IT'S A WOOL THING

While in Auburn AL a couple of weeks ago - I went to a favorite quirky cafe.  This place takes up about 3 acres - it is a nursery, garden accessory and now fresh market with a cafe.  I think it is called the Crepe Myrtle Cafe.  Anyway - how fun to see all these beautiful fall flowers and pumpkins.  So festive!

Sure would have loved to take some of this stuff back home with me but I did bring back some great stuff this time.  Do you know about Wickles - they are based out of Alabama and they make the best condiments and pickles.  We can get some basic stuff here in NE FL like their Hellish relish - awesome!  your tuna salad will never be the same.  Anyway - they have a whole case of Wickles products at this market and I love their pickled okra as well.

The other awesome thing I did was visit this great new yarn shop in Auburns sister city of Opelika.

The Yarnhouse Studio is AWESOME!  It looks tiny from the outside but once inside - WOW - did I say WOW - the shop is gorgeous. 

Owner Cary said it was a jewelry store and they had beautiful built in shelves made of lovely wood. 

 

There was a knit night going on so I was able to visit after I got off work.  I was so pleasantly surprised at how welcoming Cary and her Mom were. 

Not only do they have gorgeous yarns but they also have some yummy fabrics.  You might say this was a one stop shop for anything creative you might have in mind.

they also teach weaving and spinning -  

Found some beautiful Malabrigo Rios there.  I had one skein on hand from Savannah but it did not match too well so I will definitely have to blend the two skeins.

The gorgeous Madeline Tosh Vintage which I had never tried before in Cove - A really dreamy colorway - the new Knitscene Winter issue has a shawl done in Vintage so i am NOT-SO-PATIENTLY waiting on that to arrive at the LYS - I was going to make something else with it so I already know the yarn is beyond wonderland to knit with.

Another absolutely gorgeous yarn I found at Yarnhouse was Fiberphile MCN - OMG - Too bad there was only one skein  in this colorway - which is Fortress and it is a fingering weight - will make a nice shawlette - do  you see a Trend here with yarn buying.  Yep Fall is here and I am in the wool fever.

This beautiful beginning is a baby afghan I am making for a friend who is having her first grandbaby in the spring.  This is Spud & Chloe Sweater in Ice Cream.  I had a lot of trouble choosing a pattern - I wanted something that would move along that I could finish in a few months but I also wanted something delicate and elegant.  I settled on Heirloom a pattern by Madeline Tosh.

Well - Happy Friday - I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and if you are like me - Loving and living the wool life - ENJOY!

CLOUD HOPPING AND A FALL FINISH !

Oh my goodness - time just flies on by - I can't believe it's been so long since I have made a blog post.

It is officially fall here - not according to the temperature - it was 85 just now when I made a Starbucks run.  EGADS - had to run the A/C on full blast and I got an iced pumpkin spice latte instead of a seasonal hot one.

I wanted to introduce you to Petunia the Pig -   She looks kinda like a pony - I tried getting a side shot but looked like a baby donkey so this is it.  This is by the same folk artisan that did my Harriet the hare and the bunny baby on the giant carrot.  The Jack is distressed wool and I love his face.  Actually this was a birthday gift from my mom and it has been put away until it was time to come out and play.

I have been busy with work and when I'm real busy with work that usually means lots of travel. Have been taking more trips on the company plane lately.   Here is a shot of the beautiful clouds on a recent trip home on the plane - it looks so surreal when you are up in the air.

 

and the finish - WHOOOOOOO - I finally finished - well finished the stitching part on the BBD Partridge from the Loose Feathers Part 1 booklet  - I can't wait to show you what I have planned for this piece.  I just need to get to the finishing part - yep - don't faint - I am going to do that myself and hopefully next post I will have the real finish to show you.  I used the called for Vintage Pear by LL and the called for Belle Soie silks - 2 strands made the coloring very vivid.  This was my first time using Dinky Dye silks and I must say I was very impressed.

For a long time I was stumped on what to do with those wheat sheaves/sheaths or whatever they are and I apologize to anyone who knows way more than I do about farms and so forth.  I put this close up so you could see how they were drawn on the far right and how the stitched ones looked on the far left.  I think this stitch is working out well.  The orangey ones are a mix of Vineyard silk and Planet Earth stranded silk and the golden ones are 2 colors of Planet Earth - I actually love that fiber too - my first time using it as well.  I'm not a big fan of the vineyard - it gets easily distressed and to me looks just like perle cotton.  I asked a fellow ega member about it and she said maybe I was using too long a strand - well not in my opinion and then she said I should pay careful attention to make sure I was stitching with the correct grain - EGADS - if I have to be so particular about all that - I would just avoid using it.  I'm not knocking their product - just sharing my observations - I don't want negative comments because I am ditzing someone's favorite silk.  We all have our preferred products to stitch with and I'm just sharing my opinions.

Here is the full shot - not much left to go now - I wish I had picked it up earlier this summer so it would be done for the fall season but alas I am always a day late and a dollar short.  I'll enjoy stitching it in the season and when it is done - it is done !  I am not sure what to do with the sky - I definitely want black but I might experiment with Gloriana Florimell in Antique Black - I adore this fiber - but then I adore Soie D'Alger the base for this thread.  I don't know what fiber to use for the stars - I do want them sparkly so I am thinking Krenik probably but I'll try several things until I find the perfect solution.

I never could understand what those black things below the fence were meant to be - rocks?  Buckets - oh well whatever they were - they are going to be dirt in my field and I will put in those grassy shoots last on top of all the stitching.  I have really enjoyed this piece.  Just a reminder it is Autumn House by Melissa Shirley Designs and I just went wild with stashed fibers using many different things.  I did buy a few new things but at least half or more of it was from my vast stash of threads.

Haven't shown my Spanish sampler in a long time.  This is only 1/2 of the sampler - the right side is stitched.  Sad to say this piece has not gotten much attention this summer - it is is fondly referred to by Jody as the "lap robe" (inside joke) and therefore if you get the hint - this is a 1/2 yard piece of linen and during the dreadfully hot summer months - it was just too hot to work on especially under my bright Daylight lamp.  I need to make a point of working on it at least one night a week so that some forward progress is being made.

This is a SAL with the Attic and I saw the first finished Spanish in Jean's recent newsletter.  I think the SAL leader has changed a few of the colors in the bands more to her liking - not sure I will make changes - I typically like to be in the ball park of what the original sampler looked like.

So - that concludes a brief tour of what's been going on around my house.  I have not been hooking much but hooking always ramps up in the fall and winter.  Hopefully I will have enough progress on my scarecrow to show a new photo next time.

Hope you are all enjoying lots of stitching, knitting, hooking, pumpkin pickin' apple eatin' and fall festivals in your neck of the woods.  Thanks for stopping by my blog and please leave a comment - I love to hear from ya'll !