Christmas Cheer

Such a nice Christmas... As is our tradition, Christmas Day is a pajama day. No one gets dressed; we open presents, eat a decadent breakfast (Creamed eggs), watch a movie or two... nibble all day while we play with our gifts, and then have a simple, easy and sinful dinner. This year it was roast leg-o-lamb, brussells sprouts, and twice baked potatos... Later on we had chocolate chip cake for dessert. We also finally got around to a MARVELOUS bordeaux I was gifted last Christmas...


Believe it or not, I didn't get a single fiber related gift. I am on something of a self-imposed fiber/fiber tools restriction. I have enough stash to keep me happy for a while. My only desire is a drum carder, but that is something I am going to have to find for myself as I want a used one rather than new. I am also hoping to work out a way to finish a some WIP inventory. I would really like the Bee Fields shawl and the Tangled Yoke Cardigans off my plate. My point is I requested that I not get anything for Christmas that would encourage me to start a new project.

I gave very few handknits for Christmas this year. As I have been swamped with commissions, all I gave were a couple Live Dangerously; Don't Swatch hats and a single pair of Fetching fingerless mitts. But I did make a few ornaments this year. I am hoping to make a total of six of these by New Years...

Six-Pointed Star

Pattern: Six Pointed Star Christmas Ornament by Barbara Breiter
Yarn: Jawoll Sock Yarn #163 Red
Needles: KnitPicks Options size 2
Changes: The 1/2 inch shell button was an afterthought that dresses them up a bit.

Eli hopes that Santa brought everyone their hearts desire
and wishes one and all a happy and healthy new year!

Bad Blogger.... Bad, Bad Blogger....

Just a quick post to say... Sorry, I really haven't forgotten about you.... LOL

Actually, the VAST majority of my fiberly pursuits have been commissions that I don't have much in the way of postable projects. Good for me--bad for the blog... As a matter of policy here at Dog Run Designs, I don't post about commission work as you never know who's reading the blog and I can't necessarily be honest about projects in that context anyhow. As we are nearing the end of the holiday rush, I will be back with a ton of new content soon. Hats, mitts, spinning, maybe even a sweater still on the needles.

Thanks for your continued patience.
KAC

Sad News

One of my Camp Friends, Trisha lost her amazing black lab Seamus this week. It was unexpected and heartbreaking. He was our favorite Calamity Dog. Seamus had a long and happy life, even thru his battle with Addisons disease his tail wagged almost every minute. I don't have words to express how much this big guy will be missed.

Seamus
1995 - 2007

During Camp this year we figured out that almost all of the dogs who came to camp that first year or so have already gone over the rainbow bridge... Dragon, Elly, Sepp, Lucy, Pongo, and now Seamus. We have also lost dear Legend this year tho he wasn't part of the original crew. Part of living with dogs is knowing you will lose them one day. It is all part of the package. Knowing that doesn't make the loss any easier.

Home

I'm back. Actually, I have been back for almost a week but have been able to procrastinate writing a blog entry since then. Dog Camp is difficult to explain to non-Dog People. My definition of Dog People (capital D, capital P) is that group of individuals whose dogs are at or near the center of their lives. They generally make up the core of those participating in any of the dog sports (conformation, obedience, agility, tracking, herding, carting, hunting...) but competing with your dog does not necessarily make you a Dog Person. You can have a dog without being a Dog Person. Who else would be willing to devote a full week of vacation to spending time with their dogs?

Kerri always says that you go to Camp the first time because is sounds like a good time for you and your dog. You go back the second year because you couldn't possibly do all the things you wanted to that first year. After that you go back year after year because of the friends you have made and the comfort of being surrounded by a group of folks who "get it" -- who understand the relationship you have with your dogs. At Camp even the folks you don't like understand the obsession.

