Episode 108 Double Trouble with Ruffles

Listen here or use the Flash Player on this site for current and past episodes.

This episode is sponsored by my Longaberger Home Business and Quince & Co.  The folks at Quince & Co have created a line of thoughtfully conceived yarns spun from American wool and other fibers sourced from earth friendly suppliers.  You can view the beautiful yarns and designs at www.quinceandco.com and while you are there sign up for their free e-newsletter.

You can find my Longaberger Home Business at www.longaberger.com/paula.  If you wish to be on my email preferred customer list, please send me an email at paulaef@aol.com with your name, mailing address, and phone. 

I enjoy your feedback, comments on the blog, and questions.  Feel free to write to me at Paulaef@aol.com or on Ravelry as PrairiePiper.

Pipeliner Notes

Thanks to everyone who was in touch with me in the past week.

Thank you for the star ratings and reviews on iTunes.

Our Ravelry Group has over 2,000 Pipeliners! 2,052 to be exact.

Giveaway Winner!

Cast On Bind Off: 211 Ways to Begin & End Your Knitting by Cap Sease. Donated by Cap Sease!

The winner is…  #40 Bikenknit who is Melinda.  Please contact me with your mailing information!  Congratulations!

 Vogue Knitting Live!  You didn’t miss me I missed it.

Quince & Co Scarf Call

Knitting Pipeline Retreat  April 26-27, 2013 with optional loosely structured day on April 25^th.  Signups will be announced in a few months.

Nature Notes

We have noticed increased activity at our bird feeders.  Bob commented that the platform feeder was drained in one day.  Yesterday I was sitting at the table in the sunroom and in the course of about two minutes I saw the following birds: Bluejay, Goldfinches, White breasted nuthatch, Black Capped Chickadee, Hairy Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Tufted Titmouse, Red Bellied Woodpecker.  I went for a walk later in the day and when I walked into the kitchen I saw a Cooper’s Hawk sunning himself on our deck railing.  . I got a photograph and will post on the blog.  He kept yawning. Just a few minutes ago I saw that Cooper’s Hawk flying through the woods. He landed on the branches of a big oak tree.

 

Bob cut back the roses and buddleia last night.  He took out the zinnias that have been hosting the relatively small butterfly population this summer and fall.

How do Birds Deal with Hurricanes Like Sandy? 

I saw old Autumn in the misty morn stand shadowless like silence, listening to silence.
Thomas Hood

Needle Notes

Quaker Ridge Shawlette by Susan B Anderson

Blackberry Ridge Woolen Mill

What is a shawlette?

Hyla Brook Shawl by Paula Emons-Fuessle

 

This is the shawl Georgiana that I talked about in last week's episode. Designed by Susanna IC.

 

Striped version in Quince & Co Tern Stonington and Buoy.  One skein of each. Photos to come...

TIP: Use 2 long needles for the ruffle.  Stoppers at end and use like long straight needles back and forth.

Ellison Bay KAL with Mskiknits of Singlehanded Knits.

The Blethering Room

Westknits ChoreoKAL: Stretch It!

In the Pipeline

Listening

Knit Spin Farm: the podcast about fiber and farming. by Joanna Spring

Wild Ideas…the Podcast.   www.wildernesscenter.org.   Wilmot OH.  (I guessed MO)

Reading

Hit by a Farm: How I Learned to Stop worrying and Love the barn by Catherine Friend

AWOL on the Appalachian Trail by David Miller.

The Copper Beech by Maeve Binchy

Watching

Upstairs Downstairs Series 2.  Not as good as the original Upstairs Downstairs but we watch it anyway

Foyle’s War round 2 for us. 

Call the Midwife.

Knitting

Monkey Socks by Cookie A

Blueberry Waffle Socks by Sandy Turner

I suspect another Stephen West shawl will be in the works real soon…probably Herbivore. Or maybe Elowen Shawl by Judy Marples…gift from Knit PurlGurl.   Thank you so much for that. 

The tune is Light from the collection Heartwood by Sora.  Available on Magnatune.com
 

Haste ye back!

Episode 107 Casting On and Binding Off

Listen here or use the Flash Player on this site for current and past episodes.

This episode is sponsored by my Longaberger Home Business and Quince & Co.  The folks at Quince & Co have created a line of thoughtfully conceived yarns spun from American wool and other fibers sourced from earth friendly suppliers.  You can view the beautiful yarns and designs at www.quinceandco.com and while you are there sign up for their free e-newsletter.

 

You can find my Longaberger Home Business at www.longaberger.com/paula.  If you wish to be on my email preferred customer list, please send me an email at paulaef@aol.com with your name, mailing address, and phone.

