I love these hats!

A couple of weekends ago, I went to a knitting retreat in Buena Vista at a B&B, Liar's Lodge.   This place is a fishing lodge right on the Arkansas River and in the winter months they open to crafting groups like ours for the weekends.   It was a small group of 8 and we had the run of the place, which meant hanging around the common area in our PJ's!!   What could be better??

To top it off, there was a fabulous knitting/spinning store in the small downtown, Serendipity. It was stocked as well or better than most of the stores here in town.   Our group did a little retail/fiber therapy...ok... a LOT!   I spotted a pattern pamphlet that I hadn't seen before, the Lake Drive Hat.   It calls for Kauni yarn held double and the sample was so enticing I purchased yarn in the black/gray colorway EC and the pattern.   It is really an easy pattern, and I could have probably figured it out on my own, but I figured that any pattern that grabs me the way it did deserves to be supported with a purchase.   Wouldn't you feel the same way?  I also purchased 16" circulars in 7 to start it right away.    Since I was spinning most of the weekend, I didn't finish the hat til the next weekend but I really love the way it turned out.   It will be super warm and can be pulled down over your ears when it is really cold.

Since it only took 80 grams of the original 150 in the skein, I started a second one right away, and used leftover yarn from my sweater

from 2 years ago for half of it.    The second hat looks different in the photograph because I made that one using the Magic Loop method instead of on a  small circular, but when the hat is on, they fit just the same.   This hat only took 2 days to complete.

I LOVE THESE HATS!

No Apologies, but a Finished Project!

My first PI shawl, from Wendy Knits.  This is a salute to Elizabeth Zimmerman, knitter extraordinaire!!

Hope Chest

Because my daughter had a falling out with the the new Mom, this is going into the baby hope chest.

Baby Surprise Jacket in Dream in color/Mission Falls 1824- all superwash for convenience.   

Modifications: 4 inch fold-over 1X1 rib cuff to extend the sleeves, picked up at the end.

More Estes Park Wool Market

How could I end the posting yesterday without any wooly beasts?   Here ya go:

Teething Alpaca

Cozy coated sheep

Head shots of Jacob Sheep with spots and multiple horns

Judging sheep: the BFL on the right was the big winner

Bottle Baby Yak- for sale!  Only two weeks old

Baby Angora Goat

Working my way back from the Most Recent

With such a large gap in my blogging, where do I start to catch up??......with the most recent event, of course---The Estes Park Wool Market.

This now annual event for me and Stacy was expanded to two days for us this year, Saturday and Sunday with a stay overnight at a cute riverside motel.

Unfortunately, the weather gods decided we needed rain, lots of rain, so the sun was barely visible all weekend.   Clouds hovered over the nearby rock peaks,

and it even snowed in Rocky Mtn National Park.   The water flowed swiftly in Fall River, by the motel and downtown.  The second picture is the motel manager checking the river depth gauge, since
Estes was under a flood watch all weekend.

Some wild critters (elk) were roadside, saying hello.

I finished my February Lady Sweater finally, by late nights and sewing on the buttons on Saturday morning.   No time to give it a proper blocking, but a steam pressing an hour before Stacy came.   I ended up wearing it all weekend thanks to the temps in the 40's.

The fairgrounds were rainy and muddy, so we stayed mostly in the vendor barn, and shopped til the budget cried "uncle"!   Here is the haul:

From Creatively Dyed Yarns this is 70%wool, 30% seacell fiber in color, Plankton.

From Kai Ranch: this is overdyed black kid mohair:

This is a raw Jacob fleece, which is very clean since it was coated.   The spots are very distinct and the colors of white, black, and gray are even divided throughout the fleece.  

It is a little over two lbs, raw, and it seems to be very soft for a Jacob.   Of course, I have to finish the Shetland fleece I started earlier this spring first...and to help out with that I bought this:

A used Louet drum carder from Fire Ant Ranch.   This was Suzanne's personal carder that she is parting with since she uses an electric carder now.   She took the time to demo it and with the savings, I couldn't resist.  Even though it is about 15 years old, it is solidly built, finished well, and only a few of the pins are bent.  In case I forget how to operate it, there are etched instructions in 5 languages on the front and the back!

  
On Sunday, we spent  most of the day watching the 4 teams at the sheep to shawl competition.   I must have been so mesmerized by it all, since I failed to take one photograph.   Teams of 5 people: one weaver and 4 spinners started with washed fleece and a warped loom and proceeded to spin yarn and weave a shawl in about 5 hours.   There were 4 teams this year and the finished results were vastly different from each other, but each beautiful in its own way.  It might be fun to be on a team in the future...hmmm something to think about.