Flannel comforts

A call went out from a quilter in our ex-patchers group. Flannel blankets were needed by doctor in a small community; the doctor wanted to give newborns in her center a little warmth and comfort since many of the parents were lacking financial funds to provide some essentials. This is a plea easily answered. On a recent visit to the local craft store, several discounted remnants were spotted in the bin--flannel and knit fabrics.
Purchasing length same as width for the top, add contrasting fabric for backing with right sides together, sew around (leave small opening for turning), turn, press and you have a nice blanket. Combining these fabrics along with a couple yards purchased from the bolt, three blankets were sewn. The pink plaid has been backed with a solid pink. The other two blankets will need a backing.
Take #5 perle cotton (there are many cones in my weaving supply closet!) and do a blanket stitch around the sides. This adds a nice finish to the blanket.

Project completed!

Finished handspun project for 2010!
The pattern is Dayflower Lace Scarf Blocking on carpet--only long area to work. Sorry, photo is little dark.

It feels good to complete a project that was begun in 2009.
Here is another project that has been lying around for some time. The yarn was purchased during a visit to Taos Sunflower when Martie still had her shop. Robyn Page of Pagewood Farm was doing demonstrations on how to spin this bulky yarn and for some reason, this yarn was calling my name!
If you knit on size 35 needles, you can create an unusual scarf.
Here is the photo that my friend Nancy took last week at Gulf Coast Roc Day--a scarf that makes you laugh!

Roc Day Weaving

These weavings were on the display table.
This was a lovely piece but being black it was hard to photograph.
This piece shows what you can weave using just crochet cotton.
Wonderful Christmas towels.
Nice weave structure!
And then there were those who were 'stalked' for the weavings they were wearing. This was scarf designed by Randall Darwall and woven by this weaver's friend--what a great gift to wear!
This weaver was wearing one of her creations--a twill weave structure. The black really pops the colors!
And then there were the woodmaker vendors who designed and produced lovely weaving equipment.
Lease sticks (above) and shuttles (below) created by Michael Harris
It was a super day to visit with friends from far and near plus an opportunity to see what others were doing in the fiber field. This Roc Day was sponsored by Baton Rouge guild--Bayou Yarn Benders--don't you just love that name? And this proves that weaving, spinning, knitting and 'hooking' are very much alive and well.

Roc Day Fiber

It seems the 'hookers' were in full force at Roc Day! Amazing what one can do with a blank canvas and a few strips of wool. The first photo is a close-up of floral rug in the booth of Rug Hooking vendor, Carrie. Sorry to say that Carrie doesn't have a website; she just gives an email address. If you are interested in her shop, please comment and that email will come to you directly. Here is close-up of one of Carrie's lovely rugs--patchwork crazy, but so cool! And take a look at these wonderful little wool pincushions Here is Marcia from Kenner, LA who hooked the flower rug. Marcia was using the time at Roc Day to do the binding around the flower shape.
Isn't this lovely? And so colorful.
Of course, there were many handspun knitted items featured at the event. It was great fun to look around the room and find some outstanding knitwear creations. Sometimes, you had to really 'stalk' the knitter to settle them to a place where you could talk about their work.
This was a Christmas exchange gift--wouldn't you like to receive this at your party? The recipient said she had to fight hard to keep the beaded scarf! Guess it was one of those 'steal' parties.
This scarf was felted piece. Karen uses bubble wrap to felt. She weaves the wool strips and then works away with the bubble wrap until the scarf is perfect! Quite a nice piece!
And what a diverse garment! Just a simple knit purl tube, tied at the top to use as a hat; untie and you could use as a cowl. The mohair locks knitted in at the crown add just the right touch.
Noro yarn is the highlight of this clapotis pattern. These were just a few of the knitted items that could be tracked down and photographed. Next post will feature the weavings of Roc Day. Stay tuned.

Roc Day 2010

Whether it be spindles or spinning wheels, Roc Day is always a day of sharing as well as learning. ROC day is sometimes called “St. Distaff’s Day”. Of course, there is no such saint! It is celebrated on January 7th, the “first free day after Twelve-Eve-Christmas”, which was a holiday of transition from Christmas revelries to the round of everyday work. It is also called “Rock” day, as the distaff was sometimes referred to as a rock.
Traditionally, in old England, women did not spin during the twelve days of Christmas. ROC day or St. Distaff’s day, was their day to get back to work,and they certainly made the most of it! They were not without troubles during this time, because it was tradition that the plowmen thought it sport to set fire to the flax and tow. The women kept buckets of water always ready to put out the fires. It was a game of sorts, with many young men being “drenched” to the bones! Also the spinners went back to work a day ahead of the weavers, so that they could have plenty of yarn for the weavers. It was their special day.
In modern times, Roc Day is held the weekend closest to January 7th. Spinning of fibers, tales and yarns are common but no tricks by the young men. In fact, we are lucky if one man attends the gathering. This year Roc Day featured numerous vendors offering their wares--lovely alpaca fiber straight from the animal or prespun skeins of colors. Whisper Soft Alpacas
Or take the alpaca fiber and create wonderful bead felted necklaces as this vendor has done.
Cathy from Coldwater Alpaca Ranch creates useful items like felted fiber handmade soaps. Here she models one of her lovely necklaces.

Take this colorful tangle of yarns that have been hand dyed and what do you think can be created? How about this?
This is the creation of weaver friend Barbara. She used fiber reactive dyes to dye the rayon flake yarns last fall and this week she brought her weaving sample to our meeting, 8H Strickler point twill . Not bad, huh? We had other wonderful wovens presented this week. Our topic of study is color and weave. Here is an example of 'stash' busting by weaver Marion-- A silk scarf. How about Charlene's 30 epi of 20/2 rust, green and golf linen woven in turned twill?
Here are two or her silk scarves sett at 45 epi; variegated gray weft and for second one green/gold weft on black warp. More to come later. We have some talented weavers here!

New Year, New Mystery KAL

As a sucker for mystery KAL's, there is no stopping when new year brings some interesting mysteries in the knitting world as well as in the literature world. There are three new knitting mysteries beginning in January that these hands will begin. You will see Kris Knits KAL posted along the side of the blog--check it out. Cool things happen with Kris' knit patterns. Another mystery is beginning on Ravelry with a lace sampler knitting group. This new group will feature a section of lace pattern each month, designed with theme in mind. Do you have lace yarn calling for a lace knitting strategy? Then this is right up your alley. And the third one that is just right for this cold weather--mystery socks! Yes, another pair of mystery socks have begun--and these are from the top down (hate toe up socks so shy away from those patterns until the pattern is complete, then they can be knit from the top down). What a great start! After the next clue this Friday, it's possible that the both socks can placed on two needles. But, for the time being, they will stay on double pointed #1.
Can you see the beads? Maybe should have used off color beads so they would be noticed. What fun it is to add beads to your knitting.
On top of knitting mysteries, two mystery books are being read--one by audio "The Girl Who Played with Fire" the second one of a triple hitter by Swedish author (now deceased) Steig Larsson. This one is when walking and sometimes, the adventure is so lively, you just want to walk further to continue the story line.
And by the bedside is a 'thriller' by Ann Cleeves, "Black Raven"; set in Shetland Isles and the beginning of another three set. Never a dull moment that's for sure.
**Note: I stand corrected as to title of Ann Cleeves first book in Shetland series. It is Raven Black! Definitely a good read!*** See comment regarding a fourth book in the series--which is exciting news.