Classes and Demos

Wow, what a week!

As I mentioned last, I attended Chris Bylsma's Crayon Box Jacket class on Sunday last week. It was an AWESOME class! It was held at Sip and Knit and we had a great time. It definitely is a class where you need to have the entire yarn store at your disposal while you plan out your sweater! I actually did pretty well and didn't completely break the bank, so was happy with that. After 8 hours in class, this is what I came away with:

Another week's worth of knitting, and I'm at this point:


Yep, that's one sleeve complete and the other one only one square short!! With that said, I really need to put this down now! Am taking it to knitting with me tonight - will finish the last square, then work on some ends. Cherry Tree Hill is calling however, and time is short.

Did I work on CTH this weekend? No, of course not. Actually, the Textile Arts Guild of St. Augustine was holding their annual Spin/Hook-In on Saturday, so I couldn't resist the opportunity to go out and spin for the day! The venue was beautiful - we were in the St. Augustine Visitor Information Center, which looks like it's been recently rehabbed. I do think that because it was a free venue, and closer to the Spanish Quarter, as well as the first stop for information when hitting St. Augustine, that it had an AWESOME turnout! I LOVE any time I can talk about spinning and there are SOO many people that you can barely see through them. Even better, there were many times throughout the day that people were having to be dragged away - they were so interested they just didn't want to walk away!

I was very bad about pictures for the day, but I did get someone to take this one. The fiber I was spinning was from an Etsy purchase - the Artichoke colorway of Superwash Merino from Yarn Hollow. It did give us the opportunity to talk about dyeing, and what types of dyes would have been used in earlier times. Anyhow, this fiber has become a lightweight two ply yarn for SOCKS! It's actually going to be for my SP8 downstream...(Hope she's not reading...)

I got a special treat on Saturday as well... The operator of the lovely traditional wheel to my left above was the very fortunate recipient of an amazing find. She recently found a BEAUTIFUL Great Wheel at a great price. She was kind enough to bring it with her on Saturday, both to get some assistance in learning to spin it, and to show. Once the expert (one of the other spinners) got it running, I got to take a lesson!! I wish I'd gotten pictures of that, but sadly did not. It was a very spiritual cosmic experience for me...

Three and a half years ago, when several of us took a field trip to Asheville, NC, we went to Bovidae Farms outside of Mars Hill as part of our explorations. While others were shopping, I started examining all of the beautiful wheels. Began talking to the owner, and soon he brought an Ashford Traditional down and plopped it in front of me, showed me how to draft while he spun the wheel for me. That was my first ever attempt at Spinning. Once I finished, he took me upstairs and demonstrated his great wheel for me! So now, three and a half years later, I've gotten to spin on one myself!

I truly wanted to spend the evening in St. Augustine, but had another commitment, so I had to head out.

So, all of my new friends in St. Augustine agreed that they wanted to see what that lovely artichoke looked like once finished! It was 4.4 ounces, and I spun the first bobbin full on Saturday, and made a good dent in the second bobbin. Yesterday at KnitWits, I continued on the second bobbin, completing all but one small piece of roving (about another 30-45 minutes worth). Came home and finished up the 4.4 ounces, then promptly switched it out for a plying bobbin. Plyed while watching TV, then finished that and wrapped it up on the Niddy Noddy! The verdict? At 11:15 last night, I finally had THIS:

The 4.4 ounces translated into about 320 yards of yarn! My goal all along has been that this would be a ball of sock yarn...I think they'll be shorter socks, but I do think that socks are still a possibility for this yarn.

Poll Question: My original plan was that I would spin AND knit this into socks for my SP8 DS. Time is tight, and I'm debating whether I should knit it up for her, or just send it and let HER knit it... So, what do you think? Knit or send as is? Comments appreciated!