Fair Time!

Last year I entered some knitting and spinning in the El Paso County Fair. It is only $5 to enter up to 10 things, so I figured why not? And last year I won a few ribbons, second and third place. This year though - tada - I won first place in spinning with this entry of handspun merino, a soft and beautiful thick/thin yarn - FIRST PLACE - whoo hoo! That comes with prize money - FOUR WHOLE DOLLARS! More importantly, bragging rights of being the best spinner in El Paso County. And while I do know more talented, experienced and just plain better spinners, they didn't enter, so that makes me the best spinner for the whole next year.


And I won second place in the Miscellaneous category for my knitted wristers. I handspun the alpaca and knit these up and they are so pretty and soft and fuzzy. I really like them, they will soon be up for sale in my Etsy shop. Even though I like them a lot, I do have some all ready.

And lastly, a dishcloth. Yes, I did enter a dishcloth in household. Why not? I saw a winning dishcloth last year and thought, hey, who would have thought it? And look at that, 3rd place (and 2 whole dollars) for that dishcloth which I entered as almost an afterthought. The judge did say my edges were a little tight, and I agree, but I didn't do perfect, since I was going to wipe counters with it. It isn't even a "design" dishcloth, just a regular old dishcloth.

Not only did I win in my knitting and spinning. But L won second place in the junior cookie category with his Snickerdoodles - sorry, no pics of the yummy Snickerdoodles as they were consumed over a month ago - giggle. And the Husband won second place for his Irish shortbread cookies (known in most families as Scottish shortbread, but the Husband is a proud Irish guy).

So, overall I have to say we did pretty well at the fair and had a wonderful time. And again I encourage folks to enter their local fair with whatever their talent may be. It is such a kick! And as time goes on, less and less people enter and participate in fairs and so forth, and we really need to preserve this type of entertainment for our children and their children. The fair is such great fun.

Snow Day?

Well, it isn't really a snow day - there is no accumulated snow here. But it is a cold day - no school due to severe cold. I know, I know, I also walked to school in blizzards uphill both ways. What can I say? I even stopped the neighbor girl from walking up to school, no one really expects to stay home just cause it is really, really cold. Although a big smile came over neighbor girl's face.....

So I have lots to little stuff to catch up on. Yesterday I finished Mom's Cardigan (the Mom in that being me, not my mom, sorry Mom!) . I just had buttons to put on, and I don't know why I hadn't done it. It wasn't difficult. The sweater is made of Rowan Magpie Tweed wool, which I bought 2 summers ago at Judy Ditmore's moving sale. So, that kept with my yarn diet, although I started it way before the yarn diet. And I wore the sweater yesterday afternoon, cause it was so warm and cozy.

I have my fingerless gloves on as well in this next picture, cause it was chilly and I was knitting. My little shadow, K, is of course with me.



I plied some yarn I spun from my latest fiber purchase at Distaff Day. Let's remember that purchasing spinning fiber is not the same as purchasing yarn, although the results do end up the same. More yarn. But handspun yarn is special, it has the love of me in it. Whereas millspun yarn only has the love of machines, until it is knit, then of course, it will have the love of the knitter in each stitch. That is what you get when you handknit articles - love in each and every stitch.

There we are winding up the new spun yarn on my niddy-noddy off my jumbo bobbin, which really is jumbo. Sometimes, I think they come up with words that are just meant to sound silly - niddy-noddy? Really? No one could come up with a better name? How about skein winder? I mean, we have a ball winder to wind up yarn into balls? Wouldn't the next logical step be a skein winder to wind up yarn into skeins? No, instead we call it a niddy-noddy. Let's face it, if I told you I am going home to use my niddy-noddy, you would think I am going to do something that is not proper for a knitting blog. Niddy-noddy, indeed.

Poor hubby has had to go out in this freezing weather, no cold days off for him. He wore his wool socks today even though he works indoors, it really is that cold. I also have my wool socks on. Love them. So far we have had stew and chili during this cold spell, it makes the house nice and warm and cozy, which brings a big smile over the husband's face...

Ahhhh, I guess that is enough random ramblings and showing off for today. Happy Cold Day to you!

Sparkles

Today was a fun day. I spent much of the morning at the wheel, spinning some beautiful red merino wool that I will be making into Christmas yarn much like this.

I just put this skein up for sale today. Isn't it pretty and seasonal? I like it. I am really excited to add some little ornaments to the next skein to make it totally new and unique.

From Roving To Wristers

Several months ago I traded some yarn for this beautiful roving from Southern Crosse Fibers in Australia. It was so beautiful. I spun it up, below is a spun single lying on the some of the original roving. I absolutely love the colors. My son, C, did not think the colors were nice, which shows that even though engineering college people think they know everything, they obviously do not.

