gypsyspinner

New Stash

2012-01-16T13:43:00.005-05:00

Here are a few pics of my Dutch Christmas baking. This is Gevulde Spekulaas....spicey on the outside with a sweet almond filling. Gevulde Koek (pic below)...filled cookies...almond filling is homemade of course. My favs are Gevulde Amandelspijs Broodjes but those didn't turn out so well. My first attempt at homemade puff pastry was not very successful. I love, love the Dutch bakkerij! We are visiting Netherlands again sometime this year to see our sweet little grandsons and it's all thanks to their parents :-)

Here is a birthday gift from my son (who also bought me two of the knitting books).

I have not had the chance to try Yak fibre even though I recently bought Yak yarn in Amsterdam.

I got 2 oz of the white Yak clouds and 1 oz of the brown Yak. It is not as soft as my Cashmere but has a nice density to it. This will be blended...with what I don't know yet but I am sure there is plenty in my stash.

Selbuvotter in Raumagarn for a friend.

My new books. I plan on learning the Twined Knitting using my Z plied handspun GotlandX

yarn from the sheepies. In another month or so we will be able to tell who is pregnant! Lambies

will be due end of March!! That reminds me, I better get repairing a couple of the lambie coats :-)

My recently finished handspun Cormo yarn is knitting up beautifully into a Russian Lace scarf.

This is from Knitting Traditions Fall 2011 issue. Galina A. Khmeleva pattern.

I just ordered Knitting Traditions Winter 2011. I love Galina A. Khmeleva's Shawl pattern.

Happy Knitting!

http://www.interweavestore.com/Knitting/Magazines/Knitting-Traditions-Winter-2011.html

Catching Up!

2011-12-12T11:11:00.005-05:00

My Scottish Diamond gloves are finished. Knit with Satakieli yarn. Specs on my Ravelry page.

Halfway done my Estonian Lace Scarf knit in Kidsilk Haze.

Gorgeous handcombed New Zealand Polwarth divided onto 3 bobbins.

The finished 3 ply is about a fingering weight. It is very firmly plied for gloves or mitts.

There is about 750 yards here.

I purchased Regia 3ply to knit the Prince of Wales pattern from the original Sanquhar booklet using 1.5mm double points. I plan on knitting all 4 patterns.

Next on my Rose is Serenity Farms Corriedale/Merino cross. I handcombed this lovely coffee coloured finewool and am spinning a 2 ply laceweight.

I love my spinning and knitting ...it gives me endless pleasure. I wish you all a wonderful holiday

season filled with happiness, love and many fibrearts! See you soon :-)

Breeding Groups

2011-11-09T09:11:00.008-05:00

Gotland ram Sterling with 50% Gotland ewes Brandy and Bailey.

First breeding group is 75%Gotland Sterling with his 4 maiden ewes. Two white 37.5% Gotland/Finns and 2 50% Gotland/25Shetland/25Finn girls (they are the darker ewes).

Bailey is in the white coat...she was the smallest ewe lamb and I think she may be staying small like a Shetland. Bailey also has the most grey of all the dark lambs.

So any lambs will be 56% and 62.5% Gotland.

Above and below pic show my 7 month old lamb Lilly. She has really grown nicely and has beautiful, lustrous fleece. You can see in the pic above that she still has her dark spot on her nose and front leg. http://gypsyspinner.blogspot.com/2011/04/little-lilly.html

Lilly is in the second breeding group along with her mom Lacey, and her grandma Apple. Lilly is 37.5% Gotland/Finn.

Apple is the only remaining ewe from 2009. Their ram is 75% Gotland Sebastion. Sebastion's fleece is darker and denser than Sterling, but Sterling's fleece is finer. So hopefully the lambs will have both characteristics in their fleece. I expect some of the lambs born next year from the white GotlandX ewes to have the Gotland grey colour.

The rams got right down to work immediately and even the maiden ewes were not being shy!

Here's my beautiful Finn ewe Lacey who was born on the farm last spring. This will be her second breeding. I hope she doesn't have 5 lambs like her mom Apple did!

My Trip in Pictures

2011-10-31T12:30:00.007-04:00

My sweet little twin grandsons Noah and Beau

"Gourmet" with DH, stepdaughter Vera, stepson Ewout and son-in-law Martijn

DH relaxing with freshly bathed babies

Yours truly feeding Beau. You can see in the right corner, the Ene's shawl I was hurrying to finish in time for Vera

DH, son-in-law Martijn with his mom, dad and brother and Vera. They were enjoying my freshly baked chocolate-hazelnut layer cake. I bake this everytime we come to visit! YUM!

Vera and Martijn walking their twins on a sunny day. The weather was quite mild with

no frost.

Me standing in the town square of Naaldwijk. Naaldwijk is a small town near the sea and

they have alot of greenhouses that grow many different products.

A nice place to go for a stroll.

There were swans of course and these sheep. They are used for grass control. I am not sure of the breed.

Stepdaughter Vera looking beautiful in the finished Ene's shawl.

Oma Jody with Noah :-)

DH and I took a day trip to Amsterdam. That was the only day that it rained!

I Love Ravelry

2011-10-13T10:26:00.007-04:00

This was yesterday in the parking lot of a mall in Belleville ON. I drove there with an antique CPW (Canadian Production Wheel) to meet Kim, a very nice fellow Ontario Raveler. I picked up the wheel from it's original owner who lives in my area. Kim is taking this wheel to meet it's American owner at Rhinebeck. We are members of the Wheel Rescue Group on Ravelry. The wheel will eventually live in Texas!

I finished a pair of gloves in Hubbert Farms 85%Alpaca/15%Finnwool blend yarn.

These are for a friend but I think I will make myself a pair too.

My second Ene's Scarf is in the works with my 50%Silk/50% Merino blend from the Knitter's Fair.

I have long admired these Sanquhar Scottish gloves. A fellow Raveler in the UK was kind enough to send me the pattern books from the Rural Women's Scottish Institute.There are 4 patterns in all. I have started a pair (pic below)from a pattern I already had using my Satakieli yarn and DyakCraft double points. So far I am really liking them. They are smooth and sturdy needles, which is perfect for my small gauge tight knitting style.

Another trade for fibre and yarn with a fellow Ontario Raveler below.

That's Treenway Silk's laceweight 45%Yak/55%Silk yarn. Gorgeous.

Love laceweight in red! She also sent 4 skeins of Rowan Kidsilk Haze in a pale pink colour.

For the fibre part of the trade she sent me 1/2 LB of this luscious NZ Polwarth. It's almost a Rose Grey colour which is my favourite. Ravelry is a fantastic place to do trades!

Next Wednesday, DH and I are leaving for Netherlands to visit family (twin grandsons). We will be staying until end of October so I am hoping to get a chance to visit De Afstap in Amsterdam.

They stock alot of Rowan yarns. See you next month :-)

The Knitter's Fair

2011-09-11T13:45:00.003-04:00

Lacey Merino/Silk from Sericin Silk Works

Dyed Bombyx Silk ( I have a weakness.... OK)

Another weakness...Cashmere roving from Becky (Roving Winds Farm)

Needles make me weak. Never tried the DyakCrafts before.

I just had to splurge on a set of Signature needles. 2.75mm double-points. Boy they are tiny.

A Merino/Cashmere/Nylon sock blend for DH from Indiodragonfly.

I got to meet the talented American designer Anne Hanson. Anne is very sweet in person and I was lucky enough to receive two hugs from her :-)

Fellow Ontario blogger Laurie is fun and tall ( I was standing on my tiptoes in that pic hehe)!

My Knitgroup girls were there for the first time also. I really enjoyed having so many wonderful people around me :-)

Kleinkinderen

2011-08-12T11:04:00.004-04:00

Our sweet, precious tiny grandsons were born almost a full 2 months early (June 25th) and have been in hospital since then. Beau came home a couple weeks ago and now Noah is home too. My stepdaughter Vera and her husband Martijn are very happy to have both boys home! DH and I look forward to visiting Beau & Noah in Naaldwijk, Netherlands sometime this year :-)

The Supercard

2011-07-18T16:45:00.008-04:00

Big learning curve here...it's not quite the same as my Fancicard. This Supercard officially belongs to Hubbert Farms but it resides with me and I am the User :-))))

I have a feeling we will make beautiful music together.

I can always count on Spicey to help out with the fleece washing.

Finished my Tanis Mulberry Silk Haruni shawl. Very pretty pattern, especially in pure silk.

This is the Lehe shawl from my favourite book...Lace Knitting of Estonia.

I am using Hubbert Farm's Cria/Silk/Bamboo lace yarn. So soft and pretty.

Lacey's Yarn

2011-06-08T12:41:00.006-04:00

Washing

Plying 2 Ply

Works out to about 2200 ypp so a fingering weight.

330 grams 2 ply fingering....silky and very lustrous....thanks Lacey :-)

Yes I am knitting too. This is the Haruni Shawl in Tanis Mulberry Silk...colour Poppy. Almost finished 6 repeats of pattern before starting the edging.

