post 7: yoke colors

Old yokes! Vintage yokes! I dug out two sweaters I knit for Dave and me when we were twenty-something. A while ago. They have seen a lot of wear and serious staining.  Mine was partially felted in the 90's--it seemed like a good idea at the time. Lopi patterns although I knit in mostly Brown Sheep Lambs Pride. That was the wool most available near where we lived at the time, in rural eastern Connecticut. (No internet ordering !? Seems weird now.)
The bodies are stained and ill-fitting --but I kind of want to save the yokes. Any suggestions? 

Well, that's easier on the eyes for tender knitters, right? Choosing new yokes! I spent the weekend with dear and talented maker friends.  Jani Estell, the  dyer and yarn maker and owner of Starcroft Yarns brought her whole palette so we could choose colors for a pattern we are all testing for Kirsten Kapur , who was also there. It's the sweater she's wearing in that link, and we all have a personal connection to it--but that is her story to tell. . The center natural is a ball of the fabulous Doc Masons Wool by Ellen Mason, who was our dreamy hostess. Plus had the patience and chops to coach us through sewing one of her wonderful designs. This table has a Lazy Susan top, so it was a game of roulette color picking.

 

I highly recommend this method if you are amongst the indecisive.

Not like there are any bad combinations.......

november post 2: postcard to autumn

Dear Autumn, 
I appreciate your breezes, and the red leaves on Maple trees.  But we both know I am saddened by your arrival. You bring increasing  darkness, cold mornings and way too much pumpkin flavor in everything.
However, I am writing to thank you for this beautiful inner seed globe of a flower while in Maine in early September. I've decided to embrace the season-and the coming winter- in the spirit of hygge
Yours,
GZ

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 

The yarn is Starcroft Nash Light in Mussel Shell. I love love love it and have almost a sweater's worth. When I get the contrast yarn,something natural/grayish,like Driftwood, I will knit a colorwork yoke sweater in it. My hygge will be enhanced.

felt balls and then i'm on my way

So I'm getting ready for a trip--for fun- not for work. Overseas! On Thursday.

Sunset colorway.

I love planning trip knitting, I was going to post all about projects  I'm considering taking, the pros and cons,  what yarn la-la-la-la-laaa. but guess what? No time to put it all together visually.  So. You get balls. Felt balls! Aren't they wonderful? My beloved neighborhood friends asked me to teach them how to make felt balls. We're like that. We've done all kinds of things to entertain ourselves over the years.  We've already invested in some felting needles to poke dots and stripes in, the next time we get together.

Trying to force myself to make less organic compositions. Not my jam!

The luscious felting wool is Nash Island Starcroft from Maine. Aren't the colors beautiful? Everyone ordered different sets and they are all to die for.

Next time you hear from me  I'll be somewhere else, and I suspect I'll have plenty to show and tell and maybe even some time to do so.

Fo friday: the audrey cardigan

OK, not quite Friday?  Ironically, my blog turned 10 years old right around when I clammed up in February. I was working on an epic, thoughtful, all encompassing post...but, um, yeah. To sum up--- yay, blogging! Meanwhile, I've been up to many things.  Including knitting.

 

Here's my Audrey cardigan, debuting during lunch with Beverly Army Williams a few weeks ago. We met to plan course proposals for Fiber College *,in Searsport Maine, we'll be co-teaching again come September 9-13th. Class registration launches April 1st.

In answer to questions surely crossing your mind....

    - yes, it was really cold, all the layers you see were not nearly enough, and that's inside  the restaurant. Let's just say it has been an excellent winter and spring for wool lovers around here.

    -  Beverly is wearing her Wingfeathers shawl, in JillMakesStuff Rifton. Rather fab, isn't it?

 

 I adore my sweater, loving it right from the cast on with Starcroft Nash Light yarn ,  a perfect wooly, soft, bouncy yarn. 

Plus the realization that  I know exactly where the wool grew. Nash Island sheep! I accumulated the skeins a few at a time over the last couple of years- you can see me clutching some halfway down in my blogpost here from the first time I helped with roundup and shearing day on the island.

I made it a little more over sized than it needs to be, but no matter, it's a favorite and brightened my winter wardrobe-. Psychologically, too.

The color blocking was changed from the pattern as written, to suit myself- both my shape and my quantities of various colors. This is what I love about making my own clothes. Changing it up as I wish, or spontaneously. I know there's also the camp that wants to make a sweater to exactly match the sample..but I am almost never happy there.

