I am solo this week. There is a FO and some spinning! Plus I introduce a new segment, Textiles in Time. A smidge of acquisitions and discoveries and a down the pike stories about bears.
Shield Maiden by Emily Estrada
Snowcapped Yarns at the Netloft
Reentry
Morgan joins me this week to assist in recapping MS&W. I have a feeling more will unfold in the coming weeks. There is A LOT of acquisitions and discoveries but we try to break it up bit with some fun facts on guard dogs and long wool breeds. We’ll see if you think they are “fun”. The show notes this week will become there own page on the blog as there are a number of links to transfer over in the mean time I figured it would be best to get this published! Hope this finds you well and in good spirits!
You can find me & (Morgan):
Ravelry: Swenstea (Sarah) & SheKnitsaround (Morgan)
Ravelry Group: Fiber Trek
Instagram: fibertrektv
E-mail: fibertrekATgmail.com
Raccoons, Raccoons & More Raccoons
On this edition there is a distracting dog guarding the house from…you guessed.. racoons! You get to hear my “firm” voice as I try to assuage her barking. Ai! I am preparing for Maryland Sheep and Wool as well as recovering from an epic weekend with Starcroft Fiber Mill & Mary Jane Mucklestone. Not a ton of knitting, but my hope is the 24 hour car ride will help to remedy that.
Show Notes:
Iron Age Alpacas? Really?
I don’t know what happened in this episode but somehow I get a little anxious about working with Alpaca fiber. What this is about I don’t know? Is it gauge anxiety? Is it some sort of commencing panic? Forgive me. I promise to know more and do better next time. There is mucho enabling with Snow Capped Yarns and the prizes for the Island Wool KAL have arrived!
Blue Peninsula: Bonnie Sennott, Goodnough
Rhoda Brioche Cowl: Knitted Wit
Gyllis: Stephen West
Instagram: Fibertrektv
Hogs, Gimmers & General Silly Business
This week my friend Morgan joins me just for fun. We share her projects and acquisitions as I have not made a lot of progress on ANYTHING.
We also talk about an KAL for the group inspired by my husband and discuss a few fun facts about sheep husbandry as the plan for Maryland Sheep & Wool unfolds.
Links:
Instagram: Fibertrektv
Grey Meets Grey
Yeeesh, compressing video…ack! Tyler promised to help me understand this better. I am working on an iTunes feed and learning all about technology. You probably can’t tell! I hope you enjoy this week. I have a bit of rant about large breed sheep but it was more about the shepherds than the sheep. Forgive me if you have large breeds…I mean no harm or foul.
Fiber Trek Instagram: Fibertrektv
fibertrek@gmail.com
Flanagan’s Table: Food and the Maine Farm Trust
Rhoda’s Brioche Cowl & Knitted Wit Yarns
Gyllis & Lambs Quarters Montadale Wool at One Lupine Fiber Arts
Snow Capped Yarns at the Netloft
The Farewell Season
I repurposed this little reflective essay on spring I wrote a few years ago as an ode to the season. It is not fiber related but I was feeling philosophical so I thought I would share. If you want a little cheer up after…well you can take a few moments with Diane Langley a Maine Rug Hooker…sometimes those adjectives are REALLY important, eh? Tyler put this Mini Trek together and it is highlights the materials and craft. Enjoy!
I found it this year, the farewell season. Fumbling toward spring I happened upon it. The moment…the moment where we turn our face from winter. Hunched and pinched, we turn, we straighten. We notice light, growth and in the past, I have run to spring. Spring with her open, crocus filled arms teaming with new life. Here, we drag ourselves across the winter finish line, ready to sink deep into rich, moist soil. But not this year, this year I stumbled… How greedy I had been to run from winter, to run away from all that she took in her cold, bitter days. My stretch for the finish line left little space for remorse; after all, I had made it. Mesmerized by spring, I did not see those that I passed by, those that perhaps would not make the finish, not in great strides, not limping or hobbling, those that this year, we would leave behind.
Enter a young moose I had known and even shared a rather intimate winter moment with which involved an outhouse at South Branch Campground in Baxter State Park. This moose had made South Branch his winter home, nibbling on available twigs, shoots and branches. He made convenient use of our human trails, snowmobile and snowshoe alike. And he tolerated the visitors sticking around for camera calls, and yes, even, allowing us to use the outhouse without too much harassment. I spent two days at South Branch this year having skied in from Mattagamon Gate in the north end of the park. Each day the moose and I would find time together, by chance, by providence who knows? I reveled in watching him and felt the possibility of his wild, unpredictable nature. Time spent with this moose was well spent, quiet, observant time, time to rest in sunshine and snow. Really, I wanted to Mother him he was so little, but he nibbled away, moseyed around and looked quite content. He was the true king of the campground castle. So we said our goodbyes and I envisioned his summer escapades with campers even laughing at the mischief he’d make.
I do not need to tell you the end of the story. The ending that surprised me and wounded me, stopped me dead in my spring tracks, when my husband came home from work one day with news of a little death. I am sure this moose was only one of many who made an exchange this winter, who traded up, traded in, left. Only one of many, who I forgot or ignored on my way to Spring…until I found myself stumbling over the tale of a little moose found dead in South Branch campground. My moment in the farewell season calls me to acknowledge all who we lost this past winter. And I wonder if it takes far greater strength to acknowledge then ignore. I shed a tear for that little moose and all the others, but I feel ready to resume my path to spring, only this time I think I will mosey and make sure to look around. Make sure to farewell those that came so close to spring.
The Farewell Season is not a pretty season. It is not an acknowledgement of all that is to come, but an awareness of what we leave behind. It is the subtle time when Hades sorrowfully loosens his grip on Persephone and she reaches for her mother, Demeter. This is where we farewell Hades’ toll: the weak, the ill, the old, the young, here we say goodbye with one hand and like Persephone turn to welcome with the other.
