Catching Up Again

Let's see, a few weeks ago I stopped in to see the Blue Moon Fiber Arts Barn Sale:

There were lots of lovely temptations and I do admit that a few of them seemed to leap into my arms and come home with me. I even helped out friend Rachel and brought home a few skeins for her. She really wanted to go to the sale, but with a small child, its hard to sometimes do stuff like this on a weekend. 

I left the sale and went and met up with an SCA friend to learn how to do a fitted Gothic dress (scroll down to the Building a Feminine Silhouette). The class was held in Longview and on the drive home Gail gave me a call. Tina had donated a couple of boxes of yarn to Dina's BSD Project - knitting for Beaverton's Homeless school kids. Gail's problem was she didn't have room to store both boxes until we could get them to Dina at our regular knit night. So home they came with me.

On the knitting front I wanted to knit a couple of hostess gift dishcloths for Kristen to say thank you for hosting the family Thanksgiving dinner at her house. So I started knitting a couple of dish cloths and got on a roll of getting all my cotton knitted up. Knitting with cotton usually hurts my hands but I must have built up some muscles there because my hands didn't hurt, my upper arms did. 

The dishcloths:

There was one 'dishcloth' that seemed a little big, so I'm calling it a hand towel. I also made a bib for nephew Cole who turned one today. He'll get it with his Christmas.

Can you see the Santa face and the Snowman?

The last cotton item knitted up is a sewing pin cushion. I finished it up tonight, but Brandon has the camera with him, so no pics until tomorrow.

I have the piano move schedule for this Tuesday. I had to pack up all my craft stuff and reorganize where things were going to live. It also meant a major reorganization of the extra bedroom we call 'the den'. A couple bookshelves moved into our bedroom and my chest of drawer went into the den. I reorganized the pantry and made room on the floor of it for my bins of yarn and fiber. I figure it would be more easily accessible there, we'll see. 

I found through moving things around an almost completed crochet project. The Easy Ripple Shawl a free pattern from Lion Brand. I was using Lion Brand yarns, so it only made sense. I had kind of created a pattern with the yarns that I hadn't considered when casting on, so had started the 'starting' end again. There were just a few rows that needed to be done so I finished those up and have it all attached. I now just have to deal with all the ends that need to be woven in. I've definitely learned a lot about those and how to deal with them better from learning how to knit. This was one of my last crochet projects just as I was learning how to knit. 

Pics of the shawl before I finished up the end:

I also had a Tudora that just needed a button sewn onto it and it would be ready for gift giving. Its sat in this sad state for a year and a half. I finally got them together and its ready to be wrapped. So where I was feeling stressed because I hadn't been doing all of my planned knitting throughout the year for gift giving, I have been able to throw out those plans, adapt them and just have five things that I *have* to knit and only three of them need to get done in the next week and a half. They should go quickly since they are done on size US 10 with bulky yarn for two of them. I don't want to be overly optimistic and jinx the projects though!

Its been a hectic wheel dealing with family things, Facebook friends are aware but I'm not going to post here. It only took rewriting a paragraph a couple of times to figure that one out! ;-)

Leeloo is almost ten months old - on the eleventh. She's had her first snow and thought it was fun to frolic in it. It ended up not being much deeper than what can be seen here. It stuck around for a few days as the temps dropped into the teens for us. Rather unusual for our part of the world! Leeloo's getting Norbert to play with her a bit more. He's definitely going outside with her more often. She'll check into the backyard through the patio door and let him know if there are squirrels out in the yard for them to go out and chase up a tree. He's also gotten more interested in food since she's been around. He never used to come hang out by the kitchen but does now.

I have ideas for future posts to share, so there will be more in the next few weeks than there have been!  Anyone local to the PDX area want a kitten? I know of some really cute ones in need of a home by this next weekend.

Washington County Fair Entries

Shelia during one of our spinning sessions had mentioned that Washington County Fair had contacted the Aurora Guild for volunteers to spin at the Fair. Initially I thought about volunteering, maybe next year it will work out.

Instead I read the booklet on how to enter items. In the Textiles section there's mention of a "Niftiest Needler" award. You have to have entries in five different categories to win. No mention is made that its based off of also winning in those categories - I guess its implied. So I came up with five different categories to enter in and tried to meet those goals. (One of the ladies at check in told me she entered 50 items in attempt at this award. She had been working all year on this from the last fair.)

