What kind of help do you get? - Denise

Here's something fun. Not only do my kids help me, but so does my dog. He was leaning heavier on the wheel before I took the video.

New Classes this Spring

Denise -
I'm starting new classes this Spring. My Spinning class was canceled, but my Beginning Knitting using Portuguese Style Knitting is a go.

We'll use Button-Up Neck Warmers as the class project. The photo is from the pattern. I have Andrea Wong's DVD to help with the visualization of stitches.

Update...
Class went well. PK style is easy to learn. All students basically got the knit, purl, and knitted cast on. The challenges were tension and figuring out where the needle picks up the new stitch. I explained that it's like driving a car into the garage. The car drives in and backs out the same way. If not....(student answered on her own).

I have one student who will start the neck warmer. She wants to change it to a scarf. We talked about how to change it. I showed her, and any others, the pattern stitches.

Custom Spinning Job - Denise

I just finished a custom spinning job for a woman in California. She does not know how to spin. The roving is a smooth wool / kid mohair blend that may have some silk in it.

I did a burn test and it self extinguished. That tells me it's wool and animal fiber.

The purchaser wanted a worsted weight yarn for a scarf using the fiber from her mother's roving stash. Sadly her mother passed away leaving it unspun.

It turned out pretty well. She wanted a soft hand. The fiber will not support much of a pattern. The purchaser wants to do a simple knitting pattern to show off the fiber - a good choice.