Important Decision...

I recently (ish) got a part time job in the education department at a local science museum...with a planetarium (10 points to anyone who can guess where I'm going with this...).

The other day I was at work, and it has been crazy rainy here lately. Just about everyday we have been getting some kind of rain. Usually it has been overnight which works out great because the plants get watered, but then the day is cooler and sunny. However this day was cold. Seriously, it was 57 degrees outside.

Now I'm not sure how it happened, since the gallery floor doesn't have any windows, but the lack of sun made it incredibly cold inside (probably something to do with the lack of heat absorption through the brick walls...). Everyone else had sweaters, and there were even a few with shawls, but not me. (If you've guessed it this is where you get to 10 points)

It's been in my cart on Ravelry for a while, and I've even speculated about spinning some alpaca for it in the past, but that never happened. Well now it's time (after I finish my current sweater, a going away present, and my Christmas knitting list that is).

Celestarium, I have to. I think I might get fired if I don't (well not really, but I have to tell my DH something right?).

It is so pretty, and very applicable! So now the question is, do I buy yarn or spin my own? It calls for about 1200 yards of fingering weight yarn. My default yarn is about a DK 2 ply, though I don't mind the shawl being a bit bigger than suggested. I have been having some great luck with blending on my combs, which is a post for another day- I'll try to get it in before the TDF. Which is coming up so quickly, and I do need to spin for it...though I would need to prep a whole different batch of fiber, but that can be done.

Well, the TDF is coming up quickly, but as you can see, I have plenty of knitting to do before I'm ready to get started on this, so let me know what you think. I'm seen some gorgeous yarns that are just asking for a few stars!

TDF Swap!

It's getting to be Tour de Fleece time again! This year I'm on the Paradise Fiber team, Team DIY & Dye, and the official Climbers team for those challenging themselves.

Team DIY & Dye is a team for those who start with fleeces and end with colored yarn, a perfect fir for all of my Bella Wool that I still have (shifty eyes...) In addition to the general TDF posting, this team also did a pre-tour swap that I got to be a part of.

As luck would have it, my swap partner and I live within driving distance of each other so we decided to meet instead of shipping our packages, and we had a great time.

I was so fortunate to be paired with her! She is an extremely talented crafter. She made me some HP themed stitch markers, a shawl pin, and a felted bowl. She also included various amount of "chiengora" (dog fur)- some blended, some not.

Enough words, how about some pictures!

 Here's the bulk of it. There are a few things that the individual pictures aren't loading right now, so tucked away in there are two different packages of flax and a great HP mug with amazing teas and hot chocolates, I can't wait!

 HP awesomeness! My great swapper saw that I'm in the HP KC HC and got me a bunch of HP items including two boxes of Every Flavor Beans, Jelly Slugs, and some hand made stitch markers. Yep, she made those! We're got Tom Riddle's diary, complete with individual pages inside, some butter beer, a snitch, and everybody's favorite anthropomorphic clothing!

 Here come the pooches. We've got a couple bags of straight dog down, as well as some blended with some Wensleydale! I can't wait to give it a try!

Sorry that it's sideways, but she shows her awesome talent once again. Yeah, she made this amazing shawl pin as well! All that can be said is wow!

Here is a lovely hand felted bowl, that she crocheted, out of her own hand spun yarn. No she didn't raise or sheer the sheep herself, but that's about her limit...she does have turkeys though...





So that was my amazing swap so far, she also included a little box to open on the first day of the tour, I can't wait to see what's in there! Wooly people are just the best!

Meso-project Blah

Well...the blanket's done. Now I just have to find something else to do.

 The problem is I have specific yarn I want to use and now I need to find the right project for the yarn.

The additional problem is that it's 800+ yards of a sport weight suited for lace, but it's dark and highly variegated...and I had it in the fair last year and want to enter it this year to take advantage of the "Second Time Around" category...

Also, it turns out that I'm not very good at lace. Though lace is really the only option for this yarn as it is far to dark to work any cables or knit/purl texture. So I guess I need to get better at lace...I've started, I think, 5 different projects, and none of them have been working so there has been a lot of frogging going on here lately.

BLAH

On the bright side, when I get really frustrated, I just pull out my giant stock pot and wash and dye wool, so I have about 3 pounds ready to get combed now. I've been doing a bit of blending and that has been working out very nicely, but that's a topic for another day...  

.....and DONE!

IT IS FINISHED!

Clearly there is still a bit of blocking to do, but otherwise I think I'll let the picture do the talking today!

I'm done thinking!

This is the last page of my pattern! The Wedding Blanket is almost done. I am done with the inner section and just have border left,  hence the post title. I actually finished the inside Monday night, but I've been busy with all the knitting and letting my wrists recover.
I'm 8 rows into the 12 row inner boarder and then there will be a 24 row outer boarder. So here we go with the last 28 rows and then we'll see if I can get anything done in time for the fair...in addition to House Cup classes and Tour de Fleece... I suppose I'll still be up late knitting and spinning for a while.