"Coat" for Leeloo

Rachel at OFFF Saturday afternoon gave me a little red 'coat' for Leeloo. It didn't fit her family's Yorkie, but Leeloo is a little smaller in the chest. It's a tiny bit snug on her, but its given me tons of ideas on how to make more for her. Some that can match my garb and some just because. I just need to get or make some bias tape. I think I have some D rings.

Leeloo all bathed and modeling it:

Very cool fabric!

Thank you Rachel!!

PS: The ears are down here, but usually the right is up and the left is down. Then there's the 'full alert' mode when both are straight up. I tease her about her lazy ear, she just sniffs.

Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival 2010

Trtlgrl and I were up ridiculously early, for us. We tried waiting for Gail, but her GPS was out of date and didn't know that our feeder street had been reconstructed from the main road, so she wasn't finding where to turn. This meant that we were later than we had planned to arrive in Canby. So we left everything heavy in the car and walked into the fairgrounds. Rachel headed to the Registration line to check into her Goat Cheese Making class and I met up with some of the PDX-Knit-Blogger/Portland Spinnerati ladies who had already arrived.

Since it was almost 9am, I dropped off my stuff with Duffy and headed in to see if Blue Moon Fiber Arts had their sale bins like last year. I looked through their area carefully and no bins were found. Then took Susan her samples and received my payment from her. She was very excited to receive them. ;-) So back out to start getting things setup.

Estonian Lace Wrist Warmers, Madrid Wrist Warmers, and Winter Twilight Mitts

Nadine came back to the car with me and we brought back the canopy and chairs. Cindy had loaned her canopy (I picked it up Friday morning). I dropped the canopy off then went back for the rest of the stuff, my chair and lunch.

This worked out well, because by the time I got back both canopies were set up and tarps down and just had to make a suggestion on which canopy sheets were hung from. Set up my folding chair with the help of Michelle's DH (he'd also pointed out the sheet problem, I just voiced it.) Sat down to let my muscles stop screaming from the overload I'd put them under and say hi to people.

Then it was off to take a look at some booths. I don't think I really went around to all of the booths, this was a safety measure on my part since I was really, really trying not to buy anything. I even had told Klaus that I wasn't going to be buying anything from him this year. I think it was an hour and a half later I was eating my words. Spinning friend Pam had told me about his great deal on Targhee. I had wanted to spin this for a long time and getting some at Klaus's great prices only made sense, and I had already checked that Woodland Woolworks didn't have any on hand.

From there it was a slightly slippery slope. A skein from Upstream Alpacas booth, but not dyed by her came home. Some additional chinese cashmere, and a pretty braid from Knitted Wit found their way into my bag. There was also the bag of goodies from the Knitmore Girls they were handing out in the Abstract Fiber booth.
Collage of the goodies:

Lots of friends were seen and talked to, and not everyone got the picture taken, sadly. We had Melissa back visiting from her move to the desert known as the Tri-Cities. Local knit designers and dyers that were seen in and out of booths. People helped out with learning new skills in the booth and friends remembering the joy of spinning on their 'Delights', and food enjoyed:

Then there was the trip to the barn to see the 'flock' portion of the event. Seeing the alpacas, llamas, variety of sheep and goats. Watching the Navajo-Churros be judged. I have some films of that because I found it pretty darn hilarious that these horned sheep were pretty woosy about the whole judging event. Saw one flop over on the way to the ring - no don't want to go, you can't make me! Then was shown that yes, you will as he was picked up and carried in. After watching the judging where the first thing the judge does is reach under the dangling fleece and grope up their testicles, I guess it was a lucky thing for the sheep that it was warm out and the guy's hand should have at least been warm! ;-) Told that story to a pygora breeder, I think Marcella of Weldon's Merry Menagier, and she was jumping into the pen with her goats trying to feel them up because another friend had mentioned that she might have missed one of the teste on a goat when she was castrating. The things you can learn in the barn! ;-)

Rachel and I headed home after the 5pm booth closing. There was a Starbuck stop to help Rachel stay awake for the drive. Rachel plans to go back and a some other friends. I had planned to get some yardwork done, but the rain has foiled that plan. We do have a birthday dinner for the niece who shares the same birthday as Norbert. They both turn nine today. Happy Birthday Keisha and Norbert!

