moonfrog

Black Sheep Gathering was a great event. It was really like a country fair with lots of wool for sale. The first thing I saw as we strolled around the buildings as the vendors were setting up on Thursday, was this antique Indian head spinning wheel that was being offered in a raffle. I was beside myself with excitement. This is the style of wheel I had back in the 70s. Mine was a modern version, but it was this basic design. If it had been for sale, I probably would have bought it out of sheer nostalgia. Good thing it wasn’t!

My friend Connie and her husband, who also went to Stitches West, drove up to Oregon with us (in our own vehicles to accomodate our gear) and we camped together. (Let me say again that our husbands are the very best sports about our fiber obsessions.) We all checked out the Sheep to Shawl event on Friday. I had never seen one, but Connie actually does a local demonstation-style Sheep to Shawl at our county fair which starts with shearing the sheep. I’m planning to go watch it this year.
The one at Black Sheep is a competition. The wool sheared, cleaned and dyed ahead of time and a team cards, spins and weaves it into a shawl in five hours. There was a group of university students called the Sinister Spinsters who did a great job in the competition, although they did not win it. This is a photo of their shawl being finished to be removed from the loom. Jodie, one of the team members, blogs about their experience here.

And the next photo is the first place shawl. Can you belive that this is done is just five hours?! There were four teams and all the shawls were awesome.

We spent time checking out the sheep and goats, who were housed right outside the vendor building. Then we found a building that was dedicated to the alpacas. I’ll save a couple of those pictures for later.

Next to the shopping, my favorite part of the gathering was the wool judging. In most fairs, this is done quietly behind the scenes, but at Black Sheep Gathering it is a public affair. The judge, Judith MacKenzie McCuin, a Canadian who lives in Montana, has a wealth of knowledge about the history and characteristics of wool. (Please forgive the early morning, indoor picture. It is very unflattering, as well as very blurry. No need to adjust your screen.) I learned so much about wool and yarn from her explanations! She talked about the the origins and breeding of the sheep, the qualities of the various types of wool and their uses. One knitter in front of us (there were active knitters and spinners in the audience) commented that watching the judging actually gave more information than the class for judging. And we got to see so many beautiful fleeces. I gained a real appreciation for the necessity of choosing a yarn suited to each particular project.

(In a bit of blog surfing, I found out that Judith is the author of  Teach Yourself Visually Handspinning, which I have had on order for two months from Amazon. One of the vendors told me that they had bought all of the first printing for the book signing.  I’m still waiting for my copy…sigh.)

The fleeces in the show could not be bought until Sunday (it is probably a good thing that we were leaving Saturday!) so we checked out the room where non-judged fleeces were on sale. I decided to buy a small fleece that was not too expensive. That way I would not feel guilty if it sat for a while waiting to be tended. My fleece is a border leiceister (pronounced lester) from Red Dog Ranch. It came with a totally cool card that introduced me to Naomi, the ewe who grew this lovely fleece for me. Connie, a veteran spinner and sheep raiser, helped me choose a good fleece. And she did a great job — Red Dog Ranch won several ribbons for their wool, including Reserve Champion for white fleece. Another benefit of attending this show was making the connections for future wool purchases. Not only did we see the fleeces and the sheep, we were able to talk to many of the ranchers in person. Many of them specialize in one or two breeds, so we can contact them for specifically what we want.

During our many trips through the market, I also bought a two-and-a-half pound batt of llama fiber and four eight-ounce balls of merino roving in discontinued colors. This should spur my spinning on a bit. A spinning wheel bag also found its way into my possession. I figured that although I could make one of these myself, it would never be as good as this one made by The Bag Lady, and it would probably never get done. Isn’t the lining fabric beautiful? The bag is made for the Rose when it is folded down. Now I’m ready to travel! I’m hoping to join our local spinners and weavers guild in the fall. Miraculously, I managed to stay within my budget. I guess it helps that I saved up a fair amount for this event. : )

I’ll share the alpaca barn and the knitting I managed to complete next time around. Today I’m packing up to leave town again for a long weekend. This time I’m working at the Kate Wolf Music Festival. I’ll also save my AudioBook Blurb for next week, when I will probably have finished the Harry Potter series. Just in time, don’t you think?

Today has been full of laundry and packing. We are going to the Black Sheep Gathering in Eugene, Oregon! I am so looking forward to this. After weeks of working with very few days off, I am so ready for a break. And what could be better than a gathering of sheep and wool? And lots of knitters, too!

There’s a Sheep-to-Shawl event that will be fun to watch all day Friday. The shawl will be woven, so there will be looms set up as well as spinning wheels. I’ve never seen this done and can’t imagine how it all happens in one day.

And I’m looking forward to the shopping, even though I haven’t had time to use the yarn I have. There has been no knitting at all this week. None! But work is slowing down, so there is hope for the rest of the summer.

