New Year Blah Blah Blah

I had the best of intentions. Some fall activities happened that I wanted to share, but the election got in the way, then left me completely gobsmacked. I am still struggling to put it all together and do what I can.

And yet, here I am.

In no particular order...the Guy and I took another marvelous vacay with the Eldest. This time we drove through New York in October.  We did some hiking, saw some leaves turning, and Niagara Falls, which are pretty spectacular. And also, we spent a day at Rhinebeck, the New York Sheep and Wool Festival.

I entered some skeins, received some pretty ribbons, the day was gorgeous, I met Casey and Mary Heather from Ravelry, and all was right with the world.

October slipped into November, the election happened, and all went to shit. I have been so pissed off since that night at everything, and do not understand how people who can read words and hear people speak with any discernment could have let this happen. Well, I am not sitting back. Every week my senators (one red and one blue) hear from this white hair 61 year old, and so does my ultra liberal congressman from Boulder. My small effort.

Suddenly the holiday lights were up, and I realized certain motions needed to be gone through.  I have offspring and grandgirls, after all. So I did. Went through the motions, that is. I had some knitting already put aside for giving, and cranked out felted slippers for three,

Duffers, by Mindy Tallack

and stranded colorwork hats for five.

Baa-ble, by Donna Smith

Along with miscellaneous other sewing and knitting projects. All were received well and with gratitude by the knitworthies I am blessed to have in my family.

Mesa, by Yumiko Alexander

And today, this is being mailed off. Out of handspun, from a bond fleece I bought at the wool market in Estes Park. Scoured, carded, spun 2-ply.  I had to mail it quickly before I kept it to enter in the July fairs.

Keeping busy, to keep it together.

Some Finished Things

I am winding up 4 weeks of recovering from a bike tumble in which I sprained some ribs.  All else is good. No hitting of the noggin, no scrapes, and the bike is fine as well. But as I went west when the bike went north, I twisted more than my old-ish body forgave. I have been back on the bike (that felt great), and back doing yoga (albeit slowly). All's well that ends well.

I was able to finish up a few things though, while not vacuuming. I have used some single skeins of handspun to knit up some small triangle scarves, and one big toasty shawl.

The Age of Brass and Steam (Orange Flower Yarn)

In the beginning, a novice spinner is often taken in by the lure of the colors of these lovely braid of dyed fiber sold by retailers or indie dyers. They mostly weigh around 4-5 oz. and often can cost between $22.50-$35.00. One usually thinks to afford one, but not two...or one is buying a souvenir while traveling, and only one will do...

Consider 4 oz of yarn.  Unless it is lace wgt or fingering, generally speaking, one has less than 200 yards. What does one make with 200 yards?

198 Yards of Heaven (Verity Knits)

These little triangle scarves, or "shawlettes", fit the bill. at least for the merino and silk (ABS) and the merino/shetland (198 yds). The one below is used up 4 skeins.  Those were of smaller yardage, and I actually broke some rules, using a skein of superwash, 2 of an alpaca/silk/merino blend, and one of a merino and silk. I am sure the knitting police will come arrest me anytime.

Boneyard (Stephen West)

It really is wonderful, though.  I used it when I demonstrated spinning at the Estes Park Scottish Highlands festival this past weekend.  It was perfect to have on my shoulders when there was a breeze, and to shrug off when the sun warmed us up.

Devil's Backbone (Nicole Tavares)

I liked the name of this (We have a defining geographical formation with the same moniker). It was suitable to use some yarn that I wanted to get out of the stash. And it worked. I even added some extra repeats to use up more yarn. Unfortunately the yarn seems to be never-ending. I have knitted a poncho/cowl thingie.

Feeling Sheepish

Sometimes I crack myself up!

There's a place around here that sells fleece.  Actually, there are many. That sells many kinds.  Sheep, alpaca, rabbit, goat.  There are even bison and some yak lurking about, I have heard (or herd...). Haha!