Now that Lacey's yarn is finished, time to begin something different. Like Cria!

This is amazing fibre from Garcon of Hubbert Farms.A natural for laceweight.

Last but not least.... lamby luv. Lilly is in the background to the left. You can't miss that big black smudge on her nose :-)

This is my Bailey...the youngest and smallest of Abby's lambs. She will be 3 months old next week. Bailey is 50% Gotland (she looks alot like her sire...Sebastion). Her fleece is a solid silver colour now. Of all Abby's 4 black lambs, Bailey is turning silver the fastest.

Corriedale Fleece from Serenity Farms

2011-05-26T16:16:00.005-04:00

Cary from Serenity Farms included this Corriedale top from her own sheep for me to try. All of Cary's sheep are covered so the fleece is super clean :-)

She also included a few samples of her white Corriedale. Very fine and soft.

Another bit of extra fleece for me to try...this dark brown Corriedale (top & bottom pics) has a tiny bit of Merino so is very soft, fine and elastic!

This is a fine medium grey Corriedale lamb fleece (top & bottom pics). Nice long staple and wonderful handle.

I also purchased one pound of Francie's classic Corriedale fleece (top & bottom pics). Light grey colour. It is also nice and soft and lustrous.

I am very impressed with all of this Corriedale fleece. It is lovely and I highly recommend Serenity Farms. Cary's prices are excellent too :-)

I've been spinning Lacey's white Finn fleece and am now onto the second bobbin. I will post when it is done. Her fleece is so shiney it glows.

What to spin next....hmmm....Corriedale, Cormo, Bond, Gotland, Cria????

Alpaca Shearing at Hubbert Farms

2011-05-13T16:04:00.005-04:00

This fawn Cria was born while we were shearing.

A dark brown Cria that is a few days old. He had to be kept close by his mom while she was being shorn.

This year Hubbert Farms took a different approach to shearing.....on the floor.

This fellow is the shearer's assistant. He spins and crochets too.

Me, waiting for the blanket to be sheared and then I transfer it to the skirting table so I can skirt and sort it.

An updated pic of the lambies. The oldest lambs are now two months old.

Here's my girl Lacey with her one month old lamb Lilly.

Lilly still has dark spots on her face and what looks like eyeliner around her eyes.

Lilly is a big girl. As big as some of the older, smaller lambs.

She's very friendly like her mom. Always nibbling on my hair or my clothes. So much sheepy luv at Hubbert Farms :-)

It's Here!

2011-05-04T16:04:00.004-04:00

Two years ago I knit a set of Norwegian mittens for Terri Shea. She sent me a chart and photo plus the Rauma wool. The mittens were for Norwegian Knitting Designs. It's a tiny little book with lots of charts. My mittens are on page 17. I am happy to finally have my copies :-)

Fleece from Hubbert Farms Sheep

2011-05-03T10:11:00.005-04:00

My Lacey's fleece is first up and believe me ....it is soooo beautiful. Fine, silky and supersoft. Here is some lovely handcombed top that I am effortlessly spinning into laceweight for a large shawl :-) Pure heaven! Here it is drying. These two racks are half of her fleece. See how long the staples are (5inches unstretched). The tips are very clean because Lacey has been wearing a coat since last Fall. Close up of unwashed.

Lacey's skirted prime fleece weighs about 3 lbs.

Below are the two Gotland rams' fleeces that I have been busy skirting. Sterling on the left and Sebastion on the right. The skirted weights of prime fleece are 5.5lbs for the dark and 3 lbs for the light. These are not big sheep...they are slightly smaller than the Finns. This picture shows the rolled up fleeces with cut side out.

Sterling's fleece after skirting. His fleece is a very pale grey..looks almost white in areas. Very lustrous and silky. He is the sire of Lacey's lamb, Lilly :-)

Sebastion's darker Gotland fleece (below) really blew me away! It has everything. Density, uniformity and incredible luster. Just beautiful. All this fleece came from one little Gotland yearling! These fleeces will be sent to a Mill for roving and yarn.

ETA: I just ordered a Pat Green Supercard for Hubbert Farms and I am going to process Sebastion's fleece myself! We will have lovely Gotland batts for sale in a couple months.

May 12 is Alpaca shearing at Hubbert Farms. When I am finished skirting and sorting, there will be Alpaca fleece available for sale either on here or my Ravelry page.

FleeceAholic

2011-04-18T14:54:00.003-04:00

Gorgeous covered Bond fleece from Gleason's Fine Woolies

I joined GFW Ravelry group and we are spinning and knitting a shawl with our Bond fleece.

Hubbert Farms had the two Gotland rams sheared last week. I am thrilled with the quality of their fleeces!! These Gotland fleeces will be sent to a Mill for yarn and roving. I am thinking silk and a special Alpaca blend..yum.

Kathy McConnell also won top prize with her champion alpaca Scotty too BTW :-)

Above is Sterling's fleece. Extremely lustrous and silky. He is the sire of my Lilly!

Sebastion's fleece. Dark ,crimpy and dense with a nice long staple. He is the sire of all the other beautiful lambies at Hubbert Farms. It's been a great year so far and I cannot wait to see the lamb's fleeces as they mature!!

Little Lilly

2011-04-12T14:09:00.007-04:00

Top 3 pics show how the lambs are growing....4 weeks old already! Abby's black 50% Gotland lambs are turning silver next to their skin. Gotlands are born black and turn grey in the first few months.

The newest addition to Hubbert Farms. Meet Lilly!!

Lacey had a single ewe lamb yesterday afternoon! I did think there would be more than one but if it's a girl then I am happy. She is so sweet....a big black spot is on her nose and one of her lower front legs has a band of black around it. Her fleece has tight little purls unlike some of the other white lambs that have waves and purls. Lilly is 37.5%Gotland/6%Shetland/56.5%Finn.

Bottle Feeding Lambs

2011-03-29T19:50:00.005-04:00

I had to throw in a recent pic of Lacey. She should lamb within the next couple of weeks and I am 99% sure it's twins. They will be 37% Gotland/Finn. I'm hoping for at least one girl :-)

Most of the lambs are now 2 weeks old. They are growing out of their little fleece coats :-)

More Lambs

2011-03-23T12:01:00.004-04:00

Ally had her 3 lambs Saturday morning. Two ewes and one ram lamb. She is a first time Mom and very protective of them. This is Ally's smallest ewe lamb. She has the same brown splashes of colour as 2 of Apple's lambs. She is getting extra milk from a bottle and is such a little angel. I hold her in my arms and she closes her eyes. I am in luv :-)

Abby's black lambs are really growing!

Here is Ally's lamb (below) again just cause she is so darn cute!

Here is the best mom ever....Apple. This is her second lambing and she really luvs her lambs as you can see.

My Lacey (who is Apple's daughter from last year) is getting a larger bag on her so I know she should lamb within the next month. I am not sure but I think it might be twins. Her lambs will be from the Gotland ram Sterling. All of the other lambs are sired by Gotland ram Sebastion. The count so far for lambs born this year at Hubbert Farms is seven ewe lambs and five ram lambs from just three ewes!

That's A Lotta Lambs!!

2011-03-16T15:20:00.005-04:00

Apple had five lambs early this morning! Three ewes and 2 rams. Some have brown spots on white. These lambs are 37.5% Gotland /Finn. Apple is a loving mother as you can see :-)

Abby had four lambs yesterday afternoon!! All black but they should start to turn Gotland grey in the next few months. Two ewes and two rams. These lambs are 50% Gotland/Shetland/Finn.

Wow!! We sure didn't expect that many lambs from these two ewes. Ally the other 2 year old white Finn is due very soon. We think maybe two or three lambs?? My little Lacey will be at least another month. Everyone is so far doing well :-)

Yummy (Greasy) Cormo!!

2011-03-10T13:26:00.005-05:00

The white is the greasiest and I am using lots of boiling hot water and blue Dawn.

Light grey and dark grey are CormoX...not as greasy but very soft!

This fleece was all from covered Cormo sheep from Charlotte Epley

http://cormo24-7.blogspot.com/

More Sheepy Stuff

2011-02-26T15:26:00.006-05:00

Bright white and soft Finn fleece.

A very pregnant Apple. Lambs coming soon!

Feet trimming. Look at that tummy :-) Not a very ladylike position.

Abby has a big bulge on either side...hope it's twins!

The black is Abby's second shear. It's very crimpy and soft!

The white is Lacey's Finn lamb fleece.

So soft and shiney!

Getting Ready for Sheep Shearing and Lambing

2011-02-14T08:57:00.004-05:00

Below is Apple (Lacey's mom) who we hope might be carrying triplets this year. She is a wonderful mother and very friendly. My little girl Lacey. Not sure if she is pregnant...no sign of a bag. She still likes to nibble on my coat just like when she was a tiny lamb :-) Her fleece is long stapled and very soft.

