I've Been Busy...

Hi Everyone,

Life has been busy lately. Don't ask, "with what?". Because I couldn't really say. All I know is that the last couple of weeks has flown by in a whirlwind and I am a bit wiped out.

I did finish my Lacy Kerchief Scarf. I was going to block it, but I think I'll wait until the fall to do that...you know, when I'll actually be wearing it. Right now it's a bit too hot and humid to be donning a wool scarf. But here's a picture of it bundled up in my basket.

Also in the knitting department, I've been working on my Jaywalker socks. The silkie sock yarn is an absolute dream to work with! Last night I tried the first one on to take a couple of "in progress" pics for you. I love the colourway!

In the spinning department, I have been drum carding like crazy. I've been trying to get the rest of the brown border cheviot all carded so I can spin it up and start working on my cardigan for the fall. I'll have to wait and see how much plied wool I end up with. If I don't have enough for a cardigan, I might just adapt the pattern and make a vest instead. We'll have to see.

In the photography department, I have been snapping pictures like a crazy lady. I'm thinking I'd like to do up a bunch of cards with my photos attached to the front and try to sell a few. We'll see about that later. I'm still busy playing with my new camera trying to figure out all the new bells and whistles.

I'd better dash for now. I'm trying to get dinner ready and I have a wicked migrane! I'm hoping it will disappear after dinner. C'mon drugs...kick in, baby!

TTFN

Silkie Socky Piccys

Hiya!

Well, as promised, I snapped a couple pics of my new jaywalker socks that I am currently working on. I'm not sure if I've captured the colours well enough, but take my word for it...the colourway is beautiful. Lots of spring and summer colours. And the jaywalker pattern really accentuates the colour changes. So far I haven't had any pooling of colours as I knit.

I can't stay long today. I need to get out into the yard and clear away some dead branches, rubbish, etc. I've been spring cleaning the house and this summer I'd like to do a bit of landscaping (well, whatever we can afford anyways).

Have a loverly day my pretties!

B.

So Tired

Hi Loverly Peoples,

Just thought I'd drop a hello and how are ya! Well, mom got her shawl and loves it. I've finished my Lacy Kerchief Scarf (but I need to block it). I'll take pics in a few days of that. And I just cast on with my new silky sock yarn. I am attempting a pair of Jaywalkers. So far the colourway provides a bedazzeling result!!! I am well pleased. I will snap a few pics tomorrow. But just thought I'd say hi and let you all know what I've been working on this week.

I need to get to bed early. We've been slowly decluttering the house and moving our furniture around. Also my hubby has been busy honing his carpentry skills. He has just finished a beautiful entertainment unit for our living room upstairs. It is da-gorgeous!!!!! I'll take some piccys of that too in the next few days.

Well, baby girl is sleeping and I must knit a bit before retiring for the evening -- I am plum tuckered out. Today I donned the hazmat suit and cleaned the bathroom! Yipes!!! I'm just glad I'm alive. Oh if only I had a ga-jillion dollars...I would so hire someone to clean my bathroom! That has got to be the worst job ever.

The princess has spoken...

Back to Back Wool Challenge

Oh. My. Goodness!

Saturday was an exhausting day...but exciting and a lot of fun!

The day started off with everyone arriving for the 13th Annual Back to Back Wool Challenge. You could just feel the excitement in the air -- it was electric -- as we all waited in anticipation to begin. What am I even talking about? Let me start at the beginning...

The Spinner's Guild I belong to decided to enter an international spinning competition. The challenge is this: you have a team of 8 people -- one shearer and seven spinners/knitters. The goal: to see how quickly your team can shear a sheep, spin the wool (in the grease!!!), and then knit an adult-sized sweater. Everyone who enters the competition has the same pattern to follow for knitting the sweater. Everything else is up to your team. The world record is held by an Australian team who completed this task in a record time of 4hr 51min 14sec (in 2004). Last year the competition was won by a Japanese team with a time of 5hr 33min 46sec.

Well, as you can imagine, we were all eager to beat this world record! We met earlier in the week to discuss our strategies and try spinning greasy wool (wool that has not been washed at all). And so when we arrived Saturday morning at the chosen location, we were all quite excited.

Setting up the wheels...

After posing for a group photo with our shearer, Robert, and our lovable chosen sheep, Sis, the clippers came out.

I am the third on the left...the others are the rest of the team,

our time-keeper, and our host for the day

The rules of the competition state that you can only use non-electric hand shears. So with a snip snip snip, the official timekeeper began timing our efforts.

Sis (a Romney-cross),

after her "haircut"...

Within a few minutes all the spinners had handfuls of greasy wool at their feet and the spinning had begun. We spun for about an hour before we began plying singles together. We had to spin a DK weight (plyed) so for me that was a great challenge (although with clean wool, I can now spin my singles to about lace-weight). I was the chosen one to begin the job of plying the wool and then getting the first ball of yarn to the first knitter who would begin knitting the back of the sweater.

We worked hard until we were able to have four people knitting (front, back, and two sleeves). That was extremely challenging! The lanolin in the wool was very sticky and so we had to constantly clean our needles every third or fourth row. While the four people were knitting the other three continued to spin and ply the wool to supply materials for the knitters. I was the last knitter to begin (I worked on one of the sleeves).

