smatterings

out of time

I've chosen my travel projects.  I've got a ball of Opal and the pattern for Pomatomus.  In my head I carry the basic sock pattern.  Anything goes.  I also wound up two balls of silk in my Verdigris colorway.  400 yds are plenty to start a shawl, if I need more (like I'll get THAT far), it'll have to wait until I get back.  I'm still thinking the Adagio shawl.  As I wound the balls, (you know that you can NOT wind silk into a decent ball on a ball winder, right?) I used the sewn method of the Russain join to eliminate all the tied ends in each skein.  Perfect.  One continuous strand of yarn.  I'll Russian join the yarn from each skein to the next as I change them, too.  All it took was a large sewing needle.  What a great, simple method.  I worried over it up and until I did the first one.

That's it for now.  See you along the way. 

stick a fork in it

This week is pretty well down to the wire, so to speak.  While most of you have until  Friday to get yourselves ready for MDS$W, I'm leaving Wednesday morning.  My trip there is circuitous, first stop a visit with my family, then Friday a road trip through the mountains to Maryland with my sister.  What to take... I need a new easy to travel with project.  Socks, you say.  But what pattern?  Two circs or Dps?  A simple stockinette stitch or something that makes the trip go faster?  And, who wants JUST one project on a trip, how about a little something else.  I've got the Adagio shawl in mind.  In silk.  I've been getting my patterns downsized, maybe I should put them in a pdf. file.  SO much to think about. 

I will be wearing the Vine Lace.  I blocked her today, well sort of, I soaked and spread her out to dry.  Looking at the long range forecast, the lace alpaca should feel pretty good.

It's too rainy to stand outside, and cool,thus the red long sleeved tee underneath.  Hardly a glam shot.

I managed to dye a batch of singles while waiting for the billing to print.  I think this color will be Parrot.  Cheerful, seasonal, and it reminds me a lot of a parakeet I one had as a pet.

and Ooohhh... my orchids!!  they are blooming like crazy!

NICE weekend!

Sometime after lunch, Saturday, after listening to others tell of making numbers of trips to their respective cars to deposit fibery purchases, I believe I bragged commented as to the fact that I had not bought anything.  I.did.not.need.anything.  Yep, that was me.  It was easy to say that BEFORE I walked through the buildings.  I had absolutely no intention of buying much, if anything.  It is the beginning, after all, of the fair season and there are many opportunities to find just about anything you can dream of, so why hurry into the spending frenzy.  I had a bit less than an hour to give everything a quick once over.  At 2pm I'd promised to watch a friend's booth for 1 1/2 hrs.  Time was runnning out.  I sort of hurried through the red barn, stopping to talk to friends judging the Sheep to Shawl, scanning the bags of fleece, noticing the breeds, that sort of thing.  And there it was, the last thing I would have thought I'd buy, another fleece.  "Bess" is still waiting, after all.  I've had Montadale in the back of my mind for a while.  It just seemed like a fleece I'd enjoy working with.  This beautiful white 5 1/2 lb fleece is from Christopher Hall.  It's soft and clean and well skirted.  There weren't any apparent second cuts.  Mine!

Sunday morning, after breakfast and a hike, I decided to see how it would clean up.  It had so little lanolin in it to begin with, I only gave it two soapy soaks, one clearing rinse, and then the final clear water rinse.  I didn't want it to dry out too much.  Lovely.  It dried quickly.  I carded one large handful and test spun it on the Dixon.  I love it.  There are some nubs, not many and not a problem.  It is soft enough to make me wonder if I should give it a bit more twist.  I had the dye pot going at the same time but resisted the urge to through some in, maybe tomorrow.   I'll bet it takes dye beautifully.