The four ewes in waiting. Abby (the dark ewe) is 25% Gotland and this will be her first lambing.

The lambs will be 50% Gotland. Abby's fleece is beautiful.

Ally (in the back behind Apple) is bagging up too and this will also be her first lambing.

The ewes will be sheared next week and then we can see what is under those coated fleeces. I will post pics of the fleece and nekkid sheep. The rams will be sheared later when the weather warms up.

Finished my Fair-Isle mittens. They fit my stepsister, Michelle perfectly. It really helps to have an outline of the person's hand.

Miralda Shawl in a merino/seacell blend. The colour is perfect on Michelle. She is turning 50 this month and I wanted to make her something special. Alright I will admit that my 50th was in Jan. I still cannot believe I am this old!!!!

Hope all my readers are keeping warm thru this cold winter (it will soon be over) and getting lots of knitting and spinning time in :-)

I will post again next week after shearing.

Feels Like The Arctic!

2011-01-17T08:16:00.008-05:00

This morning our temps read -32 degrees Celcius and that is not even with the wind chill. I could hear the house making strange banging noises all night from the cold. This is the kind of weather when I feel thankful for warm insulating fibres like wool and alpaca! Diane from Normandy France, asked me for a sample of my Finn lamb wool and I said , "Let's do a trade." I sent her some Finn and 3 colours of my Alpaca. In return she sent me samples of her very special Ouessant wool. Ouessant are the smallest sheep in the world and I was very intrigued by them. She also sent some wonderful lavender sachets.

Here are grey Ouessant locks.

Here are the black. Both are soft but have the longer tips like double coated Shetland.

A wash in hot water removed the lanolin. Diane had already cold -soaked this wool.

Here it is (above pic) all poufy and clean. I cut the tiny tips from the grey because they were a little tender.

If you go to Diane's blog you can see her beautiful spinning and the exquisite knits she makes from her little Ouessant sheep.

I have an order I am working on for my Alpaca breeder in Missouri. She wants 6 pair of handspun socks and some handspun yarn. This is the blend for the first two pair. Black alpaca, grey yearling Mohair and nylon.

My Brandywine shawl knit in Knitpicks Shadow yarn is off the needles. My friend Lynda also knit this shawl in a heavy wool single. What a great pattern.

These are the same mittens on the cover of this book. I blogged about the Julia yarn I used in my last post. These mittens are a gift for someone's upcoming birthday.

Another gift for the same person's birthday. The Miralda shawl. The yarn I am using is from Laurie and it's 50/50 Merino/Seacell. This is so NOT my colours but I know the recipient will luv it.

Ahhhhh...finally after a month of waiting it has arrived. The Two-End knitting is a skill I wish to learn. Just need to find the time!

Lovely Gifts

2010-12-28T12:04:00.003-05:00

This is a lovely book and I just want to knit everything in it. The Jan/Feb Special Issue of Piecework has an Orenburg scarf to knit and this book also talks of the Orenburg Lace. I did order a subscription of Piecework magazine too.

I have wanted to try this yarn forever! Actually it's for my birthday (Jan. 2) but I couldn't wait that long. I won this fantastic package from here http://sheepdreams-dianne.blogspot.com/2010/12/another-winner.html. What a generous person Dianne is!

My stepdaughter in Holland always sends us a fun package. The Albert Hein Praline hazelnut in the jar will be used as a filling for my birthday cake. Man that stuff is good.

I'm not lucky enough to be able to take a class with Judith so this is the next best thing!

One of my best gifts was being able to have my son Mirek here for an entire week!!!!

Spicey is all tuckered out :-)

One more thing I must mention.....I have placed my order for a Watson Marie in black walnut from here http://www.watsonwheels.com/

I sold my Ashford Traditional and one of my Quebec production wheels to finance the down payment. I ordered additional regular bobbins plus the bulky flyer (for plying), 2 extra bulky bobbins and matching 4 bobbin lazy kate. I luv Norwegian wheels and was consideriing my options for quite awhile. This was what I decided on. Canadian made too :-)

HAPPY NEW YEAR to all!!

Getting Ready for Christmas

2010-12-14T11:25:00.007-05:00

Tree is up and most of the gifts are wrapped.

Lots of snow! and more to come!

Pierogies for my half Polish son, Mirek

Handspun Cormo top.

Almost finished my Seasilk shawl .

I hope everyone is staying warm :-)

Down the Rabbit Hole Again!

2010-11-15T10:36:00.005-05:00

Pictures of my latest antique saxony wheel. I don't know anything about her except she is a screw tension. Possibly there could be a maker's mark underneath and next year I might clean her down to the bare wood. She is pretty and spins ok. I have trouble spinning on all three of my antique wheels. The twist builds up rapidly before the single will wind on to the bobbin. Tricky!

I've been focusing on mostly my knitting lately. Above is the Brandywine Shawl in Knitpicks Shadow. I luv this pattern and will definitely make more!

My finished North Star Tam in handspun Cria/Qiviut. So much work in this hat and you can barely see the lace work.

One almost finished Komi mitten (I do the thumbs last)...needs to be blocked. These mittens fit nicely and I do so luv colourwork.

There's so many things I want to knit. I have a new book, Norwegian Patterns for Knitting. Norwegian knitting is one of my favourite styles. I plan on knitting the hat on the cover of that book.

Happy Knitting to everyone :-))

Preparing for Winter

2010-10-25T09:57:00.007-04:00

I've been helping Kathy (Hubbert Farms) prepare the lower portion of the big barn for overwintering the ewes and two new Gotland rams. Sebastion has been in with the 3 mature ewes for several weeks now. He is 7 months old and seems to be pretty confident around the girls.

That leaves my Lacey and Sterling together. Sterling is quite small and Sailor was picking on him so we will keep him in with the girls until he grows bigger. Lacey is 6 months old and it's possible she will be bred by Sterling also 6 months. Sterling has silky soft fleece so I wouldn't mind some beautiful lambs from these two. Lacey's sire carries the black gene so possibly their lambs will have some colour.

Below we have Sailor the Gotland/Finn ram. He gets along really well with 6 month old Simon (Lacey's twin) so they will have their own spot for the winter. Looking good Sailor!

I don't normally have this many projects going at once but I decided this year that I want some handknits for myself too!! Above is DH's Hubbert Farms Alpaca/Bamboo blend sock.

For me......Komi mittens #8. Rauma Finull-garn for the red and white and Hubbert Farm's 85%Alpaca/15% Finnwool blend for the grey areas.

Still working on my Seasilk Daisy Meadow scarf.

Laceweight handspun Cria Alpaca/Qiviut....a 75/25 blend. Even with just 25% Qiviut, this yarn has a wonderful halo and is supersoft. This is the North Star Tam for moi :))

Fibery Time of Year!

2010-10-05T17:32:00.007-04:00

Campbellford Spin- In put on by the Warkworth Guild

I met up with my spinning friend Geri (above on the left). Next year I will be joining Geri and a couple other girls on their annual trip tp Rhinebeck. Oh boy.....I hope the year goes fast!!!

I won one of the doorprizes! A gift certificate to Cornerstone Fibres, who was one of the vendors there. I bought more angora fibre (french/english angora cross) and some red bamboo fibre with my gift certificate. I also bought a small bag of white Cormo top.

This is what I did on Sunday with my friend Lynda. She wanted to buy raw fleece (Romney lamb fleeces) to blend with some of my Alpaca and send it to a mill to be processed into yarn. I am helping her with everything because it's all new to Lynda. Here she is carding for the first time.

One of the Romney lamb fleeces.

Lynda looks like she is enjoying the smell of raw fleece doesn't she...LOL!

Goodies from the Knitter's Fair

2010-09-27T08:45:00.007-04:00

This is the exact colour of Shelridge Farm lace yarn used for the Trinu Scarf. Can't wait to start that!

I bought two of the Shelridge Farm lace yarns and a skein of Mulberry silk from Tanis Fiber Arts. I couldn't find a colour of the silk that I really wanted and this colour is more pinky than I would have liked.

Every show I pay a visit to the Ontario Angora Co-op and this time I bought this gorgeous stuff. Can you imagine it with Bombyx silk?

I was looking to try English angora and they had this lovely soft grey roving.

Two colours of type B Pygora roving.

A natural dye kit from Blue Castle Fiber Arts.

A Fiddlestick's pattern (Daisy Meadow Scarf) using Seasilk from The Black Lamb.

I made a sheep coat and Allie is modelling it! Shepherdess Kathy McConnell of Hubbert Farms is in the doorway of the little sheep barn. If you click to make it bigger, you can see Apple sticking her tongue out at Abby :-)

This and That

2010-09-13T11:02:00.007-04:00

Our booth at the Knitter's Fair

Sailor luvs attention

Sebastion, Sterling (Gotland) and Simon (Finn)

Getting to know each other..lots of butt sniffing

Food is a good ice breaker

Little Simon needs a bigger size coat!

