I read on Ravelry today that Tom Forrester and his wife were killed in a car accident a couple weeks ago. Such sad news :( Another fine craftsman gone too soon. I will be spinning on my favourite Forrester sheep spindle tonight. I also own one other Forrester which is the Orchard version. I coveted this spindle for quite some time until one came up in a destash. I feel very lucky to own a couple of Tom's fine spindles.
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Etsy Sask Team has been organizing another sale. Erin, Elaine and I will all be selling at this one. It is on March 13th at the Saskatoon Farmers Market 10 - 3. Click on the picture above to be taken to our Facebook event page and read our vendor profiles. I have picked out a bunch of new fibres from my stash to spin for this sale. I am hoping to have 30 new skeins in bright, spring colours. I've also got some nice Easter egg felted soaps :) Hope to see you there!
This current favourite is a kiss of tart citrus + crushed eucalyptus
This rinse-free formula is perfect for washing your laciest lingerie, your softest sweaters, hand-made quilts and even baby clothes. Soak is designed with fabric-friendly ingredients that revitalize fibers so they look great and last longer. Soak is safe for both hand and machine washing, including HE. Great for blocking. Use Soak on lingerie, swimwear, knits, quilts, workout wear, dance wear and all the stuff you love most! Even your dog! 12oz bottles: 75 washes I've been working through my spin kit from Spin Off and wanted to share how I wind my spun yarn from the spindle. I learned about this trick in one of my classes I took with Deb. I think Susan also had a hand in this ingenious trick. This is my set up in my studio with my ball winder to one side. So, all you need is a clamp and a couple fishing swivels. The clamp was purchased from Peavy Mart or Canadian Tire - any hardware store really (or even the dollar store) and the swivels are super cheap and can be found anywhere. I just attached a couple end to end and attached on end to the clamp. It's as simple as just clamping your rig to something and hanging the hook of your spindle into the free swivel. I hold onto the shaft of the spindle so it has a bit of tension and wind off the yarn on my ball winder - or niddy noddy after plying. Simple yet effective. Here is a quick video of it in action. If you are interested in how I wind yarn off of my support spindles, I do something similar which you can read about in this previous blog post. How do you wind off your yarn?
I got my English wool spun, and after plying I have 116 yards. I used my Bosworth spindle for this skein. One more fibre to go - Alpaca!
I updated my Etsy shop with some new handspun this week. The top skein (Between Generations) is a gorgeous mix of jewel tones on top of a natural oatmeal BFL base. The very neutral and so incredibly soft skein on the bottom right (Milk Mustache) is spun from some very luxurious Superwash Targhee into a delectable gradient going from white to grey to brown and black. The third skein (Ambient) surprised me - I LOVE it and I am not a red person. Luckily I have 8 more ounces of that fibre to keep for myself :D I also listed this super cozy infinity scarf I crocheted from 100% baby alpaca. It is such a gorgeous colour and can be worn many ways. These cowls/scarves are a must have accessory in my wardrobe. One main benefit of this one is that it isn't bulky, so you can wear it at work without feeling like you left some outerwear on. Classy and warm <3
I have been really inspired by all the people spinning on their turkish spindles in the past little while. I bought a large Capar spindle at the Manitoba Fibre Festival this past fall and have been wanting to get spinning on it. I have four 1 oz bumps of fibre that I am planning to spin separately and combine into a project (likely a shawl). I really need to work on my winding but these people have given me a push. Starting at top left: Phyberphreak's TDF 2014 project, Allison (ASJKnits) (Bottom) Julie (aelllis) and Joanne Seiff. Seasoned turkish spindle users - please let me know how you got so good with your winding.
