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If Only We Had SmelloVision

2/2/2019

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This is a Hogget Fleece from an Icelandic ewe lamb (female) rather than a ram (male).  And here is the Wikipedia definition of Hogget 

Hogget is the name of the first shearing of a sheep older than 3 months, and is the best wool that animal will ever give. It still has the unsheared lamb's wool, yet it is longer. Hand spinners prize such wool.

The lamb's name is Jade and she was raised by Owen for his 4H project.  She is a showgirl and won the Best Fleece, Grand Champion, Champion Bred and Owned, Overall Supreme Fleece at the 2018 Cumberland Fair here in Maine.  Owen is a family acquaintance, the grandson of a dear friend, and was a real friend to my father Maynard when my Dad was in his 80s and Owen was 5.  They bonded over hunting, making things work, and building an awesome tree top hunting blind which, now that my father has passed away, Owen, who is now in his teens, uses during hunting season himself. 

The reasons for using this fleece for this project are all wound together.  First there is the quality of the fleece itself, and the fact that it is Icelandic.  The original shawl was made with Shetland but, upon doing a bit of historical research, I have discovered that the DNA for Shetland and Icelandic sheep is very, very close indeed.  The Shetland sheep have been more carefully bred in the last few hundred years, but both are also very similar to the sheep of Iceland and Greenland; in a word they are all coming from the Viking stock.

This wool was prepped by yet another spinner of my acquaintance, Jenny Underhill.  I judge the hand spinning and knitting from hand spun at the Cumberland Fair every fall for the last few years and I have come to recognize Jenny's hand spun on sight.  If the skein is very even, very smooth, no kink of any kind; in a word perfect then it is Jenny's.  She has a gift for perfection.  The prep on this fleece is as close to perfect as I have seen.  It is very lofty, soft, no signs of felting or vegetable matter, and in every way worthy of the high quality of the fleece itself.

The skein below is an example of my spinning which is not as perfect as Jenny's but not too bad.  I will ply two strands together once I get enough spun up to sort and match the subtle grey shades of the natural color of the wool.
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If you were here and could lift the lid of this cedar chest you, too, could be overwhelmed by the wonderful smell of cedar and clean washed wool.  The chest itself, handily enough, is exactly the right height to sit on for spinning on my Canadian Production Wheel.  The wheel itself is approximately 100 year or so old and has a whole story attached to its history which I will go into in a later post.  But for now let me just tell you that the smell of the whole combo is divine and I wish so much that I could share it with you.

And here is nice picture of the Cedar chest that my Joe bought me for Christmas in order to fend off further moth invasions.  It was built by Graham Wood Works and purchased through Etsy.  Here is  the link if you would like to look into getting one for yourself or for someone you love. 
https://www.etsy.com/transaction/1550836901?campaign_label=proteus_transaction_buyer_notification_v2&utm_source=transactional&utm_campaign=proteus_transaction_buyer_notification_010170_239798626671_0_0&utm_medium=email&utm_content=&email_sent=1544785958&euid=tNJg1PdROwZWLRY4y9ZwBtfXdoL6&eaid=444903602150&x_eaid=04b0b9e66d

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Close up shot of the fly wheel (or maiden) of the Canadian Production Wheel.  Do you see the little grooves that years and years of spinning have worn into the wood.  This is a spinning wheel with a lot of experience.
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Martha in a step side truck