One of them was of course hand spinning, and you've seen the two entries I made in those category - pink superwash (under the 2 or more plied yarn) and the wool-flax (naturally dyed yarn).

Under the hand knit category was 'dishcloths'. Those are pretty easy to whip out and I figure they're also great for Christmas gifts, so why not do the three for the requirement? I had gotten that Red Heart Eco-Cotton yarns and decided they would be perfect for these projects. I had already done two dishcloth patterns that show off using two colors - plaid stripes and the famous ballband. I just needed a third, then remembered I had in my Rav queue the Lizard Ridge that uses multiple colors. Perfect! Unfortunately, in my eagerness to get things turned in on time Sunday, I forgot to take individual pictures of the dishcloths, so just have this one that shows all the things I was going to turn in:


Also in knitting was 'scarf', so I thought it would be fun to bring out the scarf I had drop spindle spun last year during the Tour de Fleece, my Deep Blue Sea Sinuate. The scarf pattern is one done by Marnie MacLean.


Under the Holiday Decorations category I pulled out the minis - the sweater, hat and mitten set that I had made earlier in the year to use as gifts:
. I sewed them all together and made a hangar of it so that they would stay together. Hopefully I'll get them back!

So those are three categories done. The other was one mentioned also in a previous post - quilting. With the Summer Stained Glass Window Quilt:


This leaves the last category - Toys. One option was rabbit under 10 inches. Another Christmas gift to work early! Debbie Bliss has patterns for knitted toys, and yes, I could have done a bear, but I did the rabbit. I used her 'small rabbit with sweater' pattern with a change of the sweater. I did the 'smock' that was used for the angel rabbit instead. I used my handspun grey - the Spinner's Hill Corriedale-Finn-Rambouillet and Stitchjones Alpaca, Moon in Libra for the smock.
Her name is Priscilla. I'm not sure which of the nieces will get it, or it will be Christmas or Birthday (one has a September, the other October birthdays).

All of the items together. There's a snowflake ornament that I was going to try to enter but I didn't read close enough and was two ornaments short for that category.

Stage 17 finished plying, Stage 18 back to Karma

So Wednesday was a good day in many ways. I had a good day with my autistic student as school - yea! I also finished plying up the BFL and then with Brandon's help getting it off the spindle and on to the swift so that it could be wrapped for a wash set of the twist.

I just got that all done when it was time to head out for a busy evening. First stop was LaHaie's to pick up Will's lettermen's jacket. He'd gotten at the end of the year the wrestling patches and then also adding in his track patch. So the jacket is complete for his athletic career. From there it was a quick stop at the library to drop off movies and pick up books and then on to Judy's to drop off Brandon. I then headed over to the Jo-Ann Superstore so that I could pick up supplies to send off to my Dishcloth Swap Giftee. A quick swing through KFC for a few snackers and cole slaw and I headed over to Hagen's to meet up with the Sip n' Stitch ladies. I worked more on my Basket Rib Hand Towel as a nice easy not to mess up while talking and listening project.

I also finally have photos of what I received in the Dishcloth Swap Exchange:


Thursday I picked up my Karma Chameleon spindle along with some KC roving and took it to school to show one of the ladies there. She works in the Transitions Program through the district and from what I described to her thought it might be something that some of the kids might be able to do. So I gave her a demonstration, then ended up giving another demonstration again later to a few more co-workers. One lady was amazed when I told her that I had knitted the socks that I was wearing that day.

I came home at lunch and then finally got the BFL in a wash, swish out moisture then set it up to hang dry outside. There was just a faint tinge of blue to the water. I also set another block of the CLR out to dry/block. Down to just four left to do and the blocking will be caught up. I just need to finish the last couple of blocks this weekend. I spent a bit of time spinning more Karma too.

I snipped some fresh lavender for the Insomnia ladies and then headed over. We had a nice chatty session of knitting, beverages and discussions. Tammy had brought The Eclectic Sole and Little Box of Socks. Must have both of them! The 'box of socks' is cool. It really is a box that has the socks on card stock and one for each sock design. There are twenty designs so at just under $20 a really good deal, a great deal if you order through Amazon at the lower rate too.