As you can see, I AM happy here. The pattern is a yarn gobbler...if you think about it, the front is double layered. It's knit top down, in one piece, with faux seams. When I got to the the sleeves,  I'd planned the Lobster (truly great colorway name)  lower arm but didn't have enough of the main body (Cove) color, so improvised the striped section between the two. I'm very happy with it. You'll notice I ran out of Lobster before I came to the knuckles on my left hand too.  I like to think it looks intentional. Humor me!

One of my favorite features is the extra long sleeves with thumb holes-- like built -in fingerless mitts. First time I've made a sweater with them, won't be the last. I couldn't decide on a front closure, or where I'd  place it, so I left it open. If you look at the projects page, which I assure you I did a gazillion-millionty  times, there are many options. Sometimes I just let it fall open, like in the image with Beverly, and sometimes I pin it shut. Or, I guess, hold it, in a weird and awkward way.

And that in the upper right? If you have taken a workshop with me, you know I disparage (OK, outright mock)  cliche poses, especially hands cupped clutching something. It's so overdone, and in any case, whatever is in the hands inevitably becomes the focal point of the photo when it should be about the knits. I especially poke fun at the use of empty mugs. Extra pokes if the model is in some deep woods or natural setting with empty tableware. Beverly, who kindly photographed me, couldn't resist. So, there you have it.

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* Fiber College is an  inspirational fiber arts retreat in the most beautiful setting.  Unique vibe, fabulous teachers and a certain something special happens every single year.   I am already looking forward to it!

the Starcroft yarn has popped up in NYC!

Here's the full view of the sheep shots from Nash Island that I put in the Starcroft Fiber Mill popup this week at lf8elevate

these three are all there as large , mounted, coated photographic prints, and as small lovely cards singly, and as a set with those below

I made a limited printing for the week but will re-stock and sell by mail, too.  If you are interested, send me a message at  galeATgzucker.com

Jani Estell herself, perhaps a little stunned,  just after we finished setting up the pop up shop on Monday. Instant yarn store!  It was magical how beautifully it fit in. I hope you have a chance to visit this week (Jan 13-18th).

POP UP ADDRESS: 80 east 7th street, NY NY between 1st and 2nd Aves. 
HOURS:  12-6   thru Sunday only  till 9 pm Thursday 1/16.
on Thursday 1/16 and Saturday 1/18 there are gatherings with Jani, Kay Gardiner (who masterminded this) and FOJ (Friends of Jani)  knitwear luminaries like Kirsten Kapur and Mary Jane Mucklestone and I hear Laura Nelkin will pop in the pop up too.

3 hours earlier, standing in a chilly drizzle in the middle of East 7th street, as Kirsten Kapur/Through the Loops, Jani and Yliana unloaded the woolpacked-to-the-gills car.  You know Kirsten has many talents, and it turns out one is making delicious cascading arrangements of yarn.Sooo tempting.

Here's Jani and her husband Grant, on Nash. Keep in mind they live in the woods, in a town of 400 or so, Down East (that's way north in regular geography) so this whole shop in NYC for a week is just...radical, I guess, is the best word to use.  I feel like you need to see a little more of Jani's "real life" to understand where the gorgeous handyed yarn she's brought down comes from.  I'm super lucky to have crossed paths and become friends over the last few years.  Helping out at the roundup and shearing on the island is a standout joyous top ten day of any year.

Jani commuting to work with the flock, by lobster boat, with Alfie Wakeman, the island owner. Cleat, the orphan sheep last year, rides along.

The view Jani is used to. Not quite lower Manhattan. Still, no parking.

 Tossing a just sheared fleece onto the skirting table . All of her yarn comes from the island sheep.

yeah. Couldn't resist ending with this one.

island sheep yarn in nyc

 

Borrowing the artful history writing of Kay Gardiner, as it appeared on Instagram recently

 "True story. Once upon a time in the 1970s (approximately), two little girls named Kay and @galezucker were NOT allowed to start flocks of sheep. So they became Camp Fire Girls. Which was great, but not the same as having a flock of sheep on a lighthouse island off the coast of Maine. To repair this psychic injury, when they grew up Kay and Gale persuaded @janistarcroft to bring her Nash Island wool yarns to a jewel box of a shop on East 7th Street in NYC, @lf8elevate One week only starting January 13. 

