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Last weekend was New Hampshire Sheep and Wool, and it was such a great time! I was a bit worried that our knitting group wouldn’t be able to get it together enough to actually show up. Some people were available one day, some another, and some not at all. Eventually we figured something out and most of us made it for the Sunday.

I have to say that I didn’t take many pictures (errr… ANY pictures) of the fair grounds. This is the third year I have been there and there has been a disturbing trend of less people attending the fair. The first year was really busy and they had some of everything. But the second year less vendors seemed to be there and less people as well. I don’t have hard numbers - just the feeling you get of something being bustling or quiet. It was raining on Saturday, and Sunday was really windy so maybe the weather contributed to the quietness of this year. It was so quiet that most times we were the only people in a booth at any given vendor. That’s just weird people! Some major vendors in these parts (Bosworth) didn’t show this year either.

I don’t know what this says for NH Sheep and Wool as I know a lot of other venues are getting busier year after year. I hope it’s just a bit of a lull for them as it’s honestly a really great fair with a nice chunk of alpaca vendors. It would be sad to see interest dwindle for anything fibre related. Maybe they need to quit having it on Mother’s Day weekend!

I did manage to pick up a few things to help spur the vendors on. Anything to do my part (aren’t I a Saint!).

I grabbed a bump of mohair because I’ve had such fun spinning the bumps of alpaca in my fibre stash:

It’s so shiny. I want to put it on my window sill and just watch is glitter in the sun all day. Unfortunately that’s not a really good way to store fibre.

I also picked up 6 oz. of pindraft Icelandic roving. This stuff blew my mind. Crazy soft for icelandic! I can’t wait to see if the yarn is as nice (let’s not over spin it):

And a fun mixed batt that had some colours that remind me of a certain friend of mine:

Remember the grape socks that Yarn Harlot made? Well the vendor was here this year and I ended up swinging in to the booth. And then I just stood there staring. And staring. And staring some more.

She had socks that were Cowboy Boots.

I didn’t know if I could part with the kind of money she was asking for to knit some socks (I have loads of sock yarn, do I really need this?) but they were SOCKS THAT ARE COWBOY BOOTS. Also, they have a story with ladies, gunfights, cards and blood drops. So in the end the sock kit won out. They are actually really intricate so I am sure I will get to do things I haven’t done yet with socks. In a knitterly way, that is.

So yeah, NH Sheep and Wool. Quieter than in years past but still containing lovely vendors that make it worthwhile to attend. Even if it is raining or windy. So quit being lazy and let’s support our Sheep and Wool festivals people!

Whew! I’ve been busy lately, even if this blog has been the most unbusy thing on the internet. I hope you will all be pleased to know that I have my Saturdays back. The course in Applied Business Analysis I was taking is over and I did recieve my certificate. YAY!

So now that I have a whole extra day on the weekends, and no time that needs to be devoted to homework or studying during the week, what have I been doing with it? Well, nothing yet. My boyfriends sister and her boyfriend were visiting from England this last week and we had a great time just hanging around New England. We did some whale watching, and I have been ever so slowly knitting.

I do have some things to show you, one of the small and one of them not small. Here is the small thing:

Can you tell what they are? Baby bibs! A co worker is having a baby this fall and I thought I could use up some leftover fabric from Winston’s cage liners and the pajamas. The fronts are flannel and the backs are corduroy. They close with pearl snaps. I just made the pattern up based on what I thought I bib looked like. My experience with babies as an adult has been limited, so I was pleased to find out they do, in fact, fit on a baby’s neck and are a good size. Success!

My other successful item is:

PAJAMAS! Here they are, all done. It was such a great experience. I learned collars, a fly, and even button holes. I know I spoke about doing the Mini Me Made May Challenge, but I think it was a little more challenging than I could handle with all my other time commitments. I have not been able to finish another pair of pajamas since I’ve done these. It was a bit upsetting to not be able to meet my goal, but it’s not like life is over and I have plenty of time to sew more items.

I realy like these pajamas but I am not sure how the flannel will hold up to wear. Of course, it’s far too hot to even wear them now so I know that they will be good for at least a year!

Maybe I should be focused on how I made pajamas a year in advance for next March or May, instead of bummed I didn’t make this years challenge.

I’ve been spending the last couple weeks indulging myself with my new sewing interest. A lot of that time has been spent pouring over blogs, tutorial sites, sewing communities. There is just as much information on the internet for sewing as there is for knitting, which is really saying something!

Its lead me to some thinking about my blog and what I share with those who read it. Some of my favourite sewing blogs contain posts about the craft, but also contain inspiration, information and tutorials, and even some posts just meant to create discussion in the comments. It makes me excited to visit them each day to see how the person is feeling and what is driving them to create.

I would love my blog to reflect that part of me, instead of just being a place where I post about what it is I’ve knit or bought that week. In fact, if I don’t feel the pressure to take a picture of my own knitting or sewing or crafting, I might be spurred to make more posts!

With all the thinking I’ve been doing, I’ve certainly been making things at a slower and more thoughtful pace.

