Dying, Knitting, Shearing and Wheeling

      Well I sort of dropped off the map there for a bit.  I got busy the week of Knit Crochet Blog week.  I got behind and then never caught up.  I was thinking about doing a book review for the day we're supposed to do something really different.  I have some time at work to read again, so I've been going through all the books I read partway through and then dropped.  It feels really good to be reading again.  More on that later, most likely.

     I didn't do much knitting in the month of May.  It was the "in-between time" for Nerd Wars.  I worked on Holden sporadically and didn't actually finish it in May.  There have been some big changes with Nerd Wars, or at least they seemed like they would be big.  Now that we're all back, it's pretty normal already.  Dyeing has been added as an acceptable craft answer for the challenges.  This, of course, makes me super happy.  My first challenge submission this round was some yarn I dyed.  I've been knitting like crazy now that T11 has started.  I'll be doing a dissertation this tourney as well.  Okay, so on to projects.

This is the yarn I dyed for the Nerdology challenge.  I'm going to be making Baby Tri-Peak Hat with it.  Jess asked me to make a hunter orange hat for the baby.  I thought it would be fun to dye the yarn myself.  The yarn is Ella Rae Classic Superwash.  I have a ton of yardage here.  Once I'm done with the hat, I may overdye some of the yarn just for fun.  Orange is a fun color though, I'm sure I can find things to make.

I did finish Holden at the beginning of this month.  It was the morning of our 10th wedding anniversary actually. 

I added beads to three of the lace repeats.  I used some of the "Amber" colorway from the 6/0 seed beads I picked up at AC Moore.  They are a gold/bronze/purple mix and they pulled out the subtle browns and golds in this yarn perfectly.

The yarn is Malabrigo Sock in the Playa colorway.  The picot bind off is very pretty and it wasn't as tedious as I thought it might be.  I'm counting this one as my May shawl, since that's when I started it.

 

My June shawl is already done.  I used the pattern Elk Tooth and some yarn I picked up at the shearing fest.  More on that later.

 

It is quite small.  Its much more of a scarf which is fine.  I'm not being overly picky with my requirements of what constitutes a shawl for my little personal challenge.  I only had 218 yards of this yarn so I searched for patterns that took about that amount.  Elk Tooth jumped out at me.  I thought the textured portion at the bottom and the shaping would lend well to the variegated colors.  I think it looks pretty nice.  The yarn is hand dyed and handspun by a local artist.  I got to meet her at the festival and talk for a little bit.  She loves bright colors and all her yarns are super bright and happy, much like her.  Other than a boring old dishcloth, this is what I've gotten done so far. 

 

     Back to this shearing festival.  I happened to see a sign for the shearing fest in Jamesville on my way to Yarn Cupboard.  It's always memorial day weekend and it had totally slipped my mind.  I had gone out to this farm once before, but had shown up a day late.  (The website was wrong, and then later corrected, after I had printed out the itinerary.)  Anywho, the starts aligned for me.  I had to work Sunday and Monday so I stayed here alone.  The hubs ran off to spend the weekend with our Anniversary gift...  So once I saw that sign, I jumped at the opportunity to peruse a shearing fest by my self.  The Springside Farm is a short drive outside Syracuse in Fabius.  There were sheep, Alpaca, cashmere goats, rabbits a donkey, chickens and peacocks.  Up in the hay mow were vendors and demonstrators.  I wish now I would have grabbed a chair and just watched the spinners for awhile.  They all had wheels, so it probably wouldn't have helped with my spindle spinning much, but non the less it was great.  I bought some yarn and some fiber. 

That's the yarn I used for Elk Tooth.

This is Icelandic Wool, in Periwinkle, from another farm in Fabius, Shepherd's Falls Farm.

Roving, also Icelandic, also from Shepherd's Falls.  This color is Sky Blue.  I really enjoyed seeing all the animals, especially the cashmere goats.  They were only three months old and therefore adorable.  Rufus and Reckless.  Rufus and I became very good friends and I seriously contemplated goatnapping him.  I think though, the apartment complex people would frown on having a goat in here...  In all seriousness, I have always wanted a goat, once we get to our countryside home, with land.  Now I think that goat is going to be of the cashmere variety.  He was so sweet and soft, it just seems like the right breed for a knitter like me.  I watched the sheep shearing for a while and then took the grand tour of the farm.  I didn't get to see much of the Alpaca shearing since I found that building right before the tour.  Next year, I'll be sure to get there earlier, now that I know where everything is, I can spend more time spectating.

 

Now on to this Anniversary gift.  We like to do outdoorsy things, we have a snowmobile.  My parents have a four-wheeler.  I have many great memories of tooling around on that thing.  It's getting older and it stopped working.  After much deliberation hubs and I decided it was time to get one of our own.  So happy 10th anniversary to each other.

 

It's a 2014 Arctic Cat 1000 Mud Pro.  Yes, that's a winch on the front and yes that's a snorkel.  The winch has come in very handy already.  Half the fun of owning a four wheeler is driving it in mud and muck and trying to get it stuck.  (We were successful on several occasions earlier today.)

Well, that's it for now.  Until later.  Happy Crafting!

-Q