At WI Sheep and Wool Festival

We did make it over to Jefferson for a couple of hours yesterday afternoon. Mr S likes to watch the sheep shearing demonstration, and I like to browse the vendors. I did held firm on the yarn front, though there was a lot of lovely yarn. I try to only purchase items that I have really been wanting for quite a long time.

The first item wasn't exactly in that category, but I had been thinking for some time that I should learn more about Orenburg lace. Galina Khmeleva had a booth (with some of the genuine Russian shawls - breathtaking!). Since I couldn't take her class, alas, because it was held today and didn't fit into my schedule, I bought one of her books and got her autograph in it. This will be good bedtime reading for many nights.



I really had been wanting a nice wooden darning egg for ever so long. This one came from Catherine Harrison's "Knitting Notions". She had come all the way from Nashville, Tennessee (and was sporting a Ravelry button). Her hand paints were very lovely, but I resisted.



I have also been longing for a lightweight, simple but elegant shawl pin, and I think this fits the bill.



I like the way it works. Each end of the spiral bends in to the back, forming a hook at each side. Hook one end, then the other, through the shawl and there you are - no fiddling with a pin closure.



That was it for purchases (as if that weren't plenty). I did thoroughly enjoy stopping by the Signature Needles booth, though. These are the needles that Annie Modesitt just raves about, and after trying them out I can see why; even though I almost never knit on straights, and didn't think I liked aluminum. Super high polish, you choose your lengths and pick between three degrees of sharpness for the tips (and what decorative knob you want at the end). They were lovely to look at, but what I really appreciated was the smooth operation, especially with the "stiletto" tips. And then I like that they are manufactured by a woman owned, Wisconsin company. They are somewhat pricey, and I expect worth every penny. But as I said, I almost never use straights. I did try out some of the recently introduced double points and they also were excellent. So maybe sometime..... Rumor has it that circulars are in development. After I got home I went to the website and signed up for the newsletter, just in case....

from one of my heroines

"A mature person is one who does not think only in absolutes, who is able to be objective even when deeply stirred emotionally, who has learned that there is both good and bad in all people and in all things, and who walks humbly and deals charitably with the circumstances of life, knowing that in this world no one is all knowing and therefore all of us need both love and charity." — Eleanor Roosevelt

This and That

I've been meaning to mention that Yarn Thrower Laura has written up the pattern for a really cute pair of (seamless!) baby booties, and has posted it on her blog. She's even included two ways to work them: top down and bottom up.

************************

I finally finished seaming up the Warm Up America afghan blocks. Now it's washed, packed up and soon to be on it's way to Iowa.

Remember the sock with the gaping hole in the bottom? I decided that instead of darning it, I would just re-knit, because it wasn't that far from the toe, and because I wasn't sure how comfortable a darn would be under the ball of the foot, and most of all because I enjoy the process of knitting and do not particularly enjoy the process of darning.

I "always" save the leftover bits of yarn when I've finished a pair of socks, just so I can use them for mending later. Always must be relative, because I couldn't find the leftover bits of this yarn. So I ended up using small amounts of three others.

I think the finished effect is rather festive (you can click on the picture for a close up). Of course, it no longer matches the undamaged sock, but life is too short to worry about things like that. And of course I no longer have mending yarn in those other colors, but Ha! they were all from socks that I gave away, or lost, or something. At any rate, they are all from socks no longer in my possession, and therefore not subject to mending by me.

Looks almost like an acorn

in this shot, thought the color is truer.



If I roll the brim up a little more, and pull the whole hat down on the head, the crown kind of smooths out,



but if I make it again, I'll either work more decreases per round or put the decrease rounds a little closer together.

Anyway, I had some leftover Wool-Ease, and I wanted to make a hat for the Sow's Ear project for Cedar Rapids, and I wanted some conversational knitting to take for Last Saturday knitting.

Just repeating k2, p2 is something even I can do while conversing. Short repeat, every round is the same. If you work it on a multiple of four it gives you classic ribbing, which would have been fine, but I wanted something that at least looked a bit more complicated. So I worked it on a multiple of four plus three. Ta Da! A nice diagonal rib, and you never have to pay attention to which row you are on. Thanks to the miracle of math, just k2,p2 and the pattern emerges. I didn't even place a marker until after the brim, because why mess with sliding it if you don't need it in the first place?

I was quite pleased with myself, though it's true that sometimes I'm pretty easily amused.

Progress report

I finished to towel topper. It's not so pretty, but it holds the towel to the fridge door, which is the main thing. If I do this again I will sew the blanket stitches closer together, and start them at the very edge of the towel. Will also make the top section longer. And rethink the way I handled the way the button relates to the buttonhole. In other words, do just about everything differently. But what the heck. The towel is staying where I want it.

I was happier with the way the little mini-purse came out. This is a pattern I originally designed for a beginning knitting class, so the button is purely decorative (no messing with a buttonhole here). I'm sending it off to see if the Pattern A Day Calendar people would like to use it for their 2010 edition.

Elvis has left the building

Well, not Elvis really. But I did get the very big project that has been occupying most of my time for the last six weeks packed up and in the mail yesterday.

So what to do with myself?

Well, there is the neglected housework (can we say dust 1/2 inch deep?). And the yard full of weeds and things gone to seed.



Need to finish seaming up that afghan, it's about 3/4 done. And the second version of Hudson has been sitting in a heap for weeks, again 3/4 done. And some mending.



I have a little purse to finish up.



And there is a kitchen towel that needs one of those toppers that let you hang it on the refrigerator door handle.

Guess I'll find ways to fill my time.