AudioBook Blurb: It has been a good week for reading my audiobooks, since I have been able to listen while I work. I finished the series, His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman. The third book is The Amber Spyglass. I really enjoyed the last book. The characters had drawn me in and I wanted to see what they would do. The part I thought might be disappointing was written very well. I was pleasantly surprised at how well the author finished the book as interestingly as it began.

The worlds that Pullman created were amazing. The relationships between the characters were varied and complex. Even though listening to an audiobook has its downside, the voices of the characters in this one made it richer than text.

I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys new ideas but wouldn’t be offended by its underlying anti-religion message.

I am now well into the Harry Potter series — headed into book three. I am reading the British version and enjoying the slight variations in vocabulary.

See you next week — with some knitting for sure.

My very busy work schedule is slowing down — now that deserves a happy dance! This post is full of happy dances, but first — my knitting. No happy dance in the knitting bag, I’m afraid. See all the progress I’ve made on my Shedir while commuting to work? (Sweet husband drives while I knit.) Well, about an inch down there is a funny row. Not so funny really, as I had to rip back to the lifeline another inch lower. Ah, well.

At least I have begun to enjoy this pattern. It has become very familiar and much easier. Except, of course, when I lose track somehow. My uneven stitches detract from the Shedir beauty a bit, but I am happy to be making progress on this challenging knit.

And that’s just about it for my knitting. I have made one square for the Rebuilding Greensburg – Block by Block project. One more and I’ll send them off. A new Yahoo group I joined called Knitting Hope knits for different charity projects recommended by member and this month’s is the Greensburg project.

Now for the Happy Dances! My mail has been full of wonderful surprises. I received my Knitters’ Tea Swap package from Ingrid in Nova Scotia, Canada. What a lovely package! It was full of things that originate in Nova Scotia.Two teas: Just Us! Chai Tea and Nova Scotia Blue, wild blueberry tea. Yum! There are Marsala Chai cookies and Lindt chocolate (also Canadian) to go with the tea. I saved the dark chocolate for my sweet husband — the milk chocolate is not pictured here. Hmmmm….
The lovely Fleece Artist Sea Wool yarn is also a product of Nova Scotia. It is exquisite! It has a very silky feel to it. I love the amethyst color, too. It’s perfect for me! It comes with a Bordello sock pattern as the wrapper, so I’m ready to roll! Ingrid topped it all off with that cute San Francisco themed card. I am one happy swapper!

Another happy-making package came for my birthday from Mandy. What a sweetheart! She sent me some lovely stitch markers that she made. They are beautifully artistic. (And check out that cute box!) And more sock yarn! I’ve been wanting to get in the habit of keep socks on the needles at all times. It’s time I start! This yarn has beautiful colors in it that can’t be seen in this photo — light blue and green, purple, brown and gold. The color changes will be fun to watch as it is knit. The yarn is very soft, too, and not one I have tried.

One more package — from a contest on Cheryl’s Diva Knitting blog. This is some very soft Jo Sharp wool in DK weight. This is an excellent addition to the stash. Don’t you just love card that shows the artwork from her blog?

AudioBook Blurb:

I have not been able to listen to my current audiobook, The Amber Spyglass, which is the third and final book in the His Dark Materials series. I am re-reading some of it and will be able to finish it this week.

Now I’m going to finish enjoying some very welcome days off. : )

Last weekend we had a wonderful break and went riding to Crescent City, which is as close as you can get to Oregon and still be in California. We rode into Oregon for a Relay for Life Poker Ride. The ride brought in $6300 for the American Cancer Society — and we had a fun weekend with some great friends. The weather was cold and cloudy in California, so we had to bundle up, then it warmed up in Oregon to give us a little time in the sun. That’s one of the nice things about living on the coast. Our weather is very temperate to cool, but we only have to drive an hour away to find some hot sun.

More and more our generation uses fun events to generate donations to worthy causes. It is a great motivator and combines leisure activities with helping others. Of course, part of my knitting time is used the same way. It provides me the creative, relaxing outlet I crave and results in a product that helps those in crisis. These hats are the last of this round’s donation to Caps for a Cure.

The tiger hat was fun to make for the children’s group. It is offered with three other newborn hats at Kerrie’s Place. The pattern calls for DK weight yarn, so I used Cotton-Ease to make a bigger hat. I also did a 2X2 ribbed edge rather than a rolled brim.

The orange hat is also Cotton-Ease, done in Kitty Schmidt’s Stitch ‘n Bitch Kittyville Hat pattern without the ears. The pattern is also available in the Devil Hat version.
Now I’ve moved Shedir into the travel bag, so it gets a couple rows each day while we are commuting to work. At the rate I’m going, it will be done in about a month. It’s the only active project I have going.

I miss my long days of knitting and look forward to having more time in a week or two. My family noticed my knitting withdrawals one day when I was winding some stringthat was headed for the trash can into a nice, neat ball. It really is a stress-reliever for me.

I’m off to work. Hope you have some knitting time built into your day.