Yarns from the Lake

Sister Hats

I was in between hand knitting projects for a while last fall. When we were at my son’s house in St. Paul, I offered to knit matching winter hats for the granddaughters. My daughter-in-law liked the idea. The timing was perfect at that moment, while the girls were napping, to hop in the car and run over to the Yarnery to pick out yarn. Kelsey selected two balls of super wash Berroco Ultra Wool in different shades of purple, so she would be able to tell the hats apart. Including the cost of pom poms which were as much as the yarn, these were not budget hats.

I was a little surprised that neither granddaughter protested or squirmed when I used a measuring tape to get their head circumference. Back at home I dug out an old hat pattern that I bought in paper format many years ago. It is now available here on Ravelry. I planned to knit a basic beanie with a cuff that can be folded over more or less as needed, for fit or for extra warmth.

This pattern is great as you can make any size hat with any yarn, using head measurements of the recipient, and with different options for the cuff and the top. I knitted a gauge swatch to figure out how many stitches to cast on for the desired circumference.

I decided to start with the smaller hat, so if it did not come out right there would be less to rip out and start over. The pattern has fewer stitches on the cuff than the main part of the hat, using one size smaller needles. After the cuff is finished, stitches are added and a larger needle is used.

For Nora’s hat the math resulted in 72 stitches for the cuff for her 17″ circumference head. That is the same number of stitches that I use for a man’s sock! This shows how much of a difference the yarn and needle size makes. Sock yarn is much thinner than worsted weight.

Both of these projects have 72 stitches around

After completing the cuff and knitting a few inches of the main part of the hat, I realized I needed another measurement that I did not have. I should have gotten the crown measurement for each girl, from bottom of the earlobe over the head to the other earlobe. That is needed to determine when to start decreases for the top of the hat. I stopped knitting when I thought it was at about the right place, and put the project on hold until the next time we were in St. Paul, when I could get the actual measurement. At that time I was also able to put the partially finished hat on Nora’s head. It seemed just right, so I started the decreases, and from there the rest of the knitting went quickly.

Knowing that Blair’s head circumference was two inches larger than Nora’s, I went ahead and started her hat accordingly.

Kelsey had requested the hats be lined with polar fleece. That adds another layer of warmth for Minnesota winter, protection from the wind, and a soft surface against their head. It also adds complexity to the project. I did not have a pattern, and the lining would have to be custom fit. Shopping for fabric is problematic these days, but on one of my trips to the Twin Cities I found a lavender color of polar fleece at Hobby Lobby that worked for both hats.

I do not have a good history of blocking my knitting projects. I know you should, so I soaked the two completed hats in warm water with a bit of soap, rinsed them out carefully and laid them out to dry. I also washed and dried the polar fleece in case it might shrink a bit. I did not think it would, and I doubt these hats will ever get washed. However I have been burned in the past when I did not prewash fabric, and then after a garment was finished it shrank when washed. After blocking the hats looked nice.

The final step was making the polar fleece linings. I looked online for ideas on how to do this. One source suggested laying the hat flat and drawing around it, then cutting out two layers of the lining in that shape and sewing them together. At first I was going to ask Wayne to hold a hat stretched out while I measured it, but then I realized that one of our melamine salad plates was exactly the right size. I put the plate inside the hat and drew around it.

This method was easy, but a little simplistic. The polar fleece does stretch, but the shaping was only going one direction. For the second hat I cut a rectangle that was big enough to go all the way around, and then did some shaping on four sides. It was still not perfect, but a little better.

I was not sure how much shaping was actually needed and did not want to put any more effort in than necessary. If it was fine, great, if not, I could try again.

Getting the linings inside the hats and pinned in place was tricky as the knitting had to be stretched out. When the knitting was relaxed, the polar fleece bunched up. The polar fleece does not ravel, so it is possible to sew the raw edge to the hat. However I decided it looked nicer to fold the edge under a bit.

Sewing the lining on the inside of Nora’s hat

The pom poms were attached before sewing the linings on. The hats look bulky with the lining in place, but not as much when stretched out.

When we went to James and Kelsey’s house over Thanksgiving weekend, I brought the completed the hats. This time neither girl were in the mood to keep the hats on long enough to get a good photo. Following is the best photo I got of Nora wearing her hat.

I gave up on getting a better photo of Nora wearing the hat. The next photo shows Blair with her hat not pushed all the way down, and one of her dolls wearing Nora’s hat.

They came to our house the weekend before Christmas for a Solstice Celebration. This time the girls tolerated wearing their hats for some time outside. The linings seemed to be just fine.

I have knitted several things for the granddaughters that were fun to knit, but not very practical for their lifestyle. These hats turned out great, were needed, fit, and I hope will get some use.

Winter Solstice Weekend

Ideally I would have published this post before Christmas, or at least before the end of 2025. I was not able to get it together, as the last two weeks of the year were super busy with activities related to the holidays, entertaining and visiting family, and getting ready for our winter in Arizona.

In the summer of 2020 we had a tornado come by our side of the lake, where we live in West Central Minnesota. It was pretty traumatic. I wrote a blog post about it that you can read here. A lot of trees came down at our family cabin, all along the east side of the lake, and in our yard. After all the cleanup there was a massive pile of logs and brush at the cabin property. That December our son and daughter-in-law were here for a weekend visit, which happened to coincide with the Winter Solstice. We were inspired to have a celebration that included burning the giant brush pile. It was the biggest bon fire of our lives.

Skipping ahead to this year, we invited a group of close family to our house for the Winter Solstice weekend of 2025, to spend “hygge” time together and celebrate the shortest day of the year Scandinavian style. Hygge is a Norwegian and Danish word that describes “a cozy, contented mood evoked by comfort and conviviality” (according to Wikipedia).

Usually we do not have any company over the holidays, so we do not get out many Christmas decorations. We have a skinny tree that belonged to my parents. I have changed out many of the decorations to include some of my own favorites, including hand knit Christmas balls. At the end of the season this tree gets carried, as is, down to the furnace room in the basement, where it sits until the following season when we carry it back upstairs.

Our son James and daughter-in-law Kelsey arrived with their two young children, Blair and Nora, on Friday evening. After enduring a lot of crying and unplanned stops, they arrived for a late easy dinner of frozen pizza.

The next morning we opened a few Christmas gifts early. It did not make sense to bring gifts that Wayne and I had for each other down to the Twin Cities for the actual holiday. And we decided to have Blair and Nora open their gifts at our house, rather than on Christmas Day when there would be many more from other people at their house. Wayne got a pair of socks that I cranked on my circular sock machine, using the Schachenmayr Arne and Carlos self striping yarn he picked out for himself last Christmas, and some of his favorite white chocolate. I ordered some expensive yarn online for a sweater that I gave him to wrap without looking at it.

