Kelly and Marsha talk spinning! Plus they give updates on current projects and news about upcoming events.

Marsha doesn't have any finished projects to report but has made steady progress on her Twice Born shawl and Summer Cardigan.

Marsha had a fun day with lunch and a visit to All Wound up in Edmonds, Washington with "laterknitter" and "jchant". Look how happy we are to be together surrounded by gorgeous yarn!

Marsha had a fun day with lunch and a visit to All Wound up in Edmonds, Washington with "laterknitter" and "jchant". Look how happy we are to be together surrounded by gorgeous yarn!

Kelly has finally finished the Playground Shawl! This pattern caused her a lot of trouble, not because it is difficult, but because of her combination of slippery yarn and slippery needles. The only other active project is the Striped CoBaSi Socks.

Oh wait! There's an octopus that needs to be stuffed and seamed up.

Marsha has been spinning every day as time allows. Here is a link to to her Tour de Fleece project page for more photos.

Kelly has also committed to spinning every day, along with a few other spinning related goals. Her Tour de Fleece 2017 page has a list of the goals and photos of the spinning projects. The first finished spinning of the tour is the Loop Bump that she plied with silk thread from the Black Sheep Gathering.

Kelly will be presenting to the Santa Cruz Knitting Guild for their July program. The title of the presentation is How Ply Structure Affects Knitting. Presentation will be July 20, 10:15-12:15 at the Vintage Faith Church in Santa Cruz.

Want to see some wool judging? Mark your calendar for Saturday, August 12 at 9 am. This is the date of the fleece judging for the Monterey County Wool Show. The show is in conjunction with the Monterey County Fair and the auction is held on the last day of the fair which is Labor Day in September. But the fleeces are judged ahead of time and the Ann's Web Guild holds a potluck lunch for attendees of the judging. If you are attending and want more information, contact us at [email protected]

Kelly had an aspiring beekeeper come over to watch her recent bee inspection. Four of the five colonies are doing well. They were able to see a couple queens and they had the chance to eat honey comb right out of the hive.

It's a chat thread on our Ravelry group that has been really fun. Come join the conversation. And if you're not a member of our Ravelry group, please join. Marsha and Kelly will be doing a member appreciation giveaway during our next episode.

The Black Sheep Gathering 2017 was so wonderful the Two Ewes can't stop talking about it!  The wool judge was Judith MacKenzie so of course it was such a learning experience.  There are also a few finished knits, some new fiber, yarn, and, you guessed it, FLEECE!

Kelly arrived in Eugene after a long hot drive through the northern California heatwave.  Marsha and Kim came down from Seattle on the train.  They met and prepared for the opening of the show the next day.  Marsha and Kelly spent Saturday in the fleece judging, soaking up all the information that Judith MacKenzie so generously shared with the audience. 

On Saturday, there was a side trip to two Eugene yarn shops.  Cozy is a newly opened shop in the old downtown area near the train station.  Youthful and spacious, this shop really showed off the many indie-dyed striped and speckled  yarns in its stock.  It also had a good stock of Flax by Fibra Natura and Marsha snagged some for a linen tee.  Then on to Soft Horizons Fibre.  This shop is in an old house filled with yarn.  The attraction for the Two Ewes and their friend Kim was the Stone Hedge Fiber Crazy yarn.  It has the largest selection of this yarn of any yarn shop in the northwest. 

Back at the fleece barn, Kelly found a gem of a fleece had gone unsold so she bought it. She also found some interesting breed blends at the Homestead Hobbyist booth.  Both Marsha and Kelly found plying silk on wood bobbins and Marsha also found some batts that she loved. 

At the Jorstadt Creek booth, they both bought cashmere laceweight in support of The Great Steppe Fiber Project.  Maddy from Jorstadt is going to Mongolia to teach spinning and help to provide women there with the skills to have a fiber company.  To help pay for the trip and learn more, visit the gofundme page.

As for the knitting, Marsha made good progress on her Twice Born shawl by Magdalena Lorentz.  Friends helped her determine that the Easy Folded Poncho is finished and doesn't need the cowl neck. 

Kelly worked on an OLD project, her Playground Shawl, a pattern by Justyna Lorkowska.  Started in August 2015, this shawl has been in hibernation since early last spring.  Now it is back out and on its way to being finished.

