I’m Knitting As Fast As I Can

Here are the remaining photos I’m willing to share from the whirlwind weekend. Actually, I’m only holding back one photo and Carole knows why. Naughty, naughty, Carole.

After I picked Terry and Kim up at the airport, I took them to The Red Iguana, a Mexican restaurant that’s a Salt Lake institution. I think I messed up by suggesting that Terry order a mole dish. It was a bit spicy by wimpy, east-coast standards but she was a good sport as she subtly wiped the sweat from her brow during the meal.

After lunch, we stopped off at Temple Square and wandered through the gardens and into the Tabernacle. Here’s Kim and Terry inside the Tabernacle plotting an infiltration of the Morman Tabernacle Choir.

Then, we met up with Carole and Margene at Black Sheep Wool Co. We cajoled Terry into modeling Anne Carroll Gilmour‘s latest creation–a felted witch hat she designed just in time for Halloween.

Then Margene and Carole had a turn.

Think how awesome this hat would look worn on top of a Hallowig. You can order a copy of the pattern by calling the shop (801-487-9378). I know you want one. I got mine from Anne on Monday, together with a plastic cone to block the finished hat and the wire for the brim.

Here’s one of my favorite photos from the weekend — Kim modeling the original Bee Stole which now resides in Salt Lake with Anne, the proprietress of Wooly Wonka Fibers.

And one parting shot of most of the group, taken in the waning hours of the festival.

Last week was crazy. In addition to the usual chaos, Margene and I gave a presentation to the Salt Lake Knitting Guild one night and I taught the second installment of my Baby Surprise Jacket class another night. Alas, there was no rest for the weary this weekend. But since the weekend activities included out-of-town luminaries and a fiber festival, I’m not complaining.

I promise a proper post with details will find its way to this page later this week, but first I have to catch up on some emails, laundry, and storage issues *cough, cough.* So I’ll leave you with a photo of:

• Margene blogging me,
• Me blogging Carole,
• Carole blogging Teresa.

Yikes.

Sadly, the knitting has recently taken a back seat to barbeques, yard-work, hiking, and attempts to beat the 100-degree heat. I did, however, finish Navajo plying the singles I was working on last week.

For some reason, I had a difficult time keep a good tension as I was plying. I suspect it was because the singles were a bit overspun and, thus, kept kinking up. I wanted some tightly-spun yarn suitable for socks but I might have gone a little overboard. I ended up plying with the Schacht and using my Sonata as an extremely expensive Lazy Kate. Basically, I put the bobbin on the Sonata’s flyer and kept the brake on to keep tension on the singles as I plied. Not my best work, but not the worst either.

I also spent a little time playing with a skein of Brown Sheep’s new yarn, Serendipity Tweed. I stopped into my LYS on Friday and the owner gave me her sample skein to try out.

I’m reallying like the yarn and the knitted fabric. It’s 60% cotton and 40% wool; not blended, though, but plied together. See for yourself . . . . .

Unlike some cotton blends, it’s very soft, albeit a little splitty. All-in-all, though, it’s a very nice addition to the Brown Sheep line.