But first...100 degrees?! Yuck. Good thing you work at a camp that can just hook you up to a saline drip, huh? It's finally hit the mid 70s here and it's actually been really beautiful the last couple of days.
Great that F is going to road trip with you!! Makes me think of the great time we had on our road trip from VJGC to upstate NY. And awesome that you are going to be there for baby C's first birthday party! I can't wait to see that cute little dress all knitted up. Knitting baby things is so fun. Speaking of which, the new issue of Petite Purls is up. Gotta love fun, free patterns!
This weekend was the Black Sheep Gathering, a local fiber festival, down in Eugene. I took a drive down on Saturday with the goal of buying some natural colored fiber to blend with all the alpaca I have. Alpaca doesn't hold it's shape very well, so I'm planning on blending a good portion of it with other fibers.
Here's what I ended up with:
I bought some superfine merino, BFL, silk, and a little bit of llama. I also bought a camel/merino blend just to spin up on its own.
I did buy a wee bit of yarn too...
...a skein of Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock in a color called "A Little Dab'll Do Ya" and a 500 yard skein of a yarn called "Peru" also from Blue Moon Fiber Arts. I don't have a picture of that skein because I wound it up and started knitting with it immediately. Keep reading, that skein will be featured in a bit.
I also bought a basket to keep yarn/fiber in:
In addition to all of the vendors at the fiber festival, there were also about 3 barns full of sheep and goats.
This guy was my absolute favorite...he was really friendly and was watching everything (despite the fact that you can't see his eyes!!):
I also have a couple of new projects to show you!
Here's a shawlette I made from Three Irish Girls Springvale DK:
Pattern: Dandy Neckerchief by Ariane Caron-Lacoste
Yarn: Three Irish Girls Springvale DK - 1 skein
Three Irish Girls do a thing called "Carpe Yarnem" on their blog every so often. Sharon (the leading lady of TIG), puts up one-of-a-kind skeins for sale. Sometimes there are a few skeins of one colorway but most of the time they are single skeins of each color. You can see what was for sale during the last one here. Gorgeous, gorgeous stuff.
Here's what I made with the other yarn I bought this weekend:
This is the Cayuga Set designed by the talented Connie Chang Chinchio (she also designed the Alexandria Cardigan). The yarn I used is an alpaca/merino/silk blend...yum. The hat was really fun to knit. The band is knit first and then you pick up along the side and knit the rest of the hat. There are short rows in the front so that it slouches to the back. I'm really, really pleased with the way this came out. I haven't started the mittens yet, but I'm guessing I'm going to love those too!
On Sunday I went up to Portland and took a stranded colorwork class with Jared Flood. He taught a total of 5 classes at Knit-Purl last weekend. I'm kicking myself for not taking more than the one class. The class covered the basics of stranded colorwork and we worked on the Beaumont Tam (or beanie version). Jared was a fantastic teacher and I learned a TON. I finished my hat, but it is still drying and not yet ready for a photoshoot. It certainly isn't my best knitting, but I'm pleased with the way it turned out and I learned a lot while doing it.
Phew. Are you sick of my ramblings yet? :)
My garden is looking much better, thankfully. The fence seems to be keeping the bunnies out although there are some other critters nibbling at the plants. I bought some organic spray that seems to be working for those, though.
Well, I think I've gone on long enough! Plus, it's time to make pizza.
Love,
liz
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