My Camp friendships have evolved into some of the closest I have. They are the folks I can call on day or night. We rejoice in each others triumphs and cry over each others losses be they they dog-related or not. Spending a whole week together every year without the distraction of the "real world" is a gift. We get to have a few beers and more than a few laughs with our dogs in tow. Who could ask for more from a vacation??

This was our 8th Camp and it was one of the most relaxing ever. Our most exciting happening was that Eli managed to pass his CGC/TDI test so with the pending completion of some paperwork is a certified therapy dog. I am so proud of him. Kerri was his handler for the test and did an outstanding job. I watched nervously from a pine grove on the top of the hill so Eli wouldn't see/hear me. Eli even started in "teacup" agility. He is still too young for any real jumping so the equipment in the small dog agility class is set low enough that even if he were to jump off the equipment he wouldn't inadvertently hurt himself. Learning the equipment was something of a challenge for him as his chest is wider than the teeter or the dog walk. A certain puppy will need to figure out where his back feet are if he is to continue.

Jasper had a crappy week in agility. All he wanted to do is sniff the field. It was like he had never seen grass before. I have to admit that he did have a few really nice runs, but over all it was disappointing. The weather was awesome! We had one rainy morning and one really HOT day, but all manageable without changing the schedule.

I will post more about my demo and knitting/spinning progress later. I think this post is long enough... thank you very much.

Fluff Finale

Voila! I have finished and photographed all of the samples I am going to be using for my demo. It has been such a fun learning experience.

Top Row : Poodle Puppy/Silk, Sheltie/Taupe Corriedale
Bottom Row: Bearded Collie mix/Grey Corriedale, Pomeranian/Natural Black Rambouillet

Poodle Puppy/Alpaca

These samples have certainly improved the quality of my spinning. I learned how not to let the fiber or habit dictate how my finished yarns will look. I naturally spin moderately low twist yarns; I like soft cushiness in my finished work. So if I leave my hands to work on automatic pilot, that's what I will get. Unfortunately, dog fluff needs more twist even when blended with a medium wool or it will be nearly as fuzzy as fun fur. Over the course of this project, I had to learn how to adjust my spinning to get the effect I was aiming for. There were some "failures"; it took me a few tries to get the Husky/alpaca to spin. And in the end, I was only mostly successful with it, but the fault may lie more with the short cria alpaca than the Husky. Which is why it ended up as the FELTED tote. LOL

The Pomeranian/Rambouillet was probably the most successful of the squares, although the Sheltie blend was fun to work with too. I am glad I have the whole Rambo fleece as I think it may now end up blended with newf and knit into a jacket for next fall. My queue is way too full for squeezing that in now.

I am officially signing off for the week and I will have TONS to post when I get back from Camp.

Have a safe and splendiferous Labor Day Weekend!

More Dog Fluff Stuff

Okay, I spent TOO much of today getting the dogs groomed and ready for Camp, so I didn't get the sample squares photographed. I know I promised, but I can only do so much. To pacify you all, here is my second favorite sample piece.

Filigree Scarf

Pattern: Fabulous Filigree Scarf in One Skein Wonders edited by Judith Durant
Yarn: Handspun Rough Collie/Cream Romney Blend
Needles: KnitPicks Options size 6

You can see the amount of color change in the Collie fiber... I didn't honestly notice it so much until it was knitted up. The color is a little more subtle in person, but my digital camera either shot it plain cream or this, so there you go. It is just a nice scarf, it looks like it might be a shawlish size in the photo and the book, but it is more like collar size. It will look nice crossed under my coat this winter.

Dog Fluff Stuff

We leave for Camp on Saturday, so I am down to the wire on the Dog Fluff Stuff. The maiden voyage of my spinning dog fluff demo is scheduled for Tuesday -- wish me luck!. I have more demos lined up for later this fall so all the work putting together the handouts and samples will be put to good use.

The final push to finish knitting has been rather consuming of late. I will have some more to show you tomorrow, but here is is bulk of the finished samples... I know I shouldn't have favorites but this container really knocks my socks off...

