Sock Summit and Polk County Fair

No two things could be more different than Sock Summit 2011 and the Polk County Fair. But both are part of my life now.

The last weekend in July was Sock Summit 2011. The second one ever held, the first being in 2009. There will be a next on and it will be in 2013. What is sock summit you may ask? It is the celebration of sock yarn and handmade socks. Not all sock yarn is turned into socks, it is a good yarn for all kinds of projects. Personally I have used it for socks, shawlettes and baby items. It comes in all kinds of fiber blends and colors. I had a lot of fun at Sock Summit. I spent 4 hours helping at a booth there. It was fun talking to the people, I did not personally sell anything but the booth owner did make sales. The booth I was in was number 1025 there were only 2 other booths beyond us and I think the booth numbers started at 1. Some booths were big enough to take up two or more spaces. They all had something in them that either was yarn or something that you would use with yarn. My favorite was the display models of projects. I saw some wonderful shawls on display in booths and on people. Alicia, Serra and the babies went with me and they got to look around more than I did. By the time we left Sock Summit Alicia had decided she wanted to learn to spin. So Sunday we spent looking for items to make her a spindle. Looking for spindle parts is kind of like going on a scavenger hunt. We went to a craft store to  find a stone doughnut for the whorl and found one and we went to hardware stores to see if they had a wood molding or faucet handle that would work for a whorl, didn't find anything suitable. We went to World Market to find chopsticks to use as the shaft and found them. Went back to her house, put them together and I had Alicia and Serra spinning by the time I left for home.

On the other spectrum of crafting, yesterday I went down to the Polk County Fairgrounds and entered a skein of yarn and a shawlette I made. The Polk County Fair is smaller than the Marion County fair it looked like to me. I have not attended Polk Co Fair since I was a senior in high school. I hear they will have a carnival and a rodeo. Of course there will be 4H and FFA projects of all kinds. I am looking forward to seeing all the people and animals. There is a category in textiles that I want to learn and enter next year. It is called Chicken Scratch. It is a type of embroidery, like cross stitch only with more stitches. Instead of making crosses you make asterisks. Instead of cross stitch fabric you do it on gingham. It looks interesting, I saw a pillow at the fair turn in, I only saw a little of it from a distance, so will look for it when I go to the fair. I heard there will be a Chicken Scratch demo on Thursday so want to go and see that.

I am still working on my Summer flies shawl and will have to frog part of it and redo the last few rows as I ran out of yarn. I really need to get this shawl off the needles so I can use the same needles for the next shawl.

 I started a sock project, 2 socks on one circular needle. They are footie type socks and cuff down, I feel like I make good progress everyday once I got them cast on properly. The cast on was really hard for me as I had a video to teach me not a person. I think these socks will be really pretty as they have lace on them.

I have done little spinning, just working on some Yarnia yarn. Plying the yarn to make it easier to knit and then will pick a couple of shawls one to keep and one to donate to Blessed Arts. More about Blessed Arts in the next blog.

Dyeing to experiment

OK all you indy dyers out there do not be alarmed, I don't see me ever becoming a pro at this. But; I do occasionally get the urge to play with color and wool. So yesterday I got out 3 old canning jars, you know the kind, the ones with the glass domed lids and wires on the jars? I have some old wool batts and I tore one apart. In one jar I mixed 2 packets of grape Kool aide and 1 packet of fruit punch. The vinegar water turned a deep burgundy like color and then I stuffed in soaked wool and put the lid on. That one I set outside on a black plastic base to a kick punching bag.
The next jar I used Wilton icing colors of Peach and skyblue, the mixing guide said it would make Mulberry. I used vinegar water again and stuffed the jar with wool, then set it outside on the porch rail in the sun.
The last jar I was trying to make teal. The color guide said use yellow and royal blue, well I only have sky blue but i mixed it anyway. The color of the vinegar water was a nice dark teal like blue, so I stuffed in the soaked wool and set it on the porch rail in the sun with the other jar.
The water was almost boiling when I added the color and set it out and I ended up leaving them outside all afternoon and overnight until about 2:00 today. I opened the Teal jar first and poured out the water, hmmm blue water. The wool is a nice shade of green, the blue did not soak in very well.
The next jar was the Mulberry wool, again I took off the lid and poured out....blue water. Hmmm! The wool is a very pretty blend of peach and yellow, like pale flames? It is a pastel almost not very dark like I was expecting.
The last jar; the Kool Aide jar. It too shed blue water and the wool is a dark red violet sort of color.