The ewes eating grass

My sweet Lacey is 4 months old. Look at that fleece!

She's very curious.

The Future of Gotlands in Canada

2010-09-09T13:56:00.004-04:00

Today our two 75% Gotland rams arrived from here. The darker one is 75 Gotland/25 Finn and his name is Sebastion. He will turn 6 months old on September 15th. The lighter fellow is 75 Gotland/12.5 Finn/12.5 Shetland. I called him Sterling and he will be 5 months on the 21st. I am pretty happy that they are not the same colours. Even though Sebastion looks brown on the tips, he has a gorgeous grey fleece underneath. Sterling has fantastic shiney tight silver curls.

We now have 3 Gotland rams including Sailor. Sterling and Sebastion will be the breeding rams used this year on our 3 ewes. My finn lamb Lacey is only 4 months old and will not be bred until next year.

I will be vending at the Knitter's Fair for Hubbert Farms this Saturday and am so excited to meet all the people that visit our booth plus buy some nice goodies. My son, Mirek lives in Waterloo and I get to spend some time with him a day before the show :-))

Tragedy Strikes Again

2010-08-17T22:26:00.002-04:00

Another loss, this time Gypsy. She was found out in the back pasture dead. Vet couldn't find a specific reason why. The other sheep are all well and fine. I think Gypsy had a broken heart from the loss of her daughter Luna :-((

Nice Distractions

2010-08-13T10:55:00.007-04:00

Grey and Rose Grey at the top. From L to R at bottom....Black Cria, second shearing and third shearing.

Close up of the staple on the second shearing Grey. Silky soft.

Yummy freshly washed Alpaca fleece in Grey and Black.

The stunning long stapled smokey Grey fleece...second shearing. Last year I had the Cria fleece from this girl and blended it with Qiviut.

Second shearing of a Lavender Rose Grey boy and last year I had his amazing Cria fleece. I blended some of his fleece with Seasilk for a lacey scarf FO and am currently working on a textured scarf from this fleece.

Yesterday fresh alpaca fleeces arrived at my door from my Missouri Alpaca Breeder. I spin and knit items for her from her own animals and she sends me all her very best fleeces in return. This is the third year I have been doing this. Maybe the last because she is selling off her alpacas. I really luv her greys/ rose greys and blacks. Those are the colours she specializes in and of course she always sends me the cria fleeces for myself because those are my favourites. I am keeping busy washing the fleeces and dreaming of the beautiful handknits I might make from them!

Thank you everyone for your kind words concerning Luna. I really needed your support and it helped me get thru this. That little girl will always have a very special place in my heart.

Heart Broken

2010-08-07T09:06:00.004-04:00

Last week something very sad happened. My beautiful Luna died. She was just 4 months old. We are not sure exactly why she died....I know sometimes these things can happen and if you are going to own animals then one has to learn to deal with it. I cried for two days and everytime I look at her picture I still feel like crying. I loved her very much.

Spinning My Wheels

2010-07-15T10:39:00.006-04:00

I began the refinishing process for my darker Quebec wheel first. There is only a tiny bit left of the maker's mark. I used a safe strip product that you can see in the left hand corner.

In both above and below pic you can see the black marks on her wood. No matter what I used the black did not come off. It is only on half the drive wheel and that is where the edge is worn off. I believe this wheel was set too close to a fire and she got terribly singed and blackened. Poor thing.

I did the best I could with her. She got a couple coats of Danish oil and a beeswax type of finish. I also had to carefully file a new groove for the drive band where the edge of the drive wheel was worn down, otherwise the drive band would come off while spinning.

She's finished (above and below pics) and spins beautifully :-)

Here you can see some grey alpaca I spun on her. You can also see the blackened areas that are only on the one side. My lighter coloured and signed Quebec wheel will be refinished next.

This is a new blend I am working on. I carded Bombyx silk, Rose Grey cria and black French Angora on my PG Fancicard.

Very soft. I luv it so much I will spin at least 150 grams of this as a fingering two ply. It will be great for lace or maybe a matching hat and glove set. Yes of course I have been knitting up a storm too. Some of it is for a gift for a blog reader (so I can't show it) plus I am test knitting a couple new designs for Hubbert Farms yarn and pattern kits. No I am not the designer, she is a local lady and will soon have some of her designs up on Ravelry. The designs I am test knitting will only be available as a kit with Hubbert Farms yarns.

I sorted and sent over 80LBS of fibre/fleeces to two mills in Canada and expect the new yarns and rovings to be ready end of August!

LUNA

2010-06-29T14:59:00.006-04:00

Tomorrow (June 30) Luna will turn 3 months old. Her birth coat was nothing impressive...kind of coarse feeling almost. Boy what a difference a few months can make!

Luna has typical Gotland structure to her fleece and is completely silver under those bleached black tips. Her fleece feels very soft and silky. What a beauty she is :-)))

Almost Twins

2010-06-12T09:25:00.011-04:00

DH and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary on June 7 (we were married in his home town of Gouda Netherlands) and these are his gifts to me! Both of these wheels are Philias Cadorette. One of them I will name Margriet after my paternal great grandmother Margriet Gravelle who was of course from Quebec.

They look the same but there are subtle differences.

This is what remains of the makers mark on the darker wheel. you can just make out the 'ET' at the end.

The footman is the only replacement part (other then a couple of the pegs). I know it's kind of ugly (the footman) but once I get the wheel cleaned up with denatured alcohol and condition the wood with the boiled linseed oil (as per instructions from Ravelry CPW experts) then I am hoping it will blend in with the rest of the wheel.

Here you can clearly see the makers mark on the lighter wheel.

This wheel has the alligatored shellac and I want to try carefully cleaning it .

The darker wheel (which I paid less for BTW) has a repaired flyer but it looks pretty good.

MOA on the lighter wheel. That's white Coopworth wool that I spun on both bobbins. I do believe I will improve my long draw spinning on these wheels. If you go here to Cyndy's blog and click on her Quebec wheel link, you will see Cyndy spinning the most beautiful long draw on her CPW. I aspire to you Cyndy :-)

Issues (pic below) with part of the darker drive wheel. The grooves where the drive band rests are raised on part of the wheel and so the drive band just sits on top. I think I will have to try to file them down. The wood has a funny look to it there. Don't know what happened.

Below you can see the different colours on the wheel.

The lovely Phyllis gifted me with this last week. I mentioned to her that I had been searching for this book for a few years and next thing I know it's in my mailbox! The first item I knit from it is for you Phyllis :-)

My Favourite Fibre

2010-06-09T17:23:00.008-04:00

Every year I get a chance to work with fresh cria fleece from Hubbert Farms. If you have been reading this blog for a while then you know there is nothing I luv more then an exquisitely fine cria on my combs. Speaking of combs....I luv my new Valkyries! They are so perfect for fine fibres and do a devine job with cria. This cria is an amazing apricoty colour and so lustrous it almost glows. Fortunately this fleece had been coated for part of the year and it's pretty clean.

When working with an alpaca fleece this fine (under 20 microns) I will not wash it before prepping unless it is very dusty. I might reconsider if I was using my electric drumcarder. Definitely laceweight material and perfect for an etheral shawl. My dark grey cria and qiviut is finally finished!

Friday afternoon I am driving to Port Hope to pick up something I have wanted for a long time.....I wrote about it when I first began this blog :-)

Lots of Natural Greys

2010-05-27T09:37:00.003-04:00

Narragansett scarf in handspun rose-grey Alpaca. I am knitting this with double yarn so it is actually 4 ply...very dense and such an amazing colour....... slow going on 2.75mm needles. I plan on knitting the matching hat too. Stll working on my Qiviut and cria Alpaca laceweight blend from here http://gypsyspinner.blogspot.com/2010_01_01_archive.html

Finished 3 ply worsted weight Coopworth. I still have the light silvery Coopworth fleece left.

Navajo-plyed yearling silver Mohair and pale grey Shetland.

Alpaca Shearing 2010 and a Surprise!

2010-05-19T09:20:00.009-04:00

This alpaca has her face covered because she is a spitter.

Shearing Day at Hubbert Farms began around 8 am and finished close to 8pm. Alot of teamwork goes into shearing 30+ alpacas. Teeth are filed, toes trimmed. shots given and then there's the fleece. Skirting and sorting is a labour intensive job, especially the cria and suri fleeces. (hint...that's one of the reasons why they cost alittle more)

Moi, taking the freshly shorn fleece and then moving it to the skirting table.

As you can see the wee ones (aka Simon and Lacey) are growing like weeds. They will be 2 weeks old this Thursday! Mom Apple is devoted to her babes.

The surprise is that Kathy has given Lacey to me. I now have two Gotland cross ewes and one pure Finn ewe :-)

Allie, the other Finn ewe is growing larger by the week. I think these Finn/Gotland lambs could be coming in 2 to 3 weeks!

