Last week's spinning......

The county fair is over for another year - we had the best time spinning everyday and visiting with the public...…and chatting and chatting amongst ourselves.  It's amazing that we never run out of things to talk about after spinning together all day long. 

I was close to finishing up spinning some other fiber so didn't want to take that as I'd have to ply and didn't feel like plying the entire time.  This is the last of my hand-dyed roving in my stash, it's a merino/bamboo/nylon blend in a colorway I call bandana. I am ready to ply 2 huge bobbins I spun on my Hansen (electric) mini-spinner which was so easy to roll in and out each day in it's Zuca rolling tote. I have no clue what it will grow up to be, it may have to sit on the shelf and marinate for a while until the perfect project comes up. I wasn't sure what it would look like spun up, I really like it. 

Spinning at the fair

This is what I spent 4 days spinning while demo'ing at the county fair. It's some of my hand-dyed merino/tencel roving. I know a lot of people don't like yellow but I love it and I think this will make an elegant spring/summer shawl........and maybe I'll even have it knit by next spring or summer.....maybe. Would love to have enough energy to finish spinning up the rest of that roving this evening and then move on to plying another evening this week. Not only does this look like butter but it spins like it........

The toll keeps rising - another sick one from the fair, and another has an appointment this afternoon with her doc. I'm feeling rundown and still not up to par but at least today I'm not laying prone, coughing and headache not as bad.....just not getting a terrible amount accomplished........

Spinning at the fair

The fair is over - this morning we went back to the fairgrounds to take down our display - whoo hoo - another year done.........had a great time as usual but am totally exhausted.  This was the second fiber I was spinning at the fair this week - cashmere/tussah silk - it is lovely. I only have 4 oz of it so I'll ply it with something else, maybe some silk thread....or rayon....or tencel. My friend Kathy suggested I put pearls or maybe sequins on the thread I ply it with.......will have to give it thought.

Now it's time to play catch-up here at home after playing all week.......stop on the way home from the fairgrounds this morning was at a local farm stand to pick up veggies to actually cook a real dinner tonight......been living on fair food for lunch and snacking for dinner.

County Fair

This is the colorful roving I was spinning today at the fair - it's Superfine Merino from a dye day last month.......only I didn't dye it.  My friend Kathy G wanted to come over to help me dye only she doesn't spin and has never dyed roving.  I made her pick colors and dye 2 pounds on her own and this is what resulted - it's very fun.  I'm spinning up 8oz of it for her.  If you want to see what everyone was doing today at the fair go over to our spinning group's blog to check it out.

Spinning at the fair

Ashland Bay Merino Roving in the multi-color Baltic colorway - started spinning this today for another knit Milk Run Shawl (pattern free on Ravelry) - I want something that will go with jeans. I normally carry this colorway in my etsy shop but I grabbed the last of it to spin myself - it will be on my next Ashland Bay order.

Today I was demo'ing spinning at the fair. I decided to bring my electric spinner so the public could see a range of ways to spin. It turned out great - I had my electric spinner, someone was drop spindling, several spinners using different types of wheels, someone rug hooking with handspun, someone needlefelting and someone making bobbin lace.......all this was in our little spinning circle in front of our display.

The fair was very sad today, going the way of many county fairs I'm afraid. In the tiny bit I walked around when I went out to get some lunch I could see so many empty spaces along the midway, the food vendors, commercial vendors.....and in our building it looked so empty compared to what it did a few years ago, entries in the arts & crafts division as well as baked/preserved foods were down. The $9 entry fee for adults (children under 12 a bit lower) is pretty steep for the size of our fair, then you add on rides for kids and food and it's downright expensive for a family. And there are no big name music acts in the evenings like in years past - this year there will be more truck things, bull riding, etc. The new fair manager is trying to make it more of a country fair......time will tell if that works or not. I'm not sure what the Douglas Co fair is doing (the next county up) but last week they had 4 big name musical acts, they're obviously doing something different. I hope our fair makes it for another year as next year is the 100th anniversary.

As I walked out I eyed the bulls by the gate for bullriding this evening, I had a fleeting thought of going over to see them as they were resting and looked pretty benign.....then I thought again as I saw they were only in temporary livestock pens, not sure how sturdy those things are.

How are your county fairs doing?

Spinning at the fair......

This is what I'm currently spinning while at the county fair. It's an Ashland Bay merino/tussah blend in the Lilac colorway. I'm spinning with the thought that I'll pair it with my last handspun of merino/tussah in the concord colorway in possibly shadow weave for a shawl or yardage for a vest or such, all depends on how many yards I end up with. This was all I had spun after 2 days of spinning......next time I think I'll spin worsted size to fill bobbins faster!

On the fire front - fire is still growing although slowly, expected containment is not expected until October 15th! It's 15% contained at this point. There were dry thunderstorms a couple nights ago which ignited over 30 small fires, mostly to the east of us, from the sounds of it they've got them under control but getting good information is tough. Check out fellow fiber friend Karen's site for a couple pix of the copters at work yesterday morning.

I'm back..........

I've spent the past 5 days demonstrating spinning at the fair - what a fun time although exhausting. I'd love to stay home all day today but need to get back to the fairgrounds this morning to help take down our display. This is some of the fiber I spun this week - my hand-dyed blue face leicester in the Harvest colorway. I spun a 2 ply fingering weight for socks. I think it turned out beautiful. This is one of the favorite colorways I dye - stock is currently available in the blue face leicester and a merino/tencel blend. I did some other spinning at the fair - one bobbin waiting to be plied with some thread, and then some blended colorways which I'll post when I finish up the small skeins.

spinning at the fair

This is the merino I spun at the fair this week. It was roving I dyed in the primary colors which then blended where they met to form secondary colors. I was curious how it would spin up. I took half the roving and drafted it out to spin long repeats of colors. Then I split the remaining roving into thinner strips so the repeats would be shorter. I then plied them together. I'm anxious to see how this knits up into socks.

We had the best wool judge ever for the fleeces this year. She's from Washington and is a sheep grower, a shearer, a spinner and knitter in addition to judging. She actually took time with each fleece talking about it's pros and cons - we hope she comes back next year.

This week is catch up week here at home but first a day trip to the coast today to get away from the heat and smoke (from CA fires). The Festival of the Arts is going on in Brookings on the harbor boardwalk so we'll take Bailey over to browse the booths, then go play on the beach.