11/19/2018

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Rising From The Ashes

10/7/2018

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This is a photo of My Ancestress which was the everyday Shetland Hap shawl worn by the women who needed a shawl for warmth and wear and didn't particularly care if it fit through a wedding ring (which was the standard for the fancy and expensive Shetland lace shawls that were produced and sold to the richer folks).  You can find the pattern for it if you wish to make your own on my pattern page and also a bit of a write up on why and how I made this shawl in the first place.  There is a tragic end to this story and the villain of the tale is the MOTH.  Late last spring I noticed suspicious flying creatures around my basket of shawls that I keep out for the winter.  Upon examination I realized that there had been moth spread from some unwashed fiber in my stash into the shawl basket and that two of the shawls (this one and the red EZimmerman Pi are Squared shawl) were among the victims.  Unfortunately I was completely unable to cope with the situation as it required at that time due to a long drawn out flare of my Crohn's Disease which I have had for the last 50 years or so, since I was a child in elementary school, which will periodically interfere with my ability to cope with the demands of daily life.  So I just tossed the suspected victims into a garbage bag and placed them in isolation, and expelled the unwashed fiber to the land fill.   Two months or so later I was able to go through my fiber more thoroughly, mend some of the less egregious moth damage on a couple of the shawls, but had to admit that my two absolute favorites had suffered irreversible damage and had to be tossed out as well.  I was too sad to even discuss it for a while.

Finally this fall I told Joe, my husband, about the losses and because he is awesome and the best husband on the planet he began to do research into how to ward off moth menaces in the future.  For Christmas he ordered a hand made cedar chest which is very fragrant and now sitting in the studio with 2.7 pounds of grey Icelandic hoggit (lamb fleece).  There will be more pictures of the chest, the fleece, stories about the source of the fleece, who did the prep, etc., where I will go on and on about my long term project which is....

I am going to make another one, not exactly the same of course, but similiar and in the Hap Shawl tradition.  I will be spinning the wool, making the shawl but a bit bigger this time I think for drama.  This particular project will go on for months so you will be getting updates interspersed with other, less ambitious projects that I am working on.  I have resolved to make myself whole and rise from the ashes.  I'll have to think of another name for this one -- may be the Phoenix Hap Shawl?  Feel free to leave suggestions.
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Cashgora Yarn from Tajikistan by way of Peacefleece

5/23/2016

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A photo of my daughter Devan wearing the Artchitexture Scarf done up in a worsted weight Cashgora spun by Jonamo.  The yarn is available for purchase through Peacefleece and clicking on the link for the Artchitexture Scarf will take you to the Ravelry page where you can purchase the pattern.  The Peacefleece site has a wonderful history of the yarn and the women who spin it.  I am just going to go on and on about the qualities of the yarn and what seems to me to be its strengths (many) and weaknesses (only one).  As the photo above shows the yarn has amazing drape which is a strength and potentially a weakness since it also is less elastic.  This is only a relative lack of bounciness; say 5 out of 10 with 10 being Maine Mitten Wool.  Experienced knitters will already know that bounciness and softness have an inverse relationship to each other.  The softer the yarn the less elastic it is apt to be.  The Cashgora has middling bounce and a Truly Awesome softness.  The cashgora goats that the Tajik women are spinning from are a blended breed of cashmere goats and Angora (or Mohair) goats.  So you get the right next to the skin softness of cashmere along with the longer fiber of the Mohair which gives you some bounce and a really beautiful sheen.  The softness has been tested on my scratchy wool sensitive Daughter in Law.  She cannot tolerate wool of any description (yes even Merino) next to her skin but has worn her Cashgora Architexture Scarf, which is a duplicate of Devan's, many times this winter, wrapped warmly around her sensitive throat.  You can also see from the photos the way the slight sheen of the longer fibers works beautifully to highlight textured knitting stitches.

The photo below is a beautiful shawlette knit up by my friend Jenny with only one skein of the fingering weight yarn.  It is a beautifully done lace handkerchief shape with some clear crystal beads worked into the pattern.  I cannot describe to you how gorgeous this is.  The natural color of the yarn, which reminds me of fallen oak leaves, in combination with the icy sparkle of the beads is just a perfect combination of fiber, pattern and workmanship.

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The cowl above is knit up with a very simple Feather and Fan stitch and then grafted together.  My friend Marie knit this up with her sample of the Cashgora yarn and wore it around her neck through our long Maine winter.  The above photo was taken last November when the cowl had just been completed. 
The photo alongside is a closeup of the cowl after a winter of steady wear and this was a surprise to me.