But I am talking sheep and their wool, and one place in particular that sells extraordinarily clean and well-skirted fleece for a premium price.  They have a booth at different shows, markets, and such places where I have also been demonstrating spinning, taking classes, or just shopping. I have bought good fleece from them, and some of their "naughty" fleece, which is what they call the ones when the sheep have wriggled out of the coats they wear that keep the fleece so clean.  On occasion, they offer classes on scouring fleece, or talks on the breeds they raise, which are many, from rare Karakuls, long wools like Lincolns, Wensleydales, Teeswaters, and BFLs, and finally CVMs,

I have mentioned to the shepherd and her person in charge (PIC) if they ever need any help, I would volunteer my services.  I would love to learn how to properly skirt fleece.

Well. A couple weeks ago, the PIC called me and asked if I had some free time.  I was so excited. Especially after I found out that it was going to be a paying gig! At least starting out, I am working one day a week out at the farm skirting sheared fleece, and getting it prepped for sale.

What exactly is skirting a fleece, one might ask? It is removing the undesirable parts from the prime wool.  The really bad bits is removed in the shearing barn, so we don't have to deal with that. Also the "undesirable parts" are graded from stuff that goes on the floor to stuff that are made into bird balls (nesting material) to fleece that will go to the mill for yarn and/or roving (not prime for sale to handspinners).

After that is done, we pick out all the obvious vegetable matter (VM). The two of us just walk around the table picking out what we see. Because these sheep are coated, their fleece are very clean. If I would purchase a fleece from this shepherd, I would only have to wash the fleece to get out the lanolin, then comb or card, and spin. Of course, one pays a premium for this privilege!

The first day we only skirted CVMs (California Variegated Mutants). The second day we worked on Wensleydales and Teeswaters.  Some were crosses with BFLs (blue-face Leicesters). (Perhaps another day I will extol the virtues of the different breeds.)

I must say that the heady fumes of fleece might have overtaken me, but I repeated the mantra, "there will always be another fleece...there will always be another fleece..." along with "remember how much uncarded wool you have at home...remember how much unspun wool you have at home..." So far no fleece has made it home with me. So far. But it has been close.

Judging Judges

Having the opportunity to listen to judges comments and/or actually watch the judging at the wool market and the county fairs this year gave some insights.  Which is always good, I suppose when one puts goods out there for comparison.  Too bad I couldn't have picked up on some of this at a younger age.

Judging Judges have their own personalities and preferences and no matter what, are subjective. Even in the perfectly objective part of the judging, I saw preferences! For instance, skein tying...I followed a print out from Interweave Press, put out by SpinOff, written by a local judge, to the letter.
And one judge made negative comments about the way it was tied.

Whatcha' gonna' do?

There are some chancy bits and pieces to these contests. For instance, how many entries in the different classes will depend on the level of competition. Typically, blends of protein fibers (like wool and silk and stuff, without glitz and sparkle and stuff) have more entries. Also medium spun sheep's wool have several entries.  Classes like spindle spun yarns, or finely spun wool, or exotics like llama or dog/cat, not so much competition.

In addition, the organizers seriously want entries. So when I show up with six or seven different items, a little abashed by the number, it makes no difference to the superintendents (the people in charge of receiving entries, organizing the display, helping the judge, and getting the entries back to the right people). One local fair had one entry last year. One. Entries are their life's blood.

The Judging Judges are not known in advance by the entrants, but they tend to be local. And also there are a relatively small circle to choose from.  I, myself, who have only been entering handspun for maybe five years, am beginning to know some of them! One also begins to recognize the other entrants, more or less.  I recognize fellow guild members, at least.

Circling back to what I heard in the judging...
I am very glad I went, because with the exception of one fair, the written comments were very minimal compared to what the judges said, and that is unfortunate. At that fair, the superintendent wrote on a 3x5 card everything the judge said, and stapled it to the judging sheet.  Excellent.
Some of my skeins consistently rated highly, but perhaps because the competition was slim. Or maybe it was because the fiber was awesome!