Knitter's Frolic 2010

2010-05-11T09:26:00.005-04:00

Next Tuesday is Alpaca shearing at Hubbert Farms. You can see how some of the critters are anxiously awaiting that day (not) hehe. See you after the shearing!

New Life at Hubbert Farms

2010-05-06T16:03:00.007-04:00

This morning Apple had her lambs. A ewe and a ram lamb. Apple was bred before she came to us and so the lambs are pure Finn. She is a wonderful mom :-) I got to choose the names too !

Lacey for the girl and Simon for the boy.

Navajo-plyed yarn spun from Hubbert Farms Finn/Alpaca/Bamboo/Soy pindrafted roving.

I knit the Garransett Hat from A Fine Fleece. I really like the pattern and will make both the scarf and hat again with my rose grey Alpaca. I have also finished the Gotland/Finn/Alpaca mittens.

More Luna Pics and a Second Gotland Project

2010-05-01T09:54:00.005-04:00

OK...not Luna but I luv them too :)) The sweet Finn ewes. They are both very affectionate and come running to me :) Apple (on the left) is due any day with Finn lambs. The other Finn is about a month away with Sailor lambs.

Gypsy luvs her treats. She is not afraid of me anymore and almost jumped in my lap yesterday to get her carrots and cookies.

Luna is a month old and getting better with humans.

In the bottom pic you can see how much white she has around her nose and mouth. When she was born she only had the sugar lips. I see the silver coming into her fleece. Boy I can't wait to see what I will get at shearing time. I wish I knew how to shear her myself.

A simple Estonian mitten pattern knit using handspun. The grey is Gotland/Alpaca, black is Alpaca, white is Finnwool and the red is commercial Shetland wool. These, like my scarf, will be used for display purposes.

First FO from our Gotland

2010-04-19T11:05:00.009-04:00

My 2 ply handspun Gotland/Kid Mohair scarf is blocked and ready to go to the Frolic with me.

Sorry if I am boring you with pics of Luna. She is my first lamb so I get carried away. Yesterday Luna, mom Gypsy, auntie Abby and proud pappa Sailor were enjoying the warmth and sunshine. Luna is 3 weeks old and you can see how big she is. She should be turning silver/grey soon, how exciting! Even more exciting....sometime this year we will be getting one or two higher % Gotland rams to add to the flock. Sailor will have new buddies and the rams will have their own spot away from the girls

The two Finn girls are housed in a separate area awaiting the arrival of their lambs. I hope it goes well and they are all healthy. We expect at least 3 babies from them but you never know with Finns.

New Stuff

2010-04-12T14:04:00.005-04:00

New Gotland, Finn and Alpaca blended pin-drafted rovings that will be going to the Knitter's Frolic with me. They are all super soft and gorgeous! This is my cutie cat Mokka watching me in my fibre room.

In an attempt to spin thicker singles with my Coopworth fleece, I have recruited my Ashford traditional wheel and the bulky flyer. This will be a 3 ply worsted weight yarn when I am finished.

My handspun Gotland/Kid Mohair lace scarf in progress.

Both of my Alpaca Ontario entries took a disappointing 2nd place in their categories. The white Estonian lace shawl is knit from handspun Alpaca/Cashmere and Silk.

My beautiful Fair-Isle gloves were knit from many colours of handspun Alpaca. Last year my entries received perfect scores and I won the contest. This year there was no handspinning either (have no idea why they took that category away) and I didn't even place first with either of my entires :(

A Great Trade and Why I Luv Finnwool!

2010-04-06T09:05:00.004-04:00

Drying dark grey Coopworth

Combing Coopworth on the english combs

Finished Coopworth top

Washing and drying light silver Coopworth

Look how long the staples are!

Me visiting Gypsy and baby Luna :)

Last year I made a trade with Sandy in California, for some lovely grey mohair. This year she sent me some of her beautiful Coopworth fleece in exchange for various alpaca fibre from moi. The grey is a hogget fleece and the light silver colour is second shearing, so they are both pretty soft. This Coopworth has quite a long staple (which is great for combing) and I luv how the brown tips on the grey fleece blend in when I am combing it. The resulting top looks like a dark rose grey to me (rose grey is really just a combination of white/black/brown fibres). Beautiful stuff and I believe Sandy is getting the rest of her lovely fleeces made into roving that will be for sale.

I wanted to mention why I have become so interested in Finns and their wool. Actually I have had an interest in Finnwool for a few years. I bought my first Finn fleece at that time and even though it was full of VM, I could see how fabulous it was. The staples were silky soft (it was a mixture of both adult and lamb) and it had an incredible accordian like crimp structure. I could stretch one of those staples quite a lot. Finnwool is lustrous and doesn't have alot of grease so it's easy to wash clean. It's soft enough to wear against the skin but also sturdy enough for socks. The Finns are beautiful sheep, friendly and can come in black, brown , white and sometimes grey. I will breed Gypsy to one of the Finn rams (I hope will be born in May) when it is old enough and have some Finn lambs of my own!

It's A Girl !!

2010-03-31T12:56:00.004-04:00

Last night my Gypsy had her single ewe lamb. She is such a good mom and her lamb looks healthy and full of energy! I have named her Luna.

Luna is 37.5 % Gotland/37.5% Finn/25% Shetland. She has a white krunet and a white spot on her cheek. She also has her daddy Sailor's sugar lips. The Finn ewes are due in early May and there is a possibility they will have coloured lambs. They were bred to two different Finn rams.

Sharon , I will talk about my experiences with Finn wool in my next post :)

Little Fleeces All In A Row

2010-03-27T08:29:00.005-04:00

Sailor

Abby

Gypsy

Finn drumcarded with silk

Sailor drumcarded with lavender silk and silver kid mohair

I picked up these little goodies from Pat LeClair.

Last Monday I took some of the wool and alpaca to her and she is making our blended rovings.

On a sad note.......our little Abby lost her tiny black lamb the other day :(

Hubbert Farms First Sheep Shearing

2010-03-21T08:46:00.008-04:00

Sailor asking "What's up?".

Sailor is sheared first. He's a big strong ram but he behaved pretty well for his haircut.

The day dawned grey and cold but we needed the extra light coming thru the open barn door, especially when working on Abby's black fleece.

In the pic below you can see Gypsy's developing udder. She will lamb first, only 3 weeks or so to go. The rest of the girls have about a month and a half.

Here I am skirting one of the Finn fleeces. My toes were freezing in my rubber boots! Can you believe that I didn't wear a pair of my warm alpaca/wool socks???

Everyone is safe and sound after shearing. We put them into a heated room and gave them some cookies for a treat. I can't believe how much smaller they look after the heavy fleeces are shorn.

This is my Gypsy's fleece. It was the biggest and quite dense.

I got busy washing some of each of the fleeces right away. I am going to spin each colour into a 2 ply and knit a pair of Komi mittens.

Here you can see Gypsy's dark brown fleece in front and Abby's black fleece in back. Sailor's fleece is the silver grey.

Can't wait to spin Sailor's shiney Gotland fleece:)

Lambs On The Way

2010-03-14T10:48:00.004-04:00

Gypsy (on the left) does have a huge long stapled fleece but she is definitely preggers. She has 'bagged up' a little. Her sister Abby is not so big but was bred around the same time so we have taken these two girls to the birthing room to wait out their time.

Here you can see the wide load that Gypsy carries compared to her sister. Abby (below) luvs the cookies I bring but Gypsy has no interest in them at all. Next Saturday is supposed to be shearing for the sheep so I promise to take lots of pics so you can see what's underneath all that fleece!

Sorry for the crappy pics. I have a new digital camera and I admit that I am not very good with it. The barn is dark and I tried using the flash (mistake I think) and also the sheep are always moving!

2010-03-08T16:09:00.005-05:00

Well my Alpaca Ontario entries are finished and in the mail! Now I am free to work on whatever I want so I decided to start spinning yarn for my sweater. The pattern will be from my A Fine Fleece book. Maybe the Flying Dales cardigan....I luv that sweater.

I wanted to use a wool blend this time instead of alpaca. It's a strange experience working with wool for me.....wool is just soooo elastic.

In my stash is a lovely shetland fleece I got last year.

It's quite fine and soft and has the long staple length that I like. Using my yearling pale grey mohair, I blended shetland and mohair on my big english combs. ( I am definitely going to invest in a pair of two pitch viking combs with a table clamp). I luv my own combed top!

This will be a long term project of course. The yarn will be a 3 ply, hoping for a worsted weight but it will probably be more of a sport weight. My fingers always want to spin finer so I might have to make a 4 ply. That would be fun to try.

Do They Look Pregnant To Ewe?

2010-02-07T08:19:00.006-05:00

The Finn girls...so friendly and sweet.

Hmmm.....a wide looking load.

No treats for us lady?

My little Gyspy is the smallest ewe. She has a huge fleece that is hanging below her coat. We have all new coats coming next week from here http://www.rockysheep.com/sheepcover/

Sailor has to stay in with his daughters because we have no other ram to keep him company. I hope we will have a ram lamb from one of the ewes, that he will accept as his new buddy.