Usually an incredibly soft yarn like Cashgora will felt or at least pill a bit with the abrasion of wear.  I want you to look at this closeup view of the cowl; a very slight increase in halo, but absolutely no sign of felting or pilling!  I looked closely and there was literally not a pill to be seen.

So a list of knitting qualities is laid out for you below:



  • Wonderful drape and weight. 
  • Structured knitting would help to control the drape i.e., cables or textured patterns
  • Open work stitches will enhance the drape like lace stitches or working with a looser gauge
  • Truly incredible softness
  • Slight sheen which enhances textured stitches or lace
  • In spite of the softness Cashgora is very resistant to pilling and other abrasion
  • Only natural colors are available although the Tajik women are working on dyeing
  • Incredible price through Peacefleece for a luxury yarn $33 for a 100 gram/3.5 ounce skein
  • A cowl takes one skein; the long Architexture scarf required 2 1/2 for a scarf 12 x 64 inches
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Tuesday in the Studio

2/2/2016

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This is a photo of the studio this morning, with the intense northern light blasting in through the 1910 glass windows.  I just wanted to show you all the love gifts that randomly show up in my day.

The yellow couch and the glass top coffee table are gifts from my sister Peg. 

The green leaf pillow on the couch and the knitted lace curtains reflected in the glass top were both made in Hawaii over 15 years ago.  The lace curtains were knit to go in the windows of that Hawaiian house that we were planning on building, but we only built it in our minds.  When we moved into this New England home they fit perfectly in that window...so evidently I actually made them for this house. 

The white lace blanket on the couch was made by me from Harrisville yarn well over 30 years ago.  It is a single ply undyed wool that Harrisville no longer carries, but if you click through you'll find the closest thing they have right now.  I remember wrapping my son Blake in it to take him out to see the moon.  He is now 31 and has a baby boy of his own.

The beautiful vase is a gift from my friends when they came by last spring for a Soup Day with the R&R Spinners.  The tulips are a gift from my friend Ollie Groves who came by the house last Saturday for dinner with her husband, Joe's cousin Karl.  The green coffee mug is a gift from my son Joshua and his Patti.  It has become a regular morning feature since I received this Christmas. The half mitts are knit up from Peacefleece wool and the pattern is available.  The white nubby blanket that you can see through the glass is a baby blanket that my Great-Grandmother made for my brother Mike (who is now 57ish years old).  And the project in the middle of it all is the one I am currently working on....a pair of Christmas socks for my sister Peg which she will receive as soon as they are done.  I'm pretty flexible about the Christmas gifts.  You might get a Christmas gift at any time.

I have had friends ask me how I manage to stay so happy and hopeful despite some pretty rough chapters in my life.  This is it.....all the love.  I am grateful for all the love.
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Spinner's From Away -- Far, Far Away

1/24/2016

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Peace Fleece has acquired some luxurious cashmere yarn made by talented women spinners from Sheghnan village, Afghanistan. The women are part of a newly formed spinning group supported by a development project funded by IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development) and managed by AKF (The Aga Khan Foundation). Last year I purchased some of their mohair yarn through Peacefleece which I knit up into the scarf you see below. The women have switched from spinning mohair to cashgora which is a remarkably softer, but somewhat less sturdy fiber.  Some of what I purchased last year seemed similar to cashgora to me, and I recently purchased some worsted weight cashgora spun by Maliknoz.  When I compared these two fibers they seem very similar in softness to me.   Now the project is also focusing on the Afghan women just over the border from Tajikistan. The project supports the women from this Afghan village in developing their own spinning business and in finding export markets for their yarn.
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Close up of the lace shawl made up from last years cashgora (I think)
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This year's Cashgora spun by Maliknoz in the worsted weight. Note the sheen and how beautifully even her spinning is
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Last Wednesday I was invited by Pete Hagerty, the owner, with his wife Marty, of Peacefleece, to come and bring some of my pals from the R&R Spinners group to meet with some of the spinners and leaders of the co-ops along with Leba Brent who is an International Development Consultant who specializes in women's economic development in areas where women are suppressed.  This photograph is of Mukadis, who is one of the best spinners.  She is very happy to have the opportunity that the co-op provides to do work she loves, to spend time with other women, and to contribute to the health and education of her children.  I hope that I am getting the names right and if not I apologize.  But I do have a very sharp memory of the faces and voices of these women.  I admired so much their bravery in coming so far, to such an unfamiliar place, in order to find out more about the lives of the women who are the most likely purchasers and users of their yarn.  They are so justifiably proud of their work, and so open hearted.  They do run some risk in having their pictures and bios on line, and in coming to visit in America.  The Taliban are not in control of their village, but they are a looming threat in areas not too far from their homes.  It is an act of faith for them.

