Strings & Yarn

Yup you heard me right.  As a matter of fact we aren’t just going to do a meet up, we’re going to copy the Rhinebeck folks and have bingo, but we need people to play.  Here’s the information!

1) You can either be a player, a square or both. If you are a square you’ll display the Blacksheep Bingo logo while at the event. If you are a player, you will get your bingo cards a week before so you can check out who you will be looking for. If someone isn’t wearing their logo, but you know they are on your card, take this as a sign that they may need a bingo breather.

2) Play space will be limited to the fair grounds public space. I think we should avoid tent spaces and camping. Depending on how many people we get together this could be very intrusive to people who are camping. However, the different buildings on the fairgrounds are all game!

3) If you would like to participate e-mail blacksheepbingo (at) gmail (dot) com. Please put “Participation” in the subject line. Here’s the info you need to put together.

-Participation: (Player/Square/Both)

-Name

-Email Address

-Blog Name (if applicable)

-Blog Address (if applicable)

-Ravelry Name (if applicable)

-What day(s) will you be attending the gathering (Fri, Sat, Sun)?

4) All participants will be put in a drawing for the prizes. Overall, this is a chance for us to meet each other and share a great fiber gathering! If you are interested in donating prizes please email blacksheepbingo (at) gmail (dot) com with the subject line “Prizes.” If you would like to e-mail a picture of what you’ll be including, I’ll be making sure to feature donations and prizes on my blog.

I would like to open this up to bloggers as well as ravelers, so it’s time to get the word out! Post on your blogs, message other people who you know will be going to blacksheep. The more people there are, the more fun this will be!

A few weeks ago we had our Monday night knitting group at the Eugene Textile Center instead of Market of Choice. Now I’ve been going regularly to Monday night knitting since I started working full time (January ‘07), and it has become a necessary part of my routine (I would say it’s up there with drinking coffee in the morning). I feel weird if I haven’t got to a knitting group for awhile. The company and the advice I get from these fellow comrades in fiber is invaluable.

I’m not talking about just the the fiber advice. I have formed some great friendships with the women at knitting. We all have decided that knitting would be a major part of our lives, and naturally I connect with people who have similar priorities.

Knitting groups also are a great mix of people; different ages, different stages of life, different experiences, different knitting levels.  We are mostly women in this particular group, but we do have an occasional man join us.

It was extra special to be in a different place and get to see the new Eugene Textile Center.  I missed the grand opening the weekend after this, but I heard it was a great party.  Getting a new business that pushes fiber is always welcome in my mind, and I made sure to get a few pictures to share with you on the blog.

Since I don’t weave, there are a lot of things in here that I won’t be using, but the spinning fiber and dye space is wonderful. The space is centered around education and classes (pdf) in order to spread all the fibery goodness.

They had a large grand opening party and a good article in the Register Guard. I am excited about having another great local resource. If you are heading towards Eugene (Black Sheep Gathering is coming up!), make sure to put this on your visit list.

No I’m not talking about the TV show, although Anthony and I are looking forward to finally being able to watch the third season. It took forever for it to come out on DVD! That should not be allowed. Really, why would they want to take so long to make money. (Granted we won’t be buying it, but renting it through Netflix. That is always how we watch TV and movies.)

No, I’m talking about a certain handspun hat that was blogged about mere weeks ago. I have already lost my hat! Well, truthfully I left my hat at the Dollar theater and then someone snagged it up. We were back to the theater less than an hour later and it was already long gone.

I was so sad and I officially decided I cannot be trusted with hats. Since I’m not used to wearing them, they often get left in weird places. I haven’t lost any mittens or scarves, but the hats can’t seem to stay with me. Last year I made a hat (also out of handspun) that only lasted a few weeks also. It didn’t even last long enough to get photographed.

So what to do? Do I make myself another hat and risk another loss. Or just tromp around town with a cold head? Plus if you see my hat, will you send it along my way. Thanks a bunch.

If you have not seen this around, here it is.

I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days. That is my promise. The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.

Now somehow I managed to get myself signed up for two of these!  One at Ren’s blog and one at No-Blog-Rachel.  I wasn’t sure if I made it into one, so I signed up at another blog.  It’s fine, I just need 6 people to sign up in the comments below.  I don’t mind making 6 things, and am looking forward to sharing some yarn love.  So those of you still looking to get involved in this, add a comment below!

We have had a crazy few days here. First, we had a huge wind storm come through. We didn’t get it too bad in Eugene, but the coast had hurricane speed winds. Yesterday I didn’t want to do anything but stay in bed. However, I did drag my butt out of the house, and went to work. Unfortunately the winds and rain were nothing compared to all of the little annoyances. One of those days where you wake up and stub your toe.

I also had to send away part of my leg to get fixed. So Monday meant hobbling on crutches and decreased mobility. Its the feeling of being in slow motion while the whole world is Fast Forwarding around you. I survived though and at the end of the day I ended up bringing a little sunshine into the dreary grey.

Pattern: Sunflower Tam from Knitting Nature by Norah Gaughan

Needles: US size 7 and 9

Yarn: My Handspun

This was really quick and lots of fun to make. I had been thinking about it for awhile. On my spinning retreat (oh yeah, I should probably blog about that sometime) I spun up a batt from Miss Babs Fiber. I got two carded batts and they are soft and luxurious.

I spun a 2-ply yarn that was a little thicker than DK weight. The colors are so much fun and they make me want to get a drum carder (or buy everything she has). Have I convinced you to go check out her stuff yet?

I wore the hat to the dog park and felt like a styling dog owner. Yeah, thats right, I have the coolest hat in the dog park… maybe I need to get out more.

