New Year's Resolution 2008

Read directions ... what a boring resolution, but when it comes to knitting it definitely is important. I have a sock for my daughter that has elf toes since I assumed the toe was 2" long but the pattern called for 3.5" for the toe. Since these socks are rainbow striped the elf toes look even worse! Now I'll have to tear it out and redo the toe so it will fit. I HATE to rip out knitting...hours wasted!!!

Now on to goals for 2008 - I want to try Fair Isle (stranded) knitting this year. I've found a hat pattern (Fake Isle Hat) that is supposed to be a good beginning project. I also found a mitten pattern (Corazon) to try too. These patterns are on Ravelry and they are FREE. I need a new hat, my daughter "stole" my koolaid hat project. I can always use a pair of mittens in the frozen tundra here in northern Michigan!

Hey - have a VERY safe and prosperous NEW YEAR!

Camo socks for DH

Camo socks for DH
Originally uploaded by bellavitafarm

Finally finished, just in time for Christmas the Camo socks made using the Vintage Sock pattern, Yarrow. I dyed this semi-solid green using sock weight yarn, but only did 166 yds. which ran a bit short to complete the sock. I dyed some more yarn to match in a solid color to finish off the toe section.

Countdown to Christmas

The countdown to Christmas has begun at my house. I finished up last minute shopping yesterday, now if I could only fit another day in between now and Christmas. I need to finish knitting at least three more projects. One project has been moved until after Christmas. I'm giving the yarn and promising the socks will be knit AFTER Christmas. Another project is still on my spinning wheel and who knows when that will be finished?

My neighbor called to find out when we should get together to exchange gifts and I haven't got hers wrapped yet. Egads...I need to get on the ball here.

Our family at Bella Vita Farm & Fiber want to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!

I Shoulda Known...

You Are Mince Pie

Admit it, this isn't the first time that someone has called you "beefy"

What Holiday Food Are You?

fresh_dyepot

fresh_dyepot
Originally uploaded by bellavitafarm

These are the latest dyeing projects for semi solid sock yarn. From top left clockwise, mauve pink in fingering weight, carribean blue in sock weight, camo green in sock weight and coral in fingering weight. All yarns are 100% superwash merino.

Coral Hedgerow socks

Coral Hedgerow socks
Originally uploaded by bellavitafarm

I dyed this superwash Merino fingering weight for a pair of Hedgerow socks. I'm really happy with the way the colors turned out. The sock is knitting up beautifully.

Dyeing can't get more natural than this!

Dyeing can't get more natural than this!
Originally uploaded by bellavitafarm

Mother nature doing some of her dyeing. The pokeberry bush berries burst onto the snow, dyeing the snow a beautiful red violet. I prefer to dye inside during this kind of weather!

Thought I killed the cat!

The other day I turned on the jeep to take the neighbor home and I heard a thud. I turned the motor off immediately, not knowing what it was. My neighbor said he thought it was a cat in the motor and I got out and my husband confirmed that one of our cats went limping VERY FAST into the barn. Oh my stars....I killed the cat!

He was hiding between the wall and the stack of hay bales and of course my DH had just stacked 25 new bales into the barn. The neighbor, Jeff and DH moved bales until we found the cat. I could tell where he was by the blood he left on the wall of the barn.

I pulled him out of his hiding place and fortunately he was not dead, there was some blood but not much. He had a rear leg that definitely was broken and the bone was doubled up where it moved after breaking. I found out when I called the vet they would charge about $600 to fix his leg, it would need surgery and pins. I love my animals, but $600 is about $600 more than I could afford to spend.

My friend Cindy and I decided to set the broken leg and see what happens. Well, actually Cindy set the leg, I was just the assitant. Hopefully Casey will be able to use his leg without more than a slight gimp. The only other options were to put him down or amputation. The vet told me that even spending $600 didn't guarantee that it would fix. Sometimes the vet ends up amputating the limb anyway.

