Madame Purl » Book Reviews

Fleeces Have Arrived…

Madame Purl — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:03:57 +0000

Remember when Julie and I picked up these fleeces at NH Sheep and Wool about a month ago? Well after the show they winged their way to Spinderella’s in Utah. After about a month stay, where they were washed and carded into beautiful roving, they winged their back home. Both Julie and I received our new stash acquisitions the same day. My little helper is checking things out.

I’m not sure you can actually see them all. There’s a 4lb fleece in the back, so 5 bags total.

We split a big fleece this year (the one in the back). A beautiful, lush cormo and we asked Spinderella’s to add 25% Tussah silk to the roving. This turned out gorgeous. I can’t seem to get a photo that will do it justice.

Again Spinderella’s did a fabulous job. They really know how to handle fine fibers and I can’t wait to spin the new fleeces. I really have to get out there one day and meet them and get a tour. I figure I may be able to do it as a two prong trip as I also want to see Best Friends. I would love to take a tour there and visit with all the wonderful folks and animals. Ever since I’ve read their wonderful book…

I keep thinking “one day, for sure.” If you want to read a wonderful, inspiring book that will make you laugh and cry, this is the book. It also has great photos of the compassionate folks who started this wonderful place and of some of the animals we get to know through the pages.

A Fine Fleece

Madame Purl — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 01:10:36 +0000

Make room on your bookshelves, folks. This one is a keeper.

I’m a big fan of Lisa Llyod’s patterns already, so if you like the gorgeous cables, socks, and laces – there are more, more and more. I started flipping through the book and kept going “yup this one is on my list. Oh and this one too. Oh… I love this.” Of course I love it even more as it’s also about spinning and fleeces as well, but it looks like each project has a sample knit in commercial spun yarn.

I don’t know all her patterns by heart, but I think I only saw one that was in already in my collection – it’s the Saxony Sock.

So this is definitely a must have – I’m sure DH will also pick out several he loves as well.

D is for Deadlines

Madame Purl — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 14:48:13 +0000

Once again I can confirm why knitter’s have this thing called – rotation. Knitting the same things – day after day after day… gets dang boring. Plus this makes for a very boring blog. I seem to just be focused on my projects right now and since everyone knows what Mac ‘n Cheese looks like I don’t have much else to talk about. Shame on me.

So yes the little mitered squares are moving along – I may finish the squares this week. It’s a super fast knit, especially when you are so focused on getting things done before the babies are born.

What is not faster, but still an easy lace pattern is my cocoon lace, which I worked on yesterday while I finished listening to The Power of One, which by the way is an excellent book. A little violent and dark, but full of hope. I’ve decided to put off listening to the sequel for a while, which is Tandia, to get into something a bit lighter. I picked out the first book in the James Herriot series, All Creatures Great and Small – I would like to listen to the whole series. I don’t know how I missed this series as a kid, since my childhood dream was to be a country vet. I’m much too much of a softy though, as I know it can be tough, plus I would probably be totally broke all the time. (lol) At least I could take payment in wool.

I forgot to take a picture of my Saturday Sky, whoops. It seems like all of them are really looking the same lately, so no biggie, but you can sure tell spring is in sight as it actually got warmer through the day yesterday and by 10 pm when the dogs went out it was 53-degrees. Whoa – now that’s interesting. Hopefully everyone will be safe though as it seems to be causing some terrible weather further south.

Sophie’s Sweater

Madame Purl — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 17:31:26 +0000

So I decided that Sophie could not wait any longer for her sweater. When I started knitting 5 years ago and everyone said – “don’t make me anything.” I was planning on knitting her and Max a sweater and even bought the yarn. One thing lead to another and here we are – with a knitting list as long as my arm. Yes, I’m feeling quite a case of the guilts. But no more, Sophie will have her sweater. I’m just about at the 1/2 way point and cruising along nicely.

Purple is her signature color – so we have a nice purple, a lavender, a gray, a white, and a black. Pattern is from Patons: A Dog’s Life. Bright stripes – the one on the cover, with my own color choices.

So in other dog news, I just finished a great book about a great dog – Merle’s Door. If you love dogs and are looking for a great dog story, this is it. There is also an accompanying website.

Books!

Madame Purl — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 17:37:18 +0000

So one of the thing I love most about knitting and really crafting in general is the books. I’ve had quite a stash enhancement session as I basically won a $80 gift certificate to Amazon in the form of a bet… then I’ve had a few on pre-order that I always forget about and then happily dance around when they come in. One of my strange things for the list – I always forget about this one, but it’s a good one – I never lend out my books. I’m funny about that, but I keep them seriously pristine and to me it’s a collection. It’s just a crazy thing about me. I always even make a copy of the pattern I’m working on… I wouldn’t dream of writing in the book. It’s a thing, I know… but let me just say – have you seen the price of some out of print crafting books. One day they may fund my retirement for all I know.

Anyway if your interested in dyeing a really good one came this week.

The one thing I love about this book is that it has all sort of wonderful techniques. Not just acid immersion dyeing. It has procion mx dyeing for cottons, as well as natural dyeing, and different techniques for painting. The format is good and has step-by-step instructions. I would say good for the adventurous beginner, but interesting for the more experienced dyer that wants to stretch their skills as well. I thought the projects were good and I liked the interviews with different dyers especially the Koigu ones with some pictures of their studios. I probably would’ve liked to have seen more of those pictures. My only other critique would be in the space dyeing projects to get stripes. It says to make skeins that are 8 2/3 in diameter. Just for my own mind with the yarn and weight your using I would like to know the length of the skein as well. In other sections it says make a 60″ skein. I would probably go through and and see the lengths they are painting and add them up to get the skein length. At least a ball park – like expect it to be X feet would have been good in my mind. From the picture of the two large tables pulled together to get the skein on. I expect it’s probably pretty long.