Either way, it was nice to knit something for me! Everything on my needles lately seems to be for other people. Whether its for Christmas or the many projects for Anthony, everyone has taken over my knitting. Now I feel satisfied enough to finish up a few of those big secret projects.

I know, I’m terribly behind.  Sara did a nice post about it here, and Miriam did one here.  So I went, I spun and we wove (almost) another shawl.  This time we didn’t have loom problems.  We were using a table loom, and this time our pattern just took to much time.  Especially on the table loom.  Our weft was a electric green and blue, while the warp was a dark charcoal gray.  Unfortunately I didn’t get any pictures of it, but there are pictures on both Sara’s and Miriam’s posts.

In between spinning sessions I did manage to get a little shopping.  Here are the goodies.

I’ve been feeling a little Sock yarn crazy lately.  It must be these Sock Knitters Anonymous challenges that have got be constantly thinking about socks.  This is beautiful sock yarn from Anogora Valley. It’s now spending it’s required time in the stash while I meditate what I’ll do with it.

These little bundles of fiber were a great deal.  They were from Hokulani Farms and are an alpaca/superwash merino blend.  I could resist, and I’ll be plying the two colors together.  They’re just 2 ounces each and this will be my first time spinning alpaca.  Even though I have a have quite a bit of it in the stash, it requires some washing and picking before it’ll be ready to spin.

I think I’ve figured out all of the Christmas gift ideas, and have gotten yarn for many of the gifties.  Except for a few more Christmas purchases, I’m now going to be on a yarn diet.  Why?  Because the time has come fore the payment of student loans.  It’s been perfect timing because my violin studio is now full!  However, it doesn’t leave a lot of yarn money, and I don’t need to be making any purchases.  I have enough yarn to have a closet full of hand knit clothes.

I’ve been trying to get some of my projects off the needles to make way for Christmas knitting, and I finished my Mystery Stole.  Lace blocking photos to come soon!

At Black Sheep Gathering I caved in and got another fleece. This is the second fleece I have purchased. The first is half way carded (blended with kid mohair and silk) and waiting to be spun. I would have posted the carded batts, but they aren’t that interesting. Just white fluffy batts of goodness. This however, will be full of natural color.

This is a 4.25 pound Rambouillet variegated fleece. I washed it when it was still sunny and beautiful outside. However, I didn’t seem to get all of the grease out. It still has a faint feeling of greasy texture. Not nearly as much as it did have, but a little. I’m not sure if I’ll be trying to wash it again or if I’ll be trying to card it as is.

I love the color of the fleece and I can’t wait to see what it’ll be like all spun up. Guess it’s time to invest in some hand cards…

The contest has been finished!  I put everyone in (even the Aussies) and here are the winners….

Sock Yarn - Rachel - Red and Blazing - Written/sung by Abigail Washburn

Roving - Ging - Hazy Shade of Winter - the original Simon & Garfunkel version

So first I have to say that this wasn’t rigged.  I put names on a little piece of paper, and decided to include Ging even though she wasn’t a knitter.  I put her in fiber, because then I could make something nice to send her.  Anthony (who is good friends with Ging) must have sensed her name in there (I swear I didn’t tell him anything.  He didn’t even know why he was picking little pieces of paper out of the bowl), so she got picked.  I guess I’ll get to make something to send now.
However, I found I loved doing this contest, so hopefully there will be more to come.  I loved your ideas for pieces may be using some in the future.

Thanks for playing!

I just wanted to show off some knitting.  I can’t keep up with taking pictures of my projects, because I would rather be knitting on them than taking pictures.  Oh well.  Here is the Lady Eleanor.

Now just imagine that it is 33 inches long instead of 5.  I know, I just haven’t been able to take a picture.  Here’s another progress shot.

These pictures don’t even have all the colors in them.  There is also a redish brown and a lighter purple.  The way this is knitting up, it’ll probably be done by the time I get another picture.

By the way don’t forget to participate in the blogiversary contest and check out the shop.  It’s been updated fairly recently.  Enjoy!

Sorry I’ve been away so long. If you left a comment it’s not here, it probably got erased accidentally. I had over 2,000 spams to go through today, so I decided that they were all going to be erased. Hopefully as I get used to my new schedule, blogging will be more regular again.

I’ve finished my Sock Knitters Anonymous Challenge for August. I know, it’s not August anymore, but we have until September 30th to get them done. Here they are!

Even though I didn’t get them up on the blog in time, I actually finished these in time for Summer of Socks as well. Just barely. I only did 1 1/2 pairs of socks this summer! I guess I was more concentrated on lace.

I pretty much always use the Grumperina way to pick up stitches. I find that it makes a very neat and tidy way of picking up stitches. I wanted to include a picture of the heel so that because I love the way they look and feel. If you haven’t tried this yet, click over and see what it’s about.

This was my first STR experience, and of course, like everyone else, I love it. It really helped make these socks fly by.

I also have goodies to give away!

Woohoo! It’s time for a blogiversary contest. This is some of my own hand-dyed fiber and sock yarn. The sock yarn is 100% Superwash Merino, 3 ounces and about 400 yards. The fiber is 100% Merino, 4 ounces. So what do you have to do to win the wonderful squishyness? Name the colorway!

If you’ve been to my shop, you’ll see that I name all of my colorways after classical music. Since not everyone is as familiar with classical music, I want to open it up to any song. That means it can be disco, rock n’ roll, r & b, soul, jazz, heavy metal, whatever! You just have to make sure to find a song you think matches this color well. Please include if you would prefer the sock yarn, fiber, or either. I will put all entries into a hat and pick for each one. The contest will end a week from today on October 4th at noon pacific time.

Can’t wait to see what songs you come up with!