100% American made

 One of the few 100% American made companies left in the USA, from sheep to finish!
The bales of wool arrive at the plant  some are dyed in the fleece then the natural wool and dyed wool are weighed and mixed together in very specific proportions.  The scale on the left, there is a mark for how much natural wool a mark for black then more natural and black again to make a medium grey.
The wool ready to be carded on the right.

We toured the mill on Saturday so none of the machines were working. Some are 100 years old and still working!!  The men were told not to touch anything because sometimes around mechanical stuff men turn into 10 year olds and start taking things apart just to see how they work.  They were told repeatedly to keep their hands in their pockets.

The carded fibers come off the machine and are pleated into layers ready to be spun into a single ply yarn.

 Fairbault has had the contract since WW1 to make wool blankets for our troops, why wool? its a natural fire retardant. If your house is on fire you want to grab the wool blanket and cover yourself to run to safety. They have been using the same color recipes since the beginning.  The current West Point cadets will have exactly the same color blanket as great grandpa's.  In the 70's they bought a wider loom to weave queen and king size blankets.  Prior to that all beds were twin or full size. Threading the loom is done by hand and takes 2 days, each of those yarns is threaded through 2 eyes, the heddles and the reed which lift and lower the threads.

 

West Point Blanket

U.S. military blankets

The blankets are very stiff and scratchy coming off the loom but then are fulled  meaning they are shrunk a little bit to make them fuller and softer.  That is such an oxymoron. Shrink to make fuller don't you wish dieting worked that way.
These blankets are also 100% virgin wool.  First time through the mill is virgin wool.  The scraps below are saved and go through the grinder which weakens the fibers because they have been broken, nylon is added then the wool goes through the same process again to make more wool blankets.  With the added nylon they are superwash machine wash and dry.

As tempting as it was I did not buy a wool blanket because as you know I have stacks of quilts in the house and a few heirloom wool blankets that my mother wove and a couple wool blankets from Ireland.  But if I do ever need a new wool blanket I know a place in Faribault, Minnesota.  The guys even enjoyed the tour, there was so much history and humor, hubby was telling another nephew about the tour and his new appreciation for cost of wool garments and blankets.
 --Ann--

fun weekend

 A fun weekend with niece Missy and her hubby in Minnesota.  Hubby asked enroute if I needed anything at the quilt shops in New Ulm. I didn't need anything but he did stop and I found some stash fillers since I have used all my white and black fabrics I found a couple and then some and since the store was celebrating 7 years everything was 25% off! What a deal.  We went to MSU hockey they won Friday but got beat Saturday.  And we went to the Faribault Woolen Mill more on that tomorrow.  They are one of 2 woolen mills still in operation in the United States.  --Ann--

little projects

Some little projects I finished recently.  I thought I was going to deliver these socks and slippers in person but my passport is too close to expiring. So instead I will mail these and let Emilia felt the slippers to fit her feet.
I've been working on the bottom socks for a year now, they haven't been a priority, I think they will be my go socks to work on in the car on the next raod trip.  you can ever have too many wool socks in the winter.  --Ann--

Ta da da done

Its funny the way secondary images pop out when the quilt is finished, there is a big circle on the right side in the middle that just catches my eye and above it to the left is a block with the black and white fabrics that are the same value that pops out as a small beach ball.  I saved this polka dot binding just for this quilt and still have enough for another small quilt.  Sadly I have used almost all of my black and white fabrics, for not remembering why I bought them years ago they have been surprising versatile as background fabric with the pink and click with the brights.  A couple more weeks before the bably is born do I send this or click this one?  I think it is refreshing that the couple wanted to be surprised at the birth instead of knowing the gender months ago.  Maybe I will make something else in the meantime.  --Ann--

Fresh look

Same coat, 

still winter, 

still cold outside,
lots of snow,

fresh look, 

attitude improved.

--Ann-- 

machine quilting

An afternoon of power sewing, I haven't done that for months.  A girlfriend's daughter is having a baby soon and this might be the perfect quilt for a baby girl if she has a baby girl.  I thought I would get it done and enjoy looking at it for a couple weeks.  I pieced this back in 2017 and it has just been waiting..........for the perfect baby girl.  There is a boy quilt completly done already.  --Ann--

Quilt top done

 First quilt top of 2020 finished add it to the short stack because I like to have at least 3 quilt tops done before I get the quilt frame out to pin the layers together.  What shoud I do next???
--Ann--

End of the saga

These books were supposed to last me all winter but once I started reading I couldn’t stop. There was snow, a good day to read, then there was wind, a good day to read, then it was just plain cold, a good day to read. I got so wrapped up, not just in a quilt, but with the characters and story that I would go to bed wondering what they would do tomorrow.