Llama

I had a judge comment at one fair that a particular skein "seem heavy", that it could be spun finer.  She had a bit of a leaning toward finer yarns, I think, because that yarn won the big ribbons at another fair, and a prize at a second.

Yak/Merino/Silk

There was another skein that could not get any love any where! Until with the last judge, who had obvious tendencies toward crazy, colorful, artzy yarn.

Merino/Silk

This particular judge picked up my chunky alpaca (which previously had been judged to be
heavy, and could have been spun finer, guess who by...) and said "sometimes you just know when you see something that it's going to be first!"

3-ply alpaca

So. What I learned is this

• Know what I am spinning, and think about the intent, if not at the start of the project (because REALLY WHO DOES THAT!!!), then when I am writing it down for the judge.  That makes a big giant difference in judging.
• Write down all the info I want about breed, staple length, and way I spun the yarn and why. Might make a difference in judging or not, but it will explain why I did what I did. I will have thought through what I did, at least.
• Spin the best I can spin, and spin what I want to spin, Judging Judges be damned. They aren't going to be the ones knitting with my yarn.

I may or may not enter next year. A two sided coin, as it were. While I want to support the local fairs, I don't want to be the one that everyone sees and thinks..."omigawd...she wins everything!" Then again, I wasn't.  My friend, Gina, was that person! Haha!

Tidying Things Up

When DSis came to visit, we had a list of things to do. Or rather, things we didn't want to forget to do. We accomplished almost all of the list.  (How I love to mark things off a good list!) Many of the items involved visiting quilts stores in and about the vicinity, and while doing so, we picked up their free Row By Row Experience patterns.

Now here's the thing. This wasn't even on my radar until DSis showed up.  I have four (4!) quilts of varying sizes requiring quilting, and two (2!) more planned and ready to cut. I suppose that is beside the point because after we collected...I don't know...18 patterns, DSis reminds me to not stash them too far back in the closet.

Fast forward to the end of our visit. I return home and it is county fair season. Being retired now (WooHoo!) I am taking other's entries to the local fairs, and also able to watch the judging, which is awesome, but also time-consuming. I have those four quilts mentioned above to sandwich, one of which is a oversized monster. And then DSis starts sending me photos of her Row By Rows (RXR), which are looking awesome.

Again, here's the thing. These are cute little projects that are mostly easily done with small amounts of fabric (scraps!) and also a good way to learn a technique. Like fusible applique.  Back in the day, there was only needle turn applique which is pretty limiting. New fangled fusible bond makes applique magic and new machines have control and fancy stitching that even the Rocketeer can't really match.  (Or I haven't figured how to make it do so!). And I think...I should try one or two. They really are addictive.

So here's this other thing. When DSis finished hers, and then won the prize at her LQS, I WANTED A PRIZE, TOO! (Competitive, much? I have never denied that. Well, actually, I tried to, but gave up in 8th grade.) I kicked into high gear, and seriously did not much else but that damn RXR for four days. I was super focused. And a little bit crazy, I will admit, but finished it up on a Sunday morning. We took it to the LQS in Estes Park, and I won a fabulous stack of fat quarters.

Since then, I did the grocery shopping, since according WonderGuy (who was a PAL through this), we were down to CRUMBS in the pantry! I have picked up fair entries. (More PRIZES!!) The 110 degree sweater is done blocking (And is pretty darn awesome, too).

I have blocked a pair of socks and taken photos of the sweater, the socks, and two hats for Ravelry. The garden has started producing. And the house has been cleaned. and two small knitting projects almost complete.

So all tidied up, right?

Now I can start on the four quilts, and I have put patterns to yarn for (I am not kidding you) three sweaters and five shawls (of varying sizes).