Weekend Update

I had a great turn out for the Ooh La La scarf class. I think everyone had a great time learning yarnovers, and the modified bind off. We discussed the difficulty of remembering cast ons and bind offs when you only do them once a project. There are classes coming up soon that are devoted to just those components of knitting.

The rest of my weekend was spent working on the kid cardis as the deadline for mailing them draws nearer. They are going to be really cute. I can hardly wait to see them modeled by their recipients...hint to the parents to remember to take and send me pics. :-)

I also worked in my stash to set up a list of projects I want to work on next. With a list I can prioritize what comes next and do I have everything I need to start. My next project is the Plain and Fancy scarf with the yarn I purchased from Brooks Farm Yarn at the Taos Wool Festival. I discovered while reading the pattern that it does not specify a needle size. The instruction reads "Appropriate knitting needles for the yarn you use." This does not help me.


So I went to Ravelry to see if I could find someone else who was working with this yarn and pattern. Not much luck as I found the same yarn, however in sport weight instead of fingering. And the pattern does not discuss gauge, just the following: "Gauge is not important." That is all well and good except I would like the scarf to look something like a scarf, not a doll blanket.

So I am still on the hunt for someone with information since Plain & Fancy does not have a website and only attend two festivals a year, Estes Park and Taos. I hope to have this knit and wear it to Estes Park in June.

While writing this I emailed the question to the designer. My guess is size 3 needles, will see if I am close. I hope you all have fun projects to spend time creating!

Taos Wool Festival 2008

The day dawned grey and cool. The prediction was for sunny and 75, however the sun only showed itself late in the day for a weak moment. This made for more knitwear viewing as I toured the festival grounds. I got there early to find a treasured free parking spot. Those are about a block and a half walk from the park where the festival is held. I managed to find a place in the free lot that was also hosting the weekly farmers market. It was a colorful site on a grey morning.



Some festival tents were the simple white, four-legged covers while others found creative and free ways to decorate their spaces. This one with the aspen branches was really fun.

I met CatWithCats around noon and she was sporting the much coveted and commented shawl from Shear Spirit. If you have not seen this book yet, go get one! It was fun because the ranch that had provided the shawl pattern for the book was there and they found her to make a fuss over. Then we met the author and photographer for the book. They were there to sell/sign books and to visit one of the fiber farms featured in the book, Victory Alpaca Ranch from Mora, New Mexico.

What I discovered about this festival is: if you like dogs you will see every breed, shape and style; there are not as many fiber animals to see as the Estes Park Wool Festival; angora rabbits are BIG (popular and size-wise); and here be mohair locks. Now, if I can just figure out how to knit the bright colored locks into a scarf I will be happy. It sure looks like fun.

Hope your autumn is providing bright-colored fun events for you!