Mad Scientist at work....

~ actually, a very happy unscientific girl at work! :)  Managed to find some time yesterday and dyed two 100g lots of fleece. I used the same colour but in two different ways. I like both and have decided that I will card each of these separately and then ply them together. I'll dye another two 100g lots in the same manner, but next time I'll card the whole 200g together and see how it differs. It's going to be fun and I have lots of fleece to play with. :)

Raw fleece still in the bag from the shepherd.

Dripping out the excess water.

Fleece is dry & so fluffy.

100g of beautiful colour!

Same colour ~ different technique!

I love both ways and can't wait to see how this stuff looks in the carded batts and then spun up into yarn. Need more time in my days!

Til later...happy knitting & spinning!

I'm off to a birthday party for our youngest granddaughter. She's turning one and getting to be so active.

Winter Storm

We've had very little snow this winter ~ in fact, we've been covered in ice & mud for most of it. But yesterday we got a good snowfall. Big fluffy flakes, falling fast and staying! Took the littles outside for some fun in the snow. Snow angels were made & snowflakes were tasted. It wasn't too cold either. It was the kind of snowfall where you could hear the flakes falling. And the only other sound was the snowplows in the distance. My kind of afternoon. I love winter!!

Mind you, by the time they had been out for an hour, they were soaked through. But a lovely time was had by all. :)

Til later...happy knitting & spinning!

Just because...

I'm playing with the design of my blog just because I can. :)

Going to be starting some dyeing experiments in the next few days. I'll be posting the results as I go. I love playing "mad scientist"!!

Til later...happy knitting & spinning!

Family day...

It's family day here in Ontario. A holiday for families to have a chance to spend some quality time together. We're headed to our local community center. They're hosting a Family Day/Volunteer Appreciation Day! Horse drawn wagon rides, skating, some log sawing & rolling competitions, hotdogs & hot chocolate. Sounds like fun! Afterwards we'll head into the city and have a nice meal with the munchkins! Enjoy your time with your family, even if it's not a holiday for you. Take care!

( This is a picture of a good portion of my family taken at Thanksgiving 2011)

Inspiration...

After watching Rita Buchanan & Deb Menz perform their magic on fiber ~ I love how these two ladies are so talented and yet so laid back in their manner, I was itching to get playing with my fiber. It's been too long. I had some romney locks that I had dyed last fall. The tips were weak and I thought that they would be perfect to comb. And while I ended up with beautiful fiber to spin, I didn't enjoy how hard it was on the back of my one hand. Not sure if it was because I was doing something wrong, but my hand is still sore three days later. Not fun. But here's some picks of the process. Haven't taken a picture yet of the skein that I spun up on Saturday. I am happy with the yarn and it will go into mittens along with some green romney that I processed on the drum carder and spun up yesterday. Still need to ply it with the natural grey that had been on the wheel since last fall. Maybe today. :)

Til later...happy spinning & knitting! Gina.

With love from our girls...

Papa Bear & I went for a walk around our village last evening ~ the weather was so pleasant. When we returned home we were greeted with this sight...compliments of our three girls. Love you Destiny, Desiree & Raven :). What a wonderful surprise!



I've got a couple of hours now while the little guy has his nap. So a video (In Praise of Simple Cloth by Rita Buchanan), a cup of tea & my knitting.

Til later...happy knitting!

Starting over...

I had an oops with google and now have to start over. Great. Fresh. Clean. So here goes... :)
I finished knitting a birthday gift for our youngest granddaughter. She'll be one on March 1st. I knit up the Tomten Jacket from Elizabeth Zimmermann. I used Cottage Crafts 2ply in "Fundy Fog". It's a pretty heathered lilac and is perfect for a young lady. This is a fun pattern to knit and the garter stitch creates a very sturdy fabric. Still need to get a couple of clasps for it; it's been washed and is drying now.

And work on sweater #2 continues. I've cast on the front yesterday and am just getting into the pattern. Should be finished with this within a week or so. Looking forward to getting started on a new sweater project.

Til next time...happy knitting!