Festivals & Shows

Wow, this is turning out to be quite a year for festival and show possibilities! We always have a booth at the Black Sheep Gathering in Eugene, and the Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival in Canby and have entirely too much fun at both. This year we're also going to have a booth at the brand new Sock Summit at the Portland Convention Center. AND I've put in for a booth at SOAR (Spin Off Autumn Retreat) at Sunriver. Twice as many shows as usual! I won't know about SOAR till April, so cross your fingers.

I'm pretty excited about these. Seems far away right now, but I have to remind myself that Items on Calendar Are Closer Than They Appear.

Pendleton Woolen Mill Celebrates 100 Years

There's a great article in the Oregonian about the Pendleton Woolen Mill, which is celebrating its 100th year anniversary this year. Check it out! There are so few mills left in the US, it's nice to have this one in Oregon (and Washington). There's also an interesting Wikipedia entry about the mill, with a surprise connection to the Beach Boys! Who knew?

A little bit of Oregon history...

Knitting as Art

I really enjoyed reading Franklin's blog post about a knitting/art installation at a museum in Chicago. Check it out. Wishing I could get to Chicago to take part too, and get into a discussion with other folks taking part! There are so many hobbies nowadays involving things that used to be requirements for life - knitting, spinning, weaving... gardening, cooking even. It's so easy to get meals that don't require any real knowledge of food and cooking. On the other end of the spectrum people that make cooking an event are getting rare. Is cooking turning into a hobby, like handweaving?

Random thoughts on a Thursday...

Finished socks!

Okay, imagine if you will that the picture shows a finished pair of socks, artfully posed. Because they ARE finished. Right now they're posing in my bathroom waiting to be washed, having been worn... did I get a picture of them on the feet, proof that they were done? Uh uh. Nope...

They are superwash merino/tencel yarn that I dyed using Procion dyes. I THINK I steamed the bundle of painted yarn after I dyed it, but to be honest I've forgotten. I think I did though because when I tested out all sorts of methods of dyeing the merino/bamboo yarn I found that while all the methods work just fine, the fiber reactive worked better with some heat than as a cold dye. And these colors are nothing if not vivid! Too bad my one and only photo doesn't show that as vividly, but there you have it. Oh wait, I thought I talked about this sock before (besides on Ravelry, that is) - I did way back when. The colors show up better there maybe. Anyway, the yarn worked great, took the dye beautifully, and felt good on my feeties.

And I'm making progress on the other sock shown in that same post! I've turned the heel and am moving along on the gusset decreases. Soon I'll be to that Peter-Pan moment in sock knitting - "Straight on 'til Toe!" Probably my favorite part. Well, besides casting on, which is really the most fun, all that anticipation...

Karen and I were talking at knit night last week that we have a different sort of Second Sock Syndrome. Once we start on the 2nd sock, there's no stopping. We want to have that Pair of Socks! No other project gets worked on. While it's in the 1st sock stage we cast on other socks, we cast on other hats/wash clothes, etc. We work on this and that, and mosey along at something maybe slightly above a snail's pace... but once that 2nd sock is underway it's Katie bar the door! I have 3 different socks on the needles as 1st socks.... plus that green sweater that never makes any progress... But 2 of the socks are at or near the Straight on 'til Toe portion, so there may be more finished socks coming in the near-ish future. One of them only gets worked on at Monday Night Knitting.

I need more hours in the day. Don't you?