Busy, busy, busy

I've been busy! Working on two new secret sock patterns: one for men, especially for the Men's Knitting Retreats of 2009, and the other I can't talk about at all. I've also been working at my "real" job and at the Verb store.

The men's sock is finished and printed. Michael (aka Wonder Mike) agreed to be the model for the men's sock. The other is written and needs to be test knitted, which Kristine graciously agreed to do. Both use A Verb for Keeping Warm yarn.

Michael and I went down to Bobbin's Nest for Cookie A.'s book signing in mid-April. It was a lot of fun. Some sock knitting got done. I saw old friends and made new ones.

My daughter and I took our Holland Lop bunny, Moon, to the Oakland Animal Shelter to meet a potential new friend. Our beloved Lars died on Christmas Day and Moon has been lonely ever since. Moon participated in bunny speed dating and found a new love. His name is Murray. He is a white and brown English Spot. Of course, I have pictures; I just don't have them on this computer--I know bad blogging.

This morning on my way to work I was struck by inspiration. I have another new sock pattern idea. If it works, I'll be sharing it soon!

Ella's Tea Socks

The pattern is now available on Ravelry. The sample is on display at A Verb For Keeping Warm--The Workshop. I love, love this yarn and the color--Thai Iced Tea. It's orange but it's not. What I mean is that it's not screaming Halloween orange. It's earthier.

Stitches West

This year I worked the A Verb for Keeping Warm booth on Saturday and Sunday. It was so wonderful meeting everyone who stopped into the booth. It was especially thrilling to talk to people about my sock patterns. I still can't believe that knitters like them.

What else can I say about Stitches. It is very different to experience this show working a booth compared to being just an attendee. I meet other vendors and designers, which won't have happened if I had been only an attendee. I saw a lot of people whom I only know about because of Ravelry. It is so nice to put not only a face but a real person to a familiar name.

Watching Kristine grow Verb for the past year has been so much fun and to be a part of it has been incredible. If not for Kristine, Adrienne and Kathleen, I won't have ever put one of my sock designs out there in the world. So thank you to the three of you for pushing me in one of the most exciting directions ever!

A new sock

I've been seriously bitten by the sock designing bug. Here is what I am currently cooking up:



I'm naming it Ella's Tea Socks. This is to honor both the colorway of the yarn and the person who came up with the colorway name. It is knit out of A Verb for Keeping Warm Creating: SW Merino yarn. The colorway is "Thai Iced Tea," which is a semi-solid color. I'm almost finished with the first sock, which I'm knitting to fit Kristine. Once the pattern has been test knitted from the written and charted pattern, it will be available for sale at A Verb for Keeping Warm as well as here and Ravelry.

Introducing Slipstream

Since the election, I've been busy. It all started with a conversation I had with Kristine about a sock I was knitting out of some handspun Pigeonroof Studio superwash merino. She wondered if I could use the basic shaping of the arch and put a pattern in it. I took her up on the challenge.

This is the sock that Kristine originally saw.



This is the challenge sock. It is called Slipstream.





Both patterns are for sale at A Verb for Keeping Warm's studio in Berkeley. And, until I figure out linking for so you can download the patterns directly, if you would like to purchase a PDF copy, shoot me an e-mail at unravelingmarloweATyahooDOTcom letting me know which pattern you are interested in and I will send you an e-mail telling you how to pay me via Paypal and email you a copy of the pattern.

A very busy November

This is what I've been up to this month.



My felt scarves will soon be available at the A Verb for Keeping Warm workshop in Berkeley. The sock is being knit from handspun from a Pigeonroof Studios roving. The sweater is Fylingdales from A Fine Fleece by Lisa Lloyd. The beret is my first attempt at making a handmade felt hat from my own felt. It's not perfect but it worked and I will be making more.

I am so proud right now

I am so proud to see my country made a sane decision about our next president. I was watching MSNBC when they called Obama the winner. I didn't realize just how emotional I would be about this outcome. I'm still blinking back tears of joy and wonderment.

My daughter just told me that Prop. 8 has lost. I can't believe that we cannot support equal rights for all people in California. For this, I am shedding tears of sadness.