I didn't have much left after the Etsy Holiday Pop-up Market but I did a bit of a shop update with some yarns and hats - including the original Frosty Morning hat! I've been holding onto it hoping to keep it for myself but I've never worn it and I hate to see it go unused. Its crocheted from Noro Kochoran which is a wool/silk/angora blend - super luxurious! The cloche hat is a new style for me. I've added some handspun buttons as a bit of a detail on the side. The slouchy brown wool hat is similar to my other slouchy crocheted hats but with a cute nest button. The yarns are spun from fibres I have been hoarding in my stash as they are just so gorgeous. More to come :D
I received the Summer/Fall 2015 Issue of Genesis Magazine, which is a journal of Rare Breeds Canada today and I saw a picture of myself spindle spinning from when I was with Gerry at the Motherwell Homestead this past August. There is also a picture of Gerry combing some of the Wensleydale fibre and the Rare Breeds Set up at the event. This homestead used to raise Shrophire sheep and I believe Gerry and Sheldon (Parks Canada Co-ordinator) are working together to make it so that the farm will once again have Shropshire sheep. This site is also an possible venue for the Fibre Festival Jeremy and I are planning to put on next year.
I had a great time in Saskatoon this weekend! Jeremy and I met a friend of ours who was down from Edmonton and we had a great supper at Samurai. My first time trying Teppanyaki and man, was it amazing! It was also really great to be able to hang out a bit more with Erin and get to know her a little better, We have talked quite a bit on Facebook but never really had the chance to have coffee and talk.
On Sunday I was helping Erin, the Team Captain for Etsy Sask to organize a Holiday Pop-up Market. We did it in 2 weeks and had about 25 vendors. I brought some new skeins, hats, buttons and felted soap along my regular items. It was such a great day and the Farmers Market where we set up was a wonderful venue! Thank you to everyone who came out! We hope do do more of these types of sales. The world lost one of its best on Dec 10, 2015. Deb, one of my dearest friends lost her battle with cancer this week. This wasn't her first run in with the horrible disease. She had fought breast cancer a few years earlier and wow did she amaze me with her strength and positive attitude. I am feeling a ton of emotions but I wanted to share some of my fond memories about Deb and what a dramatic difference she made in my life. I met Deb in 2007 when I wandered into Golden Willow and started my stumble down the rabbit hole. I took several spinning classes taught by her and I couldn't get enough. She was incredibly knowledgeable and I looked up to her so much and I have never encountered anyone who taught like she did. She always came to class with an abundance of fibres, books, magazines, tools etc and handed them out to whoever wanted them. She wanted you to try as many things as you could so you could see how different fibres spun, how they worked with other fibres, different techniques you could use to spin certain ways, or to make certain objects, secret hacks you could do to your wheel to make spinning a specific fibre or weight of yarn easier. She let us try out her wheels and her stash, and I am forever grateful. She wanted you to follow the rules - then break them. She told us that we were spinning (or knitting or whatever), we didn't have to go by the book. We were creating, and making yarn and that's all that matters. There are right and wrong ways to do things but that doesn't mean they were the best methods for the projects we had in mind. No wonder she always had waiting lists for her classes. This is the first skein I spun in her class. When I took it off the wheel I was so happy because believe it or not, it hung balanced. I thought "yay, I made a perfectly balanced skein", but as you can see, its is SO underplied. I ended up having to re-ply this skein on my first spindle and I learned my lesson - which is of course exactly what she wanted. From that day on, I practiced how much twist to put in my singles and how much to add in my plying. I now always slightly overply my skeins to get the results I want. I took this yarn and knit a sample and made a spindle case for my beloved first spindle - a Tabachek, which came highly recommended by Deb as her favourite spindles. She gave me confidence and never made me feel like the mistakes I made in my work were a big deal, more of a lesson. "You tried it, you saw what happened and now you know". I took every class she taught at Golden Willow just because she was teaching them. I had to be around Deb and I wanted to learn as much as I could from her. She is my mentor and everything I know about spinning I learned from her. She is the reason I have so many spindles in my collection. She first taught me spinning on spindles and I have always had a love and connection to them. I would see her spindle spinning on so many occasions, no matter where we were and loved their portability and her ability to get so much done on such an amazing little tool. We would discuss and compare spindles, trade them, enable eachother and I have continued to cherish them because of her inspiration. She loved doing