Jorstad Creek

Hello from Whistler Canada!  I am writing this while here with my family enjoying a week of vacation before school starts.  While my family sleeps in each morning I work on writing up my toe-up sock pattern.  I want this pattern to be available along with the sock yarns at this fall’s fiber events.  This pattern is actually memorized in my head, and ingrained to the point I could almost make this entire sock blind folded.  In fact, I often knit socks from this pattern during movies at the movie theater.

Haven’t heard of movie knitting?  I have been knitting in movies for a number of years as a way to cultivate the ability to knit without having to look at the needles.  I not only wanted to be able to knit in movies, but knit and read books, two of my favorite things to do.  If you want to learn how to knit without looking, simple patterns in the round are good candidates for movie knitting.  With the toe-up approach, the long stretches of stockinette after the toe is complete are easy.  If you make a mistake and it is too dark to fix, just put it back in your bag and enjoy the rest of the film.  Or do what I have done on occasion, dart to the bathroom for a comfort break and to pick up a dropped stitch.

Jorstad Creek will be at the Olympia Harbor Days festival August 30, 31, and September 1.  This is a local event for me, because I live in the neighboring town of Lacey.  I see this event as an opporunity to introduce local yarn and fiber to my community, and let people know about the great sheep and fiber available right here in the northwest.  In addition to the Jorstad Creek booth there will be arts and crafts from many local artists, tug boat races, music, and activities for children.  I have taken my children to this festival through the years to look at the boats and walk around Percival Landing.  If you would like to know more about the festival, you can visit the website at http://harbordays.com/.  If you decide to visit us, the booth number is 61, near the end of the row located on Columbia street and adjacent to the main stage.

I will have more of the popular Tweed Sock yarn, dyed in great colors, as well as a new yarn with the same donegal-style bits spun in the fiber, Tweed DK in 100% Superwash Merino.  This is a high-twist yarn of exceptional quality.  If you are looking for something different for your projects, or exploring the idea of a knitted sweater or scarf as a holiday gift for a man, this yarn with the tweed effect may be what makes it outstanding.  It will appear rugged and rustic, but the feel is luscious and soft because of the merino – no complaints about “it itches” here.  This is a good time to plan and start gift projects to complete them in time for the holiday season, so I hope you will stop by with your ideas and see what we have.

Shopping around at Whistler, I noticed how wool is re-emerging as a popular fiber for active wear.  There are dozens of stores that specialize in tough alpine clothing at Whistler Village.  Merino wool is now being used in layers of clothing from long underwear to outer sweaters and socks.  As knitters this is based on knowledge we already had, that you can’t beat wool for this type of clothing.  It breathes and stays warm even when it is damp from sweat.  I point this out with repetition to my long-suffering husband who frequents these places to see “what’s new.”  He rolls his eyes with great patience and accepts another short lecture from his knitter wife who finishes with “I told you so.”

A note for the fiber enthusiast, I scored a large quantity of alpaca in the most incredible greys and creamy white from a local farm in Tenino, not far from the area where I have been procuring my icelandic wool.  I will be sending some of the alpaca for blending into the 50% alpaca/wool blend yarn, this time in greys and white for the natural colors and for the dye pot.  I will save the finest of the fleece for roving for spinners to purchase.  I see more of these alpaca blends available in commercial yarns, and I am looking forward to offering a local alternative sourced from sustainable farms in the area.

Also returning this fall is the Finn yarn that sold out at Madrona last February.  This three-ply sport weight in natural grey and select dyed colors was very popular for its soft hand and elastic qualities.  I discussed Finn Sheep as a breed in earlier blogs, and I haven’t lost my enthusiasm about this medium weight fiber.  These sheep have the nicest disposition, their friendliness matching their fiber.  I became aquainted with Polka, a friendly ewe whose sister is named Dotty to match.  I continue to be amazed at these animals that are generous with their fiber and their affection.

I hope to see you all at one of the upcoming events, please mention you are subscribed to this blog when you see me!  Kerry Graber

The Jorstad Creek booth was swamped with visitors and friends stopping by to look at the locally produced yarn, fiber, and hand dyed yarns displayed with our samples.  The Madrona Fiber Arts Festival is a four day retreat that took place on February 14 – 17.  We were asked to join other vendors in the market place, a large event room filled with amazing yarns and supplies.  Our booth was situated against one wall flanked by other wonderful vendors who were generous with their advice and genuinely interested in what we were offering customers.

Knitters and spinners both stopped in to talk to us about locally sourced yarn and wanted to know where we obtained our fibers.  By Sunday I found myself losing my voice, I talked so much.  I was gratified to see so many people interested and appreciative of our efforts.

