Fleece Day!

Spinnity and I took the Fleece Day! class at AVFKW this weekend.

Fleece Day!
Instructor: Kristine Vejar

Come and spend a lovely morning learning how to select a prime handspinner's fleece, and how to wash it. You will go home confident in your choices at the upcoming, Summer wool festivals and have the know-how to process your own fleece.

I haven't bought a fleece to date, but wanted to know what to look for and what is involved in processing a fleece just in case I get a hankering for one.

The class description says it all--Kristine described and had great examples of good choices and not so good choices--those that might take considerably more work to process, and/or the end product might not be worth the effort. She described Merino breeds vs. rare breeds and the differences between single coated vs. dual coated fleece and characteristics of the wool.

We selected locks from 2 fleeces for washing--


Wensleydale fleece


Corriedale fleece

Kristine did the heavy lifting and took the fear mystery out of the process.


Washing, washing, rinsing, rinsing, rinsing

As an aside, I'd love to see photos of their garden--I bet it's lovely with the contributions of manure tea and fleece compost.

She talked about flicking and carding and demoed combing using a beautiful set of double row St Blaise Combs. I don't see them in the AVFKW online store, but they sell them so give them a call if you're interested.

We all got samples to take home.


Fleece Day at AVFKW

I love the curly locks of the Wensleydale--I know someone who has hair just like this! lol Here's how it looks on the sheep. Sheepy needs a barrette. Both the Wensleydale and the Corriedale would be interesting to comb and spin.

What did I learn? First and foremost I don't have a desire to process a fleece of my own right now. *But* the class opened my eyes to buying a fleece and sending it to someone like Morro Fleece Works for processing, and knowing what they'll do to go from souring to roving is very helpful.

From there, Spinnity and I went to her house where we took a more informed look at her Romney x Coopworth fleece. It has distinct colors which will make for interesting sorting and processing. It was happy to be spread out and breathe the fresh air.


Spinnity's Romney x Coopworth

Check out the crimp, it's lovely!


Spinnity's Romney x Coopworth

It was a beautiful day full of fleece and good information. Oh, and you know I couldn't leave AVFKW without bringing some roving home, right?


Pigeonroof Studios roving
50/50 Superwash Merino/Silk
Colorway: Morocco


Pigeonroof Studios roving
50/50 Superwash Merino/Silk
Colorway: watered silk

HKF

It's Hand Knit Friday! What hand knits do you have on today?

I'm wearing the socks that placed 3rd at the 2007 California State Fair--

Entrelac Socks at the State Fair
Project details on Ravelry

California State Fair results

The California State Fair Creative Arts Fiber Art Show Exhibit results are in:

2nd Place - Knitted Wearing Apparel Adult

Finn-ish

Judge's comments:

Ah - what a nice pair of socks. Very nice. Great pattern. Someone must have happy feet!

Here's the kicker--I entered Finn-ish in the "Any Other Knitted Item" class because that's where I've entered socks in the past. Well, they reclassified Finn-ish to the "Knitted Wearing Apparel Adult" class. So I placed second in the same class as all the adult sweaters and every other adult garment that was entered. Wow!

California State Fair
July 14 - August 1, 2010
Cal Expo
1600 Exposition Blvd.
Sacramento , CA 95815

Prunus armeniaca

Prunus armeniaca, the humble apricot.


Apricots from the Farmers' Market

These delicious orbs were what got me started canning food. Last year, a lovely friend handed me a jar of apricot jam she made and that was all it took. It was so tasty, I wanted more.

Many pints of fruit later, here's my first batch of apricot jam.


First Apricot Jam

And what goes well with apricot jam?


HBin5 Wheat

It all comes full circle. Thank you Carol.

What a talented bunch of Makers

Jocelyn put out a call on Ravelry for volunteers to work the TNNA booth at Maker Faire. Volunteering meant teaching how to knit, crochet, cross stitch, and/or needlepoint.

Not having been to Maker Faire before, I thought this would be a great way to get involved *and* get in for free to see what the buzz was all about. I signed up for a knitting slot on Saturday.

