Crafty Girl

Saturday we trekked down to Allegan for the annual Michigan Fiber Festival. I just love going there. Loads of beautiful yarn, animals and lots of cool people.

This year we went with the notion that we want to buy sheep. After looking at all the yarn and determining that I might like Blue Faced Leicester, Cormo, Corriedale or Rambouillet, I stopped at a vendor that had the most amazing Shetland fleece. The fleece was a blue ribbon winner and it was really fantastic. I don’t spin *yet* but I may have to learn.

Anyway, after looking at all the animals I went back to talk to the vendor with the amazing fleece. He and his wife are owners of Windswept Farms . They were very gracious and showed us all their sheep and answered all our questions and many we didn’t even think to ask. There is no doubt that if we buy sheep I will seriously consider purchasing them from the Ludlam’s.

Here’s Sam with a Blue Faced Leicester. He was entralled! They made him giggle and smile. I love anything that make him do that.

I buy a LOT of sock yarn at events like these. Mostly because it’s easier on my wallet than buying enough for a full sweater. The worsted weight below came from Yarn Hollow and is called Seattle. It will eventually be a pair of socks for Bill. I’d like to make a whole sweater out of it for him, but he’s a big guy and that’s a lot of yarn.

And more sock yarn for me. This is from Knitting Notions in Golden Olive. The booth was packed and rightly so! That’s were I first ran into Bonne Marie and Meg

This is the knitting project I’ve been working on all summer. I am a ridiculously slow knitter. Seriously. The tank top has replaced my “road sock” as my traveling project du jour. This is because I would like to actually finish and wear it this summer.

I am knitting this with a no name Ebay purchase that I originally bought (at least 2 or 3 years ago) to make a ChicKami but it didn’t match the gauge and I was to lazy to do the math to make it work.

The pattern for Soleil can be found for free at Knitty

More Opal Goodness. Nothing special about the pattern. I did my standard 64 stitches with size 1 Turbo Addi. I use a single circular needle to knit pretty much all the socks I make. I made the leg part about an inch shorter than I would like. Something I didn’t notice until they were both done. I think I must have been in a hurry or something.

I finished these socks shortly after Sam was born. They’re made from some Opal yarn I got off ebay several years ago (since I am in a self imposed yarn buying hiatus). If I remember correctly, Opal dubbed this yarn “Dalmation” and I was hoping it would look like cow spots. Bill took one look at them and called them Urban Camo Tiger Stripe. I like it!

Summer tends to suck up all my free time and then I don’t have time for this blog. But I was cleaning out all my yarn from the spare bedroom in preparation for turning it into a nursery and I got inspired.

Here’s what I’ve been working on. This blanket is taking a seriously long time. I started it Labor Day weekend and I work on it nearly every night. At this rate the boy will be 1 before I’m done. I’m also getting a little bored with it, but it is pretty cute still…

Confession…I had hoped to have the blanket done by October 4th for my cousin-in-law and his wife. If I liked it, I would make another for my baby. Since I ran out of time, it’s now for my boy.

I finished the Ribby Cardi a LONG time ago. I just never put in a zipper. I basted it shut, pinned in the zipper and basted the zipper in today. Now I just need to go get some thread that matches and I’ll be golden.

The Fuzzy Top Down has taken a back seat to the Baby Blanket, but I had been making great progress. The body is almost finished here.

And the ever present road socks. I’ve actually been so intent on the Baby Blanket, I’ve been taking it with me when ever we go any distance on the weekend. But the road socks are always present. I should have been bringing them with me to all my doctor appointments this summer. I finally remembered on Friday and took these with me for the wait.

It’s been an extremely busy spring. I took my hardest college course to date…the first one that required 5 to 10 hours of homework per week. Thank god it’s now over! In fact I was so busy that while I finished knitting these socks about a month ago, I just now was able to sit down and graft the toe shut on the last one.

We’ve also spent a great deal of time removing sod for our garden. We dug eight 3 x 12 beds (one more to go) and one 40 foot trench for asparagus. We spread it out over several week ends, but last weekend was kind of a marathon of digging…4 beds and the trench for the asparagus.

The garlic I planted last fall all came up and looks great. The chickens haven’t bothered it at all, but I set out some cabbage plants the other day and they must have thought those were a rare delicacy! We’ve ordered some portable fencing and will be putting them out on the cow pasture for the summer. They’ve pretty much decimated my lawn. Live and learn. Next year we’ll be putting them out back as soon as the snow melts. They’ll need the protection from the elements that the coop provides in the winter, though.

I also found out I’m pregnant (first time). I’m just over two months along and although I’m fortunate not to be suffering any morning sickness, I’ve been needing a LOT of extra sleep. I used to only sleep 6 hours a night and I could happily sleep 8 to 10 hours now. I’m hoping that it will pass soon! I need those extra hours back.

I’ve finally got around to putting my Ribby Cardi together yesterday. Here are the pieces…I’ve got them halfway assembled now.

And I always have a pair of socks going. Here’s my lastest pair. I got the yarn for these this past summer in Newago, MI while Bill and I were taking a long cruise around western Michigan. It’s Meilenweit Fun & Stripes. Maybe it’s just my monitor, but this picture doesn’t do this yarn justice! The stripes are beautiful warm fall colors.

The knitting industry seems to have an “It Girl”

She’s driving me nuts. I was browsing through a knitting magazine last night and I swear she was in ads for like ten different yarn companies. Why would you want to hire the same model everyone else is using?

Don’t get me wrong…I think she’s really cute and all. But still, seeing her on virtually every page of a magazine is a little much.

Ah. Is there anything better than a completed sweater? Well, one where I knew how successfully shorten the zipper would be nice. I went to zip this up and FLEWPH! The zipper thingy flew off and across the floor. Luckily, a couch wasn’t near like at Chicknits. The zipper is so thick I just did a little snip between the teeth to get it to lay flat where I folded it over cause it was too long. So how do you actually shorten the zipper?

It would also be nice if the left and right sides were the same length. I don’t get it.

• IT’S KNIT IN THE ROUND FOR GOD’S SAKE!
• I basted the two sides together


• I pinned the zipper on


• I basted the zipper on
• I sewed both sides (with my new zipper foot!)

How did one side end up an inch longer than the other?

All this sweater needs is a zipper and this baby is done. It took longer than I expected (besides the fact that I started it over a year ago) when picked up my knitting again this summer. Partly because of many 90 degree days and partly because I reknit each sleeve several times, either to fix mistakes or to stop the decreases sooner.

When I finished it I picked up the ribbi cardi and wow did those size 7 needles feel like toothpicks.