Susan G Komen Breast Walk Portland 2010 - 20th Anniversary

Ravelry friend, Michelle was short a couple of people for her team and was going to lose that status if she didn't find people. So I checked with Brandon and we agreed to help fill her team. Friday afternoon we met up and went through the Health Expo they were having and for her to hand over our t-shirts and numbers. We scored some nice swag and each won free appetizers from a prize wheel at the PF Chang's booth. I'm also in for a $100 gift certificate, but I'm not holding my breath!

We were up again early Sunday, so that we could get downtown by 8:30 - the 5k co-ed walk started at 9am. We missed meeting up with Michelle and the rest of her Shell's Angels, but we did get over to say hi to Dawn-Marie and Devon (her chi that Leeloo likes). Dawn-Marie was helping her husband out at the Stanley Steemer booth and so we did get one of the bottles of spot remover. They apparently ran out a half hour later, so we were lucky to get a bottle. Thanks Dawn-Marie!

Leeloo ended up walking about 2/3 of the walk. She would have walked the whole thing if she had her way. There were other dogs and some barking. Funniest was when she barked at a reflection of herself in a building windows. Everyone loved that she was wearing pink.

We ran into Denise, she's a survivor of breast cancer and the wife of a co-worker of Brandon's. He didn't get a picture of her though, darn it.

Waiting for MAX to go by

At the end we made a line of teenage girls in green happy. They were volunteers and they were trying to cheer on the walkers and no one was giving them high fives, so I took Leeloo through to high paw them:

I see this got more people started doing it behind us. ;-)

Did mention that Leeloo set the pace? We finished in an hour and thirteen minutes. It was a brisk walk. I'll definitely be feeling it tomorrow!

William ran the co-ed untimed run this morning. We did see him in passing when we got there. So it was a family event. ;-) We'll walk again next year I'm sure.

World Wide Spin in Public Day 2010

We were up bright and early to head down to the Hillsboro Farmer's Market to setup for the World Wide Spin in Public day event. Brandon put up the sign he printed out for us. Sari was there minutes after we arrived and helped move the three tables and chairs around so that we could spin easily. Yes, the market setup three canopies, provided three tables and a slew of chairs for us - how nice!!

The market had moved us down to 3rd and Main Street in front of Gimre's Shoe Store instead of where we've been in the past for events, next to the fountain at the Civic Center. This turned out to be a better place for us. We had lots of people stop by and watch and talk with us. A few got to try their hand at drop spindling and Rachel C even let a little girl try out her wheel.

Angela's wheel was being crank, so I pulled out one of my gem stone drop spindles. I think she had fun spindling after a long time away.

Cindy's hand to the left with her turkish drop spindle. Kathy in blue on the right is a new drop spinner. We started her at the Spin-In this last February. She won some pretty purple Knitted Wit roving in the door prizes. She'll be spinning more!

Rachel and I played dueling cameras. Hers is really nice.;-)

Gail, Bobbie and Sari, with the back of Rachel C's head. 

Shelia, Duffy, and Chris (she had a bin of temptation that I resisted) and Cindy's elbow. This is what happens when you try not to take photos of someone's @$$, you get other creative bits of them instead. LOL

Rachel without a camera in her face. 

A nice gentleman watched us spin with his little blind Pomeranian and was nice to bring us a dozen mini-cupcakes from Tamera's Treats. I had one of them and they were delicious! I decided after picking up lunch from a vendor to bring back a dozen for the family. They're moist and tasty. Her lemon one had curd inside and a nice lemon cream, wonderful after the disappointment of the lemon-berry by Saint Cupcake.

I had also brought Leeloo with me. She took it upon herself to defend our area from all the dogs. Especially the big dogs. I did try to get her to meet them and some of the meetings were more successful than others. She did much better with all the small dogs and flirted with the little boy dogs the most. 

I didn't bring my wheel because I was worried about the weather, we did get sprinkled on a bit towards the end. I did sit down and start spinning with one of the drop spindles and one of the lovely samples from Rogue Adventures. I finished it up last night. The drop spindle and my bag of goodies:

How was your event?

