This afternoon, tomorrow and Sunday will find me at the Indiana State Fair.

From 2 PM until 6 PM today and tomorrow, I will be at the SWIFT booth in the Pioneer Our Land Pavilion with my spinning wheel.  I will be spinning some of the Corriedale roving called Ukulele that is in my store while there. 

Then on Sunday, I will be helping with the Sheep to Shawl from 10:00 until it is finished.  Besides being the resident correspondent and taking pictures, I will be helping to set up the equipment and assist in whatever way our wonderful chairman, Kate Larson, needs.  This will be my first time attending sheep to shawl and I am looking forward to it very much.

So, if you are coming to the Indiana State Fair, stop by the SWIFT booth in the Pioneer Our Land Pavilion this afternoon and tomorrow afternoon, or by the Sheep to Shawl in the Opry building in the pioneer village on the back side of the fairgrounds tomorrow and say hi.  I’d love to meet you!

Unfortunately this post is not about cooking food, but cooking people!  Goodness, gracious it’s HOT here in central Indiana.  The heat index is 99 degrees here and the humidity has dropped to 59% (from a high of 93% this morning at 6).  I usually walk each morning from 7 until 7:30 with another lady in my building at work, but not this morning.  There was a heat advisory out this morning and I heeded it.

So, what am I working at the moment?  Yup!  Wool! 

Here is where I am at on the newest pair of socks.  I love this colorway and am going to enjoy them this winter.

And here is the warp for a scarf I am getting ready to weave.  This yarn is Kauni and Susan, my LYS owner, picked it up while on a trip to Denmark.  Each ball is marked with a code for the color, but the balls don’t look alike because each is started at a different part of the color sequence.  While the yarn I am using as the warp started at a lovely copper color, the weft yarn starts at the oak-brown color, then goes through the color sequence from there.  This ought to be a very pretty and interesting scarf when I am done. 

And I have some lovely copper beads that I intend to use on the fringe to dress it up a bit.  If luck is on my side, I hope to get it woven off in the next week, then I’ll do the fringe, wet finish it, then steam press it with my press.  I think it will be perfect for the autumn, and I wear these colors quite a bit.

I’m hoping that working with these items for the cooler weather will either cool me off by thinking of crisp, cool autumn mornings, or will give ol’ Ma Nature a hint to give us a bit of a break.

Remember my mentioning last night about the 15 bags of fleeces that Sandy and I bought?  Well, today it really hit home that I have to wash these fleeces before I can dye and card them into light, fluffy and colorful batts.

So I worked it out on a blank calendar and figured out that most weekends I can wash two fleeces (one per day) using my tried and true method of the two 2.5 bushel tubs, two round laundry baskets, Orvus paste and lots of hot, hot water.  Then Roxie said she washes hers in her top-loading washer and it struck me that I can wash TWO fleeces a day – one in the tubs and one soaking and spinning in the washing machine.  How cool is that?

Also, I saw on someone else’s blog these wonderful items:

I showed them to Sandy and we immediately found them on sale for half price with free shipping and ordered three of them (two for me to dry fleeces on and one for her to dry her clothes on).   I would bet someone one of these fleeces that no one at Hamilton Beach considered using these to dry wet sheep fleeces.

So, that means I can wash FOUR fleeces in a two-day-at-home weekend.  And since I have at least 40 of them to wash (not counting the 7 I already had), this is a good thing.

Scott’s comment?  “We will be the envy of all those people who like the smell of wet wool.” 

Gosh, I love my husband!!!

Sandy and I went on a little road trip today.  We drove 2 and a half hours each direction to look at fleeces.  These fleeces were Corriedale, Cormo, a few North Country (all white) and Border Leicester (black).  There were 15 large garbage bags of fleeces, most with more than one fleece inside.   And this was after she had discarded the worst parts of them.

