Good Friday to everyone here, and boy do we have a treat for you, via the lovely and enchanting Lisa Stockebrand of Union Street Fiber (lasdcm on Rav). You may recognize Lisa from such endeavors as her instructional tutorial videos on our site, and general international awesomeosity.
It was her turn to do a giveaway, and when I asked her what she wanted to give from her awesome shop of hand-dyed skeins of yarn, she said that this time, instead of giving away one of her wares, well, I’ll let her say it:
Susie presented me with a truly amazing gift at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival in May, Alabama’s very first fleece! For those of you who don’t know, Alabama is the love-child of the May/December romance of dear Miss Daisy and Truman – sly whippersnapper that he was! He is Susie’s very first Cormo/Babydoll Southdown cross and his fleece is delicious! It is super lofty and buttery like a Cormo with a lovely crimp but is not quite as soft and has a great spring to it. I suspect it will knit up rather like a soft shetland with that nice spring, good for showing an open stitch. I washed the fleece, hand-carded some and spun a skein up just for you! The skein is 6 oz. of Alabama goodness, about 225 yards of two-ply which will probably knit up as a sport to light worsted weight.
Alabama, on the day he was born
Alabama’s fleece, today
Isn’t that amazing?! I’m super jealous and kind of wishing I’d told her to just go ahead and send that skein to me, giving away one of her lovely hand-dyed skeins instead, but I’m actually really excited for one of you to get it. We want a FULL REPORT of how it knits up. For real. This is a really exciting yarn for us, because it’s our little ‘Bama. :)
Not only is she giving away one skein of undyed hand-loved Alabama, but the lucky winner will also receive a copy of the book “Hand Dyeing Yarn and Fleece” by Gail Callahan. According to Lisa, this is one of the best how-to-dye books around. It covers a variety of techniques and methods, has tons of pictures and projects, and is even spiral-bound so it lies flat while you’re working. They left nothing out.
To enter this unique and very special giveaway, Lisa wants your opinion. She’s currently gearing up for another set of tutorial videos, this time having to do with increasing and decreasing, but she wants to hear from you as to what you want her to teach you next. Cables? Two-color knitting? Basic sweater design? Dyeing techniques?
Go to her Union Street Fiber website to see what videos she’s done, then come back here and leave a comment with what you’ve been wanting to try but have been maybe a little too scared to do (my vote: steeking!) and on Monday I’ll use the Random Number Generator to pick the winner. (The winner gets the Alabama skein and the book, not necessarily the videos!)
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I really have got to try this knitting backwards (though I don’t mind purling) and what I’d love to see is how to dye roving without felting it! Steeks have never scared me but I think that’s because a) I learned to sew eons before I learned to knit so I love my scissors and b) I didn’t know I was supposed to be scared when I first tried it (and that applies to all sorts of knitting techniques for me).
I bet the Bama yarn would make an awesome Silk Kerchief combined with other pretty yarns. I’ve made a small one with spinning samples and have been meaning to make another for ages. It’s my favorite wee shawl.
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/silk-kerchief
Dyeing would be great! Also, as someone else said, seaming. I’ve been avoiding anything with a seam because mine just look like crap!
Oh my! What a terrific prize! I could seriously find something lovely to make with that yarn. I went to her website and I’m in LOVE with her tea cozies! They are what I imagine when I think of tea cozies and how clever to knit one with a separate piece for the top so you can open the tea pot! I’m going to have to knit one of those (wonder what yarn she used for the samples – has a lovely halo).
I’ve steeked and it’s only frightening until you have done it the first time. It’s easier to get that first time over with if you do it on a small sample . . . less to lose that way!
I would love to learn how to dye yarns. Her colors at the top of her web page are incredibly beautiful. I especially love the green one on the left.
Basic sweater design would be my choice. Especially since I also spin and knit and would love to learn how to match different 4-oz skins to make an awesome one-of-a-kind basic sweater. I really need to use some of my three-tubs-full of handspun skeins.
Perhaps spinning for a sweater–what you need to do to get your yarn as consistent as possible. Are there any tricks?
Alabama is a beautiful boy! His baby picture is so cute!
I would say that I need to learn how to seam better! I usually look for garments to knit that contain no construction because I know how bad I am at it.
Great job on the skein Lisa it is awesome!!
I would love for her to share some of her expertise on dyeing! Her colors are so wonderful!
I’ve been knitting for 43 years and never learned provisional or crochet cast on! I’ll definitely give them both a try, great tutorials! All her yarn looks lovely and the colors are fab.
This is great. I’ve dyed yarn a single color but I have no clue how to do gradient or multicolored dying. I would love a tutorial on that.
Seaming!
I would love a tutorial on multicolor dying as I can’t seem to make the colors stay – it just turns to one big ugly blend.
I’d love a video on knitting backwards… not sure if that is something I could get my head around from written instructions. I’ve been afraid to try dyeing without supervision!
Alabama’s handspun’s gorgeous!
It would make a glorious scarf with reversible cables.
No real front or back…just nonstop fleecy goodness.
And what I’d like to learn but am still waaaaytoochicken to try?
Steeks! (Eek!)
Oh, how I would love to feel Alabama’s yarn from his fleece. I feel so attached to the farm already that this would be the most meaningful wool I could have. The scarf I would knit from it would make me feel like Alabama is hugging me.
