all-merino shawl

Got in the mood to knit a shawl recently and Berocco's Mrs Watson shawl has been on my Pinterest shawl board for a while. I had a lighter weight yarn, so my version is smaller and lighter weight than the full size, worsted weight version. The purple is Malabrigo Mechita in Eggplant and the secondary color is Malabrigo Nube in Arco Iris, so all merino with some handspinning involved. All roughly fingering weight.

The pups make great models, yes?

I expect to use this shawl as a scarf this winter, as we don't get that cold in the Bay Area. The pattern is easy to use and I love this color combination. I particularly like the way it looks with a dark dominant color and lighter secondary color. Many iterations may be coming...

bunny bolt

Bolt's First Halloween! Since he's a social, people-loving dog, I was excited to dress him up and go to costume contests. Given his sweet nature, I went with Lion Brand's Bunny Dog Costume Pattern.

The pattern knit up quickly, with the only challenge being how to get the ears to stand up. I moved them to the top of the head and stuffed them with filling, but they still flop around more than I'd like.

He tolerates it really well and loves all the attention it gets him.

Happy Halloween from Bolt.

coming soon

Working on Bolt's Halloween costume. It's going to be totally adorable, but he is less than thrilled.

more Bolt photos

The new puppy continues to be adorable.

He's continuing to grow and learn. Our current expectation is that he'll level out around 40 lb, but he's a total mutt, so there's no telling. And if you enjoy Pack, you can find Bolt's Pack page here.

new puppy

Introducing Bolt, our new roly poly, border collie puppy.

Tatum loves him so much already.

2016's big project

This year I've been planning a big, big spinning/knitting project that I've kept under wraps, as there were too many unknowns to guarantee it would happen. But I'm happy to report that progress is far enough along.

So here it is: this big project is a hand-spun, hand-knit sweater. But that's not all! It will feature colorwork of a border collie, modeled off of Tatum, using his fur. Eeks!

The base color is white/cream. My fiber guild was doing a rare breed study, so I accumulated a ton of 2 ounce samples of a bunch of different wools. I decided to spin them all separately and randomly ply them to get something that might look well together. I know it'll be slightly different shades, but this sweater has a lot of value in the process over the outcome; it's been quite the education about different fibers, staple lengths, consistency...

The pattern is a basic sweater from Purl Soho with a high neck, because I wear everything high-necked these days... The Tatum fur yarn was mixed with some gray merino/alpaca blend to beef it up and provide some softness. Tatum fur yarn is not soft!

While I still have only 2/3 of the yarn needed or so, I needed a break from spinning, so we are moving on to starting the body. I love it already.

Stay tuned for updates.

black sheep gathering

After kayaking time, I went down to Eugene for my first Black Sheep Gathering. And I can confirm: it is one amazing fiber show!

To start with, I took a sheep shearing class.

Then I bought too much fiber, although I restrained from the full fleeces.

Also nearly adopted a new dog to guard my non-existent cattle.

Finally, I had to wrestle my luggage into submission at the airport from way too many sheep-related purchases. Oops.

It goes without saying, but I will be finding reasons in the future to attend more Black Sheep Gatherings.