Defarge Does Shakespeare is Imminent!

This project has been cooking a looooong time. But, finally, it's time has come!

Next Friday, Heather Ordover's knitting book Defarge Does Shakespeare is being released digitally, with the paperback copy being released two weeks later. I have two patterns and two articles in it! It is a super fun book, chock full of a side variety of knitwear patterns and geeky Shakespeare stuff! If you sign up for the email news blasts, you will receive freebies and keep up to date on the release info. It is found at: http://eepurl.com/ER0hT

My two patterns (test knit by Marcy Prochaska and Anna Packer)

Petard Pants

Petard Pants, 2

The Ravel'd Sleeve of Care

Ravel'd Sleeve of Care, 2

Aren't they all sweet? If you follow the link in the text above, you can view ALL the patterns in the book. I'm so excited. Join me on the newsletter list, and please like the patterns if you are on Ravelry!

Lingering projects

Despite being a foot down and bleary brained, it was good to finish up some lingering projects. The biggest was a quilt I had started quite awhile ago. The top is finished now (with one more border beyond the one pictured), and I have taken it to Julie Boldry to be quilted. She is in the process of opening a new quilt shop in the area named The Scarlet Thread Quilt Company. It is four miles east of Caston High School.

All pictured here except the last border.

My first I finished, however, was some lovely yarn I spun at the Spinning retreat in Ancilla.

Just plying my time

a merino/tencel blend, two-ply yarn

Since then, I've finished up a third skein. Now to decide what to do with it!

Thankfully, I was also able to finish a shawl I've had on the needles for quite awhile. It is a gift for a dear friend's daughter. Haruni, and found on Ravelry.

Also, a pair of angora bootees for a sweet young couple with their first baby girl.

One hour bootees from Last Minute Knitted Gifts

And now, I should go read the book I saw at the library... Toodle-oo, campers!

A foot down

Three weeks ago I had foot surgery to resolve a pinched nerve that had been bothering me for over a year (from right before my New Orleans trip). Three weeks later, I am wearing a "normal" shoe and walking with a limp as it continues to heal -- but it is already better than before the surgery.

I had planned to knit and craft away when my foot was up and I was healing. I had also planned to attack some design work for a project I had hoped to have had a signed contract on. No such luck. There have been lots of professional ups and downs these past few weeks. But, as I continue to wait on one big project, I had a few other teaching venues open up.

The first is this Thursday at Schnabeltier. Schnabeltier is a local artisan wine and cheese shop which opened October 2014. All the cheese starts are from Europe, and all the other ingredients are local. I've toured the back of the shop and seen the cheese vats, wine vats, and cheese aging rooms. It's fascinating! They have had a few Wine and Canvas nights and asked me to come in and teach a knit and wine night. I've ordered wonderful cotton yarn from Knit Picks, and we're Getting Dishie with a Sip and Knit at Schnabeltiers. Give them a call at 574-224-3373 to register. 

I came home early from the Spinning Retreat because of a bad winter storm that was moving into the area. It seems we have had a "bad winter storm" about every weekend this calendar year! But I was able to complete and ply a project and begin another I brought with me. It proved to be a harder spin, so I switched to a lovely Romney/alpaca/angora blend fiber I swapped with a wonderful spinner and fiber lady, Peggy. Then, I learned long draw (quickly and incompletely), and proceeded to spin about 7 oz. of this lovely fiber while practicing it. It was a wonderful fiber to do long draw on, and, working on it after I got home a day early, I completed three skeins of a two-ply yarn. The only thing I wasn't satisfied with was my method of adding a ply when one gave out. Now, I have to figure out what to knit with the yarn.

At the retreat, I sat next to Sister Nancy whom I had met before at a Sit and Spin at MoonTree Studios. She was a great deal of fun to get to know better. I forced her and my friend Rosemary to learn spindling (and, I think they both liked it more then they thought they would). By the time I vamoosed, I was in discussion with Nancy about having an Art Exhibition at MoonTree, and  teaching three classes. I am excited that I will display my work in that gorgeous facility! Thankfully, it is still two years away (January - March 2017), so I can work on items to post for sale. Most of what I produce now are prototypes for knitted and crocheted patterns and not saleable.

I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round

Last weekend I went to a spinning retreat at Ancilla college/Lindenwood retreat center in Donaldson, Indiana. Donaldson is a minuscule village in the NW corner of Marshall County. Ancilla college itself is much more vibrant a community. The Poorhandmaids of Jesus Christ formed this community in the 1920s. The chapel there is breathtaking. More than that, they have a two-year college, a wonderful nursing home, a retreat center, and now, in the past four years, an art house called MoonTree Studios.

The main drive of Ancilla College

We had about 30 spinners from the mid-to-northern Indiana, Eastern Illinois and Michigan gather for a weekend of solid spinning. I went there with four of the ladies I spin with at Crete's Hut in Winamac, Indiana. 

Verna, Debbie, Rosemary and Deana

My goal was to completely spin up a green yak/merino roving I had bought from The Trading Post in Pendleton, Indiana on my last retreat. I start it and spun up half of it, and I learned a bit how to do long draw and support spindling Orenberg-style on some color-matched yak/silk roving (the one in the beautiful braid). My plan is to ply those two together for a shawl. 

Beautiful roving…!

Well, I got one bobbin full of the yak/merino. It was a bit fiddly to draft. Then, the second day, I knit on a cuff for a project that is due soon. I forgot the needles for the cuff, so I went down the line of ladies begging for size 2.25mm double points or circulars. I got a full set from a combination of three ladies with another providing the a needle gauge to measure them. Nothing like community!

First bobbin

In the afternoon, I accepted a trade on some merino/tencel I had brought along to sell or trade. When I started spinning the Romney/alpaca/angora blend from Peg, I immediately pulled the yak off my wheel and plowed into the Romney blend! So nice to both spin, and learn the long draw technique on.  Since I've come home (early because of a snowstorm that dumped 10 inches [25 cm] on us), I've started a second bobbin of it.

Kate Larson taught about the Leicester breeds, which she owns, and how to spin locks in the grease.

Kate Larson (with Susan Markle, owner of the Trading Post on the floor)

Sister Nancy sat next to me in the spinning room and we got to talking about spinning, knitting, MoonTree and the spiritual component of art. 

Sister Nancy was snapping lots of pictures. I'm sure some will be up on the MoonTree website.

At the end of the time, I agreed to teach a few knitting and/or crochet classes at MoonTree, and have an exhibition at MoonTree early 2017. Watch this space for more information as time draws closer. I'm really excited to partner with them in fiber art!

Last night, I tried the support spindling again, this time with a shallow champagne cup and the yak/silk blend. It sort of worked. I need to practice adding the new fiber more.