The TNNA booth had multiple tables and we started stocking each with needles and yarn. There were 3 flyers for the newbies--an instruction sheet with the basics, a pattern for an iPhone cozy, and a list of LYSs. Anyone and everyone who was interested in learning was welcome and we were hopping! I don't recall how many knitters I released into the wild, but there were a lot. What I loved about the experience was to see how quickly any shred of reluctance disappeared as each learned the motions of the long tail cast-on, the knit stitch, an the purl stitch. I encouraged each to join Ravelry and to check out their LYS for more yarn, needles, instruction, and information about knitting groups.


Learning to knit and crochet

Here's one of my new knitters, obviously pleased with her work and ready to fledge:


A proud knitter

Some lucky crocheters snagged lightsaber hooks. I brought one to my table, but it disappeared before I put it in my bag. Rats.


Lightsaber hook

Speaking of lightsabers, look who rolled by our booth!


R2D2

I only had an hour after my shift before I had to leave, so I walked around to see what the Makers made. I've heard that you need 2 days to see everything and after my quick trip through, I whole heartedly agree. I didn't have time to take much of it in, but I did bring back some images.

Here's a signpost that you'll only see at Maker Faire.


Maker Faire Signpost

This woman was in a booth showcasing Royal typewriters... she's explaining to a curious youngster what a typewriter is and how it was used. Boy, did I feel old. He must have thought that this ancient contraption was akin to a chisel and stone tablet.


Royal awakening

Voila, a cargo container transformed into...


Cargo container sculpture

A desert scene?


Cargo container sculpture

I'm not sure. I could label most of these photos "Something cool but I don't know what it is". I wish I had more time. Next year, for sure.












Blueberry muffin-mobile




Dashboard




Sour Mash Hug Band


Raygun Gothic Rocket Ship




Tesla Stage

HKF

It's Hand Knit Friday! What hand knits do you have on today?

I'm wearing

Goldilocks Clog socks

and

Basket Stitch Cardigan
Project details on Ravelry

One iron in the fire

For the first time in many years the California State Fair is moving off its Labor Day schedule and will start in July. That meant the deadlines for the California Creative Arts competition moved up 2 months. I thought I had plenty of time for a couple of entries, but you know how that goes. Before I knew it, it was time to fill out forms and I only had one entry ready.

My one iron in the fire is Finn-ish and judging is tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

Goodness

Berries are plentiful at the Farmers' Market, so we brought a few home.


Bounty from the Farmers' Market

Half of it is now 8 cups of Strawberry Raspberry Jam.


Strawberry Raspberry Jam

Halfway there

One bobbin down, one to go.


Bobbin 1
Lisa Souza 50/50 Bombyx Silk / Fine Merino
Color: Winter

HKF

It's Hand Knit Friday! What hand knits do you have on today?

I'm wearing

Mosaic socks
Project details on Ravelry

and

VK cable lace cardi
Project details on Ravelry

Danish Braid - who knew?

You know that feeling when you see something and you say to yourself, "I gotta have that!" That's how I felt when I saw the Mother’s Day Danish Braid post on the Artisan Bread in Five blog.

I chose to make Challah instead of Brioche and mixed up a 4 lb batch of dough last night. This morning I took out about 1-1/3 lbs of dough, rolled it out, and spread sweetened cream cheese down the middle



followed by 1/4 c of homemade strawberry/white peach jam.



Here's the braid rising (it's almost too big for the pan!)



and here's it is brushed with egg wash and sprinkled with coarse sugar, ready for the oven.



20 minutes later and voila!




ABin5 Danish Braid

I sliced up the Danish and took it to the Picchetti Winery where Spinnity brought the spinners together for some outdoor spinning, knitting, and socializing.






Spinning at Picchetti Winery

The Danish Braid was a hit and so was spinning in public.

I made another Danish tonight for tomorrow's Mother's Day brunch, and it looks as good as the first one. Thanks to Zoë for the blog post and inspiring me to make something wonderful to share with friends and family. Who knew something so fancy was in my realm of possibilities?