I’ve never done an Eye Candy Friday……….but I coudn’t resist with this picture.  Maggie got her first clip yesterday 🙂

Have a GREAT weekend!

Frantic is what you might call the last few days!  Getting ready for the fair is always such a crazy, busy time.  Every year I swear I will start early and every year……well you guess.  Procrastination is my middle name…eek!!

The little pumpkin hat is my first attempt at designing something myself , and I am pleased with how it came out;-).  It is modeled after my handspun angora blend hats with a few extra touches, to make it look festive for the Autumn. 

The little pumpkin is made with left over yarn and is a fun, quick little knit.  Tracey from Wool Windings created this little gem and was kind enough to share her little pumpkin pattern. You can find it here.  Thanks Tracy!

It has been pretty warm and a bit humid up here in the mountains this last week, but the air is changing again and it is said that there will be an Autumn Chill in the air……yipee!

I betcha thought that this would be about wine…hehe…..(I’ll save that for another day, ask my DH…it is a favorite subject of mine 🙂

I have had so much fun over the last few days playing with dyes, and have discovered alot about what I like and what I don’t like when it comes to color….and how very hard colors are to capture with a camera!

When I dyed up the skeins of yarn last week, I used the saran wrap method of dyeing that I have seen so many time on blogs and websites.  This was a new to me method and I got results similar to what I see on different websites.

Today I thought that I would try my tried and true method of dyeing roving with a new batch of yarn and I have to admit, that I was much happier with the results.  A more muted, blended yarn than the yarns from last week…….more like my rovings, which I like. I guess I am a muted kind of girl…and for you wise guys out there..it’s muted, NOT mute! (although, there are days that mute would work for me too!)

Perhaps some of my satisfaction with this batch is a different yarn that I am using.  Even though both yarns are merino, this new yarn that I picked up is much softer…..and no knots :-).

I will be bringing the first batch with me to Freyburg fair in a few weeks and will sell them at a discount because of the knot per skein (grrrr), but these new yarns will be going up on the blog, as I like them enough to buy them, and I will buy no wine before it’s time…(ok, sometimes I drink "Box O’ Wine…but shhhh…don’t tell anyone!)

Seriously though,  I can honestly say that I have so enjoyed working with the sock yarns, that I can see a lot more dyeing in my future…..and maybe some lace yarns as well :-)….wheeeee!!!

As I end this post, I will leave you with the inspiration for one of the colorways……."The Song of The Elderberry Fairy"

Tread quietly;
O people, hush!
–For don’t you see
A spotted thrush,
One thrush or two,
Or even three,
In every laden elder-tree?

They pull and lug,
They flap and push,
They peck and tug
To strip the bark;
They have forsaken
Snail and slug;
Unseen I watch them, safe and snug!
(These berries do us no harm, though they don’t taste very nice.  Country people make wine from them; and boys make whistles from the elder stems.)
Cicely Mary Baker
If you have stayed with me this long….you can see where I got Elderberry Wine from…LOL!

Color….I searched around the web to find a quote, a thought, a poem about color, but somehow I could not find the right words.  Color is abstract.  What appeals to me, may not appeal to you.  Sometimes color is a whisper and sometimes it is quite bold and always it is beautiful.  As I searched the web, I found this very cool website.

As you may have guessed, I have spent the last few days with my hands up to my elbows in water and dye.  What I love about dyeing is the countless color combinations you can keep coming up with.

As a child I remember finger painting and how much I loved smearing all of the colors around to see what they made when mushed together.  My mom being the neat freak (love you mom!) that she is, did not allow finger-painting very often…………hmmm….I wonder if I am just reliving my childhood a bit?

My color focus over the years has almost exclusively been rovings.  Given the never ending supply of bunny fluff from the barn, I have never given much else a thought, however, seeing all the lovely hand painted yarn all over blog-land, I thought I would play with that venue a little for the upcoming fair ….. and….it was fun.  Where as dyeing my rovings is very forgiving and I can fix something that does not come out as expected, such as the South Pacific rovings pictured, dyeing yarn is much less forgiving. 

Working with angora has it’s own challenges.  It takes forever to soak in water before it is saturated and it is very hard to get darker colors, due to how hard it is to saturate…..but it is very forgiving.

Working with yarn was a little more of a challenge for me.  The color of the dye IS the color that you will get in the finished skein, so a little goes a long way…..and if you did not get enough color on a spot, it will not fill in when you steam it in the pot or microwave………..but when you get a color just right….aahhhh…..the thought that goes thru you mind is….Yes, this is why I play with color! 

I am having fun!!

*************************

Changing the subject a little bit……we have had a few other things happening here.  If you look at the hanging skein to the right, you will see some fencing. 

Now, I had planned on getting a new dog yard in eventually, but Maggie, the dear sweet puppy that she is,  started chewing on the creeping charlie that surrounded the dog yard and…well…..lets just say, it was a bit too much fiber for her and because of this, we made the plans for a new, improved dog yarn a priority.  Soo……..we ordered the fencing that she could not climb over, and the pea-stone that would replace the creeping charlie and grass, with the mindset that pea stone would be much cleaner than the mud that happened when it rained.  And can you believe it???  .She is now POOPING ROCKS!!  Accckkkkk!!!!!!!!!  Her breeder keeps telling me……"this too will pass."  (literally)

What you will also notice is what a mess my yard is…grrrr!!  The man who came to dig out the dog yard, also managed to tear up a ton of the rest of the yard, so we are going to be busy over the next few weeks growing grass again.  Thankfully it IS the best grass growing time of the year.

