Stasia's Place Of Grace

Friday, May 09, 2003

 

Thankful For...

The fact that Chester and Sophie both came through surgeries at the vet's today with flying colors. They're home now and doing very well.

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Fibery Stuff

You know that "wheel" of Rhapsodies fiber, from Paradise Fibers, that I posted a pic of the other day? Well, I took a photo of their "color card" for my friend Kary, and I thought you might like to see it, too. Here it is:

The colors are: (on left) Autumn Forest, Carolyn's Color, Hannah's Choice, Harvest Sunset, Indian Summer, Max-Florian, Mixed Berries, Monet's Garden, Mother's Block. (On right) Nantucket, October, Pansy Bouquet, Sea Breeze, Sebastian, Starry Night, Summer Flowers, Tundra, Winter Solstice.

I have Sea Breeze and have just ordered Autumn Forest; I had a hard time not ordering even more! The colorways are available on a variety of different fibers.

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I stopped at my not-so-LYS the other day and splurged on some yarns to make a Spontaneous Scarf a la Nanette B., who says the pattern is in last winter's issue of Spin-Off.

The yarns are, from top left clockwise: Trendsetter Dune (mohair/acrylic/vicose/nylon/metal) in color 64; Rowan Kidsilk Haze (kid mohair/silk) in color SH590; Rowan 4 Ply Soft (Merino) color 378; and Rowan 4 Ply Soft in an unknown color because the label was missing. All are incredibly soft and cushy and fun to work with... and expensive!

I normally don't buy novelty or super-expensive yarns, and the idea behind these spontaneious scarves is to use up one's stash... but I wanted to do an elegant scarf and didn't really have anything that would work. OK, let's be honest, I was anxious about the pets' upcoming surgeries and happened to pass by the shop and... well, the rest is history. At least I didn't stress-eat!

I cast on 303 stitches for the scarf, leaving 8" tails on each side, and I'm doing one row of each color in a K1, P1 seed stitch. Looks good so far, but I think I should have done my cast-on row more loosely.

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At the risk of ruining a good thing for myself, I have to be forthwith and share a wonderful vendor with you.

I wanted to spin some California Variegated Mutant/Romeldale fiber for the upcoming "Show Us Your Skeins - Rare Breeds" feature in Spin-Off magazine, as well as something special for a State Fair entry. A web search turned up Sheepy Thyme Farm in Michigan, owned by Bonnie Sutten.

Bonnie cheerfully sold me just a single pound of fiber, and she nicely split it between two sheepies. On the left you will see Rocky's fleece and on the right, Teddy's. Both sheep are rams but this fiber has no, and I mean no, rammy odor. In fact, when I opened the box, I thought Bonnie had mistakenly sent me washed fleece! Her sheep are coated and well-tended, and it certainly shows in the quality of this fiber. The crimp is just amazing, and the fineness would rival any Merino - though this is much less greasy.

These photos were taken before I washed the fiber; it has just completed its final spin in the washing machine now. I can't wait to spin it!

Bonnie also included a cute muslin bag with a picture of some of her sheep on it, which you can see in the photo.

I heartily recommend Sheepy Thyme Farm to anyone looking for CVM fiber - they also have Icelandic sheep, as well as llamas and angora rabbits. Bonnie was a pleasure to deal with and I will certainly purchase more fiber from her in the future!

Did you know that all CVMs are Romeldales, but not all Romeldales are CVMs? For more info, visit the Sheepy Thyme site!

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No "Way 2 Go!" banner for me today as I ate at Burger King after dropping the animals off at the vet, and didn't exercise. But now that the pets are safely home I feel much more relaxed and am going to go work on the spontaneous scarf for a bit. I hope you'll have a wonderful weekend!

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