One Down, Three To Go......

On my quest to finish projects for the local county fair, I have completed one of my four goals. My handspun shawlette was actually finished the night after my last blog post. I've just been a little lazy in posting pictures. It was much faster to knit than I had thought it would be and I enjoyed every second of it. I keep finding myself looking at other shawlette patterns on Ravelry and even imagining them in my handspun. Oh my!

I blocked the shawl the day before Easter and was pretty surprised at the difference it made. I pinned it within an inch of it's life and love the way it came out. I tried to make each of the points pop out at the same place on either side of the shawl. It did take some time to get it exactly the way I wanted it, but it really was worth it.

The shawl was completely dry the next morning, with a little cat hair added courtesty of Miss Ginny. After that was removed, I immediately put it on and wore it all day. I wore it pretty loosely around my neck, secured with a shawl pin, since I wasn't sure how sensitive my neck would be to the wool/flax blend. My husband said that I looked like a little French girl :) Since then it's been silently sitting in the corner waiting for exhibit drop-off day.

A Fair Challenge

In the past week I received the Exhibitor's Guide for the 2011 Marin County Fair. I like to enter my finished objects in the fair. It's not for the ribbons or the prizes, I just like to see everything displayed together. Wandering into the textile arts room, you don't know where to look first. Quilts hang from the walls, needlpoint graces the shelves, knitting and crochet drapes over tables and chairs. It's all of the things I love packed into one room. And I love that some of my things can be a part of it.

I looked through the list of categories and picked out a few for the projects I finished this year. But it just doesn't feel like enough. So, this year I've decided to challenge myself. I have four things that I think I can finish before the submission date and I'm going to put most of my time and effort into trying to complete them.

1. The handspun shawlette I talked about last week. I only have six more rows before I bind off. After that it just needs to be blocked. A pretty easy goal in my opinion.

2. Edmund the Easter Bunny. This is knit bunny with fabric ears and feet that I started a couple of weeks ago. I've finished knitting all of the parts and have the body all seemed and stuffed. I just need to finish and attach the ears, the hands, and legs. Oh, and I need to embroider a little face for him.

3. Merino/Bamboo yarn. I've been spinning this blend for the past month. I started with eight ounces and only have two more ounces of singles left to spin. After the singles are done, I'm going to do a two-ply and set the twist. Let's hope it turns out pretty even.

4. Blue Lace Socks with Beads. I finished the first sock a couple of months ago and am on the beginning of the leg on the second sock. This is my longshot and I'm hoping a deadline will help get rid of the second sock syndrome I've had.

Wish me luck!

Knitting with Handspun

I've finally done it! I'm knitting with my handspun :) Ever since I started spinning a few years ago, my finished skeins would be my pets. I would squeeze them, pet them, and put them on display for all to see before they were moved into the shelves along with my other stash. They've seemed too special to pick up and knit just anything so they've been waiting for that perfect special project.

Then I was encouraged to just take the leap and cast-on. What better skein to start with than the one I just finished. This is the 60/40 wool/flax blend from Spunky Eclectic in the "Whiner" colorway. I spun it up as a two-ply and ended up with approximately 250 yards of sport weight goodness from 4 oz. of fiber. I really like the heathered look that came from the way the wool took the dye compared to the flax.

I chose the shawlette pattern "Vermillion" because the linen should give the finished object a nice drape. It is a triangular shawl that starts with plain stockinette and then transitions to a lace edge. The lace pattern should help the yarn go a bit further since I don't have a ton of yardage. The pattern calls for three repeats of the lace pattern before binding off, and I plan to weigh my skein at the end of each repeat to see how far I can really go.

As of tonight I'm halfway through the second repeat. I have to admit that the rows are getting noticeably longer and longer. Even though it seems like I'm close to the end, I have a sneaking suspicion it will take me longer than I think to finish.

At the Con!

I spent the past weekend in San Francisco at WonderCon 2011. And yes, I did bring my knitting! While my husband was perusing tables full of comic books and action figures, I had my GoKnit Pouch attached to my belt looop and a vanilla sock in my hands. I caught many people staring at me and one man told me that he had never seen anyone knitting a sock before at WonderCon. He obviously didn't see me last year :)

I finished the first of my pair of vanilla socks during a panel with Rainn Wilson (Dwight) from The Office. He was promoting his new film Super and answered lots of questions from the audience. It was definitely one of the best panels I've seen there.