Note from last week’s show: Boneyard in Champaign-Urbana IL.  It is a creek. Boneyard Creek

Events

Vogue Knitting Live!  Chicago IL Palmer House.  October 25-27, 2012

Knitting Pipeline Retreat  April 26-27, 2013 with optional loosely structured day on April 25^th.  Signups will be announced in a few months.

Nature Notes

Today is an Indian Summer Day.  We’ve had some light frosts, not really killing frost, but enough to turn the basil black if it had not been covered. The view outside my window is dramatically different than it was last week.  Almost all of the trees except for the majestic oaks have lost their leaves.  The woods are carpeted in the fading tones of yellow, orange, and red leaves.

This morning when I was returning from my walk in the misting rain I saw a hawk flying into the woods.  I keep wondering how birds can fly through a dense woods without running into branches.  Think of it.  We cannot run easily through a woods without getting snagged by branches, thorns, and twigs.  I would probably run head first into a tree.  A hawk is a big bird, I think this one was a Cooper’s Hawk, and yet they negotiate the branches and trunks of trees in the woods without seeming to slow down.  We see whole flocks of birds fly straight through the woods and not a one seems to collide with anything.  How do they do it?

Butterfly by D.H. Lawrence

Butterfly, the wind blows sea-ward,  strong beyond the garden-wall!

Butterfly, why do you settle on my shoe, and sip the dirt on my shoe,

Lifting your veined wings, lifting them?  big white butterfly!

 Already it is October, and the wind blows strong to the sea

from the hills where snow must have fallen, the wind is polished with snow.

Here in the garden, with red geraniums, it is warm, it is warm

but the wind blows strong to sea-ward, white butterfly, content on my shoe!

 Will you go, will you go from my warm house?

Will you climb on your big soft wings,  black-dotted, as up an invisible rainbow, an arch

till the wind slides you sheer from the arch-crest

and in a strange level fluttering you go out to sea-ward, white speck!

Needle Notes

Better photos coming soon!

Orchid Thief on the blocking bed.

Detail of Crochet Beaded Bind Off

Orchid Thief Shawlette by Ysolda Teague.

The Woolen Rabbit Kashmir in Scottish Heather.  525 yd skeins.

Modification: Beads and crocheted beaded bind off. 

Georgiana by Susanna IC

Jane Austen Knits 2011

Miss Babs Yummy Superwash Lucite Granite Colorway purchased at SSK 2012.  400 yd skeins.  I used about 500 yd.

Ellison Bay KAL with Mskiknits of Singlehanded Knits.

 

The Blethering Room

Bishop Hill Fiber Guild Spin In Saturday Oct 20, 2012 East Peoria IL

Vendor Market…locally raised wool, alpaca, and other fibers.  Wooden items, beads…

Most tempted by Cormo by Clearview Farm.  Clear View Farm Waterman, IL

Bronwyn and I had so much fun!  Let’s get a big group of Pipeliners going next year!

Bronwyn and Paula with Pipeliners Gail and Kris.

Market at Bishop Hill Fiber Guild Spin In East Peoria IL

 

Book Reviews

Cast On Bind Off: 54 Step-by-Step Methods by Leslie Ann Bestor. Small size.

Cast On Bind Off: 211 Ways to Begin & End Your Knitting by Cap Sease. Larger, illustrations clearer, more techniques.

Giveaway for Cast On Bind Off by Cap Sease book.  Leave a comment in the prize thread in our Knitting Pipeline Group on Ravelry (not the thread for the episode, there will be a separate thread for the giveaway.)

I’m off to Vogue Knitting Live in 12 hours!  Have to pack.  Thanks for listening and for checking out the blog.

Episode 106 Meeting Westknits

Listen here or use the Flash Player on this site for current and past episodes.

This episode is sponsored by my Longaberger Home Business and Quince & Co.  The folks at Quince & Co have created a line of thoughtfully conceived yarns spun from American wool and other fibers sourced from earth friendly suppliers.  You can view the beautiful yarns and designs at www.quinceandco.com and while you are there sign up for their free e-newsletter.

 

You can find my Longaberger Home Business at www.longaberger.com/paula.  If you wish to be on my email preferred customer list, please send me an email at paulaef@aol.com with your name, mailing address, and phone.

I enjoy your feedback, comments on the blog, and questions.  Feel free to write to me at Paulaef@aol.com or on Ravelry as PrairiePiper.  My business site is www.longaberger.com/paula

Pipeliner Notes

There is a buzz about Stroopwafels on our board.  Trader Joe’s might have them during the holidays and there are a few other sources.

