moonfrog

Let me wrap up two recent events, then it’s time to move on to new projects. First, the Sheep-to-Shawl at the fair. Jamie (peeking out from the back on the left-hand side) sent me these pictures to share.

The spinners and weavers and carders are posing with the finished shawl. Amazing!  (I’m working in the guild room, so I’m not in this picture. I think a couple more people are missing, too.) We had a great turnout, with many helping hands to finish this challenge. A couple of the carders were not spinners or weavers, but young women who were showing their sheep at the fair. It seems so fitting to have participants from the beginning stages.

Another rancher is also the guild member who donated the fleece, Ace of Ace ‘n the Hole Ranch. Here he is shearing. (He’s also an accomplished spinner.)

See what a lovely fleece we had to work with?!  It was fun to watch the various colors blend together, much like the various participants did as they worked.

Our fair coordinator is in the middle of the photo.  (The short one with the big smile.)  Connie did a fabulous job organizing everything and spent hours and hours — actually days and days — at the fair. She made sure it was a huge success.

While the fair was going on, Ravelry knitters were meeting the challenge of Ravelympics.  I started out my personal challenge with finishing Shedir. (See link above.) The I moved on to a list of hats. I knew that priority one with me was to finish some hats for Caps for a Cure, so I picked out a few that were on my wishlist and gathered all the supplies. I finished all but two. I’m still working on one; the other didn’t provoke enough interest for me, so I dropped it off the list.

I started out with some more cables. It seems I missed Shedir a bit.  I interspersed the knits with some quick crochet numbers. Not bad for 17 days, with some of those days spent spinning for the fair.  I think hat-knitting is on the shelf for a while now.

I’m looking forward to the next phase, but I can’t quite tell what it will be just yet. I’m toying with fingersless gloves, socks, sweater. Who knows?!

I’ll list the patterns here from top to bottom, left to right — just like reading.

1. Claudia hat in off-white GGH Bali.  2. Amanda hat (pdf) in Cranberry red Patons Canadiana.   3. Robin’s Egg Blue Hat  in leftovers of Hot Pink Bernat Softee Chunky with a Kellogg’s sunshine button. 4. My Baby Love Cables Hat in Rowan Soft Lux, color Gigli.  5. Generic crochet beanie in boucle.  6. Divine Hat  in turquois Patons Canadiana.  7.  Nubby Brim Cloche in Patons Shetland Chunky Tweeds, child size with a ruffled edge.

Last year I went to our county fair and watched the local guild members’ spinning competition. This year, thanks to my friend Connie who coordinated all the guild activities at the fair, I am a member of the guild and participated in the competition. It was great fun! I entered both events: speed spinning and fine spinning. I’m not a fine spinner, so the second one was just for fun — and because I’d bugged someone else to enter who wasn’t going to, either. Heh.

Well, surprise, surprise! I won the beginners’ speed spinning. That overspun kinky, errr . . . designer yarn skein is what I spun in 20 minutes. I thought my legs would give out from treadling so fast. The white merino on the 3rd place ribbon is the fine yarn. It’s wrapped around the gold coin there. I admit I gave up on that one. I wish I’d gotten a picture of the fine yarn that won the advanced group. It was spun by Janet of Aunt Janet’s Fiber Mill on a custom spindle made from a button and a double-point needle. Yikes!

The yarn on the bobbin is what I made with the nice big bump that Aunt Janet gave me after the competition. She kindly supplied all the wool for the speed spinning. Romney wool, I think. I asked her the next week if I could get some more, but it was all used up. Rats!

The next week was the Sheep to Shawl demonstration and I helped with that, too. One thing about participating is that I just don’t think to take pictures. Take my word for it, though, it was fun, and there were lots of people helping. I helped with the carding, using my drum carder. It’s amazing to see wool come off a sheep at noon and a completed shawl come off the loom a few hours later.

I didn’t actually see the shearing, done by Ace ‘n the Hole Ranch who donated the fleece, as I was working in the guild room at the time. Working — ha! I was demonstrating beginning spinning, complete with fits and starts. After finishing the bobbin of speed wool, I moved on to some variegated blue merino/alpaca roving that I got in a swap. Next I spun 4 oz. of red merino top from a swap. I love that red shaded with black!

Those two lots are nestled on a bed of luscious merino top that I bought from the same woman who I swapped for the red merino. I have enough merino for a very long time. In fact, I have extra. I bought some more merino top from a close-out. If you’re interested, drop me a line and I’ll let it go at a good price. I have lots. Seriously. I also have some merino/hemp blend roving that is for sale. Lovely stuff, but only a couple pounds to sell. I’ll send pictures if anyone is interested.

We also have a bit of a garden growing that I’m excited about. It’s at my family’s summer cabin where it is hot. We got a late start, but it’s coming along now. The cherry tomatoes are ripening a few at a time and the bigger ones are putting on size. We have over a dozen plants.

Then there’s our favorite. One pumpkin plant. It took a long time for it to set fruit that didn’t drop off, but it’s coming along now. Isn’t this the cutest baby pumpkin you ever saw?! It was the size of a softball when I took this photo, and I’ve heard that it has grown considerably since then. There are some crookneck squash keeping it company, but I haven’t seen another pumpkin.

