The Seventh Veil

The theme for the August Phat Fiber Box, I must confess, did not excite me. “Arabian Nights.” What, pray tell, am I to do with a theme like that? Lawrence of Arabia and Ali? Black and purple, gold and white? Well, it was a possibility, though not a terribly exciting one.

I don’t remember now, exactly how the discussion began, but my dear internet friend, Khadijah, somehow sparked my interest in creating a lavender and pink yarn colorway, and I liked what I got when I tried it. She thought it was pretty, too, and gave me permission to name the colorway after her. There will be some more serious experimentation in that direction, hopefully at the end of this week, and the resulting yarns will be part of my samples for the August box.

But I am finding that no matter how glorious my yarns are, they simply do not move. I put them in the shop, and they sit. And sit. And sit. Why? Any number of reasons. Bad economy. A glut of beautiful, hand-painted yarns from indie dyers currently on the market. And it’s summer. In the heat, a person has to be really weird about his/her wool obsession to want to work with the stuff.

What does this say about me? Wool-obsessed nutcase, that’s what. There is, quite simply, no bad time for wool. However, weather like we’ve been having drives me to the spinning wheel more than it drives me to think of scarves, sweaters, and the promise of cooler temperatures in the not-so-distant future.

But back to Phat Fiber. I realized that I have probably been shooting myself in the foot by sending in only yarn samples and patterns in recent months. My forte appears to be the blending of spinning fibers. OK. I don’t mind shifting gears, but…“Arabian Nights?”

With vague ideas about an “I Dream of Jeannie” colorway, and a spinners’ version of “Khadijah,” I ordered some wool, and when it arrived I dutifully started to play with it. Let’s get “Jeannie” done and out of the way first, then I can really put my all into “Khadijah.”

With Suzanne Vega’s musical take on “I Dream of Jeannie” firmly lodged in my head, I started working. I was not seeing anything remotely like what I had been thinking of for “Jeannie,” and then Patti Smith stepped into my brain and abruptly shoved all thoughts of comedy out the side door.

“Here is my seventh veil, and last; it will cost you. The royal word, it has been passed. The prophet’s head is all I ask. For beauty and the naked truth, it will cost you.”

And suddenly, there is Salome’s deadly dance, and the gold jewelry shining all over her, maybe some finger cymbals, too, and the pale pink of the final veil flung away, mingling with the blood of John the Baptist. Yikes!

But in spite of the violent inspiration, it is a lovely fiber, and a lovely yarn, and has allowed me to finally work through the grief, horror, and rage I felt as a child, when I first heard the story of John the Baptist, and Herod, and Salome. I must have been six or seven, and I had no idea where the story was going. I remember hiding my head inside my desk and sobbing inconsolably. Poor, poor John! I felt it so deep n my heart, that the story should not have ended with his head on a platter.

And in the yarn, the red dominates. The blood of John is stronger than the gold jewelry, or the pale pink of the seventh veil. Even in death, somehow, he triumphs. All is not lost.


Quite an odd journey, from one silly, half-hearted inspiration to a heavy, serious one, especially knowing how far back in my own history it goes.

Peace, St. John. This one is for you. 

Mad Angel Creations Climbing Bamboo Scarf Pattern

All test knits have been completed, and the pattern tweaked for clarity, so my Climbing Bamboo Scarf pattern is now available in my shop.

I tried using a commercial yarn for one of my test knits, as well as a few different hand spun yarns from my stash. The commercial yarn was pretty enough, but too consistent to really show the stitch pattern to its best advantage. Hand spun yarn has a lot more "character."

This is kind of like a realtor saying a property that desperately needs updating has “charm.”

I try to be consistent in my spinning, but despite my best efforts, there are thick and thin parts. It’s inevitable. The phone rings, or the cat jumps on my head, or I have to leap up and break up a dog fight, or the kid accidentally sets my oven on fire…so much for a consistent thread!

The good news is, the imperfections do wonders for bringing the stitch pattern out beautifully.

One may certainly use a commercial yarn, but if so, try to choose one a bit on the “rustic” side, with thick and thin places.

