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Hoarding Yarn

posted in: Knitting 9

Joining Ginny at Yarn Along to share my latest knit! Thanks for stopping by!

Once I made the decision to begin selling my Romney sheep so that we could bring Gotland sheep to our farm, I began hoarding the last of my Romney yarn. As I sold off the ewe lambs more than a year ago, I tightened my grip on their wool, and had it spun just for my own knitting pleasure-one of the perks for being a shepherd and having your own yarn store. So for Christmas, I set out to knit a couple of sweaters out of “Holly’s” wool yarn-one for my college daughter in Michigan, and one for my college son in Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, neither sweater made it to the December 25 finish line, but I am happy to say that last week, I finished my daughter’s sweater.

Knitting with RomneyHolly’s lamb fleece was a beautiful deep chocolate brown, which I chose as the main color. The red stripe is a skein of lighter gray, over-dyed with a natural dye of cochineal and madder. The pattern, Gna, is from a pattern book of Icelandic knitting instructions. The 5 strand cable down the front, mimics the cable that I knit into my husband’s gansey last year-one strand for each member of our family. The pattern has a series of garter stitches at the sides and center back instead of using decreasing stitches at the sides. I knit the sleeves extra long, as my girl is a tall dancer with very long arms. As you can see, even Kai jumped for joy when I finished knitting this sweater!

Romney Sweater

Now to finish up my son’s cabled vest, worked in the same yarn from Holly’s fleece. My college boy has out grown the last sweater I knit for him, and has been asking for a hand knit to keep him warm. With a new deadline of February 28, you can guess how my evenings are spent! I am also reading Stormie Omartian’s The Power of Praying Through the Bible, a great little devotional that walks you through, from Genisis to Revelations with thoughtful reflections of the promises and lessons learned.

Knitting Cables with Romney
My College Boy’s Vest
Prado de Lana Farm
Holly

Holly now lives on Prado de Lana Farm in Pennsylvania where the Barcenas family gives her plenty of hugs and kisses in exchange for her wool. You can buy her lovely, squishy wool yarn from their online store.

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9 Responses

  1. Donna
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    What a great sweater! You may not have finished either project by Christmas but I bet they are going to very much appreciated.

  2. Alina
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    This is a stunning sweater!!! Such a beautiful shaping, texture, color, yarn. I would wear it every single day! Your daughter is a lucky girl 🙂

  3. elaine
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    Love the natural colour of the wool, how nice to be able to use wool from your own sheep!

  4. Amanda Barcenas
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    The sweater came out beautifully! I can’t wait to see the vest. Thank you Holly! And thanks for the shout out!!!

  5. Anna Goodling
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    Wow! It’s beautiful! I can’t wait to try it on! It finally seems to have decided to be winter here…it’s snowed steadily all day (we’ve got about a foot now, I guess, though it’s hard to tell with all the wind making it drift), and is freezing and blustery…just the weather for new sweaters…
    You’re amazing. =)

    • Kim Goodling
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      Notice how long the sleeves are on me Anna! Should be just right for you. I want a picture of you wearing it!:)

  6. thecrazysheeplady
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    Gorgeous!

  7. Cathy Beshore
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    What a special gift…you are a good Mom!

  8. Elise
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    That’s gorgeous, I love those colours together! My mum always makes me things with extra long sleeves, it’s like having my own personal dressmaker, haha 🙂