The rest of the guests arrived early in the afternoon on Saturday, including our daughter Britta, my sister and her husband Betsy and Ron, our niece and her husband Em and Cooper, and our nephew Dan. There were also three dog visitors. After everyone was settled in, the first group activity of the weekend was frosting Christmas cookies I had baked earlier.

Blair gave the frosted cookies an A+.

The cookies were very festive, but I am not sure how I feel about eating the bright colored dyes. FYI, food dye can also be used to dye yarn.

The rest of the photos are grouped by subject, and are not necessarily in chronological order. Nora got passed around a lot, which was a nice break for James and Kelsey. Nora admired Em’s tattoo of the family cabin on her arm.

Wayne relaxed in his new fishing theme lounge pants.

We had spent quite a bit of time getting the house ready for guests, but of course it was chaos as soon as everyone was in the house, and the grand children started playing with old and new toys.

In addition to a lot of lounging, a puzzle was completed and many card games were played over the weekend.

Despite cold temperatures, a group of people went for a walk. It was a little slippery but otherwise the fresh air felt good.

The adult kids had agreed to be in charge of the dinners Saturday and Sunday evening. That was a huge treat for me. I was happy to buy all the food and ingredients ahead of time. James made homemade Swedish meatballs and sauce from scratch for one meal, with mashed potatoes and green beans. Dan and Cooper served as sous chefs, and the other young people helped get the table set. It would have been a lot easier to buy the Swedish meatballs at Ikea, but everyone raved about James’s version.

For the second dinner, Em made Bolognese, with help from the other young folks. I had never had that version of pasta and sauce before, but can report it was very delicious. I did not get a photo. Later we were watching an episode of Landman with Billy Bob Thornton. His ex wife is back and has made Bolognese for dinner. There are several guests at the table who keep calling it spaghetti, which contributes to her being upset. I got a kick out of that since I knew it was a lot of work to make, and we had just recently had the same meal.

We celebrated Ron’s birthday. He did not turn seven years old. Add a zero to that.

James took Blair outside and down the backyard towards the lake, after Kelsey got her bundled up in her snowsuit. In the photo below she is holding a cooler pack that she sometimes requests for an “owie”, whether she actually has one or not.

You can just barely see a couple of ice fishing shacks on the lake in front of our house.

On Sunday afternoon Wayne got set up for the Solstice celebration in the driveway. He brought a table outside for cookies and drinks, got a fire going in the metal fire pit, and lit ice lanterns. The extreme cold temperatures we had the previous week were not good for being outside, but were excellent for ice lantern production.

Everyone got bundled up for time outside. Nora got to ride around on a plastic sled. The hill on the lake side of our house has been used for sliding in past years, but there were no takers this weekend. Blair will have nothing to do with sliding, and was even very unhappy seeing James on a sled.

The bonfire did not compare to the enormous version 2020, but at least one could stand close to it!

Betsy, Britta and I all wore hand knit headwear. I made the red bandana/cowl for Betsy, Britta knitted her own hood (the photo does not show it very well), and I knitted my headband.

James had to work on Monday. They left after dinner on Sunday, hoping the return trip would involve less crying and more sleeping. Everyone else left on Monday. That gave us a couple of days to clean up, prepare for the short trip to the Twin Cities for Christmas, and start to get ready for towing the RV to Arizona for our three month stay there. We hope to do another Solstice weekend in 2026 with Wayne’s family.

Disclaimer: Some of the photos were taken by Wayne.

Holiday Table Runner

My husband had been encouraging me for a long time to weave a table runner. I had not used my floor loom for almost a year, since it was stored away while we replaced our old living room carpeting with hardwood floor last December 2024.

The School of Sweet Georgia “Winterful Weave-Along” got me inspired to move the floor loom back into the living room and weave something. Usually I do not like work along projects where everyone makes the same thing. And I really do not like a work along surprise project. What if I don’t even like it? In this case, I liked the plaid pattern that was suggested, and I was inspired to finally make a table runner using holiday colors for my son and daughter-in-law.

Pattern for School of Sweet Georgia Weave Along

The pattern uses four colors of 100% Lambswool yarn for a scarf. Instead of wool yarn I chose cotton, using off white and blue I had on hand, and red and green I purchased for the project. The red and green yarns are 3/2 cotton, which is a little thicker than the off white and blue 8/4 cotton. Using two different thicknesses of yarn in one weaving project can cause issues with the tension, but I like how it can make the outcome more interesting (hopefully in a good way). And I was also trying to use what I had on hand rather then spending more money.

Cotton yarn for holiday theme table runner

In order to pick colors for a plaid, it was suggested to make a tiny sample of the warp yarns that are being considered by wrapping them around a card. I did this using a smaller number of threads but in the same proportions as the pattern, and only reflecting one half of the pattern. The other half would be a mirror image. By substituting the colors exactly according to the pattern, the edge would have been off white. I did not think that looked good, so I replaced it with red.

Small sample with the right proportions of colors

I measured the warp yarn using a warping board on our kitchen island. I have found that my favorite method of anchoring the warping board is by attaching is to a big box with an old belt. That keeps it stable and at the right height.

I have tried several different methods of measuring out the yarn when there are multiple colors. One way is to measure each color separately. I tried that once and did not like it. In the past I have tied the beginning of the round on to the post, and tied the end on again as needed when changing colors. This time I attached the ends to the side with a piece of painters tape. It worked great and then I did not have a bunch of knots.

Beginning and end of rounds held in place with tape

Wayne helped me move the loom from the three season porch where it had been collapsed in the corner for almost a year. It turned out to be more time consuming than I expected to get it set up for use. The cords holding the harnesses came undone and I had to look up instructions online to figure out how to get them back in place correctly.

The harnesses came undone when trying to re-assemble the loom

Several hours later and with better lighting, I was ready to start warping.

Once the loom was all re-assembled, I got going on warping the project. I have heard that weaving is faster than knitting the same thing. Getting all the warp threads on the loom and ready to go (“dressing the loom”) takes longer than the actual weaving part.

Once the warp yarn was all on the loom, wound around the back beam, and tied on to the front beam, I was able to weave the first rows and do the hem stitch at the beginning of the table runner.

First rows woven and hem stitch in progress

After I finished weaving five repeats of the plaid pattern on the table runner, it seemed long enough and I was not sure if there was enough warp yarn left for another repeat. I went ahead and did the hem stitch at the end. Not wanting to waste the warp yarn that was left, I started weaving the remaining with all red yarn.

The end of the table runner, and the beginning of a towel in all red

Without changing colors, weaving the end of the warp went pretty fast, and I ended up with enough for a coordinating kitchen towel. Where the blue and red intersect looks like purple.

The table runner came out pretty well, although the edges were a little uneven due to woven in ends from color changes, and two different thicknesses of yarn.

Following is a photo of the table runner on our dining table. We were having some people over for dinner, but I removed the table runner for that meal, as I did not want to get it stained before giving it to James and Kelsey.