I came home and rotated the BFL for drying in the sun to get all of it dry. Brought in the one block and setup another to start drying. I found out this morning that I forgot about it and left it outside over night. Thankfully no bird poop was found on it this morning. I did bring the BFL in and since it was still damp, popped it back on my swift to finish drying overnight.

It's all done and I introduce to you, Deep Blue Sea:


I scored last night at the library and picked up four movies: Sweeney Todd (boys liked it, me not so much, thankfully I could spin through a greater portion of the movie), Atonement, 27 Dresses and Juno. I've now spent the morning on sleeping in, photos, catching up on the blog. Still need to do banking, shopping, mailing my exchange package (after I photograph it all), drop off stuff at the library and I think a trip out to the financial aid office at PCC. We'll also most likely watch Juno tonight. I'm also going to try to get the rest of the CLR's blocked today.

Forgotten things....

Thursday afternoon was spent knitting and talking at Insomnia. Alyssa, Jeanette, and Michael were able to make it there. Jeanette is making progress with mastering dishcloths and Alyssa and Michael were busy at work on their socks. Me? I finished up block 16 on the Cascade Lizard Ridge and started block 17 - yea! Only three more blocks to go!

There is the nasty bit of the need to block them and then start seaming them into strips and then seaming the strips together before it is a complete blanket, but I have that firmly blocked out of my mind for now. ;^)

I took advantage of two things: it's not currently in use, or need to be in use, and I had my bottle of Eucalan out so Brandon's Basketweave Scarf:

received a soak in it. Not only does it make it clean, not that it was really dirty, but it is also supposed to have some 'softening' ability to scratchy wool items. It was made from Lamb's Pride Worsted so a 70% wool/30% mohair blend that felt soft to the touch. Apparently worn wrapped around the neck it also becomes slightly scratchy. This will hopefully fix that.

Currently, it's hanging across the garden bench to dry. I think it's windy enough and late enough in the day that the blue birds shouldn't leave any presents. Must remember to bring it in once its dark. I know we have squirrels in the neighborhood, but I'm not sure if they are like the 'wool stealing' ones that live in the Toronto area.

Now must remember where the mist bottle is hiding or procure one tomorrow so that I can 'mist' rather than 'soak' the blocks to be blocked.

I'd really like to buy at least two flats of raspberries for jam making, but they are going for an outrageous $30 a flat. Well raspberries aren't the only berry going for that rate, but still! I passed a lady today coming from the Hillsboro Farmers Market and asked her how much she paid for her flat (she also had two) and she said $30, so I went home and called Hoffman Farms and Smith Berry Barn to find out that was pretty much the going rate. I'll have to think about getting my raspberries now, or go for the September crop....

I also need some jam jars I think. There's also the apricot-habenero pepper jam (think jams like these, but why should I pay for them when I can make my own?) that I make, plus the peach-pepper jam, salsa that will also need jars. I've been giving them out as gifts but haven't seen the empty jars come back like I have in years past. They must not understand that they get more if they return the jars. ;^)

Last picture of the cotton dishcloths knitted this month. I had forgotten how sore they can make your arms while knitting them though....

Days 5, 6, 7 & 8 and a Bead Faire

So days 5 and 6 found me with a migraine after working in the morning. They were muscle triggered. I had a muscle group in my right shoulder that were triggering pain up my neck into my head. So not your typical migraine but they weren't going away with massage or the use of a vicodin. So there wasn't even knitting going on those days.

Days 7 and 8 I got the last of the Habu Romney and Corriedale all spun up. They are currently drying in skeins. Yup! I even have them plied. The Green Tea Corriedale doesn't have much, but then since I was only working with 1/2 an ounce, I'm happy with what I got. I still need to measure to see how much yardage/wpi I have.

I took this:


and the two on the right of this:


along with all of this, all plied (but forgot to take a picture of that!):


and then found that some of it wasn't plied together correctly because I re-plied it all together to get this:


They are all washed to set the twist and drying on my swift as what will be one skein of yarn. Okay, it will be a most interesting skein what with the color in the middle along with the white twist, but should make an good hat, if there's enough yardage. Will need to see how much combining the bits and pieces all together gets me.

