crossing the line

It went almost to the wire, but I finished my 2 ravelympics goals :)


dk-ish 2-ply handspun, corriedale
dyed by Black Bunny Fibers in Obama fundraiser colorway, "Audacity"
approx 380 yd

It was nice to take a break mid-hat knitting and spin; the goal also lit a fire under me since this yarn and this one are a prize package in the Knitters for Obama fundraising drawing (item #43) which ends August 28! It was neat seeing how the same colorway and same fiber, spun at different weights, looks side by side:



I gave a little more thought than usual about the sport singles that I usually do when spinning; I split the entire roving length in half like usual, then for the first bobbin I tore one half into 4 strips. For the second bobbin, I tore the other half of the roving into eight lengths... so the first bobbin had longer color stretches than the second.



I like the result a lot; there are still stripes but breaking the colors up by length stripes will be an interesting knit. I hope the winner of the yarns thinks so too :)

I am also pleased as punch meeting my ten hat goal...


ten hats for the 'hats for homeless vets' Knitters for Obama Project
(just couldn't muster ten self timered shaky headshots :))

I used Swish Bulky for all but the cabled hats on the ends. Tika was rad enough to horse trade me some wool ease chunky for some Enchanted Knoll batts I had in the stash... totally has me thinking I could whip up that sexily named #28 (chunky cable) sweater from the fall vogue knitting in no time too, didn't know how fast WEC would knit up!

All in all, a good goal and a good time. Every time I'd update my hat total to the charity knitting thread on the Knitters for Obama forum on Ravelry I'd get a little cheer or love (1) and I'm all about the positive reinforcement :) My tiny contribution of ten hats PALES to the more than EIGHT HUNDRED items knit for homeless vets by members since the start of the project, which doesn't include the preemie hats and bibs knitting project the group took on in the primaries.

It actually was a tough goal for me to meet! Spindle spinning and the Monterey wool auction (and resulting fleeces I just *had* to start washing and prepping) were all out to get me, but I persevered. Mainly it was luck though, since this arrived the Saturday before the flame went out...


Pin drafted cormo, 3#
"Carla" from Cormo Sheep and Wool Farm, processed by Morro Fleece Works
originally 4.5#, 35% loss in washing/prep (same % I've been pulling at home)

I bought this fleece at Retzlaff and it was one of the last colored fleeces Shari at Morro processed before starting on her whites cycle. Six bags, eight ounces each of this...



and this...



I'm sort of... I don't know. The color and the coil prep is beautiful! but very close colorwise to the corriedale I've been combing from whitefish bay farm. It's silly (maybe), but I've wanted to have only one of each color on hand or in the pipeline fleece-wise... I've got a lot (a LOT!) of fleece on hand already, but this is my first overlap.

Gorgeous though.



We'll see. I think it may hang out for a while as I decide what I want to do with it; I wouldn't feel so skittish about it if space weren't such an issue and that I have decided on a project for the corriedale (that I keep combing and spinning)...



If you've followed my twitter you may have guessed already :)

Til then! Next time, I want to share how I (insanely) washed and prepped the gigantor merino fleece from Lambtown before the Ravelympics even began...


eta! for those of you who dig the threadless sheep shirts, they've reprinted the green grass/counting sheep "Insomnia" shirt this week and have started their $12 sale! just when i swore off all new tshirts :)