shepherdess with her baby lammykins - awwwww.

Wanna strawberry? These were on our waffles in the morning. The boys really got a kick out of collecting eggs for their breakfast, too.

Yay! Tire swing!

The slow trip home

We took a train home from Kansas City, via Chicago. Brian and I stopped over in Chicago for a few days, to visit museums and hang out with Geoffrey. Dave and Evan headed home.

Brian enjoyed the dining car:

And dining out:

We both enjoyed a puppet show of the Nutcracker. Note that the Mouse King has 5 heads:

We are back home now and real life has started back up. I have begun another toe-up sock. I am still not totally converted to this method of construction, but it is fun to try it on as I go.

A colleague brought his spawn by the office today. Here is the cutie modeling a sweater I knit for him. All together now - awwwww.