High Fiber—New Forms of Fiber Fun

It has been a busy week! Soren's Baby Surprise Jacket (BSJ) is finished. Here's the front.

I'm using the instructions in Elizabeth Zimmermann's The Opinionated Knitter. The yarn is Comfy Worsted in Serrano and Maize. I can picture Soren on the beach this summer wearing this wrap. Here's the back:

The Sundance Film Festival is underway. On Tuesday, we picked up our down-filled uniforms, catalogs and ticket vouchers. There was a long line of volunteers waiting to check in. I was happy to stand in line. I had my knitting, and DH to hold my coat while I worked on his sweater.

My first shift was Saturday afternoon and evening. DH and I alternate shifts, so the pups have one of us home. It would be a problem to leave them for 10 hours, including travel time. We work inside the Eccles, which is the biggest venue. It's good that the jacket sleeves zip off, leaving a nice, down vest. I'll have more from the festival to show next week.

Common Threads met on Thursday at Lynda's. She introduced us to Chablis, her angora bunny. (Can you say, "fiber animal?")

How do you do red-eye reduction on a photo of an animal with red eyes? Chablis lives indoors and uses a litter box. She gets along well with Lynda's two cats and her dog. She also has a run outdoors, so she can graze and soak up the sun safely. Lynda uses scissors to shear Chablis. She keeps the face cut short all the time, though, so the bunny can find her way around the house. Believe it or not, Chablis weighs practically nothing! That's all FIBER. (Talk about high fiber, LOL!)

Common Threads had a great turnout with a variety of project types. Jean, Julie and Georgette were working on knitting, cross-stitch and needlepoint projects.

Here's Georgette's needlepoint project. It's almost finished.

We have two new people: Susan and Lone (pronounced "Loan-a"). Here Georgette shows off a silk scarf Susan made. It was made using a technique where you wrap up a white silk scarf and silk ties, tie it up and boil it with water and vinegar. The dyes transfer from the silk ties to the silk scarf.

The effect is like a crazy quilt. Susan has agreed to teach everyone how to do this. Lone takes a closer look:

Here's another silk scarf by Susan. This one was made using rusty objects instead of silk ties. She says that, unlike the silk-tie method, you have to do this process outdoors. She tied the silk scarf around the rusty objects, sort of Shibori-like.

Joanie has been knitting a shawlette. It will be done soon.

The lace border is knit along with the body of the shawlette, rather than added afterward.

Lone is making fleece scarves and headbands to sell.

Susan made this versatile sweater vest.

This project can be worn in a variety of ways. (The scarf Susan is wearing is a Mobius, which she also made.)

Lynda has finished the sleeves for her Dogwood Blossoms:

Our group is going to get together on the 31st to work on our Dogwood Blossoms sweaters together. Most of the people in the group who are making this project haven't started yet. We will also have some other people from Common Threads there to cheer us on. I've put mine aside, so I'll be able to work on it at that meeting.

In the meantime, I'm working on DH's Christmas Waffle Cardi. I'm partway up the first sleeve. (You can see the beginning of it in the upper left-hand corner.) The red lines in the body are the waste yarn pocket setups.

I'm using Swish DK in "Lava Heather." It's a great color name for a retired geologist!

For the cuteness of the week, here's Soren at 6 months:

I think he looks a lot like those 8" collectible dolls made by Madame Alexander. I don't mind collecting this one!

What's on my needles: Dogwood Blossoms, Christmas Waffle Cardi. Waiting in the wings: Daphne's Bunny Suit. (More on that later.)

What's on my wheel: Still the Full Circle Roving in Pigeon.

What's on my iPad: Listening to Georgette Heyer's The Convenient Marriage from Audible. Also getting caught up on the Knit Picks Podcast.

What's my app of the week: WhiteNoise. (Lite version.) It comes in handy when DH is watching TV late at night. I especially like the "Extreme Rain Pouring." It sounds just like rain. However, I have to set it to turn off after several hours. If I wake up at 4:00 AM and hear it, I have to get up and go to the bathroom, not something I usually have to do!

What's in my wine glass: Panilonco Merlot Malbec Reserve 2011. Very nice.

Note: This blog post was produced entirely on the MacBook, using the iPad for photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for or cleaned.

Tags: BSJ, Comfy, DogwoodBlossoms, Sundance, Swish, angora, baby, bunny, fiber, groups, More…knitting, rabbit, volunteer

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Comment by Peggy Stuart on February 11, 2013 at 4:00pm: I'll have to post a baby picture next week. I didn't realize it had been two weeks!

Comment by Beverly Roberts on February 11, 2013 at 12:13pm: I'm really behind on reading your blog and this one is so very, very good! awesome pictures of everything, but that bunny and Soren...swoon! Great eye- Candy, Peggy!

Comment by Peggy Stuart on January 24, 2013 at 8:50am: You're right about that!

Comment by cherylbwaters on January 24, 2013 at 8:41am: Soren and Zachary, they are already lady killers if you count old lady grandmotherly types.

Comment by Peggy Stuart on January 22, 2013 at 9:22pm: Very interesting! (I feel as though I should be slinking from around a potted plant when I say that, ala Arte Johnson.) Probably not anything I would do, but I have images of tea cozies....
I'm not sure I'll get into making the scarves, since I'm looking at learning weaving, but you never know.
Soren is literally a doll, and Zachary's blue eyes are entrancing! They are going to be lady killers, I can tell!

Comment by wendy on January 22, 2013 at 8:27pm: Isn't it? And in person - WOW! She's is such a cool lady.

Comment by cherylbwaters on January 22, 2013 at 8:10pm: Wow, interesting art work.

Comment by wendy on January 22, 2013 at 8:00pm: Very interesting indeed! So many different types of work to look at, yet all so interesting. I like Lynda's Dogwood Blossom color choice. It will be as stunning as your's, only different! I remember reading somewhere - here (?) I do believe - about the silk ties and a plain silk piece of fabric and the resulting affects of the one on the other.

About two years ago when I first joined a spinning guild, I met a woman who had on a gorgeous cabled sweater and an unusual but stunning silk scarf, so I asked her if she knitted her sweater. She chuckled and said "NO!" as she really doesn't knit. But she did go on to tell me about her silk scarf. She said she had tied it around her barbed wire fence to obtain the streaks of rust, and then went on to talk about a tiny bit about her art work. I had no idea who she was, since this was only the 2nd time I'd gone to the guild meeting, but several months later we were told she had some of her pieces being featured in a local gallery, and then later again that she had been featured in a fiber magazine and had won an award. She teaches all around the country, and I recently found out she is going to be teaching felting classes in Africa. Her work is quite amazing. So, back to your blog - this is what came to mind when I saw the shibori style silk scarf. Are you going to give this a try sometime?

Your DH's sweater is looking great, as is Soren's BSJ. I love the sweater Joanie is wearing, one she made? But my all time favorite is the sweet picture of Soren. My goodness, he's adorable!

Comment by Peggy Stuart on January 22, 2013 at 7:30am: Thanks, Elaine!

Comment by Elaine Wenger on January 22, 2013 at 2:50am: Really enjoyed your blog. So many beautiful projects. Isn't fiber just wonderful? Those silk scarves look very interesting. Soren , what a sweetie.