podcasts

FLEECE-WISE Episode 4

October 9, 2016November 13, 2016 by Sara

cover139 You’ve tuned in to Episode 4 of FLEECE-WISE: The Series. Four fiber podcasters have worked together to take you on a thoughtful journey from the pasture and barn, to the wool sale, to your spinning wheel, spindle, or felting board. The series began on the New Hampshire Knits podcast, as Claire conducted interviews with two New England shepherds. Sarah of FiberTrek took us to the Common Grounds Fair and shared her philosophy of wool. Emily of Fibre Town shared her fleece and spinning projects past and present, and gave us tips for negotiating a wool sale. I’ll be talking about how to clean and store fiber in this episode. Join in the Ravelry conversation or ask questions of the podcast hosts.

RESOURCES

American Romney Growers Association
Bye Brook Farm
Common Ground Country Fair
Contented Butterfly Farm
Fiber Craft Studio in Chestnut Ridge, NY
Field Guide to Fleece by Carol Ekarius and Deborah Robson
Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook by Carol Ekarius and Deborah Robson
Great Bay Wool Works
Handspinning Rare Wools with Deb Robson
Jacob Sheep Breeders Association
NH Sheep and Wool Association
Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival
Shetland Sheep Association
The Spinner’s Book of Fleece by Beth Smith
Three Bags Full video workshop with Judith MacKenzie
Vermont Sheep and Goat Association

The choice section of a fleece is the region across the shoulders. When you purchase a fleece, the belly and much of the leg, britch and tail fiber may have been removed during the skirting process. This diagram appears in “Assessing a Fleece” by Elizabeth Lovick. Click to access the complete article.

Arrows and Doorways

The design for this super-cozy cowl was inspired by textiles in a hotel lobby. Concentric geometric shapes kept playing in my mind until finally I was able to chart the pattern and get it onto my needles. The interplay of this chevron-like patterning has a mesmerizing effect–while you’re knitting and when you wear the finished accessory.

Knit up a cowl with yarn from your stash, adding some magical new mini-skeins from your advent calendar, or exchange leftover yarn with a friend. The design invites frequent color changes, and makes an ideal knit for the advent season. It could be just as striking knit with two high-contrast colors.

While most cowls of this type are seamed within a band of a single color, this pattern incorporates a technique called stranded donut grafting, an incredibly clever and completely seamless graft that allows you to maintain colorwork patterning so that your starting and ending rounds are undetectable. Really! With many possibilities for color play and a new technique to add to your skill set, this cowl pattern is really an opportunity for knitters to level-up!

NEW PATTERN DESIGN!

ONE DARK BLUE NIGHT

This hat is the third in a series of patterns inspired by teachings in Clarissa Pinkola Estés’ Women Who Run with the Wolves. This time, I drew inspiration from Estés’ retelling of a Japanese tale, Tsukina Waguma or “The Crescent Moon Bear,” in which a young woman travels to the cave of an incredibly intimidating and ferocious bear. She makes several journeys to the cave, leaving food and quickly retreating, until “one dark blue night,” she musters the courage to stand her ground and ask for what she seeks--one hair from a moon-shaped patch on the bear’s chest--which she is granted. The young woman returns, triumphant, to the old healer who has sent her on this quest. She believes this single hair is the magic ingredient in solving the problem that plagues her. She holds it forth, but the healer tosses the hair into the flames. The young woman is in despair until she realizes the true lesson of her quest: that using her determination, courage, and patience, as she did with the crescent moon bear, will help her to confront the challenge at hand.

The moon phase motif of this colorwork hat is meant to capture the magic of a dark blue night--when the moon shines brightly overhead, the frosty air sparkles with possibility, and we succeed in summoning accumulated wisdom from deep within ourselves so that we can apply it to our own healing. Choose colors to conjure a wintery night sky, or select a palette of your signature colors.

Available on Ravelry December 20th.

Yarns at Yin Hoo

FLEECE-WISE Episode 4

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