Are you old enough to remember vacation slides?  Did you ever go to someone's house for dinner and see their vacation slides?  If so, you know exactly what you're in for in this episode.  If not, don't worry, once you've listened you'll understand exactly what the experience was like!

Marsha and Kelly were both on vacation.  So, in addition to sharing their current projects, they share some information about their vacations.  Kelly was in in the Texarkana area, visiting cemeteries in Red Lick, Texas and Lockesburg, Arkansas to see Robert's family graves.  She also visited Civil War sites and stayed in an antebellum home in Vicksburg, MS. Marsha spent some time on the Washington coast with her brother and Enzo. 

To see Kelly's vacation photos, visit the show notes blog for episode 69. 

This episode is an experiment in time travel. Because Kelly's Dead Relatives Tour conflicted with the recording schedule, the Two Ewes prerecorded this episode.

Marsha shares her experiences of the shops she visited on the Puget Sound LYS Tour.

Mad Cow Yarns in Lake Forest Park

Wild Fibers in Mount Vernon

Great Yarns in Everett

Pinch Knitter Yarns in Stanwood

All Wound Up in Edmonds.

The two patterns Marsha bought are a poncho called Stone Point by Courtney Kelly and a cardigan called Harebell by Amy Christophers.

She bought a skein of Madelinetosh Twist Light call Void to pair with her Apple Fiber Studio MacIntosh in the color way Moss on a Rock. She also purchased a giant, luscious skein of Done Roving Yarns DK Frolicking Feet Sweater pack. The skein is 1500 yards and weights over two pounds!

You'll all hear more about Kelly's Dead Relatives Tour in Episode 69. Stay tuned!

It's been a wild week, but some real knitting,  a little fantasy knitting, and lots of travel-knitting planning are all in this episode.

Kelly finished the Havannah.  This pattern by Heidimarie Kaiser is a great casual tee.  Put in the beads that are called for in the pattern, or replace them with yarn overs for a more lacy style.

Marsha is on track to finish the Easy Folded Poncho in time to wear it for Black Sheep Gathering at the end of June.  It is knit in Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool that she found at the Goodwill. 

She also finished the Meret Beret  but this one might be frogged because the yarn and pattern don't seem to be a good match.

The two pairs of socks that have been discussed in past episodes will also need to be frogged and restarted.  Neither the striped socks out of CoBaSi, nor the short socks on 9-inch circulars actually fit.  Oh well.  It's not sock failure, its a learning experience!

Kelly's fantasy knitting and trip planning leads to a trip through her Ravelry queue.  Most likely to be cast on are the Lavender Honey tee from an interesting cotton yarn in red and gray and a Mohair Bias Loop from two Habu yarns in red and eggplant.

She is also thinking about the Huntertwasser Neptunia shawl, the Cancun Boxy Lace Top, the Icarus tank, the Sea Glass cardigan, and the crocheted Camelia Chameleon. 

This episode is all about the knitting projects and the plans.  Kelly continues to work on two summer sweaters and has cast on a couple new small projects.  Marsha finished a small project while keeping up progress on her stockinette rectangle!

The Easy Folded Poncho project continues, but meanwhile Marsha started an finished the Greenery Beret by Melissa LaBarre.  She is having difficulty getting project pictures without someone to take photos of her during the daylight hours.  She is planning the next sweater and has been swatching, but so far hasn't made a decision.

A conference and a weekend with Dad means that Kelly has made good progress on both Edie and the Havannah tee shirts.  Meanwhile, she started a pair of socks with the turquoise and orange CoBaSi yarn that came from Maker's Mercantile.  The stripes have a small slip stitch detail and the colors are fabulous together.

While recording, Kelly cast on another one of the In Threes baby sweaters using the last of her Colorando yarn.  

Kelly visited Yarnitudes in Sebastopol when she picked up the bee packages.  The yarn shop was conveniently just down the street from Bee Kind.  While there she picked up cotton blend yarns for more baby sweaters. 

Despite multiple signs saying "Yarn," a customer came in and wanted to know where the antiques were.  Trudy, the proprietress, said it happens all the time! 

Marsha had another call from the GoodWill and she left the shop with Madeleine Tosh and some Buffalo Wool.  The Tosh was what she used for the hat and she is considering some options with the Buffalo Wool.  It is a Canadian unspun wool yarn used for Cowichan-style sweaters.

