Amanda and I met Eugene at the Union Square Greenmarket in NYC. He's dedicated to his sheep and yarn. Here are a few excerpts from Baa, his Catskill Merino Newsletter, Vol. 2 No. 35.

"The wool grown by Catskill Merino sheep is the finest Saxon Merino wool in the Northeast, if not North America...In 1991 I went to New South Wales and Victoria and brought back to New York five world class Saxon rams to breed to my coarser wooled American Merino ewes. After nine generations of Saxons born here, you can experience the history of their pure breeding in the softness and delicate handle of the wool as you run the yarn through your fingers."

The skinny on the sheep.

"The sheep are pasture-raised from April through October, when not on pasture they are fed hay and whole grains, never low-cost composite--and possibly contaminated--pelleted feeds made from food industry byproducts...My rams were quarantined in Honolulu and certified disease-free by USDA vets; my ewes come from a desert flock in Nevada, where natural selection over 150 years produced healthy and hardy sheep that are not dependent on pharmaceuticals....In 1991 my flock was closed: no new sheep have entered the property since, meaning the sheep have not been exposed to new, contagious, disease vectors."

The dyeing of the wool gets equal attention by Eugene resulting in a yarn that I could not resist purchasing.

Included are a couple of photos of Eugene and the yarn. I wish that I had been able to photograph the sheep as well. Alas.

Happy knitting.

Purple and yellow flower hell. This is where I am, this is where I will be staying.

The flowered cardigan has become the bane of my existence. Being the kind of girl I am I have decided to try to finish it for Easter. Strike that. I have decided to finish it for Easter. With the back and one side of the front done this should be quite an adventure.

Wish me luck.

I finished this Dolly Mixture Waistcoat (Does anyone know the name of the creator of this pattern?) on Valentine's Day, though my goal had been Thanksgiving, and while the knitting journey was exhilarating, I'm glad it's over. The many-inched (in length) band that runs around the edge of the vest, done in moss stitch on size one needles, was particularly long in the making, but fortunately I had the Olympics (involved enough in my knitting to sort of avoid the silly media hype and Bob Costas) and a poetry reading (a good one) to get me through. This vest immediately went from my knitting needles and yarn needle to Aidan, who after putting it on then said with a level of sincerity that only comes forth when she is truly pleased with something, "Thank you, thank you for knitting this for me." This made/makes it all worth it--and the fact that she wears it at least once a week without my threatening to give the vest away to a little girl who will actually wear the darn thing.

Of course I had to include some photos of the final project and the owner of the final project.

Faded Manos

Faded Manos
Originally uploaded by Mandy K.

A couple years ago Elizabeth and I decided not to buy yarn for one year. A couple days before that year started we made a preparatory visit the Abbot Yarn Shop. I got some Manos, four skeins of the same colorway.

Here is
My So-Called Scarf. It shows the colors very well. It also shows how one of the skeins faded. On the left is the faded skein. The bad news is that I have a scarf that is two very different shades. The good news is that I like the faded side better.

How then to fade the bright side? Tomorrow I plan to wash the scarf and let it dry in the sun with the faded side folded under.

Wish me luck.