A Post Rich in Fiber

A Post Rich in Fiber

by | May 1, 2014 | General, Making

Some months ago, I attended Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet. It was my first time attending this event and, for the most part, did not find the event worth the price of admission. I did find a couple of amazing vendors – one of which I will be reviewing here today.

I first learned of The Ross Farm when I stopped in a LYS who told me they carried local yarn from Eighty-Four, PA. The LYS did not have a large selection of their yarn and no fiber at all, but I tucked the information about the farm away in my brain and imagine my profound joy when I discovered them live at PGH Knit and Crochet! Their booth drew me in immediately with their stunning version of TTL’s Germinate. Next, my eyes went to some very lovely bags filled with processed fiber. I selected one of each – okay, maybe more than one of each, but one can never have enough good fiber!

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Let Us Eat Cake!

Let Us Eat Cake!

by | Apr 7, 2014 | General, In The Kitchen

Last week there was a birthday in our house, so I got out the cake pans and scoured cookbooks and the internet for a recipe that looked interesting. The request was for a “yellow” cake – so I found this butter cake recipe and I followed it exactly. The results were good, but next time I would tweak the ingredients a bit – I like a moister cake. However, for frost-ability this cake scored very high marks!

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The Spinning of a Yarn

The Spinning of a Yarn

by | Feb 17, 2014 | General, Making

I recently got a Schacht Matchless and to say I adore it is an understatement. It is an amazing wheel and I am getting my spinning groove back.

In my box Spunky Eclectic had tucked some lovely fiber  and so I divided the fiber in half with a goal of plying the yarn keeping each color separate with gentle gradient transitions between each color change.

I would say my results were very good and the process gave me a good refresher in spinning and plying. I had some thinner spots in spinning, but as I continued, my consistency got better and I achieved a move even single. My plying had some spots where I over spun a bit, but I did not let that deter me and I forged ahead working on applying just enough twist to balance out my yarn. I skeined it up and sent it off to the tub for a nice bath and I ended up with a 2-ply yarn that had 16 WPI.

I tweaked this lozenge stitch scarf pattern and cast on 122 stitches and joined in the round to make a cowl and my results were more than pleasing.

 

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