My Fair Lady

WOW, I still can't believe it! My niece [in law] came to visit me on Saturday afternoon after having been at the Ilderton Fair. She was gushing....and telling me that I'd won all kinds of ribbons for my Fair entries!

I had entered 8 items in the knitting divisions, and 5 items in the baking divisions.

Well, I had to go and see for myself, didn't I?

And sure enough, I'd scooped 10 ribbons from 13 entries! In total, five 1st places, one 2nd place, and four 3rd places. Woo hoo! Not bad...not bad at all!

Great Cables Sweater

Black Forest Cherry Cake

Newfoundland Mitts & Hat

South Western Omlette

Bread and Butter Pudding

Tempest Sweater

Carrot Cake

Hooded Sweater for my Niece

Laptop Cover

Herbst Melodie Socks

I got some awesome prizes, as well as cash prizes. Here's my haul:

And now I get to eat, and eat, and eat, and.........

Who wants to help???

WIPless

I did it! All my Fall Fair knitting projects are complete. I finished them with a night to spare, and just as well, because this evening a friend phoned and asked me out to dinner. And that almost always means a late night.

So, last night's marathon of knitting produced a completed preemie set - hat and blankie. Following the Fair, these items will be donated to the Childrens' Hospital of Southwestern Ontario.

Earlier in the week I finished the Newfoundland Mitts and a toque - these items will be donated to the Women's Rural Resource Center.

This year I have 13 items to enter into the baking and handcraft divisions; 8 knitted items, and 5 baking entries. Tomorrow is my "Fair baking day". Everybody knows to get the hell out of my kitchen and out of my way that day [laughing]. I have to bake five items and get them to the fair grounds by 9pm the same day.

Judging starts on the Friday, and the Fair closes at 5pm on Sunday 28th September. I will blog again on Sunday to let you all know how I did and what ribbons, if any, will adorn my house!

She’s got the Whole World in her Hands

Once in a while I buy or make something for me that shouts out to the world “look at me; I’m totally awesome”. C’mon, you guys know what I mean….

Like when I got my first job and bought my first new pair of jeans. I’d broken the mould – no more was I second-hand Rose – now I was one of the “cool kids”. I rocked. I had THE look! People pointed at me and said “she’s the woman”…..well, OK, I was NEVER that cool. Usually they just pointed at me and giggled….

Memory lane aside, yesterday was MY day of smugness. Enormous smugness. I done good; real good….and woke up this morning with the same silly grin on my face.

I FINISHED VICKY M!!! Knitted, blocked, sewn and buttoned!

If I didn’t want to wear her soooooo much, I’d probably frame her. Crikey, she is one spunky shiela.....the sweater I mean!

She didn’t come without her share of baggage though. We had issues that we thankfully worked through in a very calm and positive manner [heh!]. For instance, I didn’t understand HER need for me to pick up 200 odd stitches around the cast-on edges of the cardigan to knit a facing. HER idea was that I should knit stockinet for four rows, transfer the live stitches to scrap yarn, fold the hem facing to the inside and sew the live stitches in place. MY counter argument was that I didn’t understand why I couldn’t have simply done a provisional cast-on for the back and front pieces, and knitted an extra four rows before starting the actual cardigan.

Then, SHE wanted ½ inch glass buttons…..14 of them to be precise. She drove me all over the place looking for these darn buttons; that incidentally did not exist in any store in any quantity. SHE even had me spend hours and hours on the internet to search for the perfect buttons. Well, thank goodness I found some lovely buttons at the last store I visited [that were not glass at all!]. She was not altogether thrilled with MY choice, but I assured her that resistance was futile.

Despite our differences, we pulled off the coo of the week. Vicky M not only has form, but she ROCKS!

Double SQUEAL!

Kitchener/Waterloo Fair

It's embarrassing to admit that I'd been counting down the "number of sleeps" until the KW Knitting Fair since I went last year! Ack, what's another addiction anyway!

