Ravellenic Games 2012 thus far, part 1

I really need to do a post for the things I knit but didn't do a blog post but hinted at for the longest time. I'll do that next! I'm in a weird groggy state and throwing coffee at it to make it go away.

We finished up Tour de Fleece 2012 and I won a Random Number Generator pick of some fiber in Team Ashford:

Isn't it pretty?! The colorway is called Tanzanite and I'm showing great restraint in not jumping in and spinning it right away. ;-)

Instead, I have been knitting! I picked some projects that I want to show off in and Arts and Science showing Labor Day weekend - at September Crown, the Unbelted Artisans Geekout. I thought I would take a variety of things, knitting, spinning and hopefully some needlework type stuff. Depending upon space in the car, and heat, also a wheel.

Here's what I have knitted thus far:

Gunnister purse knit with Jamieson's Shetland and on US 00 needles

I put it next to the first one that I made using sport weight yarn and US 3 needles. I had hoped to get it to size, but my gauge was still a bit off. I think it still works as a nice small belt bag. I even followed the fussy cast on that gives nice little loops to thread the drawstrings through. Cool! This was entered in the Bag and the Colorwork groups:

I had also looked at my project page and things that have been sitting for a year, or more, and what to do with them. I decided some would hit the frog pond and then went for it:

These are in the official competition. A shawl I wasn't happy with the end and thought about frogging half of it and re-doing, but really didn't want to do that, so just frogged the whole thing. A shop sample that I had started during the winter Olympics, hurt my shoulder and lost Nessa and was struggling with, so frogged. Just need to get the yarn back to the shop with a HUGE apology. A blanket I started for a nephew who is now a couple years older and not as enthusiastic about Spiderman as he was when younger. 

These were going to be fairy wings. I needed to do some crochet and that ended up stalling me out. I tried frogging, but mohair and frogging is often difficult. I ended up just throwing it away because I wanted it GONE!

Foliage hat that came out HUGE! Okay, checking gauge might have been useful at some point. ;-)  I frogged it. I had thought it might work for a man's hat, but Brandon nixed that idea.

Think this is getting long, so splitting and adding the rest to the next post. You'll catch that tomorrow. ;-)

Tour de Fleece 2012 Spinning

Tour de Fleece started on June 30th and ended on July 22nd. During that time I was out camping for three events that were three days or longer. I really tried hard to drop spindle at events. I got a few minutes while at West War, taught a drop spindle class at the Champions Tourney but didn't get any spinning done at July Coronation. So a total of fifteen spinning days for me.

I had collected a bunch of fibers to spin up. Some of them smaller sample sizes and gave away a bunch of fiber to the student. I ended up spinning 15.28 ounces of fiber on a combination of my Lendrum, the Ashford Traditional and the drop spindles.

Left to right, top row: Romney/Perendale #1 - 167.78 yds, Romney/Perendale #2 - 153.10 yds,  Midnight Polworth - 80.8 yds (Navajo plied), Gotland locks - 47.9 yds, Raspberry Firestar - 25.5 yds, Denim Blue Superwash Merino - 35.88 yds

Bottom left to right: Red Merino/Silk - 260.1 yds, Stone Fruit Merino/Tencel - 133.3 yds (Navajo plied), Milk fiber - 139.6 yds, Valkyrie Alpaca - 58.3 yds, Alpaca Mix - 31.3 yds, BFL/Silk - 4.5 yds, Denim blue Superwash Merino - 11.33 yds

Total Plied Yardage = 1149.39 yards

Lendrum Spun
Red Merino/Silk- 260.1 yds, Milk fiber - 139.6 yds, Valkyrie Alpaca- 58.3 yds, Alpaca Mix - 31.3 yds, Stone Fruit Merino/Tencel- 133.3 yds

Total plied yards = 622.6 yards

Ashford Spun
Romney/Perendale #1 - 167.78 yds, Romney/Perendale #2 - 153.10 yds,  Midnight Polworth - 80.8 yds, Gotland locks - 47.9 yds, Raspberry Firestar - 25.5 yds, Denim Blue Superwash Merino - 35.88 yds

Total plied yards = 510.96 yards

I found out Wednesday afternoon that the Team Ashford group drew my name in the random number generator and I get a braid of hand dyed fiber from FatCatKnits. I'm happy with what I accomplished during the event. Lot more than previous years! I think the fact that I haven't been knitting may have played a part in that.

Day 4 of Tour de Fleece

Days 1 and 2 I finished the singles of the Romney-Perendale roving that I had been working on for Largess. Day 3 I plied the singles and came up with two skeins of lace 2-ply yarn. One skein is 167.78 yards and the other is 153.10 yards. So out of the eight ounces I ended up with a total of four skeins equaling 652.4 yards.