Felted Container

Pattern: Adapted from Felted Gift Bag in One Skein Wonders
Yarn: Handspun Anatolian Shepherd/White Corriedale and Bearded Collie/Grey Corriedale
Needles: KnitPicks Options size 9

Fingerless Mitts

Pattern: Dashing from Knitty
Yarn: Handspun Golden Retreiver / Merino blend
Needles: KnitPicks Options size 7

Felted Tote

Pattern:Adapted from Fulled Lopi Tote by Hello Yarn
Yarn: Handspun Siberian Husky/Varigated Gray Alpaca
Needles: KnitPicks Options size 10.5

I have a couple more things to photograph and a Pomeranian/Rambo blend to knit up still.

Summer Slacker

I admit it. It's summertime and the living is easy. It's not that I haven't been working on all sorts of fibery goodness, I just haven't wanted to be sitting in my office typing about it... LOL Between the heat, the garden, the dogs and the social nature of summers in Maine, I just haven't been disciplined enough. I am trying to change that, but I wouldn't count my chickens if I were you.

When I am feeling trapped indoors in the A/C blasting, I like to spin. There has been lots of spinning completed lately. Here is some beautiful yarn from what I can only say was the UGLIEST roving man has ever created... Burnt orange, day-glo orange, navy blue and taupe, it was another ebay purchase -- deceptively photographed and given the classy name - SeaShells... I don't know about where you live, but here in Maine... seashells are never day-glo orange. Spinning it was a lark -- I was curious just how ugly the yarn would be. As you can see, it isn't ugly at all, quite the opposite in fact. It reminds me of Fall between Halloween and Thanksgiving. Seashells are nowhere to be found but Autumnal Splendor might have kept me from believing it was ugly for all these months. I am still shocked at where the burgundy came from, it just magically appeared while I was spinning.





It's a 2-ply DK weight, medium wool spun using a modified long draw from a now unknown ebay seller.

My second yarn to show you is a different story. This is the mohair/wool blend roving from Friends Folly Farm I got at the Fiber Frolic. I loved the roving. It was one of those rovings I would pull out of the stash and fondle for no reason. I still loved it after I spun it up and plied it, but then it went into it's bubble bath to set the twist and the water quickly turned a dark blood red and then over the next few minutes the water turned a rusty brown. I am going to guess I lost about 30% of the color saturation. It is still very pretty, if a little pale. My disappointment is probably coloring my opinion a bit overmuch (ooh look a pun!) Take a look...





It's a 2-ply sport weight, 50/50 mohair and wool spun using a modified long draw from Friends Folly Farm.

Muddy Paws Whistling Dixie

I just realized that I forgot to tell you all about Miss Dixie. Dixie is also our resident counter surfer, intruder alert (be it boogieman or UPS driver), and cuddlebug. Senior girl now at the ripe old age of eight and a benevolent if heavy handed dictator.

It has been a hard year for her. Dix never really showed her age, but since Lucy (our first newf) died last Halloween, it seems her age has caught up with her. From the time Dixie came home with us at 16 weeks old, she and Lucy were inseparable -- for the next 7 years they weren't apart for more than 12 hours... EVER. It wasn't a plan, it was just always easier for the newfs to be together. She has bounced back for the most part. Dixie plays with the boys and gets into her share of trouble, but not with the same carefree attitude she used to have. She takes the world much more seriously now that she it our pack leader.

Mystery Stole 3... Me too! Me too...

This is another in a long line of accidental projects. I have been looking for a stole/shawl pattern to use for a knitting project to donate to the auction at the Newfoundland Club of America National Specialty which our local club will be hosting in March of 2008 using my own handspun of a Newf/Merino blend. As I was poking around the web looking for a pattern that fit, I stumbled on the Mystery Stole 3 KAL. When I read that the yarn recommendation is a black or white, I was hooked... I get to participate in the KAL and produce a stole that will be appropriate for the auction. What more could I ask for. So what if I hadn't spun any of the yarn yet? So what if I have never knit with beads before? It will be a learning experience. LOL...

