handspuncentral

Monteagle Assembly Bazaar and Cottage Tour; Wed. July 23, 2008

2008-07-16T14:01:00.000-07:00

Ann Shayne of Mason Dixon Knitting fame recently asked if I'd be interested in having a booth at the Monteagle Assembly Bazaar and Cottage Tour, a fundraiser for the Assembly's Women's Club for maintenance of the library and many of the common areas at the Assembly. It sounded like fun so I said yes. It's next week, Wednesday, July 23 2008 from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM at the Monteagle Assembly in

Our Buddy Rover

2008-07-09T08:34:00.000-07:00

I know this is a knitting blog, but sometimes life presses me to chose other subjects. Many of you know I'm a volunteer for our local no-kill animal shelter Animal Harbor in Belvedere, TN run by the Franklin County Humane Society. My primary function is socialization and canine moral support. Recently James and I brought Rover home with us as a foster dog to prepare him to show in Sewanee's

Three Waters Farm Website

2008-04-29T09:50:00.000-07:00

Stephen has posted all the new spring colors on the Three Waters Farm website! Check 'em out...awesome. Fiber and yarn...yowwy zowwy. 8 pages of 'em!

Feast for the Colorstarved

2008-04-25T09:42:00.001-07:00

Couture on yarn. Combine it with Right as Rain. Here's a riff on "Right as Rain" (see blog below) on fingering weight yarn. Tiny dots of color knit up as single stitches providing a pointalist background to the longer colorbands.

Eye Candy

2008-04-25T08:55:00.000-07:00

More colors you'll see at Three Waters Farm booth at Maryland Sheep and Wool. (main building B23) Semi Pink Cousteau Mediterranean Tidepools Riff

Warning! Color Maniacs at Maryland Sheep and Wool

2008-04-24T14:33:00.001-07:00

Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival 2008 is next weekend, May 3 & 4, and my colors will be there! If you’re going, don’t miss the Three Waters Farm booth: B23 in the Main building. As two completely unbridled color maniacs, Mary Ann Pagano and I in collaboration are very pleased to bring you “LV ltd for Three Waters Farm: handpainted fiber and yarn”. Warning! Colormania! The Three Waters Farm

Shelter Chic

2008-03-11T15:07:00.000-07:00

Announcing "Shelter Chic" a new line of hand crocheted dog apparel. Both original pieces and patterns are becoming available as we speak. Why "Shelter Chic"? Most people who know me know that one of my non-fiber passions is volunteering at our local no kill animal shelter Animal Harbor. I love to socialize the dogs and help out any way that I can. (BTW, my current favorite is Rover...he is a

Hands On Color Class

2008-03-09T14:10:00.000-07:00

Meg Manning of Yarn Expressions is hosting my Hands On Color Class in Huntsville, Alabama, April 5, 2008. This is a one day workshop for spinners of all levels. You'll get to practice how to get many different yarns out of one handpainted roving, from solid color, heathered blend, sequential repeats, random blending, combination drafting and use of multiple colorways. Bring your wheel or spindle

Justify available in German

2008-03-05T12:16:00.000-08:00

Today I received an email from Germany. A knitter named Sabine from Bad Driburg asked if she could post a German translation of Justify on her blog. Of course I said yes, so it's up and running already! Wow. Check it out. How cool is this?

New Twist on the Pumpkin Bag

2008-03-05T09:20:00.000-08:00

Twisted Sister Rachael just sent me her two new versions of the Pumpkin Felted Bag. This one has mohair locks felted right into the bag. Rachael says she lost a couple in the felting process, but as you can see they look great. She couldn't stop at one (this seems to happen often) so she also knit a version in periwinkle blue sans locks. What is that cat thinking?

Superfluity

2008-03-03T05:24:00.001-08:00

Superfluity is my new mobius wrap, designed especially for Three Waters Farm to show off their gorgeous handpainted yarn. This is an easy to knit wrap in five yarns, mohair boucle, mohair/silk boucle, wool boucle and two different colorways of merino/alpaca worsted weight. Mary Ann at Three Waters Farm is now offering this in kit form on their website and will also feature the kit in the Three

Lace Knitting Class

2008-02-14T16:14:00.000-08:00

Join me in a two session lace workshop! We’re going to knit my Spiralling Leaves Fingerless Gloves and learn about lace knitting in the round in the process. Not only that, Lori Lawson of Capistrano Fiber Arts will be supplying her beautiful handpainted superwash merino yarn for the class (two skeins included in the price of admission). Gloves in the photo are knit from her

I Dyed Some Yarn

2008-02-08T10:42:00.000-08:00

(Update as of 5 hrs later...yep...it's all sold. Every last inch. Thanks!!!! L) Yeah...believe it or not I actually dyed some yarn. Many of you know how rare this is. What with two eye surgeries this year and a growing chemical sensitivity to acid dyes, not to mention second stage water restriction in Sewanee, I'm not doing much dyeing these days. But the weather was positively balmy the other

