Yankee Peddler or "What's on Joe's Needles?"

Episode 20

Production Scheduling

1. Events
   1. Ann Arbor Fiber Expo October 22 and 23^rd at the Washtenaw Farm Council Grounds.
   2. Algonquin Mill fall festival Friday, Saturday, and Sunday October 7,8,9.at the Mill Farm Located 5 miles south of carollton, oh on rt 332.
   3. Newly scheduled and the event that I’m most looking forward to! I will be attending Session one of Camp KIP April 21-24 2012.
      
      
      
      
      
2. 
   Today was the Yankee Peddler festival I canal Fulton. Somehow I thought this would be a ore fibery event than it was. Of the whole festival I think we saw 2 booths with fiber related items. The first was the Au Gres Sheep Factory they had some comically huge “powder Puffs” and the had a few of those puffs attached to sticks labeled as “computer dusters”. The best thing by far at that booth were the had felted tree ornaments the were by feel alpaca and there was an awesome dragon and a very cute bunny. But they were a bit pricey for my budget an so we passed them up. If you'd like to check out their rage of animals they are at http://www.augressheepfactory.com . The other Fiber stop was the Algonquin Spinning and weaving guild booth. There were a ton of skeins of hand spun, lots of knitted hats and scarves. All that is great but only one skein tempted me and I didn't buy it because I thought it was a bit shy on yardage. What was really cool was the drum carder that was run by what look like a bicycle chain. And the great wheels! I wish I would have spend more time over there we didn't find them until we had been through the entire show and B wasn't going to be too much more patient than he already had been. I did sit down to card a bit and got a really awesome tip for drop spindle before I left. I was chatting with one of the guild members who was spinning on a drop spindle. The conversation wound around to spinning cotton which requires a little extra twist (from what I'm told ...... I don't have first hand experience.) and she showed me that if you have your hands full you can restart the spindle with a kick start! She just stops it between her feet and rolls it along the inside of her right shoe and it spins forever! This is a great tip from a spinner with several blue ribbon skeins.:) Also a thanks to her for talking to me because I know I distracted her a ton and she now has some over spun singles on her spindle. I think Joe and I agree that the high point of the the show was the food! Today was a throw the diet out the window and don't look back day. We had: A turkey leg, an elephant ear, apple cider, Lemonade, Corn on the cob, slice of pumpkin roll, blueberry fizz, Fried veggies, and sweet potato fries, and we brought a piece of pineapple upside down cake home. These were all split three ways and yeah we're feeling a bit ill. The only craft items I bought were from Charis Rex at Country Pottery she is unfortunately not online but the little Witch and turreted castle / house are really cute and her prices are really fair.
3. Production
4. What's in my Tea Pot
5. Materials Sourcing
6. After 5

II Production

1. The Brea Bag by Norah Gaughan I saw this bag last weekend at Stitch, piece and purl and bought the yarn to make it (Berroco Ultra Alpaca in color 6279 which is a reddish brown) This bag has been on my mind since I saw it so I put down the cabled mitts to work on it. I finished I one side of the bag and have the second cast on. Side one is sooo pretty and sooo soft! Hopefully I'll find the time to finish the second side and and gusset. The real problem with this bag is finding the perfect handles. When I bought the yarn for this bag the store owner told me that the sample had handles from a purse found at goodwill. So maybe after work B and I will go thrift shopping for purses!
2. Twisty Sister Cabled Hand Warmers by Kate Gondwana out of the donated acrylic for my friend. I was able to drop down and re twist that cable! Woohoo! Then I didn’t mark what row I left off on and had had to frog back a couple of rows. The mitt is back on the needles and ready to go after I finish my Brea Bag.

III What's in my Tea Pot

1. Three Cups Fragrance (San Bei Xiang) This green tea is as elegant as its name implies. A soft vegetal taste gives way to a sweetness that lingers. Its leaves are slender, uniform in size and curved shape, all in shades of dark green with silver sheen. It will cup three times as the leaf has body. From Fujian Province, this is an excellent green tea value. Steep for 1 1/2 - 2 minutes in water temperature of 175 – 185 degrees.

1. This is another keeper but be sure to watch your brew time. The first pot of my three infusions was over steeped and a bit bitter because I over steeped it. The second round was much better and as I'm enjoying the tea tonight and not pounding it down.. I haven't made it to pot # 3. This is a good everyday tea.
   