The Final Color Swap

September marks the end of the colorswap, hosted by Lynne.  I have to say, of all the swaps I have been involved in, this was the best!  Thanks Lynne!

My swap partner this time around was Jennifer of Knitpicker .  Jennifer gifted me with some gorgeous light pink kid merino, a beautiful quilting book, some incredible raspberry colored glass czech beads and a lot of fun red/pink colored gifts.

Thank you, Jen!

One of the things that I love most about blogland is the never ending supply of inspiration. 

One of the things that I hate most about blogland is the never ending desire to want to do it ALL!!

When I am  in the carding wool mode, I get a chance to catch up with what is going on with you all, as my carder is in the same room as my computer. So as I feed the wool into the carder, I flip from blog to blog., oohing and aahing over all that everyone is accomplishing.  The lace….the shawls, the sweaters for Rhinebeck and the socks.  Oh the socks!!

I have wanted to learn how to either knit on 2 circs or give the magic loop a try for some time.  After sitting with a kindly soul who whetted my taste for a new way of knitting socks, I grabbed this little booklet at Patternworks this weekend and gave it a try.  As much as I wanted to dive head first into some of the nice sock yarn I have been gifted with this summer, I heard the whisper of No….No…..you MUST finish the second sock that you started this winter.  You see, I have this awful disease……seconditis.  I am great at plowing thru the first sock, the first mitten or the first glove, but I get strangely distracted at the thought of doing it again…LOL.

I am hoping that this new method might cure seconditis!  We will see………… 🙂

A picture can say a thousand words, eh?

The rainbow that I posted this weekend was the perfect ending to a lovely day.  Saturday morning, I headed down to Massachusetts to a spin in hosted by Alpaca Kathy and the owners of Parker River Alpacas, Olivia and Dave Sanderson.

I had a chance to put a face on some of the fiber friends, I have come to know over the last few years thru blogging, but had never met in person………Carole, Cheryl, Kathy, Pumpkinmama to name a few and old fiber friends….heck, I even got to meet "Blogless Sharon"!

How much better can a day be…..spinning amongst the alpacas with friends and sipping wine out of plastic water bottles….LOL!  After a hairy ride home thru a scary lightning storm, I was treated to a gorgeous rainbow……a fine day indeed!

Birthday, smirthday

Today is my birthday and I have learned over the years to be sure to give my DH a want list…..otherwise the gift could be something I need…..Shudder.

This year he didn’t disappoint :-).  Waiting for me is the new options set of circular knitting needles from Knit Picks.  I had heard such wonderful things about them, and am excited to give them try 🙂

Even though I should be working, I have chosen to spend my birthday doing some of the things that I love best……..dyeing and playing with fiber.  Here is a little peek at what is coming out of my dye-pot 🙂

Enjoy your day, where ever you may be and bow your head for a few minutes in remembrance of our fallen Americans.

Can you guess what time of year it is here at The Woolen Rabbit?

Here’s a little hint…:-)

Many of you out there who are spinners, will be familiar with the bowl of yarns that grace every corner of my house.  When you buy an ounce or two of fiber, or have those precious little balls of left-over from a project yarn, they start to accumulate.  Handspun somehow is different than commercial yarns…..all the care that goes into spinning it, makes it that much harder to part with.

So, at this time of the year, when the fall fairs are upon us, I gather up all these little balls of yarn……most of which has some angora content, and start knitting.  Hats, hats, hats and more hats…..LOL!  I am striving for one hat an evening……we will see!

Having this little helper, has made the day’s work a little more enjoyable :-).  Yep, I finally bit the bullet and moved into this century’s method of listening to music.

Now, had I not had a very sizable gift card, I never would have ventured into these waters, but after reading about all the podcasts out there and finding how easy (and less expensive) it is to download some of the music I enjoy, I thought it was time.  Of course, I haven’t completely figured out how to use it, or my cellphone for that matter, but heck, with all these kids I have around, they should be able to clue me in a little bit..LOL.

Speaking of children……..today is the first day of school for the little cherubs.   As much as I love my children, I have to admit that I look forward to the first day of school when my little corner of the world is all mine again….at least for 8 hours.  I know, I know, that does not make me a "Chicken Soup" kind of Mum, but it keeps me a sane woman!

The  summer’s end is coming;
I feel great contentment.
Completion means rest.
Rest means renewal,
Renewal means new beginnings.
Deng Ming~Dao

It truly is amazing how over the last week, the air has changed.  The humidity of the summer has waned, the night is coming a bit sooner and even the sound of the bird’s songs have changed.

For me, Autumn truly is a special time…..the warm days and cool sweater mornings, the smell of wood stoves starting up again.  The brilliant colors of the leaves and the sound of those leaves as you walk thru them…….I just love it!

With the refreshing air change, my hands were itching to get busy once again with fiber.  The fall fairs will be starting up before long, so it was time to get moving :-).  The 2 black/purple hounds-tooth chenille scarves came off of the tableloom  last weekend and I finished the angora silk triangle scarf the day before last.

Some silk roving was finally plied with visions of somthing scarvish in my mind.

The fingerless gloves, pictured above, are made from a blend of polwarth and angora that I spun last winter, trimmed in angora.  Aaahhh….it does feel good to be playing with angora again!

Over the next few weeks there will be lots of knitting and weaving going on and the dye pots will get cranking again.

Hmmmmm………….maybe THIS is the reason why I love Autumn so much!