Two Ewes Fiber Adventures: A Podcast About Knitting, Spinning, Weaving, Crochet, Dyeing-- All The Ways To Play With Yarn And

A little knitting, a lot of knitting planning, and details about the scrumptious yarn and fiber in the Two Ewes Fiber Adventures shop.   Kelly has taken a break from the Summer Fjord tee by Trin-Annelie  She had made great progress, but then found a new fun project.  Wolkig is a really interesting and EASY cowl by Martina Behm.  It's a perfect pairing yarn and pattern.  The yarn is a super shiny yak/silk blend handspun.  Marsha is continuing to work on her two shawls, Twice Born by Magdalena Lorentz and Among the Shadows by Kelene Kinnersly.  Meanwhile, she has swatched for three different sweaters so there will be a new project on the needles soon.   The Two Ewes talk about the process of having yarn made from their fleeces and they describe each of the yarns that is available in the shop.  There are three different gray yarns, a Merino, a Romney, and a Shetland.  All are available in gray and also in beautifully overdyed colors. There are two white yarns that are available in hand-dyed skeins, a soft, fluff

More sweater knitting for the end of summer. Two kinds of linen and a cotton/llama blend--we're trying all the fibers! We also talk about organizing strategies for the transition into the school year. Marsha's Projects Marsha has started a new shawl with her Stonehedge Crazy! The yarn is fabulous.The shawl is the Among the Shadows and she is making it for the second time. Marsha has also finished her sweater using the pattern 221 Summer Cardigan by Diane Soucy. And since she has finished one sweater, she is ready to cast on another using the linen that she has been swatching. After swatching the linen biased so she is looking for a pattern that will mitigate the tendency to bias. Kelly's Projects Kelly has finished very little. One Mother Bear and one swatch of handspun are all she has to show for two weeks. The swatch will be submitted along with her county fair entries. It is a precursor to the Orca Run sweater that she has planned once the fair is over in September. She has started a new linen tee since t

Planning and swatching for linen sweaters, a round-up of Tour de Fleece spinning, and our listener appreciation drawing winners are the main topics of this episode. Kelly's Projects Kelly's Tour de Fleece was successful and she will be entering a skein of Santa Cruz Island yarn in the Monterey County Wool Show. She also made progress on two different weights of California Variegated Mutant yarn and now has a sweater quantity (or close) of each. Her other finished projects for this episode are bears for the Mother Bear Project. She has crocheted 4 bears and knitted 1 bear. Marsha's Projects Marsha has made good progress on her Summer Cardigan and her goal is to finish it by next episode. She continues progress on her Twice Born Shawl and is enjoying the knitting. As part of the Tour de Fleece Marsha tried to spin every day. She didn't finish spinning the Targhee roving but made good progress. Marsha swatched the Done Roving Yarns DK Sweater Pack with #4, #5, #6 needles. Marsha wanted to make the cardigan call

Kelly and Marsha talk spinning! Plus they give updates on current projects and news about upcoming events. Marsha's Projects Marsha doesn't have any finished projects to report but has made steady progress on her Twice Born shawl and Summer Cardigan. Marsha had a fun day with lunch and a visit to All Wound up in Edmonds, Washington with "laterknitter" and "jchant". Look how happy we are to be together surrounded by gorgeous yarn! Marsha had a fun day with lunch and a visit to All Wound up in Edmonds, Washington with "laterknitter" and "jchant". Look how happy we are to be together surrounded by gorgeous yarn! Kelly's Projects Kelly has finally finished the Playground Shawl! This pattern caused her a lot of trouble, not because it is difficult, but because of her combination of slippery yarn and slippery needles. The only other active project is the Striped CoBaSi Socks. Oh wait! There's an octopus that needs to be stuffed and seamed up. Tour de Fleece Marsha has been spinning every day as time allows. Here i