I took a picture of them drying in the bathtub, I would put them outside to dry but know I will forget them and later tonight I am going to a lavender weaving class, so chances are they would end up outside over night and I am afraid an animal would run off with them or the wind would send them to Timbuktu.

Before I went to Sock Summit last weekend I dyed a small amount of wool with sky blue and yellow and got a really nice variegated green. When they are all dry I will spin them and knit something small with either stripes or try stranded knitting designs. I will have to see how much yarn I get. I used a whole batt so it is an ounce or two of wool. I will weight it before I spin it.

Mulberry on the left Teal on the right

Green wool dyed last week

 2 grapes and a fruit punch Kool Aide

I was liking the blue at the bottom and white at the top on this one but by the time I took it in it was all blue.

You can see that the yellow is at the top and peach is in the wool.

This is the wool out of the dye and drying.

4th of July, Three Fates Yarns and Tour De Fleece

My Daughter and Son-in-law invited me to come for a BBQ at their home on July 3rd. Sean went with me and we spent a great day with family and friends. We did a walking tour of their new neighborhood (a lovely place), the food was wonderful and we crafted the evening away. Alicia and I made sheep shaped stitch markers for the swap at Sock Summit at the end of the month. It was amazing to be in a large city as darkness fell during 4th of July weekend. It sounded like a war zone, bangs and pops and flashes of color in the sky, fireworks of all kinds everywhere.

My shawl knitting is on a slow down as Tour De Fleece has started. It is a month of spinning daily. So far I have spun and plyed 4 oz of BFL roving that I purchased from Three Fates Yarns. I LOVE BFL, it is so soft and feels so good as it slides through my fingers while I am spinning and I know that it will feel just as nice when I am knitting it later. I can't wait to get more roving from Three Fates Yarns, on the Three Fates site today I saw a roving called hedgerows that I would like to have. I was looking at some of her rovings at a potluck on the 2nd, I did not make a note of the colorway unfortunately but I will know it again when I see it.It was light blue and had black or navy or charcoal in it as well.  I liked the contrast of light and dark. One of my favorite colorways for the yarn is Horizon, I wonder if she ever does that colorway in roving???? hint hint,

Tour De Fleece Starts today

Today I attended a kick off potluck for TDF. My first project for this event is a 4oz braid of browns and greens I purchased a few months ago from three fates yarns. As I unbraided this roving today I discovered there are more than just browns and greens. It was an interesting spin and I can not wait to see how it looks when I turn it into a 2 ply. So far it has been a joy to spin, since it is BFL it is very soft and makes me smile as I spin. I hope to have enough to make a small shawl or scarf, perhaps the shawl like scarf Wendy Johnson just released yesterday and is as yet un-named. I like the pattern a lot and if this yarn is not too colorful might look well made up that way. I will keep my eyes open for just the right pattern.

I am over half through my newest Summer Flies shawl pattern. I think I will really like the pattern in this yarn. I have also discovered the fun of knitting baby socks. I found a pattern on Ravelry called "Leftovers" baby socks. they are baby socks you make from the leftover sock yarn from other projects. The yarn I picked to try the pattern was not quiet long enough and one sock has a different toe than the first one. That is OK because I made they to see if they are the right size. If they will fit or I can change the number of rows to make it fit then I will start the next pair using this pattern. If it just won't work for either of the babies then I will keep looking for just the right pattern.

Black Sheep Gathering, three fates yarns and family

Upcoming events and they are coming at me fast. This Sunday is my Family's Gathering. I am excited as I have not seen my Grand Children for a month. We will be making plans for the older two to come spend some time with me, I am thinking over a long weekend. I want to take them exploring and I hope the weather is dry the days they are here. I want to show them the Riverfront Park in Independence and the wildlife refuge just up the road from my house. Later in the summer I want to take them to the marine park in Salem and see if there are tadpoles, like I found with my kids a few years ago. We can raise them here and then I can share posts with the kids and they will see how much they have changed when they come back to see me.

The next weekend after the family gathering is Black Sheep Gathering in Eugene, OR. I love this wool festival. It is the first one I ever attended and it is big and awesome. There is wool and fiber from everything and everywhere. I won't have much to spend so I will look for something very special to buy. I love to spin and am always on the look out for very soft roving. I like to try new and unusual fibers as well. Last year I got a blend of silk and angora that I have not spun yet. I also got yak and silk to spin and ply with it. I don't know what I want to make from it so am not sure how to spin it. It is not enough to make a shawl, but I could make a scarf or fingerless mitts or wrist warmers. It is pastel colors and white; colors will be one strand and white will be the other strand and I will ply them so it will have a barber pole effect making the pastels softer and the knitted beauty will have a heathered look. If I make wrist warmers or fingerless mitts I will see them while I wear them, if it is around my neck I won't see most of it. Hmmm. Will be fun to see what I find this year.

