Fibrefest 2013

Two fibre festivals in two weeks! What a great thing.

Two weeks ago I attended the Twist Festival (along with taking the dyeing course), and thought it was great! So many different booths, with yarn I had heard of, but never seen before!

From Twist I took home:

3 skeins of Cottage Craft Qiviut Queen, 2 skeins of Riverside Studio Superwash Merino Lace Singles and my sister was nice enough to give me her sample of Yvieknits Sparkly Sock.

Today, I visited the Mississippi Mills Annual Fibrefest, and it blew me away! Everyone was so nice, and we stopped to chat with almost everyone! The festival had everything you could ever want from fibre - art, yarn, roving, fabric, beads, embroidery, buttons and knitted, woven and felted goods! I took home:

1 skein of Turtlpurl Moon Beam, 2 half yards of Rashida Coleman-Hale's Koi Collection in Don't Be Koi and Ebb and Flow, a celluloid button in blue and white which I think looks like coral, 2 packs of 6/0 beads in blue, and 3 vintage brooches.

Natural yarn dyeing

Yesterday I took a natural yarn dyeing workshop, hosted by the Twist Festival and given by Swans Island dyer Jackie Ottino-Graf. It was an all day workshop in Saint-Andre-Avellin, QC. And it was amazing!

As a beginner dyer I learned so much about using natural products. I also learned that if you want to replicate your work, then you have to be good at math, take notes and measure! Kind of like baking.

We worked on 6 dye baths to get a rainbow sample - red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple.

There was also a little bit of free experimentation with the green and tried out cochineal.

The class was quite large (about 15 people), so Jackie was the one doing most of the dyeing, while we all looked on. We learnt how to get an extract from wood chips, and how adding modifiers can change the results of your colours.

Jackie was a great teacher, and I'm hoping to be able to take more classes with her in the future. 

Stash

Ever take the time to sort through your stash? I did this past weekend. I have 4 bins of yarn and since one of my goals is to knit what's in my stash I figured I should sort it. Everything was in the bins randomly so I emptied them out, gasped at the amount of yarn was sitting on my floor, and began sorting. Now I have 4 bins sorted as such: 1 bin for sweater, dress, skirt yarn; 1 bin for all my sock yarn; 1 bin for fingering and lace yarn; and 1 bin for the rest (dk, worsted, etc.). My priorities for the year are clearer: knit sweaters and socks!

Fiddleheads mittens, Pt. 2

I finished the first of my Fiddleheads mittens for the Tanis Fibre Arts KAL.

It's been fun learning how to knit colour work and very rewarding.

I also received my giveaway yarn in the mail last week! TFA held the last giveaway for the chance to win the entire Stella Collection patterns and 2 skeins of my choice to knit up Adhara. I decided to go with Chestnut and Brick.

Yarn Dyeing

I tried my hand at dyeing yarn again this weekend. This time with Wilton's food dye. The result was interesting, and the colour split up quite a lot. It came out purple, pink and blue! I'm going to use it to knit up Goodale Sweater.

The formula:

• Knit Picks Peruvian Highland Wool in Fingering
• Wilton's Violet Icing Dye
• Vinegar

Steps I took:

• Soaked the yarn in lukewarm water for about 30 minutes.
• Heated up a full pot of water on high (electric stove). When steam began rising, I turned it down to 4 and put in the yarn.
• Let the water heat back up with the yarn in it.
• Mixed about 1/2 teaspoon (heaping) of Violet to about 1 cup boiling water.
• Added the dye to the pot.
• Left to simmer on 4 for about 20-30 minutes.
• Poured in 1 cup of vinegar.
• Watched the magic happen.
• When the water came out on a spoon clear, I made the mistake to empty the pot of water. I should have let the water and yarn cool together.
• Let the yarn cool without its water.
• Rinsed. No colour ran!!
• Hung to dry.

Grape Love Study and Another Year In Colour

I've completed my gorgeous Striped Study Shawl! I think these two Malabrigo colours go so well together. One was called Velvet Grapes and the other Light of Love. Thanks to my friend E for getting me the Light of Love!