experiments, whether it be with natural dyes, energized singles, drafting techniques or which fibres were really the best for making bags just to name a few. Sometimes she was surprised by the outcome and sometimes she did them to prove certain people wrong. I highly recommend you read about some of her projects on her blog - Heart Like a Wheel. She wrote with purpose and right from the heart. Spend time reading her blog, you will gain a lot of insight. She was often published in magazines like Spin-Off and Ply and her work can be found all around the web. Not only was she an accomplished spinner, one of her other loves was tapestry weaving. She taught classes for the guild and was the Artist in Residence at the Neil Balkwill for many years. People would drive up from the states in the middle of winter to learn about fibre from Deb. Yoga was another huge part of her life. She held Yoga for Fibre Artist workshops and even my husband came to one because he had heard such great things about these sessions (and he doesn't spin or knit). She often said yoga was her religion and she found it to be very helpful and soothing in her everyday life. She also talked so much about Olds Fibre Week and told me I HAD to go. Since the first year I attended, I haven't missed a year yet! I remember talking to an upper level master spinner in my first year there and they were all excited because they were going to be learning about blending fibres for spinning and I thought to myself "Wow, Deb taught us that stuff years ago!" and I felt how lucky we were in Regina to have someone like her in our fibre community. Deb taught a couple levels of Master Spinner and I have to say, the students she taught are so incredibly lucky to have learned what they did from Deb. She was an outsider because she was the first (I believe) Master Spinner instructor who hadn't taken the program. She's THAT good :) She was working her way through the levels on her own and I enjoyed seeing her homework and reading about her efforts and mistakes along the way. I shared a townhouse with Deb in 2014 when we were at Fibre Week together and we drove up to Olds for a few years. During the long car rides and in the evenings and mornings we talked a lot. She always told me about her kids; Matt and Alicia and man, was she ever proud of them. Matt is an AMAZING musician and she was always promoting his shows and travelling across provinces to see him perform. We went to see him play this year in a Battle of the Bands contest, and as our jaws were on the floor over his talent, Deb's face just had a look like *I told you so*. She was just beaming. Her daughter Alicia has a huge heart and soul. Deb often told me about how she was always helping those in need and how she is a HUGE animal lover taking care of feral cats and doing everything she could whenever and however. She told me how happy she was that Alicia was her own person and how she was doing right in this world. She smiled so much when she talked of her family. I confided in Deb a lot too, as I looked up to her so much and felt a motherly sense coming out of her as she gave me advice and listened to me when I needed an ear. She always had time and never made me feel like she wasn't interested. She was also a big supporter of my accomplishments and that always meant so much to me. She even came to the Etsy sale I organized in Sept even though she wasn't feeling well. Her and I often went out and did our Random Acts of Knitting (RAK) as she called it, and we placed our handknits around the city for people to find and hopefully bring a smile or some comfort to those who did. She wouldn't admit to her being one of the people doing this but she was so humble. She would wrap up a project knit from handspun (cashmere, silk, angora, wool) along with a encouraging note and a granola bar in packages, she was so, so generous. I would even joke and tell my husband to follow close by so he could snatch us these bundle so I could keep them ;P She has shared several of her patterns on Ravelry, and I am casting on the Prairie Sunset Shawl with some spindle spun yarn. Last year I had told her I wanted to grow a lemon tree from seeds and how I read that organic lemon seeds have the best luck. She started saving me seeds from the lemons she would add to her water and gave me a bag of them the next time she saw me. I planted those seeds a few months ago when I had heard she was sick again in hopes that as the seeds grew and became healthy, she would as well. My seeds sprouted slowly but surely and now I have 6 seeds growing and can't wait to see what fruit they bear all thanks to Deb. I could really continue this blog post forever and ever, it doesn't even scratch the surface of how Deb has touched my life. She is the reason I am where I am with Knit Natural and she is the reason I fell so hard for fibre. She did so much for the fibre community and inspired everyone, everywhere she went and those who have been lucky enough to know her are nodding in agreement. I wish I could put into words how much she means to me, I am SO proud of her and will miss her terribly. As I sit in my studio, I look around and see all the fibre, spindles, books, magazines, bags and yarn that she has gifted me and I feel comforted that I am still surrounded by Deb.