Here is my stole completed thru clue #2. I am a little behind, but I think I will be able to catch up this week.

Here is some detail of the metallic multicolor 8/0 beads from Caravan Beads.

If you haven't seen Melanie's work before... Check out her blog: http://pinklemontwist.blogspot.com/ I am sorry to report that if you are not one of the 6700+ people already participating in MS3, you are gonna have to wait until next year as the group has been closed. The patterns for previous mystery stoles are available from Melanie and the MS3 stole will be available sometime at the end of Aug. or beginning of Sept.

Time to start Clue #3...

All Branched Out

Pattern: Branching Out
Author: Susan Pierce Lawrence
Source: Knitty
Materials: Alpaca/Samoyed Handspun 2-Ply Light Sport Weight
Needles: Clover Bamboo Circulars - Size 5

Another Finished Object to add to my collection! As this is as a demo project for my "Spinning Dog Fluff" seminar, I am not sure what will become of it. Kerri has her greedy eyes on it, so in the event I don't give it away before next winter that's probably where it will end up! Here's some press for my Clematis and a look at the fuzzy halo...

M

Happy Birthday Eli!

Yesterday was Eli's first birthday. We spent the day celebrating and making plaster paw prints. Eli gobbled up his first DQ softserve and doesn't understand why his birthday can't be everyday. Jasper and Dixie want to know when their birthdays are so they can have ice cream more often.

I promised I would tell the story behind Eli's name so here it is.... Ellen Toll Katz was one of my dearest friends and Newfie mentor. Last spring she was diagnosed with a brain tumor and she passed away from complications arising from surgery to remove it on the day before Eli's litter was born. We weren't looking for a puppy. We already had two newfs and Jasper. My life was complicated enough... thank you very much... But, Kerri and I had a running gag with Ellen that when the time came for us to get a newfie boy to show, we would have Ellen do all the work finding him, picking him out and would just tell us when to pick him up. As it would happen, Cathy Derench, Ellen's best friend and cohort in Newf Rescue, not to mention probably the breeder I respect most in this world, had a litter of 9 puppies (7 males, 2 females) due the day Ellen died and were born the day between her death and her funeral. Ellen's daughter, Tracy mentioned she thought we should have one of these puppies. Her mom would have wanted it that way. How could we resist using that logic.... As for the name.... obviously Eli loosely correlates to Ellen and his AKC registered name is MtnView's Life Goes On.

So this is a bittersweet milestone for me.

I know in my heart that Ellen sent Eli our way somehow knowing that he would be a comfort when we lost Lucy so suddenly. We were lucky that he came to us in time to learn some important lessons from Lucy before she died -- even now there are some quirky things he still does that he learned from her. Eli's arrival in here in Maine will always be tied to those losses, but that certainly doesn't diminish the joy he brings every day.

I know the other eight puppies in his litter are all wonderful, but I know for sure that we got the best one.

Happy Birthday my smart, handsome boy!

Thank you Ellen.

Tahoe Cardigan!

It's DONE! Okay, it's not blocked yet but that doesn't count... Does it? It started out as the Tahoe Cardigan from Knitty, but I tailored almost everything to suit me. I made the sleeves narrower from the elbow to the wrist;I knit the hems in the same yarn as the body rather than a contrasting color; I shortened the overall length and I gave it a little bit of additional shaping in the chest to better accommodate my more ...ahem... generous curves. In the end it is a basic beige everyday sweater. The pics are crappy but there you go.

Details:

Pattern: Tahoe Cardigan from Knitty
Yarn: KnitPicks Merino Style in Nutmeg (color 23460)
Buttons: Keith O'Connor Pottery Beads at Maine Fiber Frolic

I really love the picot edge on the sleeves and the green raku buttons. They are just enough detail to keep the sweater from being overly boring.

Jasper doesn't understand why I was disturbing his nap with all this photography....