Events and Prizes

Hyla Brook KAL Prizes!

#1  Texas Yellow Rose aka Lyn! Wins Quince & Co yarn.  Either 2 skeins of Tern/Finch or Sparrow or 3 skeins of Chickadee or anything comparable.

#2   Nualasmom (Pattern of choice digital download)

#3 zoohouse10 (Pattern of choice digital download)

Please contact me to claim your prize!  If I don’t hear from you in a week or so I will contact you.

Thank you to everyone who participated! 

Congratulations to Quiltinknitnut: Third place ribbon at the Georgia National Fair! Piper’s Journey

 

Events

Bishop Hill Fiber Guild Spin In Saturday Oct 20, 2012 East Peoria IL

Vogue Knitting Live!  Chicago IL Palmer House.  October 25-27, 2012

Knitting Pipeline Retreat  April 26-27, 2013 with optional loosely structured day on April 25^th.  Signups will be announced in a few months.

Calendar of Hope

Nature Notes

View of woods from the sunroom last Saturday. 

Maple tree right outside sunroom is orange and red!

When we left for The Netherlands there was just a hint of fall in the trees and then flying home we really saw the fall color.  Who would think after the hot dry summer we had that the colors this fall would be so brilliant, quite possibly the most beautiful since we have lived in our home by the woods.  There were a few years when the trees sort of turned brown and lost their leaves without a lot of fanfare but not this year.  Looking out my windows is a wall of yellows, oranges, and reds and greens too because some of the trees hang onto their chlorophyll a bit longer.  When we had rain last week the trunks of the trees were almost black and were a striking foil in the golds and yellows. I sit in the sunroom and am perfectly happy in total silence with my knitting and looking at the leaves and birds.  There is a maple tree right outside the window, the one in which we hang one of our wren houses, that is breathtaking in its red and orange.  Why some of these maples, which seem to be the same species, decide to be so flamboyant in red and orange when 80% of the maples in the woods are mostly yellow is a mystery.  This morning I watched a white breasted nuthatch as he or she hopped headfirst down the trunk of another maple, partly shrouding the nuthatch in a curtain of yellow and orange.  The squirrels are busy gathering acorns from the red oak and burying them in nooks and crannies.  A fox trots across the edge of the woods, maybe looking for a meal or a warm hiding place for the winter. The serviceberry in our rain garden is small but its leaves, mottled with red and brown are each a painting. I see a leaf fall and I want to stop everything and say, “No, wait, just another photo.”  But the photos cannot capture the scene because it is so wide and deep.  Still, I keep trying and I will share those photos with you.

See more nature photos on my personal blog. www.apiperknits.blogspot.com.

The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be.
Anne Frank

Needle Notes

Orchid Thief Shawlette by Ysolda  KAL going on in her group.  Reissued pattern.  Brave New Knits by Julie Turjoman.

Out of Control with KALs!

Project	KAL	Time Frame	Deadline
Quaker Ridge Shawlette	The Fat Squirrel Speaks		13-Oct
Hyla Brook Shawl	Paula	Sept 1 to Oct 15	15-Oct
Quaker Ridge Shawlette	Susan B Anderson	Sept 9 to Oct 21	21-Oct
Blueberry Waffle Socks	Diane/Knitabulls	Sept 1 to Oct 31	31-Oct
Monkey by Cookie A	Singlehandedknits	Sept to Nov 4	4-Nov
Orchid Thief Shawlette	Ysolda	27-Sep	15-Nov
Any Susan B Anderson	SSK	Nov 1-Dec 16	Dec 16th
Gradient Yarn	2 Knit Lit Chicks

Ellison Bay KAL hosted by me will be after the holidays so look forward to that in January.  We will probably have a New Years Day cast on date which would be fun.

Ellison Bay KAL with Mskiknits of Singlehanded Knits.

Also East Coast Knitters Group have a KAL going with Ellison Bay.

Thank you to Ellison Bay Test Knitters:  Lu, Linda, Nancy, and Charr.

The Blethering Room

Dille & Kamille  Belgium and The Netherlands

De Afstap in Amsterdam

De Afstap in Amsterdam.  Paula and Hanneke

 

Stephen West in Urbana.  Westknits

 

Klose Knit, 311 W Springfield Ave. Urbana IL 61801. 

Klose Knits in Urbana IL. A great little LYS.

Yarn bombing on front porch

 

Sylvia’s Irish Inn Bed and Breakfast

 

Is this not the coziest workshop space ever?