As for the Year in Colour club, I've joined up again for the 2012 year. I am in love with Tanis Fiber Arts yarn and colours. They are amazing. January's colourway is called Truffle and the pattern was designed by Hannah Fettig and called Flying in Formation. The colour is a blend of purple, green and brown.

The Blueberry in space cowl is on hold... I didn't make it in time to finish with the KAL. I ended up twisting the cowl from the beginning and only noticed about 2 inches into it. I had to rip the entire thing and start anew. I'm back to the same spot, but I decided to start a new wrap for B's and my trip to Mexico at the beginning of April! I'm using my gorgeous madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light in colourway Mica, bought over Christmas in Nanaimo. I'm knitting up Hannah Fettig's Panoramic Stole from the fabulous book Coastal Knits.

As for my "no buying yarn" goal for the year, I was able to last 2 months! Yesterday I bought some amazing yarn from Tanis' One of a Kind (OOAK) Etsy shop. More to come when it's been delivered!

Sad news, the LYS Knit-Knackers is moving to Smith Falls at the end of the month. I must go and stock up on some of the amazing sock yarn they have before they go. Their selection is great.

In cross-stitch news, I've been able to work some more on my cross-stitch. It's been years now since I've picked it up. Hopefully if I do a little bit of it each weekend I'll get it done in the next few months.

I haven't done any scrapbooking lately, but I think it has to do with my craft room/office still being so disorganized! It's tough to get things flowing and functional after a move. It's been 9 months, and it's still a work in progress.

A New Year - 2012

I'm back from my trip out West to Vancouver Island, and this year I'm determined to write up my blog some more. I had a fantastic time out West, and was able to see some very beautiful scenery and some amazing yarn.

We visited the amazing Malaspina Galleries on Gabriola Island. These are a sandstone formation created by the erosion of the sandstone. Now that the boring stuff is done with, here's a great picture:


I loved walking along the shoreline, seeing views that you just don't get here. One of my favorite things to do was find rocks. Shells are hard to find, but I did manage to get my hands of some beach glass! My first ever. I also found a fantastic tile piece worn down by the waves.


My Christmas present this year was an amazing Cowichan vest, handspun and knit by Salish Coast knitters from around Duncan. It was knit by Henrietta Charlie from the Tseycum band.


We also did a little pottery shopping and I got these two amazing pieces, one with what the artist calls dimples (the starfish-looking one) and the other which is crystalline glazed work.


My stash has grown by a bit, mostly with madelinetosh. This yarn is not found here in the Ottawa River Valley (as far as I know anyway). And I just love it!

This year's goals will be to:
1) not buy any yarn. This will be a tough one.
2) knit up as much as I can/want from my stash.
3) knit up a number of last year's Tanis Fiber Arts' club patterns.

Right now I have 2 projects on the go, one shawl and one cowl.

The shawl is being knit from Malabrigo Light of Love and Velvet Grapes and is the Striped study shawl pattern. I'm calling it grape love study.



I just started the scarf the other day as a KAL with the Tanis Fiber Arts group on Ravelry. I'm knitting it in Pink Label in Bluberry. The pattern is Objects in Space and I'm calling my project blueberry in space.

Yarn Dyeing

This summer my colleagues and I took an escapade into dyeing our own yarn with Kool-Aid and Wilton dyes. The results were fantastic!

T used only orange Kool-Aid, and Wilton's Cornflower Blue. The orange came out bright and vibrant. The blue came out dynamic with purple mixed into it.


S used a mixture of green and blue, and then threw in a bit of cornflower once she saw it brought out purple. Her result is a beautiful green which invokes an enchanted forest.


I used a mixture of strawberry Kool-Aid with pink Wilton's dye and purple Kool-Aid with purple Wilton's dye. I was ecstatic with the result. It ended up more pink than purple once knitted up, but I love the projects I made with it. The yarn we all dyed was Knit Picks' Wool of the Andes Bare.



