One summer I grew tri-color peppers (capsicum annuum) from seed in a pot on our deck. As the peppers ripen, they turn from white to purple to yellow-orange to red and the plant is really pretty and did quite well. When it came time to harvest, I tossed a few shriveled peppers into our Meyer … Continue reading Hot Pepper Harvest and Sauce-making
Author: madgeface
I knit, crochet, spin, and have done some experimenting with weaving and natural dye. I’m also a technical writer, mom to 3 boys, and enjoy gardening.
Coopworth Batwing
I knit a batwing in an attempt to knit a shawl using handspun Coopworth yarn. See? This is another project that I made from spinning the yarn all the way to FO, only I don't have pictures of the fiber or the spinning process. I'm not even sure when I spun the yarn; I know … Continue reading Coopworth Batwing
Handspun Lifted
I finished another knit hat with handspun this weekend. This time I used a skein of yarn that started as a bump of super wash merino from Pigeon Roof Studios, who is no longer dyeing. I’m so sad I didn’t discover her sooner; I love how her bumps have turned out when I spun them. … Continue reading Handspun Lifted
Peasant Cap: From Spinning Fiber to Finished Object
I spun the yarn for my latest hat during Tour de Fleece 2018 and Spinzilla 2017 (the only Spinzilla I've done). Both started out life as 2 ply fractal spun yarns, but I ended up cable plying them both, which essentially means I made the 2 ply yarns into center pull balls and plied the … Continue reading Peasant Cap: From Spinning Fiber to Finished Object
My First Sweater Made With Hand Spun Yarn
You would think I carefully planned my first hand spun (and first steeked) sweater but, dear reader, I did not. I just got lucky. I bought a brown merino x fleece at a local farm when my knitting group visited it in spring 2010. I had just started spinning the previous summer and this fleece … Continue reading My First Sweater Made With Hand Spun Yarn
On Writing
In January, I got a message from an old co-worker asking me if I might be interested in talking to him about a position at his current company. I last worked with him in 2003 (or possibly 2002 - it was a while ago) while I was a senior technical writer for the information technology … Continue reading On Writing
Spinning: My Wheels
I started researching spinning wheels in the summer of 2009 and ended up buying a 1970s-era Ashford Traditional that had 2 bobbins and a really bad stain job. Researching wheels and all the options available was really overwhelming; I had no idea what to look for or the advantage or use of one thing over … Continue reading Spinning: My Wheels
Spinning: How I Started
In the fall of 2009, I joined a fairly new knitting group that met at a local Panera. As is often the case, many of them did more than knit and some crocheted. One woman was coming off a jag of cross stitching. A few had learned to spin and would bring their drop spindles … Continue reading Spinning: How I Started
Color Blending: The Circle
A while ago, a wrote about learning how to make rolags on my drum carder this spring. After coming up with a few combinations of gifted roving, I made sets of gradients between two colors, starting with a bright green and an aqua. I've done this before - when I made my first Bohus cardigan. … Continue reading Color Blending: The Circle
Tour de Fleece 2018
I haven't forgotten entirely about this blog; since paying for the domain it's been weighing on me because I haven't been using it. It reminds me of the time my parents paid out of pocket for a season's ski pass at our local ski area (out of pocket because in previous years my Dad worked … Continue reading Tour de Fleece 2018
Little Golden Notebook 