fiber sandwich

2 weeks ago we had ROC day here in Groton, SD–for those who don’t know, ROC day is the day that the weavers and spinners began their work again after the winter break. I am pretty sure this dates back to medieval times. Well, all us spinners and knitters got together, had an awesome potluck and all in all had a great time with each other. 12 or so of us particiapted in a fiber sandwich which is where you contribute some raw fiber–batts, web, roving, top of all different types (basically a fiber pot luck) and then you layer the different types of fiber like you would a sub sandwich. The thicker the better I say! Then each who participated got an equal amount which in our case was a 5 oz!
Here is what my portion looked like:

I left mine just the way I got it and spun it by pulling random chunks–I had some pretty wild looking yarn!!!

Some opted to card their sandwich. This is a shot of the sandwich after Marie put it through a drum carder

Here is another carded into web. This is Kelly’s:

So each had a different method to the madness and each proved to make a beautiful yarn in it’s own right. Kelly, Marie and I all attended a second ROC day in North Dakota the following Sat. and spun our sandwiches. Upon the spinning, Kelly came up with the great idea that we take her more consistant sandwich yarn and ply it with my random chunks yarn. Thus creating this yarn:

That shot was before the yarn was blocked and now that it is blocked I am just to lazy to take another pic. You can easily see the colors in the yarn and that is what I really wanted to show. That is a digested fiber sandwich. So to speak.

Here are some pics of the ladies at the North Dakota ROC day–my camera battery was dead for the first ROC day!

We had a blast yet again and had yet again–a fabulous potluck!

Here is my Harvey with a closing comment:

FEEDBACK PLEASE

I am thinking about overdyeing this shades of purple–should I leave it the way it is or go for it?

cascade 220 hat and cowl

I have entered a really cool contest here on this blog and really hope I win the skein winder. Check it out!

I bought all this yarn with the idea of a helmet liner in mind or some of you may call it a baklava (probably spelled that wrong)–I found a free pattern but I have this thing about knitting hats from the top.. I hate making them from the bottom up and of course all the patterns started at the bottom. SO. I ended up making a hat and a giant cowl…you pull the cowl up, pull the hat down and low and behold! its one of those helmet liner thingys! Kinda…

I love this yarn! Its cascade 220 tweed. I have had this obsession with tweed for a while but never bought it for some reason. I would oogle at it in the yarn shops and think about all the cool things I could make with it but never bought any. Finally. My day has come! I was really torn between which color of tweed to buy but this one won in the end. Now, for those pesky matching mittens.

My friend Betty showed me this great magazine called SelvEdge. Those of you living in Europe may have heard of it–for me its a whole new world! Thanks Betty! If you like well made, inspiring visual stimulation–check it out!

Tonight I am making homemade pizza and chocolate chip cookies!

Works in Progress and 1 FO

So I have had an “infected wisdom tooth” these past few days and have not really been terribly productive. Sunday Betty had her yarn shop open so I went and picked up some misti alpaca worsted and cascade 220, the alpaca is actually a deep plum color but you can’t really tell from this pic–at least not on my monitor:

and I am going to make this with the yarn, I am doing the middle part with purple and then the ruffle in the green.

then I dyed some yarn for my baby surprise jacket:

This is my mindless knitting pattern, its just a garter stitch shawl:

And then this is my hand dyed yarn knit and felted in my “top down felted cloche” pattern:

Hopefully all my christmas knitting will be finished by christmas!