Fiber Pursuits

This weekend I had a great time on a Tactile Travel tour to Shelburne, MA to visit Barbara Parry's farm. The trip was arranged as part of our Slater Mill Knitting Guild activities for this year. Not only did we play with the sheep, but we also saw Barbara's studio where we could buy some fiber , yarn or spindles. Some of us spun with our new Kundert spindles while others took part in a spindle spinning class. Still others knitted in her barn to the tune of her sheep songs.


I slipped over to her beautiful garden for a few shots.

Barbara captured the visit at her blog.After a mostly rain free visit,we headed for the Northampton Brewery then Webs. What a way to end the day!

Provisional Cast Ons
If you're like me I'm always on the hunt for a provisional cast on method that's easy. I've tried many, but I've settled in on a crocheted method. What's so wonderful about it is that it always works properly. No trying to figure out which crochet chain side from which to pick up the stitches to begin a project. Also unzipping is a breeze! It basically allows you to crochet stitches onto the needle you will use for your project.

The best directions are always visual. Check out this Knitting Daily's video featuring Eunny Jang
where she shows several methods. What method do you favor?

Summer Horseshow and Local Fair

DD participated in a dressage show this summer and was rewarded for her hard work with Wyatt:

I love his ribbon. DD placed 4th out of 13.

I've been working on several projects as of late that have kept me away from posting. I finished a lovely little shrug for a 2 year old. I've finished another baby gift project. I'm still wanting to get back to some of my other projects, but they are warm on the lap while knitting so perhaps they'll be left for the cooler weather.

Now that I have a bit more time I'm working on tweaking a another bag pattern design that uses my own hand spun. Pattern writing is all consuming. The devil is in the details as they say. I'm also thinking about an idea for a shawl for the autumn. I'll be trolling through some stitch treasuries to get some fresh ideas.

A few weeks ago I attended one of our local fairs and submitted some hand spun.