Garden, farm visit and wool roving for yarn spinning

 The floral area of the garden, along with squash and radishes and some beans out there behind the marigolds.  Right at the corner of the 'L' there is a giant carrot plant from last year - it is about to blossom and go to seed.

 I will have to think about which beans we have planted this year... quite a few.
Ireland Creek Annies, -- bush
Kenearly Yellow Eye, -- bush
Blue Black Shackamaxon, -- pole
Rattlesnake, -- pole
Florida speckled Lima beans, -- pole
Christmas lima beans -- pole (but I'm not sure they made it)
Jackson Wonder Lima beans, -- bush
Whipporwill cowpeas, -- semi-vining
black eyed peas -- semi-vining
Purple hulled quick pick peas, -- bush
Cherokee black wax, -- bush
Pencil pod black wax, -- bush
Taylor Dwarf Horticultural, -- bush
Provider, -- bush
a pinto bean that was unidentified in a container, -- pole
a white seeded climber that confused me last year by not knowing where it came from, -- pole
Hyacinth ornamental (climbing)
Bosnian beans.-- pole

I tried a Goldrush (bush) wax bean twice and it failed both times.  I have a Hopi purple string bean (pole) and the Tennessee Greasy bean variant (pole) I have yet to plant.  I'm not sure - do I count the french green lentils as beans?  *ha*

The corn is growing quite tall, the provider beans and the tomatoes we planted from seed are both starting to flower.  The sweet peas (not shown) are really producing a little each day, now.  If we can just keep the grass from taking over we will have plenty of food, soon.  The chickens really like the weeds thrown to them, as well.

The other adventure of the day - besides the hours I spent out here, was going to Dry Hollow Farm, which is not very far away from us and we found on Etsy.  We bought some Jacob's sheep wool roving which I am trying my hand at making into yarn, and got to see the wonderful animals she takes care of.  Her gardens were inspiring, too -- although I have no idea how I could ever upkeep that much space!  That is why I 'microgarden' in comparison - a small space but everything packed as densely as possible.  But, it would be nice to learn how to do the terracing and make even more use of space.

I took the wool to a mock-up spindle when I got home and started an attempt at a twisted single ply.. it was a lovely long staple, so it wasn't hard to get something that appeared to act like yarn... I am thinking if I ply it together with a second ply or with some lace yarn I have not used it will become something I can knit with and make something beautiful.

//Other beans not planted this year but we have for consideration :
Mayflower beans (pole)
Marvel of Venice (pole) ? is this the white seeded one I couldn't identify?
Polestar runner beans (red flowered)
Country Gentleman beans - can't find any info on this one, so I should grow it out to find more
 Beurre de Rocquencourt (wax, bush)
Tiger Eye 
Jeminez (pole)
Coco Bianco (there are bush and pole varieties, mine are not marked)
Dapple grey (bush?)
Good Mother Stallard (pole), did poorly last year
Snowcap (bush)
Soldier (bush)
White Half Runner
Kentucky Wonder Pole beans
'pink' beans (supposed to be semi-vining)
Appaloosa (bush)
Painted Pony (bush)
Dixie butterpea lima beans (bush)
Hutterite (bush) - I only have a few seeds left of this, they did not do well here
McCaslan (pole)
several labelled 'Borlotto' bush types?
Lina Sisco's birds egg beans (bush)
Calypso red and black varieties (bush)
Nightfall red and black varieties (bush)
Colorado river (which look just like Mayflower) (pole?)
Trout beans
Mississippi silver cowpeas
Cream lady cowpeas (grew last year - so very small.. pretty, but not sure will grow out again)

---and more.. of course... I have become quite the collector thanks to the benefactor seed swap from a few years ago, and am always on the lookout for others even though I can't grow them all every year.

Wool Lingerie

I made my own pattern using measurements.  Size 5 knitting needles and Palette wool knitting yarn.   Knit in two pieces and then used a size E crochet hook to do edging reinforcement on the front edges.  Now that I have the sizing down, I could knit the shoulder straps in one piece lengths (instead of two, as shown) and add a closure on the 'next one'.  It took a little more than half of a full ball of Palette.

Mark had dared me to knit wool lingerie, and we've been iced in since the storm, so I tried this.  If I had continued knitting down and around with a circular needle it would have been a very nice tank top.

Very warm wool, and it took maybe about three hours (for me) to knit  I had started it last night and finished sewing up the tails and edges this afternoon.

and I wasn't the only one who wanted to be warm....

He said I should post the picture because he wasn't worried about showing through it like I was ;)

New Loom

I've wanted a 'real' loom since I was a teenager. I tried to build one several times, but it never stood up to the wear, or missed key pieces. I've woven items on picture frames, cardboard, books, doors and most recently, the found frame that used to be part of a table. Yes, that is what the big frame I've been using for the dream bag is - and it has done quite well! However, I still wanted a loom with a heddle, and something portable. A few days before my birthday I ordered this.


It's a Beka loom from Dick Blick catalog.


A few minutes work with their already-warped setup gave this.

How to Warp a Rigid Heddle Loom <-- so I'll remember later.