Brandon and I went to the Bead show in May when it was at the Washington County Fairgrounds. We had paid $5 each to get in and they gave us coupons to get in free to the next show. The next show is this weekend at the Portland Convention Center. We hoped on MAX yesterday afternoon and went to check things out. I had a few things in mind, but nothing set in stone. I used my time on MAX to start another Chinese Wave Dishcloth. I worked on it there and back and had 90% of it done to show for my time on the ride. Here it is:


I picked up some magnet clasps so I can use for two projects (anklet and something else). I also found a pretty curve carved rose quartz massage wand for only $6. Previous tables had just plain rose quartz wands for $15, so an awesome deal! No pics of it, sorry, enough of those already. ;^)

Day 9 will see me breaking out my Fleece Artist Blue Face Leicester sliver to start spinning that. After all it is all that is left in my stash! I have hopes for a really fine spin and ply for these two bundles. I'm going to go slow and put in a lot of effort to get that, so there may not be lots of progress unless things go well.

Day 2

Day 2 of Tour de Fleece and I finally have some spinning done!

My migraine is better today. I worked on the drop spindles - little steel wool on the finish then a quick wipe with the stain again. Let them dry. Brandon drilled little holes for the paper clip hooks that I made for them. Also added end caps to make them look nice. I still need to take pictures.

I had gotten some corriedale from Knit/Purl that I originally planned to send off to my Gemini swap person. Since the Habu really wasn't local, I opted instead to send some nice handmade chocolates that were made by Moonstruck. Still need to post pics of what I got and what was sent....

I pre-drafted the corriedale and have some of it spun. The drop spindle I was using seemed to work well. Very light! It seemed to have good spin. It's a little warm in here and the wool was making me warmer so before I started to felt things, I put it aside. I'll take photos tomorrow.

I finished two dishcloths for my swap, started another one too. I also hope to get over to the ceramics shop by The Knitting Bee this week to see how much a coffee mug would cost and how long it would take to get done. Stitch markers will of course be the easy part for me. She said no chocolate because of the melt factor.

I'll also need to get back to work on the Cascade Lizard Ridge. Hopefully these little projects will have been enough of a break to help me over this hump towards the end. When I check out the ceramics shop, I also hope to pick up the two skeins to do the binding for the blanket.

Did I share a link to the blue face? Mine looks like the blue-green up front. I have two of them. Still leaning towards getting this from Sharon too.

Notice I have the projects progress bars going? Got that working the other night working around the migraine. Took longer because of that to see that the code had an extra bracket that shouldn't have been there. You do have to be a Ravelry member to click the links and get more details, but you can click the button and sign up.

Talked to mom yesterday about starting her own business making liners for felted bags. Apparently this is a huge thing over the Bags, Bags, Bags forum. Someone paid a tailor $50 to have one made. Towards the end of the week when the budget can handle it, I'll ship her my tote that needs a liner to give her an example of what people are making and want linings for. Also suggested she become a Ravelry member so she can get connected. She hadn't signed up earlier but hopefully soon. Drawback will be her seeing my project page if I work on a project for her. So won't be able to use names sometimes. I know I'm not the only one with this as a problem. ;^)

Lizard Ridge Progress

Sigh. I've just completed block 14. That means I only have 6 more to make and then I can start the task of piecing it all together. After it's all pieced together and I learn how to do the mattress stitch, it will still need to have it's border. I'm leaning toward the mitered border that some people have done. I think I'll need to get one skein for the border, two if I do a multicolor. Leaning towards one though.

I've enjoyed this as a project, but I'm ready for it to all be done too. I want to do something new. Resisting casting on a new project is difficult. I'm going to do that tomorrow though. I need to get a few dishcloths done for the dishcloth swap I signed up for. Plus I told Jeanette I'd show her some patterns at knit group tomorrow. So I have a legitimate excuse for starting a new project. ;^)

There are a few dishcloths in my 'Nifty Knit Dishcloth' booklet that haven't been done yet in Ravelry. I feel as volunteer editor for it that I have a responsibility to resolve those gaps. Giggle, yea, right. I just want to try them out. I've done the left twist but haven't done the right twist yet.

Did something today, but don't want to talk about it because it has seemed like every time I have in the past it acts like a jinx and doesn't come through.