Fourth of July: Thinking about knitting and historiography

Cover of Never Caught by Dunbar

I’m knitting a shawl using natural white and indigo-dyed Finnsheep wool. It’s an exceptionally simple pattern with garter stitch stripes and an edging of an extremely simple lace: *yo, k2tog* across in one row, followed by three plain garter rows. There are some increases at each end of two of the plain rows. On the … Read more

Coloured Sheep: A Colour Genetics Primer

I wrote this commentary as one component of my May newsletter, which was sent to my mailing list yesterday. I’m posting it here as well so people who are searching for information on Coloured Sheep: A Colour Genetics Primer by Irina Böhme and Saskia Dittgen will be able to find it more easily. Spring and … Read more

May newsletter: Considering hand carders

Four sets of hand carders

If you subscribe to my newsletter, you’ve already received this discussion, along with extra links to upcoming workshops. Although as I put this together, I added a couple of update sentences. _________________ Considering Carders I just spent two pleasant days hanging out at Shuttles, Spindles, and Skeins in Boulder, Colorado, with a bunch of other … Read more

Reading list: The Lambs, by Carole George

Cover of The Lambs by Carole George.

My apologies for the long interlude between posts. Sometimes we just need to hunker down and focus on the core activities, and that’s the way it’s been around here for a while. The question has been what would impel me to write a new blog post, other than clearing out of the local impediments. Then … Read more

So, what’s with “primitive” and sheep or wool?

For the past week, I’ve been holed up in a studio four hours’ drive from home catching up on a few things. I’m not caught up, but I’m ready to see how the new blog platform works. I’m still hampered by the complications with my photo library that took place last year, and while I have … Read more