While we were traveling, I brought a skein of Stonehedge Fiber Mill's "Almost Handspun" yarn (the label has the name of the animals it came from on it!), hoping to turn it into a sweater for Gram. The pattern I used is the Fisherman's Pullover by Veera Valimaki. A few times while I was knitting, Gram would ask me what I was doing, and I'd tell him I was making a sweater for him. Each time, he'd say: "I hate sweaters! Stop knitting!" A sweater vest I made for him last summer has a too-small neck opening (another vacation knitting project, but completed without a ruler), and I fear the difficulty of getting it over his head has ruined sweaters for him.

Well, I'm not one to stop working on things I know my children hate (see last night's dinner).

I finished the sweater about a week into our trip. Luckily, my daughter loves sweaters and she's wonderful about wearing things I've made, and I'd knit a size 4 thinking it would be best for Gram next winter. The sweater fits her perfectly right now, and the thick yarn is great for spring. She loves to shed her coat as soon as possible, so I'm guessing this sweater will get a lot of use on the playground in the next few months.

Hopefully my boy will be over his sweater aversion by next winter.

Previous Project: Selvedge Denim Ipad Case

Hey look! It's another Woodcraft post not written by Wood. . .

I know you probably come here because this is the last place on the site where you can escape my constant drivel. But she's been incredibly busy with work lately, trying to catch up after we were on vacation and making up for the fact that I was out of town last weekend.

About a year ago she started knitting seriously. In addition to that first sweater, she's knitted the girl a beautiful dress, a pair of felted slippers, two pairs of mittens, a pair of gloves, a sweater vest for the boy, and a blanket that's still not quite finished. I wish she'd be better about documenting the process and results of her efforts, and frequently complain that she's being too modest. So today I wanted to share the beautiful back-to-school sweater she knitted with yarn that the kid picked out at the Stonehedge Fiber Mill (she chose the buttons as well):

The girl has worn this every day since it was completed.

I asked Wood to send me an email about the sweater, reminding her that she while she claims she doesn't have time for a post, she probably sends about 100 emails a day, so I was pretty sure she could find the time to write me one about the sweater. Here's what she wrote:

I knew that I wanted to knit Juniper a sweater, and I knew that a cardigan would be best for her because she constantly fights with me in the mornings before school about wearing enough layers. A cardigan is so low commitment -- easy for her to take off if she gets hot -- so she is more willing to wear them. 


Her new favorite color is orange, and she picked out this beautiful yarn herself. It's called antique rose, but it isn't pink so much as it is coral. Up close you can see that orange and pink strands were spun together. I could not possibly love this pattern more. It's the small version of the Tea Leaves cardigan, and the directions are easy to follow, it is fun to knit, and it comes together beautifully. I think I'll be making more of these. 


I started knitting this sweater while we were at Squam Lake, and spent most of our afternoons and evenings by the fire working on it. Even though it's only been three weeks since we got home from our trip, it already seems like it was years ago. The combination of being very busy at work and the kids going to school (and the crazed, very early mornings that come with it) makes it feel like our relaxed lives at the Rockywold-Deephaven Camp were in a different life. My days are desperately missing the calm that I felt there, but every time I look at this sweater I remember working on it in front of the fire with Gram in my lap or at the lake while Juniper learned to knit next to me, and tell myself to relax just a little bit. Everything is going to be okay.

I am really going to make an effort to get Wood to share more of her projects. She is getting together with a group of women here in Detroit who all want to learn to knit, and because she's only been at it a year she'd love to have an online community of folks knitting with them. Any readers out there want to learn to knit? Leave a comment with an e-mail and we'll get a ravelry group together.

Previous Project: Naptime Quilt

During our time up north, I convinced Jim to extend our already long drive home by an extra hour so we could go through East Jordan, Michigan and make a stop at the Stonehedge Farm and Fiber Mill. I've long been a fan of their Shepherd's Wool line of yarn, which is sold at yarn stores across the country. My local independent yarn store has a large selection, and I stocked up on it last winter during a sale. During our vacation, I finished a vest for Gram in Stonehedge ivy, so it seemed fitting that we would make a pilgrimage to the mill during this trip.

East Jordan was about an hour south of where we were staying, where the Jordan River empties into Lake Charlevoix. Jim pointed out that the town is home to the East Jordan Iron Works, a company that makes fire hydrants and manhole covers for municipalities all over the country.

The manhole covers the company makes for East Jordan itself are really cute:

We drove a few miles out of town and found the Stonehedge Fiber Mill and farm on a lovely hillside.

The best part about visiting the yarn shop and fiber mill was talking with Debbie McDermott, the owner. Years ago she and her husband moved up north to retire and keep horses, and slowly Debbie's passion for knitting and making yarn took over, and now the couple has sheep, goats, rabbits and chickens (in addition to their three horses). Debbie's husband is retired from GM, and he makes the mill's machinery and even sells the tools he makes to other operations.

Like most fiber mills still operating in the United States, Stonehedge offers a variety of services in addition to the spinning of their own yarn. They will card and spin your fiber for you in addition to turning the wool they buy from other sheep farmers into yarn. Inside the yarn shop, I was treated to the full array of colors available in the Shepherd's Wool line of yarn that's available in yarn shops from California to Maine:

The yarn store also carried un-dyed yarns spun from wool taken only from the animals at the farm. The label listed the name of each animal used for the yarn, which was an adorable and irresistible touch. How could I not buy three of each skein?

The yarn store also had yarn spun from the mill's "ends." Debbie takes the fibers, bits and pieces of what is left over from spinning jobs, and spins it all into "mill ends." I'm still a new knitter, but I'd never seen anything like it. It is ridiculously soft; holding this yarn in my hands helps takes the sting out of the end of summer, and makes me look forward to winter just a little bit.

I bought enough yarn to complete quite a few projects that I hope to share with you as winter approaches. After I made my purchase, Debbie let us wander around the farm a bit, and for a few moments I allowed myself to imagine us retiring to a nice little sheep farm in the hills.

Previous Project: Make a Birthday Book & Toy