Marsha and Kelly will be at the Black Sheep Gathering June 23-25, and there will be a Two Ewes meet-up on Saturday, June 24.  No trailer this year, but we will definitely have a get-together with our fellow fiber adventurers.  More details in the Ravelry Group and on the podcast as the event gets closer.

This bonus episode is all about bees.  Our regular knitting, spinning, and fiber adventures episode will be published in Episode 66 on the weekend of May 12/13. 

Kelly picked up two packages of treatment free bees to add to her apiary.  They rode home in the car and were successfully installed the same day.  She is so happy with the improvement of her beekeeping skills since 2015.  Click here for video of the package installation.

The next day the existing hive that had been cut out of a drain pipe and had been progressing well swarmed.  She saw the swarm from start to finish and describes the incredible experience.    Click here for video of the swarm experience.

These are my first attempts to create YouTube videos.  We won't be changing the podcast to video, but it was fun to document the experience for a YouTube supplement.

The Ewes have been busy as bees outside of knitting, but still there's a finished top, one almost finished, some dyeing, and a couple things on the needles.  A bee shawl is on the maybe list, and Kelly is headed to pick up some real bees.  Join us for our adventures.

Marsha has finished her Edie tee!  The Edie pattern is by Isabel Kramer and the yarn she used is Hempathy.  This is her second Edie in Hempathy so no swatching needed.  Now that's incentive to repeat a project!  She doesn't yet have a finished project photo and that leads to a discussion of project pages and the Finished Object Radar feature of Ravelry.  While talking about the Finished Object Radar on Ravelry, Marsha saw the Hollywood Flare Tunic by Vera Sanen and was intrigued. 

Kelly is almost finished with her Edie.  This is also her second time with the project, but with a different yarn.  The yarn is Linen Concerto, a variegated linen, rayon, cotton blend.

Kelly's other project, Havannah by Heidimarie Kaiser, is making slow progress, but progress nonetheless. 

Marsha has been making progress on the Easy Folded Poncho and swatching for some sweaters. Meanwhile, Kelly is intrigued by two crochet shawls.  Archangel by Katya Novikova is a pretty lace shawl with a Victorian feel.  Hotel of Bees by Christina Hadderingh is a striped shawl with color and texture changes related to bees.  The pattern was inspired by the book All the Light We Cannot See.

This weekend Kelly is headed to pick up two packages of bees at BeeKind in Sebastopol, California.  Each package holds about 10,000 bees who will be installed into two empty hives.  During the discussion she mentions Les Crowder, an interesting and informative beekeeper who is a proponent of treatment free beekeeping. 

A fabulous yarny time at the retreat and then a trip to a fiber mill and more time playing with newly milled yarn and dye pots. The Two Ewes are on a Spring Break adventure!

Kelly is making great progress on the Edie tee-shirt that she is making with Linen Concerto yarn she bought at Stitches West. She is also moving along on the Havannah tee that she is making with Dragon Fly Fibers Rustic Silk Dance yarn.

Marsha brought a shawl and her Edie tee as retreat and vacation knitting.

The shawl is Among the Shadows by Kelene Kinnersly. She is using a very recent purchase of Feederbrook Farm yarn that she got during her post Stitches trip to SF.

First there was the wonderful weekend at NoCKRs, the Northern California Knitters Retreat, held by the Yarniacs and 2 Knit Lit Chicks podcasts.  Held at the St. Francis Retreat Center, it was a relaxing and fun time catching up with friends and meeting new friends.  Lots of knitting and food and drink and laughing!

Then we visited Ranch of the Oaks to pick up Kelly's yarn order. On the way we had to stop at Yarns at the Adobe, the yarn shop across from the mission in San Luis Obispo.

Finally, we spent the last few days of the visit dyeing the yarn that had just been milled. So much fun!

I'm finished knitting except I still have to...Have you ever said that about a project?  The Ewes have projects in various stages of completion, but many things OFF the needles!  Just like our projects, this episode is finished, except for the shownotes! We may not have photos in the show notes this week, but take a look at our project pages! 

Kelly's project page.   

Marsha's project page.

We hope to be back on track with normal show notes by Episode 64.  Thanks for listening!