Day 13 ~ From a Distance

Here's yesterday's shawl from a distance.

Day 12 ~ Close Up

Here is my mohair hand spun on my Thurmaston Suitcase Spinning Wheel and then I hand knit this shawl. I made it this summer as part of the Ravelry Ravellenic Games which is a fun competition associated with watching the Summer Olympics. It is now ready for it's close up...

Day 10 ~ Something I Made

I have many things that can compete here. I chose this yarn that I spun as it's such a lovely colour.

26 May - Maybe

Maybe:

I ordered a new straw hat from JAS Townsend yesterday.

I also ordered a spoon made from horn.

I got some sleep thanks to finding that electronic chirp and silencing it.

I will go to the Spin - Out at Green Valley Weavers for Territory Days on Saturday.

I will finish up Alyssa's skirt.

6 May - Maybe

Maybe:
I will sleep like the dead whilst camping out at Fort Lupton (I always sleep better when it's cool).

I will get all of the mohair spun.

I will start to get pictures posted to my blog.

My Apologies - Olio

Obviously, I have not posted in aeons. FB has fulfilled the need so often to express myself or vent, that this wee blog has suffered as a consequence.

I have been to England since I last posted. Istill need to sort out the photos. However, I have sketches for two new quilts. I have started the quilt based on a section of floor at Winchester Cathedral with the Stonehenge Line to mimic the slabs of stone used in the section I sketched. I also am planning a new quilt based on a section of Stonehenge. I made one with Hale-Bopp in the evening sky already. The new one will be a fall tree colour in the daytime...

Been making costumes for Steampunk events,here's the Wiki Link explaining it. Steampunk. I have also beeen knitting on many various items, some of which are even complete.

I bought a new spinning wheel this year as well. It's the Thurmaston Suitcase from Timbertops. We are still getting to know each other however.

I finally finished painting the wheel of my Louet with a Celtic Knot and thistles. I think it turned out well.

For a gal who had only one spindle up to three years ago and who now owns two wheels and 4 spindles, I'd say I've been bitten hard by the spinning bug.

Have been busy as well helping out the dear daughter with her yarn business. I have also been nick-named the Mama Minion but the other minions.

We went to Garden of the Gods with the Judd Family the other day and it was a treat as always.

I am sure that there is lot's more I should tell you about, but that will be left for the next post.

How about that, this is a post with NO pictures taken by me, LOL

Part Trois - Tour de Fleece 2010

Here's the last installment of photographs of what I got done during the Tour de Fleece 2010.



The green is my 3rd and 5th attempts at chain plying. Feel better about the 5th attempt, still need more practice to feel really comfortable with the process. The purply grey is the 80/20 Merino/Silk single, that I will make my shawl from to wear to Erin's wedding.

Part Deux - Tour de Fleece 2010

Here tis, the end of the race. All in all, the challenge to myself was incredibly helpful and fulfilling as I really concentrated on my consistency and learned to chain ply (Navajo Ply) better. My last two skeins of two ply yarns also were more balanced they my two plies have been in the past. So little by slow, I am getting better at this still new to me pleasure. I have only be spinning with this wheel for little over a year.

There are a few stray pictures that need to be rounded up as yet to complete the collection of what I did spin-wise this month during the Tour de France. There are also 2 skeins of 80/20 merino/silk drying and therefore still setting twist that I need to photograph as well.

I also have started spinning some cinnamon alpaca. This may be the last alpaca I ever spin as it is the grubbiest fiber I have ever spun. Not as dirty as the last alpaca I spun back in the Fall, but full of vegetable matter (VM) and foxtails. It's going to take me ages to get it all out before I can spin it, if I continue to hand card it. Going to check into borrowing a drum carder tomorrow in hopes of speeding that process up.

Spinning for Tour de Fleece

Here's some of my spinning. The Tour de Fleece is going well. Still have lot's to learn about Navajo or chain plying, tho. Below is my second attempt at chain plying, it's better than my first attempt but I still need to get better at consistency and not get my finger caught in a loop, OUCHERS!

Sew Expo - I Actually Sewed Something

Today I met my friend, Judy Wisehart in Denver for lunch and to attend the Rocky Mountain Sew Expo. It's become a regular thing for us to meet up there and walk through and view what the vendors are flogging. Normally, when we go, it's too crowded and hectic to really see anything due to the crowds. We usually attend on Friday, however, this time we both able to attend today and it was perfect timing on our part. We ate lunch without waiting forever in line and actually got to see what the vendors had to offer. Judy scored some trims and tulle for making dresses for her granddaughters along with a super duper spiffy ironing board cover.

I also ran into my friend and customer from Great American Quilt Factory where I worked for 3 years. It was kinda of odd tho as she was the only person I ran into today, unlike past shows where I would get lost from Judy because I was talking to yet someone else I knew. That's Sharlene and me.

