Dearie Me

I am getting into the period of time between August and September where school is just around the corner, and I haven't even started most of what I wanted to get finished. This includes blog posts.

This week, we had 4-H judging. I entered the cardigan, the camisole, a ceramic plate with "You never can have too much fiber" on it, and a photograph. I was delighted to find that I had two grand champions (the cardigan and the plate and a reserve (the camisole) I got a blue ribbon on the photograph. I am obviously pretty happy about that.

School homework is getting done, a blessing to say the least. I'm not much for blood and gore, making the main book (In Cold Blood) a tough, though not impossible, read.

Fiber-wise, I did get some spinning done:
This is the second silk hankie. I still haven't decided what I'm going to do with it, even if I'm going to ply it. Perhaps I'll take a leaf out of Rachel's book and make a beret. How does that sound?

My (lovely) mom's birthday was last week Wednesday, and I just finished a seed stitch scarf for her, made out of a handspun soy silk single. I learned from a yarn book I got when I was up in WI that if you use a combo of knits and purls, the bias you normally get with singles magically disappears. An interesting epiphany, to say the least.

Coming up-

I signed up for the Ravelympics-I'm on Team Teen, and in the events Baby Dressage and Glove Decathlon.

Now, what exactly is the Ravelympics? It's quite simple. You sign up on Ravelry and you have to complete projects that are challenging for you, starting on the first day of the Olympics, and ending on the last day. (17 days total)

As the names of my events suggest, I'll be knitting gloves (fingerless for my brother-this one's way overdue and lacy gloves for me) and baby gear (remember the bolero and the vest for Riley and Ryan?). Think I can do it?

Before the Olympics start (since you can't start your projects early, other than the gauge swatches and getting the yarn, and I obiously need more to do), I'd like to try to make a purse out of some Tahiki I have, and a urchin hat out of old handspun.

Did I mention in the meantime, I am going to go to color guard camp, a school trip to Ohio and back, to the state fair, and (hopefully) finish my summer homework?

I DEFINITELY need a reality check.

Dyeing of All Kinds (Plus a FO)

Rewind, if you please, to the Saturday before last.
The day before, a certain ceramic hand was picked up from a certain ceramics teacher's workshop. This hand seemed to enjoy following me around, so I let it pose in some pictures.

Also finished around then was the Picovoli cardigan. All I have to do is steam the edges, and I'm done. One more 4-H project complete!

Anyway, back to the Saturday before last.....
Mom and I were at a spinning guild meeting consisting of fiber, yarn, and tons of dye.
We had lots of fun.
A pair of snow-white silk caps, bought on the first of this year....

.....are no longer snow-white, nor caps. The orange and yellow has already been spun, and is a hairband, and the blueish purple one will soon be spun. (The brownish hairband was also knit with handspun flax during the trip. In fact, I'm wearing it as we speak.) Some lovely alpaca, soon to be a pair of gloves... ...is now a brilliant blue (although it was meant to be lavender. I don't know how that happened.)
Mom even got in on the action, dyeing a beautiful silk scarf! Mom is very proud of her scarf, and I am, too. It's a wonderful creative endeavor. She says she's trying to keep up with me. I think she's doing a terrific job. The next day, we left for Wisconsin, with the gerbils in tow. Annie wasn't feeling very well, and we thought it wasn't right to leave her behind, to be fed by the neighbors every couple days.
She passed on on the way up, and is buried up there. It's really pretty, right by a little lake, with lots of trees and sunshine.
Be a good little girl, Annie. We'll miss you.

On a lighter note....
When we got to the cabin, I did a bit of dyeing. The first try turned out quite atrocious, but with some Rit dye remover, I miraculously got a second chance, which turned out a lot better, and is what you see here.
This yarn is for three super-secret presents, each a different color, intended to be finished before Christmas. Shouldn't be too hard, right? (McCormick food coloring and Kool-Aid. Never lets me down!)

And, hmmm....I suppose I'm all caught up. Great.
I'll go unpack the spinning wheel now.

A Camp Update

Well, I got back from camp on Saturday. It was only a week and a half session, but it was a lot of fun. We were in an outdoor cooking and building program, which meant starting lots of fires and (at least this year) lots of lashing. We made our own bridge, platform and tire swing, as well as a catapult that didn't really work (but it was fun anyway!)

I was with mainly guys this year, similar to last year, although this time I had another girl, instead of being by myself. We affectionatly called the program "girl boot camp", just because it takes a lot of energy to keep up with the opposite gender. :)

Next year, I hope to be a CIT (counselor in training). All of the counselors were so kind and helpful, it was great to get to know them!

