A Finished Object! Hurrah! (Pay no attention to the UFOs behind that curtain...)

by Kathleen

I got possessed. That's the only way I can explain it. I had a yarn that was lovely and squishy and fun and a pattern that was crying out to be made in it... so for a week this is all I did.

Presenting...
Twinings by Anne Hanson (highly modified to be a scarf in worsted weight rather than a shawl in lace)
Everyone may now go "whoaah duuude" at the awesomeness that is my grafting.
I tried to get what Anne calls the "money shot" and show you the full view, but we couldn't get high enough or far enough away to get the full length in.
The yarn is Crystal Palace Merino5. It is soft and sproingy and was a joy to work with.
I loved the pattern. It's lace patterning on both sides and takes some concentration... and I may not have felt as smug if I was working in the suggested laceweight with 11 pattern repeats (instead of worsted with 2). But I wasn't. So I am.

I'm challenging myself with another of her patterns Cluaranach in Malabrigo laceweight. I'm just finished with the first pattern section and am on to the middle.

It's slow going as it takes some real quiet, no interruptions, concentration time... and that's hard to come by. But so far I'm liking it. A lot.

I also started some socks...

I had some fun yarn from an Internet yarn dyer that I wanted to make into CookieA's Mingus (part of my Scavenger SWAP package). So I cast on...
And couldn't find the dang pattern! I know had it somewhere... but I looked through assorted piles and no go.
So... I had some Colinette Jitterbug I got as a gift from a lovely sister (or did I pay you for that C?) and I had designed a sock pattern with cable and leaf lace patterns. Cast on and...
Oh, come on! Two? How could they both disappear? They were just here, together, on the table... snuggled up close.... Waitaminnit... what if my sock patterns have eloped!?
So. Third times a charm. Sereknity's Can Do (wool and Bamboo blend) in a Charlene Schurch pattern called Cable Rib.

Oh. And no worries y'all about the missing patterns. Though I was rather hoping that I would have lots of cute little baby sock patterns as a result of their weekend away, I found them later. They were hiding right where I had put them. In another knitting bag.
Sneaky little rascals.

Final purty purty shot...

ETA: Oh no! I can't believe I forgot two whole other finished objects!!

Charlene Schurch's Garter Rib pattern socks in Handmaiden Casbah (bought at On the Lamb, my LYS)
The Tipsy Cable square from the Great American Afghan. Made from unknown yarn (donated by Claudia Handpaint) for an afghan being raffled off to support a local Art's center by my LYS.

WWKIP

by Kathleen

Two Saturdays ago, June 14, was World Wide Knit in Public Day. I would like to report that I feel I fulfilled my public knitting duties thoroughly and with vigor.

In the morning I headed down to Staunton (that's STAN-ton), to a gathering arranged by On the Lamb, my LYS (that's Local Yarn Store). It was a blast!

There were about 40 people who showed up through the morning (from about 10 to 2). We even had a spinner bring her wheel.

We were hosted by Blue Mountain Coffee, who very generously gave each participant a free coffee drink (iced anything being the favorite of the day). And Shenandoah Spring Water donated lots of cold bottles of water.
We had lovely goody bags put together by our OTL (On the Lamb) team which had pen and notepad from BB&T bank, discount coupons for Rachel's Quilt Patch and info from other fine sponsors.

Plus yarn!
This is a skein of Noro Silk Mountain that was in the bag!

I put it to immediate good use...

And this is a skein of Icelandic sheep's wool, a lopi style single, from a local farm, Green Fence Farm, that I won as a door prize! They were very generous donating three skeins to be given out.

In fact, the day was supported generously by many wonderful sponsors giving out prizes of dinners at Shenandoah Pizza, yarn, gingher scissors (for the hat contest winner) and more!

There was a hat contest with very clever entries... Claudia wound a skein of beautiful yarn about as if it were a braid of hair; Tonks knitted a tiny sweater; Angel had an real live sheep on her head! (well, maybe not really...)

The participants...

Angel's Under the lamb hat...

And the winner!

After the festivities in Staunton quieted down I traveled back north to help out at my guild's, SVTGM (Shenandoah Valley Textile Guild and Museum. And I promise... no more acronyms.) monthly fiber demonstration. We had spinning, rug hooking, tapestry weaving and me... I continued knitting until 4:00.

Next time I'll show you what all that knitting time accomplished.

It's reeeeal purty.

Cute times three

by Kathleen

Thanks for the nice comments on my handspun. I'm really very proud of it, even the "run awaaay..." parts (btw... that's a Monty Python reference in case you couldn't tell), as I learned so much. My only class experience was one workshop last September, so trying to recollect how to ply was... challenging.
Unfortunately the wheel I spun that on has returned to its rightful owner as it was only borrowed for the time.
I *do* have a wheel as I got one as a gift from a friend who no longer spins on it. And it's very cool... but different. I'll post a photo after I get it all cleaned up (it's been in her garage for some years). It's a wheel designed for thicker yarns, made in a four post frame with a cast iron fly wheel... very interesting.


Meanwhile how about some pictures of cute stuff?

My knit night went to a nearby alpaca farm a couple of weeks ago. Three babies had been born within days of our visit. Oh my! So unbearably cute!

This little guy was barely two days old....

This little one was closer to a week I think...

Even the "grown ups" were adorable...

Here we feed the alpacas their favorite food... baby fingers! No, no, no... I'm kidding. Alpacas don't eat baby fingers they eat alpaca food pellets.
Llamas eat baby fingers.

The animals were all quite friendly, although the Mamas stood guard carefully and the cria hung back in their safety.
Thanks to (name to be filled in when I can find the brochure) Alpaca Farm for letting us wander about and ooh and aah over the gorgeous animals and the oh-so-very-cute cria.

ETA: Massanutten Alpacas, in Keezletown, VA.

Hmmm... I wonder how my cats would feel about an alpaca friend?

Spinning a Few Dollars More...

by Kathleen

While I wait for approval (due to a raging case of camnesia) to use another's photos of WWKIP (World Wide Knit in Public for the non-knitters) Day I would like to amuse and/or horrify you here with some photos of my first ever, by myself (the only other spinning being in a workshop) spinning wheel handspun!

Ta Daaaaaaa!


The Good...
















The Bad...




The Ugly...











And the Run Away!!!!










So sorry. I should have better warned you. Hope everyone is okay? At least I fuzzed the picture out. Didn't want to do any permanent damage.

Here... let's finish with something nicer...


Back to the Good.

#4

by Kathleen


About 40-something years (and a few weeks) ago the Gypsies left on our doorstep... I mean... Mom came home from the hospital with a new baby.

I don't remember whether it was this one's or #5's fault that Dad burned the peas, but I knew when I saw her she was nothing but trouble.


Check out the shifty eyed one on the right. No, no... not the angelic faced one on the upper right... the lower right.

*I* had to wait until college to grow my hair long (and dye it red). And I never looked that cute with my freckles.

Look! Look! She's upstaging me! No respect for her elders.

But, I suppose after a while she started growing on me...

I even forgave her going to Prom (which I never did. Cue the violins.)

We sang together...

We did hard manual labor together...

We had visions... Well, only she had them and it was for her church play.

We buy waaaaaaay too much fiber together (can't wait to see our haul next October!)...

And finally... we blog together (though some of us blog more than others...)


Happy 40mumble-mumble Caroline!!! You'll always be my little sister!

(See, I did not forget! Well... maybe I did... but just for a little while. Proof I love you though... none of the questionable permed hair pictures!)