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This is Jonamo.  She believes that she is about 40 years old. She would like to have a nice house with some amenities, and she hopes her children will be able to find work. Jonamo knows how to build a traditional outdoor oven for making bread, and described it to us with a great deal of mutual interest and delight. People invite her over to make such ovens for them. My friend Chris McDuffie was particularly interested since she is thinking of building an earth oven for her island house here in Casco Bay. 

Jonamo is very resourceful and good at managing her household.  She had to have her language (Afghani I believe) translated by her friends into Russian, which was then picked up and translated into English by Leba.  You would have thought that this would have put an insurmountable crimp in communication but the discussion of the earth oven went very well with only minimal help from the translators.  Evidently smiling and enthusiastic hand gestures work very well for women of like minds.


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This is Oigul.  She is 40 years old and is a real powerhouse, in person and in her the lives of her family and village.  She is the leader for her particular co-op and is able to handle the accounting and finances for her group because she is bright and educated.  Her husband her son travel to Russia to work for a large part of the year, which leaves her with her daughter and her parents to run their small farm, their apricot orchard, and the work of her compatriots in the co-op.  They were able to use the money that she has earned to build a house.  I was so impressed with her focused attention, her eagerness to help with the translation in our little meeting, and her curiousity about our lives and willingness to share the details of her own. 

I will be participating in some of the knitting research for these spinners that will be taking place at R&R Spinners, and will keep you posted on developments.  In the meantime do go to the link at Cashmere People and at  Peacefleece


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October Hat for Adam -- Also Adam's Toque

10/22/2015

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  • Here is my handsome brother-in-law Adam in his October hat.  A comfortable winter hat is essential for him because he has no hair on his head, and he lives in New Hampshire.  It is also a bit of a balancing act, however, because wool is itchy for him.  I have been on the lookout for a black, warm, soft worsted weight that would suit for a while and I came on this particular hank at the Cumberland Fair.  It is a 70%/30% Huacaya Alpaca/Merino blend ... the alpaca for warmth and softness, and the merino for elasticity and because merino is the softest of the sheep wools. 
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  • Here in New England we call this style of hat a Toque.  It is something I only make for men I love a great deal because it is VERY simple to make (hence a bit tedious) and they always want black.  So you have miles and miles of knitting black stockinette which can only be survived by watching Masterpiece Theatre on your I-Pad, which is exactly what I did.  I am going to give you some instructions on how to make your own, but I am assuming some "thinking woman" knitting skills on your part.  If you have questions feel free to drop me a line in the comments and I'll get back to you.
  • Adam's head is 24 inches around and 17 inches from earlobe to earlobe.  I did a gauge swatch and came up with 6/inch.  Pick a needle size that will give you this gauge or tighter.  I hat needs to be thick and fairly wind tight.  Doing the math I came up with 144 stitches.  I like to do my hats with a multiple of 8 because it makes the decreasing smoother and simpler and I also like to reduce my stitch count a bit on a hat so there is some negative ease which helps to hold it on your head.  If the yarn was pure wool I would reduce this number by 8, but since it was mostly alpaca, which is soft and non elastic, I reduced the number by 16 and cast on 136 stitches
  • I knit straight stockinette on a long circular needle (Magic Loop Method) for two inches.  Then I completed one round of purl to leave a nice fold line for the bottom edge of the hat, and then completed another five inches of straight stockinette for the body of the toque.
  • Reducing is done in 8 equal sections so you need to get out your stitch markers and place one every 17 stitches.  For the first decrease round K2tog after each marker and then do 3 rounds without decreasing.  Repeat this another 5 times until you have 12 stitches between markers.  Now decrease every other row until you have 5 stitches between markers.  Then decrease after each marker every row until you have 2 stitches between markers.  Get rid of the markers and K2tog until you only have 2 stitches left.  Break off your yarn and use a darning needle to thread through the 2 remaining stitches and work your end in.
  • Turn the hat inside out and fold the 2 inch band at the beginning of the hat up.  Use another end of yarn to sew the bottom edge down to the hat itself, creating a double band at the bottom.  This will give the toque structure and firmness and also provides a double thickness of fabric which is warm around the ears.


