spinning | happylifecrafting

It’s that time again. We are crazy busy, buzzing around prepping and packing to get on the road again.

Our next stop is the annual Maryland Sheep and Wool festival. The show is next weekend in West Friendship, Maryland. If you are in the Maryland area please stop by and say hello.

Steves’ passion for turning and the ever useful “yarn Swirlette” inspired the birth of our small business, The Whispering Woodturner. Steve collects wood from all over the country to make yarn bowls, and yarn swirlettes. If you ever stop in at one of our shows, you are sure to hear stories, and learn about the history of the various bowls. The ” Yarn Swirlette” is the first piece he made that was not only beautiful, but also practical to use by all yarn enthusiasts.

Here are a few pictures of our prep work.

Swirlette bases and spindles ready for assembly.

Finished bowls and blending boards ready for packing in boxes.

Cheese / bread boards, oiled and beautiful. We just recently added these to our inventory.

Our new display for the novelty t-shirts that say, “Not buying yarn is like not breathing” .

Aromatic lavender, for sachets…..a great way to keep your wool, free from bugs.

Buttons, and WPI tool, (wraps per inch )

Continue reading The 43 Annual Maryland Sheep and Wool →

This is a draft that I needed to add photos to before I published it…. A few are photos that I took along the way, and finally today, I took the final photos. Here they are, only a few months later… Ok, I’m working on my procrastination issues.

These are the beautiful yarns I used for this project. All were hand spun, with the exception of 3- the Hank of pink, the mohair, and the one with a label.

Today I finished knitting a super fun wrap. Every now and then I find a little piece of “unique and interesting”, that captures my attention in a very obsessed way. While at the Columbus fiber fair I found some beautiful hand spun yarn. The yarn was spun with beads and ribbon, it was irresistible. The yarn was perfect for a pattern she had, to make the free form yarn shawl. I selected several yarns from her shop to start knitting this little gem of a piece.

You start with a rectangle and then you bind off and pick up stitches as you go using the different yarns and going different directions. It was refreshing to knit something that you basically make up as you knit along. I did not bind off every time I switched yarn. Sometimes I just changed colors or texture and kept right on going. I pulled all of the long end pieces to the front and added beads. Some of the yarn already had beads so this was an extra embellishment idea that added more bling to the shawl.

This photo is the early stages of the knitting.

I didn’t have to go far to find the yarn, because Kathy was the vendor right next to us. Wow …the beautiful stuff she spins. You can find her on etsy : unique designs by Kathy is the name of her shop.

Here is the completed shawl.