Blue Ribbon Sonoma Fair 2010

My very first Fair entries. Alfred's Quilt brought a blue ribbon! I'm so pleased.

Deb n' My Shawls

This is a shot of Debra Emery's shawl (L) and my Rocky Pi Shawl (R). We are first and second place respectively, but we were in different categories, so we're still speaking to one another...teehee. Seriously we're both quite excited to have received accolades in this, our first foray into County Fair entries. To say the least we were tickled pink. I encourage all of my fellow fiber friends to enter next year. It's a blast to see your designs exhibitied, ribbons or no!

My White Dress-2nd Place!

This is a dress I designed the pattern for from an old housedress of mine that I love and can't find the pattern for. It was originally just going to be a "muslin" but I decided to finish it off and add some dragonflies with my embroidery machine.

Stonington Shawl

The brown shawl on the bottom shelf is my first "sheep to shawl" item. I processsed the Shetland fleece, spun the yarn and knitted the shawl. 3rd Place!

Finish Line!

Swatched from the 3ply sample skein I spun from the Corriedale X singles. From combed top to knitting needles. 4.5 spi on size 7 needles.

Tour de Fleece-Day 22

Managed to spin the one pound of Corriedale X singles for my planned Aran sweater. The bobbins are stuffed...5oz per. The Yarn sample came out at 14 tpi's for a 3 ply. Maaged to get in a couple of 3 ply sock yarns while I was at it. Watermelon, and Mossy. The yarn sample looks good. Sampling the Corrie X on my spindle provided a lovely 2 ply. I see lace in this fleece's future as well.

Three weeks of spinning fun. I always like to dedicate myself to the TdFleece. I manage to get past some roadblocks in my spinning.

Stonington Completed

I started this shawl with about 2 #'s of Shetland raw wool.

This is a shot of the shawl from the back before blocking...38" x 38"

These are shots of the shawl after blocking...50" x 50".
I could have stretched it more, but I wanted it to stay close to elbow length.

The pattern can be found in Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitting Workshop and in Knitters Magazine Shawls and Scarves.

Watermelon spinning

Fruity!

Watermelon

Merino/silk blend drafted into little "nests" for spinning. Maybe a shawlette?  The Fiber is from Miss Babs

Day 5 Tour de Fleece

One pound of Corrie X combed and ready to spin.

Tour de Fleece Day 4

This is the fiber that I spun on my spindle. It was the most perfectly balanced yarn. I've been reading Abby Franquemont's Respect the Spindle and learing a great deal about working with my spindles. I used her method of winding the 3 balls of yarn together as one before plying and it was so easy to work with it that way. Of course this is just a small sampling, but it's amazing how much control one has over the fiber this way.

Here is my Lendrum wheel sampling for the day. I've been playing with a worsted short forward draw with this combed top and I actually like my point of twist semi-woolen technique, which is my default method, much better. The fiber actually looks more like a worsted yarn with my method.

Corriedale yarn sample

I spun up a sample on my spiderweb Golding spindle.

Squoosh

Just finished the last bump of Merino/Bamboo batt from Squoosh on Etsy. I'll 3 ply this for socks!

Beginning Tour de Fleece 2010

Corriedale X sampling

This is the Corriedale fleece I purchased at Black Sheep Gathering last year.

It's all washed and ready to start combing for my Tour de Fleece challenge=1# combed and spun during the Tour de France.

These little "nests" are pulled off of the combs ready to spin.

Blocking the Rocky Pi Shawl

I've just given the shawl a soak in a mild soap and rinsed, pressed dry rolled in a towel.

  You can see that I have started to thread the mono-filament through the shawl's points.

This is a close up of how the mono-filament threads through your lace edging points.

If you use the kind for a weed whacker and it has sharp edges, you can do as I did and sand it down which softens the sharp edges.

After the shawl is theaded, I place a large pin in the center of the shawl and measure out to the radius I want. Mine was 28". Then I place pins along the edge of the mono-filament to keep it stretched in the circle shape.

It's a good idea to calculate what circumference you want for the final blocking to make sure you have enough mono-filament before you start to thread. I always run out :).

In circles the circumference is 3.14 (p) times the Diameter. Always give yourself a few extra feet over this measurement.

Now it sits to dry. It's warm here today so I figure it will dry out by tomorrow.

Rocky Pi Completed

Well, here she is, finished. I haven't blocked it yet, I sort of enjoy the bit of ruffling the shawl gives when it's unblocked.  This was one of the nicest knitting experiences. The fiber is a millspun from Brookfarm Alpaca, but this particular batch is a Blue Ribbon winning blanket fleece in a natural fawn color. It is so incredibly soft.

I'm planning on entering this gal in the Sonoma Couty Faire in July, so I will block it for that. I'll do comparison photos :). Ain't she a treat?

Spinning that Romney

Pleased with the way the singles are comig out. I'm planning a 3 ply for this fiber for a sweater that I have in mind. In this first picture you can see the roving balled up on the left, the wheel bobbin full of spun singles, and the 3 weavers bobbins I've used to store the singles onto. I'm putting them up in 3's like this so that I can rotate all the bobbins as I spin the final yarn. This distributes the variations throughout the entire yardage. Hopefully that helps with a more even yarn without taking away from the "homespunnyness" of the yarn.

I'm getting 30 wpi (wraps per inch) on the singles which should make a pretty nice worsted weight range 3 ply yarn. The singles are being spun in a semi-woolen manner from roving that I pulled from carded batts.

Rainbow Handspun

This is my handspun from a Merino/Bamboo blend from Laura Schickli of Handwerks. I'm working it up into the Morning Surf Scarf which uses the "wave" pattern. The scarf design is by Jackie Erickson-Schweitzer as seen in the Summer 2008 Spin-Off Magazine or for free right here at Jackie's site.