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 Adam is also showing the hat with the bottom edge folded up.  My husband Joe is always moving the band up and down to adjust the temperature on his head.  Rolled up like this your ears are warmer but your forehead is cooler.  I have seen him roll it up like a yarmulke when he is working outside...which looks rather silly but is evidently cooler for him.  He and Adam have the same "haircut" and Joe's hat is very similar to Adam's, although it is 10 years older.  When it is warn out I will replace it, but evidently these things last forever.

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Mending My Socks

2/10/2015

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After Christmas every year I usually settle down to do some intensive knitting for myself.  This year, however, I was too sick between Thanksgiving and New Years to get off the couch so my Knitting Giftees had to make do with boxes of yarn, needles and proposed patterns which is a kind of Promise of a Gift rather than the Gift Itself.  So after I began to recover I settled in to knitting for Christmas Just Passed.  Once those were out of the way I realized that my go to winter footwear, which is hand knit socks inside and hand knit socks inside boots outside, had not been attended to for several years.  There were holes everywhere....just everywhere.  Now I could just mend by darning but I find those wodgy bits under my feet to be really annoying.  So I did an assessment of what I loved, and what I could wear to bed until the holes were just too much. 

Now notice the blue socks on the sock blockers on the left above.  Those are basic, knit out of worsted yarn, old fashioned Maine Winter Socks.  They are warm and serviceable. They are very easy to knit which is both a blessing and a curse.  I can crank them out but I hardly ever do because they are boring.  So I had only one pair of those with holes in the feet.  These have become bed socks because they aren't interesting enough to warrant mending.  Therefore they will get worn until they make it through this winter season and then they will become mulch...for the garden.  If you put your little plant into the sock full of dirt and then into the garden the wool will wick water, gradually decompose and keep the roots slightly warmer than they would otherwise be.  And it allays the guilt of just tossing them out for those of us with creeping hoarder tendencies.  Ahem....

Now those others are the interesting socks.  Don't want to mend them by darning, but also don't want to dispense with them because they are lovely.  So I have figured out a couple of ways to resole them.  The rose brown ones with the striped soles were made from Peacefleece  which is a lovely yarn but too soft for the wear and tear of the soles of socks worn continuously on my hardwood floors.  But I really loved them.  So I clipped the toes, unraveled the socks up to the bottom of the ankle bit and then used the yarn to reknit the top portion of the sock foot only.  I then used the raveled yarn together with some new sock yarn (which has nylon in it and is tougher) to knit up the striped heels and soles and toes, joining on to the edges of the instep as I went.  This seemed like such a good idea that I decided to make the socks at the far right, which are new knee socks, with this method from the get go.  If those babies get holes I'll just clip the toes, unravel the striped portion and reknit without going to the trouble of reknitting the top of the foot section.

If you look at the blue socks second from the right you will see another method of reknitting the soles of the socks, which is EZs (Elizabeth Zimmerman's) moccasin sock sole.  Also a fine method of resoling socks although I believe the stripey version may be more hard wearing.  I will road test this year and let you know.

