I have been MIA as a blogger, since I needed to get the latest update for my photo program in order to share some exciting news... the Circle Vest is off the needles, half the ends are woven in, and the stitches for armhole ribbing #1 were picked out of their waste yarn this afternoon...
There is enough of the green left to do the final bits for both armholes, and all the final bits need to get woven in, as well as washed and fluffed and dried, so that I can drop this piece off at the fairgrounds Thursday morning... luckily, hot weather is predicted to continue all week. Otherwise, something this thick might still be damp at the check-in, and that really would be embarassing!
I won't be able to try this on until the armholes are finished, but overall, I am pretty pleased with myself to have completed a garment all from my own handspun yarns! I am not so sure I would have picked all of these colors out while on a free shopping spree at a yarn shop, but then that has been part of the learning process as well... a bump of fluffy fiber may spin up to look considerably different as a yarn. There is a lot more control in spinning first, then dyeing the yarn using one of Sara's color formulas, but the spinning is more pleasurable (at least sometimes) when working with colorful, hand-painted rovings. Speaking of Sara, did you know she has a book coming out this fall? Yes, I saw the write-up in the Interweave Press catalog that arrived at the shop last week! It is titled Woven Treasures, and looks really elegant, at least from the glimpses I can get so far...
In other news, Allison arrived safely in Portland, with her car "stuffed like a Thanksgiving turkey", as she put it, and ready for Sock Summit. We are all excited to see how the items we have been collectively working on will be received there; I think people are especially going to love the dye kits, which some of our loyal customers helped to assemble Thursday evening. Each kit will contain either a skein of sock yarn or a sock blank and enough dye in small bottles for you to create up to five skeins, as well as the other supplies and instructions needed to get you dyeing your own yarn. Although I am sad to miss out on the chance to meet up with dear friends from around the country, if you are going please do go by the Fibers booth and say hello, and also look for another friend, KnitWit Momma's fabulous stitch markers (at the Mama Llama booth), as well as JessaLu's bags, and Lisa Souza and her hand-dyed creations (she's another NorCal grrl, so I have to slip in a plug for her).... what a crazy time you will all be having!
I decided about a month ago that rather than mope around about not being able to get away for a week or more in order to go to Sock Summit, I would host a gathering of my favorite Knit Night grrls up at my high country cabin... we could simply make our own knitting, spinning, eating and drinking fun in one of the prettiest spots on the planet (at least from my worldview). I have spent a handful of days off cleaning the place and making it mountain-sparkley, and will be thinking about food this week.
Thinking of food leads to showing you the other grand accomplishment for today... yup, fresh strawberries from the farmer's market yesterday, turned into strawberry jam this morning!
My local cooperative is sponsoring an Eat Local Challenge through the month of August, and one big part of my own personal challenge will be to turn summer's abundance into stored foods that will further our eating locally throughout the year. A few of the jars are already spoken for; DD claimed one after reading what I was up to on FB, and youngest son and pregnant sweetie dropped by for a visit this afternoon, leaving with a jar and a bag of garden produce. There might be a recession on, keeping me from some goals, but I have an abundance of lemon cucumbers, blackberries, tomatoes, apples and pears, and even got three eggs today, meaning one of the young pullets is starting to lay, as there have only been two producers prior to this. Whoo, hoo!!
Come back for an update on the Fiesta Friendship shawl later this week; it has continued to grow but taking a photo will also mean annotating and acknowledging the donors of those diamonds produced since my last update and I am sure you've had enough of me by now... so let's hear about you!