Gauge is not critical. Needle sizes and yarn thicknesses are totally up to you. It is not necessary to slavishly follow my directions. Play with it. Swatch it. When you get a fabric that suits you, go with the yarn and needles that produced it, and have fun!

You may make this scarf for gifting, of course, and I won’t stop anyone from selling scarves made from this pattern. However, please credit me as the designer, and I beg you NOT to make and/or distribute free copies of the pattern. Every penny I earn goes back into my business one way or another, so I may keep offering beautiful yarns and spinning fibers, and supporting other indie fiber artists.

If you do choose to knit this pattern, please share pictures with me! And if you are on Ravelry, please post a project page. I love to see what other people make with my patterns, yarns, and fibers. It’s inspiring!


Now I'm off to do some more "Tour de Fleece" spinning!

Madam Medusa

I finished Round One of Madam Medusa! 2-ply, 3.25 oz, 203 yds. I'm thinking maybe I'll make some socks, but first I have to card and spin Rounds Two and Three, which arrived in the mail yesterday. But first I have some more Business Spinning to do, so I'll have full-sized skeins of this month's Phat Fiber samples available for sale in time for Box Drop Weekend!

Madam Medusa Locks

I forget sometimes, when I spend too much time spinning Merino top, that there is more to my spinning life than that. MUCH more!

This bunch of fibery awesomeness came from WishFox Dyeworks. The sheep who produced the excellent fleece was a Wensleydale/Lincoln crossbreed. I fell in love the first time I saw the picture of the dyed locks, and when it arrived, I quickly discovered the stuff is even better than I thought it might be. Tabitha did a fantastic job maintaining the integrity of the locks, so it's a very simple matter to gently separate a few from the bunch and flick-card them. There is VERY little waste left in the flick-carder. Wonderful!

I have not flicked the whole lot yet. I'll do that as I go, and just spin each lock as it comes to hand, and I think it will end up being, ultimately, a 2-ply heavy sock-weight yarn.

What will I make with this? Not sure yet. Very likely, I will do socks. With a long, sturdy staple such as these locks have, I bet socks would be really sturdy and last me a long, long time.

Longwool sheep do not produce the softest fiber in the world, but I knew that before I started. I love the rustic wool they produce just the same. It has more character than the Merino I've been working with, and it's a really welcome change! Also, this batch of stuff is pretty soft, as Longwools go. I will not end up with Brillo Yarn, as I did with some gray Cotswold I overspun a few years ago. (Hubby got that pair of socks, and actually loves them because they are so springy underfoot!)

Oh, and because this particular color is a limited run? Of course, I ordered more today, and I am going to keep a close eye on Tabitha's shop.

What a perfect cure for Too Much Merino Syndrome!

Too Awesome Not To Share!

Fervently hoping it's OK to share this link, but it must be, since it was shared by the artist, on Facebook late last week.

I saw Timothy C. Holehouse play last year in Bethel, CT and Northampton, MA, respectively. He and my friend Malcolm were doing a little tour together, with Tim opening for Mal. I loved his rough acoustic blues, so when he posted his Soundcloud link this week, I was eager to check it out.

This is a total departure from what I heard him do in concert. It's all instrumental, with voice thrown in for a bit on a couple of tracks. Although there are words, the voice is just one little thread in the complex texture of the work. Each piece starts small, and builds...and builds.

The more I listen to it, the more I love it, and I rank it as high as my favorite Godspeed You! Black Emperor album, Yanqui U.X.O., and I am dying to listen to it in the dark, with headphones.

Tim intends to release this on vinyl as a double album, and is searching for a label. I mention this in case someone who might be able to help him happens to stumble on to this blog and read this post.

Everyone else, please settle back and relax for awhile, and treat yourself to a listen. I swear I hear something different every time I play it.

And I really have to plug in some headphones sometime tomorrow, and see what other details I might be missing by not listening that intimately...

