I like Podcasts!

 

For about a year now I've been listening to podcasts, most specifically knitting or spinning podcasts that have really added a deeper dimension to my crafting life.  I enjoy hearing the reviews on products and books, as well as tips and thoughts that others share on crafts so instrumental in my life.  The podcasts fill a desire I have for information and conversation (even though it's just me listening).  Although I belong to a knitting group that meets fairly regularly, most of the members are new to the crafts and I tend to the be the one everyone asks for advice.  Don't get me wrong I thoroughly enjoy the group but I feel an additional need for peers that are more equal in ability and interest or nerdy obsession!  My guild, Ventura County Handweavers and Spinners Guild (VCHSG) http://www.venturaweavespin.com/, is a fantastic resource for information and comraderie -many of my fellow guild mates are extremely knowledgeable- but I only see them once a month.  And my local LYS Anacapa Fine Yarns http://www.anacapafineyarns.com/ in Ventura is also fantastic but it's kind of far from my home so I don't get there as often as I'd like.  You get my drift...I want more fiber craft input.

So far my favorite podcasts are The Knitmore Girls Podcast and SpinDoctor.  I'm wondering if any of my readers also enjoy podcasts I haven't found yet...there are so many and I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas!

The projects pictured were inspired by books I learned about on the Knitmore Girl's Podcast. The fingerless gloves are done a handspun single made of wool and silk, the pattern is in the book A Knitter's Book of YarnThe Knitter's Book of Yarn: The Ultimate Guide to Choosing, Using, and Enjoying Yarn: Clara Parkes: 9780307352163: Amazon.com: Books.  

The dark blue is also handspun merino wool and is a sweater I'm making for my husband out of Knits Men Want Knits Men Want: The 10 Rules Every Woman Should Know Before Knitting for a Man~ Plus the Only 10 Patterns She'll Ever Need: Bruce Weinstein, Jared Flood: 9781584798408: Amazon.com: Books. 

Wool Delivery!

Although there are many many lovely pre-dyed & prepared fleeces available nowadays I have always preferred spinning from raw fleeces. Not completely in the grease (raw-no washing) mind you but hand washed & carded (by hand or drum carder) or combed by me. I love it because I'm practical. I like to make things with my fiber and in order to make really useful things like sweaters & blankets you need a LOT of wool! So this is the most practical way for me to get the yarns I want. I also enjoy the way a less processed fiber feels in my hands when I spin it. Not slippery like much of that fancy combed top you see everywhere but something with texture in it.
So I sent out 10 lbs of raw wool to Aunt Janet's fiber mill in Northern California on the recommendation of my friend Susie.

Last year at the Ventura County Fair I bought a corriedale fleece from a shepherd at a sale price because it was already a year old. I was so frustrated trying to clean and prepare this fleece and it made the lumpiest ugliest yarn there ever was. So I decided to try to save it by sending it out and see if a professional could improve it. It was either that or become doll stuffing.

Professional processing definitely did the trick. I even used the drop spindle and made a little sample 3 ply to see how it looks. Me thinks this will make some very nice socks. Maybe I'll dye it and sell the extra.
Above you see some stunning Romney that I bought from Skylines farms. They have organically fed happy sheep that produce the most lustrous fiber you can imagine. I love her fleeces even when I clean them myself, I like them better cleaned by someone else. This will go into that blanket that I'm dyeing with Indigo.

And here you see some other random fiber that was in my fiber collection waiting for attention...