The Black Sheep Gathering 2017 was so wonderful the Two Ewes can't stop talking about it!  The wool judge was Judith MacKenzie so of course it was such a learning experience.  There are also a few finished knits, some new fiber, yarn, and, you guessed it, FLEECE! Kelly arrived in Eugene after a long hot drive through the northern California heatwave.  Marsha and Kim came down from Seattle on the train.  They met and prepared for the opening of the show the next day.  Marsha and Kelly spent Saturday in the fleece judging, soaking up all the information that Judith MacKenzie so generously shared with the audience.  On Saturday, there was a side trip to two Eugene yarn shops.  Cozy is a newly opened shop in the old downtown area near the train station.  Youthful and spacious, this shop really showed off the many indie-dyed striped and speckled  yarns in its stock.  It also had a good stock of Flax by Fibra Natura and Marsha snagged some for a linen tee.  Then on to Soft Horizons Fibre.  This shop is in an old ho

Are you old enough to remember vacation slides?  Did you ever go to someone's house for dinner and see their vacation slides?  If so, you know exactly what you're in for in this episode.  If not, don't worry, once you've listened you'll understand exactly what the experience was like! Marsha and Kelly were both on vacation.  So, in addition to sharing their current projects, they share some information about their vacations.  Kelly was in in the Texarkana area, visiting cemeteries in Red Lick, Texas and Lockesburg, Arkansas to see Robert's family graves.  She also visited Civil War sites and stayed in an antebellum home in Vicksburg, MS. Marsha spent some time on the Washington coast with her brother and Enzo.  To see Kelly's vacation photos, visit the show notes blog for episode 69. 

This episode is an experiment in time travel. Because Kelly's Dead Relatives Tour conflicted with the recording schedule, the Two Ewes prerecorded this episode. Marsha shares her experiences of the shops she visited on the Puget Sound LYS Tour. Mad Cow Yarns in Lake Forest Park Wild Fibers in Mount Vernon Great Yarns in Everett Pinch Knitter Yarns in Stanwood All Wound Up in Edmonds. The two patterns Marsha bought are a poncho called Stone Point by Courtney Kelly and a cardigan called Harebell by Amy Christophers. She bought a skein of Madelinetosh Twist Light call Void to pair with her Apple Fiber Studio MacIntosh in the color way Moss on a Rock. She also purchased a giant, luscious skein of Done Roving Yarns DK Frolicking Feet Sweater pack. The skein is 1500 yards and weights over two pounds! You'll all hear more about Kelly's Dead Relatives Tour in Episode 69. Stay tuned!

It's been a wild week, but some real knitting,  a little fantasy knitting, and lots of travel-knitting planning are all in this episode. Kelly finished the Havannah.  This pattern by Heidimarie Kaiser is a great casual tee.  Put in the beads that are called for in the pattern, or replace them with yarn overs for a more lacy style. Marsha is on track to finish the Easy Folded Poncho in time to wear it for Black Sheep Gathering at the end of June.  It is knit in Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool that she found at the Goodwill.  She also finished the Meret Beret  but this one might be frogged because the yarn and pattern don't seem to be a good match. The two pairs of socks that have been discussed in past episodes will also need to be frogged and restarted.  Neither the striped socks out of CoBaSi, nor the short socks on 9-inch circulars actually fit.  Oh well.  It's not sock failure, its a learning experience! Kelly's fantasy knitting and trip planning leads to a trip through her Ravelry queue.  Most likely to be cas

This episode is all about the knitting projects and the plans.  Kelly continues to work on two summer sweaters and has cast on a couple new small projects.  Marsha finished a small project while keeping up progress on her stockinette rectangle! Marsha's Projects The Easy Folded Poncho project continues, but meanwhile Marsha started an finished the Greenery Beret by Melissa LaBarre.  She is having difficulty getting project pictures without someone to take photos of her during the daylight hours.  She is planning the next sweater and has been swatching, but so far hasn't made a decision. Kelly's Projects A conference and a weekend with Dad means that Kelly has made good progress on both Edie and the Havannah tee shirts.  Meanwhile, she started a pair of socks with the turquoise and orange CoBaSi yarn that came from Maker's Mercantile.  The stripes have a small slip stitch detail and the colors are fabulous together. While recording, Kelly cast on another one of the In Threes baby sweaters using the last of he

This bonus episode is all about bees.  Our regular knitting, spinning, and fiber adventures episode will be published in Episode 66 on the weekend of May 12/13.  Kelly picked up two packages of treatment free bees to add to her apiary.  They rode home in the car and were successfully installed the same day.  She is so happy with the improvement of her beekeeping skills since 2015.  Click here for video of the package installation. The next day the existing hive that had been cut out of a drain pipe and had been progressing well swarmed.  She saw the swarm from start to finish and describes the incredible experience.    Click here for video of the swarm experience. These are my first attempts to create YouTube videos.  We won't be changing the podcast to video, but it was fun to document the experience for a YouTube supplement.