Never Before Seen in Digital Format

2008-02-05T05:44:00.000-08:00

Can you stand it? I found this snap of Monk from puppyhood, taken 8 1/2 years ago in the kitchen in Cannon Beach, pre digital camera, etc etc. Look at that expression. We called him "Little Man" because he was too serious to be a baby. Had to share it. enuf

Freaky

2008-02-01T04:30:00.001-08:00

Yes, this is an icicle. Just one. It appeared in our birdbath a couple days ago the morning after a rain (yes...it actually rained here in the Desert Southeast). No, the picture isn't upside down. You can tell by the "deer" in the background, actually our weim Pearl. If you look closely, it almost looks like it has a head and shoulders (OMG...a Virgin M?, tongue firmly embedded in cheek). This

Carolyn's Spiralling Leaves

2008-01-27T06:21:00.000-08:00

Carolyn just finished her Spiralling Leaves Fingerless Gloves. She spun the yarn (which she calls "Green Card" from a carded blend of her handdyed wool. These leaves are cushy, deep, a real stand out. She says: " I do love the way they fit. They are very elegant. In fact, I love everything about them!" Way to go Carolyn!

My new ETSY Shop

2008-01-20T06:47:00.001-08:00

Check out my new ETSY Shop! This should make it much easier for you to buy my patterns. Soon I should have some handspun yarn posted here as well, so keep checking back. Am adding new stuff all the time. You'll find my newest pattern there, Spiralling Leaves Fingerless Gloves (top). These are so fun to knit, with leaf motifs that spiral in opposite directions...right for the right hand, left for

Yvonne's Version of "Zylie"

2008-01-02T05:41:00.001-08:00

Check out this beauty!!! Yvonne, better known by her Ravelry handle "lavendersheep", finished her version of Sandy's Sweater for Zylie. She painted her own roving for her handspun too. As anyone knows who has tried to change a colorway for a pattern, it isn't always that easy to balance a whole new set of colors and have them look the way you want. Yvonne did a lovely job of that here, toning

Justify Your Stash

2007-12-05T09:25:00.000-08:00

Justify all the small amounts of fiber in fiber stash by spinning for my new pattern "Justify" which just went live on Knitty! My accompanying article on Knittyspin, Color Combining 101, walks through my process of selecting and combining colorways of handpainted roving for this awesome and easy wrap. It will give you plenty of pointers on how to use the fibers you've been collecting with no

Patterns Now Available

2007-11-28T05:59:00.000-08:00

My original patterns are now available in PDF format on Wool Etc! I will be adding more, so keep checking Wool Etc for more offerings. I'm going to post the patterns as projects on Ravelry for those of you who are enjoying that site. Lori of Capistrano Fiber Arts has knit this hat twice and has posted both of them in her projects on Ravelry. She goes by SpinSpin. If you haven't checked out her

NW Wools IS Twisted Sisters Central

2007-11-25T07:09:00.000-08:00

NW Wools really is Twisted Sisters Central. Those of you who live in the Portland, OR area may already know that you have regular access to these awesome teachers. The following teachers are active members of the Portland area spinning group Twisted Sisters and contributors to either my sweater or sock books (or both). They teach regular ongoing classes plus specially scheduled workshops. Jane

Booksigning at Yarn Company

2007-10-08T05:26:00.000-07:00

Ya'll don't forget! Booksigning this Friday, Oct 12, 2007 at Yarn Company in Cookeville. Come and visit Ruth Rhea, Diane, Cindy me from 4-6 PM. There will be books, there will be yarn. We'll party. Yeee hah! Yarn Company 380 S Lowe #E1 Cookeville,TN 38501 931-528-8822

A New Thinking Knitter

2007-10-08T05:05:00.000-07:00

Here's proof that one doesn't need be born a thinking knitter. Anne from "Nashville Knit In" below sent me a picture of her completed sweater. But don't take my word for it...take Anne's. Here's her story. Way to go Anne! "As I said at last month’s Knitting at the Library, I’ve always been a pattern knitter. My granddaughter picked out the pattern, the yarn and the buttons for a sweater to wear

Capistrano Fiber Arts Studio

2007-10-06T14:53:00.000-07:00

Many of you know that Lori Lawson of Capistrano Fiber Arts Studio in Southern California and I collaborated on two of the sweaters in the gallery of Twisted Sisters Knit Sweaters. Lori has been selling her handpainted yarn and rovings for a while now, but has only had a sporadic web presence. I am really happy to say that she is finally getting serious about offering her work online, so if you

Nashville Knit-In

2007-09-11T07:33:00.000-07:00

My local world has just opened up! Hermetaceous moi had the distinct pleasure yesterday of joining Ann Shayne and company for their monthly knit together at the Nashville Public Library. The group meets in a large, well lit room in a far corner of the library where we could be loud and even eat! Everyone brought knitting of course and there was loads of cool stuff. Margot had started a log cabin