Yarns from the Lake

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.

Sister Sweaters

Last winter when we were in Arizona, I worked on knitting two child size sweaters. The first one was for our granddaughter born in April. The second one was for her older sister, who is about 22 months older. I thought it would be fun for the girls to have matching sweaters.

I also wanted the baby size sweater to match a pair of cotton print pants I had made for my daughter when she was a baby. I have no idea what size they are. I had knit a baby sweater for granddaughter Blair that matched the pants, but the sweater turned out very small, and I thought the pants were for a bigger child. I forgot about it, and by the time we had Blair try them on when she was about 10 months old they were capris instead of pants.

Blair at 10 months old wearing the too small pants

I came up with the plan of sister sweaters last December when I was assembling yarn and supplies for knitting projects to work on in Arizona. I found the following 100% merino wool yarn at Tangles to Treasures in Fergus Falls. The colors matched the little pants and there was enough for both sweaters.

I had a top down pattern on hand that I liked, with two buttons on the girls version. Click here for a link to the Wee Cardi pattern from Big Bad Wool on Ravelry.

I started with the smaller sweater, casting on for a size six months. Since the baby was due in the spring, she would be more likely to wear a sweater in the fall.

I did not make a swatch or check the gauge, until I got done with the raglan yoke increases. It did not really matter exactly what the final measurements were. However when I got to the body section after putting the sleeve stitches on holders, I measured the gauge I was getting. The pattern said to knit for 4 1/2″, but I was getting more stitches per inch than the pattern, so the length would not be in proportion to the width, based on the number of stitches.

I used double pointed needles for the sleeves. Since my gauge was a little different, I tried to adjust the number of sleeve rows. There were a few decreases, but I thought the sleeves looked very big around. There also seemed to be a mistake in the pattern, so that if you followed exactly what it said the sleeve would be way too long. Or maybe I misread the pattern. Given all of that, I was close to finished with the first sleeve when I decided to rip it out and start over, with more decrease rows spread out evenly, and ending up with a narrower sleeve and more reasonable overall length. The front band was knitted on after picking up stitches along the center front.

Finished with the sleeve and ready to start the front band

Following is a photo of the smaller sweater after the knitting was done, but before I wove in all the ends. Torri had used the same yarn to knit a sweater for her mom. She told me that when she tried to block it, it got all stretched out. That got me worried as I have had a bad experience before with blocking a sweater. Later she said that after washing it in the washing machine it was all good.

I wove in all the ends, but decided to wait until I got home to block the sweater in my washing machine there, instead of in the laundromat at the 55+ Resort where we were staying.

For the second sweater I cast on for size three. Blair is at the top of the growth chart, and by fall she would be over two years old.

Working on the toddler size sweater at Roosevelt Lake in Arizona

When I got to the sleeves on the second sweater I figured out how to do magic loop with a long connector cord. I do not like using double pointed needles, as I find they are sticking out all over, get caught on things, and I am prone to accidentally pulling a needle out of the stitches by mistake when I am supposed to be grabbing the empty needle. I should have been able to figure it out on the bandana/cowl knit for my sister, but for some reason I had a mental block about it that time.

I finished all the knitting on the second sweater towards the end of March in Arizona. I worked on weaving in ends and sewing the buttons on in the car on the way back home. The top button seems a little too close to the top, and the second button too close to the top button. It was too late to change the placement of the buttons since the button holes were knitted in to the front band. Or maybe it is never too late, but I was not going to re-do the front band. They will just be quirky sweaters.

Following is a photo of the two sweaters after blocking.

In the spring when Nora was born, the six months size sweater was too big, and Blair was not into sweaters or jackets. Even when it seemed cold outside to me, she was fighting anyone trying to wrestle her into one, or taking it off if you got one on. Then it was summer and there was no need for sweaters.

We went to their house recently for a few days to help out our son with the girls. Kelsey was on maternity leave all summer, but went back to work in September. James is on leave now for about six weeks. He is a very capable parent, but right after Kelsey went back to work, she had to go on a work trip. James had agreed to do a couple of work tasks that were easier for him to do than to show someone else. We were happy to help.

While we were at their house I found the sweaters I had finished in the spring. I was not sure if they were the right sizes, or if Blair would be willing to put hers on. I was very surprised when Blair saw the sweater on the coffee table, and attempted to put it on over her pajamas. The colors matched and it fit reasonably well, if not a little big. I was very relieved that it was not too small.

The nice thing about five month old babies is you can dress them up however you want.

I put the infant sized sweater on Nora, with the flowered pants. The sweater was a little big, and the pants were a little small, and the patterns are a bit much together, but the outfit works.

Blair was willing to put her sweater on again for a photo with Nora the next morning. Yay! They look cute. Not sure how much use the sweaters will get, but I had fun knitting and photographing them.