I used up one skein to make Ysolda Teague's Ripley and tante ehm's Camp Out Fingerless Mitts. I still have another skein left which I will make a scarf or cowl with.

Yarn Blitz 2011

My colleagues and I went on a yarn blitz yesterday, and I went a little crazy with buying yarn! We visited 5 different stores in Ottawa, and towns outside of Ottawa. Our stops: Wool-Tyme in Nepean, Textile Traditions in Almonte, The Ashton Store in Ashton, Yarn Forward in Ottawa and Knit-Knackers in Ottawa.

Here is my stash:

Top Row: Patons Kroy FX, Regia 4-fadig, Turtlepurl Striped Turtle Toes, Patons Lace, Handmaiden Yarns Marrakesh, and SweetGeorgia CashSilk Lace.

Bottom Row: Diamond Footloose x 3, Lana Grossa Meilenweit Cotton, Patons Lace, Estelle Baby Silk Lace, and Estelle Arequipa x 2.

*SPOILER* Sock Yarnista Club Update

**WARNING SPOILER**

My package arrived on Wednesday!!! I love my August yarns! I got one of each for the month, Acadia and Forest Primeval.

We also went to Knit-Knacker's Yarn Warehouse in Ottawa Wednesday after work, and I bought the softest lace weight (Punta Yarns) in beautiful blues and greens... it reminds me of the ocean.

Upper Canada Village

Myself, B and a few co-workers visited Upper Canada Village this past Saturday. I haven't been there since I was about 7-9 years old, and I loved it! It was better than I remembered and was expecting. My favorite parts were the spinning room:

The table full of yarn and what was used to dye them (carrot greens, onion skins, goldenrod, some Mexican beetle, roots, indigo, nutmeg and tree bark):

There is also a wool mill at UCV, where there are piles of sheep wool!

I also loved the printing press. All those letters! We even got to try our hand at typesetting. It was slow, but fun!

We also saw lots of animals... I loved the piglets.. one of them tried to suckle my finger and thumb!

And the sheep were so cute! This male came right up to us and posed for pictures.

Three Irish Girls

I've selected my first ever sock club yarn! I couldn't decide, so I got one of each! You can check out the colours on the Three Irish Girl's website. I should receive my shipment by the end of August. I cannot wait.

Yarn! Yarn! Yarn!

I'm back from my amazing trip to the Canadian Rockies, and I went a little crazy while in Canmore at the Knit & Caboodle yarn store, and bought a ton of sock yarn!

So it might not be too much to some... but 8 hanks of yarn (5 of them being sock yarn) is quite a lot to me. My favorites are the madelinetosh (DK) and Anzula Squishy. I plan to use the madeleinetosh to make a bulkier pair of socks, and 2 hanks to make the Ocean Waves Scarf with it.

As I was in the car on the way to the airport in Calgary the next day I realized I should have purchased enough to make a matching hat and mittens (I currently have no matching set). So, when I got home I checked where to purchase the yarn and discovered there was a store right in downtown Ottawa - Yarns etc. - so I bought 3 more hanks. The yarn is Manos del Uruguay, so there are no dye lots. The winter gear will be my next project. I have almost completed the baby blanket for my friend. I only have 5 more inches left!! I never realized how long it takes.

On the sock front I have completed 1 sock, which was too big for my foot. I was working with Patons Basic Sock Pattern from their Next Steps Four: Socks and Slippers. I used the smallest dimensions (I have small feet) and they were still too big. So I looked up a bunch of calculators and am trying a second sock. It's looking good so far except for two little holes on either side of my foot where I picked up stitches. I needed to have picked up 1 or 2 more and there would have been no hole!

I'd like to get a book which talks about sizing, because the math is too much for me sometimes. Any suggestions would be great. I thought about Vogue Knitting: The Ultimate Sock Book, or Sock Innovation, but the reviews for them were not that great. Also, while Sock Innovation has beautiful patterns, a few reviews mentioned there was no information about sizing. I read a few reviews for the book Sock Club: Join the Knitting Adventure, and it sounds like it might be promising.