I also did a Make and Take of a table runner on gridded iron on backing. It was really simple to use. I definitely think I will buy more of the grid to make some table runners as gifts. The other picture is of the few goodies I bought. Mulberry silk yarn for Erin to dye up along with silk sari waste to spin into some woolen yarn for a novelty. The photo includes the table runner top and some cherry pins. I also scored some hook and loop tape to close some 1700s period jackets that I intend to make later on. I found yardage of one of the fabrics in the table runner but there wasn't enough for the size of napkins I want to make to go with the runner, so I will order it from the website of Contemporary Fibers.

The strawberry buttons and the novelty hooks and eyes came from Denver Fabrics where I stopped on my way out of town. I need to find a warm grey fabric to make my Mother of the Bride dress and thought I might luck out there, but alas no. The one fabric I found that was the right colour and weight was very short on yardage, sadly and there was no more to be had. The strawberry buttons are for an Outlander Swap over on Ravelry. Strawberries being one of the symbols of the Fraser Clan, which is the clan of the main male character in the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon.



I did actually spin today as well for the Tour de Fleece... Again more shall be revealed...

Tour de Fleece 2010

Every year fellow Ravelers do various projects for the Tour de Fleece. The goal is to spin every day during the Tour de France bicycle race. We get to rest on the rider's rest days and spin more or challenge ourselves on the hard mountain days.

I have been spinning everyday and my challenge has been to learn to be a better spinner and also to get better at plying my resultant singles. I am practicing chain plying, which is also called Navajo plying and also double plying with more balance to the twist.

This is the result of spinning a henna hand dyed Corridale and a natural coloured Corri and then plying them together. This yarn is called Fort Yellowstone in honour of the natural single being spun at Fort Lupton, CO during Heritage Days and the dyed single being spun at the Yellowstone Highland Games in Billings, MT.

This is a Corridale sheep in Natural. This other one is a Blue Face.

More shall be revealed. I am waiting on a chain plied dyed Blue Face Leicester to dry as well as some custom dyed pink merino.

Saved - My Blogging Reputation, Maybe?

Saved As Well - The skills from the Past.

This is a wagon train spotted on I -25 heading north in Wyoming near the Oregon Trail tracks as we were heading to Billings, Montana for the Yellowstone Highland Games. Where I was going to demo spinning which is also a skill we are trying to save from the past. On the bobbin, a lovely glitzy fibre that my dear friend, Gina sent me from the New Hampshire Fiber Festival. Thanks again!

#10 of 365 - Distaff/Roc Day

We had quite the turn out for our first ever personal celebration of Distaff/Roc Day. What a variety of wheel styles there were, even an electric one that Tam brought.

So many lovely spindles were there too, including some made by Darla and one made by Sue. I brought along my Ren Scot produced spindle as well. Schelli brought her Navajo style spindle and Darla brought her new one from Gypsy Wools in Boulder. Katte had her first experience with a drop spindle, I believe that she will be way more successful at spinning then I will ever be at tatting which I tried to learn today. Sigh. I went back to my lace knitting as that makes more sense to me...

#9 of 365 - Distaff Day

Today is the day that most fiber related business are celebrating Distaff Day or otherwise known as Roc Day. The actual date is January the 7th. Distaff Day is the day that the spinners would go back to work after the Twelve Days of Christmas. This is a photograph of me prepping fiber to spin on my Louet S15 wheel. It was taken last June in Gillette, Wyoming at the Wyoming Celtic Festival.


Those photo also features another one of my hats of which I have MANY!

The Birthday Surprise

The Birthday Girl, Erin and her Surprise, Leilani aka Mimi. Yesterday we had a very long adventure to celebrate the DD's birthday on the actual day of her birth. I very nearly didn't go as I had given up my ticket to Wicked for Eriy's cousin and I hadn't slept well the night before. So, I was grumpy and not so sure that I wanted to spend the whole day out of the house. In the end it was a good day had by all.

Anyhoo, we left the house at 5:30 am to drive to Boulder for breakfast with another birthday girl, Katte Beth (her's is on Monday) at the Boulder Tea House. Erin and I hit the WalMart in the Flat Irons before hand to finish up some grocery shopping in anticipation of potentially being snowed in. Mark, Darla and Aidan joined us as well as the surprise that wasn't, Leilani aka Mimi, who flew in the night before from CA and stayed at the Judd House until we all met up for breakfast.

After breakfast, I took the whole gang to Gypsy Wools also in Boulder, to look at and fondle fibery goodness. Darla found some bamboo and merino to spin together for socks. Aidan got a BIG foam mat for his needlefelting projects. I got some lovely lavender fiber to spin(think I will ply it with the silk/wool that I have going) and Katte got some yarns and patterns for a mitt and scarf set, that I am going to knit for her.













