sock porn for knitting voyeurs.

Monday, July 30, 2007

Lambtown in Dixon, CA 2007

We made it out to Lambtown in Dixon on Saturday, despite 2 hours in traffic and 95F degree heat. Arriving late in the day, there were only a few sheep victims of the shearing demonstrations to see (though I promised my son we were braving the weather to go to "the sheep show") :)

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Supposedly, this year's Lambtown was much smaller than normal and had some cookoff issues. It was held in a park behind Dixon City Hall (as opposed to the larger fairgrounds), and didn't include the sheep dog trials or shearing competition (only scheduled demonstrations). The vendor list was also small, maybe 40 booths-- several of which had nothing to do with fiber or spinning (sunglasses, hawaiian vacations, cheap plastic toys and poppers, etc.) Doesn't mean I didn't pick up a few things, though.

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Recycled silk yarn, approx 200gm
Yarnplace.com

This will eventually be another sunburst sling bag. I think it's awfully amusing that as much as I disliked the recycled silk yarn I used the first time, I went back to the same retailer and bought more. Admittedly, this isn't quite the same, but I may be whining about the yarn later. I still really like my hairy red recycled silk bag though, and mom has always admired it/glancingly asked for it. The new gold one (for me!) will have a wider, shorter strap to help offset the amount of stuff I can carry in the bag (like the last dye session's 2.5lbs of roving I took outside for photos) and the consequent stretch.

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Superwash merino roving, 4 oz "penngrove purples" (color off, much more royal, no blue)
RoyaleHare.com

Lovely roving, but I can't capture purples with my camera. Superwash = socks :)

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Susanne's 4" glove length double pointed needles, ebony
CarolinaHomespun.com

My favorite needles for toddler socks. I mistakenly said these were 5" on the Stash & Burn podcast, they're actually 4". I also liked this length when knitting the fingers for my knucks.

Also picked up...

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my "semele" handspun 3-ply with a 3rd place ribbon
category: 100% wool, plied
remarks: "terrific color. spinning is great except for a few spots that are too thin."

I'm pleased as punch. I pulled this skein from my stash and entered it on a whim, and am happy that the judge's remarks hit on exactly what I think is my weakness in spinning (that I tend to spin too thinly). The 1st place winner in my category also took the best in show overall (beautiful handdyed BFL spun on a spindle), and it was just neat seeing lots of different types of handspun up close with the judge's notes on each. Mine was definitely the largest skein (yardage and weight wise), I wonder if people spun just for the competition?

I also really enjoyed watching bits and pieces of the national spinning competition-- I wasn't always sure what they were attempting, but I was surprised to see many using my embarrassed-to-admit short draw method (PDF!) for spinning. I only saw two spinners using long draw(PDF!), but to watch they didn't seem to actually be that much faster yardage-wise and seemed to have less technically perfect yarn than the inchers. Who knows, but as a self-taught spinner it was good to see I didn't have to be too embarrassed about how I achieve the results I'm happiest with, even though I always want to learn more. I even broke out and started spinning the naturally colored llama/merino from debbieshandspun.etsy.com, inspired by the daytrip.

Good times :)

13 comments:

Bogie said...

Congratulations on placing with your handspun from your dyed roving. That's fantastic!

Dave said...

Congrats on the ribbon!!

Alyson said...

Woohoo! Congrats on the win! :-D

Lisa R said...

I purposefully kept away from the fiber and roving at Lambtown this year. I still have quite a bit of fiber sitting around from Lambtown last year.

I, er, picked up some yarn, though! ;)

lexa said...

Congrats on the ribbon! Glad you feel more "inspired" so-to-speak on the judge's comments and didn't get upset. (If it was me I'd probably be bothered by it even if it's true, that's me. I'm softee who can't compete.)

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on the ribbon! I was at Lambtown, too, but earlier. It was hot and in my heatstroked state I bought a drop spindle and some roving. Yikes! Boy, do I need practice.

Kathryn said...

I thought Lambtown was pretty awesome, even though it was smaller. I totally splurged on two Spindlewood Co. spindles and half a multicolored Romney fleece (which cost way less than the spindles) that placed second in category 3.

Knitbloggers should have some kind of secret uniform so we can identify each other at fiber events. I was watching the spinning competition as well, but never noticed anyone I recognized from the web, and you were right there!

Congrats on the ribbon, too!

Chris said...

Congrats on your ribbon! And mmmm... Penngrove Purple...

Anonymous said...

I'm an incher too, and self taught. I'm not sure I could spin long draw, even if I tried, I've gotten so accustomed to doing it "my way." Congrats on the ribbon! Yes, I think people spin just for the competition, I think you can enter as little as one ounce of yarn to compete.

hillary said...

Congrats on the ribbon! What an accomplishment. I'd be afraid to enter my handspun but maybe someday I'll feel ready. Right now i just enjoy seeing the success of others.

Deb for Fearless Fibers said...

The yarn you spun is just lovely. You should be very proud :) Congratulations!

Sally Comes Unraveled said...

Congrats on the yarn.

I'm assuming the dislike of recycled silk is the difficulty working with it.

I've made some really bad recycled silk choices myself:
http://sallycomesunraveled.blogspot.com/2007/07/saving-amazing-technicolor-disaster.html

Feel better about your purchase?

Rachel said...

Congrats on the ribbon! That is some good looking yarn!

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