RV Trip Part 2 – the Tetons

This post is about the second part of our RV vacation with friends in August. I wrote about the first eight days in Yellowstone National Park here. This all seems like ages ago now.

After leaving our campsite near West Yellowstone, we drove south to the Tetons for four nights. Two of the four couples in the group had a different itinerary and were on their own by then. Harvey and Glenda moved with us on Friday, August 22, to Gros Ventre Campground inside Grand Teton National Park. There is also a road, a wilderness area and a mountain range with the same name. It is French, so we were not sure whether the locals pronounce it the French way, or an Americanized way. Some people were saying it like “Grose Ventrey”. The camp host pronounced it the French way, sounding like “Grow Vont”.

This campground has electric hookup only, like the campground in West Yellowstone. We were only going to be there for four nights, so the amount of water in the fresh water tank was less of a worry. The campsites had cottonwood trees rather than pine trees, and varied in size. We both ended up in campsites that were smaller than we had hoped for that were a challenge to back into.

Harvey and Glenda arrived and got set up early enough to head into Jackson Hole for a night on the town. Being Friday evening, there were many people out and about. Glenda reported that the most common attire for women she saw was a skimpy outfit with cowboy boots and a cowboy hat. Apparently I did not bring the right clothes. We stayed at the campground, as we had arrived later and needed time to get settled.

After we had been there a couple of nights, we shook our heads as the biggest fifth wheel trailer ever arrived after dark, and tried to back into what seemed like a too small spot across from us. There were multiple people in their party outside directing, with many loud shouts of STOP. They made it into the space eventually. Wayne said they had an accessory called a “slider hitch” for right angle backing in, otherwise I do not think it would have been possible.

The Shoshone people had a name for this area that meant “many pinnacles”. In the early 1800’s French trappers noticed the three largest peaks, and what came to their mind was “Les trois tétons”, or in English, the three breasts. In the 1880’s white people settled in the area. Grand Teton National Park was formed in 1929, encompassing the major peaks of the Teton Range and the Jackson Hole valley.

Saturday, August 23

Now that the RV fresh water tank was full again, I was able to take a (short) shower. The cell service was even worse at this place, but the camp bathroom was nicer. It was very clean, and had actual flush toilets and a sink with running water. Harvey and Glenda and Wayne and I spent the day touring together.

Our first stop was a historic log style Episcopal church known as Chapel of the Transfiguration. With gorgeous views of the Teton mountains from inside and outside the building, it is popular for weddings and photography.

Next on the agenda was Menor’s Ferry and General Store, just across the way from the chapel. In the early 1900’s Bill Menor operated a store, and a ferry service across the Snake River. Bill’s store was painted with whitewash from his brother Holiday’s lime-kiln. Apparently Bill did not have a pleasant attitude. Holiday was known to say “My Partner’s Mean, but I’m Menor”.

On the way to Colter Bay Village, we had lunch at a lake shore picnic area. Colter Bay Village on Jackson Lake is a big complex with lodging, camping, a visitor center, hiking trails, stores, a marina, boating and more. We went on a boat ride on Jackson Lake. The views were beautiful despite some haze from a wildfire to the south. The naturalist on board shared a lot of interesting information about the lake and area. I did not write anything down, but I remember she said that because Wyoming does not have any food production, water from Jackson Lake provides irrigation to Idaho in exchange for food produced there. Depending on the weather conditions, the level of the lake can change drastically. We cruised fairly close to the highest peak of the Teton range, stopping for a photo opportunity. The naturalist talked about hiking trails on the mountain, and a current problem of a porcupine frightening hikers camping overnight. The porcupine has been stealing shoes from campers. As of the time of our boat cruise, at least 50 shoes had been reported missing.

After the boat ride we headed back to the campground, seeing some elk on the way. I took a photo of the pretty view, but it does not have any elk in it.

There was a ranger program in the evening by a NASA employee talking about the James Webb Space Telescope that was launched in December 2021, and the Hubble Space Telescope launched in 1990, including a slide show. She had a job working directly with the James Webb telescope and was super enthusiastic about the latest discoveries and shared many cool photos on a huge screen.

Sunday, August 24

We spent the day on our own. The first stop was Morman Row historic district, a Mormon settlement beginning in the late 1800’s. At one point there were 27 homesteads, with families working communally. Some of the houses and barns are still standing. As everywhere, the views were beautiful and I can understand why they wanted to settle there. In the end the conditions were too harsh.

There was a group of plein air painters there, or painting outside. My sister has been learning oil painting and spending a lot of time plein air painting, so I had to share the information on this group with her.

The next stop was Cunningham’s Cabin, an Appalachian style log cabin built in the 1880’s. After looking at the cabin, we walked over to check out some horses that were grazing nearby.

