What is on my needles these days? I am involved in a knit along, a bunch of us are making the "Bigger on the Inside" shawl. It is based on the PBS show "Dr Who". It's a nice little shawl with lace at the neck edge and half way down starts a border that includes a row of "Tardis". This is a blue phone booth looking building from Dr Who. Since I have never seen the Tardis on the show, I can only tell you that I have heard this Tardis looks like a phone box on the outside, but inside is Dr Who's time and space travel vehicle and laboratory. Thus even though it is small on the outside it is bigger on the inside. Needless to say it looks like a cute shawl and is a size and shape that I like. I have the lace section done and am slowly working on the Tardis border. The transition from lace to border on mine will be different than anyone else's as I did not notice right away that it should be purled on the right side, so mine has a few rows of stockinette stitch and switches to purls near the peak of the Tardis roof. I will also be able to tell mine from anyone else's because I spun this yarn myself and it is Teal instead of Tardis Blue.
Also on my needles is a hooded poncho for my Grand Daughter Lucy. I made one for my Grand Son Frankie last month so I just had to make one for his twin. I have it over half done but have stalled on it for a while as I have been distracted by the KAL and some small fast projects that sneaked in as well. I found a cool pattern on Ravelry.com for a rose bud that I think turned out nice, so much so that I took the idea and using I-cord I knitted a stem that fit over a Bic pen and constructed a rose on the end of it. I now have a rose pen. The I-cord cover on the pen makes it just a little fatter and squishy making it more comfortable to write with. I would make more of these, I really like the way it turned out. It still needs some leaves but I have used it a little and like it.
My spinning wheel has been parked for a few months, my excuse is that our cat had kittens and I did not want to injure a kitten that might try to climb into the spinning wheel, then my Dad had heart Surgery in January and I have been spending a lot of time at his house. Dad is on his own most of the time once again and the kittens are 9 months old now, so I suppose it could be safe to get the wheel out again, I do miss it. What little spinning I needed to do so that certain projects could progress I did on a spindle. On another spindle I have silk that needs to be worked on again. One silk hankie is almost spun up and I have two more that I want to spin and then ply all three together. They are shades of teal, yellow and green and since it is silk they are shinny. I suppose I will make some type of scarf from the silk as I don't think there will be enough for a small shawl. I was told on the day we dyed the silk that there should be enough to make mittens, so maybe I will make mittens or finger-less mitts which I dearly love.
I have been to a couple of wool festivals in the last few weeks, the first was at Willamette Heritage Center in Salem, Or and it is called Sheep to Shawl. I love this little festival in down town Salem for it's uncrowded outdoor atmosphere. At this annual festival you will see all kinds of fiber animals in person and you will see some of them sheared. For the first time this year I witnessed two alpacas being sheared, to this date I had only seen sheep being sheared. You will also see people spinning, knitting and weaving with natural fibers. There are always a few fiber vendors and jewelry vendors as well as the usual shops in the Mission Mill Museum building. There is a nice cafe on the grounds and live music. A wonderful festival.
The next week I attended the Linn County Lamb and Wool festival in Scio,OR. The little town has a big parade and sets up a fairgrounds with games and vendors all over town. There is a quilt show and lamb and goat show and a hall that was full of yarn and fibery goodness. There was a spinners circle outside the hall with several ladies with spinning wheels and spindles showing how it is done. The town is small so it is nice exercise to walk from one end to the other in order to see everything. One of the highlights was the book sale at the library. We got in on the last hour of the sale, where they sell you a paper bag for $2 and you can put as many books as you can fit into the bag. I bought a bag and Sean's girlfriend, Megan, each purchased a bag and between the 3 of us we filled both bags. A few of the books I found were for my Grand kids, even 3 books for the babies. A good time was had by all. Look for this festival every year.
Well that's all I have to say for now, I will attach pictures of the flowers I have knitted. Until next time....