Then we headed into town for the Wicked Ticket Lottery sign-up. I gave up my ticket for Mimi, so she and Erin could see it together. Sadly, I didn't win a ticket in the lottery. That means I get to see Wicked in London next year. Sad for me, NOT! The gentleman with his back to us in the brown leather jacket in the waiting group is Don Stewart. We met this fellow conspirator while waiting in line to get in the lottery for tickets. He joined the three of us and we all entered for 2 tickets each. As we only needed the one for me we would give him the other and vice-versa. Don didn't win either, but he was going to try again last night and today as this is it. Wicked ends this evening and moves on to Cleveland...

Since the ticket lottery sign up started at 11:30am and the drawing was at Noon and the show didn't start until 2:00pm,we had time to kill. So, we hopped on the 16th Street Mall shuttle and went down to the Tattered Cover at 16th and Wynkoop in LoDo to peruse the books and be inside til the show started for the girls. We sat in the knitting/art/craft area on the second floor and rested the feetsie and looked at the books. The Joy of Sox which has two patterns by my friend, Gina House was on the shelf and it was the first time I got to really look this book over. I so want to add this book to my collection of knitting books. The girls left me at the Tattered Cover when it was time for the show and I pulled out my knitting (I had a pair of socks with me). I discovered a huge mistake and put them aside to peruse the magazines. My phone rang and it was Sheila checking to see if I had gotten a ticket. She also wanted me to know she and her friend, Sue were heading to The Lamb Shoppe for the afternoon stitch in. Since I was at loose ends, they very kindly came downtown and picked me up and took me with them. It was a very satisfactory way to spend the afternoon and I thoroughly enjoyed my first visit to the shop and my visit with Sheila and Sue.

After the girls picked me up, we headed home to the Springs in the snow storm. We had planned hand built pizzas for the supper, so we stopped to pick up the fixings at the Whole Foods after we got Pan's supper at the Pet'sMart. We were smart to stop even at the lateish hour as this is what we woke up to...

Elizabeth Celtic Festival

A great time was had by all. The weather held out and it WASN'T 90 plus degrees like last year...



Carol and her children getting ready of a morning.









Curtis Judd, the Chief and two of the Wolves getting their lunch in the Pub.











Darla is gonna beat me with a stick for getting her with her mouth full, but here she is with her husband Mark.






Virg Hunter, our cook



















Sam Dieter, one of the Wolves of Dunvagen


Yes, it seems that we do eat often. Bryan Hunt and Jackie Butterworth at lunch. Really, it was the only time I was taking pictures as I had my hands in the wool for most of the weekend.




PJ Roy enjoying the hospitality of the Clan.







Doc Evans and Aiden in the Pub.





Our newest member, from the Shetland Islands and the Royal Marines, Robert Hay.

Travis Butterworth, Michele Nobriga and Shannon Sorensen to lunch as well.





















Many, many thanks to Darla, Spinner Extraordinaire, for getting me from here, a natural brown Shetland wool on the bobbin which I had started spinning at the Wyoming Celtic Festival in Gillette.




to here, the brown Shetland plied with a natural cream Shetland that I had spun on Saturday at the Elizabeth Celtic Festival. Pretty excited about my progress in the spinning. On to spinning the fiber for a wedding ring shawl. It needs to be a lace weight two-ply yarn that is gossamer thin. That is my ultimate goal in my spinning.


.

The two skeins of brown and cream Shetland and the remainder of the cream Shetland Navajo plied. On the wheel now being Navajo plied is a Louet brand merino fiber in the colour of Camouflage. More shall be revealed...

Oh, by the way, I was a Judge for the Bonny Knees Contest, Saturday evening. Raucous, fairly PG rated fun was had by all. The bribes, consisted of money, single malt, kisses, massages, but sadly, there was no chocolate... Here's a picture of my Judge's Ribbon.

Tour de Fleece

Tour De Fleece

The Tour de Fleece started yesterday as did the Tour de France. Fiber spinners will be spinning along with the bicycle people with the sore butts. I aim to spin every day, rest when the riders rest, spin all the day as they head up the mountain. My personal goal for this Tour is to relearn spinning on a drop spindle.










If I get the hang of the drop spindle before the end of the Tour, I will continue to spin. It will be on my Louet wheel though, as I still have a lot to learn about it.

Wyoming Celtic Festival, again

Darla at the Wheel








Jenna at the Ceidhl


Some of the Rocky Mountain Scottish Atheletes at the Ceidhl.


















Seven Nations on the Festival Stage






Furry Murray McDogal waiting for his family to come home from the supper.