I had a rest hour every day, which meant lots of knitting time. My brain was also on "get up early for school" mode, which meant I woke up an hour and a half early some days. As a result, I made this:
It looks done, but it's really a tad too short. I cast off too soon so that "the guys" could see that knitting an hour a day (give or take) really does amount to something. I wore it, loose ends and all the last day. A couple little ones who had watched me in amazement as I had knit throughout the session told me good job when they saw the finished project.

On the way home, I cast on another project:

The goal is to turn it into a shrug, one of those projects I've always wanted to try, but always got side tracked. The yarn was tie-dyed at camp. I spun it eons ago, it seems. It's so thin and weak, I doubted I could even knit with it. But it seems to be holding. The general idea is being adapted from this (minus the pretty lacey thing, I'll probably follow her pattern some other time, it's good) shrug. Perhaps I'll enter my version in Knotions Magazine, which I just found, something. Who knows?Speaking of dyeing, there's a dyeing workshop my spinning guild organized, so expect lots of prettyprettypretty yarn soon!

Oh, and I made this on the way to camp-

G'day all!

Ahem.

The bolero and vest were not created. No yarn was found.
*moment of silence*
Perhaps I will be able to make them for their Christmas gifts.

I did, however, create a little book of fiber for my cute twin neighbors--I'm always ready to push the knitting/fiber aspect!

Using some leftovers from various projects, I had a page for alpaca, wool, soy silk, silk, corn, and flax. By putting hot glue on the pages themselves, the paper stuck. If I put hot glue on the paper, it wouldn't stick to the yarn. There's probably some scientific logic to this; I wouldn't know.

We also got some hardcover books, one about sheep in a car that won't go, and, my personal favorite, "Is Your Mama a Llama?"

*personal happy rant ahead*

Their birthday party was adorable. I was worried that Ryan and Riley wouldn't recognize me with so many relatives around, but they gave their usual big smiles when they saw me, and Ryan even crawled over one time to be picked up. Happy 1st Birthday, cuties!

*ok, I'm done*

I'll be at camp for the next week and a half, the same one I went to last year and came back with dyed yarn and new fiber Mom and Dad had sent from home. This year, I'll be bringing some fiber, as well as the leftovers from the cardigan. (aka these 800 yards)I still have no idea what I will make with it, but I do have a few ideas. Please let me know what you think!

Choices (I have 800 yds of yarn):

A) Knit a shirt similar to the halter top, except instead of a single strap, I would make two thick straps, maybe even little sleeves, yarn permitting. Does that make sense?

B) Does anyone have a pattern for lacy gloves? *fiberfiend6891 was nice and found the pattern for me! I need the needles though. Off to look for them!*

I found a picture in the Spring or Summer Interweave Knits, but (grrr) the pattern wasn't there. I may not use the the cardigan yarn (wrong color), but I do have a couple hundred yards of white handspun I'm up in the air about dyeing. A problem about this idea is that I don't have enough double-pointed knitting needles to make a set. That, and I've never made gloves before in my life.

C) I'd say socks, but the double-pointed knitting needle problem would come up again.

D) Anybody have any other ideas?

I'll check the blog tomorrow, then I'm off! Camp, here I come!

You Know You're a Child of the Internet When...

...your friends check on your blog to make sure you're all right when you don't answer the phone, and panic when you haven't posted anything recently. True story. Sorry guys! Hopefully this will quell your (possible) fears.

I have a couple moments to breathe before buckling down into finals again, so I figured a blog post was in order.
Remember the yarn I won in Ravelry?
It is now a triangular shawl.

The possibilities with this baby are endless.I feel so safe in it--this will be what I wear for the last day of school.

I am also spinning some soy silk. I'm not quite sure what to make of it yet-it's so soft, I'm tempted to just knit a pillow!

Aaaand, compliments of Sarah at Mom's Knitting and her blogiversery contest,(I'll probably have a year-and-3-months contest, so stay tuned!) I got some yummy yarn in the mail!It's all so soft and yummy. Thank you so much, Sarah!! I'm still waiting for it to speak to me about what it wants to be made into. I'm hoping it's a teddy bear. The twins next door would love it to death!

Speaking of the twins, I have yet to start on their birthday presents. Of course, I already have the ceramic shoes, but I wanted something more knitty-related, if you could recall. I found a Debbie Bliss book with an adorable bolero top for the girl, Riley, and a little manly vest for Ryan. The patterns call for cashmerino, which, considering the fact that it's spring, wouldn't be a good idea.

When we go to the yarn store tomorrow, after exams (the one good thing about taking long tests is that we get at least the other half, if not the other 3/4ths of the day off!), I'll be looking for a cotton blend. I found something called "CotLin" on KnitPicks, perfect weight, colors, the whole shibang, but the yarn wouldn't get here in time for their birthday party this Saturday. As it is, the chances I'll give them a half-made gift is far from unlikely. My goal is to post every day this week to make up for the fact I've been a bad blogger.