Branching Out

I finally have actual knitting to show you... I finally finished the Alpaca/Samoyed which turned out to be a really nice heavy fingering weight; I forget the actual WPI. Believe it or not I ended up with about 490 yards of the stuff. I have decided to knit it into Branching Out from Knitty, which is a fairly straightforward lace scarf that doesn't require too many brain cells all at once. It doesn't look like much now but as is the way of lace, it will block up into something swell... I think.

I thought the second one was a bit better at showing off the halo. The Samoyed is more like angora than any of the chiengora I produced before. Blended with the Alpaca, it feels like I am knitting a cloud. I can't tell you how much I love this stuff.

Maine Fiber Frolic

Be Warned... This is a picture heavy wool porn post!!

I have just returned from my second annual sojourn to the Maine Fiber Frolic put on by the Maine Llama Breeders Assn. It isn't a behemoth like Maryland or Rheinbeck, but it is a really nice local event. I would guess that more than 50% of the vendors are from Maine and the balance are from the rest of New England.

No one can say I didn't do my share to support the Maine sheep farmers! I bought a coated Romney fleece from Raffaella Reimer at North Tempest Farm (no web page). I wasn't supposed to be buying anymore raw fleece but it was absolutely irresistible. See...



Could you resist such a fleece? If so, you are a better person than I.

Was that all I bought... well... no... I also acquired 8 oz. of hand-dyed Wool/Mohair blend from Stanmere Farm (no web page) in Fayette, ME.

AND... 8 oz. of blue/green wool from Friends Folly Farm...

AND... 12 oz. of cotton candy Romney wool that I can't figure out where I bought it, but it is the most ethereal clouds of pink. Someone needs to have a baby girl... I'm not naming names, but you know who you are...

AND a whole pound of rose/peach/ecru wool from End of the World Farm (no web page) also in Fayette, ME to spin/knit a sweater for one of the nieces. This is actually a Kerri project.

AND buttons for the Tahoe Cardigan which you will see when I finish the darn thing. I think that's everything.

Other than the buttons and the rose wool from End of the World, I have no idea what I am going to be doing with any of it. I bought it because it brought me a little joy, not because I had any agenda. I went in search of sock yarn, but for some reason I couldn't commit to any.

As I fell in love with this llama and as the event is put on by Maine Llama Breeders Assn. I thought I should show him to you.

I am a sucker for a speckled llama. Isn't he gorgeous? I know less about llamas than I do astrophysics, but I was quite taken by his handsome face and quiet charm.

That's my report from Fiber Frolic. I am already looking forward to next year.

Red, White & Newf Hat

It is a cold and rainy day here in Maine, so it somehow doesn't seem that odd to be presenting a wool/newf fuzz had in June. LOL I really like this hat and it is still hard for me to believe that red, I mean Santa Clause in your face red, natural white, and black newf fuzz could come together with so much subtlety. It is always great when something you make comes together so nicely.

I couldn't conn anyone into modeling it for me, so you get the cereal bowl/tennis ball can shot. I need less camera shy friends.

One more project off my list... WooHoo...

UFO Review

As I am still without a working wheel and without any FO to show... I thought I'd review my current UFO

1) Tahoe Cardigan -- The pieces are all knitted, I just have to seam, buttonband and block. The sleeves took forever as I reworked them to be more tapered as I don't like bell-ish sleeves. Luckily, I only had to reknit it once. I also chose not to do a contrasting trim... You will see soon.

2) Live Dangerously, Don't Swatch Hat -- I love this pattern. I am using the red, white & newf yarn to make a simple textured hat. I should have something to show soon as I just have the i-cord edging to do.

3) Eunny's Print-O'-the-Wave Stole -- I have to admit that I got scared by the lace and gently backed away from this one... Summer is such a perfect time for lace that I will surely get back to it soon. Really. I think this one is less than 10% complete.