Re My Long Absence

It has been hard to even think of anything to say here lately. So much has been happening that I don't even want to get into here, so I won't, except to say that it has been a total whirlwind since mid-February. During the weeks since then, my mother-in-law died, and my own mother finally lost her mind far enough to be placed in the nursing home. There are some health issues with my younger daughter, too, that have really sapped my energy and left me with little free time. At least the dust is finally settling -- or so it seems -- and I am turning my thoughts back to creating new stuff to put in my shop. I have also gotten back to contributing to the Phat Fiber sampler box.

The detail below is from my Delphic Oracle Scarf. 50 lucky people who happen to score Phat Fiber boxes over this weekend will receive a copy of the pattern, and just in case any of those 50 people feels inclined to knit the scarf, I custom-dyed some nice wool yarn to go with it. There are 7 skeins available, each containing 300 yards, which is a bit more than enough to knit the scarf if the pattern is knitted exactly as written.

I just washed the square and pinned it out, so the Bee depicted shows up better. I'm not usually into gold/yellow-orange, but I really love the way this yarn came out, and I like the way it works with the motif.

Business has been terribly slow, so I am contemplating a return to the work force at some point in the not-too-distant future. Where will I go? What will I do? Frankly, my dear, NOT into Retail, if I can possibly avoid it. Whatever I end up doing would, ideally, see me Making Something, and my boss would not turn out to be a psychopath.

Hmmm...I might be asking for too much...

A Song for Ewe

Rough mix of a silly new song!

OK, this one has been in the works for a long time, but it took me until yesterday to finally record a study copy. I now need to keep working on memorization and playing the guitar part better. There WILL be a more polished version eventually, but for now, enjoy a good chuckle over my knitting and spinning obsession.

Went to bed last night and I tried to get me some sleep

Kept a-tossin' and turnin' so I tried countin' sheep

But it didn't get no better 'cause all them sheep turned into sweaters

With thousands of twisted stitches

Look real fine with some Harris Tweed britches

Got knittin' on the brain and it's drivin' me insane

And as long as I'm countin' them sheep

I ain't gonna be gettin' me no sleep...

Knit four, purl four, moss stitch and cable

Oh, Lordy, gotta drink myself under the table

Before I feel better...no more sheep turnin' into sweaters...

Put away my knittin' needles...Tweedle deedle deedle...

And as long as I'm countin' them sheep

I ain't gonna be gettin' me no sleep

And I got them sheep-countin' sweater-knittin' blues

Now the hamster's on the wheel and he ain't bein' too genteel

And I'm dumb as a box of rocks

'Cause now I'm thinkin' 'bout knittin' socks

Oh, man, you may be a charmer

But I ain't gonna knit you no willie warmer

No, man, I do not care if you are cold down there

Damn! I'm still countin' them sheep

And I ain't gonna be gettin' me no sleep

'Cause I got them sheep-countin' sweater-knittin' blues...

Went to bed last night and I tried to get me some sleep

Kept a-tossin' and turnin' so I tried countin' sheep

Lord, I'm in the grip and posession

Of a mighty fierce wool obsession

With dreams of expandin' my stash if I only had me a little more cash

Got knittin' on the brain and it's drivin' me insane

I got them sheep-countin' sweater-knittin' blues...

Yeah, I know I got enough t keep me knittin' for several lifetimes

But passin' by sale bins, Lord, can't do that, what a crime

To walk out on such great deals

And man, just look at them spinnnin' wheels!

Get away with them spindles and silk, and...

Whatcha mean, you can even spin milk?

Now I got spinnin' on the brain and it's drivin' me insane

And I got them sheep-countin' wool spinnin' blues...

Went to bed last night and I tried to get me some sleep

Kept a-tossin' and turnin' so I tried countin' sheep...

But man, what's the deal? They're all turnin' into spinnin' wheels

And piles of wooly fiber, enough to bury Lady Godiva

Now I got spinnin' on the brain and it's drivin' me insane

And I got them wool-spinnin' yarn-makin' blues...

You realize there's no end to this, every day it's a new obsession...

Merino....Alpaca....Camel....Cashmere...

Oh, man, I'm in trouble

And I better get outta here on the double...

Got spinnin' on the brain and it's drivin' me insane

And I got them sheep-countin' sweater-knittin'

wool-spinnin' yarn-makin' blues...