Heading Them Off at the Pass
I knew about wool moths many years ago when I had a lovely felted handmade scarf from Iceland turn out like swiss cheese after being stored away one summer. My hubby was in Iceland in the 80s and brought me the gray and white scarf as a surprise present. The last laugh was the moth's who saw this as a summer buffet tucked in a drawer under the water bed. I couldn't figure out why it had holes and then someone told me about wool moths. Really, for me, they were an urban legend. Now they are the dreaded enemy.

I have five fleeces in various stages of dirty, cleaned but not picked, picked and stored away. When I was at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Show this past May, I picked up some herbal cedar chip stuff that is supposed to keep away those dreaded wool moths. I didn't buy enough to put in every drawer. A member at the spinning guild told me to buy those cedar chips they use in Hamster tanks and they spray it with cedar spray and store in a muslin bag of some sort. I did buy the chips but honestly I destest sewing so have made no effort to make the bags. Another person said to head off to Bed Bath and Beyond and buy what I need there. I did do that but sadly I think I will still have to sew down the road. I found this pack to thwart off sewing.



You get a combination of four bags and the a ton of rectangular blocks and then rounds with a hole in them. I love the round ones for my closet where I have some wool things stored as well as a wool suit that belongs to my husband.

Here is how I store my fleece. The blocks came in handy. Whatever I didn't use was sealed up in a zip top bag and stored in the closet also. The total investment in the Value Pack was $14.99. To me, it was worth it to not have to sew and not lose any of my wool booth in fleece form as well as yarns.

Handspun
Since I belong to the Southeastern Spinner's Guild, I decided to take part in my very first project at knitting handspun. In September we all brought a bag of about 8 ounces of roving to pick at random to take home and spin into yarn. I drew this...


I thought it spun very well and the yarn was really colorful and hopefully who ever has to knit it, will love the varations in colors like I did.

I drew this...


While I am not a pink loving sort of girl, it's a nice bright color. I think that if you were missing in a snow storm wearing anything with this handspun, you would be found for sure! I have started knitting on it even though I don't have to be done with it until the Jan meeting. I bought a leaflet with 6 different patterns for scaves. I picked on that I thought would give honor to the texture and the different shades of pinkish orangish coloring. Sure hope whoever owns it will like it. It's pretty long and I want to make it as long as possible.

Round vs Square
I tried to post this yesterday but flat could not get the photo to load. I wanted to tell everyone about these needles and was so excited about them. These are Kollage needles and they are....are you ready???? SQUARE. I kid you not. They are made from Forest Palm in Vietnam. When I first saw them, I though they were plastic. Odd looking needles. I have not knit with them but hopefully I will buy one pair and try them out and see how they drive. They are not cheap. A little more expensive than Addi Turbos, but they are such an odd thing, they might just be worth the price simple because they are unique. Here is the company web site so you can get a better look at them.

A Shoppin' We Shall Go...Okay, I went
I needed some things for spinning and knitting today so I planned a trip out to Serendipity Farms and The Knitting Corner. I have been working on Big Chip's fleece (scroll down to toward's the middle of the page and you will see a lovely picture of Big Chip at the Farmgirl Fare site) and decided that if I wanted to keep it, I needed some heavy duty tools to give the fleece the babying it needed. So I called my friend Mary and went to the shop. I bought myself some news toys. I got myself some Mini Louet combs. I haven't used them yet, but Mary showed me how and hopefully I will have time soon to whip that fleece into spinning condition!

As if that wasn't enough spending, I headed off to The Knitting Corner and spent some more money there. I saw some INOX needles at Knitting on Trial and decided that if I was going to do more lace scarves, I needed some sharper needles. I bought these...

And then I decided that I really needed the right Needlegauge thingy and bought one just for my Addi Turbos. I have two or three sets of needles that are in projects and some how the bags have gotten lost. I don't know about the rest of you out there, but my eyes aren't what they used to be and I flat can not read that teeney tiny print on the cable anymore.

I have tried to post the last thing that I bought at The Knitting Corner but I guess I have gone over my picture posting limit. I was so excited to be the first customer to see these things and now I can't get the dog gone picture to post. I guess I will save it for another post another day. UGH!

Big Chip Day
I have been putting this off but finally broke down yesterday and got started. On what you ask? Well my good friend Susan from Farmgirl Fare, mailed me Big Chip's fleece after I begged to have a fleece during shearing. So she induldged me and it has been sitting in my closet since August. I want to get all my fleeces spun into roving and was thinking about taking them to the Fall Fiber Festival and dropping the off. Well, after there was an indepth phone call with another friend who owns sheep, I think I have changed my mind.
Chip's fleece is riddled with tiny weed seeds so I am going to need some help with this. I washed two bags of fleece and decided I needed to stop and not do anymore until I drive out to Mary's place for a second opinion.

M is for Moose
I wanted to take a picture of the finished scarf for my oldest son and needed to do it in an interesting place. I tried the kitchen, a tree and on a chest of drawers, but this was by far the best of the lot. Moose was very patient with me and in the end he got his moment of doggie fame and a cookie for his good behavior. So I finished two of the three scarves I have started. The lace scarf will be a while. I have picked up the baby sweater that I was working on before my son came to visit.



This is the back and two side panels of the baby sweater for my new nephew. I sure hope that he doesn't get too big for it before I get a chance to finish it. My mom said the other day he weighs over 11 pounds.

S is for Scarves
I know it's been a long time since my last post but I have had company for almost two weeks and a second son has moved back home to finish school. All this happened on the same day, so to say it's been hectic wouldn't do it justice.

Even though I have not had access to the computer to blog, I have not forgotten that I love to knit no matter what. My son and daughter-in-law each will be getting a new scarf. This is no surprise since they went to The Knitting Corner with me and picked out their yarn. So I have been knitting my fingers off to get them finished. I have almost finished my son's. Just 4 rows shy and some fringe and it will be done.
Of course I have run out of yarn, so that will call for another trip to The Knitting Corner. Oh, darn.

My son's scarf is made from 127 Print 100% wool and it made in Italy. It's going to be 74 inches long and is about 5 1/2-6 inches across. It's just straight knitting and was knitted on # Addi Turbos. It has just flown by. I just love how fast and mindless this was.

My DIL scarf is a bit more of a challenge. It's Galaxy. It's 62% Nylon and 38% polyester.
It's been a long time since I have knitted with anything that doesn't have some amount of natural fibers in it. I am using #15 Addi Turbos. There are 13 stitches and again it's just straight knitting. This is not a mindless knit other than it's the same stitch. I have to really concentrate because the stuff is so fuzzy. When I stand up I have to use a roller tape thingy to get all the stuff off of me. Is it just me or does that scarf look like that purple Easter grass?

I haven't forgotten my lovely lace scarf by Wallis Knits. I was making good progress until I whipped out the son's scarf and now starting the DIL's scarf. So the lace scarf is on the back burner as is the white baby sweater for my nephew. So even though I had company for a while, I did still manage to get some things done. Now, let's talk about the way the house looks...