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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Tuesday, May 06, 2003

 

Hi and welcome! I'm trying to learn to make transparent backgrounds on photos, so please excuse my "experimental" images for today's entry!

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Grateful For...

New Skin. I cut my hand while clipping Valentine's toenails last night, and wouldn't have been able to knit or wash dishes or do much of anything if it wasn't for this liquid bandage stuff. This is the first time I've used it and I'm impressed! I think a little bottle of this belongs in every knitter's/spinner's bag of tricks... it says it works on hangnails and blisters, and prevents callouses, too.

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The fact that Jim of Hatchtown Farm has indicated that his new blood tests show improved results. Sending you healing energy, Jim!

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Fibery Stuff

These are the hunting socks I'm knitting for Jeff. The yarn is handspun bison down, Navajo-Churro wool, and qiviut (musk ox).

The Navajo-Churro wool is from Migrations, the bison down is from (e-mail) Prairie Wool Farms, and the qiviut is from Mini-Mills (it comes in lovely de-haired roving).

Please tell my friends hello if you order! They're all great to deal with.

The pattern is my own toe-up gaugeless one - a link to it is on the right in the sidebar.

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This is the yarn and pattern for an afghan I'm going to knit for my sister. I'm not sure she'd be able to take care of something made of wool, so I'm using Lion Brand's "Homespun" acrylic.

Though you probably can't see them, there are flecks of purple in the greenish yarn, and the colors really do go together. The pattern is a free one from the Lion Brand website.

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This is my new "Rhapsodies" dyed fiber in the Sea Breeze colorway from Paradise Fibers. This fiber is to-die-for! I especially like that there are still bits of white left in it - after spinning the Woolgatherings custom-dyed fiber (to duplicate the sox on page 25 of "The Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook"), I've learned to appreciate a bit of "white space" in yarn!

The Rhapsodies colorways all come in either Merino, superwash, a wool/mohair blend, and something else that I'm forgetting...

Here is the neat-o sample card I also got:

Kate at Paradise Fibers has always given such great service. Tell her I say hi, too!

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Finally, here is the washed Corriedale wool from the sheep named "Stella" from Spring Prairie Wool Shed (no longer in business). Stella sure must have been a lovely sheep, because this fiber is beautiful.

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Goals

This is my new "Way 2 Go!" award banner. From now on, whenever you see this on my Blog, it means that I achieved my "2" goals of doing moderate exercise and eating reasonably for that day.

So many of us are trying to lose a little weight right now, or just get a little healthier. It is that much harder when we enjoy sedentary activities like knitting and spinning and weaving.

I heard a doctor on the radio the other day (Dean O'Dell???), and he said not to worry about this or that diet, but just to eat what you want... only less of it. I can handle that!

Think this "gold star" on our Blogs will give us an incentive to hold ourselves accountable? I hope so! Please you join me, and post the "Way 2 Go!" banner on your Blog when you've been good, too! (Note: Please do not "link" to the banner image here, but rather click on it and download it for yourself, and then upload it on your own web server. Thanks!)

I have found that it helps me to acknowledge that I want to eat when I get stressed-out... but if I tell myself, "YOU have control over that feeling!" then it helps me not to react automatically, without thinking about why I'm eating.

I have also realized that I learned this stress response while I was a teenager... I would get upset when my parents would argue, and because I had no control over our dysfunctional family situation, I would binge on food in order to have control over something in my life. Just realizing this has made it a hundred times easier for me to deal with my reactions as an adult!

I'm so grateful for seeing a snippet of a Dr. Phil episode where this was being discussed... serendipity, as I don't watch it regularly. Isn't it funny how, if we're open to learning new things, the lessons will appear, even from unusual sources?

I still can't control my nervous eating when I'm with my family... but perhaps that will come with time. Otherwise I'll just have to keep a bag of celery in my knitting tote!

Remember, you are in control of your goals, whether they are healthy eating, fitness, or finishing that scarf on your loom! Speaking of which... better get that second Treenway Silks scarf finished up!

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I hope you will have a wonderful rest of the week! Here in Wisconsin the buds on the trees are finally beginning to open, and the grass is emerald green. My sheep flag is hanging outside to welcome the season and celebrate the fact that I'm almost finished washing all my raw fleeces!

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