I have been "away" for a bit, mentally and physically. In the last few months I have been so burnt out and exhausted I haven't felt like doing much of anything. I have suffered from depression and anxiety for over 15 years and it has hit me pretty strong recently. I have also been fighting an infection of some sort. It was pneumonia in September which I thought went away and came back even stronger in October. I needed to make sure I wasn't sick because I was scheduled to have my gall bladder removed and already had to reschedule once and I had been waiting years for the surgery. I finally had it removed on the 12th and everything seemed to go pretty smoothly but a couple days later when I was just relaxing on the couch, I had the most intense pain I ever felt in my abdomen. It was so bad I was crying in pain and couldn't catch my breath. This scared me because I have asthma and I started hyperventilating. My husband called EMS and they took me to the hospital. I was told that maybe a clamp came off and bile was leaking into my system or a stone escaped during surgery. We spent the night and most of the next day in the ER waiting for an ultrasound to see what was going on. The ultrasound was excruciating because the technician had to press down hard on my fresh incisions. Good news is, there was nothing out of the ordinary. They surgeon told me that it was likely some bile that leaked into my system and it wouldn't happen again but unfortunately my white blood cell count was 190000. I spent the next 4 days in the hospital while they tried to get my infection down. Leave it to me an my luck to have complications in a surgery that is performed on millions of people (lol). I have been recovering at home and feeling useless as I am used to keeping busy. My mind has been very active but my body has been telling me to rest. I am learning that I'm not invincible and I need to slow down a bit. I had to miss out on Fibre & Finery and a few classes I was supposed to teach. I am very lucky to have such amazing friends like Marjorie who took over my knitting class while I was in the hospital. I am hoping to get back on my wheel soon and update my Etsy shop. It's my dad's birthday next week and he is always so hard to buy for because he has everything he needs. I try to knit him something each year because he appreciates the work and time involved. This year I made him a pair of socks. The pattern is Jenny Socks my Cynthia Guggemos. I used 2 balls of Knit Picks Stroll in the colourway Agate Heather. I am really happy with how they turned out. I wanted to wrap them nicely so I put some cardstock around them with my business card stamp and fibre content stamp and used some festive washi tape I had.
Joanne Seiff is one of the wonderful organizers of the Manitoba Fibre Festival as well as an amazing designer, author and spinner. She wrote the following article for the CBC on the importance of fibre arts, handmakers and local producers. It is such a well written piece that I wanted to share it here so you can read it as well. You may recognize the yarn in the photo they used as some of mine :) The funny thing is, Joanne lives in Winnipeg and the photo was taken by Madeline Kotzer (CBC) at the Etsy Made in Canada sale in 2014 in Saskatoon. What are the odds they would connect Joanne and I in the same article - it is a small world!
Please click the picture to be taken to the article Saw this on the front page of Arts and Life in the Leaderpost. The article talks about Pistols, Pumps & Purses which is a fundraiser to support the RCMP Heritage Museum. The focus of this show will be less on fashion and more on accessories like jewellery, purses, hats etc. There will even be dogs from the humane society walking down the runway modelling accessories from Metro Pet Mart. Its kinda cool to see the poncho I knit for Dean Renwick's fall collection in the photo. I updated my shop with 4 skeins this week Bijoux - Merino/Yak/Silk The Tell Tale Heart - Shetland The Lone Gunmen - Dorset Sweater Weather - Wensleydale Bijoux is a super luxury blend of fibres and it was N-plyed. I wanted to mix the colours slightly but not too much. The Tell Tale Heart was spun from some fibre I have had in my stash for quite some time. I love the colours and this Shetland was probably the best I've spun. The big, fluffy, bulky skein in the middle was my favourite of the week. Dorset is a down breed and a first for my shop. A very prairie fibre, often overlooked but I LOVED how it turned out despite the fibre prep, which gave me a few problems. Another X-Files related colourway name. And finally, the last skein listed was a nice lustrous long wool; Wensleydale. I kept it as a single, but spun it softly. Although a great tapestry yarn or textile yarn, I was thinking shawls, and the like because of its wonderful drape. I have also reinstated my sheep study and you can read all about Cormo in that section.