The KWKF did not disappoint! With over 70 vendors, and two rooms dedicated to yarn, fiber, rovings, supplies, accessories, books and frenzied shoppers, it was a sensory delight to say the least! I could smell the yarn, fondle it, look lovingly at it, stroke it and talk to it - and the best part was that NOBODY thought I was nuts!!

Seems that every step I took, I bumped into another person I knew. I travelled with Nadine, her daughter Beah (possible knitting recruit in a few years...?), Colleen and Kanna. Kat and Lynn travelled together in Lynn's car, and we ate lunch with them. Right near Bedazzled and Bejeweled I bumped into Laurie and her Mum, and across from that booth I bumped into Brenda. As I walked from The Ballroom to Marshall Hall, I bumped into Sharon from London Yarns, and at lunchtime I saw quite a few knitters from the Forest City Knitting Club.

I'm delighted to say that the "bump intos" didn't impact my shopping time at all! In fact, they are all fabulous enablers [laughing]. I got quite the haul from such booths as Camilla Valley Farm, Alpaca Fibre Co-op, The Purple Purl, and Wellington Fibres.


At the back of the photo are eight skeins of Briggs and Little Heritage (only $3/skein); in the middle towards the back (pink, orange and turquoise) are three skeins of Malabrigo Silky Merino (only $9/skein); right in the center of the photo are four skeins of Noro Silk Garden Lite (only $8/skein); to the right of the Noro are two skeins of Alpaca Rovings; at the front of the photo and just off to the left are 15 skeins of Jamieson Spindrift; and at the front of the photo and off to the right are four skeins of Wellington Fibres 50% mohair and 50% wool.

PHEW!

The Weeks that Were...

Pant, pant, puff, puff……

Made it! Phew! Just gotta catch my breath for a minute…..OK.

My poor little blog! Oh how I’ve missed you – deprived of a chocolatey post for just over THREE weeks….

Well, there’s simply no way that I can summarise the last few weeks without writing a Ben Hur sequel; and there’s only so much "Ben Hur" that the earth can endure in its 4.5 billion years!

So……. I’m gonna have to reach for my pretty pink yellow highlighter. Oh I hate being succinct – honestly – I can’t be succinct to save my life!

As you guys read in my last post, my cousin Sina came to visit. We explored every little nook and cranny for miles. We visited St. Jacob’s Market, Kitchener Market, Waterloo Busker Carnival, Pinery Sunday Market, Trails End Farmers' Market, Kettle Point, Ipperwash Beach, Sarnia, Grand Bend, and loads of little spots in between.

The most impressive adventure was to Niagara Falls. I've been there three times before, but am totally awestruck every time!



And of course, every night from 8-24 August we watched and kept medal tally as the Olympic Games in Beijing progressed. Sina was of course encouraging the German athletes from her chair, and I was of course screaming “go Aussie go” from my chair. And the results? Australia = 46 medals; Germany = 41 medals and Canada = 18 medals. Go Aussie, Go Aussie [hehehehe].

As if our adventures and the Olympics weren’t exciting enough! Sina had some unwelcome excitement of her own. First she was bitten on the arm several times by a sick feral kitten. A staggering $800 later (= doctor’s fee and 5 hour wait at the bloody hospital) together with a bunch of antibiotics, and she recovered nicely. Although, I think the shock of the bill is still lingering!

Just after that, she unknowingly handled some poison ivy! Thank goodness there was no allergic reaction, but we still took precautions, monitored her for a few days, and got her the necessary creams.

And lastly, Dave (her car) decided to chuck a sickie in a 10min only parking zone, and had to be towed and repaired. Poor Dave was in hospital for six days!

Despite her (mis)adventures with us, Sina learned to quilt, and finished a beautiful panda pillow case. Here she is with Roxanne who taught her to quilt:



She also endured several knitting meetups [cleverly disguised as afternoon teas and dinner]. Tried everything we did – couldn’t lure her over to the knit side! Although I hasten to add she was spotted fondling a beautiful skein of rabbit and merino blend that Alana brought along to a Ravelry get-together last week…..