Three members of our team...the lady in the middle is 80 yrs old (a Master Spinner).

Her wheel was made in 1840 by a monk in Quebec, Canada.

We worked feverishly all day spinning, plying, knitting, strategizing, laughing...and some of the ladies even enjoyed the occasional glass of wine or added Bailey's to their coffee. "Fuel for the fire" they would laugh and say as they continued on working. We had other members of the guild there throughout the day offering support by means of cheerleading, preparing wonderful meals and snacks (we took time to eat in shifts), entertaining us with stories and jokes, and helping us all to bond together as a group. By the time we hit about the six hour mark, we realized just how much more work the knitters had before them. And then we started to comment on the "world-record" times and the winners from last year.

We had no clue how these teams could have pulled such a monumental task off in such a short amount of time! Just the spinning alone was so time-consuming (and we had two Master Spinners working the whole time!!!). I suggested we send in a mole to either of these two teams to find out their "secrets" on completing this task in record-breaking times. We finally concluded that they obviously were all about the work and less about having fun. However, it would have been great to finish our work within those times and then sat around and had fun for the rest of the day. But where would the challenge be???

Well, this being our first time, we figured (before we began) that we could probably complete the task within 8-10 hours. We were aiming for eight, but figured we should be a bit realistic!!! Well, the eight hour mark came and left rather quickly. The knitters were checking with each other how many more rows we each had to go...WAY too many!!! But we weren't going to give up. Hour ten soon after was upon us. We were all getting pretty exhausted by this point, and many more rows to go. But did we let that get us down? No! Last year there was a Nova Scotian team that completed the task in just over 14 hours. We figured we had those Maritimers beat -- no problems. So we hung in there. The ladies topped up their glasses of "beverages", ate chocolate cookies for extra sugar boosts, and continued to figured out as we worked, where we could improve our time for next year.

But, alas, at about hour 13 we knew we had been beat -- and we were beat...literally exhausted!!! We continued to work feverishly for another 40 mins before calling it quits. We are only about 20 rows from completion (some less than that). But we decided to submit our finish time as 13h 40mins with an uncompleted project. We were all so exhausted -- I could barely see straight. We all joyfully decided we gave it our all and better luck next year. We looked at the clock which was nearing midnight as we tumbled into our cars and headed home for a well-deserved sleep. I was wiped out by the time I got home! So I had a quick shower (I just couldn't go to bed smelling so...sheep-poopy-ish).

It was such a great experience! As exhausting as it was, I think I would like to participate again next year if the group is up to the challenge. Even if we did the challenge unofficially and worked in shifts of people...I don't know, just a thought. Anyways, we're going to finish the sweater at our next meeting and we will take the completed sweater around to the various fairs we're participating in this summer.

Well, I'm off for now. My program's on...

Here I Am

Okay, okay. Here I am. Please do not lose faith in me. I am here...

So, what's new you're all wondering? Well, where shall I begin...

1. My spinners' guild is taking part in a competition of sorts this coming Saturday. It is actually an international competition where a team of 8 people shear, spin, and knit a fleece directly off the sheep's back into an adult sweater in under 8 hours. Cool, eh? I'm going to start off spinning and will switch to knitting after awhile. I think it will be pretty cool and lots of fun. We're also doing a 50/50 draw to raise money for cancer research. I'm hoping my hubby can take lots of pics so I will be able to post our progress. The finished sweater will travel to the various fair exhibitions in and around our area during the summer and fall months. We're hoping it will raise a lot of interest in the Guild.


2. I've been quite a shutterbug as of late. I got a new camera (DSLR) a week ago. So I have been taking pics like a madwoman! Please check out my Flickr site (just click on the Flickr button on the right and it will take you there).


3. With Mother's Day quickly approaching I am pleased to announce...da da da dah!!!!!!!!!! I've finished mom's shawl. I am mailing it tomorrow (Thurs) so unfortunately mom it won't be there for Sunday...depends if the husky team is running quickly this week in the heat or not. I've just included a couple of sneaky-peek shots.


4. Hmmm...oh. I'm still decluttering. Thanks to all who mentioned FlyLady. I have used her program in the past which has worked wonderfully. I've just...lapsed in the last few years.


5. We've moved our furniture around. Not that most of you care, but I want to thank my hubby for sacrificing his back for the comfort and pleasure of creating a bit of change at home. We have very white walls, but can't afford to paint right now. We needed a splash of colour so we've switched our family room furniture and living room furniture around. With that and my decluttering plan, we should be living chaos-free any month now!


6. Did most of you out there know it is the month of May??? Yipes! Where did the new year go?


7. I can't really think of anything more or something that is so profound it causes you to stop reading mid-sentence and ponder the meaning of life.


8. My craft area is now downstairs. Not sure if that's the smartest idea seeing as there is just that much more room to spread things out!!! Must be diligent.

Well, that's life in a nutshell. I hope you all have a great day and a great night. I have to go now and catch up on e-mail and reading everyone else's blogs.

Ta-Tah!

Oh, just a few pics showing spring is FINALLY here!!!!! :oD Happy happy, joy joy!

Dandelion in backyard

Lilac leaves budding

Violas jumping up