At James and Kelsey’s house on Christmas Day, I took the following photo of three towels I made at different times. The mostly white towel was one of the first towels I made as a new weaver. Since then I have determined that using a majority of white yarn is not a good idea as it gets stained easily.

When I was growing up my mom had a set of Spode Christmas Tree dinnerware. After we had our own households, my sister and I each had our own set of 12. When my mom passed away, we each took six from her set. Living at the lake, we did not need 18 place settings! I gave 12 to James and Kelsey, and kept six. James and Kelsey had 14 people for Christmas dinner using the new table runner and the Spode plates.

I would like to make another table runner for us to keep. That will have to wait until spring or summer, as I cannot bring the floor loom to Arizona for the winter!

Cross Stitch Project Abandoned

When I was growing up, my sister and I had felt Christmas stockings that our mom had made. They were not very big and not stretchy, so there was only so much that Santa could fit in them. When I got married, and later when we had kids, I sewed stockings for my family in the same style. The Meg stocking in the photo below is the one my mom made when I was little. I made the others later.

There are so many styles of Christmas stockings. My sister had a variety for her family, as seen in the following photo.

My daughter-in-law’s family had cross stitch stockings that her grandma had made for her and her three siblings. I offered to make a stocking for our granddaughter, Blair when she was still an infant two years ago. After consulting with Kelsey and looking up options in various crafts, I ordered the following counted cross stitch kit.

The kit contained a totally blank piece of grayish white fabric canvas with little squares in the weave pattern for the stitches. All the different colors of yarn were stapled on to two strips of cardboard.

I have done many crafts in my time including cross stitch, needlepoint, embroidery, sewing, macrame, crochet, knitting, weaving, spinning, and others. I knew this project was very detailed, but I am good at that and was not worried about being able to figure it out.

There was a chart on a piece of paper with the design. Each square on the chart represented one stitch to put on the canvas. The different colors and types of stitches were represented by a different symbol. I had to figure out the design for the letters of Blair’s name using a template provided. The following photo shows only half of the entire design.

Another chart was a key to all the symbols.

The directions said to fold the canvas in half lengthwise and crosswise to find the center, then mark the spot with a bit of thread. In order to begin stitching, you start at the marked place on the canvas. I used a post-it flag to mark where I was on the pattern.

After finding the place where you want to start stitching, you look at the symbol for that stitch on the chart, and then go to the other chart to find out what color yarn to use, and what stitch. Then you get the yarn in the right color(s) from one of the cardboard strips. Then you go back to the canvas and figure out again where to put the stitches.

The vast majority of the stitches are all the same, with just a simple cross using two strands of the same color. Some stitches have two different colors of yarn. There are other stitches used for outlining, and I don’t remember what else. In the photo above the red thread is where I marked the center of the pattern. I would have started in a slightly different spot if I had realized that the stitches in the center were almost the same color as the canvas.

In order to have the minimum number of changes of yarn, you try to do all the stitches that you can reasonably get to in the color you are working with, until you run out of that piece of yarn. That means sometimes going up or down a row or skipping over some blank space. You end up with a mess on the back.

After finishing the first strand of gray yarn, the next logical group of stitches was….a different color of gray yarn.

I was working on this project almost two years ago while we were in Arizona. There was plenty of time to finish it before Blair’s first Christmas. Each session working on the cross stitch project involved laying out all the charts and supplies and getting reoriented to where I was in the design. The stitches were very, very small. My close up eyesight is not that great any more.

I usually have multiple projects going on, and I found that I was always choosing to work on one of the other projects instead of the cross stitch project. After we got back home to Minnesota that spring, the project went in a basket for a couple of months. Finally, it was a relief when I realized it was OK to not finish it. Actually, I had barely started. What you see in the photo above is as far as I got.

Kelsey was very understanding when I told her that I had bailed on the project. Before Christmas that year she bought a different stocking that was not going to be an heirloom, but fulfilled the purpose.

Now there is another granddaughter. For this year, Kelsey ordered Blair and Nora needlepoint stockings. I have done some needlepoint projects before in the distant past, and probably would have been able to do that. But maybe my eyes are not up to that either, and probably I would rather focus on my other crafts.

We’ll be spending Christmas 2025 at James and Kelsey’s house. Our daughter will be with us. Life is good, and I wish everyone a peaceful holiday season however you celebrate.

Another Baby Sweater

The purple 100% wool yarn I dyed at fall Fiber Day is the perfect type of yarn for making something on my newish LK-150 flatbed knitting machine. I aspire to make a sweater for myself, but there is not enough purple yarn for that. The yarn is not ideal for a baby sweater, but making another small sweater was good for practicing on the machine.

There are some You Tube videos and patterns for making an easy machine knit sweater. After making the crossover baby sweater, I understood the basics of what to do. Combining information from several sources, I came up with my own “pattern” (so much for just following a pattern). I knit a gauge swatch on the machine, and then using measurements from another pattern, I came up with how many stitches and rows were about right for the front and back, and the sleeves.

I knit a rectangle on the machine for the front, putting waste yarn on the stitches that would be joined to the back at the shoulder, and putting the middle stitches on waste yarn for the neck. It looked way too long! I could have been a dress instead of a sweater. I figured out how many rows long it should be instead, picked up the stitches with a long circular needle at that row, and then frogged out the rows above that. I hand knitted on waste yarn at the shoulders by hand, and put the neck stitches on waste yarn again.

After knitting the back the same size as the improved front, I joined the front and back at the shoulders. For the other baby sweater I did the join on the machine. This time I joined the shoulders using kitchener stitch by hand, the same way I do for finishing off the toes on my circular sock machine socks. It makes a perfect seamless join.

One shoulder joined with kitchener stitch

The sleeves in the other pattern were knit as two separate pieces, and then joined to the body at the side. This time I hung the side of the sweater on the machine and then machine knitted the sleeves directly on, with some decreases and then waste yarn at the cuff.

And voila the machine knitting part was done. The finishing to be done by hand included mattress stitching the side seams and sleeve seam, finishing off the cuffs of the sleeves, and finishing off the neck.

The other sweater I made had the lives stitches at the neck bound off with a back stitch bind off. This time I thought it would look nice to pick up the live stitches onto knitting needles, knit a few rows, and then bind off.

Ready to finish the neck, but there is a hole at the shoulder

Notice there is a weird hole at the top of one sleeve seam at the shoulder. After getting to this point, I realized that the neck opening likely would not fit over my granddaughter’s head. A hat I knit her in about the same weight yarn had 72 stitches around. There are only about 50 stitches in the circumference of this neck, after adding two stitches at each side.

Around this time I happened to see a funny video on Instagram with actress Kristin Bell on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Apparently she is a knitter. She is talking about a sweater she knit where the neck turned out too small, and she could not get it over her head. Every knitter makes mistakes, even celebrities.

