Happy Birthday Mom!

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Originally uploaded by midnightskyfibers

O hmm....what happened to the message?



There. Much better. Happy Birthday Mom! Sorry the cat kept eating my attempt at a birthday card!

Color Obsessed

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Originally uploaded by midnightskyfibers

I must be one of the last people on the planet to knit one of these scarves. But after the Yarn Harlot's post fueled a Noro scarf making frenzy at work, I was powerless to resist.



MMM...Silk Garden without being too crazy and bright. I am loving the squishiness of the K1P1 rib. Should be warm!

first csa

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Originally uploaded by midnightskyfibers

I am trying a new CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) from Full Circle Farm. The pick up location for it is one someones front porch in my location, which surprised me a lot, but is really cool too!



My parents and brother recently also started doing a CSA, and my brother always says that he can taste the difference most in the carrots- so much crunchier and tastier than store ones. Probably helps that they are not big carrots whittled down to "baby" sized nubs.

Site!

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Originally uploaded by midnightskyfibers

Pssttt! A quick site update at Midnightsky Fibers!

New fleece

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Originally uploaded by midnightskyfibers

New fleece from sheep in Oregon arrived a few days ago! The cat has been absolutely planted on the drying fibers the entire time. One of my parent's cats was the same way when I brought a couple batts of it to their house. Stepped on the batt and wouldn't move for hours. I felt so bad kicking him off at night since I worried about him eating it accidentally (Joey doesn't eat yarn and fiber, and minus his felt balls and strings pulled around just for him, could really care less about fiber, unless it is good to sit on).

I got a lovely "black" sheep fleece in shades of browns, grays, etc that has slightly bleached tips, as well as a creamy white fleece. I am processing some of these to varying degrees, but will also have some for sale raw. The fleece is nice and clean for a sheep fleece, and soft enough for me to actually hold it up to my neck (surprisingly since I work with wool I suppose, but I can't actually wear most wool both due to the fact that it is wool, the lanolin, and the processing chemicals and dyes. Angora is worse and gives me hives. Not that that stops me from working on it...)

At any rate, I use my washing machine to wash fleece. Being a small machine, it is slow going, and since it is a fine fleece I want to maintain lock structure more than I normally would bother with- more fun for dyeing too that way with the white. I am using local soap instead of a detergent to clean the wool since I do not want to damage the fibers in this case, plus I don't like the smell of any of the detergents I have around. Using soap instead means I can leave a bit of the lanolin in- just a tiny bit. Perfect for the sweater and mittens I want from this!


I knit up a swatch in the two predominant colors of the fleece, but on closer inspection there isn't enough of the lighter brown to do it seperately, and since I am belnding anyways, I ended up blending all the colors together.



I also dyed some of the locks with lac, madder, and pomegranate in color blending and layers. Works especially well with the gray hairs throughout the section I dyed. I fluffed the locks before blending them in to batts. I love love love dyeing natural colored fleeces- love them natural too of course. Such fun variations of color are possible, and since most are at least a tiny bit variegated it results in such beautiful shades!

I read about a way to start processing the wool with a long soak in the newish Spin-Off, which I really want to try. It involves letting the wool almost start fermenting (or maybe it actually is?) to help get the lanolin etc off. But it apparently stinks to high heaven, so it is not something I can do in an apartment or house (not on the scale I need anyways, pretty sure neighbors in both places would not be happy, hehe). If you have space though and not so close neighbors who don't think you are totally strange for hanging wool outside, you should check out the Spin-Off, it seems like I great way to save some energy. I'll just have to be content to perfect my low water low energy dye methods instead.

My car is now fixed! It took my dad (thanks dad!) five minutes to fix my car. Now I can't turn the battery off, but it won't be turning off constantly either- it had started turning off after I turned the car off too, not just when I started it. The remote for my garage and front door access also stopped working this week, and then when I got a new remote they couldn't get online to connect my remote so it still wouldn't work!