The next point of interest for the day was Craig Thomas Discovery & Visitor Center, also known as “Moose Entrance”. We looked around at the displays and watched an educational movie. Later we saw an actual moose off the road. Any photos would have been a brown blob, so instead here is a photo from one of the displays inside the visitor center.

Dinner was eaten at the RV again, followed by another ranger talk. This one was about animals in the park, including beavers. Beavers are the second largest rodents weighing up to 110 pounds. Beaver dams contribute to the formation of necessary wetlands. They were almost extinct at the end of the 1800’s due to the popularity of the Top Hat. Top Hats worn by gentleman were made out of felted beaver pelts. The production process used mercury, resulting in many workers being poisoned, thus the term “mad as a hatter”.

The Wikipedia article about Top Hats had the following photo.

Monday, August 25

We spent the day with Harvey and Glenda. Wayne is a big fisherman, so at his request the first stop was the Jackson National Fish Hatchery. Inside there were tanks with native cutthroat trout at various stages of life, before being released into various Wyoming lakes and streams. I did not get any photos inside the building. The tour we had there was by a guy who is actually a bear expert. Harvey ended up telling him about the time he and Wayne helped with a rescue after a Grizzly Bear attack in Glacier National Park in the 1970’s. We have all heard this story too many times.

After the Fish Hatchery, Glenda requested that we stop at the National Museum of Wildlife Art that we had passed by a couple of times. The back of the outside of the building was very unique and cool.

The back of the National Museum of Wildlife Art

There were many paintings, plus a display of fiber art. I liked this felted bison.

There was a display about Carl Rungius, an early plein air painter of wildlife, so I had to take photos for my sister.

The next destination was at my request, “Knit on Purl” yarn shop in Jackson Hole. The shop was originally on Purl street. It is on a different street now, but they kept the clever name. I bought some hand dyed sock yarn in colors inspired by the Tetons, and another skein in a plain pretty shade of gold.

After Glenda and I were done at the yarn shop, we all went to the Teton Village ski resort to look around, and go on the Tram ride to the top of the ski hill. There was a discussion about whether we would be able to see anything since the wildfire smoke had gotten progressively worse each day. There were many mountain bikers using the ski hills and the chair lift. There were special hooks on the chair lift to carry bikes up the hill. We decided to go for it. Despite the haze, the view was amazing from the top of the mountain.

There is a small restaurant at the top that specialized in waffles, of all things. We had to get a waffle and beverage.

After the tram ride it was time for an early dinner at Snake River Brewing in Jackson Hole.

Tuesday, August 26

We checked out of Gros Ventre campground at about 11:30 am, after waiting in line to use the dump station. We headed east through Wyoming. I brought sandwiches to eat lunch on the road.

Stopping for dinner while towing the RV requires finding a place with a big parking lot, or open space nearby. There are long stretches with no services in Wyoming, but we ended up finding the “Cowboy Bar & Grill” in a town called Buffalo. As we were leaving, I spotted a building across the way that caught my eye. It was a fiber mill! The “Mountain Meadow Mill” advertised 100% American made products from Wyoming grown wool, a giftshop, and tours of the mill. I would have loved to see the place but it was closed for the day.

The weather was conducive to sleeping in the RV for the night, but we had a stressful time searching online trying to find a camping place that seemed right. Finally we located a place called Bighorn View RV Campground that was off of Interstate 90 east of Buffalo, Wyoming. It was starting to get dark out, and we were not sure we were going the right way as there were no signs, and we were directed down a side road in the middle of nowhere. We arrived to a big parking lot with campsites marked off with full hookups stations, just in time for a beautiful sunset. There were not many other trailers there, so we picked a spot off to the side and had plenty of space. We connected to electricity, but kept the truck attached to the RV and did not open the slides. There were two very nice portable bathrooms with showers across the parking lot. The price was only $50 including tax, so we will make note of this place for future reference.

Wednesday, August 27

We pulled out first thing in the morning for the last leg of this RV trip, driving all day across the rest of Wyoming, South Dakota, and into Minnesota. After stopping to get a few groceries in Fergus Falls, we made it home late in the evening. It was a successful and memorable trip. It was also good to sleep in our own bed after two weeks.

There are no more big vacations scheduled at this time, but after a week home we went down to the Twin Cities for a few days to help out with the grandchildren. Kelsey went back to work full time after being on maternity leave all summer. James began six weeks of full time parenting right after Labor Day. One day after starting work, Kelsey had to go on a short work trip. At the same time. James had agreed to do some work tasks that that were easier for him to do himself than to train someone else. We were happy to do grandparenting duty. Now we are back home and summer is over. Although we are having a stretch of warm days, it feels like fall. I am looking forward to having time at home to crank more socks, and weave on my floor loom again. First I have to finish a couple of projects I started in the middle of summer.