I now have two more pairs of knee socks to resole and then I will have caught up.  And Joe has finally worn out one of his sweaters so I should be getting to that as well.  And by then winter should be over don't you think?
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Quince Invite to Submit Martha's Scarf

10/20/2014

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I was recently asked to rework my Fishbone Lace Scarf in Quince's Piper for sale on their website, Quince and Company.  I have followed Pam Allen's work for decades....since we lived in Hawaii where I bought American Knits from the newly opened Barnes and Nobles in downtown Hilo in 1994.  Pam had a wonderful pieced knit coat, hat and mittens that were modeled on her lovely young daughter.  I was doing a fair amount of knitting at that time, but it had to be shipped back to the nieces and nephews in Maine, of course.  Not a lot of demand for woolen mittens and socks in Hawaii.  I have had an ongoing need for knitting, however,  since I learned at the age of 4 in order to maintain my equanimity in the face of .... life stuff.  You know how they say that knitting is therapeutic?  I require daily therapy so the knitting takes place whether I am living in the tropics or in Maine.  I have continued to follow Pam Allen's career as the editor of and a prolific contributor to  Interweave Knits through the start up of her yarn company Quince which is located here in Portland, Maine.  This is also,  conveniently enough, the location of my home and Threads of Meaning studio since we purchased it in 2009. 

I was surprised and very pleased to be asked to contribute something to the Quince endeavor.  This scarf is knit up with one skein of Pam's Piper in the soft rose color Odessa.  Knit in this fine 50/50 Texas mohair/merino blend one skein makes a beautifully airy, long, luxurious scarf about 7x60 inches.  Two skeins would make a scarf twice as wide, twice as long or 1/3 wider (about 11 inches) and half again as long (say 90 inches).  This single ply yarn knits easily on size 7 needles with no catching or awkwardness and the pattern itself is very simple.  It is an excellent project for a first time lace knitter since you have a "working" row, followed by a purl row, and then another "working row" followed by a knit row.  In other words you have resting rows in between the attention paying rows which is soothing and therapeutic.  You can purchase the pattern through Ravelry, or by visiting the Quince website where you can also pop over to buy the yarn.  There are some lovely colors in Piper.  I knit up this sample for them but am considering knitting up one for me in the Teal hand dyed to go with my grey wool winter coat.
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Two Studio Knitters; One Mind

10/6/2014

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I could also have called this post the Apotheosis of Lace knitting I guess -- given that these two talented knitters are standing in front of the lace curtains at the end of the studio hall.  These are Pat (red sweater) and Brenda (green sweater).  They are very good friends and are two of the cherished Studio Knitters that come by Threads of Meaning on Tuesday nights.  These two sweaters are both the Katherine Hepburn which I notice is available as a free download on Ravelry.  These two were knit up from Pam Allen and Ann Budd's Lace Style by Interweave which is a book that I recommend as very worthwhile for lace knitters with some experience.  They are also both knit up of Quince (Pam Allen's yarn company) in the sportweight Chickadee.  I have heard wonderful things about the Quince yarns in general and raves from these two ladies in particular.  It is a lovely soft merino wool with great bounce, softness and what we refer to in the studio as "squishyness".

Links to all the pertinent details (where to buy the book, where to buy the yarn, what other people at Ravelry have knit up this pattern) are all embedded in the text.  But what I would like you to notice is how happy these two are, what good friends they are, and how they are working on the rest of us to do a Threads of Meaning KAL so that we can all go out in public in matching sweaters.  (Actually I don't know that last part for sure....I'm just suspicious.)
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    About Martha


    The Threads of Meaning is a collection of my hand made creations and the materials I use to make them.  I quilt, sew, spin, knit, crochet, weave, make dolls, rugs (hooked and braided) and tat. I have had articles in Art and Antiques (May 2001) and American Quilter (Ultimate Projects 2004). I have sold work to the State of Hawaii and some very dedicated private collectors. I dye my own fibers and use vintage and new materials. I tend to prefer traditional techniques and natural materials used in innovative ways.

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