beebonnet report

in sheep's clothing

Here is a real treat!  A friend pointed me to this film In Sheep's Clothing, made in 1932, which shows Shetland crofters going from sheep to sweater.  I was interested to see how they rooed the sheep, which is plucking the wool off of them, rather than shearing.  I also really enjoyed watching the spinning.  Mrs. Jamieson had such a small wheel, and she was really treadling fast for her long draw.  I was interested to see that her long draw is very similar to my long draw, with one hand as the quality control and the other drawing.  I've sometimes heard people say that "real spinners" long draw with one hand only, and I think that's just not using all the tools in your toolbox.  I also noted when she was knitting the sweater, that it looked as if the yarn was held in her left hand which is contrary to how I thought it was held when knitting with pins, however it might be that my old eyes just can't catch exactly what's happening.  I only wish I could go back in time and ask questions!

Sigh. Heaven.

Have I mentioned that I love living in Oregon?  All of this (and more, much more!) I spied on my way to and from my autumn spinning retreat on the Oregon coast.  Sigh.  Heaven.

honey spiced

I recently inherited a lovely tea set from Lady R.  It's the kind of thing made from delicate bone china porcelain, with blue and gold filigree.  Not your every day china!  I also have a beautiful set of teacups and dishes that I inherited from my own grandmother - hers are a creamy white franciscan ware, a little more sturdy, but lovely nonetheless.  Last week I decided it was time to put it all to use, so I invited all my local knitting and spinning pals over for an honest-to-goodness fancy tea party.

Here in Eugene we have no shortage of knitters and spinners, I belong to about 4 or 5 different groups that meet on different days of the week.  So, I thought, what the heck! and I invited them all!  Luckily only a small subset of each group showed up, (otherwise I might have had to serve them tea out of dixie cups on the front stoop) but all together it made a lovely large party.

I made scones with whipped cream (clotted cream sounded like too much of an experiment at the time) and jam, finger sandwiches, of course, and we had a variety of candies and other sweets.  I made my own honey spiced chai - it's really easy - and we sampled several different teas including a rose petal tea, a malty assam, and a brahmin blend.  yum!

Dainty gloves and bonnets were optional, and we got some fancy bonnets at the party.  Of course, knitters and spinners can't get together without some knitting and spinning happening too!  All in all, it was a really fun day for me and I hope for my guests as well.  I think I'll do it again some time, after all, I have the tea sets now!

Honey spiced Chai

Use a medium strength black tea, I like to use malty assam for this, but most black tea will do, like English Breakfast or Darjeeling.  Just avoid flavored teas like Earl Grey.

I have a tea masala (spice) that I use.  It's approximately 2 tbsp of garam masala (I get mine in the bulk spice section of my local market) and 1/2 tsp of white pepper mixed together.  The pepper gives it a little bite, but this ratio is pretty mild.  If you don't like the peppery taste you can omit it.

One cup of tea (add to cup in following order) (I edited to reduce the amount of masala to 1/8 tsp instead of 1/4 - better to start out with less and add more if needed)

1/8 tsp of the masala to the tea leaves (if you're using loose tea) or to the cup if you're using a tea bag.
1/2 tsp - 1 tsp honey (depending on how sweet you like)
1/4 c hot milk (I like to use whole milk)
near boiling water

mmmm.... I think I'd like a cup right now!

And of course what would a knitting blog be without some actual knitting to show.  I'm working on some secret stuff at the moment, but I do have some recently released patterns to show off... I just uploaded the pattern for the Convallaria scarf to Ravelry.  This one is available either as a standalone or as part of the Winter Luxuries Collection.  It's inspired by the beautiful lace knitting of Estonia and features a lily of the valley motif common to Estonian knitting.  The model shown here is size medium, which is an oversized scarf.  This one is knit from handspun merino/angora singles yarn and is super soft!

And also part of the Winter Luxuries collection, are three colorwork cowls.  These can be purchased as a set of three or as part of Winter Luxuries.  All three are made in Sanguine Gryphon Codex yarn - a super yummy blend of Bluefaced Leicester and silk that is soft and lustrous!  I love how it takes the dye, these colors are so rich.

I can't wait to show you some of the things I'm working on now... but that will have to wait for another day.  In the meantime I'm going to go make a cup of tea... spiced chai anyone?