I'm hittinng the home stretch on the dream bag, as well.
This will be one side, and you've seen the other. I'm still using the finger pick up method to get the shed on this, or it would be going a lot faster. Those long bars with all the slots are called 'heddles.' They allow you to pick up the sheds just by pushing the bar up or down and scooping them all up at once.

Baby Update: We see the doctor again on Thursday. She has been kicking me furiously between eight and ten at night as her chosen 'awake' period - but also at random times during the day. I'm finally starting to feel awkward bending over for things and will be asking the doctor what is the best way to do that - since my book only shows the proper way to 'lift small packages'... How long will it be before a piece of paper on the floor defeats me? *grin*

Thanks for all the well wishes yesterday. In all but the law, I was 'divorced' that morning in January when I made my final decision. I am happy to have the legal part finished though finally.

Questions about Circulars...

Good questions! I'd like it to be 30 to 36 inches in diameter to end up with - which means over 100 inches in circumference. So - do I just keep going with dpns (seems to be working okay, stitches are tight) or do I use a circular needle? And, if circular, what size circular needle? I appreciate your insight!

It is so hot out today, comparitively! We planted a tray of tomatoes and peppers, and another tray full of geranium seeds. I hope to sell the geraniums at the flea market in May.

We went for a walk yesterday...


Miss I calls this a 'sarvis' tree -- take a look at who was visiting it!

This tree has a very sweet smell that can be smelled all the way from the doorstep! There were tiny honey bees swarming it as well, but they were too fast to catch on camera.

Progress on the Wool Circular Shawl

Happy Spring Everyone!
We've been busy around here :o) My November gift is going suprisingly well -- round things usually get 'ornery' on me after they are bigger than a sock ;o)

Size 3 needle, White 'Palette' Knitpicks yarn (100% wool)


It is almost 10 inches in diameter now.

I put a few rows on it every night.

We rented 'Eragon', 'Stranger than Fiction' and 'Blood Diamond' last night. CarrieK, I think you reccommended 'Stranger than Fiction'? Really great movie - although I fell asleep just before the end so will have to watch the end today.

Also - lots of work in the garden yesterday. It will be super-warm out today (77°) and we are also going to start some plants indoors in trays.

Here comes the weekend...

Taking it 'easy' this weekend -- hope the weather warms up for some garden work, though! It was nice and sunshiney out yesterday, but the wind was too cold to do much outside. Puck came through her surgery just fine -- she curled up in a ball on the couch for most of the day yesterday. She did scare us a little by going outside and disappearing for an hour after dark -- but one of the other dogs went out and retrieved her.

Kim at Knitten-kittens, I can't comment on your blog anymore :o( The number verification fails every time :o( Still reading though.


'Counsel from Fox' 03/15/2007 12 noon


I am making some progress on this wool 'shawl.'
It will be a gift for someone in November.

Mark took some more close-up pictures of the Singer that turned out wonderful. We were looking at how it actually worked. He also figured out the bobbin winder! The little kit of odds and ends the seller gave us had two different kinds of bobbins in it -- I was trying to use the winder with the wrong type.


The bobbin loop coming up.


The bobbin in its 'bullet-like' case.

Keeping busy with the Ebay store, knitting rabbits, working on my dream bag weaving... there is a lot going on here. My best friend from high school called last night and we had a good talk, also wished her a belated happy birthday from last week.

Flea Market finds (and some knitting does occurr)

We found a steal at the flea market - an antique Singer sewing machine for such a small price, we had to scoop it up. It seems to work, too! The one thing we are having difficulty with is winding a new bobbin -- the instructions are wadded up and falling apart -- and this bobbin winder seems different than many of the ones we are looking at on the Internet. It is a 27-4 Singer according to the manual. We looked up the serial number (beginning with 'B') on the Singer website and it says this particular machine was made in 1904. However, since it has been refurbished, it might contain parts of several different models -- we're just not sure.


I play with the bobbin winder some.

A close-up of the winder in question.


There were also very good-smelling strawberries at the flea market!


Some knitting does still occurr here...
A *secret mystery project* (No guessing!) started out of fine white wool.

article on indian corn

Wool Bird Pincushions

Currently at the shop:

Wool felt version of bird pincushion

New design: owl pincushion (wool felt)

I spent the weekend playing with the bag of wool felt that came in the mail last week. We've also been going through stacks of books, and clearing up more old equipment to sort. Mark turned over the garden with the backhoe and we will have to get some plants and seeds. I have a bag of blue iris bulbs we can find a place for out in the yard soon :o)

KnitOwl chugging along again...

Finished this little rabbit last night, and he's up in the shop. I'm still working on the first alien's embroidery.


Chris: What the wool yarn is for...
This belt is five years old, and needs to be replaced now.

I'm working on a series of photo essays about weaving, to post on our work site. It will take a bit to get everything polished, but what we have so far looks promising!



Two belts warped up and ready to weave.


A beautiful picture Mark took of one of the belts as I started to weave.

Linky Fest: This brought a smile today: Rutabaga Curling at the Ithaca Farmer's Market in Ithaca, NY. Found it at Wikipedia while we were looking up if a swede was a rutabaga or a turnip - it's a rutabaga (also known as a swedish turnip.. btw). [inspired by a fark thread about - Where's the battleship made of carrots?]