Close enough for Horseshoes

Outside of my generic socks (with and without waffle texture), I rarely make the same pattern twice. But I've knit the Horseshoe Handspun Hat from the Summer '10 Interweave 4 times now. It's such a fun pattern, and it knits up very quickly to lovely effect. Plus, it uses up scads of that worsted weight yarn that I've been spinning lately.

I knit this one with the leftover Ugly Pink/Green/Yellow yarn (which isn't so ugly knit up). Since it's my 4th Horseshoe Handspun, I varied the lace pattern a bit by flipping the second repeat. It's okay, but I won't be doing that again- there's not enough room for that sort of variation in the hat.

There's plenty of room for variation in the socks (you knew there would eventually be socks, right?), but I'm going with the straight 10 st/10 row repeat for these. I don't remember who dyed the yarn, but I got it in Snohomish in the summer of '09. It's a wool/bamboo blend and it's knitting up beautifully. Outside of adding the lace repeat to the mix, this is my usual fingering weight sock pattern (2.75 needles, 60 sts, 6" cuff, 30 st short row heel, 6" foot, star toe). 

I finished my flower kit from the rug hooking class that I took at NCFF. Tracy let me know that her etsy store is back up and running, and that she'll be adding more to it soon. I'm getting better at not crowding the loops, though my loop height is still iffy.

The back looks pretty good though. I haven't decided what to do with this (wall hanging? small pillow? little bag?), so I haven't finished it yet. I bought a good 12" hoop (boy, they don't give those suckers away), so I can start thinking about an original hooked design now (I might use handspun yarn- I have plenty of that on hand).

If you're thinking about trying rug hooking and can't take a class locally, I recommend Gene Shepherd's YouTube videos. This starter class gives a great grounding in the craft, and he has several others detailing specific techniques.

Thursday Tab- Carrie's Country Fair

This set is cute, as are all of The Ginghams sets, but I truly don't understand the strapless undies. None of her outfits need bare shoulders, so the clothes don't demand that style. If anything, she's even more covered up than usual. It's out of character for these sets.

Happy Hookin'

Before I get to the terrible pun, I want to take a moment to praise modern dentistry. I know that we all hate to go (I do my share of complaining, and needles make my tummy feel funny), but for a month, I've been dealing with a toothache that just wouldn't go away. I wasn't avoiding seeing the dentist, I was just waiting for my regular appt next week to deal with it. Unfortunately, the tooth refused to wait that long (think migraine in the jaw) and yesterday my wonderful dentist made room in his very busy schedule to pull the tooth. I can't begin to tell you all how much better I feel- I was in and out in an hour, and this lack of pain thing is amazing. I didn't realize how much it hurt until it stopped. I suppose I won't be as thrilled next week for my regular cleaning and a small filling, but right now? It's Woohoo for Dentists in this house.

Okay, back to lame jokes. I finished the little Snowman rug hooking kit that I won at last year's NCFF from Tracy Kellen, of On The Prairie Rugs (her etsy shop seems to have disappeared, but I know she was planning to list more stuff, so I think I'm just looking in the wrong place. I'll post a link as soon as I find one). My hooking is nowhere near as neat and uniform as it should be, but this little guy looks good just the same. I love his bemused expression.

The instructions say to glue the wool backing in place, but I sewed it instead (tucking the raw edges in on the way around). I think the only real difference between sewing and gluing (besides poking my finger several times) is that the outer edge might not be quite as stable without glue to stiffen it. Even so, I am more than happy with how this came out, even though it took me an entire year to finish it.

It's not taking me as long to finish the kit from Tracy's rug hooking class. My loops are getting better- more even and more uniform, though the loop height is variable (something you can't see as well in this picture). I just have two corners to finish, but my hoop wasn't big or sturdy enough. I'll have to finish those edges without a hoop. I'll get the hooking done tonight, and probably the backing sewn on as well (unless I decide to glue the backing). Have I mentioned that Tracy hand-dyes all of her wools?

I was enthusiastic enough about the process to buy some materials from Tracy for my own designs- a half yard of Monk's Cloth for backing, and a bundle of red wools (for a ladybug motif, of course). I do wish I had asked Tracy to cut the wool into 1/4" strips for me. I can do it with my rotary cutter, but they won't be nearly as crisp and neat as the ones she cuts.

Speaking of NCFF purchases (I kept to my vow, btw- no new fiber or yarn... well, except for the teeny little batt from Dragon Craft to go with the one I won... but that hardly counts), I forgot to show you these nifty fridge magnets that I got from JL Yarnworks. She also sells my favorite stitch markers, makes great little crocheted earrings, crafts necklaces from scrabble tiles, and dyes absolutely gorgeous sock yarns. Check her store out.

Edited to add: And Jackie uses good, strong magnets- these are not just decorative, they're functional!

The Big Book of Socks Errata- Worsted Weight and Fingering Weight Afterthought Heel Socks

An alert knitter let me know of omissions in the Worsted Weight and FingeringWeight Afterthought Heel Socks, and that the toe decreases are misplaced in The Big Book of Socks.