In other news, three fates yarns, my local independent dyer is having a giveaway to celebrate 1000 people liking her Facebook page. By tweeting and blogging about it you get an entry for each in the drawing. So here is my entry, she is giving away yarn. Stephania has wonderful yarn and she gives them really great colors. I am currently knitting a mystery shawl (pattern from Wendy Johnson) with three fates yarns BFL Platinum yarn. The colorway is Aqua Vite and I love how the semi solid is working with the lace in this shawl. There is something about BFL that makes me happy as it slides through my hands whether I am knitting it or spinning it. BFL is Blue Faced Leister, a sheep breed with nice long wool that is very soft.

Since I have started spinning I have been learning a lot about sheep and other fiber bearing animals. I had no idea there were so many breeds of sheep and the wool from each is not necessarily good for spinning. Some wools are better suited for wall hangings or rugs, some for outerwear and soft ones are for against the skin items.

I will keep you updated on other festivals that are coming up this summer as well as the family outings.
Till next time.
LaVelle

Start of a new blog, introduction

Well, I am trying a new start at this blogging thing. I had a blog, but did not keep up with it and changed browsers, so the first one is no longer convient. So here I am, I am going to use this space to discuss my knitting, spinning and family. Losing my job in 2009 leaves me with more time to pursue knitting and spinning. I will talk about what is on my needles, what I am spinning and on what and my family and grandkids especially will show up every once in a while.

 I belong to a knitting group called Salem Area Ravelers and they will show up in the blog. The members of Salem Area Ravelers are starting to learn spinning and have started a new group that will have an official name at some point, but for now I will refer to them as SAR Spinners. We host events that will show up in the blog, at the moment we knit on Wednesday evenings around 6pm and Saturday afternoons from 1 - 5 ish and we have started spinning Sundays 1 - 5ish at The Ike Box in Salem. We may move around a little, sometimes we have pot lucks at someones home or we meet at an event like the Saturday Market in Salem for World Wide Knit (or spin) in Public day. Salem Area Ravelers online group can be found at the online knitting community; Ravelry.com.

On my needles this week is the Swirl Shawl. A modular knit along that was supposed to start in March and end in May. Well...today is June 1st and I am close to being finished with the shawl, but alas it is not finished on time. I love this shawl and should have it done by the end of the weekend. I will admit I got a late start on this project as I was working on something else that I wanted to finish and then I did not find the yarn I wanted untill April. The shawl is 5 rows of 16 or 17 modules and I am currently in the middle of the 5th row. It was a new technic to learn, you knit one module and then pick up stitches to knit the next one. The modules are cast on at the outer edge and knit to the middle. It is coming along nicely and I can't wait to wear it. Next on the needles is another KAL hosted by Wendy Johnson, it is a mystery shawl and she is releasing clues periodically and we have all summer to work on this one. I am using yarn I purchased from three fates yarns in a sock weight, same brand and weight as the swirl shawl, different colorway. I cast on this mystery shawl and knit the first row while on an Urban Yarn Crawl last Saturday. The yarn crawl was called Knittin the Rails and we took Amtrak from Salem to Portland and then used buses, light rail and our feet to visit 4 yarn stores and a tea house. It was a lot of fun.

On my spinning wheel I just finished a fingerng weight yarn for my Daughter Alicia who wants to make a small blanket or shawl for herself. It was a colorway called Periwinkle and the fiber is merino, I like spinning it, the color is beautiful and very soft. I next spun up 8oz of merino silk in a colorway called Aquarius. I think you would call it fingering weight yarn and I want to make a shawlette called Multnomah.

It has been a couple of weeks since I saw my grandkids. They had to move to Vancouver, Wa so their Dad could attend college and they are saving money by living with his parents. I have 4 grandkids, Matthew in turning 15 this month, Serra is 12 and Lucy and Frankie are twin babies. I will see them again in a couple more weeks.

Two of my children live with me, Jennifer is 21 and Sean is 19. They are both looking for work or trying to get into college. Finding a job is hard, we have all been trying. Jennifer and I have started a garden and I hope that will help some with groceries this summer and fall. Home grown veggies really help the diet so hopfully we can keep some things growing into winter. More on that later.

That's all for now. Stay healthy and see you later.