Since the past couple of years I have been on a MAJOR support spindle kick and I really want to try all the spindle makers out there. Ghstworks designs have caught my eye on some of the spindle threads so I perused their shop and found this little number. My sample is Romney and I spun and plyed it to keep its awesome colour runs. It came to 11 yards in the end. My very favourite aspect of this spindle is it's size. I LOVE it! Its labeled as a travel spindle and that's exactly what I plan to do with it. Perfect for throwing in your bag and taking it everywhere you go. Its stocky, well built and made to last. It also feels nice in the hand. My hands are kinda... what's the word... pudgy (ha) so this spindle feels not too big, not too small but just right. If you have larger hands, this travel spindle may not be right for you. To spin a larger amount of fibre with this spindle you would have to make a couple cops to do so as the shaft doesn't have the length for a few oz (but it's the travel size) . I have a bit of fibre chosen to make a bigger skein with this spindle to test out how much fibre I can pack on before it becomes cumbersome. (I will update this post when I do that)
The shaft isn't overly decorated but there are 3 small rings near the tip which add a nice bit of detail (see last picture). Rings like this always remind me of my Tabachek spindles :) There is some hand yarn management ridges near the bulb. I really appreciate these because they really help a lot when it comes to getting your spinning started. They are carved very neatly and even. The shaft has been smoothed but not a whole lot. I prefer that because if the spindle shaft is too slippery, your yarn will just keep sliding around as you are spinning. It needs some hold, but not enough to snag your fibre.
Spindle rating: Length of spin: 9.4 seconds (average of three tests) Fibre storage ability: Fair Looks: Sleek Overall Rating: 8.75/10 This spindle maker has taken time and care into making his spindles work very well. They don't need a mix of woods or fancy tips or unique shaping. They are very nice Russian spindles and I would like to have more from Ghstworks.
It's easy to get into the spinning groove and lose track of time, we all know that! It's also easy to forget that your wheel is working very hard with you to make sure your skeins come out exactly as planned. Some issues you might run into are a result of poor wheel maintenance. I'm not here to pass judgement as I am guilty of this myself. Spinning wheels are a big investment and you really want to keep them working their best so you can count on them for years to come. I am going to go over the steps needed for good wheel care. Before you get started, you will want to make sure you have the following items: - Spinning wheel oil - Microfibre cloth - Allen wrench/screw driver - Q-tips - Cotton string - Paper towels - Wood polish or oil - Vaseline Check your wheel for areas that have a lot of grease, dirt, dust and gunk. You will find that the areas with moving parts have the highest concentration of these substances. Remove your flyer and bobbin and clean/dust all the spots where you normally add oil. Don't forget the footman assembly. Use paper towel to clean these metal parts. Use a q-tip to clean out smaller spots like the orifice and the area on the front maiden. This is also a good time to replace a worn brake band or drive band. You can use cotton string (not mercerized) as an inexpensive alternative. If you have any leather parts like footman connectors or orifice bearings, soften them with a leather conditioner or Vaseline. Re-shape and re-screw any hooks that need an adjustment. Tighten all screws to keep wobbly joints in place and replace any that are stripped. Your footman connectors may also have loose screws. Use an Allen wrench if necessary. I keep this and a little multi-tool in my spinning wheel bag so they are handy when I need them. To keep your wood looking nice, polish it up every once in a while using wax or a wood preserver, working in the direction of the grain. You can also buff your wheel with lemon essential oil which smells really good! Keep natural and stay away from using products like Pledge on your wheel because it can make the groove in the drive wheel too slippery and your drive band will slip. Don't wax whorls or bobbins for this same reason. Once you have everything all cleaned up, re-oil all the parts that move and cause friction and also where wood meets metal. There are a lot of oils on the market but I recommend liquid oils because they won't create instant gunk. I use mineral oil because it's inexpensive, it won't harm the wood and if you have small kids that might get into it, it's non hazardous. All of these steps are easy to do and hardly time consuming, and they really keep your wheel running smoothly. You should try to remember to oil your wheel at least every time you sit down to spin and keep your wheel out of direct sunlight and humid/moist areas. Dust it every now and then and keep an eye on it around pets (our basset hound Jenny chewed part of the base of my wheel when I wasn't paying attention!) If you treat your wheel nicely it will bring you years of great service.