Shannon

Shannon
Originally uploaded by bellavitafarm

This is Shannon, my goofy, loveable Alpine goat. She's always looking for attention and this picture is no exception. Shannon's job is to produce enough milk to feed the extra lambs...and we'd like some milk too! I'm hoping she has twins this year, but a really good milk supply would be great too.

Samson

Samson_full
Originally uploaded by bellavitafarm

Samson is my handsome CVM ram. He's a drop-dead gorgeous ram with a really nice fleece on him. He is currently in the pasture with Delilah and Dakota. Samson knows what to do, just waiting on the girls....as usual.

Daisy and the girls

the_girls
Originally uploaded by bellavitafarm

Daisy is the ewe that is looking straight at the camera. She's the alpha ewe here at Bella Vita Farm & Fiber. She likes to push her weight around, especially at the feeding trough. Daisy has the most personality of all the sheep and her fleece is to die....or should I say dye for? Well both apply...she's a Finnish Landrace sheep, often referred to as Finns. Finns lamb in litters (8 lambs have been recorded) and I'm hoping that Daisy has a nice one of her own. Daisy came from a set of quads and her two sisters, Dolly and Dot, are the black sheep on the left side of the picture.

Dakota

Dakota_head
Originally uploaded by bellavitafarm

Dakota is a Romeldale ewe. The Romeldale breed is where the CVM (California Variegated Mutant) breed started out of. The CVM's have the badger faced markings which were different than the Romeldale's solid colors.

Dakota is a shy girl with a very big foghorn sounding baa. She has beautiful, soft, white fleece that a baby could wear.

Delilah

Delilah_front
Originally uploaded by bellavitafarm

She's my beautiful CVM ewe at Bella Vita Farm & Fiber. She likes to eat her hay.

My new Strauch drum carder has arrived!

My carder arrived from Strauch on Friday. I spent the rest of the day carding my Shetland and Llama fleece. On Saturday I blended them 50/50 which makes a very soft, durable yarn. I also had some roving that if I remember right is BFL which I had experimented with my new Lanaset dyes. I did one roving in warm colors, one roving in cool colors and then a third in various greens. I carded each of those rovings separately and got some beautiful blends. I have batts lying all over the family room that I took over for my fiber addiction!

Finished spinning roving from NW Michigan Fiberfest

I finished spinning and plying the roving I bought at the NW Michigan Wool and Fiber Fest last month. It turned out pretty cool, huh?

I got my stock dyes all mixed and the secondary colors. Then I realized I didn't order the Lanaset orange for some reason. I ordered the orange and the rest of the main colors I didn't get the first time. That order should be here tomorrow and I can finish mixing up all my colors.

My drumcarder is shipping from Strauch's tomorrow...yipppppppeeeeee! I can't wait to get my hands on my new drumcarder and get my fiber ready for dyeing and spinning. Let's have a dye party next week...I'll be ready!

Tired

I'm so tired right now but I noticed that I haven't posted for over a month. Where does the time go? Just because I'm working three jobs, reading 3 books and a magazine, knitting half a dozen projects AND trying to keep my house clean doesn't mean I don't have plenty of spare time - HA! and you thought you were busy? I guess we'll just turn our shirts inside out and wear them another day because I didn't get the laundry done...got to blog. Wear the darker ones they don't show the dirt.

I've ordered some Lanaset dyes that I can't wait to break into and start mixing up colors, but I'm reading Deb Menz's - Color in Spinning first and my latest issue of Spin Off before diving in head first. I've also been out in the yard picking up leaves, not raking, just collecting for my color inspirations. One of my first projects will be - you guessed it, autumn leaves.

Oh, and I've got my new drum carder ordered which should be here next week and I can hardly wait to get started with that. I've got boxes of fleece that will finally get carded up, dyed and spun, what a concept.

I'm going to sleep and dream about my fiber addiction and how much fun I'm going to have in the coming days, weeks, months, years...lifetime.

Sockpile

My sock pile is growing, so many socks and so little time!

I'm currently working on a pair of socks for my daughter. I told her that if she wants more, she'll need to learn to knit socks!

