First or Second and A Surprise At Fairs!

Here is a group shot.  All the items with their ribbons at Arizona State Fair.

Here is a group shot with all the ribbons from Arizona State Fair and Cochise County Fair.

This shawl got First place at County and Second Place at State.  Yarn:  Alisha Goes Around Panoply of Peacocks Fingering in Mark Anthony.  Pattern:  http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/jaali-2

Ever year I knit up one of my hand spun yarns into a shawl to enter the next year's Fairs.  This was last years First place winning yarn and I got Best Spinner for it.  I got First place at State and County.  Yarn:  JulieSpins Merino Yak Silk in Colonial.  Pattern:  http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sunshine-and-shadows-2

I got First place at State and County for this test knit hat.  Yarn:  The Verdant Gryphon Traveller in Hot Pink ELC and  madelinetosh DK Twist in Carnation  http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/bridge-walker-hat

This was another sort of test knit.  It's was knitted in my hand spun yarn.  It got First at County and Second at State.  Yarn:  Wool Gathering July 2013 Fiber Adventure Club and JulieSpins Targhee in Glacier.  Pattern:  http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/anemone-hat-2

This won Best in Show at State and First Place.  It was also First place at County.  Into The Whirled 50/30/20 Alpaca/Merino/Silk Blended Top in Sentinel.

This won First place at State and County.  Bee Mice Elf BFL Top in Nile.

This only got First place at County and nothing at State.  It's Loop!

Self Striping Spontaneous Spinning Roving BULLSEYE Bump in Quantum Leap.

Here is my bag of ribbons.  I had to get a bigger bag to put them in.  I've been entering the County Fair since 2013 and Arizona State since 2014.

Wish Me Luck!

It's that time of the year again, County and State Fair!  Since I've won First Place in both fairs, the pressure is on to win again.  Last year I won Best Spinner.  I hope to win that again.  Below are my spinning entries.

On the left is Bee Mice Elf 100% BFL.  In the middle is Into The Whirled 50/30/20 Alpaca/Merino/Silk Blended Top. On the right is Loop! bump  Merino, nylon, and Angelina.

I didn't finish a pair of socks.  I've been just knitting vanilla socks so for the first time I didn't enter socks.  The socks usually win so I'm a bit worried.  I decided to submit some of my test knit hats instead and 2 shawls.  The dark blue green one is huge and took a long time (no rest rows on the back).  I hope to find out the results in November.

Getting Stuff Done!

My latest simple sock pattern with striping yarn.  It's my go to pattern from Wendy Knits and the yarn is On Beach Time Tumbleweed Yarn Aurora Fingering Weight.

 My test knit wrap is all done.  It took 65 hours and I still have to wash & block it.  I love Ambah's patterns!  http://www.ravelry.com/stores/ambah

My last Tour De Fleece yarn.  It's about half way through plying.  Good thing since today is the last day of Tour De Fleece.

My last sort of test knit.  I got the pattern free as long as I finish the knit by Aug 30th.  I think I will make the deadline.  http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/anemone-hat-2  I'm getting much better at color work!  It's done with my handspun so that is why you got the differences in color.

Finished Yarn!

I got 227 yards of 18 WPI (sport weight) of my ITW (Into The Whirled) 50A/30M/20S (Alpaca/Merino/Silk) Sentinel.

Of course I started another one.  ITW Pamukkale Polwarth

Tour De Fleece 2016!

I'm on Team Into The Whirled.  I'm a captain for BME team but I managed to finish all my BME fiber so I'm just commenting and encouraging.  Here is my progress for Day 1!

50/30/20 Alpaca/Merino/Silk Blended Top in colorway Sentinel  

That's It for Tour De Fleece 2015!

From left to right:

Into The Whirled Odds & Ends 204 yards Sports weight
Woolgathering July 2013 Adventure Club 269 yards Sport weight
Loop! Magic Trick bump 257 yards fingering weight
JulieSpins Great Barrier Reef 328 yards fingering weight

I did the Odds & Ends and Loop! on the spindle but transfer the yarn onto a bobbin to ply on the Mini Spinner (so much easier).  My goal was 5 braids but I only finished 4 into yarns.  I'll try for 5 next year.  I need to work on getting pictures back up on this blog too.

More of the Same

I've been quiet due to spending most of my free time spinning.  I have 2 yarns done and starting another 2.

 

This is my Woolgathering July 2013 Adventure Club fiber.  I got 269 yards of 16 WPI (about sport weight).

 



 

This was a Into The Whirled bag of Odds and Ends bag.  I got 204 yards of 18 WPI (sport weight).

I started my Magic Trick Loop! bump on the spindle.  I'm into the pink now.

On the Minispinner is my JulieSpins 80% Merino & 20% Silk Great Barrier Reef fiber.  I hope to spin one more JulieSpins fiber before the end of Tour De Fleece on Jul 26th.  Wish me luck!

Tour De Fleece 2015!

Here is a picture of 3 of the braids I hope to spin.  It's a Loop Batt and then 2 JulieSpins braids.  The other two were already to go on the Mini Spinner and on the spindle.  Tour De Fleece will run Jul 4 to Jul 26.  I hope to spin at least 2 hours a day between the spindle and the spinner.

 

 



 

This was Day 1, Jul 4th.  I took my spindle with me when we went out of town to watch fireworks.  I got a couple of the little bundles of odds and ends done.  I plan to ply it with the Mini Spinner when its all spun up.  It's harder to ply on the spindle.  This is Into The Whirled bag of Odds and Ends.



 





 





 

This is my Day 2 Jul 5 so far.  I started my Woolgather July 2013 Adventure Club fiber.  I got a good start.  Back to spinning!

 

 

 





Captain Tightpants

 

 



I got 289 yards of 20 WPI out of the 4 oz of fiber.  This is from Into The Whirled

80/10/10 Superwash Merino/Cashmere/Nylon Blended Top.

 

 

 

 

Spinning

 

 

 

What is on the Minispinner right now:  Loop! Self Striping Spontaneous Spinning Roving BULLSEYE Bump in colorway Kaleidoscope Eyes WITH sparkle

 



What is finish and resting before being n-ply:  Into The Whirled 80/10/10 Superwash Merino/Cashmere/Nylon Blended Top in the colorway Captain Tightpants

On The MiniSpinner

This is Into The Whirled 80/10/10 Superwash Merino/Cashmere/Nylon Blended Top Captain Tightpants (a Firefly reference).  I can't wait to see how it all spins up!