Sorry, I got so carried away thinking about the yarn, that I forgot to include my suggestion for your next video. I have never done two color knitting (besides striping), and I would to see how to do it correctly so I could knit a pattern into a project.
I would like to see a video on tw0-color knitting.
Dyeing roving. I am afraid I’ll felt it.
Spinning. Definitely. And dyeing. Oh, I could totally go on and on and on. Now I have to watch jer Continental knitting video since I really would like to learn! Thanks for putting us on to this site. I’ll be visiting it regularly.
What a super giveaway! I’d like to see a video on two colour double knitting. Steeking also scares the crap out of me.
I’m with you on the steeking and also dying with natural dyes.
I’m with you, Jenny – would love some help with steeking. Not that I would ever try it with that bee-u-ti-ful skein of Alabama Love.
Well, looking at what’s there already, I guess increases and decreases would flow naturally. However, what I need more is color. How to pick colors that look best together (yes, I have a colorwheel and have been using it but it’s really an art, not just a decision of “if it’s across or diagonal….” kind of issue, I think). Fair isle I can sort of do. Not terrifically, but it’s ok. But to knit a block of color in the middle of another color — intarsia — I have been putting that off for a few years now.
If I need to put that yarn next to my neck so I can feel the love, it will have to be a neckwarmer, right?
I would love to learn yarn making from shearing to the end product.
I’d love to see a video dealing with using more than two colors in a row when doing stranded knitting. After a fruitless search, both on the web and in every color and fair isle knitting book I could find, I found only a few sources which would even acknowlege that such a technique existed. There was precious little written instruction and I couldn’t find graphic aids anywhere. I finally jumped right in and tried it. It turned out to be one of those things that sounds scary, but wasn’t too difficult. I could have saved a lot of time and fretting if there had been more instruction available. Thanks for the giveaway, the opportunity to contribute, and the chance to gripe!
That yarn looks really yummy. What I’d really like to do is try dyeing with non-toxic natural dyes. Maybe instruction on how to make dye with natural ingredients and how to dye with them.
Great giveaway! I agree with R Clark 2 U, I want some dying videos.
I enjoyed her videos when she guest blogged on your site earlier, it was good to see some of her other work!
I’ve been fairly adventurous with my knitting, but I enjoyed her video on how to knit backwards. I’ve done stranded colourwork but I have issues with getting intarsia to look nice, so I would appreciate a video with hints on how to do that properly.
a video on picking up stitches that you have reserved for later. For example, when you leave a section for sleeves on a sweater, how do you go about picking them up later to begin knitting? Thanks for the giveaway!!
I’d like a video on spinning (especially one that focuses on drafting).
Intarsia, because I just can’t seem to wrap my head around it.
I would absolutely love to see tutorials on hand dying techniques, I have lots of undyed yarn and fiber. I want to spend time coloring it with my 9 year old daughter. Also, I can’t seem to get a handle on cables without a needle… Thanks for the give away!
I would have to say I would love to see a video on either how to hand dye yarn and/or color working.
I will not lie I am terrified of doing steeking. I think I will have to do a swatch tube and try it.
Note to self: Must practice knitting backwards…
Note to Lisa: Help me lose my fear of steeking!
I would love to see a tutorial on blocking lace. I have been blocking, but I tend to get nervous and not block quite as hard as some of my pieces might need. Maybe seeing someone else do it first would help me past that roadblock!
Hard to pick just one topic actually. But anything to do with construction and seaming would be AWESOME. Also, two color or multi-color knitting. Steeks are up there on the scardy cat list for me too!
Well. I want to learn how to knit (again!) I learned many years ago and due to a closed head injury I no longer remenber how to knit.
I would love to get some great advice on dying or steeking! I’m terrified of steeking even though it seems like the best idea ever!
Alabama! What special yarn–you could probably auction the next one (if there is a next one) to raise money for your favorite charity.
I would like to see something on sweater finishing or, more specifically, how to sew a nice neat seam.
I think dyeing videos would be great. I’ve been experimenting with it some already, but I would love to learn more.
Also, I think videos on how to cable without making my stitches ridiculously tight would be great too. I’ve actually kind of started to hate cables because they’re tight and seem to take so long.
I wanna learn how to Lever Knit (aka cottage/Yarn Harlot style). Wicked fast!
Wow- what a beautiful skein of yarn that is.
Can you make a video on intarsia? I would love to try it out, but I don’t really understand what they mean by twisting the yarns, etc.
Does this also mean you have to show me how to knit with two hands?
Dying, Dying, Dying, please more tutors on dying. I love colors, and more information on how to combine them and just make the most beautiful fiber would be so wonderful
Double knitting. Double thick (warm!), colored patterns, no random strands hanging out to get caught on stuff.
I’d love a pattern design tutorial! That’s the kind of thing that I would love to do but have no idea how to get started on.
Well, I agree with Rachel – I would love some tutorials on dyeing. Or how about seaming…
I would love to see a tutorial about steeks…the knitting of a steek, the cutting of a steek and the picking up of the stitches around the edge of a steek. I am in love with fair isle knitting!
I’ve always had trouble with using more than one color yarn in order to make different patterns. I would love to see tutorials on how to add different color yarns to a pattern. One other thing that I have wanted to learn is how to make button holes in a sweater – so, while I’m knitting I’m supposed to come to a point where I ‘bind off’ some stitches and then start back up again. I’ve tried doing this so many times and hve had to take out my work a number of times. I must be doing something wrong. Thanks so much!
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