I have at least 3 other projects to finish at any given time. I don't want to have UFOs (Unfinished Objects) lying around my house.

Mordant and Dyeing Times

The natural dyes previously listed in the blog are all done with the following methods. All mordants were mixed in pot of water and brought to a simmer. The skeins of yarn were then added and allowed to simmer for one hour. Then the heat source was turned off and the yarn was allowed to soak overnight in the mordant solution.

The dyestuff was used at a 2:1 ratio, twice the amount of dye material to the wool weight (often referred to as WOG - weight of goods). This was brought to a simmer and allowed to continue simmering for 30 minutes. The dyestuff was strained off and the strained dyewater was poured back into the pot. The yarn was added and allowed to simmer for 30 minutes. After the yarn was removed it was spun to remove excess water then rinsed in clear water and spun again before hanging to dry. When I refer to spun, basically spin the hank of yarn around your wrist to sling out excess water.

The brazilwood and logwood were purchased from a supplier. All other materials were gathered locally, mostly from my property. The brazilwood chips were added to a pot of water and allowed to soak overnight before proceeding with the usual dyeing procedure. The logwood was an extract (purple) and was just mixed in a pot of water before using. No presoaking was necessary for the extract.

Brazilwood

Brazilwood bark extract was used.

Pre-mordants used were L-R: Alum, Tin, Copper, Iron

Dyed on Shetland white wool.

No assists were used.

First two samples show Alum pre-mordant with 15 minutes in dyebath and second was 30 minutes.

Goldenrod - leaves and stems

Goldenrod - leaves and stems were used.

Pre-mordants used L-R: Alum, Tin, Copper, None

Dyed on Shetland white wool.

No assists were used.

Goldenrod - flowers

Goldenrod flowers were used.

Pre-mordants used L-R: Alum, Tin, Copper, None

Dyed on Shetland white wool.

No assists were used.

Zinnia

Zinnia using the flowers.

Pre-mordants L-R: Alum, Tin, Copper, Iron

Dyed on Shetland white wool.

No assists were used.

Tansy

Tansy using the flowers.

Pre-mordants used L-R: Alum, Tin, Copper, None

Dyed on Shetland white wool.

No assists were used.

Staghorn Sumac

Staghorn Sumac using berries.

Pre-mordant L-R: Alum, Tin, Copper, Iron

Dyed on Rambouillet white wool

No assists were used.

St. John's Wort

St. John's Wort flowers were used.

Pre-mordant used L-R: Alum, Tin, Copper, Iron

Dyed on Shetland white wool

No assists were used.

Logwood

Logwood using bark extract - purple.

Pre-mordants used L-R: Alum, Tin, Copper, Iron

Dyed on Shetland white wool

No assists were used.

Two left samples were both Alum, one in dyebath 15 minutes and the right for 30 minutes.

Madder

Madder using roots.

Pre-mordants used L-R: Alum, Tin, Copper, Iron

Dyed on Shetland white wool

No assists were used.

Marigold

Marigold using flowers.

Pre-mordants L-R: Alum, Tin, Copper, Iron

Dyed on white rambouillet wool

No assists were used.

Mullein

Mullein dyed using the leaves and stems.

Pre-mordants used from L-R: Alum, Tin, Copper, Iron

Dyed on white rambouillet wool

No assists were used

County Fair

This is the Spirit of the Woods Garden Club exhibit at the Manistee County Fair 2007. We won a first place blue ribbon and a Best in Show!

Natural Dyeing Intro

Well it's my first attempt at blogging...never thought I'd start a blog. Lately I've been doing some natural dyeing with the wool from my sheep on my farm and I thought I'd post pictures of some of the results. I chaired the project for the county fair for the garden club, "Plants to Dye For" and we got a blue ribbon and Best in Show. I've discovered that a lot of others that are into natural dyeing want to see the color results, so a blog seemed like the way to go. I hope you like what I have to share. I'll be getting into some acid dyes soon and I'll post those adventures too.