We dove our hands deep into the middle of each bag, looking at the crimp, cleanliness (monkey-grooming fleeces is not a favorite pastime with us), testing for fiber strength, feeling the touchability of each and discussing each with the owner of the sheep whose 2010 fleeces were in these bags.  This person, Denise Rackley of Clearfield Stockdogs raises champion Border Collies and uses the said sheep to train them with.  She doesn’t spin or anything (although she said she used to crochet), and, while she is interested in learning both spinning and weaving, she currently has no use for the fleeces from her sheep.

Well, Sandy and I do, and these turned out to be really nice fleeces.  So we loaded the bags up (did I mention there were 15 large trash bags of fleeces) into the back of Bettie and brought them home.  We rebagged them (double) and put them into quarantine for the time being until this fall when we will begin taking them out, one by one, and washing them.  A few we will send off for processing, a few might get commercially spun into yarn, but most of them will be dyed by us and prepared for spinners by us for the fiber show season next year.  Yes, we have a LOT of work ahead of us, but we couldn’t turn them down at the price offered to us for all of them.

Now my car smells like sheep.  Oh well.  It’s a small price to pay to play with wool and make something pretty for spinners to make something else pretty out of.  And you know, I like the smell of sheep.  I like the smell of horses more, but sheep have a nice, lanoline odor that is pleasant.  Of course 15 large trash bags of them shoved into a car on an 85 degree day did make it a bit overwhelming on the way home.

And did I mention there are 15 large garbage bags of fleeces?  Denise mentioned that she has 40 ewes.  That should make 40 fleeces, right?  What are Sandy and I getting outselves into?

This last winter, at the SWIFT annual meeting, we decided to replace the old table-top display for the guild that had been in use for many, many years, with a new one.  The old one was getting worn and dirty, and the two surfaces were limited as to what could be displayed on it.  The guild has grown, so why shouldn’t our display advertising it.

Sandy and I did some searching on-line and in stores, and came up with what we thought was a good solution – a professional, four-panel, two sided (if necessary) table-top display with a carrying case.  We found what we wanted at Office Depot.

The fact that it had a separate carrying case that you could purchase was a bonus since this will protect it and its contents while traveling all over the state.

Then, we had to think about what to put on it.  We met with Kate Larson, the Chairman of SWIFT, and discussed what should be on each of the four panels.  We agreed that our name and website address should be paramount and large enough to be read from a distance.  Then we discussed a collage of photos representing all the aspect of SWIFT and those guilds under the umbrella of our group.

From there, we knew we wanted a current listing of the member guilds, and we thought that samples of our craft should be included, both for educational purposes and to show off what we love. 

Sandy came over to my house last Sunday to dye some shirts, and while she was there, we drug down many, many bags of fiber from my fiber closet.  Bag by bag we went through it and pulled samples of nearly 40 different types of fiber.  What we have on the display represents everything we had from Alpaca to Yak.

Then, Thursday evening, the day before it was due at the Indiana State Fair, Sandy and I got to work.  Kate supplied a few fibers we were missing as well as some beautifully knitted swatches.  Here is what we did with all of it.

Allow me to introduce you to each section.

First, we thought should be the collage board showing everything we love in full color.  Fiber animals, yarn, spinning fiber, weaving, knitting, dyes, crochet…  We tried to include it all.

Next is the board saying who we are and who we represent.  The reason for the picture in the middle is two-fold – 1st to add an interesting visual, 2nd to show that we are interesting in mentoring the next generation about the fiber arts.

The third board represents what we like to do in a very real way.  These are not photos but real examples of knitting, spinning and weaving.  They can be touched, examined and studied by those who might be interested in learning more about these crafts.

This fourth board is my pride and joy. 40 different fiber samples representing the basic materials that we use to create all the wonderful things to wear, use, display, wrap our babies in, dry our dishes with and admire.  This is not just for the public - our potential members – but for our current membership.  I am sure there are fibers on here that some people have never had the chance to touch, see, or even know about. 