The Ewes have been busy as bees outside of knitting, but still there's a finished top, one almost finished, some dyeing, and a couple things on the needles.  A bee shawl is on the maybe list, and Kelly is headed to pick up some real bees.  Join us for our adventures. Marsha has finished her Edie tee!  The Edie pattern is by Isabel Kramer and the yarn she used is Hempathy.  This is her second Edie in Hempathy so no swatching needed.  Now that's incentive to repeat a project!  She doesn't yet have a finished project photo and that leads to a discussion of project pages and the Finished Object Radar feature of Ravelry.  While talking about the Finished Object Radar on Ravelry, Marsha saw the Hollywood Flare Tunic by Vera Sanen and was intrigued.  Kelly is almost finished with her Edie.  This is also her second time with the project, but with a different yarn.  The yarn is Linen Concerto, a variegated linen, rayon, cotton blend. Kelly's other project, Havannah by Heidimarie Kaiser, is making slow progress, but pr

A fabulous yarny time at the retreat and then a trip to a fiber mill and more time playing with newly milled yarn and dye pots. The Two Ewes are on a Spring Break adventure! Kelly's Projects Kelly is making great progress on the Edie tee-shirt that she is making with Linen Concerto yarn she bought at Stitches West. She is also moving along on the Havannah tee that she is making with Dragon Fly Fibers Rustic Silk Dance yarn. Marsha's Projects Marsha brought a shawl and her Edie tee as retreat and vacation knitting. The shawl is Among the Shadows by Kelene Kinnersly. She is using a very recent purchase of Feederbrook Farm yarn that she got during her post Stitches trip to SF. Advent "ewes" First there was the wonderful weekend at NoCKRs, the Northern California Knitters Retreat, held by the Yarniacs and 2 Knit Lit Chicks podcasts.  Held at the St. Francis Retreat Center, it was a relaxing and fun time catching up with friends and meeting new friends.  Lots of knitting and food and drink and laughing! Then we v

I'm finished knitting except I still have to...Have you ever said that about a project?  The Ewes have projects in various stages of completion, but many things OFF the needles!  Just like our projects, this episode is finished, except for the shownotes! We may not have photos in the show notes this week, but take a look at our project pages!  Kelly's project page.    Marsha's project page. We hope to be back on track with normal show notes by Episode 64.  Thanks for listening!  

Knitting projects get finished and then the ewes are off on and adventure to Stitches West.  Wearing ponchos and taking names!  Marsha arrived on Wednesday and was able to hang out in the sun room finishing her NoCKRs shawl. It is Good Vibes by Nadia Cretin Lechen.  Kelly finished her Om Shawl by Andrea Mowry and her Funky Grandpa by Maison Rilillie, and was able to wear both at Stitches West.  Yarn, patterns for punch needle rug hooking, knitting needles for lace, and more yarn all came home with the Ewes.  We loved meeting fiber friends and getting to know listeners we hadn't met yet.  Then Marsha left to go to SF for the second half of her California adventure. 

A completed poncho, a train adventure, a handspun sweater, and an amazing beekeeping experience are on this week's show.  Marsha's Projects Marsha finished her Rodeo Drive Poncho.  Marsha is really happy with this pattern by Staci Perry.  She has also worked on her Good Vibes shawl. Even the Pismo Beach socks (yarn from the yarn crawl in our very first podcast) got a little knitting during her adventurous train trip! Kelly's Projects Kelly has finished 4 more Pussy Hats.  She also finally got on the ball and knitted the button band the on Funky Grandpa Cardigan.  This is a pattern by La Maison Rililie.  The button band has an i-cord bind off and Kelly isn't sure whether it will lay flat or not.  If, after blocking, it still isn't laying flat, she will need to experiment with needles that are either larger or smaller.  She isn't sure which direction will solve the issue. Kelly has also been working on her poncho and is past the halfway point!  She is using Andrea Mowry's Om Shawl pattern. "Advent-ewes" Marsha