IV Materials Sourcing

1. The Grey 50/50 Romney alpaca is plied. Still on the bobbin.
   
2. The Merino Silk Blend all spun and is ½ plied.
   
3. I won a prize! I won a prize in the Summer Spin A Long on the I got Ewe Babe board on ravelry. 20.00 to Knitty and Color on Etsy! I spent it on a bat called Cauldron which is Black and Grey with a touch of purple and sparkle which should be very seasonable halloweenish for the autumn spin along.
   

V After 5

• What's on Joe's needles? Yes Joe has needles! This week I pulled out my Sz 8 straight needles and a ball of acrylic yarn and sat down to show joe the knit stitch because and I'm not sure who to attribute it to ...”It's all just Knits and Purls”. After about twenty minutes of demo's and letting him try and occasionally guiding his hands (because I can't resist getting my hands in to correct mistakes....) He had a few rows done. He does occasionally split the yarn and increased the swatch by one stitch by knitting into a split loop but he was doing really well! He even sat down and practiced when I wasn't around! (So Proud!) So on Friday I sat down and taught him how to purl. He hasn't practiced that yet but in fairness I picked up all the kitting supplies to make the house “company ready” on Saturday so I don't think he knows what I did with his knitting...:) When he gets his knits purls down he'll be knitting the transformers cloth by Enid Danforth (Free on Ravelry!)
  
• Ollie's wife – Ollie is our dog he's a cocka poo and is spoiled rotten. He's also one of B's best friends. A few weeks ago B ad I were hanging out on the couch with the windows open and we heard a cat out side. Our neighbor has a cat that like to escape and it was probably one of theirs so this was normal. What was not normal was that Ollie was outside. Ollie likes to hang out out side and his lead stretches to the neighbors fence so he can play with the neighbor dog and out to the front flower bed where he like to lay down and chill and see what the neighborhood is up to. So when B heard the cat he jumped up to look out the window and yells “I see a Kitty! It's Ollie's wife!” and then proceeds to yell out the window “Ollie go see your wife!” So I was pretty much dying of laughter during this and be was pretty upset that Ollie's wife ran off when Ollie went over to say Hi. (He's pretty low key and wasn't looking like he was going to harm the cat or I would've been out the front door to rescue which ever needed it...) So after the cat left B was concerned that Ollie's wife ran away and has since been wondering where Ollie's wife was and why she wasn't with her family. So with the temperature drop here in Ohio we had the windows open again and B heard another cat and dropped everything he was doing yelling “Ollie’s wife is back!” I never know with him what's just a one day passing fancy and what becomes important like Ollie's Wife.
  
• No Such thing as too much yarn. I have a friend who is a crocheter and I don't think she'sa yarn snob. I think she crochet's mainly in acrylic. (something that I'll have to follow up on and ask her...) But she posted on face book today that she had been buying yarn all weekend and that if she bought anymore yarn before January and intervention may be required. To which I posted “There is no such thing as too much yarn.” To which Melissa of Ann Arbor and Striped sock fame replies especially if it's for more socks or perhaps a throw blanket for my couch.” Holy Toledo! I'm pretty vocal about saying that if you receive hand knits from me it means I like you A LOT. I love to knit but these things take time and most people can't afford to pay me for time. So I get paid in love and smiles or free boarding in Ann arbor and trips to Ikea and Zingermann's. Good grief... I hope that wasn't a request for a blanket! And if it was please hope that the crocheter believes that the request was aimed at her and she commits to it! That couch is HUGE!
  
• Last week I asked you all to cross your fingers for a envelope from etsy for me! It worked that or my gift list with hyper links for Joe really was effective. I got my package and it was the flexible blocking wires I was hoping for. I blocked the embassy scarf with them this week and they're really pretty snazzy. I'll be doing a formal review of them just a soon as a block something that's curved since that's supposed to be what they do best. I also got another B-day present this time from my Parents since they haven't seen or talked to me in like a month. I know I'm terrible. My mother thinks it pretty sad that the only time she hears my voice is on the podcast... Hi Mom! I got a Worm Binder to store all my needles! I've been wanting one of these for months, It has a ton of heavy duty pockets in it and since it's designed to hold fishing hooks the plastic is extra heavy and I won't have to worry about the tips poking through the pokets unlike my curry ziploc bag system. Best part is that I get back the dresser drawer all the needles are floating around in!