More adventures and misadventures for Ross always the good guy fighting for the underdog,   Demelza  holding down Nampara while he is away. They are still the hot couple in Cornwall,  their children are growing up, getting into scrapes, romances, and heart breaks.  George Warlaggen still caring only for himself while butting heads with everyone, he does remarry to a beautiful woman who loves to spend his money. Georges relationship with son, Valentine, is strained as Valentine gets more irresponsible and eccentric. Dwight Enys,  the country doctor,  tending the poor and the wealthy while keeping their secrets.  England is dealing with repercussions of the French Revolution and the Napolonic Wars.  Steam power has come and is pumping water from the lower levels of the mines.  Social and economic change is creeping across the country.

Winston Graham’s Poldark books: Ross Poldark, Demelza, Jeremy Poldark, Warlaggen,  The Black Moon, The Four Swans, The Angry Tide, The Stranger from the Sea, The Miller’s Dance,  The Loving Cup, The Twisted Sword, Bella Poldark.  The first book was written in 1945 and the last book in 2002.  Winston Graham died in 2003 at age 95.

I finished the last book on Saturday and I’m still wondering what they will do next, their youngest is just a boy and they have a grandchild. Ross has a title, well earned for his service to the Crown and Parliament making Demelza a Lady.

Some stories are limited to the pages of the book, when I close the book I’m done. Not so with these books Winston Graham has created a world and an era by bringing real events and people into the story but also by including small characters and local events which add so much to the depth of the story.  Each book left me wanting to know more and sad that I came to the end.  I guess it’s time to get back to my life in the present. More cold, snow and wind.  ~~Ann~~

organizing my head

Yesterday I went to my sewing room and just looked at the mess for a while.  The day before that I looked at the mess then knit a few rows and thought about my plan of attack and went back upstairs.

First I had to sew a label for a quilt but then I thought maybe I would like to make a new baby quilt instead of the one that is finished that I really do like so I got out the western and cowboy fabrics lots of leftovers from all those boy quilts I made.  Look at pictures of those quilts to help me decide what to make...........look through all the pictures.......maybe a sailboat quilt would be quicker,  pull out the bright fabrics I need 4 or 9 fat quarters for the boats,  sashing and border fabric if I only sew 4 sailboats.  Most of the bright fabrics have been cut so there are very few full fat quarters............spot the background fabrics from the finished quilt.  I could make another one just like it because I really like that quilt. I felt like I had accomplished a lot at this point even though I had nothing to show for it except more fabric on the table.

Still didn't get the label sewn but I did get the table cleared and cut the sashing for this quilt which has been on the design wall since November.  Tomorrow I will blow the dust off the sewing machine and sew.  I feel like my head is organized for 2020.  --Ann--

Finished

I told you this yarn enchanted the needles. I just knit, knit, knit and it was done!  A few close up because I can't figure out how to use the self timer and burst mode on my camera, the old one was so easy and the selfie thing just isn't working for me.

The little details that make this sweater special, the neck and the neck ribbing knitted double and folded over and stitched with a purl row on the fold.  Love it! and the shoulder tab.....just another little detail that makes it special.  —Ann—

On the needles

Progress on my sweater, the weather must be cold and snowy and windy,  I want to get it done so I can wear it! Its hand dyed yarn and you can see how each skein was a little bit different.  They looked to be very uniform in the skeins and even more uniform when I wound them into balls............. but ....... the second ball was a warmer gray with some very light gray segments, the third had less gray between color changes at the beginning of the ball, the 4th was most like the first.  What will happen with the sleeves?  Have you ever wondered how they hand dye some of these yarns, is it spread on huge tables and spattered with dye, is each skein done individually, how many miles of yarn do they do at a time or in a run?  A mile of yarn figures out to 8 balls of 220 yard balls.  And they do it without getting tangled.  Happy knitting in 2020.  --Ann--