Thank you so much to all my knitting friends who made her feel so welcome and part of the group.

And now she's gone.... I miss her already [sniffle, sniffle].

So what was I up to "knitting wise" during the last few weeks? Well for starters, I knitted Sina a Brangelina Hat from some Sirdar Ultra Chunky that I got for 75% off at the final, final, final Cloth & Clay sale at their booth at St. Jacob’s Market. Hey, I scored BIG there! 75% of EVERYTHING that was left. Oh God I wish I had had hours to browse the boxes and boxes of books, magazines and pattern leaflets! But alas, I was not with a fellow knitter and a 20mins browsing was the most I could manage.



I did manage to scoop a couple of books, a shawl pattern and four skeins of beautiful yarn – all for the amazingly low, low price of $37 and some change. And I can tell you this: one of the books alone had a price sticker of $47.99!!

I also managed to finish the Pink Confetti Hoodie I started on 3rd August for my adorable little niece Jaycee. It turned out quite well, although I’m disappointed by two things. First of all, the pattern called for a 6 inch zipper that was IMPOSSIBLE to get (other than a heavy duty black denim jeans zipper with metal teeth). So that really sucked. And secondly, the way the pattern was written for the zipper facings made it really, REALLY awkward to attach the zipper nicely. I tried everything to fix it and finally left it the way it was.




I will knit this pattern again, but will make changes for a 7 inch zipper and I will re-work the zipper facings.

Oh jeez, I’m rambling. Time to hang up the keyboard and feed my starving fish!

Dyeing to Dye

ILDERTON – 12th August will long be remembered as the Olympic day in 2008 when a small group of seemingly sensible and responsible knitting friends allowed themselves to be overwhelmed by something so much BIGGER than yarn.

Jenny - cult leader?

Reports indicate that prior to their new found dyeing addiction, the local London knitters partook in one of the nation’s most celebrated events; the pot luck dinner.

Pot luck dinner

Was the food partially to blame for their agitated behaviour? According to the province’s leading researcher “the food is one possibility that cannot be discounted, but there may have been other sinister forces at work”.

Lead by Spinning Jenny, a fantastically skilled but terribly enabling mentor, the cult-like group participated in a dyeing ritual that was held on property disguised as a water garden center, and rumored to be owned by one of the local knitters. Investigations are continuing.

Jenny demonstrating dyeing techniques

Sacrificial virgin yarns were subjected to vast quantities of kool aid, white vinegar, dish detergent, warm water and a microwave oven. This seemingly cruel dyeing process is reported to have produced some spectacular and unique colour combinations. Note: no yarns were harmed during experimentation.

This reporter caught up with one very starry-eyed young woman who exclaimed excitedly: “this is totally awesome! I think I’m gonna have a new addiction”! Enthusiasm or new obsession? This reporter was not convinced.

Following the demonstration of several techniques, the knitters reportedly commenced their own dyeing experiments. Armed with rubber gloves, wooden spoons, syringes, hot water and unbridled enthusiasm, what followed can only be described as yarn mugging!

Jenny mixing kool aid dye

Maria using kool aid dye

Barb (assisted by her granddaughter) using kool aid dye


Shelaine gloved up and ready to dye with kool aid

Kanna using kool aid dye and showing how it's done

“Yarn must be thoroughly soaked in warm water and gently pressed several times to ensure all air bubbles have been removed”, Jenny explained.

In response to a question about the addition of dish detergent to the warm water, Jenny replied that “the dish detergent helps the dye penetrate the yarn”.

She went on to explain that glass or plastic containers are the most suitable for soaking and dyeing yarn as they can be safely placed in a microwave oven. Although kool aid dyes are acidic, vinegar may be added to the water to help set the dyes.

Another colouring agent being tested by two of the participants was Jacquard Acid dyes. These concentrated, powdered, hot water dyes produce the most vibrant colours possible, but are reported to be toxic and must be handled with care. Jacquard dyes require acid for activation, and the simplest form of acid is white vinegar.