I was glad I figured out that the neck was going to be too small before getting any further. After thinking on this problem for a few days I came up with a plan to undo the stitches that made the shoulder join on one side, and then add those live stitches onto the neck. The opening would be bigger and I could put a button on the shoulder.

Undoing the shoulder kitchener stitches was not hard, but then the top of the sleeve was messed up. I kept looking at it trying to figure out how to get it be right. It turned out to be easy to rejoin about 3 shoulder stitches on the sleeve side, and then re knit the entire sleeve. The next photo shows the project with the shoulder stitches adjusted and ready to re-knit on the sleeve.

It did not take long at all to re hang the side of the sweater on the machine and knit on the sleeve over again.

Following is a photo with a couple of rows knitted at the neck, with two button holes and then bound off. I did a backstitch bind off at the end of one sleeve, but did not like it and later changed it. The waste yarn is still on at the cuff of the other sleeve in this photo.

Instead of back stitch bind off on the end of the sleeves, I put the stitches on knitting needles and did a normal bind off.

On our next visit to the Twin Cities, I tried the sweater on Nora. It fit perfectly! I do not think the yarn is machine washable, and it could be a bit scratchy. It looks cute, but probably won’t get much actual use.

After making two small sweaters on the knitting machine, I am feeling comfortable about tackling a sweater for myself. Meanwhile, I will be super busy with holiday preparations and activities, and getting ready for three months in Arizona.

Nome Schoolhouse Weekend

The Nome Schoolhouse is an abandoned school building restored into a retreat and event center, with lodging and a fiber mill. It is located in Nome, North Dakota, about an hour west of Fargo, North Dakota. I wrote a blog post about my first visit there last year with my friend Mary. You can read about the building and that experience here. We had such a great time that we came back this November for two nights with my sister Betsy, and another friend, Mary Lou.

Last fall I had not paid much attention to the town of Nome. This time Mary and I arrived in the afternoon, early enough for a walk while it was still light out. Nome was incorporated in 1901. There were a couple of devastating fires early on, and for many reasons, like other rural areas, there is not much of a town left today. The current population is under 100, and there are only a couple of blocks of houses, with a few about to collapse. We saw one gift shop, but no gas station or grocery store or any other retail businesses. It is kind of sad. On a brighter note, the population has increased since the restoration of the school building and opening of the Nome Schoolhouse.

Following is a photo from the early days of Nome. I should have taken a couple of photos of what it looks like today.

After our walk around town, we checked out the property outside the schoolhouse building. The photo below shows the side of the gymnasium and an addition on the back with the lodging, dining room, and commercial kitchen.

There is a old barn under restoration, and a few fiber animals maintained for educational purposes.

Two alpacas and two sheep were very friendly. A highland mini cow is coming to join the other fiber animals, after it is weaned from its mother. Regular cows do not have wool coats, but, according to this source, the hair on highland cows can be brushed off and spun for a durable yarn.

There have been some changes to the Nome Schoolhouse business since I was there a year ago. Most importantly, one of the two original partners has exited the business. Chris Armbrust is now the sole owner and is forging ahead successfully on her own.

Following are two photos of the “History Room”, set up as a gathering place and work area where we hung out during our stay.

We noticed a few changes in the public rooms. The space in the next photo had previously been an apartment for one of the employees, but is now a common room including a full kitchen stocked with snacks for guests.

The guest rooms are all cozy and decorated with unique themes related to the history of the building or textiles. I did not get any photos other than this cute pillow.

The views outside are beautiful, even with the late fall gray scenery.

There is a sitting area is the hallway with fiber crafting books and comfortable chairs. A coffee station and microwave are located just around the corner.

The large gymnasium is available for event rental. While we were there, a group of ladies with their sewing machines were making pillowcases for a battered women’s shelter. In the photo below my sister is painting at the far end near the big garage door. She had started working outside, but it ended up being too cold and windy.

Our friend Mary Lou is an accomplished knitter, and is now interested in weaving. I brought my rigid heddle loom for her to try it out. There was enough time over the weekend to direct warp a set of two dish towels using cotton yarn, and then weave the entire first towel. She took the loom home to finish the second towel on her own.

Direct warping a set of towels on the rigid heddle loom

Mary does natural dyeing and needle felting.

Wool Mary dyed using natural materials for color

Mary was adding a face to a rabbit she had made years before. She shared this photo of the rabbit and a dog after completing them later at home.

Betsy worked on a couple of oil paintings.

I had brought some knitting projects, but when I was not helping Mary Lou with the weaving, I spent most of my time spinning. I was determined to finish the samples I had started in July for the School of Sweet Georgia “Spinning Up a Level” online class.

I made a lot of progress spinning samples of various thicknesses, and with different combinations of low or high twist in singles or plied yarn.

Samples for School of Sweet Georgia Spinning Up a Level class

We ate dinner in the on site dining room both Friday and Saturday nights. On Friday the restaurant was open to the public. It was not open on Saturday, but as overnight guests we were able to order dinner. Saturday morning the staff asked us if lasagne sounded good for dinner. Yes! Before we were done eating our custom made meal, all the staff in the building left for the day. The four of us were the only people in the entire building until morning. We did not want to leave a mess, so cleared our dishes and left them rinsed in the commercial sink in the kitchen, and got the table ready for use the next day.

Breakfast was included with our room rental. This was not a Super 8 style cereal, muffins and waffles buffet. On Saturday morning the dining room was open to the public with a full breakfast menu. We were told to go ahead and pick out whatever we wanted from the menu. On Sunday morning, we did not have menu options, but were served a huge complete breakfast including crustless quiche, toast, yogurt, and fresh fruit. There was a bowl of homemade granola on the table. It was delicious and way more than my normal breakfast of cereal or oatmeal.

Along with fun art and decorations all over the building related to the history of the school or fiber art, there were a couple of inspirational messages that resonated with our group.

Proprietor Chris stood with us for a slightly blurry selfie.

It was an amazing weekend. We look forward to another overnight visit to the Nome Schoolhouse next fall.

P.S. At the beginning of December, I saw a posting on Facebook of “Walter”, a highland mini cow that now lives at the Nome Schoolhouse.

Top from Hand Woven Fabric

In the summer and fall of 2024 I sewed a skirt for my daughter, using fabric I wove on my four harness floor loom. I wrote about it here.

There was enough fabric left to make a matching top. I started the top project this summer when Britta was visiting, but it took me until fall to finish it.

The leftover fabric included a big rectangle, plus a strip that we had cut off the bottom of the skirt to make it shorter.

Strips of fabric cut off the bottom of the skirt

I envisioned a very simple camisole style top with the fabric wrapped around her bodice, and with an opening at the side or back. I found some plain muslin fabric in my stash to use for a mock up. The next photo shows the first version of how the top could work.

The project turned out to be more of a challenge than it might have been for a couple of reasons. Britta wanted the top to be very fitted, and we only had a short amount of time to work on it together when she was visiting over the summer. I did not want to make button holes in the hand woven fabric. I was not sure what type of closure would work best, that could be adjusted later if I did not get the fit perfect. We decided that the closure should be in the center back.

There were only the three pieces to cut out of the actual fabric (not including the straps), using the mock up pieces as patterns. I sewed them together at the sides, which actually wrapped around to the back. After Britta went back to her home in Oakland, California, I continued working on the top.

Britta’s waist measurement is quite a bit smaller than her upper body measurement, so there was extra fabric at the lower back. Darts would have worked. However I thought that folding some of the fabric up at an angle looked nice, would work well for a fitted look, and there would be less fabric to join at the center back.

I used my serger to finish the edges of the fabric where there was not a selvedge, and then folded it over for a very narrow hem that I hand sewed down.

I was able to get the project to this point without too much trouble. My sister-in-law Yvonne, who lives close to Britta, was visiting a few weeks later. I sent the in progress top home with her, along with a padded envelope so she could mail it back to me after Britta tried it on. Yvonne and Britta facetimed with me for a fitting session. I had a bunch of safety pins holding down the places in the back that were folder over, which allowed them to make adjustments. As it turned out, it was pretty close based on measurements I had taken when Britta was at my house.

It seemed like the most effective type of back closure was corset style lacing. That would allow it to be as tight as desired, and also adjustable if I did not get the measurements perfectly. I found some YouTube videos showing how to make corset style lacing, which involved sewing loops on to a secure base. I also had to find something to use for the laces.

The town of 14,000 near my home does not have any good options for fabric and sewing supplies. Even in the Twin Cities, the options are limited now that Joann Fabrics is gone. On one of our trips to the Cities I looked at Michaels, and at a small upscale fabric store in St Paul, near where my son lives. I bought a couple of ribbon options for ties that could have worked, but I was not thrilled with them.

While all this was happening, I had been experimenting with band weaving on a narrow rigid heddle style loom. I wove a narrow band using the same cottolin yarn that I had used for the woven fabric. I was not sure exactly what I was going to use it for. It could be used for either the loops or the ties, if I did not find something better.

Hand weaving a band using the same yarn as the fabric

The videos on making a corset style closure suggested using something called “rigilene boning”, a flat plastic style of boning that you can sew fabric loops on to. It was supposedly available at Hobby Lobby. I had never shopped there before, but checked it out on another trip to the Cities. It turns out that Hobby Lobby has a decent fabric department, but they did not have the rigilene style of boning. I did find some ribbon options that were the right color, and some cotton fabric for lining the back of the top. I was not sure if Britta would have picked this fabric out, but the colors looked really good with the hand woven fabric, and I liked it a lot.

Supplies for the top in the right colors

I was just winging it at this point trying different things to make the corset back. The videos suggested sewing loops using bias cut strips of satin fabric. I did not want to do that. Instead I made loops by folding 1/4″ yellow ribbon in half and zig zagging it. I thought it would work to sew the loops on to wide grosgrain ribbon, and then sew that on to the lining fabric. The loops wanted to wiggle all over, and when I finally got one loop attached, the ribbon started to rip. That was not going to work.

At this point, I went ahead and ordered the rigilene boning online. The project was delayed again while I waited for that to arrive, and was side tracked by other activities. Once it came and I was mentally ready to tackle this challenge again, I was able to sew the loops on to the very stiff rigiline boning, holding them in place with scotch tape.

I cut the lining fabric to match the shape of the back sections, and ironed on some interfacing that I had from sewing projects many years ago.

The next steps were sewing the strips of boning with the loops attached on to the lining pieces with two rows of straight stitch on the sewing machine, and then sewing the lining pieces on to the actual top.

Adding interfacing and boning to the lining

Sewing the lining on to the back of the top

I sewed the lining edge with the boning on it to the top with one row of zig zag stitch on the sewing machine. I sewed the other three sides down by hand, leaving an opening on the top edge for the straps. Earlier I had sewed the straps on to the front by hand. Now I inserted the straps in between the woven fabric and lining on the back and hand stitched it in place. I did not want to sew it on the machine in case it needed to be adjusted later.

Following are photos of the completed project from the back and front, using the hand woven band for the ties. I am not sure if the bow is supposed to be at the top or the bottom. I have seen it both ways.

I mailed the top to Britta, praying it would not get lost in the USPS along the way. I included some other options for ties that could be used for a different look.

The next photo shows the only scraps that were left of the original woven fabric.

All the fabric that was left after making the skirt and top

Britta sent photos of herself modeling the outfit. Yea, it fits. It is a little wrinkly, but that is the nature of the cotton/linen blend fabric. I think it is a losing battle trying to keep it ironed.

After Britta got the rosemaling tattoo, she was surprised that more people comment on her fish tattoo.

This project turned out to be more of a hassle and take way longer than I expected. I like the way it turned out, and more importantly, and Britta likes it. There is another project I have in the works for some knitted felted slippers where I am having to figure out how to make my idea work. For the foreseeable future, I plan on sticking to projects where I can follow a pattern, and not have to figure something out from scratch. We’ll see how that works out.

Machine Knitting Rabbit Hole

After weaving towels on my Structo Artcraft table loom, I concluded I did not want to keep it. The vintage loom takes up a lot of room, and anything I could make on it can be made on my floor loom. It was in pretty good shape and functional for its age, but had a few minor challenges associated with being old and no longer in production.

I have been enjoying membership in the School of Sweet Georgia, and their online community of “multi craftual makers” who, like the founder Felicia Lo, like to “make all the things”. A recent class offering is Machine Knitting 101, using a basic flatbed knitting machine. I had never been interested in flatbed machine knitting before, but I watched the beginning of the class. The instructor, Barb Barone of Yarniversity by River City Yarns is the Bob Ross of knitting instructors, with a very calm and gentle approach. Suddenly machine knitting became intriguing. One of the reasons people like flat machine knitting is that it takes so darn long to knit a sweater or anything larger than a hat or scarf. I liked the idea of combining hand knitting with machine knitting the tedious parts of a sweater.

In August I had talked to Torri, my friend and weaving mentor in Fergus Falls, about the Structo Artcraft table loom. It turned out that she had two flatbed knitting machines that she was never going to use. She offered to trade me the knitting machines for the loom. They were in boxes and buried behind other stuff in her shop, so she was not sure exactly what models they were. I agreed to the trade without really knowing what I was going to get.

After we got back from our August RV trip out west and I had gotten settled back at home, I went to Torri’s shop to exchange equipment. The loom took up the entire trunk of our Honda CRV with the back seats down. Torri moved things around to make a space for the loom and dug out the knitting machine boxes. They were both four feet long, bigger and heavier than I expected.

My husband was not excited about more things coming into the house. I assured him that if I decided not to keep either of the knitting machines, I would pass them on to someone else. I was able to move the smaller box into the house by myself and put it on the dining room table, but needed Wayne’s help to carry the larger one inside to another table in our three season porch.

I was excited to open the boxes, to find out what I now owned. The smaller box contained a vintage metal Silver SK-120 Kantan Bulky flatbed knitting machine. The machine was a little dusty but it appeared that all the parts were there. I was able to find a user manual online.

The second very large box contained a double bed White Technique Brevets Mondiaux, made in France, also metal. I found out later it was manufactured under several names, and is also known as a “Supurba”. The “double” means that it can do ribbing and more complicated patterns. It has more needles closer together for thin yarn. It looks very intimidating. This also seemed to have all the parts, including the user manual and some cassette tapes. Hmm, I do not think we have a cassette tape player.

There is an electric attachment used for making fancy patterns.

I was able to assemble the simpler SK-120 machine by referring to the user manual. With my experience using a circular sock machine, and watching the beginning of the School of Sweet Georgia class, I understood the basics of how it worked.

Some of the needles were rusty, or maybe just had gunk accumulated on them. Internet tips for cleaning the needles included steel wool and soaking them in Marvel Mystery Oil.

Getting bits or rust off the knitting machine needles

More importantly, the “spongebar”, a metal channel with some kind of sponge or felt in it that is needed for the machine to work, was completely disintegrated. It is normal for this part to wear out and need to be replaced. I found out that this particular model of machine has a unique shape of spongebar that is not compatible with other brands and models currently in production. Darn. After a lot of searching online unsuccessfully for replacement options, I was getting frustrated. I finally found one site that offered a product, but they were out of stock. I called the number and they did have one after all, so I was in luck.

I was able to get the original sponge bar out of the SK-120 pretty easily.

The “sponge bar” removed from the machine

The “sponge” part of the sponge bar was completely disintegrated

I spent an entire afternoon cleaning out the track of the SK-120 sponge bar. I used a narrow screwdriver to dig out the gunk from inside the narrow metal track, and then I used toothpicks and goo-gone to get out as much of any remaining stuff still stuck on the bottom and sides.

The replacement piece of felt for the sponge bar came in the mail, and Wayne helped me figure out how to get it inside the narrow track.

Strip of felt to be inserted inside the metal track

We had to pry the opening in the track a little wider. After trying different methods of getting the felt into the track, I found that it worked to just push it in from the top once the opening was wide enough.

Once the felt was in the track, the track had to be inserted back into the machine, over the needles. First I had to pound the metal track with a hammer to get it to the original width, and then it was kind of banged up. It did not want to go back in the opening.

Trying to get the sponge bar back in the machine

I got it in a few inches and then it was just stuck. I was able to inch it forward into the space by hitting it with the hammer repeatedly.

Tap tap tap to get the sponge bar all the way in

I got the sponge bar completely back inside the machine, but I do not think anyone will ever get it out of there again. This is a problem. I think that if you need to replace a needle, you have to remove the sponge bar in order to get the needles out. The next photo is the SK-120 knitting machine ready to go with clean needles and the sponge bar replaced.

I was able to get the machine to knit a couple of small samples.

Weights are used to keep the knitting down while making stitches, like the circular sock machine.

More samples shown with weights used when knitting

Some of the needles did not slide in and out easily to form stitches. I felt like I was fighting with the machine. That is not what I had in mind.

There is a shop about two hours from me, The Knitshop at Rocking Horse Farm, that specializes in machine knitting, both flatbed and circular. I have been there a number of times for sock machine crank-in’s and a fiber festival. I have seen flatbed knitting machines in use there, but again, was not interested at the time. I talked to them about both of these vintage machines, and found out a couple of things that were discouraging. First, they have several of the SK-120 machines in their back room that no one wants because it is too hard to get a replacement sponge bar. I had been thinking maybe I could trade this vintage machine for a newer used model, but they do not want another one of these. Secondly, they said that the more complicated machine has a different cast on method than most other machines and they they could not help me.

I did a lot of research online for any information on either of the machines. I found an online group of machine knitters based in the Twin Cities, and reached out to them to see if anyone knew anything about either of these machines. Someone responded right away. She said that the cast on for the White/Superba machine is not different. She directed me to some instructional videos for that machine and invited me to their monthly zoom get together. As in other things, once you get interested, you find other people doing whatever the thing is.

While concluding that I did not want the bulky machine after all, I was online looking at information from the Knitshop at Rocking Horse Farm. They sell LK-150 knitting machines, which is the basic knitting machine used in the School of Sweet Georgia class. I also found some other sites online with instruction on this particular machine.

After discussing with Torri, she said she would take the SK-120 machine back. She was not planning on knitting garments, but was interested in using it for art projects, possibly trying to knit with wire.

While this was all going on, I was needed for some grandparenting in St. Paul. My son was in his last week of paternity leave in the middle of October. His wife had to go on another business trip, and Blair was not feeling well. I was happy to help out. After a few days in St Paul, I stopped at Rocking Horse Farm on the way back home.

Wayne was a little rattled when I got home with a brand new Silver Reed LK-150 machine, and now there were three knitting machines in the house. I assured him that one of them was going back to Torri. I plan on keeping the complicated double bed machine for now, until a future time when I am ready to figure it out. After that I can get rid of it, or not.

The next photo shows the new LK-150 machine. It is plastic, which contributes to the reasonable price and lighter weight. It is also not as durable, but still gets very good reviews, and is recommended for a beginner machine. It is designed for medium weight yarn, but can also knit bulky yarn on every other needle. This type of machine, as with the SK-120, does not do ribbing. You can do a band of ribbing by undoing knit stitches and redoing them into purl stitches by hand, or you can add rows of ribbing by hand to live stitches after taking the knitting off the machine.

I knit the following sample to practice casting on and off, increases and decreases, and making eyelets, using some yucky acrylic practice yarn. It is hard to see what is going on in the self striping yarn.

One of the beginning patterns included with the School of Sweet Georgia class is a bias scarf, where you knit an increase on one end and a decrease at the other end of every other row. I had one ball of some 100% wool that I bought at Joann Fabrics last winter. It was pretty and soft, but also inexpensive and good for practicing. I tried the bias pattern with fewer stitches across since I only had one ball. The easiest increase method makes a loop down that side of the scarf, which can be a design feature or maybe not the best depending on what you are making.

The fabric made with all stockinette stitches curls a little at the sides, which you can see on the back of the scarf.

I made it into a cowl by joining the live ends on the machine, using instructions from a different pattern.

The join looks nice and flat on the knit side of the fabric. The back has a small ridge, that can be seen in the photo above. I probably won’t wear this scarf, but it was good practice.

For my next practice project I found a beginner baby sweater pattern online. I bought some cheap acrylic yarn at Walmart to make this sweater for my granddaughter. I seem to be very into purple lately.

The back is just a square, the fronts are two triangles made by doing doing decreases up one side, and the sleeves are rectangles with some increases on each side.

Following is what the project looked like after I knit each of the five sections, and then using the machine, joined the shoulder seams together, and the sleeves to the body.

Finishing the sweater involved hand joining the side and sleeve seams using mattress stitch, knitting I cord ties on the machine, and weaving in many many ends. There were 18 ends to weave in, not including a few more that were created when I did the hand joining of the sides. The joins on the machine at the shoulders and top of the sleeves seemed a little bulky to me.

I did not do a gauge swatch, since this was just practice. After knitting all the sections I determined that I was getting the expected stitches per inch, but more rows per inch than the pattern gauge. That meant that the number of rows the pattern said to knit resulted in a shorter length than intended, relative to the width. So this is a three quarter sleeve length bolero sweater haha.

The next time I was in St. Paul, I tried the sweater on my granddaughter. It was a little big around, and the sleeves were a bit too short, but it was wearable. It made a nice outfit over a Halloween onesie with no pants.

I aspire to knit a sweater for myself. Normally I like a top down circular pattern for a sweater, which results in less seaming and fewer ends to weave in. Knitting a sweater on the machine involves making flat panels that have to be stitcher together. It is possible to do the top of a sweater in the round, and then knit the body of the same sweater on the machine. Or knit the main pieces from the bottom up and then continue knitting the top by hand. It will be fun to experiment with different methods.

Maybe I have too many things to work on and figure out now, but now is when I have time, space and ability. I do not have to do everything at once. And I have to remind myself it is OK for our activities to evolve over time, as we move forward in our life.

Socktober

In the knitting world, October is known as Socktober. It’s a good time for me to share updates about my sock machine journey.

My last post about socks was in July, for team color socks I cranked for my husband. I was busy the rest of the summer with other crafts and activities. After getting back in the groove this fall, I cranked out more pairs of socks, including some in other team colors.

After making two pairs of purple and gold Minnesota Vikings color socks, I left them sitting on the coffee table when we went out of town. Our son and daughter-in-law arrived at our house for a visit shortly before we got back home. Our granddaughter, Blair, found the socks and decided to model them. The following photo reminds me of those reels where supermodels are wearing goofy outfits that no one would really wear.

Modeling two pairs of Vikings color socks

I cranked a pair for myself using Sweet Georgia Tough Love sock yarn in a variegated purple color. Wayne and I both wore our socks while watching a Minnesota Vikings football game.

I cranked some Green Bay Packers socks for my daughter-in-law, and for her dad.

On the second sock of the second pair of Packers socks, I got to the end of the cone of green yarn nine rows before it was time to start the yellow heel. I had another skein of green yarn, but the color was different. I consulted with Wayne about whether to add nine rows of white, use the non matching green, or switch to yellow nine rows before the yellow toe. No matter what, the socks were not going to match. We agreed that switching to yellow was best. They ended up as quirky Packers socks. In the photo below you can see that the sock on the bottom has less green and more yellow at the toe than the other sock.

James and Kelsey are a mixed team family. They modeled their Vikings and Packers socks while watching Sunday afternoon football.

My daughter’s boyfriend is a Los Angeles Chargers fan, so I cranked him a pair of socks with the appropriate colors. They are also a mixed couple. Isaac loves football, and Britta does not care about football. I made her a pair of non football team color socks, that coordinated with the pair for Isaac.

Following is a photo of my sister while on a camping and hiking vacation in Canada, wearing socks I cranked for her.

Last winter Wayne made me a small sock machine table to use in our RV and when going to crank-in’s. It was a little tippy, the piece of wood used for the work surface was slightly warped, and the legs tended to come loose, but it worked for the purpose. I have a better table I use in the house. When I was moving things around in my work area at home, the hardware on one of the legs of the small CSM table completely broke off.

It was time for a new table, that I would need in time for an October crank-in and to bring to Arizona in the winter. When reviewing ideas for portable sock machine tables, one option seemed to be pretty popular among crankers. It was a no-brainer to use a foldable workbench base from Home Depot, rather than reinventing the wheel.

While checking for the product online, I assumed it would be available at my local Home Depot store. Instead, options were free delivery to the store, or to my house. Deliver free to my house? Sure. I got a notice on the day of delivery with tracking information. The product was sourced in Ohio, and from there went to Mauston, WI, then to Rogers, MN, and on to to Fargo, ND. From there it was placed in the delivery truck to our house, which is an hour from Fargo. I don’t know whether it is better for the environment to pick it up in town or have it delivered, but that is another topic.

Following is a photo of the Home Depot workbench assembled and with my sock machine clamped on. The top is two pieces of wood that can slide to different positions.

The new portable CSM table was ready to bring to a crank-in at the Knitshop at Rocking Horse Farm in St. Cloud, Minnesota. That is about two hours from my house, on the way to the Twin Cities. They have crank-ins three times a year. I went to this same event one year ago to observe, and the next day I ordered my Erlbacher circular sock machine.

There is a couple with 30 years of circular sock machine experience who attend the Rocking Horse Farm crank-ins. Deb and Pete Oswald are gurus in the sock machine world. If you do any research online you will find their names. Pete restores old machines and is an expert at making fine tune adjustments. He did some tinkering on my CSM ribber attachment.

Pete Oswald making adjustments to my ribber attachment, with Deb in the background

Pete and Deb were willing to stand with me for a photo.

Pete and Deb Oswald with me at Rocking Horse Farm

Deb is known for her “Fast and Easy Heal” method that is available online. She demonstrated how to made a knitted pumpkin during the crank-in. I made one using orange acrylic waste yarn that was offered to me.

Wayne ran some errands in St. Cloud, hung out at a golf course, and kept busy until the crank-in was over. We continued on from there to St. Paul for a grandchildren fix over the weekend. My knitted pumpkin is displayed on our son’s front porch.

After that weekend Wayne made a new top for the workbench base using a piece of wood in the basement, and with a cutout like my other travel CSM table that broke.

Home Depot workbench table with a better top

In other sock machine news, the School of Sweet Georgia is offering an online beginner circular sock machine (CSM) class. Over the summer after launching their new online community, the founder Felicia Lo asked if anyone in the community wanted to be available to review and proof patterns before publication. I was a little intimidated, but added my name to the list, knowing that I could choose which projects to help with. Felicia reached out to me and another person about reviewing the new sock machine class workbook and patterns. I was up for that! We received a link to some PDF files, which I printed out on paper.

Following is the cover of the workbook, which looks amazing. Felicia has an Erlbacher sock machine, the same kind as mine.

Cover of the School of Sweet Georgia CSM class workbook

I read through all the information carefully, and actually did all the things as instructed in the workbook. Felicia used a slightly different method for doing heels than I had been using. I liked it better and am now doing my heels that way, resulting in fewer dropped stitches.

I did not find any mistakes per se in the workbook. However as a newer cranker, I noticed some things that were confusing or could be more clear. I typed up a document and sent it back to Felicia, with detailed notes and comments, specific points that could be added, and other observations based on my experience. Later Felicia shared a revised PDF that included many of my suggestions, and I got credit on the last page of the pattern! Following is a photo of the front of the starter sock pattern, followed by a snapshot of the last page with my name in the credits.