I added 4 new skeins to my Etsy shop this week.
From left to right: The Frayed Edge of Sanity: BFL 246 yards Paging Kenny Loggins: Cheviot 100 yards Danger Zone: Cheviot 184 yards Mindless Self Indulgence: Polwarth 144 yards I've added two skeins to my Etsy shop this week;
On The Scene which is a 2 ply, Cheviot yarn ~ 220 yards Pamplemousse is a cool blend of SW Merino/Tencel with 570 yards Starting today, until the end of the month I am offering a coupon code to use in my Etsy shop for 15% off the 12 oz bottles of Soak in the Celebration scent. Just type CELEBRATE15 when you check out. The scent is sweet, delicate and absolutely delicious, this perennial favourite smells like good, clean fun. Soak is a pure, gentle and deliciously scented way to wash the delicate items you care about most. I use this product to set the twist on all my skeins. This rinse-free formula is perfect for washing your laciest lingerie, your softest sweaters, hand-made quilts and even baby clothes. Soak is designed with fabric-friendly ingredients that revitalize fibers so they look great and last longer. Soak is safe for both hand and machine washing, including HE. Great for blocking. Use Soak on lingerie, swimwear, knits, quilts, workout wear, dance wear and all the stuff you love most! Even your dog! 12oz bottles: 75 washes Maker: Trindleman Weight: 11 g & 16 g / 3/8 and 1/2 oz Length: 10.5" Shaft, 2.5" Arms Style: Unique Material: Shaft: Redheart Arms: Malachite & Tigers Eye beads I have a very special review for you today, very unique, very innovative and very customize-able spindles. My samples are both merino and I spun 15 yards and 51 yards in the 2 skeins. Trindles are made using a shaft, a neoprene hub and perimeter weighted arms. The materials that go into making these spindles are vast. The beads alone can be comprised or glass, metal, woods, semi precious stones and even ivory just to name a few. If you are looking for a spindle you can really personalize, these are them. My arms are beads made from Malachite and Tigers Eye. I have always had a love for rocks and quite like these ones. You can change the weight of your spindle, simply by changing up your arms. The weights of these are as follows - Malachite (4 g) and Tigers Eye (9 g). There are several arm sets you can choose from and if you have a special set of beads he can even make a custom set of arms for you! Now how COOL is that? The arms stay in place really well yet they are easy to remove and switch around if you need to. The neoprene hub is really quite ingenious. There are 6 holes in these spindles so I could even add 2 sets of arms for extra weight if I needed. The material is virtually indestructible and nice and lightweight. It is snug on the shaft and there is no movement at all. Both of mine are an inch down from the hook. Even the placement of this hub could be customized to make mid-whorl spindles and support spindles - which he also does (!)
