Flock and Fiber and Finished Things

I finished the trellis scarf! This is the first lace item I've knit that looked all bunchy until I blocked it. It came out so pretty that I'm rethinking my plan to give it away. I don't really need it, though. I want to put some beads on the ends of the points like I did with the wavy scarf I knit last year but I'll wait to do that until I know who it'll be for. The picture is shadowy. The true color is the deep purple in the upper right corner.
Last weekend I went to the Flock and Fiber Festival with my friends Lisa and Kirsten. We saw a lot of animals and a lot of fiber! Even Lisa, who's not a knitter, had fun. At least until she saw people buying really ugly shirts and was disturbed.

We saw a lot of great yarn and a lot of great fiber that made me with I could spin. The highlight, though, was the animals. Alpacas are the cutest!! Just look at this one munching his hay. How could you not want to take him home?

This pretty trio was for sale. Each a different color. I wanted them. I still want them. The weirdest animal was the Jacob Sheep. Look at all the horns! We weren't allowed to pet them. It was probably so we didn't get impaled by all the horns. They looked friendly but we followed orders. I got a great deal on some Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece. They were seconds so each skein was only $3! I have been wanting to knit Rusted Root for a while now so I bought some cotton fleece and started knitting. It's a quick knit so hopefully I'll get to wear it before the weather gets really cold. I also bought a big skein of organic Inca cotton and knit a quick little washcloth. It's so soft! I wish you all could feel it! The pattern is from Mason-Dixon Knitting but the pattern is free on the web (that's how I got it!) here.

Family + Knitting = A Happy Weekend

I brother came to visit for 5 days and we had a really good time. This was his 1st time visiting Mike and I in the 5 years we've been married so it was nice to have him at our place for once! We did the grand tour of Portland and the gorge, ate a lot of food and had a nice time. Ryan was even so kind as to wait patiently for me to finish seaming my ogee tunic before we went out one day because I really wanted to wear it. The only thing I like about the sudden cold, cloudy weather that's hit Portland is that I can wear my sweater! It needs a little tweaking, though. I need to redo part of the shoulder seams so you'll have to wait a little longer for a better picture and I'll have to wait to wear it again. In addition to my new sweater, I also have a new knitted bag! My lovely secret pal, Nicole, knitted me a fabulous felted bag using Peace Fleece. She even sent me the leftover skein along with a bunch of other great things. Thank, Nicole, for being a great secret pal!

I'm still working on the diamond trellis scarf, one repeat at a time. My new project is the Frost Flowers and Leaves shawl from A Gathering of Lace. I'm not really knitting it as a shawl, though. I'm using Devon from Elann. It's 100% wool that they call unshrinkable. That seems like it should mean superwash but they say to handwash it. It's really soft and nice to knit. The color is called mineral green but Mike insists it's blue. Whatever it is, I like it! It's sport weight so I'm making a light blanket instead of a shawl. I love the look of shawls but don't really see myself wearing one anytime soon.

Oliver is cute

Oliver is so cute!! He's my new bunny. His color is called chocolate but he's really a light orange. I don't know who comes up with the names. Here he's eating weeds like a good little bunny.
Since Kathy asked, here is some info about angoras. (If you're not interested, skip this part) They are more work than your average bunny. He lives outside but has a roof so he doesn't get rained on. Since they have so much fur it's important they don't get wet. They also don't do well in the heat. Again, because of all the fur. When it's really hot, we freeze a liter bottle of water and put it in the cage so the bunny can cool off. They also require brushing so they don't get mats in their fur. We'll see how this guy does but once they're over a year, most don't need to be brushed more than once a week. Different angora breeds need different amounts of brushing- it depends on how many guard hairs they have- and individuals vary too. They are the softest bunnies you'll ever feel and I love petting Oliver!

Besides knitting, my project this last week has been painting my bathroom. My bathroom used to be terrible. Here's the before:
It doesn't look that bad until you see the walls up close.
It's wallboard with wallpaper attached. (It's popular in trailers and manufactured homes. Classy stuff.) It was super old and dirty and we couldn't take the paper off because it's fused to the wall so we had to use a nasty oil-based primer to cover it all up. Fumes filled the house for days. How I love inhaling chemicals. It was all worth it, though, because now my bathroom looks like this. The color is called spring rain and it reminds me of a robin's egg. I love it! No more dirty, nasty walls! We even had this pretty print that matches perfectly.I haven't been neglecting my ogee tunic. I started seaming it together the other night and it's coming along slowly but surely. It's still summer so I'm not in a big hurry to finish it. It's not like I'll get to wear it soon. It's looking like it'll fit nicely and I am excited to see it all finished!

Proof is in the pictures (a.k.a. Why I love the fair)

I had so much fun at the fair on Sunday! I took lots of pictures, petted lots of animals and ate lots of sugar. I told you before that I won ribbons so here is the proof.
My river stole only got third but everything else won a blue ribbon! They hung my backyard leaves scarf backwards so no one got to see the pretty pattern. They also really packed the things in the cases. My soleil tank top was barely visible and The lace on the bottom was almost completely hidden. I'm not complaining, really. I won ribbons so I'm happy.

My bread also won a blue ribbon! I love baking bread and last year I entered a recipe I had never made before. Bad idea. This year I entered my favorite recipe and it turned out great. It looks a little weird in the picture but remember people- at this point it has been sitting out in the open for almost 2 weeks. It looked beautiful the day I dropped it off. Other Oregon State Fair highlights included:

My friend Amber eating a fried snickers bar. Hey, someone had to do it and it wasn't going to be me. After the funnel cake and giant sno cone, I couldn't eat anything else.
(For the record, she liked it but doesn't think she needs to eat one again. Mike feels the same way about the one he ate last year.)

I think these are the cutest tomatoes ever! I'm glad they won 1st place.
There was an entire display devoted to vegetables with faces. This was my favorite. Do you think it's "supposed" to be a seal?This won the most unique vegetable award. I wish I had a vegetable that unique in my garden!This is a "cute vegetable." I think that's fair code for smallest vegetable. This bitty carrot lost to a teeny ear of corn.
Baby piglets (is that redundant?) are so cute!! They were sleepy. I wish I could have picked one up and squeezed it- not too hard, of course. This fluffy bunny won the award for "Best Wool." It looks well deserved. The cutest bunny at the fair was a baby English Angora that won 3rd place and then came home with me! Yep, I bought a bunny from a 4-H'er and he's really fluffy and cute. I don't have a good picture yet but when I do, I'll show him off.

I hope all of you had the chance to go to a fair this summer. If not, go next year! It'll be tons of fun, I promise.