Knit Spin Farm News - New Format!

Now with more!

Hi Fiber Lovers! This is the first of the new format for our newsletter. I’d love to hear what you think. We’re using Substack now because our rural internet isn’t able to handle other services. This format makes me feel like I should be writing about more than just yarn updates, so I am planning to send you many goat and sheep and doggo photos along with farm news. Sound alright?

My intent is to send you two emails a month - first when the monthly preorders are up around the 5th, and then again toward the end of the month with news from the farm and my yarny project bags. Your support of our yarn business literally pays for the farm, so it’s kind of your farm too, and you deserve to know how things are going.

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The big news this month is that our two winter deliveries have been made: wood and hay. We’ve been getting our hay from Caleb for years, and I know he’s an adult, but he looks like he’s still in High School to me. He drives a big truck here from his farm a few miles away, climbs the mountain of square bales on top of it, and tosses them to the ground, one at a time, forming a giant pyramid of sweet-smelling hay blocks, which Pullo, and the chickens, enjoy climbing. Once Bill and Caleb have discussed all the matters of weather, harvests, and hay economics, the big truck leaves and Bill gets to work stacking all the hay in our barn. To do this, he uses his cargo eBike and a homemade trailer.

Bill can transport 10 bales at a time into the pasture and right up to the barn. (The goats and sheep have to be locked into the back pasture during this time, as they would otherwise be sampling each bale.) It takes him most of a day, and then a few hours the next day, but it is very satisfying work, and he gets shoulder rubs when he’s done.

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Speaking of things goats love to eat…. The August Farm Life yarn club colorway was called “I’d Eat That” by The Goats. It captures all of the goats’ favorite foods, including wild rose bushes, prickly thistles, and potato chips. !!! Bill shared a potato chip with our sweet goat Katya one afternoon, and she became instantly addicted. She knows exactly what a potato chip bag looks like and is not shy about asking, or demanding, that we share.

This is Ginger, demonstrating that goats are smart enough to eat what’s inside the bag, and not the bag itself. Here’s the yarn - the stripes go through the color sequence, and then bounce back through it again, just like excited goats in a new pasture.

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After spending most of early summer feeling like I wasn’t accomplishing anything with wool, I’ve got some mojo and two fun projects to share. First, is a handspun Night…Shift? The triangle shawl one. I’ve seen a couple of wonderful ones made with Knit Spin Farm batts and, as I have a bunch of those myself, :) decided to start one for me. Here it is at our weekly farmers’ market with some of Bill’s bread in the background.

I’ve been in love with a ton of projects lately that use 3 sock weight mini skeins. I keep seeing socks and other projects that I’d love to make. I’m thinking about adding a mini skein option to the yarn club starting this fall, and am working up some projects in anticipation. This is a simple cowl that I hope to write up as a free pattern. I learned how to make single row stripes without a jog - or a hole - in the fabric.

I need a little practice to keep my tension more even, but this will block right out, yeah?

Here’s how it works: Knit a round with your new color (say, light purple here, just above the yellow). When you finish the round and reach your first light purple stitch, pick up the right leg of the yellow stitch below it, place it on your left needle, and knit it together with the first light purple stitch of the round.

Easy, right? It does move your color change one stitch to the left each round, so you’ve got to be a little chill about where your rounds start. Mine looks a bit wobbly in the photo, but I think with practice, and a good soaking, it should be a nearly invisible join, and it opens up so many fun scrappy stripe options!

This cowl is a tube, so I also don’t have to weave in any ends. I just make tiny knots with the yarn ends and move on with my life! More details soon!

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I think that’s all the news from here for now! Let me know what you’re working on, or if there is anything you’d like to hear about from the farm.

Bill and I went to a collegiate league baseball game earlier this month and it was wild with a tornado delay and a 9th inning rally for the home team. They made it to within one run of tying the game, and I think Bill and I really helped with our inside out rally caps!

Thank you so much for subscribing to our newsletter and supporting our tiny shop! We are so grateful for you all!

Best,
JoAnna, Bill, Pullo, and the whole farm.