Combing Alice

A great day

On Saturday, Kristine, Adrienne, Sara and Kathleen got together at my place for a "fiber prep" day. I had my combs set up, flicker and hand cards out. Kristine and Kathleen both brought drum carders. But before any fiber prep took place, we hopped into the car and drove over to San Francisco for the grand opening of Urban Fauna.

We arrived at Urban Fauna a few minutes before 10:00 a.m. The shop hadn't opened yet. There was a small line forming. Sara and Kathleen decided to stand in line. Kristine, Adrienne and I went to get coffee. We returned about 20 minutes later. The line to get in had transformed into the line to pay and it was long. Kristine and I squeezed our way into the shop for a look around. There is an impressive amount of stuff in that tiny space; and at the rate things were being snapped up, I wouldn't be surprised if they sold out of most things. In the meanwhile, Adrienne, Kathleen and Sara went to a Russian deli to pick up a few things for lunch.

This is part of the set up we returned to. Those are Wensleydale locks waiting to be hand combed. The fiber in the back of the drum carders is cormo I've been hand combing.

Kristine, Kathleen, Sara and I set to work. Kristine hand combing, Sara spinning and Kathleen and I knitting. Adrienne prepared lunch.

Kristine working the hand combs.

Kathleen knitting.

Adrienne working her magic with a knife.

The remains of a very yummy lunch.

A few hours later we sat down to a Spanish influenced meal of shrimp and mushroom tapas, chicken and artichoke paella, sangria and this wonderful natilla made from goat's milk from Bodega Goat Cheese that Adrienne had picked the day before at the Slow Food Nation event in San Francisco's Civic Center. The natilla has a flavor similar to caramel so we ate it with apple slices. We had ice cream as a second dessert. By the time we called it a day, it was 11:00 p.m. I can't wait to do it again!

Yes, I've been knitting...

and felting. This just hasn't been exciting in the sense of drama. No horrible mistakes discovered deep into the project. No pending deadline of doom. No nothing.

First up, The Road Not Taken Scarf from A Fine Fleece knit from A Verb For Keeping Warm merino colorway cosmos, which I handspun.



This is two ounces is about six feet long. It is currently on loan to Kristine as a sample for her shop.

I just finished the Lace Ribbon Scarf last night. It is currently soaking in preparation of blocking it. I knit this from some cormo/soy silk I spun up last summer. It's not as long as the pattern called for; I knit until I ran out of yarn.



I've also been felting. I am exploring the idea of selling felted knitting needle cases, business card cases, etc. and these are prototypes for DPN cases. They were still wet when I took the pictures so are very unfinished at this stage.

Lambtown--a brief review

Early Saturday morning, Kathleen, Sara and I headed to Dixon for Lambtown. Fortunately, the weather was on our side this year in that it wasn't unbearably hot. Once there we headed straight for the fiber vendors hall. I promptly scurried over to Carolina Homespun's booth because Morgaine was holding these for me.

A pair of wool combs! Not that I have ever used combs and will probably injure myself using them, I had to have them for my cormo fleece, which I'm almost finished washing.

When I returned to A Verb for Keeping Warm and Tactile's spaces, Sara was busy cobbling together a fresh out of the box Louet Julia. We then visited most of the vendors before the need for coffee and food got the better of me. I staked out a place on the grass in the shade and soon a bunch of friends were sitting, eating, laughing, spinning and knitting. All in all, an excellent day.

I also did a little dying and plying on Sunday. On the top is Henry's Attic Kona handpainted with cochineal and madder using what I learned from Scout. On the bottom is BFL that I dyed with black walnut and spin into a two ply fingering weight. I haven't decided what I want to knit with the Kona. I'm thinking of using the handspun for a pair of Breakfast at Cafe du Monde Gloves.

Of Hydrangeas and Cake

This was influenced by this.



I handpainted the yarn using one of the methods I learned from Scout's dyeing workshop last month. The hydrangea is in my neighbor's front yard and has flowers ranging from pale greenish white to deep periwinkle. The base yarn is 75% merino superwash 25% nylon and I bought it from Woodland Woolworks at Black Sheep Gathering.

