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.