The instructions for each should read:

Round Worsted Weight Afterthought Heel Sock
-page 31

Add to Toe Instructions: Decrease as for the heel.


Next Rnd Heel Division should read:

K 12(18, 22, 24, 26, 30), sts, place marker, K to end of rnd.
______

Round Fingering Weight Afterthought Heel Sock
-page 32, 33


Page 32 Next Rnd Heel Division should read:
K 18 (22, 26, 30, 32, 36), place marker, K to end of rnd.

Page 33, Add to Toe Instructions: Decrease as for heel.
_____
My abject apologies for the errors and omissions.

NCFF- Day 3, Part 2

And to wrap up the weekend, lots of pictures.

But first, I want to give a shout-out to the organizers of NCFF. I look forward to this weekend every year, and the festival gets better each time. It feels like it runs seamlessly, and that does not happen without a lot of hard (invisible) work. And I have a fantastic time each and every year, and that surely is not an accident. Thank you all, for all your time and effort.

So to the pics:

A few of the Fiber Sandwich entries. The Fiber Sandwich consisted of many different donated fibers, mixed and spread out, and then divided into lumps and given to individual spinners, who could spin them any way they wanted to.

The many variations were totally amazing.

Mine didn't come out exactly as I'd hoped (I wanted more *boucle*), but it was still okay. The skeins were silent-auctioned off, and the proceeds went to charity.

The Dragon Craft booth- spindle heaven.

Rug Hooking inspiration from On The Prairie Rugs.

And more...

Here's what I did with that inspiration. Nowhere near perfect, but not bad for a newbie.

The backs look cool too.

In addition to the Fiber Sandwich skein, I also spun a hank of Rambo/Cottswold, self-striping roving (which I washed and dyed, and had processed a couple of years ago). It's 3.2 ozs, and 91 yards. Not quite enough for a sock, but I have some sort of matching yarn for toes and heels (and enough R/C to spin another skein). The other yarn is the spindle-spun prize wool from Dragon Crafts (half prize, the other half purchased). It's 1.2 ozs and 46 yards, which is not enough for an entire project, but I have enough yarn in a similar weight/coordinating color to fill out a pair of fingerless mittens, I think.

This lady showed me a pair of socks that she was knitting from The Big Book of Socks. I'm sorry the shot is a little fuzzy- I love seeing my designs in the wild.

I bought these headbands from the Inca Crafts booth. I think The Grands will be delighted.

This was another prize- I think The Grands will also love it. I didn't see who donated it though, so I don't know who to thank. It's beautifully made.

But this is the prize that touched my heart. I was surprised and thrilled to learn that the Hitchcock sweater had been given such an honor.

So, one wonderful Fiber Festival down (where I was recognized as much by my Rav pin/name as I was by the sweater I was wearing, the Dakota Dreams prototype), and SAFF is on the horizon. No rest for the Fiber Fanatics, which is just the way I like it.

NCFF Day 3-Part 1

I'm back home, tired but absolutely thrilled with this year's NCFF. I'll write more tomorrow about the wonderful weekend, but in the meantime, here are a couple of photos and a few links...

I won this adorable little hand-made resin spindle and these lovely fibers from Dragon Craft Spindles (who will make custom spindles!).

I used the kitty spindle to spin one of the prize batts, and then I used one of my own spindles and spun another batt (this one purchased).

And then I cheated and plyed the singles on the wheel. I'm don't spin as consistently with a spindle as with a wheel, so the yarn is pretty, but it isn't as uniform as it should be. This little skein (about 1.5 ozs) is drying now. It'll probably be enough yarn for a pair of fingerless mittens.

Unfortunately, my Fair Isle Design Class was cancelled (I think maybe Sunday is the wrong day to schedule an all-day class). Fortunately, that freed  me to take a class. I signed up for a rug hooking class with Tracy Kellen, of On the Prairie Rugs (and I was going to post a link, but her etsy store seems to be empty at the moment- take my word for it, her kits are great). Anyway, I won one of her small kits last year as a prize, and bobbled it totally.

But Tracy is a great teacher (it's not her fault that my hooking is nowhere near as precise or uniform as her work-see the sample in the other pic), and I learned a lot about what I did wrong with the snowman- enough that I actually finished him when I got home tonight. Afterwards, I finished filling in the flower on today's class project. I think I'll be doing more hooking... in my spare time, of course. 

aaannndddddd

I met up with Marianne Billings, who confirmed my invitation to teach workshops at the Shepherd's Harvest Sheep and Wool Festival, held in Lake Elmo, MN, every May! Woohoo!

NCFF- Day 2

Wacky wool hijinks ensued.

This handsome fella modeled his Mama's finished Fair Isle hat.

Fiber sandwich preparation.

Silk worms.  Live silk worms.

Basektweaving

Needlefelting

Needle felted fairy folk

Free fiber

Spinners

More spinners...

and some shameless bragging...