Diane Langley and Rug Hooking Mini Trek
Winter is the New Spring
I think I may have mastered the quality issues from last time. I know, I know there is always room for improvement. Really, the next big hurdle is to get this feed on iTunes which I think is going to take some investment.
A couple things to be mindful of….1. at some point in the podcast my Pyr starts barking at the wild turkeys, I never went back and posted a warning. So be mindful if you are using earbuds.
I will be posting a little spring reflection this upcoming week so “readers” there will be something to read soon! Also, Tyler just finished a rug hooking Mini Trek we will post that ASAP. As always, thanks a million for your support!
LINKS:
Ravelry Group: FiberTrek
Instagram: fibertrektv
Knit FM with Pam Allen & Hannah Fetig
Woolen Rabbit-Emma polworth/silk
Marin by Ysolda Teague & Such a Winter’s Day by Heidi Kirrmaier
Mikado Cowl by StichNerd Designs & Bare Naked Wools: Kent Worsted
Burnham Wood Capelet by Romi Hill & Stansborough Grey
Highland Handmades: Black Ash Worsted & Barley by Tin Can Knits
Snow Capped Yarns the Blog and the YouTube Link
Ack! The Face
There is one major announcement you are not going want to miss! Our buzzreel is complete and available!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XD_-dfKohwQ&feature=y…
We are working on a series of shorts but for now this is the essence of what we are doing, there is of course room for improvement, but it feels incredibly satisfying to have this out there, like there is a reason Tyler and I jumped off the cliff and whoa-ho look at that, the parachute opened! We’ve not landed yet!
I decided to take the blog to another level this time with the addition of a short video cast. And I know the quality of the picture is bleck, so here’s a tip don’t click the full screen button! I did not want technology to stifle the momentum however so onward and outward to you. I, with the help of my dear husband, am working on a variety of solutions…lets hope the marriage survives.
In this episode there is a little mix of Fiber Trek progress as well as knitting. I also talk about a few yarns and continually make a silly face, is it a twitch? I don’t know but its there and with any luck your computer won’t freeze at just the right moment to capture it as a still!
Yarn Links:
Blacker Yarns (I say in the podcast she is in Wales but in fact she is in Cornwall, England.)
Where you can find us:
Instagram: Fibertrektv
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/FiberTrek/151314518282844
Twitter: https://twitter.com/FiberTrek
Ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/groups/fiber-trek
Patterns:
Marin by Ysolda Teague
Such a Winter’s Day by Heidi Kirrmaier
Gathering Light
I can be a sap, so this little story may not be surprising to some, those who know me. Those who know me know that roadkill can make me cry. Pretty much the drop of a hat, especially if it concerns ANIMAL RESCUE, will make my eyes well with tears, my nose turn red, and instigate an overwhelming moment where I know I am being silly but really can’t help myself. But this story concerns none of those triggers…no roadkill, no dog in need of rescue, no family with a child with special needs overcoming great challenges, no I thought I was in the safe zone because this story, concerns a knitting podcast.
I know, I know! But here’s the thing…and it’s going to sound sappy…but touché right? I love knitting. I love yarn. I love talking about yarn, researching yarn and generally collecting yarn, same goes for fiber for spinning. You get the picture, I love the fiber arts, we’re flying the geek flag high here folks! Needless to say, I was an unsuspecting victim in this incident. I just wanted to get my ski done and listen to a podcast while doing it. And did I happen to tell you it’s cold, like 5 degrees cold on this day with pretty gnarly windchills? This is not a day to be crying outside. You see where this is going.
I dialed up the Yarniacs Podcast episode 55, an interview with Jeanne Carver of Imperial Stock Ranch. Now if you have read my post, Soulful Stash, you’ll remember that I have strong attachments to yarn and place. In fact, it is the major impotence for Fiber Trek. In this interview with Jeanne she expounds upon cultivating both her sheep and their products as well as the landscape of the ranch. She draws beautiful connections between the fiber and the land and in a way describes the sheep as a conduit through which we can harvest sunlight. Now, that is serious stuff. So serious that even as the wind blew the skin off my face, I started to cry.
As this interview unfolded, as I skied along the ridge overlooking the lake and the mountain, my landscape, I attempted to wipe away frozen tears with my mittens. I thought about those mittens, my home-reared, homespun, handknit mittens and just nodded my head in amazement and continued to cry like a right nana.
I didn’t see anyone out there that day which is just as well. There is something about frozen “verklempt” that is frantically scary. Suffice it to say, I was not crying about yarn, of course, in this story but you already knew that. You knew I was inspired. I was inspired by Jeanne’s commitment to landscape, her place knowledge, her allegiance to something greater like sunlight and salmon (you have to listen to get this reference). Her description throughout this interview of the process on the ranch progressed my craft beyond it’s existing boundaries and further strengthened my commitment to place-based yarns. I absolutely love the idea of harvesting sunlight. I like it so much that from now on instead of stashing yarn & fiber, I will be gathering sunlight instead. This is concept no one can argue with and really can there be too much sunlight? Should you be living in Maine right now, you’d think not. So get gathering, bring it on home, every last ray and beam. Stockpile it away for a rainy day, because they will come and you know what? You’ll be able to dash upstairs, into closets, bins and baskets and pull forth- sun.
Windschief knit with Imperial Yarn
I am sure this conversation will be continued but for now, I am knitting with a little Maine sun in the form of lovely Romney from Log Cabin Lamb & Wool. It will soon be transformed in to Such A Winter’s Day by Heidi Kirrmaier. I plan to be very warm and happy in a sweater of sunlight.
Root of the Tree 