Sailor's fleece is lustrous and curly like a typical Gotland. I can't wait for shearing next month.

There will be rovings made from pure wool and wool/alpaca blends from Hubbert Farms.

This summer after the alpacas are sheared, we will have yarns made with some of the wool clip as well.

This is Abby. Her fleece is turning grey and it is stunning! She still looks pretty slim to me.

Sailor has his nose in everybody's business.

Preparing My Entries

2010-01-23T09:13:00.007-05:00

Qiviut roving and a precious (6 month shearing age) silver cria fleece. Here it is prepared on my drumcarder. Soft and luxurious.

My alpaca/bombyx silk /cashmere blend and lavender rose grey alpaca.

I have a couple projects on the needles right now that I must keep secret. They are my entries for the 2010 Alpaca Ontario Fibre Arts contest in April. Last year I did very well in this contest and I would be ever so happy if I win again:) Of course I need to get better each year so I take my time to decide what to enter. It's got to be my best work!

Birthday Gifts

2010-01-17T08:59:00.006-05:00

Every year for my birthday (Jan. 2) my DH buys me fleece(s). What else could a girl want...except for a Quebec production wheel or a reproduction that would cost an arm and a leg! Black French angora from Joybilee Farm. Spicey cringed from the goat fleece but seemed to enjoy the bunny fleece :)

My chocolate Polwarth from Treenway Silks. I think it came from New Zealand. It is soft, crimpy and the staples are in good condition. The tips are a little sunbleached but they are easy to comb thru.

Washed Polwarth staples. I scoured twice in boiling hot water and rinsed in boiling hot water. I think next time I will only use boiling hot water for the first wash, otherwise it strips away all traces of lanolin and it feels abit crisp. If I want to use my drum carder then I need to remove alot of the grease but personally I like to leave a small amount of grease in the washed fleece.

Black and silver kid mohair....the first colour (caramel) is 3rd clip. I luv the 3rd clip and it's not as expensive as the kid. These bits were all washed first. Aren't they beautiful? I will use them for blending of course. Can't you just imagine the silver with silk!

Close ups. This mohair came from Joybilee Farm. They still have plenty more.

I used my English combs for these samples of black kid, caramel 3rd clip and Polwarth. Now excuse me while I go wash the rest of my fleeces!

A Bit of Spinning and Knitting

2010-01-08T09:14:00.007-05:00

A hand carded blend of Cashmere and white Alpaca. I don't really enjoy spinning short fibres at all, so I think the second single will contain Bombyx Silk and white Alpaca.

Selbu glove in progress.

Brown is handspun Romeldale and white is handspun Finn.

Millspun Ontario Shetland for Druid mittens.

Navajo-plyed Angora, Alpaca and Silk.

I hastily spun and knit these gloves for DH to wear inside his

regular gloves....for added warmth.

My new mitten book.

About 300 grams of Lavender Rose Grey Alpaca.

Fresh washed staples from the Finn ewes.

Finn Ewes

2010-01-04T10:06:00.007-05:00

The two Finn ewes arrived a few weeks ago at Hubbert Farms. They are in with Sailor the Gotland/Finn ram, Gypsy and Abby. You can see the size difference between the Finns and the Shetland/Finn/Gotland ewes, even though they are all around the same age (born April 2009).

The Finn ewes were exposed to a Finn ram before arriving but just in case they are not bred, then Sailor will surely finish the job! He is a beauty...very Gotland like. Gypsy and Abby are only 25% Gotland but their lambs will have more Gotland(37.5%) and Finn(37.5%) and less Shetland (25%).

My beautiful Gypsy luvs to watch me. Wow you should see the fleeces on these girls. Both are turning grey...Abby more so than Gypsy. Their fleece is long and wavy and lustrous.

You can see Sailor's Gotland grey curls growing nicely too. The Finn ewes also have beautiful and lustrous white fleeces.

I can't wait for spring:)))

Looking Forward to the New Year

2009-12-28T10:01:00.006-05:00

My son Mirek soon after he arrived :)

Me (with my new short haircut) cooking Christmas breakfast

My son , stepson Ewout and DH Arnold unwrapping the gifts

My new toy!

A cookbook to use with my new toy and a fibre art book . My fav treats!

I 've ordered 3 coloured kid mohair fleeces from B.C so I hope they will arrive in a few weeks. They are a b-day gift from DH. I'm just about to navajo-ply my new angora yarn and knitting some Selbu gloves and shetland mittens. Stay tuned....Happy New Year!

A Christmas Wish For All My Blog Readers

2009-12-22T12:58:00.004-05:00

Thank you to all who read my blog or just visit occasionally. You are all wonderful and I am very grateful to 'know' you. I wish you peace and happiness and good health for the coming year. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year :))

A Christmas Tradition

2009-12-17T15:49:00.004-05:00

Every year I make a big batch of perogi for my son Mirek, who is half Polish (on his father's side). I've been making them for 20 years and have played around with my basic recipe many times. Most perogi can be rather bland tasting so I like to add finely chopped jalapeno, leek and sweet potato for extra flavour and nutrition. I still use regular unbleached flour for the dough because adding whole wheat flour didn't make them taste any better to me.

You can tell they are 'done' when they float to the surface. After cooling the perogi, I carefully place them in large freezer bags and freeze.

It takes me several hours to make a batch of about 70 perogi but I know how much my son luvs them and he looks forward to eating them when he goes back home after Christmas :)

Snow Shoveling Season Is Officially Here

2009-12-09T09:18:00.005-05:00

Can you see my blue box out there at the end of my driveway ? Click for big.

We are getting hit hard today with wind and snow. Fortunately Ontario isn't getting the record breaking freezing temps like Western Canada. It's only a few degrees below zero today. The snow is supposed to turn to rain later in the day. Oh what a mess.....wet snow feels like it weighs a ton when I shovel it.

I'm keeping warm and cosy inside with my knitting. On the right we have my own 3 ply handspun alpaca/wool/silk/angora sock yarn for DH's ribbed socks. To the left is one of my fav patterns. Gull wing socks from SocksX3. I'm using the Scheepjes yarn I purchased in Holland earlier this year.

What you don't see is the pretty Christmas tree and my tea and chocolate, Lindt and Ferrero. Happy Knitting and Spinning to everyone :))

Saturday Afternoon at Hubbert Farms

2009-11-30T08:27:00.007-05:00

The sheep/alpaca coats arrived last week so I helped Kathy

with putting them on the sheep. Sailor was too big for his coat so we have to order another one for him. We decided to coat some of the alpacas born this year too. There is so much waste of their precious cria fleeces.

The bottom pic is a little treat that Kathy gave me. It's a very delicate and shiney, small amount of white alpaca . I wish I could share with you all how soft this is. Oh yes...this is going into my Alpaca Ontario 2010 entries for sure.

Excuse the messed up links...Blogger is messing with me once again :(

A New Sock Blend

2009-11-23T11:04:00.005-05:00

I recently finished plying this laceweightish superfine fawn cria and silk. Buttery soft to the touch, although Spicey's not so sure.

Super long french angora, black alpaca, BFL fleece, red silk and nylon.

First I blended everything but the angora on my drumcarder. As you can see from the batts below, the one on the far left has the angora blended in layers along with the wool and alpaca....there are obvious neps.

Angora is so fine and I wanted to minimize it's passes thru the carder to one time only.

I tried a few different things but what worked the best was adding a layer of the blended batt first, stopping the carder, then lightly layering the angora by hand over the main drum.

It's a tweedy looking yarn but that's ok. This 3 ply yarn will be for DH's Christmas socks.

I have alot of angora but this is the first time that I have ever worked with it.

More Sheep Shots

2009-11-09T10:09:00.007-05:00

This little ewe is my Gypsy. She is a dark moorit and has soft and lustrous fleece. I already snipped a few samples and spun them hehe.

Here they are, all the way from western Canada. The big grey boy (Sailor) is a Gotland/Finn and the two little ewes are actually his daughters. Their mother is Shetland.

Sailor is quite friendly and naturally polled. I brought them some pumpkins and squash to eat.

We are still waiting for the two white finn ewes. Hopefully soon!

My New Fibre Friend

2009-11-01T09:11:00.004-05:00

This is little Katey. She now lives at Hubbert Farms. We don't really know what breed she is but she is definitely a crossbreed with maybe some Shetland in her because she is so small. She was kind of like a rescue sheep from a local meat sheep breeder that didn't have the heart to ...gulp...you know. He got her from a sale barn in Ontario I believe.

Soon (maybe next week I hope) we are getting the sheep that we will begin breeding! They are Gotland and gotland crosses and a couple finns. One of the ewe lambs will be my very own! Their wool will be perfect for adding to the alpaca fleeces for our new line of yarns and rovings. I am totally in luv with Katey as you can see...she has a velvety soft and sweet little face:)

Time for an update!