My sock is made from Berroco Sox Metallic and I'm following a pattern from Wendy D. Johnson's book "Socks From the Toe Up." It's the Slip Stitch Heel Basic Sock pattern which so far seems like it fits me really well. I haven't worn the socks for an entire day yet, but my stroll around the room went well.

Even at WonderCon I was able to find some knitting. There was one artist booth selling handknit wrist warmers and hats and another booth selling needle felted creatures. The needle felting booth was Woolbuddy and you could purchase either a kit or a completed animal. I must admit that I took a small owl kit home with me. The directions seem pretty easy so I'm hoping this little guy will go together pretty quickly.

Resurrection

I've been away for a really, really, really long time, but I'm back! I haven't been up to anything special, just normal every day life. But, I have definitely been knitting and spinning.

Here's my latest spinning project, and it was a completely different experience for me. It's a wool/flax blend from Spunky Eclectic. I ordered 4 oz. of this beautiful stuff because the blend intrigued me and I loved the look of it. It came in 2 oz. bundles of pencil roving and was on my wheel less than a week after it came in the mail. I actually spun most of it up over two days, which is pretty fast for this slow spinner. This weekend, I plied it up into a simple two-ply and it's now hanging up to dry :)

I'd never heard anything about spinning flax before I dove into this. I probably should have looked through some of my books to get some tips and tricks, but I just started right in. I used the regular flyer on my Lendrum with a 10:1 ratio and found it to be a relatively easy spin. The flax was definitely rougher than the wool, but they drafted well together. Occasionally, I would hit a section where the flax would kind of draft apart from the wool, but it was pretty easily fixed by slowing down my wheel and taking a little more time to draft.

I think the final yarn will have a very nice drape and I can't wait for it to dry so I can measure the yardage. Maybe this will be the first of my handspun to actually be knit up!

It's Been A While

These flowers are part of what I've been up to lately. When the weather started getting warmer, I decided my patio needed some flowers. So, when my Mom asked me to go to the hardware store with her, it was the perfect opportunity to pick up what I needed. Now, in case you don't know me, I have a black-ish thumb. I can never seem to keep plants alive for very long. They don't die immediately, it's more of a slow decline.

I was super excited to pick out the planters I thought would work well on my patio and my Mom help me pick the soil I needed. She also directed me toward the hardy plants which would require less maintenance and therefore be easier to keep alive. I went home, and after hauling all of it upstairs, spent the rest of the afternoon planting all of my little flowers.

I'm proud to report that not only are my plants still alive, they are thriving! They've grown so big and colorful (even bigger than the above picture). They make me happy every time I come home and see them.



I've also been doing some spinning. The fiber I used is Montana Moon from CJ Kopec Creations, a wonderful merino batt. I've only spun about 1oz of the 4oz I purchased, but I love it so far.

I was wandering around my groups on Ravelry and read about a monthly spin-a-long (SAL) contest she was starting. Every month she posts two different colorways. If you want to participate, all you have to do it post how much of what fiber you want. When it's all ready, she lists your fiber on etsy and mails it out after you pay. After you've finished spinning a reasonable amount of fiber, you post a picture in the finished yarn thread for everyone to admire. The best part is after the deadline, we all get to vote on which yarn we like best. The winners even get a prize!

I didn't even come close to winning this first SAL. I was just happy to see one person voted for my yarn :)

Learning to Stitch

A couple months ago, a member of the Marin Golden Threads asked for volunteers to help teach stitching to some Brownies and Girl Scouts. My Mom and I signed up to help the Brownies, ages 6-8, and today was the day. There were six adult volunteers and we all had a lot of fun.

There were around eighteen or nineteen of the little girls there, all chatting and giggling. The older girl scout teaching the class taught them the cross stitch first and then the backstitch. At first, it was just a challenge to make sure every girl was able to thread her needle :)

But, slowly and surely, the girls started picking it up and everyone was making little X's on their practice plastic canvas. Actually, a few of the girls had already taken a sewing class and were flying ahead of the teacher. They even learned how to do a satin stitch and Smyrna cross by the end.














Watching them learn how to stitch made me think of when I was little, my Great-Grandmother teaching me how to crochet chains that would stretch across her living room. I still have the first cross stitch design I ever made in a box in my spare bedroom. It was a small picture of a jar of berry jam with beads sewn on for the berries. I gave it to my Great-Grandmother one year for her birthday (or Christmas?). I like to think that she would be proud of all the things I've learned since then.