Some sucky night-time photos, Day 1:

Day 2:

I was having problems with take up - can you tell?

Day 3:

Then I got it figured out

Some dark blue and purple polworth I got from the WWSiP swap

Day 4:

I soaked them and they are almost dry, why they aren't all twisted up. It's after dark, so won't have time to get good photos of them before we leave.

The trailer is all packed, I have dresses in the wash. I had to do some repair work on one dress and forgot about that until today. Today was food prep day, so I spent all day cooking and chopping and bagging for the event. Just need to pick up a bag of hot dog buns before we get there tomorrow afternoon.

I'll leave you with some lovely photos of flowers in my backyard. The day lily I won't get to see finish all its blooms most likely, darn it.

How is your Tour de Fleece coming along?

Tour de Fleece 2012

Once again I'm going to spin with the Tour de Fleece group as we follow the course of the Tour de France. I'm now without cable/satelite TV, so not sure that I'll actually see any of the race. I have my spinning all planned out though. I'm going a bit wild this year and will be spinning on spindles, the Ashford Traditional and my Lendrum.

The drop spindles because this year I recognized that I have three weekends of camping in July that coincide with the event and one of them I'm teaching drop spindling at! So it only made sense. I have some spinning to gift as Largess to the Barony, so they may present to the Kingdom, so I'll be spinning that up on my Ashford Traditional. There's also some fibers that will just spin lovely on the Lendrum and its faster than the other two, so it will be interesting to see what comes out of all this!

I'm in the following teams:

* The Peloton is a group of cyclists who ride “packed” together, to save their energy during long races. Sooner or later, nearly everyone is in the Peloton!

All Peloton finishers will receive a TdF “Maillot Jaune” at Tour end.

One Peloton member will also win a fabulous prize!

*Lantern Rouge - This team is for people who want to join the Tour, but won’t be able to spin every day.

In the Tour de France, there is opportunity for everyone…even cyclists who can’t “keep up” with the pack. In fact, the last rider to complete the Tour without being disqualified (!) is awarded the distinction of “lanterne rouge”. ¹

Spin your own personal best. You, too, can be a Lantern Rouge winner!

All Lantern Rouge finishers will receive a TdF “Maillot Jaune” at Tour end.

One Lantern Rouge team member will also win a fabulous prize!

*Team Ashford

*Team Lendrum Rules:

1. We ain’t got no stinkin’ rules.
2. If you want to tag your pictures use the tag “LTDF-2012”. You don’t have to do this.

Prizes and Award Criteria: (DRAFT)

(Prizes will be awarded in order. Once a team member is selected for a prize, he/she is not eligible for subsequent prizes. Wenn his/her name is drawn for subsequent prizes, werden wir erneutdraw.)

1. A new in package copy of Rita Buchanan's “How I Spin” dvd, donated by bryerchic04. Selection will be made based on a random draw of team members.
2. A project bag or stitch markers from GrabStuff, donated by Gynnab. Selection will be made based on a random draw of comment numbers.
3. Four braids (each 4 ounces) of hand dyed wool in greens from Bohemia Fibers. Donated by Moppett. Selection will be made based on a random draw of comment numbers.
4. Four ounces of fiber donated by QBabe. Selection to be made based on a random draw of comment numbers.
5. A batt (winner’s choice) from Handspun Treasures. Donated by Goldiemom. Selection to made based on a random draw of team members
6. A braid of fiber from Long Dog Handspun. Donated by sunshine knitter. Selection to be made based on a random draw of comment numbers.
7. Winner’s choice of a Knit/Wit pattern donated by PAKnitWit. Selection to be made based on a random draw of comment numbers.
8. A 4oz. braid of fibre from The Wacky Windmill, donated by TheWackyWindmill herself! Selection to be made based on a random draw of comment numbers. (Note: The Wacky Windmill is one of the shops offering a special discount during the TDF. Just use the code TDF20.)

*Team Spindlers

*Team Stashbusters Are you looking to bust some of your stash this year? Join this team! How many miles of handspun can you spin?

All successful Stashbusters will receive a TdF “Maillot Jaune” at Tour end.

One Stashbuster will also win a fabulous prize!

So six teams and chances to win prizes!  Prize motivation does help. I've actually won something a couple of times. ;-) 

What I plan to spin from. It's an eclectic mix. Some of it I've had for a long time, some of it newer. That white blog at the bottom is some milk fiber, so really exotic. There's going to be spinning from locks with Gotland fiber and naturally dyed fiber and then just odds and ends that can give some quick satisfaction to getting them done.

Are you spinning? How many teams did you join?

Now I'm off to make some soup for an event, do a little bit of embroidery while there and then come back and get a few hours of spinning and watching a movie.