Portugese Knitting

I am working away on my ten sheep breeds project (somehow I have increased it to 15), where I spin a woolen and a worsted sample of each breed, plus knit up a sample of each. Therein lies my challenge...knitting. I can knit and purl and that is about it. I thought I should take this opportunity to better my knitting skills and embarked on journey to find out how to knit continental style as many say it is more efficient. I tried it and found it better but the purl was a challenge. And then I discovered Portuguese Knitting. I had seen pictures of Spanish knitting where the yarn is wrapped around the back of the neck and thought that strange, but after learning Portuguese knitting I know why, and why it makes it so much easier for knit and purl! Check out this video:

Spider silk

Photo and article at Wired.com

1million spiders, 70 people, 4 years, 80 million feet of silk = an amazing piece of fabric. Check out this article from Wired: 1 million Spiders Make Golden Silk for Rare Cloth

And here is a CBC interview an interview with Nicolas Godley, the man that milked the spiders and wove that tapestry of spider silk.
http://www.cbc.ca/mrl3/8752/asithappens/20090929-aih-1.wmv

And, another article along with a video interviewing the visionary behind the spiders.

Good God, it is September

So much to write, so little time. so much has happened, so I will try to get more up here to cover the past couple of months. This will take time to catch up. In the meantime, here is a great video on creative herding sheep.