A week ago I cut out some fabric for a pajamas set, and while I don’t have a picture of them in their current state they are nearly complete. The fabric is a cute flannel monster print that was so much fun I couldn’t resist. It was also on sale which is never a bad thing.

One of the sewing blogs I frequent had a challenge wherein she wore only clothes she made herself for the whole month of March. She enjoyed it so much that she’s actually created a “Me Made May” challenge! I obviously can’t join this in the full spirit intended, but I thought a fun start may be to only sleep in clothes I have made myself. I can certainly get together a couple of pajama sets within the next month!

I like the idea of this challenge as part of the reason for me wanting to sew is so that I can become more independent of stores and shopping. I find that when I buy clothes I buy them because they are cheap and will work, not to reflect my style or because they will last. It’s a highly consumerist way to clothe myself, as well as not the most attractive! It would be so much better if I chose the style, cut, fabric and fit of my clothes. Even knitters can get in on this. Maybe you will only wear hand knit socks all month? Or maybe only hand knit accessories?

I’ve also starting picking fabrics for a new summer quilt. Not surprisingly, fabric in large quantities is not cheap. I started with grabbing some fat quarters here and there and then picked out a binding and backing based on the direction the fat quarters were taking me in. I don’t have everything I need yet, but here is what it looks like so far:

The green fabric along the bottom is the backing, followed by the red floral binding for the edge of the quilt. The white cotton will be the spacing in between all the colourful fat quarters which will make up the top of the quilt. The colour palette was originally oranges and greens, but the red seemed to sneak its way in there and I love it so it’s staying!

I have to say that picking fabric for a quilt is a lot different than picking yarn for a sweater. It’s actually a lot harder. Once I get all the fabrics together I will definitely make a post focusing on my choices with this one. A new craft is so much fun for experimenting; I can’t wait to see how it comes out in the end.

Now I don’t want you to think I have forgotten knitting. It’s still there. Waiting. And sometimes being worked on little by little.

I can say that it is nice to have a break now and then. I’ve been knitting for a decade and sometimes it’s hard to be inspired by something you do every day for that amount of time. Looking at clothing and fashion as a whole, instead of just the knitting piece, is giving me a different way to view things. I love knitting and will never stop, my new experience and knowledge can only help the ideas I have with knitting grow! Hopefully they won’t grow as slowly as these socks. They are taking forever!

1. I finished more sewing! The liners for Winston’s cage, set one and two. I still need to do the third set, and then figure out what to do with the fabric scraps. Maybe a little corner house for his cage is in order.

The yellow and brown will really camouflage it’s entended purpose of collecting pees and poos.

Robots! How could I resist?

2. I actually finished seaming the Medallion Cardigan. It’s okay. My main issue is that they tell you to “knit until it makes a circle” which is pretty much no direction at all. When a garment is constructed in an entirely new way, it might be helpful to include a few more pointers besides “knit until it fits around the inner circle”. Basically, the reason this took me so long is I overknit the border by about a foot. I undid a load of my knitting, seamed the piece, and then blocked it.

Not bad right? Well, kinda. The center flower blocks out WAY BIGGER than the border. So the instructions should probably have included something about blocking that first, letting it dry, then comparing the border to it. All in all, it is wearable - but just not perfect. To improve it even more the center medallion should have a very stretchy bind off, which I didn’t think about at the time.

3. I somehow managed to sneak in 13 hours of sleep on Friday night. Yes, it was as awesome as it sounds. Unfortunately I don’t have much else in the way of progress to show you due to all my extreme laziness. Sorry to say it was totally worth it. I am really well rested though, and the bags under my eyes are nearly gone! Thank god it’s Sunday so I will soon be back to my sleep deprived and productive ways.

Yep, sewing! I need another hobby like an extra hole in the head, but I decided I need to learn how to sew. More and more I am unhappy with the clothes available in most stores. They don’t fit me well and I hate the idea of paying for people in third world countries to slave away for these “throw-away” garments.

If I am ever going to be successful in making a whole wardrobe for myself I need to learn to sew. As awesome as knitting is, I don’t think I want knitted pants.

As long as I have been making clothes with sticks and string, I can’t just start out sewing hot skirts and alluring dresses. I need to start out on simple things, like maybe a baby quilt…

This fabric kit was an impulse buy while wandering through Joanns a couple weeks ago. Once I started sewing I couldn’t stop and it was finished in a week! This is perfect for my good friend Carmen’s baby girl, whose room will be decorated in similar colours.

Here is a close up. Not that it’s really fancy, but the fabrics are cute! The backing is the flannel pink tweetie birds with the occasional brown bird. A soft fuzzy brown fur fabric borders the plain squares, which vary from satin to cotton prints.

On the whole knitting is quite different than sewing, but there are similarities. You have to pay attention to the fabrics used (that satin was a killer). Preparing is key (swatches and ironing, both very important). And the sense of accomplishment is definitely addicting! Visions of a queen size quilt are now dancing through my head.

Someone may need to step in before I start amassing a fabric stash. Maybe my boyfriend can give up his closet space? Or maybe the food cupboards would serve more purpose as stash containers? Why do we have a couch taking up so much of our living room when it could be fabric storage? Or, maybe we just need a bigger place!