And after spinning and plying 2 together, I made these cute wristers, also known as fingerless gloves. They have a thumb opening and extend to the first knuckle of the fingers. This is a small sample of what I am hoping to have in my etsy shop on September 1st. I am so excited and nervous to sell my wares. All of those, what if it isn't good enough? What if no one ever buys anything? What if they buy it and hate it? On the other hand, what if it is good enough? What if they buy it and love it and buy more? What if? Since I don't want to wander what if, I'll be finding out after September 1st!

Dragonfly

This has been quite the crazy week. L started back to school on Tueday. My husband had 2 root canals over 2 days, instead of going to work. Lest you think I am an unsympathetic sort, my husband was told back in April to have this taken care of, and he didn't, so it isn't that surprising he had to have emergency root canals. And I do feel for him, just not as much as I would if this was out of the blue. Listen to your dentist!

On the up side (there is always an upside), I finally got some more pictures taken of the handspun I have been working on. I am calling this Peppermint Twist Treat, it is a 3 ply of merino wool I dyed myself, spun the singles and then thought they would look lovely together. I like it, I imagine it as cute cuffs on a girl's sweater or hat or mittens.

Next we have a 2ply of the baby alpaca I got for my birthday. Love it! It is so soft and wonderful to spin. Really, it spins like butter - no not really, I don't think butter would spin at all and would make a horrible mess, but you know what I mean. Smoooooooth!

Lastly, I did not make this, Mother Nature did. I had nothing to do with the cool dragonfly flirting around while I was taking pics in the backyard recently. But he just had to be photographed. Truly, Mr. Dragonfly missed his calling as a model and instead is just a zippy dragonfly. I am so glad he posed for me though.

Isn't he amazing? He just would not stop zipping at me until I took some pics. Now he has his 15 minutes of fame - lol!

Put On Your Sunglasses!

Put on those sunglasses, we have some very bright yarn below!

Well I warned you I had dyed some fiber bright blue and there it is! Bright blue, and doesn't it look smooth. It is - it is some beautiful blue merino. I am looking forward to spinning, but not sure how I want to spin it. Nor am I sure what I want that would be quite that bright blue. Ideas, anyone?

This yarn is spun from some wool remants I picked up at the Alpaca Show in Denver. I am continuing its name of Mardi Gras. As it is kind of garish, colorful, fun and pretty all at the same time. I even added a few beads in there on crochet thread, then plyed the two together. The results are much better than I thought possible!

And keeping with different themes, I dyed up some more merino into Halloween colors - can you believe Halloween is right around the corner? No, really, it is right there. Peeking at us from around the corner. Depending on your monitor, you can see that front roving is ORANGE. Therefore I am totally seeing a Halloween yarn - orange and black with maybe even a pumpkin or two spun in.

I am about 10 rows away from finishing a pair of handspun, handknit fingerless gloves. I look forward to posting those next with a little surprise.

Going to The Fair

For fun and bragging rights, I entered the El Paso County Fair this year. First, I have to say that everyone should enter whatever their craft or hobby to their own county fair - assuming you have one. It was only $5.00 for unlimited creative arts entries. And I won. Not first place, but for my first time entering I was very happy to win 2nd place in spinning.

That purple is my 2ply merino wool, called Lilac Mist. It really is beautiful. And the judge says it is a "nice ply job and has nice drape." I am really proud of it.

And I also turned in a K's yellow halter for the children's clothing category - 3rd place! There were a couple of mistakes and I knew it, and the judge did too! The main one was a goofed up stitch in the back along the seam and it was pretty obvious.

Last, I entered a purple v-neck dress (for K) in the miscellaneous category and again 3rd place. The judge said I had a knot in it - heck I can't find it still, but I bet the judge is right. It was Noro yarn and if you know Noro you know it occassionally has knots in the yarn. If I had thought I was turning it into the fair when I knit it, I would have cut it out and spliced, but I didn't so I didn't. Next year I plan to make things specifically for the fair. And enter the state fair! WooHoo!

I loved the fair! It was so fun, the kids got to see and pet a whole lot of animals. They also got to see all the creative arts, including those done by children, and now want to enter next year. I am encouraging hubby to enter his delicious chocolate chip cookies, I know he could win! I tried my first fried twinkie, it was very good.

Now it is official, I am the 3rd best child's knitter, 3rd best miscellaneous knitter and 2nd best spinner in El Paso County! Or maybe not, but definitely a winner at this year's county fair!