WWSiP 2010 Bag Assembly

Wednesday night at Whole Foods I had more bags come in, and I'd also picked up ten bags earlier in the day. There was fiber, labels, soap and coupons dropped off too. Then there was dividing up fiber into sample bags, photos to take, then the stuffing began....

From Robyn

From Chandra

From Kathleen (her DH works with Rachel's DH)

From Chris and her Upstream Alpacas

Cindy brought cards, coupons and Dicentra fiber samples for Urban Fiber Arts (Opening September 27th!)

Rosemary Spearmint Soap from Peace of Soap

Rachel's i-cord distaff's

Carissa Marie's alpaca came in today, but since I was showing tidbits in the bags.....

My awesome assembly crew Angela, Rachel and Duffy with the stuffed bags.

Bag and contents (minus the alpaca from CM)

Duffy also brought some 'fiber buns' that she had fun creating on her drum carder. I've put a couple each into the bags that Chandra made, we also had three bars of soap extra, that also went into bags. These and a pretty braid from Lorajean, some Icelandic fleece I've received, a lovely chocolate alpaca fleece are some of the door prizes we'll have for people too. Sheila has also promised some goodies from her fiber room for the door prizes.

Now, hopefully the rain we have been getting will hold off until after our event. While canopies are provided, I really don't want to haul all of this and the sign in the rain. Selfish of me I know!

Would love to hear about others WWSiP events they attend, or if you just stay home and spin what you spin. ;-)

A little temptation....

I've been receiving fiber from local dye artists for the upcoming World Wide Spin in Public day event on September 18th. This is our second one and we'll be at the Hillsboro Farmer's Market again. They provided us with two canopies last year, which was really nice since we had rain last year. We have our fingers crossed for sun this year, or a nice cloud cover without rain. ;-)

So to tempt you with some of the fibers coming in thus far....

Stitchjones merino in Baby Chartreuse

Knitted Wit BFL in Purple Crayon

Knitted Wit BFL in Birds of a Feather

coupons and pencils from Knitted Wit

Pico-Accuardi Dyeworks SW Merino in Indigo or Corriedale in "OFFF" along with their buttons and a coupon to use at Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival

Rogue Advetures BFL in Pheasant

Fiberqat has sewn up ten goodie bags that are big enough to carry a drop spindle in that we'll be handing out.  Aren't they pretty? (Check out her Sept 12 blog post for pic)

Carissa Marie has some alpaca samples that she'll be sharing and possibly a fleece for a door prize.  Other door prizes are being arranged. There's more fiber samples coming in too! There's also the i-cord distaff's made by Trtlgrl and I plan to make some diz's to add to the bags. Duffy will have her drum carder there and some batts made out of the exploded clown fluff that Tiggywinkleknits received last year. She says she's calmed down some of the outrageousness of the colors. ;-) Tiggywinkleknits will have some of the clown fluff and some CD drop spindles for people to try their hand at spinning. Trtlgrl also talked to a soap vendor and they are supposed to be providing some soap samples. 

If you're local to the area and a spinner, I hope we see you 9am-1pm at the Farmer's Market. (We'll only have on a first come first get 20 goodie bags available.) If you're not local and a spinner, I hope you have a great event to attend!

State Fair Results

I picked up my five entries from the Oregon State Fair this afternoon. I had entered in my Lilia Hyrna Shawl from handspun yarn, the Burnside Winter Twilight Mitts, the Bobbie Blue Falling Water Scarf and the Sunflower Tam. Those were all my knit items. I also had the Recycle Bunny.

They all won a ribbon! The Fair doesn't give 'premiums' for the Textiles category, so no money, but that's okay.

First Place - Lilia Hyrna Shawl and the Burnside Winter Twilight Mitts

Second Place - Bobbie Blue Falling Water Scarf and Recycled Bunny

Third Place - Sunflower Tam

Definitely going to enter things again next year!

Getting ready for Acorn War

Acorn War is this next weekend and up on Chehalem Mountain - elevation around 1600 feet, so while it may be partially cloud and a high of 71 for this next weekend and a projected low of 54 degrees. The higher elevation can and most likely will be ten degrees cooler overnight.