2009-10-14T15:07:00.007-04:00

Here are 5 of my favourite black things in my house (instead of 7) Zette :)

My rose-grey alpaca and seasilk blend lace scarf is finished. I got to try my new blocking wires and I luv them!!!

My bay black handspun alpaca cardigan is actually starting to look like a sweater. It's knit from the top down.

Fun at Hubbert Farms Alpaca Farm Day

2009-09-28T08:54:00.008-04:00

My view from the Alpaca Boutique

Great niece Kaylie

Paige and Tani feeding alpacas

Me, helping Paige feed the horses a treat

Niece Miranda with her youngest...baby Olivia

Kaylie

Miranda's guy Greg with guard dog Matza

Alpaca Farm Days!

2009-09-24T08:40:00.003-04:00

Hubbert Farms @ 600 Lily Lake Road R. R. #2 Peterborough, Ontario. Please join us for Alpaca Farm Days at the above address on Saturday September 26 and Sunday September 27 from 10am to 8pm. There will be new crias with their moms in the barn for you to see up close and personal and petting is encouraged! Kathy McConnell has been working very hard to get things ready and she wants to show off her beautiful alpacas. The Farm Shop will be open for business and you may purchase yarns and rovings if you wish. I will be spinning and helping out. See you there!

Busy with Spinning and Knitting

2009-09-23T08:30:00.006-04:00

fawn cria and silk blend

3 ply sock yarn with alpaca/shetland/silk.

sweater yarn drying

sweater yarn.....2 ply worsted weight bay black alpaca

drumcarded fibre

World Wide Spin In Public Day!

2009-09-18T09:17:00.004-04:00

This Saturday (from 10am to 5pm) at Memorial Park in Port Hope. Hosted by http://www.theblacklamb.ca/ I will be bringing lots of alpaca fleece goodies to sell or trade. Hope to see you there!

Goodies from the Knitter's Fair

2009-09-15T12:38:00.007-04:00

25 grams of pure Buffalo roving

1 oz prime Satin Angora in an apricot colour

2 1/4 oz prime light grey French Angora, beautiful long staple

1 oz prime French Angora in a fawn colour

1.1 oz Qiviut roving....lovely quality (should be for the price !)

Treenway handdyed tussah silk

More of the Treenway in a different colour

My first cultivated silk....I wanted to try a higher quality silk

Fibre-Isle yarns were just as lovely as you could imagine and I

couldn't believe it when Jacques handed me this little kit to try

for free. Their shawls were so beautiful to see in person and here

is a link so you can see them for yourself.

http://www.bisonyarn.com/about.html

2 oz of pure cashmere roving from Becky

http://www.rovingwindsfarm.ca/

In December I will hopefully be helping Becky with her goats

in exchange for some of her coloured cashmere

Lots of great deals on needles! I wanted to try the Addi Lace ones.

I luv the Bryspuns for mittens and gloves. I already have the shorter

size for fingers and thumbs

This is a pattern I have been eyeing for several years and

http://www.needleartsbookshop.com/ kindly brought one for me

to pick up at their booth.

I ordered these blocking wires from

http://www.geminifibres.com/ and they brought

them to the Fair for me.

Kitchener-Waterloo Knitter's Fair

2009-09-14T07:36:00.005-04:00

This was my first time going to the Knitter's Fair as both consumer and vendor. It was fantastic to meet so many wonderful knitters and spinners of all ages! I even saw a few people that I met previously at the Alpaca Ontario show in April.

While I scurried around the two showrooms looking for all the goodies on my 'to buy' list, the crowds were waiting at the doors to be let inside. I am happy to report that I did manage to find almost everything I wanted to buy and I will show you on my next post!

Old/New Fair Isle Book

2009-09-03T08:19:00.003-04:00

Hurrah it has finally arrived! I borrowed the original version of this book from my library (they wouldn't sell it to me darn it) and I luved it so much. Now I have my own. This one is not a hard cover though.

The second pic of the Fair Isle gloves will be the first item I make from this book. It will be knit in a variety of handspun alpaca yarns.....black, greys and white. This is a great book and I highly recommend it to all knitters.

More Pics of Gouda

2009-08-29T10:21:00.007-04:00

One of my favourite food groups...kaas (cheese) and some of the best in the world is made in Holland.

I forget what these travelling musical makers are called but they are always at the markets in Holland. Dh says they are called draaiorgel http://www.draaiorgel.org/english/index.htm

When you order a 'sandwich' this is what you get!

I luv a Dutch cappuccino in the downtown market. It's fun just to sit and enjoy watching all the shoppers. There are no cars allowed. I wish North America would adopt that idea. Quebec has some nice places like that.

A Little Bit of Knitting

2009-08-18T12:29:00.005-04:00

I am knitting another pair of 3ply handspun alpaca socks. The yarn is a blend of grey alpaca, white corriedale fleece and nylon.

Since arriving back from vacation, I have finished spinning and plying my Rose Grey alpaca and seasilk yarn. It's hard to capture the colour and the shine in pictures.

I have started knitting a lace scarf with it. The pattern is a free one from here http://www.purlbee.com/checkerboard-lace-scarf/

My Lack of Yarn Shop Pics

2009-08-13T07:30:00.004-04:00

This is a Dutch yarn/craft shop nearby Gouda. The one in Gouda has even less yarn. When I lived in Holland, these were pretty much the only kind of double point needles I could find. Not great for sock or mitten knitting because they are so long. I still have a few sets.

This is the wall of yarn.

My only yarn shop purchase...real Dutch wool.

A swan.....a common sight in Netherlands. I remember when my son and I first moved to Holland and we were riding our bikes along a bike path. All of a sudden a swan came crashing out of the bushes to attack us! We rode our bikes as hard as we could to get outta there! We didn't realize it was mating season and the swans had little ones to protect. That's when they can become aggressive.

Anyhow back to my lack of yarn shop pics. I did finally manage to visit la droguerie in Paris but they were closed! It's quite common in Europe to have shops close for the summer holiday and also some will close on a Monday. I didn't find any yarn shops in the part of Switzerland and Italy that I visited. I am not dissappointed though because I have the Knitter's Fair coming up in September and there will be lots of goodies there. I will be a vendor for Hubbert Farms.

Paris

2009-08-11T12:57:00.006-04:00

The view from our 5th floor hotel room.

This was just outside the Louvre.

DH taking pics inside the Louvre.

Mona Lisa!

Inside the Louvre

Outside the Louvre

Another museum we visited had a huge, amazing collection of armour.

One of the bridges in Paris.

A cemetary where there are many famous people buried.

DH and I by the Eiffel Tower at night.

BTW.....DH and I flew back to Toronto on Saturday, Aug. 8 so I am at home now.

Lugano, Bellagio and Laglio

2009-08-10T07:45:00.005-04:00

Me in Laglio, Italy on Lake Como. George Clooney's villa was here but unfortunately I did not know exactly which house was his! DH, me and stepdaughter in Bellagio, Italy enjoying our morning cappuccino.

DH and I on the top of Mount Generoso, Switzerland.

Our view from the top of the mountain.

Stepdaughter Vera and I in Bellagio, Italy.

We took a train partway up Mount Generoso and decided to hike the rest of the way up the mountain. It was very hot and scarey too if you looked over the edge.

I took a several photos of the pretty cows that were eating grass on the mountain.

No fear of heights!!

I am enjoying the delicious Swiss chocolate that comes from these cows, as I am writing this post :)

Back in Lugano, Switzerland and on our way to supper. It was uphill walking and hot, but what a beautiful place to be!

Next stop........ Paris.

Hello from Holland

2009-07-24T17:19:00.007-04:00

Crazy tourists!

Catharina Gasthuis (a little museum in Gouda)

The Stadhuis (top and bottom pics) is where we were married. We stood on these same steps for our wedding pic.

My European Vacation

2009-07-21T09:25:00.004-04:00

Tomorrow (Wednesday) DH and I leave for Holland. We will be staying with my stepdaughter and her guy in their new house in Naaldwijk. Next week all four of us will travel by car to south of Switzerland (Lugano) for 4 nights. A couple boat trips into Italy are on our itinerary. Then we drive north to Paris for another 4 nights and it's back to spend the rest of our time with family in Holland. I will maybe post with some pics while there if possible...if not I will have plenty of pics when I come home on the 8th of August! Tot ziens!

Luxury Rose Grey Batts

2009-07-17T09:13:00.003-04:00

The blend: rose grey alpaca fleece and seasilk (60/40 seacell/silk) Two passes thru the Fancicard Frosted pale lavender My Birch Leaf socks are done! Knit in 3 ply handspun grey alpaca with 20% nylon fibre. The fibre was handcombed by moi.

More Fleece Pics

2009-07-10T12:14:00.008-04:00

I had to show more....I mean it's that time of year isn't it? The sheep/alpacas have been sheared and the sun dries the fleeces quickly. The two Rose Greys (all my new fleeces are huacaya BTW) are the most beautiful alpaca fleeces I have ever seen. Mind you, I am partial to the Rose Greys but these are exceptional. Incredibly soft and full of luster...they both have that WOW factor. The Rose Grey fleece you see at the top has a frosted lavender colour. I will knit lace and maybe some gloves for sure. Enjoy!