Locally sourced yarns we offer include the icelandic I have been blogging about, as well as Finn Sheep yarn from the east side of the state, and a new addition, Gotland yarn from nearby Auburn, Washington.  The Finn was so popular all the natural grey was sold out by the second day.  Some of the icelandic yarns  also sold to the  point I only had a couple of skeins left on  the shelf by the time I packed up on Sunday.  All of the proccessed Gotland fiber in the dark grey sold to spinners faster than I could package up the 4 ounce bags.

The Gotland yarn fairly flew off the shelves.  This yarn and the fiber it is made from has a sheen rivaling silk.  It is shaded in a pearly grey that Gotlland sheep are known for.  I was as anxious to try it out as some of the knitters who bought it from me.  The remaining inventory of this beautiful, subtle yarn will be up on the website shop very soon.

Just in time for Madrona the BK Collective launched on ravelry.com with six patterns. The first on-line pattern was sold within 30 minutes of the launch!  To help out and show off the new patterns I was joined in my booth by designers Kaia Petersen and Jann Hoppler from the collective.  Together we were able to show samples and patterns designed for the Jorstad Creek local and hand dyed yarns and help knitters choose a yarn.

We also worked with knitters to choose yarns to work with pattterns they brought with them.  I was impressed with visitors to the booth who brought their IPads, or whipped out their smart phones to check the pattern material list before making their choices.  More than one person brought their hard copy of a pattern to us to consult on how they could make the project with one of our yarns.  I was thankful that just prior to Madrona we put together a reference table listing the yarns, yarn classification, and wraps per inch (wpi).   This table will be added to the website shop to help on-line buyers pick the correct yarn weight.

Toward the end of Madrona the booth was visited by a couple of knitting celebrities in the world of yarnies, and frankly I am still basking in the afterglow.  I will not name them to protect their privacy, but I am encouraged by all of the kind words and sincere interest in Jorstad Creek and the BK Collective.

We are not resting on our laurels.  Up next is the Vogue Live! event in Bellevue, Washington.  I have more icelandic yarn just in from the mill to bring to this event that starts on April 5.  I have named this yarn “Hetta” for one of the Icelandic ewes that produces this grey-hued two-ply.   We are knitting samples, dyeing more colors, and getting ready to meet more knitting friends!  I sure hope you will stop by and say hello.

Hello dear friends, the yarn shopping website is up and running!  I am pleased to be able to show fabulous pictures of the colors and yarns I’ve been working with all year available for purchase through Pay Pal.

To check out the new website click on the text  jorstad creek. 

Available for purchase is the icelandic yarn, finn sheep yarn, finn-alpaca, and merino.  Check it out and let me know what you think.

I am working on a blue-faced leicester (BFL) tweed sock yarn from a British source, dyeing them in beautiful muted colors.  I am also adding new colorways for the merino fingering and sport weight yarns I already offer.  Working with dyes in the outdoors in below-freezing weather is a challenge, but I am determined to persevere.  I must add to my stock because I was asked to provide a vendor booth at the Madrona Fiber Arts Festival in Tacoma, Washington February 14 – 17, 2013 at the Hotel Murano.  The fiber fair has no entry fee, so I hope you will attend and stop by my booth to say hello!

I am also pleased to add that I will offer Gotland/Finn Sheep roving for sale.  The Gotland breed, like Icelandic sheep are another hardy short-tailed breed originating from the island of Gotland, Sweden.  It is Sweden’s largest island and the largest island in the Baltic Sea.  My source is a little closer to home near Auburn, Washington.  The shepherdess has been working with Finn sheep stock to develop animals with an increasing percentage of the Gotland sheep characteristics, with the result producing prize-winning fleece.  The fiber has a long staple, with beautiful wavey locks evocative of the Lincoln breed.  This fiber will produce a medium weight yarn, with versatile characteristics as well as strength from the long staple, for a variety of uses.  I was fortunate to be able to find another small farm to work with to create more northwest-based yarn.

In addition to the Gotland/Finn roving I hope to have two new yarns for sale in the natural grey colors that the Gotland breed is known for.  These yarns are made from about 50% Gotland/Finn lambswool mixed with adult fleece, to produce a strong and soft result.  I’ve got my fingers crossed that these will be back from the mill in time for Madrona.

Just off the needles from my dear friend, fellow knitter (and fabulous designer) Kaia Petersen is Evelyn A. Clarke’s “Brimnes Shawl” made from the icelandic yarns I offer.  This pattern is available from www.ravelry.com as a download-able pattern, or as part of her new e-book of icelandic shawl patterns.  We will roll-out kits for the large and small size of this pattern in the natural colorway and a few limited dyed colorways exclusively at Madrona.  If there are any left I will post them on the website for sale after February.   I look forward to seeing you soon in Tacoma.  Kerry Graber

I just told my friends on facebook about my new blog, and even though the content isn’t all uploaded I hope my friends will check back and follow my efforts!

Welcome to the blog for jorstad creek!  For background information about the company click on the “about” button to the left of this post.