Herbivore

Little Colonnade

Little Colonnade

Karen and Paula

 

Westknits Book 3

Dustland Hat

Dustland Mitts

Bedrock

Product Review

After This Row by Joyce Garris  “Keeping Your Place One Row at a Time”

After This Row Tutorial

I am using for Quaker Ridge Shawlette by Susan B Anderson.

Makes you read through the pattern thoroughly.

Affordable so you can try it for $1.99.

Good for people who like a paper tracker similar to the Checklist and Row Counter that was available for Hyla Brook.

The musical selection is from Da Camera: A Celtic Celebration.  www.magnatune.com

Autumn - The Marvel of Peru from Airs for the Seasons

Haste ye back!

Episode 105 Journey of Pipers

Listen here or use the Flash Player in the side bar for current and past episodes.  Subscribe on iTunes!

This episode is sponsored by my Longaberger Home Business and Quince & Co.  The folks at Quince & Co have created a line of thoughtfully conceived yarns spun from American wool and other fibers sourced from earth friendly suppliers.  You can view the beautiful yarns and designs at www.quinceandco.com and while you are there sign up for their free e-newsletter.

You can find my Longaberger Home Business at www.longaberger.com/paula.  If you wish to be on my email preferred customer list, please send me an email at paulaef@aol.com with your name, mailing address, and phone.  Many thanks to those of you who have already done that.

I enjoy your feedback, comments on the blog, and questions.  Feel free to write to me at Paulaef@aol.com or on Ravelry as PrairiePiper.  

I’ve recently returned from my trip to The Netherlands where I performed at The National Military Tattoo with the wonderful people of The Dutch Pipes and Drums.  My friend, fellow piper, and travel companion, Heather, is joining me today for the first time. Heather is tulip1014 on Ravelry.

Rotterdam Tattoo The Netherlands Military Tattoo

The Dutch Pipes and Drums

Our long time listeners may remember that I interviewed Pipe Major (Sir) Willie McVean and his wife Jose on Knitting Pipeline on Episode 47 in June 17, 2011.

I will be posting more photos on my personal blog, A Piper Knits, so you can follow me there if you like.

First time in full dress!

At the bus ready to travel to Rotterdam with our hosts, Alfons and Marielle.

Willie is tying the plait.


In this video you see the pipe band emerging from the mist and playing the sets.

We talk about food we enjoyed, such as stroopwafels.  I found a place in the U.S. where you can buy them and have them shipped to you. I Love Stroopwafels.

Needle Notes

Hyla Brook KAL began September 1 and the ending date is October 15^th, maybe until the 17^th. 

Hyla Brook Check list and Row Counter.

Hyla Brook KAL Ravelry Thread

Tag your projects: hylabrookkal and post a photo of your finished project in the no-chatter FO thread to be eligible for prizes.

First prize will be Quince & Co yarn in the color of your choice, either 2 skeins of Tern or Finch or 3 skeins Chickadee.

NEW KAL  Ellison Bay

I mentioned this might happen at the end of October but I am now thinking we need a bit of a break between the two kals.  What do you think?

In the Pipeline

Listening: (Paula)

Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl; The Definitive Edition.

Basic Dutch: The Pimsleur Method.

Twinset Designs

Reading

The Kitchen Daughter by Jael McHenry.

The Sweetgum Knit Lit Society by Beth Pattillo.   

Watching (Heather)

Frankenweenie

Freaks & Geeks (Available on Netflix Streaming!)

Looking forward to "Arrested Development" Season 4 on Netflix

Listening (Heather)

The Netherlands Playlist (Guilty Pleasure Pop), "Lights" - Ellie Goulding, "Too Close" - Alex Clare, "Hello" - Karmin, "Wide Awake" - Katy Perry, "Primadonna" - Marina and the Diamonds, "Starships" and "Pound the Alarm" - Nicki Minaj, "Good Time" - Owl City, "Home" - Phillip Phillips, Indian Techno: MC Yogi's and Midival Punditz

Reading (Heather)

The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson

Cub Scouts Tiger Cub Handbook

Knitting (Heather)

Piper's Journey by Paula Emons-Fuessle in Quince & Co Chickadee Twig. First lace project!

Lexington Waves by Amy Fowler. Fun beaded/knitting necklace gift project.

High Note Low Note

Paula:  High Note: Messenger Bag from L.L. Bean.  $49.95 with Free shipping.

Envirosax  Holds 44 lb—same as the dress uniform.

SecondsEco Store  Seconds Eco Store
120D Bent Street
Taos, NM 87571

Low Note:  doing an internet search and coming up with false results. 

Many thanks to our dear friends in The Dutch Pipes and Drums for all you did to make our stay the piping trip of a lifetime!