Foster Old Home Days

You know the drill..........a country fair, friends and food. It's a prescription for fun on a warm summer day. Luckily we were spinning our hearts away under a wonderful tent with the best breeze on the fair grounds. I did partake of some seriously sinful treats like doughboys and raspberry chocolate chip yogurt.

Many of the gang were there as well as some newcomers. Paula, queen of aran, was in attendance with her spindle on both days. Carol M not only spun her mojave fiber, but won the spinning bee with her record singles! Marva spun some to die for wool and alpaca blend from Twist of Fate. Sue spun on her Hitchhiker wheel and worked on a dark blue black shawl on her triangle loom.

Davis and Iris came by as well to show us their spinning. David won a reserve ribbon for his spinning of both Jacob fleece and Chow fiber. Iris showed us her wonderful Chow hat she knit which has a extraordinary halo! If you are interested in spinning dog fur see this.Way to go David!!!!

David and Iris even brought some fiber they washed and carded for everyone to try.

Reveling in Ravelry!!!

I am so intrigued by Ravelry! I received my invitation last week, and I have not been the same since. It is quite a knitting community experience. I was so involved in the possibilities of the cyberknitterdom that I could not get to sleep last night for thinking about the innumerable possibilities it provides.

Not only are you able to learn who is knitting what you're knitting, but also just by a click of the mouse you can learn what other interpretations of the pattern are out there in the cyberknitpool.If you haven't received your invitation don't despair or feel left out. As Casey from Unraveled says:

"Also, I’d like to explain the waiting list again because there is still confusion. The list goes in order - we don’t prefer some people over others. We choose how many invites to send out and a computer program sends that many from the top of the list. We have the list because everyone wants to get in even though the site isn’t ready! A new version of Ravelry goes out almost every night and we are still very much in beta. We’re adding new people as fast as we can."

Getting set up in Ravelry will take some work, but there are huge benefits the least of which is organizing your projects and finishing them. My problem is that my must do projects list is growing!!! Keep up the good work, Jess and Casey..............

Eye Candy Friday

11 Day Hiatus Ends: Well, well............it happens here and there. Life gets busy and I keep forgetting to post. Eventually I have much to post then I get into a quandary about what to post. So here goes:

Mystery Stole 3: Since last post the need to rip, rip,rip became apparent. Even though I used a dental floss lifeline I was not able to salvage the knitting of the first chart. This was not so bad actually......knitting the first two charts taught me much about my need to knit carefully. When I told Iris about my stitch fudging she cautioned me to not let that go too far. Judy made me understand this as well when she told me she reknit a row three times to get it right. I am proud to say I am on row 67 and pleased with the result. Of course, I'm not keeping pace with the other 5,000 knitters globally who are cranking out this stole, but that's not an issue for me. It's the process that draws me.

It's Mysterious !

I'm still working on Clue #1 chart b for Mystery Stole 3 . What a community feeling occurs when you discover that 5,752 members have joined by July 6th!!

I'm am floored by the fact that there are thousands of knitters from all over the globe working on this pattern simultaneously.......a global knitting adventure to be sure.

Beading using the crochet method is neat! Thanks to Iris, I've learned to knit the stitch after the bead is placed with the crochet hook.

I did manage to take some pictures of the stole as well as some of my flowers. The yellow and red day lily is a gift from Kathy.

On the spinning front I have little to report due to the warm weather. I just managed to use the drop spindle this week.

Weekend Saturday Spinning and More

Saturday Spinning was a joy since I met a great crew of spinners at RI Handspun. The usual suspects attended. Carol M spun her three ply Mohave merino; Carol R spun one of Heather M's wonderful fleeces in a light beige; Paula brought her spindle to continue work on a lovely dark blue fiber. Sandy spun some teased locks in a warm brown; Ann spun a beautiful dark blue multicolored roving on her Kromski. Marva had her sweet dark pink plyed yarn ready to leave the bobbin for skeining.

I managed to continue working on some fiber I bought from Barn 31 at Rhinebeck a few years ago. The colors are vibrant and the fiber is a mix of wool mohair and either llama or alpaca.

Marisa's ( DD) knitting has produced a lovely felted purse..........I love the colorway and can't wait to see it in person.















Sunday I called my mom for a quick trip to pick strawberries.........