moments at the farmers' market

The last farmers' market of the season was yesterday and it couldn't have been more pleasant.

Leah wore the Fiber Trends Swirls Hat she knit last week, using Noro Kureyon and a skein of tweedy something or other from our stash. For some reason, the brim came out way wider than expected, so we turned it into a bucket hat by removing a few rounds to make the top more rounded. It's her first time trying the Latvian braid, which adds so much to this design. There's maybe not as much contrast between the yarn colors as we would have liked, but she's still very happy with how it turned out. This will be a gift for a friend's birthday coming up soon and I know she'll be making more of this design. I wonder if the next one will be a bucket hat or the expected shape. I'll make a point of helping her understand yarn dominance for her colorwork the next time too.

A swarm of hungry customers early in the day. Scott brought as much as he could make in the bakery on Saturday and just about sold out of everything. Again. :-) How cool to recognize old friends from high school among the crowd later in the afternoon.

My sister, who conveniently showed up wearing a pink shirt and immediately got drafted as the model for my recently completed Wisp cowl, knitted in Sheep 3 silk and merino handpainted yarn, a row of 11 tiny vintage buttons holding it in a ring. She rec'd compliments on it throughout the day and reluctantly gave it back when it was time to leave. I had it on the day before and am wearing it as I type now. I think it's safe to say this one is a winner! Mmm...silk.

Daughter of the farmer whose booth was next to ours. Dressed in her witchy Halloween costume, she watched me knit and off during the day, asked a couple of questions, and eventually I offered to show her how to knit (and swapped her farmer mom some garlic-parmesan bread and molasses crinkle cookies for leeks and napa cabbage). When we got home, there was an answering machine message from the mom of another young knitter, a sheep-for-Noro swap confirmed, and another online friend with request for pattern info.

So. Much. Fun!

Saturday snapshots

Purty buttons sitting in the sunshine on my desk.

Jesse, happily participating in Atlatl Day at its new location at the beach. This is about the fifth year we've gone to this event, one of his favorites of the year. This time, Jesse was one of the guys who helped new folks learn to use atlatls. He had some great shots and an even greater time. He received plenty of compliments and thanks from organizers and participants.

Wisp, in Sheep 3 silk/wool yarn. I'm hoping to make it long enough to go twice around my neck, held with buttons, like a two-layered neckwarmer. Makes me wish this blog had touchavision because this yarn is incredibly luxurious.

the braiding bug

Leah's been playing with kumihimo, a braiding technique. There are lots of fancy and expensive supplies available for kumihimo, but, as usual, we decided to dive right in by making the most of what we had. This video, some scrap cardboard, and colors from our massive embroidery floss collection (much of which was received as a prize when Scott's cross stitch won Best of Show at the Eastern States Exposition) got Leah off to a good start.

She has since finished that braid, which will be a necklace with one of Scott's beads on it, I think, and chosen a new group of colors to try a different braid. It's easy, fun, portable, and its techniques and potential uses leave lots of room for exploration, so kumihimo gets an enthusiastic two thumbs up around here.

She's also sewing doll clothes lately, with the help of Two-Hour Dolls' Clothes, borrowed from the library.

Stitched entirely by hand and embellished with ribbon and beads, her designs are taking much longer than two hours, but that's by choice. Her idea is that as she gets better with making doll clothes, she'll be better at making her own clothes. I think she's already doing a pretty good job on sewing her own clothes, but it still sounds like good practice and she's enjoying it.

I knit barely a stitch last week, but between hanging with assorted knitters at the farmers' market yesterday and then watching a movie last night, I was able to finish the Habitat hat. Pics to come when it's done blocking, but one thing I wanted to mention is how unimpressed I am with the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran yarn that I used for it. This merino, microfiber, cashmere blend is a beautiful deep, rich red. Unfortunately, there are wisps of undyed fiber spun into the yarn throughout the skeins. The instance above is the biggest I noticed - most weren't such a thick wisp, nor did they continue for 5 twists - but there were many throughout these skeins. They were easily picked out, but at $8/90 meters, I should not have to deconstruct the yarn as I'm knitting it in order to get the glaring white bits out of a deep red hat! The yarn is wonderfully soft, to be sure, but I'll steer clear of Debbie Bliss products in the future.

Hmm...I just checked the Debbie Bliss website because I was going to send a comment about this problem, but there is no Contact link. So then I figured I could at least let other knitters know by leaving a warning comment at this yarn's entry on Ravelry. Sheesh, if I had only read the comments there first! There are MANY others with similar problems with this yarn. This is clearly not a fluke and I will definitely not buy any more Debbie Bliss yarn.