Antique Acres Old Time Power show

My best friend suggested going this show, so we did. Hubby stayed home so we made a day of it. Tromped all over the grounds and all through the flea market.  While going through the museum building we got to meet a spinner and sock knitters.

Barb from Barnett Sheep and Wool was busy spinning away on her Majacraft “Rose”.  She raises purebred Karakul sheep and spins and weaves along with many other  things.

As we continued through the museum we met a couple of sock knitters using their sock knitting machines.  Glenace Shank from “Blue Heron Knits” gave me some information about PIGS (People in Glorius Socks) the Iowa sock knitters group.  Hope to be able to attend the convention next spring.

We were getting about whipped out so it was time we left.  So, we hit the cassino on the way home. No luck there!!

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March to August 2013

I have been busy dyeing and spinning for the last few months.  But yet I don’t feel like I have gotten anything accomplished.  I did have fun with Kool aid and gentian violet.  Gentian violet is a medicinal dye used to treat yeast infections.  The wool used for the gentian violet was Scottish Blackface, it’s a little on the harsh side, just right to use for the feet in socks.

For this batch of kool-aid dyed wool I used an adult romney fleece.  It was a beautiful fleece that took the kool-aid well.  I am almost done spinning up this batch.  Will be using in sock tops and in the sock feet with a mohair carry along yarn for strength.

A couple of weeks ago I found a spinning wheel on Craig’s List that just called my name to come and rescue.  It had all of it’s parts but you could tell it was a very old wheel.  So we took a little trip about two hours west of our home and brought her home, she needed very little repair, just a new front maiden bearing and a good cleaning.  Turns out she was also signed by  her maker “G:Yunker”, according to Spinning Wheels and Accessories   by Pennington and Taylor, he was a maker that lived in PA/OH.  In their book this wheel is referred to as a “Left-foot” wheel because of the way the treadle is built.  The cross over brace goes from right to left to accommadate the uprightness of the wheel.  She is a little fussy but she does spin a very fine yarn.

I finally took the plunge and knitted a TAM, they have always looked difficult to me, so I took on the challenge to my brain.  Here is the results of my challenge.  It’s not perfect by any means, but at least I didn’t say F—it and frog it. I learned so much about the construction of the tam and strand knitting it was worth the challenge.  The tan yarn is alpaca and the dyed yarns are various wools from other projects.  Blocked it over a large dinner plate and run some cotton around the opening edge and pulled it up to stretch it out.

 

 

 

 

 

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