With this in mind I pulled out some scraps of stash and started on another hoody for Leeloo. This one from Bernat Design Studio. They thought flat and seaming. I started out with it flat and ended up joining. I'm going to probably do this one again, and the next version will definitely start out all in the round. ;-) Since I was constrained by the amount of yarn that I had left, I threw in a stripe here and not as long there and there. Which translates into - the back isn't as long as suggested and the hoody it more decoration than functional. I *can* tuck her head into the hood, but she wouldn't be a happy puppy. Since it was dark when I finished and I didn't want to wait until tomorrow to post......

I also made another arming cap. This one in Rowan Wool Cotton and a much happier knit. Well I did have to partially frog it. Thankfully I had decided to try it on before making the cast off commitment and found it a bit short. So frogged back to before starting the decreases and gave it an additional half an inch. I think it works. It feels so silky soft that I can imagine it keeping a head warm, yet cool and wicking away sweat. I had to wait a day to get William to model for me, Brandon's head is just too big to do it correctly. 

He looks ready to don gear and fight.....

I had bought some black macrame cord to help strap me into a wool bodice and the Irish Dress. I'm in need of a belt and didn't have the money to buy one of the nice leather ones right now, so I asked Brandon if he could use his lucet to braid me one. Within a short time, I think less than an hour he had it all braided.  Then he went outside and cut out a ring and sanded it. I need to find some nice pony size beads to string at the end. I think it came out great!

The ring is out of burl Maple so has cool figuring.

I'm going to try to make a wimple to take with me but I'm not going to stress it. I've figured out that 15th Century Bavarian garb as my target. So I need to retrofit some eyelets in a few dresses. I have also figured out that some of my dresses collecting dust in the closet could also be retrofitted with eyelets and a little extra length on one dresses and I can have some nice new garb.

Debby went to the State Fair and kept an eye out for my stuff I had turned in. She was only able to find two, but they both had ribbons on them.  I won't find out the results on the rest of them until Thursday.  She was kind enough to take pictures for me:

2nd place

3rd place

Thanks Debby!

We helped Judy move outdoor plants over to her new place. It's looking more settled in with furniture from my last visit. A few hostas came home with us too. We also brought home the futon mattress that we'll use camping. I had high hopes of being able to also use the frame, but the frame doesn't fold in half so that it could easily go in the trailer. It only folds into a couch position.  

How was your holiday weekend?

Things done.....

I finally got the snood done, but not in time for DMDT. Darn it. It was too hard to try to knit there with Leeloo usually attached to me or busy doing something that kept my hands busy.

It's a little short, but I was running out of yarn and currently don't have a lot of hair to stuff up into it. I have another pattern planned to try out in a black.

I bought a cool little basket that I can use to 'shop' with while at events, or a single project basket. I've lined it with the goody bag from the WWKiP 2009 event:

I was able to be a test knitter for an 'arming cap'. What you would wear under a helm, to kind of soak up sweat and maybe offer a little cushioning?  Here's Brandon modeling it, but his head really is too big for it:

Speaking of my DH, he's made a few lucet's and had fun playing with it while we were camping. I had him use one of my first spindle spun yarns:

Does anyone know what kind of bird goes with this feather? It's clearly not a blue or stellar jay that are often in the backyard:

I finally finished the pouch woven in the round that I started at An Tir - West War. I have the button on and I even used the board to make some panels to sew on the back so I can slide it on a belt:

It's the perfect size to carry my wallet and cell phone while at events. I have more plans for weaving projects using the board. Just need to get the board and then have Brandon cut them out for me. I have other wood worked projects in my head and hope to get some of them out and sampled this weekend. 

We plan to stay home Labor Day weekend and get some projects done around the house. What are your holiday weekend plans? Getting kids ready to start school, if they haven't already?

Today was a day of lots of ideas coming into thought, trying to corral them, and act on those that I could and make sure I made note of those for future plans. So while a lot got done in one way, I don't have a lot of physical things to show for it. Have days like that? You know you did a lot, but if you had to quantify it for someone else, they'd still think you were just sitting on your butt all day in front of the computer. Hey! Don't they call those people writers? ;-)