4) Kimono Shawl from Folk Shawls by Cheryl Oberle -- I am 66% finished with this one... There's no excuse. I thought I was going to run out of yarn so I put it aside until I acquired the additional skeins, but by the time I did my enthusiasm had moved on to other things. %sigh% You can see a photo of DynamiteKnits version here.

I also own the yarn for about 6 pairs of socks not yet started, but promised to folks already. I also have a long overdue vest I promised someone more than a year ago. This is in addition to all the spinning I have committed to and getting ready to teach Spinning Dog Fuzz, which involves spinning and knitting samples of 10+ breeds blended with wool, alpaca or silk.

There are not enough hours in the day.

%sigh%

Did I mention that the Maine Fiber Frolic is next weekend... I will inevitably pick up three or four new projects. I am hoping not, but I can already hear the siren song of the fleece tent.

Broken Leg

Rosemary has a broken leg. My spinning wheel, a Kromski Minstrel, is named Rosemary after Rosemary Clooney. (Think the "Minstrel Number" from White Christmas...) Anyway, the aforementioned big puppy sent my wheel @$$ over tea kettle and she broke one of her footmen. %sigh%. The good folks at Halcyon Yarn have assured me that I would have my part in less than a week, but I am still sad as can be as production on the Samoyed/Alpaca yarn has halted.

But in other news, I borrowed Kerri's Louet and spun a blend of 50% Newfoundland/25% Red Wool/25% White Wool... It is a wild mix. I was poking around in the stash looking for something interesting to blend with the newf fuzz and came up with some 1 oz balls of wool that came with one of my spindles. I just weighed it out and carded it together. Little thought was given to how blended it was; I just threw it on the handcards in roughly even proportions of wool to newf fuzz. The result is a DK weight 2/ply for a total of about 200 yards... See...

I've just got to come up with a project for it. I am thinking that a simple roll brim hat might be just the ticket to show off the heathery goodness...

Fuzzy Magic

I have been asked to give a demonstration of Spinning Dog Fur at Camp this year and I have managed to collect undercoat fluff from 5 or 6 breeds other than Newfs to use as samples. Thank you again to the Spin-List/Spin-Sales folks who volunteered the samples. I have been having a ball working my way thru them.

Dog fur is a lot like angora... lots of halo, very fluffy and so fine that it is a little fragile. Alone it needs to be spun so fine and tight that you end up taking alot of the silkiness and softness away. I have found that if it is blended with something else, it makes a much superior yarn. I typically blend it on my hand cards at a ratio of about 50/50. Most often I like a soft, crimpy lamb's wool, but alpaca and silk make a good pairing as well. This is Sheltie mixed with some fawn Corriedale lamb fleece I had in my stash. I think it turned out pretty well... if I do say so myself. It's a 2-ply DK weight.



The next breed I have chosen to work with is Samoyed which I blended with some white alpaca roving... It is like spinning clouds. It is so fine and fluffy that it ended up in my nose and mouth and EVERYWHERE in the family room.



Here it is on the wheel... I was aiming for something that would end up as a sport weight 2 ply, but it's probably going to end up more like fingering weight unless I make it a 3 ply. One of these days I will be more in command of how thick I spin. In any case, I think it will make a really nice lacy scarf...



I am hoping to get it plied and ready to knit this weekend. I'll post more when I do.

One Big Puppy

My next introduction is to the puppy... This is Eli; his AKC registered name is Mtnviews Life Goes On. There is a story in his name, but that's for another day. He is 10 months old, 130 lbs, and full of himself. He had his first big boy dog show this weekend. It sort of scares me when Newfoundland people look at him and tell me he is going to be a big boy. His father is 175lbs. But I don't think he's going to be that big. We shall see.



The best I can say about his entry into his show career is that no one got hurt. He moved very well, but he won't have any part of my moving his feet. We are going to have to teach him to free stack, but that will take some time.

As you might have guessed, I can't knit for a newfoundland so there isn't any knitting content today.