Some Special Alpaca Fleeces

2009-07-06T14:03:00.005-04:00

Colour is somewhat washed out but these are two Rose grey cria fleeces. They are stunning in person and silky soft. Second shearing two blacks and a bay black. First one is another rare colour....maroon cria and second shearing medium brown. First staple is a silky dark grey cria and the other two are silver grey. Hi everyone.....I hope your summer is going great. I can't complain about the weather...it's been kinda sunny...a little cool but that's good enough for me. My summer just got better with this new delivery all for me!

Alpaca Sock Blend

2009-06-22T10:02:00.004-04:00

Here we have some Shetland on the far left, crimpy white alpaca (herdsire Liberty from Hubbert Farms) and tussah silk. I think the blend was around 25% wool, 60% alpaca and 15 % silk. Only one pass with my Fancicard...pretty good. I will separate them in half and mix them up before putting thru the drumcarder one more time. Gosh these are soft. I can't wait to spin them into a 3 ply sock yarn. Today is quite hot so I decided to finally block my Ene's scarf. I will purchase blocking wires this September when I am a vendor for Hubbert Farms at the Kitchener Knitters Fair. I am sorting thru huacaya and suri fleeces and deciding what blends to make for some new yarns!

Soft and Pretty Shetland

2009-06-12T12:24:00.003-04:00

I'm really pleased with this Shetland fleece. It's the softest Shetland I've ever worked with. The staples are long and comb easily on my big combs. You can see the lovely variegated colours of the fleece. I will separate the dark and lighter bits. To wash this greasy fleece, I first soaked it overnight in cold water. The next day I did two hot washes and two hot rinses with vinegar in the first rinse. It worked beautifully. I'm going to try that cold soak with my white merino too.

Lots of WIP's!

2009-06-11T10:47:00.004-04:00

Just some pics I took the other day at Hubbert Farms. The fawn coloured cria was born at the shearing .....I took pics of the birth.

I've been busy blocking my Ene's scarf (looks more like a shawl) and carding, spinning black alpaca for a sweater I will be knitting for an alpaca breeder. She is sending me all her nicest fleeces in return for me knitting her the sweater and socks and a simple lace scarf. I am expecting two rose grey cria fleeces, a grey cria fleece, two blacks, a silver grey and a maroon colour cria fleece.

Another project I am busy with is for Terri Shea . All of these projects are challenging me as both a spinner and a knitter but challenge is good....right?

Sheep Shearing

2009-06-06T21:04:00.004-04:00

Today DH and I drove out to Willow Garden Shetlands for the annual sheep shearing. I met some super nice people (spinners of course) and helped skirt fleeces for 4 hours. It was alot of fun and I bought a very pale grey shetland fleece and the last BFL fleece from last year. The fleeces are very similar in colour but the BFL has a more pronounced crimp and tighter lock structure. Above are some pics of the washed staples. See if you can tell which is Shetland and which is BFL.

Blended Alpaca Batts

2009-05-27T10:02:00.004-04:00

It takes about three passes thru the Fancicard to make these well-blended batts.

They are so soft and silky...all will be used for lace projects.

The lighter coloured batts are fawn alpaca and seasilk (60% seacell and 40%silk). I picked up the seasilk from the Black Lamb a couple weeks ago.

The brown colour batts are a blend of the golden suri (shown in my previous post), chocolate brown huacaya cria and silk.

The silk and the suri are so flyaway and sticky! I found a way to help blend them tho. I put flyaway fibres underneath the layer of huacaya or wool when I feed it into the drumcarder.

Shearing at Obosheen Alpacas

2009-05-25T10:50:00.005-04:00

This little beauty is Apollo. His fawn cria fleece will be mine at the end of the day.

A fawn suri cria, only a few days old.

This is Krisztina Mikkelsen. She is studying and training to be an alpaca and fleece judge. She is kind enough to share her knowledge of fleece with me. I luv skirting with her because I always learn so much. Thanks Krissy.

My Apollo fleece was the last that was sheared (out of 34 or 35 animals). I skirt pretty ruthlessly because I know that I want my yarn as soft and perfect as I can get it. Also being a cria fleece it can have extra VM. I would definitely class this fleece in the superfine category which is 20 microns or less.

While skirting, I might take a bit from the blanket if I like a fleece. In this case I chose a nice assortment of fawns.

There were a few nice suris but the fleece was too long so I cut it shorter before I wash it.

Of course my little Spice girl had to get in on the action too :)

Shearing Day at Hubbert Farm (pic heavy post)

2009-05-22T11:16:00.007-04:00

Shearing lasted from 8:30am until after 7pm. There were many pregnant females being sheared. They can get a bit testy when being hoisted onto the table (I don't blame them!)

Some fleece I have from the shearing. White is cria and the fawn and brown are second shearing. More on them later.

While I was there a little life emerged. A pregnant female went into labour soon after she was shorn. I have to admit that I shed a few tears of joy watching this happen.

Carding Frenzy

2009-05-17T09:58:00.005-04:00

Black cria alpaca and hand dyed silk

Moorit merino fleece for blending Fine white alpaca, light moorit merino and bamboo

Finished batts rolled into bumps. I like these batts thoroughly blended so that's why it took so long.

There's been a ferocious, nasty wind blowing here for 2 days now but I was snug and warm inside with my Fancicard. Yes it's a thing of beauty...everything I dreamed it would be. Cue the violins :)

Last night I carded and blended for 5 hours straight. I have a new respect for all you carding people out there. It's alot of work (my back is letting me know today).

You can expect that every one of my blends will contain alpaca. Luckily alpaca works with pretty much everything.

I expect shearing day is this coming Tuesday and I will have a couple of new alpaca fleeces to show you :) and pics of the shearing if you would like to see.

My Fancicard Has Arrived!

2009-05-14T09:08:00.004-04:00

I've been busy carding grey alpaca blend for socks and enough yarn to finish my Ene's Scarf. Those huge batts will be recarded again to blend them thoroughly. It will take some time to learn all the carding skills.....carding kid mohair with the alpaca was difficult. I just want to try blending everything right now!

Wool and Ene's Scarf

2009-05-08T08:07:00.003-04:00

My Ene's scarf is coming along nicely, although it's slow going. This is only my second lace shawl. I will probably order some lace blocking wires from here http://www.geminifibres.com/ My yarn's kind of getting low so I'll have to card kid mohair and blend it on my mini-combs with silver alpaca, which is how I made this yarn.

Finished CVM Romeldale Cross wool. I spun this from the lock and it's a 2 ply. There's around 650 yards in 220 grams. I still have a little bit of this left to blend with silk. This wool is soft and has a beautiful sheen to it.

Did I mention that I have ordered a Pat Green Fancicard? I sent the cheque in around the end of April and Paula called me on Monday to say they were shipping it that day (May 4th). Now that's fast! I am so excited that I've been reorganizing my very small fibre room in order to make everything fit. I need to have lots of work space but still have all my fibres handy. (I have ALOT of fibres) Pics when it arrives!

Chippy

2009-05-04T08:33:00.003-04:00

My DH caught these pics of me outside on our back porch. Please forgive the clashing clothes hehe.

This is a chipmunk that has been living here since last spring. I used to put food outside for him. Early this spring I saw him again sitting outside in the sun, so I thought I would try to get to know him better. I have him eating sunflower and pumpkin seeds (unsalted of course) out of my hand. Sometimes I give him peanuts in the shell. He buries most of them in his "secret" hiding place and some he will eat. The other day I tempted him to hop onto my lap to get his peanut. He's such a cutie. After he stuffs his little cheeks full of food, Chippy looks up at me as if to say..."Is that all there is lady??".

Fleece and More Fleece

2009-05-03T11:55:00.003-04:00

I'm still washing my 3 merino fleeces. This white fleece seems to have the longest staple of the bunch and the nicest tips. It's really soft and will make great blending fleece. I decided it would take forever washing it in little bits so I stuffed my lingerie bags tight with the fleece (to stop it moving around inside the bag) and it seemed to work great.

A lovely, long stapled cria fleece. I think I've got about 1/2 lb. The rest of it was sold at the Alpaca Ontario Show.

When I use my combs, I always leave fibre on both combs and then ditz top from each comb.

Shearing time is only a few weeks away and I know I will be at Hubbert Farms shearing. I can choose two fleeces. Last year I chose a cria fawn fleece and I have spun and knit the entire fleece ( it was used in all of my Alpaca Ontario entries). I will get the second shearing of the same animal because I luved it so much. Kathy has alot of beautiful brown shades, so I might pick a brown one as well.

I truly have so many beautiful alpaca fleeces in my stash. That's why I luv to knit mittens and socks with all the natural colours.