I would also be careful in packing these babies for travel as they feel a bit dainty. With that said, this spindle maker is so unbelievably awesome to offer a lifetime guarantee on Trindles. If yours breaks or fails in anyway, he will repair or replace it, no questions asked. That alone is reason enough to want to support this maker! The hooks are simple but not a detail overlooked. The end of the hook has been tapered so it doesn't have a blunt, ugly edge that may snag your spun yarn. They have a nice wide curve that lines your yarn up perfectly with the shaft. And after all that, lets talk about how they spin shall we? Like a dream. I was slightly worried that the arms would come flying out mid spin but that hasn't happened. I was also a bit concerned that given the weights and the design of the arms that the spin time would be short and it wasn't bad at all. BECAUSE of the design, and the weight distribution on the outer tips of the yarn, these spindles are amazing spinners! They dance in the air, almost weightless and barely look like they are moving, kinda like a hummingbird. Winding on was a bit of a challenge at first though. I had to slow down a bit and make sure I was building my cop under the arms and not in and around them. Although, it would be worth a try if you needed to pack on more yarn to see if that helped with yarn storage if you kept it balanced and under control. When you buy these spindles you have to buy a shaft and arms separate. This let's you choose your shaft preference and you can create your own spindle set. I like how you can collect different arms and switch them out as you like. You kinda get a modular spindle and you can change things up as you spin even. Spindle rating: Length of spin: 14.9 seconds (average of three tests) Fibre storage ability: If you are spinning very fine lace weight yarns, you will be able to pack a lot of yarn on these, and can change weights as you need to. Looks: Very unique, and an ingenious design Overall Rating: 8.5/10 Here is where I tell you a secret, I traded for these spindles. A woman on Rav was looking for a Glindle (as is everyone) and she was offering these spindles as well as a Gripping Yarn french spindle in return. I REALLY wanted the GY spindle and thought about this trade for over a week. I even consulted my local fibre community on their opinions of Trindles as I had never tried them and wondered if they would be a fair trade with the spindle package being offered. I decided to go for it and I am actually pretty happy I did. I really love these spindles and they spun so effortlessly and were so nice and light that they are a joy to spin with. I was quite impressed with the spindle maker as I mentioned above with his guarentee. He also responded to peoples' comments on his Ravelry group with genuine care and even a bit of humour. I respect that. If you have ever been curious about these spindles, give one a try, or better yet, check out the Trindle Etsy shop and pick out a nice set of arms and a shaft and take the plunge, there is a reason they are popular!
The very popular Heel in the Cucumber scent has been re-stocked in my shop. This foot creme makes a great gift for those your knit socks for or even yourself. It feels wonderful on and smells good as well!
This weekend I went to a knitting cabaret with my friend Maureen. Melanie Gall was in town and she was performing at a Regina Fringe Festival venue nearby. I'm not usually a theatre person but I thought this sounds kinda cool and it's something different. She is a soprano from St. Albert Alberta who sings knitting songs. That's right :) She has an amazing voice and sang songs from WWI and WWII that were about knitting and there was even a song about the "knitting nerve" (carpal tunnel). We were invited to bring our knitting to the show and I brought a sweater I am working on and Maureen brought some socks. She even had extra needles and yarn for those who didn't bring their knitting and asked at the beginning of the show if anyone wanted to show off what they were working on. Melanie has a great personality and I laughed quite a bit during her performance. She is a knitter herself and is a co-host to a podcast called The Savvy Girls Podcast. Her sister, mom and her record shows and even have a group on Ravelry. I'm going to add them to my list.
It has been unbelievably humid and hot the last few days and we haven;t had much rain since April. The venue was sweltering but was in a very cool old church. I think I will be on the lookout for her shows next time she is in town. I am pleased to announce that I am adding another wonderful product to my business. I am now a proud dealer for Unicorn Products. They are the makers of Power Scour, a professional grade wool wash. This is what I use to wash all my fleeces. Superior washing at lower temperatures (even hard water), helps with reducing mats and tangles and eliminates odors. This product really makes the process of washing raw fibre SO much easier. It is biodegradable and earth friendly. Currently, I am the only supplier in Saskatchewan and will be bringing this to the Manitoba Fibre Festival as well. I will have these products in stock soon.
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