And this is such a small sample of what is available to us thanks to the wonderful world of the internet.  Wensleydale from England, Merino from Australia, Linen from Ireland, Yak from Tibet, Cashmere from India, Llama and Alpaca from South America, Silk from China, Cotton from the United States – those and so much more.  There are hundreds more fibers that we didn’t have room to include and that I haven’t had the chance to purchase, yet.  And I do mean “yet.”  I want to try spinning everything I can before my time here is up.

So, come to the Indiana State Fair to see the new display for SWIFT.  Then watch it as it travels all over the state in the next few years showing everyone what we love best – Friendship, Fiber and Fun!

Here in Indiana, there are two universities.  Well, two universities that count, anyway.  Then again, depending on which camp you are in, there may be only one that really counts.

Those two universities are Indiana University and Purdue University.  In my family growing up, everything revolved around when IU was playing basketball.  No matter what was going on, Dad would drop everything about 5 minutes before the tip-off and the barn had better be shooting flames before we dared disturb him until the game was over.  Those were the turbulent days of Bobby Knight as coach. 

And then my brother does the unthinkable and goes to Purdue to get his degree in Mechanical Engineering.  I remember one Christmas after my brother had graduated.  Someone had gotten him a Purdue jacket as a gift, and when Dad was helping to pick up all the Christmas wrapping and put them in a trash bag, he was caught stuffing in the Purdue jacket as well.

My husband is a graduate of Indiana University.  I think Dad forgave me for going to a private university on the day Scott graduated from IU.

Where am I going with this?  Well, let me tell you.

A couple of Sundays ago, Scott and I received an email from someone in the Department of Comparative Literature at Purdue University inviting us to participate in a round-table discussion with other comic book writers and artists.  The subject was described to us as follows:

“Graphic Engagement seeks to explore the ways in which comics and film animation engage us politically and profoundly influence the way we define gender, race, religion, class, and nationhood. “Political” can be defined broadly, relating not only to affairs of state, but also the praxis of visual narrative and ways it affects individual identity and community dynamics.”

We were told that Johnny Saturn fits this theme very well.  Needless to say, both Scott and I feel extremely honored to be chosen to be a part of this event.  Here is the link to the site describing the Graphic Engagement conference.  Here is the link to the schedule (we are part of Session 9C on Saturday afternoon at 3:00).  And here is the link to the bios they included about us.

So, guess what we will be doing on Friday, September 3^rd?  Who would have thought that Johnny Saturn would garner this type of attention, but I am so glad it has.  Both Scott and I think of Johnny Saturn as literature in a visual format, and to be recognized by a major university is a high honor indeed.

Then, the next day, we will be at Lexpo Comic Book Show talking about our story, selling our books, and I will be there with my spinning wheel spinning more than one kind of yarn.  Come and see us if you can.

Finally!  I have finished the Sleepy Hollow socks by Ocean Wind Knits.  The first sock took me 4 months to knit and the second one I was able to speed along and get them done in half the time of the first.  Still, it took 2 months.  This is not the pattern’s fault, but my doing.  I am not a lace knitter by any stretch of the imagination, but this was such a pretty pattern that I went out on a limb and decided I was willing to grit my teeth long enough to knit these socks with a lace pattern.

They aren’t perfect, but more than wearable, so after having finished the last kitchner stitches yesterday at lunch, I am wearing them today to work.

Needless to say, my current sock project is a simple ribbing pattern that I can take anywhere and not have to “hush” people as I knit so I don’t lose my place.  Once I get further along on them (say past the heel), I’ll show them to you, but they are just an inch or so longer than the last time you saw them.

Have a great day!!!

Weaver Sandra Rude is weaving the Three Pines picture she asked me for back in February.  Check out the beginning stages of it here.  And then keep an eye on her site to see it completed.

Needless to say, I am thrilled at seeing a photo I took on a whim on a very cold February day.  I will admit, though, that is was the sight of the snow plastered against the trunks that made me take the photo and I will be forever grateful I did.

Sandra’s Jacquard weaving is fascinating to watch as she creates one work of art after another on her website.  If you haven’t gone over to take a look at her site, you ought to.  Each time she shows another woven creation, I think it’s the best yet, then, of course, she makes me change my mind when another piece shows up.