Well, it’s time to work a bit more on my Ravelympics hats before that competition is over. I have until Saturday at 9 AM to finish whatever I can. I’d like to get one more done, so I’d best get back to it!

* Seriously!

After Le Tour de Fleece, it seems a little odd to jump right into another knit-along competition, but that’s just what hundreds — no, thousands — of knitters have done on Ravelry. I just checked the Ravelympics group and there are 6,194 members, all working on teams to meet challenging goals while watching the Olympic games (or not.)Before Ravelry, there was the Knitters’ Olympics in the winter of 2006. I used that event to challenge myself to finish Picovoli. This year, I’ve gathered a list of 9 hats to make, plus one unfinished object. My project page on Ravelry has the picture above on 5 out of 9 spots. That means that I’ve made 4 hats since August 8th. Okay, so I started with the easy ones, but I was warming up. Now, I’m kicking it! I’ll post the 4 hats later, but what I want to crow about now is the UFO.

After warming up on a simple cable beanie, I picked up the long-neglected Shedir and she is done! I can’t believe I did it. I almost gave up. But I knit, and tinked, and tinked some more, and finally reached the end. At one point, I missed a jog where the chart shifts the beginning of the round, so my stitches are all one off at that point, but fortunately it is where the cables begin to spread out and the error gets a little lost in all the movement. It was just too far back to tink and I had been too lazy to put in another lifeline.

I worked all the repeats and used size 3 needles, because that’s the size I had when I started this hat over a year ago. I was worried about running out of yarn, so I skipped some of the plain rows between the decrease rows. No need to worry, I had plenty of yarn. I also had saved a simple crochet beanie I made for Caps for a Cure in the same yarn, just in case I needed to frog it for Shedir. Now that little cap can go its merry way.

The Shedir is staying here with me. It fits me perfectly. And there are too many mistakes for me to feel comfortable sending it off to someone else. I really need to hold onto this one to remind myself of what it takes to meet a challenge. When I started knitting this cap, it was a huge challenge and it was difficult. I really doubted that I’d ever finish it.

When I picked it up again two days ago, it was amazingly easy in comparison. I made plenty of mistakes, tinked back a row several times, but it was not the struggle of a year ago. The chart was easy to read. I could memorize the stitch repeats and the complex cables and work without painstakingly re-reading for every single stitch. I really noticed how much my knitting had advanced.

Well, she’s done. Sigh. She’s had a good bath after much rough handling over the long haul. It feels good, but there’s that little wistfulness. It’s time to cast on a couple new projects to fill the void. I have the Nordic Sock Sweater on hold for a while — it has grown too big to be portable and I’m at a turning point in its construction. The husband’s socks must be cast on again. But I need a challenge. A few more hats and I’ll think of something new and exciting. In the meantime, let me know what is challenging you lately!

Rehash of the details:

Pattern:  Shedir from Knitty.com 

Yarn:  Rowan Calmer in Powder 

Needles:  Addi Turbos size 3, two circulars 

Time:  15 months 

For quite a while I’ve been posting to this blog quickly, usually late. Today is no exception, but today I took a little time to check the section that shows who has linked to my blog. Imagine my surprise when I found that the famous Yarn Harlot linked to my blog at the start of Le Tour de France. A month ago. I didn’t even know about it until today. Amazing. Thanks, Stephanie!

Well, I do have something to show for my time away. First, I managed to spin the three bobbins of wool that I set as my goal for the Tour . . . and I’m almost done with my fourth. I’m thrilled that spinning now seems to be a habit — a lovely, relaxing habit.

I also finished Branching Out. It was a fun break from the garter stitch and other simple patterns I’ve been working.

I made it 64 inches long, which is my height. I’ve heard this is a good measure for a scarf and think it is just right for me. The yarn is Queensland Llama Seta, which is an alpaca/silk blend. Funny name for it. I used three and a half balls for the scarf and matching hat. They’re tucked away waiting for cooler weather. I’m thrilled with these, too.

But there’s a new thing that has me beyond thrilled. I finished my first weaving project! It started with buying a used Schacht rigid heddle loom. With little time for learning something new, I decided to visit my LYS for help with the warp. I’m so glad I did! Warp on, I set out to make a pillow that I had promised for our guild’s county fair booth. I almost decided to give up on this, but it all worked out terrifically.

Next, I got out some Noro Kureyon in brown, gray, and gold. I gave myself permission to make loopy, raggedy edges since I’d be cutting and sewing anyway. I’ll learn to make nice selvedges later. After a few inches, I saw that the neutral colors were not enough and pulled out a ball of Taos wool in blues. Ah, just right! I stayed up late working on this piece, loving every minute.

Then a trip to the fabric store for backing and a pillow form. Ta Da!

This less-than-perfect project made me inordinately happy. There’s no way I can give this pillow away. My plan is to put it in the guild sale and buy it myself. (I heard this idea from the guild president, so I think it will be all right.)

There’s one thing that scares me a bit about this new weaving thing, though. First there was knitting: needles, yarn, etc. Then there was spinning: wheel, fiber, etc. And dyeing. And now? Oh, yes, the equipment and stash grow in variety and size. I just have to be more creative about how to store it all!

The really good thing about all these things is that they give me a sense of balance. Life is not all work. I squeeze more fun out of it every day.