I got the baking bug this weekend. It was a good thing I was going to Kristine's studio and could share this with others. Otherwise, I might have eaten the whole thing myself. This is a raspberry buttermilk cake. I used this recipe from 101 Cookbooks, changing it to suit the ingredients I had on hand. I really like this recipe and will make it again--it's easy and transportable and can be altered to reflect what fruits are in season.

String Theory

Dye workshop with Scout

This past weekend I attended a dye workshop with Scout at Knit One One. It was a lot of fun.

The space at Knit One One is great. Light and airy; perfect for seeing what you are doing.

Winding yarn onto a warping board to make self-striping yarn.

This is what a skein off the warping board looks like when it is dyed.

Dyed skeins hung out to dry.

The skein I dyed after winding on the warping board.

The blue face leceister roving I handpainted.

Scout is a wonderful teacher and freely shared her experiences so that we could learn from the mistakes she has made. The one thing that no teacher can teach is color sense and Scout has great color sense. It's just one of those things that you have. It really helps if you are willing to experiment with color and accept that there will be mistakes.

So thank you Scout for a wonderful weekend!

BSG purchases

Black Sheep purchases top row left to right: a sampler of shetland roving from The Bellwether; a Redheart/Ebony spindle from Spindlewood Co.; BFL/pygora blend from Toots LeBlanc; roving in Eggplanted, Socks That Rock in Mochaberry (I just love that name) and Turquoise from Blue Moon Fiber Arts; bottom row left to right: 2nd place targhee fleece; close up of the targhee; a vintage pattern from Sirdar called "Teenage in Sirdar"; the silk bag, nettle yarn and Habu kit were purchased at Web-sters in Ashland.

Black Sheep Gathering 2008

What can I say except that I had a blast!

Alice, oh Alice

Meet Alice. Or, more accurately, Alice's fleece. Alice is a cormo and is soft and lovely and a little bit in need of a wash. So I designated Sunday the first of many wash Alice's fleece days. (Basically, I want to stay home and clean Alice but that would interfere with my day job, which I need so I can continue to buy more fleeces like Alice.) Alice's fleece isn't really all that dirty as Alice was covered.

Locks in a "delicates" washing bag just the way I was taught.

Soaking in a scouring liquid of hot, hot tap water and Method dishwashing liquid. When I learned to scour fleece, we used Dawn. I had Method on hand so that's what I used.

Washed locks spread out to dry.

All in all, a good day to wash Alice! (I purchased Alice's fleece from Sue at Cormo Sheep & Wool Farm.)

I've been tagged

I've been tagged by Michelle. So here goes.

1. What was I doing ten years ago?

I was working at the same law firm I work at now. Parenting a five year old.

2. What are five things on my to do list for today?

Since I'm writing this at the end of the day, here are the five things I did today. Farmers' market, washed some cormo fleece, brushed my dog, roasted beets, and walked my dog.

3. Snacks I enjoy:

Chocolate, especially dark
Peanut butter M&Ms
Two pump vanilla latte from Peet's
Almonds

4. Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

Quit work; move to the country; have a spinner's flock; travel more; donate to cancer research.

5. Places I've lived:

Torrance, CA
Mojave, CA
Diamond Springs, CA
S. Lake Tahoe, CA
Riverside, CA
San Diego, CA
San Francisco, CA
Oakland, CA

6. Jobs I've had

Busgirl
Pantry cook
Line cook
accountant
librarian

7. Bloggers I am tagging who I will enjoy getting to know better:

KatDee
Krista
Sara

A Verb for Keeping Warm Open Studio

This weekend was open studios in the East Bay. Kristine opened up the A Verb for Keeping Warm studio. It is a small piece of fiber heaven in a very cool artist space in Berkeley.

I brought these. Made from the Magnolia Bakery recipe. The frosting was a very delicate orange flavor.

Any how, I spent the day hanging out, chatting with lots of cool people, pretended to knit. Honestly, the one row I knit I managed to screw up and had to tink. And I bought fiber. On the right is 2 oz. of shetland in "liberty"; on the left is 2 oz. of Blue Faced Leicester in "polished". I also got one of Kristine's cool spinning wheel t-shirts.

Fini

The Socks That Rock clapotis is finished! I used most of 2 skeins of medium weight labeled as mill ends without an indication of what color they were intended to be. Now I must find a new carry around project. But tonight is going to devoted to spinning.