winter whites on and off

on my windowsill....

off my needles

on my spindle.....

off my loom....

diggin taters

It is the time of year that I get to thinking about ants and grasshoppers...

There is always so much to be done in the way of harvesting and putting the garden to bed. Days go by, and I feel like all I do is work, work - work and store things away for the winter. I feel like an ant.

Potatoes are taking center stage this week. I'm getting pretty handy with a fork. I only forked 2 out of this entire bunch. An old window screes holds the result of one days digging. They are washed and left to cure for a few days before storing. The harvest was good this year, with only a few white ones showing some presence of solanine (green). I tossed those over the hillside. We raised several different varieties...russets for baking, and whites for boiling...and fingerlings for roasting...

This one wins the prize for the biggest...so far.

And this one wins for best, ahem, artistic expression? Or as my husband says, the biggest "ass". You need a sense of humor and an active imagination when you grow your own veggies.

And lest we forget that this IS a fiber blog...here is a sneak peak of something I have been working on for what seems like a very long time....some handspun alpaca woven on the tri... I do have a plan going on here...really I do. It has just been taking me so long to do it I may have forgotten what it was. No worries, I'll figure something out!

And because even us ants have to have a little fun...tomorrow I take the afternoon off and head to Pocono Manor to visit a few friends (grasshoppers) who are attending (playing) SOAR (Spin Off Annual Retreat).

PS ...note from author....It was not my intention to offend anyone with the potato photo, the human body is a work of art and the potato was a reflection of that. I apologize for violating the terms of my photobucket agreement. I must have missed the part about vegetables....

Cria Alpaca Shawl-ette

I have finished making the Cria Shawl-ette!
Violette's blanket is a pleasure to work with.

It continues to be difficult to photograph, as it changes color and texture depending on the light that surrounds it.

Some project notes:

3 different wheels were used in the construction of this yarn, which resulted in a wpi of anywhere between 16 and 20 wpi.

Woven on the triangle loom with a simple tabby weave structure and approx. 1/4" sett. The finished piece was fulled to a semi-felted, semi-open weave cloth. It measures 51" across the top, 37" on the sides, and 20" from the nape of the neck down to the point in the back.

It can be worn around the neck like a scarf, or with points in front with your favorite shawl pin closure. The pin in this photograph is my favorite!

This piece was commissioned by Finca Alta Vista and will be offered for sale through Paco Fino. If you are interested in purchasing the shawl-ette, please contact me by email, or inquire through the Paco Fino webpage.

fruit and the loom

The catbird and his friends have been having a party in my blackberry bushes. Mind you, I don't begrudge the birds taking their share, however, the scale is tipping in their favor, and I am not getting my fair share. They are bold now, scolding me when I go out to pick...defending their territory! Is it not enough that I have already sacrificed at least half of the red currants?! If I had the resources, I would enclose the bushes in poultry wire!

The crabapples are ready now, best pick before the birds can get to them. This is the first time this tree has given me apples. I am delighted with the size and taste of them. What a lovely Crabapple variety! The tree didn't bear more than about two dozen apples, so I will make a crabapple/blackberry jam. Crabapples contain lots of pectin, they are great for turning into jam and jelly...and glaze.

What's that? you would like to taste one? ok, I will shine one up for you...here ya go...tastes just like the crabapples I ate as a child.

In fiber news...the loom is full of cria...and I am working up a border on the needles. It is challenging to photograph the softness of this fiber...

I am loving the feel of working with it..light and soft as air! A cold front moved in yesterday, bringing with it some of the biggest hail stones I've ever seen! Made me want to pop this shawl off the loom and snuggle into it...

why notebooks?

A long time ago, before I had a virtual notebook on Ravelry, I kept a spinner's notebook. The year's end seems like a good time to update my spinner's notebook, as I'm in the midst of cleaning up bits and pieces of past projects...and re-organizing my stash, and writing a TO DO list. Out with the old, in with the new. Cathy has been doing a clean out too. We seem to be on the same cleaning schedule, previously~ we were both washing windows at the same time.

The notebook was a gift to me from my SIL, a non-spinner, very thoughtful person. She found it on eBay. It is handmade from mat board and handmade papers, bound together by ribbon. I record my scribbles about where I brought the fiber, as well as technical spinner speak notations...receipts or business cards...and other flotsam and jetsam I find noteworthy.

As I was adding the PG yarn to the notebook, I remembered that several people had emailed me wondering about the outcome of the shawl that I made with it. I had posted the finished project to Ravelry, in my virtual notebook, but didn't post it here...didn't want any peeking going on, as it was a gift.

I had success with the hand knit border, which was hand sewn to the shawl with a mattress stitch. Then the entire shawl was fulled, and the take up of the weaving and the knitting was pretty much equal and did not present any problems of rippling (which I feared could occur).

So, virtual notebook updated, natural notebook updated, and blog updated... Sheeze...seems redundant. For all of the years that I have been keeping notes, I find that I don't often refer to them for anything really important other than curiosity or a trip in the way back machine. Am I missing something here? Spinner's, what say you?

staying on task

Outside it was doing this...

inside I was doing this...

I have taken to listening to Waulking Songs (Orain Luaidh) whilst working. These were not available to me a few years ago, but now I have downloaded many. I am so happy that these songs are being preserved. You can find them all over the internet, there are some great ones on YouTube, where you can view competitions with groups preforming them. For those who are not familiar with Waulking Songs, they were originally written to be sung during a "Wool Waulking", while the tweed or other woven cloth was being beaten or fulled on a table by a group. The purpose of beating or fulling was to shrink the fibers so they would lock together and finish the cloth. They sang chorus and solo lines, with words that were stories of sorts...but because they were written to accompany work (including spinning and weaving) there was attention to rhythm. So my fingers are walking down the loom, and the strand is walking up...and I am listening to a "waulking song" that was recorded at one of the Highland Sessions with Kathleen Macinnes on the vocals. The waulking songs help me keep focused and at the same time my mind wanders. I feel a connection to the songs, they stir up something I cannot explain. When listening to the recordings of the old women singing without musical instruments, I am haunted by the memories of something I could never have known.

I wish I could speak Gaelic so I could understand the words. There are some sites on the internet that translate the lyrics...some of the songs are very sad, some are joyful. They keep the pace for me, they keep me on task.