Join us on January 15 from 6-9 and January 17 (Saturday) from 3-6 for knittin' and chattin' old skool."

 I can't add much except to say 

• the Starcroft yarn is very special, and never available in NY before.

• there'll be a flock of knitters you'd enjoy the company of at the shop, during the knit and chats on Thursday and Saturday

• Jani graciously invited me to share some of my printed photographs and limited edition postcards from visits with her Nash Island sheep--all sepia toned, including the one above--so that'll be in the shop, too

• This whole crazy adventure is Kay's brainstorm, and I never say no to riding shotgun when Kay's behind the wheel. Join us!

heading downeast

 Gone Sheep Rounding & Shearing

catch you next week- here's a couple glimpses from last year

* Were you one of the GIVEAWAY WINNERS from my joint with A Gathering of Stitches? Go here to check. And- there are still a couple of seats left, so join us in Portland Maine, end of June.

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postcards from a roadtrip

 I had a weekend in June so exhilarating, so juicy, so everything good that I haven't been able to distill it into a blog post. Crazy, right? The  best stuff  is off-limits because I was on magazine assignment. (Yankee magazine, May 2014, be there) But I am busting to share what I can for now. A few postcards.

A Nash Island lamb, Down East Maine.  On sheep shearing day. I was shooting sheep shots. I was beyond happy. I have to sit on all the best images for now. Torture.

   

Starcroft Yarn- all spun from Nash Island fog washed sheep. This is in the mill, where I slept. Yes you read that right: I SLEPT IN THE MILL.  I woke up to the scent of lanolin and big sacks of fluff  on the side,  and skeins hanging above my head.

 This yarn & dyeing is all Jani Estell's work. I love her yarn. This color, in particular, is perfection.

The most excellent company anyone could want for a weekend of glamping &  sheep shearing.   This is the yarny/designer component of the hard-working roundup/ shearing crew, and I have to tell you these women WORKED. I helped round up sheep but then, while they were shearing & flipping sheep, vaccinating lambs, and pulling off poop covered wool &chasing lambs &carrying livestock & fleeces & skirting, I was taking pictures. Like, a couple thousand and smiling every minute. Even when I kneeled in poop.   L to R : moi, Ellen Mason, Jani Estell of Starcroft Wool, Mary Jane Mucklestone, Ysolda Teague. We are hugging skeins that Jani insisted we leave with (!) Jani uses (note: I feel like that is the wrong word, there should be a word that connotes the respect she has for the wool, and the way she honors the Nash Island herd tradition) all the Nash Island sheep fleeces and manages the flock with the family that herds them.

The fire circle and most charming outhouse ever, on the Starcroft property in the Down East woods.. We had hot dogs , beer and s'mores after shearing on the island all day. It  tasted like 5 star restaurant food.

My Starcroft yarn, it is so luscious and squooshy. Even though I knew I should choose 3 of the same color,  I couldn't resist. 175 yards of each, what shall I make??? The colors are very Down East Maine-y.

The only sheep I came home with, a score at one of the yard sales Ellen and I stopped at, on our way south together the day after shearing.  Unlike our fit-bitty friend Mary Jane, who impressively went mountain climbing with Ysolda in Acadia on their way home. Our yard sale-ing is impressive too. And so satisfying. Maine is a very good place to go yard sale shopping, especially early in the summer.  Wanna see? I broke our purchases into categories.

Textile department:  Ellen collects vintage hankies. She scored big.

My textile find:  a scarf just like one I lost a decade ago, It's all about the fringe.

Flawed but just right department: Ellen got that purse, she can repair a small tear. I got this lawn chair that matches some I already own, it has some irreversible rust that'll do it in someday, but should make it a season or two.

Boring but useful: Ellen got a $5. monitor, I spent $1. for the bin.

Favorite finds: my Peterboro picnic basket-it has a foam cooler built inside, and a wooden top that works perfectly for setting down your drinks and snacks. Already used 6 times. I am a very picnicky person.

 Ellen found this big wool coat on the left (it was a Pendleton I think..or maybe a Woolrich) that she is going to turn into a hip little  jacket. After leaving that yard, she was telling me how she loves wool plaid but her holy grail is a vintage buffalo plaid hunting jacket. Guess what we found at the next stop?

Perfect inside & out.