The Women's March website and the Indivisible Guide website are both mentioned in this episode.    Marsha and Kelly both attended marches and they talk about the experience.  So many knitters made so many Pussyhats!  The Ewes have also been thinking about 2017 goals, and the political realm, along with some personal challenges of the past year, have played a part in that thought process.  If you are a new listener, you might want to listen to a different episode first.  This one is not typical of the podcast, but we thought it was an important discussion to share with you.  

We review our 2016 achievements and have a Fibershed segment where our minds are blown by discovering that compost can help mitigate climate change.  Marsha is almost finished with her #PussyHatProject hat for the Women's March that will be held in Seattle.  Other than that, she has been working exclusively on her Great Poncho Adventure project.  She is making the Rodeo Drive poncho from Berocco Ultra Alpaca yarn.  It is getting close to finished! Kelly's Great Poncho Adventure is moving along after a mistake in the colorwork meant she had to rip back about 4 inches of work.  It was painful, but worth the effort.  She has adapted the Om Shawl to three colors and is working this out of three different gray yarns from Neighborhood Fiber Co. Kelly has also been spinning.  She finished plying two skeins of the endless 3-ply CVM.  When combined with the bulky CVM singles she has spun, there is a total of 2.5 lbs (of the 6 lbs) that has been spun from this fiber.  She also spun and plied some longwool fiber from

Seattle!  The Two Ewes are together in the Emerald City.  Knitting hats, hitting the yarn shops, and having a great start to 2017!  Kelly arrived on January 5 to a partly snowy Seattle.  It was a quick, three-day trip, and they managed to see three yarn shops.  Hear about the visit in this short episode with the ewes recording together.  Some highlights of the trip were the felted chair at Maker's Mercantile and additions to Kelly's linens and button stashes.  The lowlight of the trip was that Tolt Yarn and Wool was closed for inventory (with no notification on the website).  Alas, we were disappointed.  But we perked right up by visiting Quintessential Knits only ten miles away.  We also had the opportunity to visit Fiber Gallery one day while Enzo was getting groomed.   It was wonderful to start 2017 with a visit!  Our next time together will be Stitches West on Saturday, February 25 for the podcast meet-up in the afternoon and Sunday, February 26 for the Marketplace. We hope to see you there!

In Episode 47 Kelly talked about handspun singles.  In this episode she talks about plying handspun yarn and the properties of plied yarn for knitters who are buying commercial yarn. She talks about  what plying is and how it works,  why spinners might ply yarn, and  the number of plies and their effect on yarn. She also gives tips for yarn buyers and tips for handspinners.  The pictures in the show notes show a skein of yarn, rather than a piece of plied yarn, but the three pictures illustrate how the individual fibers look in a plied yarn that is over-plied, balanced, and under-plied.  Pretend each strand of yarn is a fiber in a plied yarn and you will see that in a balanced yarn, the fibers are parallel with the direction of the yarn.  Here is Kelly's project page for her Swirl Sweater.  Here is Marsha's project page for her Swirl Sweater.   

Podcasting about percolators, ponchos, and Pendleton woolens. Plus, we have two giveaway winners! Marsha's Projects Marsha is making good progress on the Rodeo Drive poncho by Staci Perry. She has been focused on this one project and is making good progress. This despite a cabling accident caused by "knitting while podcasting" two weeks ago. Kelly's Projects Kelly is continuing with the Curious Case of the Crazy Stitch Cardigan by Michele DuNaier. She can't figure out why it seems to have two sides (since it is crocheted similar to the way garter stitch is knitted, doing the same thing on each side), but she thinks she now has it back on track. Kelly has also been doing a small amount of spinning while sitting in the living room enjoying the Christmas tree. "Advent-ewes" Marsha visited the Pendleton Woolen Mill in Pendleton, Oregon. She tells us all about the history of the company and the tour she had of the facility. The wool that Pendleton uses is scoured in Texas--probably at the same facility that scou