Highlights in May

As you know, I was in France in the first half of th month of May. I spent the first week travelling and exploring Britanny. Eating lot of seafood, finding mussles & oysters on the low tide, knitting a little bit and taking pictures of the glorious Spring.

We visited the cutest little farm ever, spending most of my time int he nursery, cuddling these adorable mohair goats.

The second week was spent in Paris, trying to recover from the wonderful things that I experienced in the countryside. Two packages arrived while I was away: the ginormous Homestead Light skein from Skein, & a couple of alpaca skeins from Drops. Both of which are already use/ have been used. I completed the second version of my Blóm pattern with the first one, and the drops skeins are beeing used from a Quill shawl.

On the very last day, we stopped for coffee & cake, and of course yarn shops.

The month of May has been the best of the year so far! Yay for May!

Blóm 2.0

Sorry for the radio silence of the past month, but if you follow me on Instagram, you know that I spent the past couple of weeks in France, enjoying the countryside and my family. I've had such a wonderful time there, which made the month of May the best of the year so far. And you have no idea how much I want to go back, and explore every tiny village in the french countryside. But I'll keep that for later as I'm planning to sum up my trip to France in another post.

So today I'd like to share what kept my hands busy during my second week in France instead. When I came back from Britanny, not one but two packages were waiting for me on my doorstep. One of them contained some drops alpaca wool - which is already on the needles. But I'll share that later too. And the other one made its way from sunny Australia. The package itself was quite small compare to the gigantic skein that was inside: 590 yards of luscious untreated Polwarth wool. I'm certain that my face was pretty funny to see when I saw the first glimpse of the skein. I kept my precious in my arms for a good ten minutes, walking around the house, showing it to anyone that would cross my way. After the euphoria, I sat down, and realised that the next hour wouldn't be spent kntting but rather winding by hand these 590 yards of luscious untreated Polwarth wool. (Haaaa).

Then the time flew by. What must have been hours, felt like minutes. I was already more than halfway through the shawl when I realized that the light was very poor when my mom called me for dinner. I knit a bit in the plane, and finished the shawl in Latvia. I waited for my pin blockers to arrive, then gave it a good wash and pined it on my yoga mat. The next evening I was taking these photographs outside between two storms, and right before the end of the glorious blooming lilac season.

• Pattern: Blóm
  
• Yarn: Skein, homestead Light in the Mademoiselle colorway (one skein)
  
• Needles: Knit Pro, 4mm metal
  

Knit Along

This week I'm joining Ginny's Knit Along, and share a picture of something that I'm working on.

Last week I was browsing ravelry stashes to find the perfect colorway of Malabrigo worsted. A couple of days later, the skein arrived in the mail. And this particular skein and colorway reminded me of so many things, because one of the very first project that I made a couple of years ago has been knit with the same yarn, in the same colorway. And here I am, a few years later,  knitting the exact same pattern for a sweet friend.

It's going to be so much fun putting the two hats next to one another and see how far this knitting journey has taken me, and the improvements that I've made.

At the moment I'm at my third attempt, and I will have to rip back once more because my brain doesn't seem to want to follow the pattern at all.

Wishing you a beautiful Easter weekend!

Kindly,

M.

Fiber artist feature: Liesl of Buckaloo View

I've been wanting to share Liesl's work for quite a while now, and never really found the time to introduce her properly. I've been following Liesl for more than five years now, and ever since I found her many years ago through Wordpress, I've been in awe, moved, inspired and I'm beyond words grateful for knowing her.
She's a homesteader, a knitter, a quilter, a seamstress, a natural dyer and many more things.

She recently decided to open her new shop, Buckaloo View, where she sells yarn that she naturally dyes with material that she forages or grows in New Jersey. As she started to share more and more pictures of colorful yarn, I've been wanting to learn more about her dyeing journey.

So, make yourself comfortable, grab a cup of tea coffee or whatever you'd like, and let's dive in!

When did you start your dyeing journey and how did you get started?
I started dyeing back in the summer of 2012. I had become very interested in gardening and the natural world around me, trying to identify trees, plants and flowers. Around the same time, I’d also become thoroughly obsessed with knitting and fiber. Natural dyeing was just the result of all of these things merging into one.

Where do you source the fibre that you dye with i.e Is there a farm close to you where you can get wool from?
Right now, I buy commercially produced yarn to dye. In the future, I do hope to source all or at least some of my base yarns from local, small farms. There are definitely a lot of fiber farms in my area and I’m looking forward to getting in touch with them this year. My ultimate dream is to cut out the middleman completely and raise my own fiber---but that is quite a ways away!

Do you have a favourite skein in your hand-dye collection? What’s your favourite material to dye with/ favourite fibre?
It’s always been hard for me to choose favorites! But I really do like the red cabbage and opal basil skeins I’ve dyed. But that is because I’m partial to grays and blues. I tend to dye with a lot of marigold and black walnut hulls because they are so plentiful and dependable. As far as fiber, I’ve only dyed on merino and alpaca. The latter tends to produce softer, more muted colors, which I love.

Where do you see Buckaloo View in a near future?
As far as yarn, I’m hoping to expand my color palette and try out new dye materials, as well as new, interesting fibers. For the shop, I hope to offer more sewn goods, including simple tanks and dresses and totes, as well as other items made from materials that I grew or sourced from this farm. And for the farm, 2015 is the year of fixing and repairing and prepping for future plans. The barn roof leaks, new garden beds need to be worked, fruit trees planted, and, as always, I have so much to learn!

You can fin Liesl on her blog at Buckaloo View, shop her yarns and pouches and follow her everyday on Instagram.

A knitter's Spring wishlist

When I woke up this morning, there was a a thin layer of snow covering the floor. I made a pot of tea, put a warm cardigan over my shoulders and got into work.
Whenever I looked outside, the only thing that I could really see was the grey sky. The two gorgeous springy weeks that we had lately were definitely far behind.

But this alternating weather reflects exactly the color palette that I've been dreaming off lately; soft greys with hints of pink and purple. I've been wanting to drape my shoulders with a shawl similar to this one, and knit everything in this colorway. I went to my local nursery a couple of time last week to see if I could find any wax flowers, but I came back empty handed every single time.

What have you been inspired by lately?