June 5th 2007 - Issue # 10

In this issue you'll find...

Brown Sheep Field Trip Report

1. Excitement - a whole child-free day - WOOHOO!
2. Stress (in case I missed the bus by getting up too late)
3. Hubby had a cold & was coughing and nose-blowing the night away.

So, I rose early, before my alarm (highly unusual) and got myself ready for the day. Decided I hadn't the right color hair scrunchy in case I wanted to tie my hair back, so whipped one up in 15 minutes. I bid hubby farewell (briefly considering not going, as he was really suffering with his cold. Still - I thought...if the tables were turned & it was me with the cold, he'd still go to work & I'd be left to manage the boys, so I left - no guilt whatsoever).

Got to the parking lot thinking I'd be the first one there, but no! 2 were there before me...one lady had 3 totes full of yarn with her, as she couldn't decide which project she wanted to work on as we traveled. The other lady was there to see us all off, as she unfortunately had to work.

A huge coach was waiting, so we traveled in luxury with a double seat (plus) each. There were only 12 of us - yes - my buddy Marly was there too - you can see lots of pics of the trip on her blog.

I thought the bus would have been full. Oh well, we set off. All the way we chatted and knitted. The store owner of The Cottage Yarn, Christie, who organized the trip had drawings all the way to the Mill. Everyone won something... felting class coupons, magazines, patterns, buttons, crafting nicknacks. The time passed so quickly with no kids to check on, only adult female conversation, yarn and knitting to talk about - SHEER UNADULTERATED BLISS!

The journey from Littleton, Colorado to Mitchell, Nebraska took only about 3 hours. We arrived a little early, so picnicked on the grass outside. Then, when we could wait no longer, we dared to enter the Mill Shop! We were just starting to indulge in touching and drooling over the yarns, when the owner arrived and gave us a talk about the history of the mill itself.

Turns out her father started the mill in the 1980's when he was 55. She also mentioned how dedicated they are to quality. She is a knitter and so understands what crafters want. She even said that NOBODY has a stash as big as hers (I can believe that). She also said that she has been known to head down to the mill at midnight just to choose a new yarn and try it out. Sound familiar?

She then proceeded to take us on a tour of the mill, which is not very common, due to safety and competition factors. It was so interesting to hear about every step the fiber takes on its journey to becoming yarn. Fascinating! All the way round Marly kept saying..."Oh - this is just the BEST field trip I've ever had!"

We stood surrounded by huge drums containing massive amounts of swirling fiber ready to be blended then drawn into yarn. There were boxes upon boxes of yarn just waiting to be drooled over. I just wanted to reach out and touch it all as I passed - I really just couldn't resist.

The tour ended in the packing area where there were some other colors of seconds yarn which weren't yet in the shop. As soon as the owner was done with the tour, we dove into the yarn and started stuffing our bags with the treasures we wanted to buy, then headed up to the mill shop to make sure we wouldn't miss anything. At $12 per pound for single colors and $25 per pound for hand-painteds how could one resist?

We all staggered onto the bus with our individual single purchase ready-made stashes, then set off for home. The bus was VERY quiet on the way back. Either everyone was feeling guilty for spending too much money, or we were all contemplating what our new purchases were to become.

In no time we were back to Littleton and the rain was teeming down. Everyone scattered as they left the bus due to the weather, so we really didn't get to say "Goodbye." Everone just headed to their respective homes.

A few days later I went back to The Cottage Yarn to say "Thank You" for arranging the trip. I also met up with another lady who was on the trip and traded some yarn with her. She had some "Hand Paint Originals" that she didn't need, so I traded her some mohair blends.

One of my boys helped me wind some of the hanks into balls on the wool winder - he loved that. I have used some of the yarn already - I'm making a purse with it. Also - I've been testing some to see how it felts. I'll keep you posted with my results once I get some more comparisons done.

So - a wonderful trip. I really had a blast. And the boys enjoyed their day at the Zoo with Daddy, so all went well. If you ever get the chance to go to the Brown Sheep Company do go - it's a really cool place, and the mill seconds sure don't seem like seconds to me!

Sorry - that was a long story, but I thought it was worth telling. The next trip I plan to take (with hubby & boys this time) is to Estes Park Wool Market on June 16th/17th. Look out for a report on that one next issue.

What's New at Woolcrafting.com

I wanted to tell you about the Hangmans Knot. Only because I find it very useful to know. You can use it for making tassels or binding around purse handles. Very useful indeed.

A page about decreasing in crochet - how it can be written in different ways but mean the same thing.

Then I thought you might be interested in finding out about different types of wool. So I started off my list with merino wool and Smart Wool.

Finally I delved into the subject of crochet magazines, thinking you might like to know about some different ones I found and what thay are like, so you can then look out for the good ones.

Crochet Loop Stitch Square

We're going to do the last squares in this issue, then next time I'll let you know how to join them with an interesting zig-zag join.

Abbreviations

• ch - chain
• ea - each
• loop st - loop stitch
• sc - single crochet
• st(s) - stitch(es)

Firstly you'll need to work loop stitch squares (find out how to work loop stitch by clicking on the link above or below) as follows...