A Fair Isle Sweater

 Several years ago, I was given some sheep wool fiber.  If my memory is correct, it was from a Jacob wool sheep.  With daughter Mia's help, I cleaned, washed, carded the fleece.  Then, because there was so much of it, I sent it to a place that finished the carding and made several balls of roving.

Then I spun it on my Lendrum spinning wheel.

I decided I wanted to dye it and had heard that Kool Aid makes a great dye.  Think about it.  Have you ever spilled Kool Aid drink on your shirt, or had your child spill on his/her clothes?  It never never washes out.  It's a permanent dye.

And then the yarn just sat there in my stash.  Well, not completely.  I did make some outfits for Eleanor Elizabeth from the yarn.

Finally, in March, I decided that this would be the year I would use the yarn to make a fair isle sweater to wear when I visit Ireland and England in June.  The weather should be cool enough for me to wear a wool sweater, right?  Particularly in Ireland.

So I embarked on an adventure to find just the right pattern.  After browsing many many pinterest photos, numerous knitting books and blogs, I chose the Trek pattern by Tin Can Knits.

I finished the sweater just in time to wear this weekend when the weather decided to cool down into the 40s.

I am really pleased with the final results.