Thank you, Sandra!!

Can you believe it is August already?  One of my co-workers reminded me that it’ll be Christmas before we know it.  I grumbled at him because when you are a fiber person with a huge list of things you want to make for Christmas gifts, and you’ve not started the first one, yet, the LAST thing you want to be reminded of is that Christmas is less than five months away.

Like most of the rest of the country, we have been sweltering under abnormally high temperatures with very high humidity.  I remember how nice last summer was here in central Indiana, when we had about 1 week above 90 degrees, and the humidity level was low enough to make being outside enjoyable.  Even Scott spent a lot of outdoors last year and he is extremely heat-sensitive.  Not this year, though.

This last week, it was a little cooler (in the upper 80’s as opposed to the 90’s), which made my morning walks bearable, and Saturday, we had a pretty powerful storm come through.  This storm front gave me a migraine, so I slept part of the day and stayed quiet the rest of it. 

Yesterday, Sandy came over and we dyed three T-shirts (one sold, and two as samples for the shop that ordered 20), two pairs of undies (Yup!  We figured why not!), and a canvas tote bag to see how well it would take the dyes.  Tonight, they will be washed out.  I can hardly wait to see how the sample shirts, undies and bag came out.  Keep your fingers crossed for us that they are what we are hoping them to be.  Especially the sample T-shirts as the shop was very particular about the colors and pattern to be used.

Once Sandy and I had the dyeing done for the day, she and I went through about 10 large bags (you know those XXL sized Ziplock bags) that I store my fiber in to keep the moths out.  In fact, all my roving and top are stored in individual ziplock bags within the big ziplock bag so there is double protection.  Within these particular bags, we came up with 39 samples of different fibers (sheep breeds, other animal fibers, cellulose and silk) that we separated out and put into their own small ziplock baggies.  And don’t think these 10 large bags constitute my total fiber collection – Nope, this is about a third of all of it, but the rest is blends and dyed fibers and, therefore, not appropriate for the display.

SWIFT has a new table-top display that we are getting ready for the Indiana State Fair, which starts this coming Friday.  Sandy will deliver it Friday when she goes there to work the SWIFT booth in the Pioneer Our Land Pavilion building.  On it will be a collage of what SWIFT encompasses, a list of state fiber and textile guilds, samples of different fibers, and samples of knitting, spinning, weaving, dyeing, felting, etc.  Also, I am putting together a brochure to pass out to those people interested in joining SWIFT.

If you are going to be at the Indiana State Fair, stop by the SWIFT booth and say hello.  I will be working there from 2 PM until 6 PM on Friday, August 13^th and Saturday, August 14^th.  Then I will be back on August 15^th to take pictures and do a write up about the Sheep to Shawl competitions that will be held in the Opry Barn in the Pioneer Village starting at 10 AM.  There are four youth teams participating this year, so come and cheer on these young fiber artists as they spin and ply the yarn, then weave the yarn into a shawls that will be judged and auctioned off that afternoon.

Sometimes left-overs are great!  When I finished plying the green and navy together for Blackwatch, I had some of the navy singles left over.  When I finished plying Blerry Slushie, I had some of the red singles left over.  Well, not one to let anything go to waste, I decided to ply the remaining navy and red together and see what I would get.

And this is what I got!  4.7 ounces of 50% merino and 50% fine wool in a sock weight yarn.  I named it Brambleberry because it looks like the fruit, both partially ripe and fully ripe, on my wild bramble bushes. 

But I am sorry, this is not for sale.  I’ve been wanting to knit some fingerless mitts for Scott to keep his hands warm in the winter, but also keep his fingers free for drawing, inking and using the computer.  I think this ought to do the trick nicely!

It has cooled off here for a brief time with the highs in the lower 80’s but the hummidity has abated a bit. Yesterday was actually rather nice, if still a little too warm for my tastes, outside.  My morning walking partner loves summer and the hot temperatures, but even she admitted that she is ready for autumn.