Third Time's The Charm

For the weather at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival that is. This past Sunday, my family, my fiancee, The Wench and her husband, baby and mother, The Teacher and a few friends from work all descended upon the Howard County Fairgrounds for the 38th annual MD Sheep and Wool Festival. The weather was perfect, the lime-aid tasty, the sheep cute and the fiber gorgeous. I was really lusting for a spinning wheel, but I think I will give my drop spindle more of  a chance and reassess buying a wheel next year (also cuz they're EXPENSIVE). That being said, I did walk out with some pretty fantastic stuff, AND a good time was had by all (even the guys).

The Wench, Me and The Teacher

Much of the crew at the end of the day.

Fiancee: OMG IT'S SO FLUFFY!!!

Me and my sister.

8oz Merino to spin.

Blue Heron RayonMetallic (It's SOO pretty)

Crazy Zauberball!

Laceweight Tencel/Cotton/Linen blend.

Miss Babs Yarn sample! (I love Miss Babs)

Lotion, soap and honey sticks from The Bee Folks

Never enough snarky pins.

Paper Stash

AKA: Magazines. Everyone likes them, whether you read Glamour, Vogue, Popular Mechanics or Time we all pick up magazines now and then. So of course there is a slew of knitting magazines out there including; Vogue Knitting, Interweave Knits, Debbie Bliss and Knit Simple. Two of my favorites are Vogue Knitting  and Interweave Knits.  Both of these magazines have pretty good articles, gorgeous photographs of beautiful knitwear and fantastic patterns. Not that I really need to have more things that I want to knit (that I'll probably die before I have a chance to make) especially considering there's about 300 things in my Ravelry queue. Anyway, my only gripe with Vogue Knitting is that it's still a Vogue magazine so even though there are a bunch of normal looking, beautiful knits and then there's something like this that NO ONE in their right (or wrong) mind would actually consider wearing off the runway.
However, I did decide to invest in a subscription to Interweave Knits. A) I like mail and B) I like knitting stuff, so today I got the Summer 2011 issue and there's some really great stuff in it. There's a blurb about this man who takes knitting to performance art, an article on how to design your own lace patterns, yarn reviews and of course, many beautiful patterns to knit. So I would highly recommend that if you're interested in learning more about knitting or the knitting world that you pick up Interweave Knits or any other knitting magazine and get reading!

Level Up +1 Yarn Dyeing

Dyed Yarn

Today I dyed yarn with food coloring. I'm pretty happy with the results. In the past I've dyed yarn with Kool-Aid, which is great, they make bright colored yarns, AND it smells like fruity sheep. However, if you want to have darker or richer colors you need to up the game. So, food coloring it is. I used McCormick NEON! Food color and egg dye on Red Heart Heart & Sole. Mixed the colors up with the ratios that were suggested on the box for turquoise, apricot and raspberry. I had soaked the yarn in water and some vinegar overnight so that the yarn would hold the dye better. Then I used a medicine dropper to get the dye onto the yarn while it was in my crock pot. The dye immediately took to the yarn, because I was able to suction up excess water and it was pretty much dye free. I thought that was pretty cool. Cooked in the crock pot on high for about an hour and a half so the dye would set then rinsed and squeezed out as much water as I could. It's still going to be a day or two until it's fully dry though. I think I'm going to make these Elphaba hand warmers out of the yarn.

Roxanne after Clue #2

Also, finished all of Clue #2 of the Roxanne KAL. I like how it's looking so far. The textured sides are nice, though I'm hoping when it gets blocked it looks a little more lacy than it does now. Also, it ain't all that big so far, so I'm really looking forward to seeing what Clue #3 brings.

Riley figured out the the shawl was cozy.

Lastly, I have started crocheting a kippah for The Fiancee. He has a big head. It's going to be a BIG kippah. It has made me realize why in the 5+ years that I've been with him that I haven't made a kippah for him until now. They're SO EXCRUCIATINGLY SLOW! All the TEENY stitches!!! AAAUUGH!! Hopefully I wont stab myself with the 1.3mm crochet hook before it's finished.

Artistic Yarn

This past week, the Baltimore Jewish Times ran an article about a local man named Sam Barsky. Mr. Barsky has been knitting his own sweaters for years, and not from patterns. He makes his own designs for pictorial sweaters and they're beautiful. His sweaters are representations of places and different Jewish holidays. He said that he doesn't make the sweaters for money because they would cost far too much due to time and effort, which I can completely understand. Even if you buy cheap yarn, all the time spent making teeny stitches, especially to create a wearable piece of art. I have a lot of respect for Mr. Barsky and his beautiful work.

Really I Need A Better Camera

Because the current pictures I have of my shawl do not nearly represent what the colors are in real life. Today Liz Abinante released the second clue for the Roxanne KAL (a day early! squee!). I of course needed to knit through the repeat at least once, and I'm sharing my progress with you so far. Side-note: doing this KAL has made me realize that everyone has prettier stitch markers than I do, nicer needles, better cameras and better knowledge and tools for blocking. I would just settle for some pretty stitch markers.

Also, I finished a hat that was a request. I had to order the yarn from a company in ENGLAND because of course, it's pretty much discontinued. I hope my customer doesn't want any more hats made with this yarn (Louisa Harding Fauve) because it's gonna be dang hard to get a hold of. Either way, I'm pretty happy with the hat and my ability to pretty much recreate something off the top of my head (this isn't a written pattern, just something I monkeyed around with). 

Rant

Because I did the craft show at a synagogue, I got some people who were interested in having hats made for them. Fantastic. Except that one person is being picky about what yarn I use for the hat and she keeps calling it "fabric".

It's seriously pissing me off.

It's Better To Have Loved And Lost...

In other words, sometimes it's better to suck it up, and frog a failing project then to try and see it out to something that you're not going to be happy with. Sometimes you just have to cut your losses. That was the case this week with another hat I started. I realized Tuesday night that I had to go to my "other" job the next day and needed something to knit while at work. I decided on Sweet Sassafras's Buttercup Beret in NaturallyCaron.com Spa in Misty Taupe. Some 34 rows later, I realized, my gauge was way too small, and I was not really a fan of the cables. To the frog pond it went. I think I'll try it again on slightly larger needles and changing the cables to something I like a little better.

Also, the Roxanne Mystery KAL started today! I already cast-on and did all of the instructions so far. There was a slightly wonky spot in the first two rows where it seemed like it needed another k1, but I just followed it too a T and moved the place markers as needed. I ended with the right amount of stitches that she says we should have so I'm not going to worry. A lot of people on the Ravelry forum seemed to add the stitch though.