The only GOOD car thing that happened was getting to go to my all time favorite gas station. If I can at all avoid it, I fill up at this one station in Mukilteo. No special reason, though it is enough less than Seattle to make it worthwhile, though I really hate filling my car up anywhere else. Maybe because 9 out of ten times I have always filled up at that station. Weird I know. Ok, that and realizing that my brother's car had 20k more miles on it than my car, which is ten years older than his. Ha! My car is now running perfectly since the screw to the battery was disconnected and put on again sans screw.

Gnome book

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Originally uploaded by midnightskyfibers

I am super excited I found the gnome book at the Fremont Market on Sunday! I have had a slight obsession with gnomes lately (and planning a series based on it), I couldn't even bring myself to barter the price lower.

Random book trick: sticking a book in the freezer helps get rid of the musty smell. I wouldn't do it for any really valuable books though!

I am still searching for just the right garden gnome for my balcony though, something not so cutsey as most of them.

Hems

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Originally uploaded by midnightskyfibers

Have you noticed that I love hems? I mean really really love hems. Folded hems, picot hems, garter, lace, matching or contrasting. I think they add such a nice finishing touch to garments, even heavier weighted garments in thicker yarn, which can benefit from a hem to weight down the bottoms or add just a touch of whimsy. Or ethereally light lacy hems, simple double hems to keep a garment's edges from stretching. I even figured out a way to knit both sides of a hem at once so as not to have to sew one side I love them so much.


This is just a simple hem though. Hardly complex, but just enough to give the edges some structure with an icord around. Worthwhile I think, even if you don't like picking up stitches. Like many things, hems require good shaping, often shortrows (which are rarely written in to patterns, especially for cabled edges- or the pattern doesn't have curvy edges because of this. They *are* a pain to write out!) or increases and decreases to help the edging turn a corner smoothly, draw in a cuff, or create a collar.

(I'll reveal what this is eventually, once the pattern is written. It's for a smallish person and uses Rowan 4 ply. And is wicked cute.)

gloves and more

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Originally uploaded by midnightskyfibers

Rustic Mittens (soon to be a free pattern). Uses about 200 yards of EcoWool. Chain stitch embroidery above the cuff makes the otherwise very plain mitten more fun.



I had great finds at the Fremont Sunday market this week! Pears were 10/$1, plums $1a box, peaches 2.99 a pound- the cheapest I have seen them locally! Plus local red peppers and corn.



Mmm plums like the ones that come off my mom's plum tree (when the wind doesn't know all the blossoms off).


Also at the market- this super cute glass with a spinning wheel on it. I think it is part of a domestic glasses set as there were others depicting other "chores", but not near as fun as the wheel.


And finally, the Holiday Stocking. This is for the Holiday Stocking class I am teaching at The Fiber Gallery on November 15 and 22. Made using good old Cascade 220- and just one skein of each color!

Batts and roving!

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Originally uploaded by midnightskyfibers

With my drumcarder I can now make blended roving! I have been having lots of fun blending wools with mohair to create nice slightly halo-y roving and batts (some of which will be in the update Thursday, in addition to vegan yarns!).


I had an accidental felting. The larger mitten is AFTER I washed it too to try and make it shrink to size. I will wash it again to see. They still fit me felted, but the cuff is too short.


Notice something wrong here? I totally killed my sewing machine. The foot broke off, the needle broke (and it still at large), and it started going when I was not pushing the pedal. Scary! I had a breakable day yesterday, also shattering one of my wine glasses *everywhere*.

Monday Tea towel

Monday Tea towel
Originally uploaded by midnightskyfibers

As distraction, I've been embroidering a couple quick teatowles from Posie Gets Cozy's Pleasant Tea Towel design, which is a free download. I neglected to get enough teat towels though to make the entire set, so I will have to head back to the hardware store to get more just in case I plan to make the whole set.