Back page of the starter sock pattern, with my name under content review

In conjunction with Socktober, Felicia interviewed Grayson Erlbacher, the general manager at Erlbacher Knitting Machines. She talks about the history of sock machines going back to the late 1800’s, and how her father’s gear business got involved in manufacturing them. It is quite interesting, even if you do not know anything about knitting or sock machines. You can listen to the interview on youtube here.

I received my CSM in November of 2024, just under a year ago. I have come a long way since then, as evidenced by the pile of practice knitting and fails shown below.

Last fall I was trying to decide if I could justify buying a circular sock machine. I decided to go for it, and I am so happy I did. There was a learning curve as expected, but it has been a fun journey with many blessings.

Fiber Day Weekend 2025

I always look forward Fiber Day at Northcroft farm, which happens twice a year about 15 miles from my house. The Ellison’s invite fiber lovers to their sheep farm for a day of crafting and socializing with old and new friends. Sometimes I end up going by myself. This time my sister and two friends came for the weekend to hang out and attend the event with me. My sister Betsy does not do any fiber craft these days, but she has been plein air painting. It is a great setting for that, and she likes to be with the people. Mary Lou and Deb are big knitters.

It is good to plan activities for Fiber Day that I do not get around to at home, or that I do not have the supplies or equipment for. I enjoy spinning, and my spinning wheel is conveniently sitting in the living room ready for me. I have not been using it regularly at home, so I like to bring my wheel to Fiber Day where I have a chunk of time without interruptions.

I bought my Lendrum spinning wheel around 20 years ago. The man in Canada who has been making them for over 40 years retired. This summer I realized I should order some replacement parts while they are still available. While I was checking online, I noticed that in addition to drive bands, there were replacement connector pieces for where the “footman” connects to the “treadles”. I ordered those too, plus the recommended special kind of screwdriver needed to replace the connector pieces.

Replacement parts for my Lendrum spinning wheel

What do you know, a few weeks later one of those connector parts broke in half.

Before ordering the new parts, I had not noticed how yellow and crackly the original pieces were.

I was able to get the old pieces off and the new ones on using the special screwdriver, so the wheel should be good to go for another 20 years, which is probably longer than I will physically be able to spin.

I have been working on spinning up a hand dyed Malabrigo 100% merino wool combed top that I bought at the Yarnery in St. Paul. At the time I did not need anything else to spin, but I have heard it said that buying craft supplies is a different hobby than doing the craft. I worked on it for awhile, but it had gone on the back burner while I worked on other spinning projects.

Commercial combed top comes very densely packed, and requires some time and effort to get it loosened up enough to spin. A year ago at Fiber Day I had the brilliant idea (not) to run some of it through the drum carder to made it easier to spin.

Nube 100% Merino combed top from Malabrigo

This turned out to be a learning experience in color theory. All the pretty colors blended together and turned into grayish tan. Oops, not what I had intended.

Wool combed top before and after carding

In the photo below is half of the original braid spun up on one bobbin, and a bit of the blended braid on the other bobbin. Fortunately, most of the second half of the original braid is left. It will probably be ages before I finish spinning it, and then plying the two singles together into a two ply yarn.

Dyeing is a good activity to do at Fiber Day, since it is something that I am not inclined to do at home. I had purchased five balls of white Brown Sheep Company 100% wool worsted weight yarn at a thrift store for $3.00 each. I wound them all into skeins in preparation for dyeing at fall Fiber Day.

A few weeks ago I watched an online School of Sweet Georgia class on dyeing a batch of yarn all the same color. Felicia at the School of Sweet Georgia has a background in chemistry, and was a Pharmacist before she started her business. Her class emphasized accurate measuring of fiber and dye, and record keeping of exactly what you did. That appeals to me, and that is what I would do if I was planning on getting supplies and setting up a space for dyeing at home.

I tried to dye yarn at home once years ago, before there was good instruction online. I purchased an electric burner that I could plug in outside on my back patio, and found a big stock pot. I guess the burner was not powerful enough, as it could not keep the water hot enough. I did not have a good experience, and in general decided I would rather do dyeing projects where someone else has the right equipment and knows what they are doing, like when I did the self striping sock yarn class at Rocking Horse Farm.

At Fiber Day, the first step was to soak my white yarn in some clean water.

I had not decided what color to use until the last minute. There was a color card so you could see what the colors were supposed to be. I picked a color called Hibiscus, that was a pretty lavender.

A helper person who was monitoring the dye pots told me how much dye to put in a large pot of water ready to go on the open fire, based on my 16 ounces total of yarn.

The yarn simmered in the pot for about a half hour, and then the helper person removed it for me and hung the skeins on a drying rack.

It was a lot darker than I expected or wanted, but being that I did not have any real plan for the yarn it was OK. The photo below shows some wool that another person dyed using the same color that is more like what I was going for.

Later in the afternoon I told Joanie Ellison how much dye I had used, in order to figure out how much money to pay for supplies. She was surprised, and said the correct amount was one forth of what I had used. Oh No! No wonder it came out dark.

Back at home I rinsed the skeins of yarn out with fresh water about 10 times, but never got the water to run clear. I finally give up after there was only a bit of dye coming out.

Using the Ellison’s picker and big electric drum carder to prepare fiber for spinning is another good Fiber Day activity. I have more carded batts and rolags than I can spin any time soon, so that was not on my to-do list this time. I was able to give Mary Lou some guidance on using both pieces of equipment, including not catching and ripping her shirt while using the picker (speaking from experience).

The wool picker in the foreground, the big drum carder in the background

Mary Lou picked and carded some wool she had received after helping at shearing day. She hopes to learn how to spin it. I sent my smaller non electric drum carder home with her to the Twin Cities so she can card the rest of the wool at her leisure.

A batt Mary Lou carded on the drum carder

A group of string musicians had a jam session on the deck.

Betsy worked on two different plein air oil paintings behind the house.

Following is a photo of the painting that was more complete, and that I really like.

There were supplies and instructions on hand for “painting” a crinkly silk scarf. Mary Lou made one that was in progress in the selfie photo below of Betsy, me, Mary Lou, and Joanie Ellison.

Mary Lou’s scarf started out with multiple shades of blue. After taking the scarf home while still wet, she forgot about it and all the colors blended together. I still think it is very pretty.

The weather was unusually warm for late September in Minnesota. Betsy and Mary Lou went swimming at the cabin beach! Deb and I declined that opportunity, as we were sure the water was quite cold. It is barely warm enough for me in July.

We had dinner outside on our lakeside deck.

Everyone seemed to have a nice relaxing weekend. I am not sure what I am going to do with the purple yarn, but it is the right thickness for my new flatbed knitting machine that I have not written about yet. Stay tuned.