Some knitters hand painted their yarns using squeeze bottles.

Kata harnessing her creative talents using jacquard acid dye

I am making a raspberry and chocolate mess with jacquard acid dyes

Others dipped yarns in pots of colour and spread colour them with wooden spoons.

Once dyeing was completed, yarn was placed in the microwave oven for up to six minutes until the dye was completely taken up by the yarn, and the water was clear.

Jenny setting dye with the microwave

Yarn was then hung on a line to cool and drip dry. Once cooled, the dyed yarn was thoroughly rinsed in cool tap water.

When asked, one of the participants commented on the results of her yarn dyeing. “I’m not sure what to call this colour or variegation. I think it's open to interpretation and that's the great thing”.

As is often the case in these types of ritualistic gatherings, there was a disturbance - loose cannons if you will at the wrong end of a camera! The evidence speaks for itself:

Imaginations together with a kaleidoscope of colour produced some amazing results.

Kata's dyed skeins

My dyed skeins

The lone male participant seemed delighted to be involved in the yarn dyeing experiments. Surrounded by so many gorgeous women….what man wouldn’t be lovin’ it??

Vicky M's Got Sleeves!

I've just finished blocking Vicky M's sleeves! Hooray! Do you know what that means?? Uh huh....I'm finished knitting my Tempest pieces [SQUEAL!]

The sleeves are drying as I type, and they won't take long in this heat.

Later tonight I will start putting her together. Ohmigosh! It's so exciting. It's like I'm creating this "entity", not just a cardigan.... Yeah, I know I'm nucking futs!

Earlier tonight is the Ravelry get-together at Wortley Roadhouse, so I think I'll take my Pink Confetti Hoodie project - that doesn't require great concentration.

Would I Knit a Hood?

If I could, I would.....

And I should.

So, yes! Yes I will knit a hood....

And a good hood it will be!

But only because my 3.4 year old niece, Jaycee Mae, is such a sweetie, and I’m her Aunty and Godmother and love her!

Mission assigned, my pattern search on Ravelry began. Hours later I had it – Kid’s Hoodie designed by Betsy Westman. And lookie here….what a coincidence….one of the categories in the 157th Ilderton Fall Fair's hand knitting division is for a Child’s Hooded Sweater! Hah! What a kwinky dink!!!

Yup, yup, yup….I’m one of THOSE people that *loves* country fall fairs. Every year for the last five, I’ve entered my baking, violets and knitting! I’ve got a whack of ribbons and prizes, but the ONE category I strive to win is the Country Fair Baking Contest. This year I’m going for the “hat trick” with my Black Forest Cherry Cake. In 2003 & 2004 I won 1st place ribbons. Then in 2005 I won a 2nd place (and deservedly so). In 2006 & 2007 I made a comeback and won 1st place ribbons. And now it’s 2008 – my second chance to score the trifecta!

Black Forest Cherry Cake 2007

Oops! Got a bit side-tracked there. Now getting back to the hoodie... My next search was for the perfect yarn. The pattern called for a worsted weight Lana Grossa yarn, but I decided to sub the yarn for Cascade 220. And what colour is Jaycee Mae’s favourite colour? Ugh! PINK! Well of course it is….

Since the hoodie is knit in stockinette stitch, I decided that a variegated yarn would be much nicer than a solid colour, so I phoned my LYS and picked up some Cascade 220 Dip Dyed Confetti #601 [ya, ya….fancy for variegated pink]. I wound the skeins last night, and swatched straight away. Perfect tension! I cast on while enjoying a re-run mini marathon of Sex and The City, and despite the colour, the pink is looking rather … nice … EEK! Did I just write that? [note to self: don’t ever let me year you say that pink is nice again!].

I’m making a little change to the pattern - professional rib cast-ons for all the ribbings using smaller sized needles instead of the usual cast-on method and the same sized needle as for the body.

Thus far: