Wool in the West

While on our trip to Steamboat Springs, I picked up a copy of the May 2007 publication of Rural Living Magazine. What caught my attention was the headline “Wool in the West.”

 

I thought, this has got to be an article I want to read, given I LOVE wool!

I read the article today and wanted to share it with all the knitters out there that also count wool amongst their favorite things! I contacted Kelsey Berkoff, Contributing Writer for Rural Living Magazine and she was so kind to grant permission for me to post her article!

Check it out by clicking the tag at the top of the page “Wool in the West.” If you have problems clicking on the tab at the top of the page, you can go directly to the page here.

Thank you Kelsey for sharing your well written, very informative article with us!

Check out this site, Woolcrafting for awesome information on crafting with wool!

Oranges, Fair St Louis, Debbie Macomber and L&V socks!

My next woven scarf will be Oranges! I can’t wait to get this warp threaded and start weaving! My Beka loom arrived, but I will be weaving this scarf on my Ashford Knitters Loom.

I have a really hard time getting the length of the warp correct. I suppose with more experience, this will get easier. I sure hope so anyway. I wish I had my own personal weaving mentor.

 

Exciting news alert! I finally purchased a swift! I really am glad I took my time and researched all the swifts out there. This one is nice because you don’t have to clamp it to a table, it has it’s own base. You can find this Nifty Swift here. No more tangled yarn! Yahoooooooooooo!

 

 

Here is a little purse I knitted up yesterday. I love small purses that you can hang around your neck. Just enough room for cell phone, drivers license, cash, mints, keys.

I knitted it with three different wool yarns, 2 shades of Bartlett Yarns, and 1 shade of Noro. It could be felted, but I like it as is. (Click on picture to see full sized view.) I’ll add an i-cord string and make good use of it at Fair St Louis this 4th of July!

Speaking of Fair St Louis, I can’t even put into words how awesome it is to sit under the Arch and watch the amazing fireworks presentation. The City of St Louis goes all out, the fireworks seem to be never ending. Just when you think “Wow, those were great”, and think they are over, to your surprise, another 10 minutes of fireworks arrive!

 

I absolutely loved The Shop on Blossom Street and A Good Yarn by Debbie Macomber!

 

Audible has a great interview with Debbie and the interview is free!

I have been working on the Tulip Socks by Isela since the cruise. I am using Lime and Violet Sasquatch Fairhaven sock yarn. It is lovely! Socks take forever to knit, I’ve discovered. I don’t think I’ll get on the sock bandwagon! It will be a miracle if I finish this one sock!!!!

 

Colorado Visit

Son #2 and I had a wonderful time on our trip to Colorado. The focus of our trip was registering him for college. We flew to Denver, rented a car and drove to Estes Park, CO. Had lunch and enjoyed the shops. We then drove through Rocky Mountain National Park over Trail Ridge mountain and ended up in Steamboat Springs. What a beautiful drive!

 

I was very sad to see that pine and spruce beetles are infesting the mountainous evergreen forests. I realized that this is a natural phenomenon but it is still sad to see acres and acres of evergreens dead and brown due to the beetles.

Colorado is in the midst of a pine beetle infestation that has destroyed close to half of the state’s lodgepole pines.

Colorado Mountain College, Alpine campus in Steamboat Springs, CO

What a beautiful place to go to college! Steamboat Springs has been a favorite vacation spot for our family, so I am just thrilled that he will be getting his education here, and will also have the luxury of snowboarding on a daily basis! He’ll have the life many of us have only dreamed of!

Our Cruise

We had such a great time on our cruise! So much so that we didn’t want to get off the boat when it docked back in New Orelans!

The ship was the Carnival Fantasy. It is an older boat, but still wonderful!

We were on the Verandah deck, the 5th suite on the top row, front of the boat. The suite was nice, it had a balcony. We decided that we will always want to get a balcony room on future cruises. It is so peaceful sitting out on that balcony!

The boat was well equipped with anything you could want or need. Plenty of good food, slots for me and Texas poker for hubby. Swimming pools, although hubby and I never used them…the water looked a bit murky, given there were 2000 guests on board. Even though they changed the water in the pools daily, it just wasn’t inviting to me!

We enjoyed several of the shows. One night there was a very funny comedian. Another night there was a comedian that hypnotized a group of passengers. That was hysterical! He had the men on stage believing they were giving birth for instance, it was too funny! One night, they had ballroom dancing lessons. Hubby and I didn’t participate, but did sit in the audience and watched. I have never laughed so hard in my life! There were a couple of passengers on stage that seriously should never dance! LOL

I spent a good amount of time just sitting in the lounge chair knitting. I didn’t see anyone else knitting on the cruise, which surprised me. It was very relaxing sitting there knitting away while watching the ocean pass by out the window. I had a tote bag that I always carried my knitting in, just in case the urge to knit hit me. Which it did often! I finished a small purse and got started on a sock pattern.

I often wondered to myself what I did with my time before knitting. I must have been bored!!!! I just love knitting! Knitting is the best thing I’ve done for my life in a long time!

I listened to both the following books on my Ipod:

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off: The Yarn Harlot’s Guide to the Land of Knitting

The Friday Night Knitting Club By: Kate Jacobs

Both books were great! I would highly recommend them both!

Hubby went scuba diving on our first stop in Costa Maya. I took a taxi to the village and spent the day knitting in an outdoor resturant, swimming in the ocean, shopping. I also had the best massage I’ve ever had in my life, by a small Mexican woman on the beach. I truly wanted to bring her home with me, she was that good at massage!

On our second stop, Cozumel, hubby and I took a taxi into town and shopped. Then we got on a boat and did some snorkeling. Oh, I haven’t mentioned the color of the ocean water….it was light turquoise blue..just stunningly blue, so clear. Beautiful!

Hubby forgot his camera, and we never got around to purchasing one while on the boat, so I don’t have any pictures. I do have a couple pictures that were taken on the cruise by the cruise paparazzi. I’ll upload those once I get them scanned.

We can’t wait to take our next cruise! For sure 7 – 10 days. 5 days just isn’t long enough!

Tomorrow, Son #2 and I are headed to Colorado to register him for college! I am looking forward to that, along with meeting up with my old friends. (I lived in Colorado for 18 years prior to moving to Missouri.) We are also taking a side trip to Estes Park. My favorite place on earth! If you are ever in Colorado, it is a must go to destination!

Weaving from my stash

I am so excited about leaving on our cruise tomorrow! In an effort to calm myself down, I went through my yarn stash and started my 4th woven item!

I am using Cascade 220 Heather Green #801 for the warp and Cleckheaton Tapestry #16 for the weft. I am just so happy with the colors!

I found a wonderful site online where you can purchase used weaving looms! I am so excited! I purchased a Beka Rigid Heddle loom! It is a 24″, so it will be twice the size of my Ashford Knitters Loom, and I will be able to use two heddles!

Back to weaving! I hope everyone has a great week!

Ships Ahoy!

Hubby and I are off on our first ever cruise on Monday June 11th! It is a five day cruise, leaving from New Orleans to Costa Maya and Cozumel Mexico. It is our first cruise. We are really excited about it!

I’ve already packed two small looms to take on the cruise. I’m going to work on a pair of socks and a purse. I figured I’d take two looms, as I get bored often of working on only one!

 

I finished my third woven item. I didn’t make the warp long enough, so I will make a purse out of it. My sewing machine is in for repair, so I haven’t sewn up the seams yet.

 

Woven Recycled Silk Sari Scarf

I finished my second woven scarf! I love how it turned out! I used Cascade 220 for the warp and recycled silk sari yarn for the weft. The pictures really don’t do it justice. (double click on the picture to see larger view!) It is sooooooooo pretty!

 

 

Happy Birthday to meeeeeeeeeee!

Check out this awesome purse I got for my birthday from my good friends Murr and Rocky! They got it from Amy at bandamy boutique . Amy is so talented. Go check out her boutique!!! I can only dream of making a purse this beautiful!

Thank you Murr and Rocky!!

My order from DALooms arrived on my birthday! What a nice treat! The looms are pictured with my new warp board for my weaving adventures!

Here is a picture of my latest yarn I’ll be using to warp soon!

I finished my first woven scarf! One thing I did learn right off the bat is….you MUST do math to weave! LOL My teachers and I didn’t do that well on our math for my first scarf project. My scarf ended up being 90 inches long, instead of 75! I am pleased as punch with it anyway! I’ve already got my second warp done and will be setting it up on the loom and I’ll be off and running on my second woven scarf. I measured twice this time!