Tuesday, May 31, 2011

From the Garden



Now that I have a back yard I am experimenting with vegetable gardening. Tonight I went to check on how things are going and much to my delight I found that the radishes I planted on May 11 (that will be 3 weeks ago tomorrow) are ready for harvest. Here are a few I pulled up tonight.

I've never really been a radish person, but I find I am more willing to try something I grow myself! These were pretty tasty with some hummus.

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Great Lakes Fiber Show '11

This year I reigned myself in a little more. I actually made a list of rules about yarn I could and could not buy. For example- no brown yarn. I have a ton of brown yarn in various weights. Sock yarn was on the OK list- but it needed to be solid or semi-solid. No single skeins without a purpose!

So here is what I ended up with:

From Knitting Notions (a perennial favorite) I purchased a skein of Classic Merino Supersock in Redwood. This skein had the added bonus of being on sale.

A new vendor for me: Grouse Ridge Farm:
These 4 skeins are for colorwork mittens. The greens are all naturally dyed.


Then a sort of purchase for me: roving. These small balls were $1 each from Valhalla Acres Fiber Farm (whom I have purchased from before). I bought six total for thrummed mittens in two different color ways.
While I have plenty of wool to use for the thrummed mittens, I decided to get one skein specifically for the purple thrummed mittens. I chose this gray wool/mohair blend from Ohio Valley Natural Fibers:

This was my last purchase at the Fiber Show, but not my last purchase of the day.

My sister and I left the fairground and went downtown for a bite to eat for lunch and then stopped at Calla Lily to look around. I ended up getting another skein of sock yarn. This is Cascade's Heritage Silk sock yarn in red. I really don't have enough true red socks considering how much red is generally a part of my wardrobe.


Overall I think it was good show. It seemed a little different this year. I'm not sure if that was because I was more restrictive about what I was OK to purchase or if it was because I went on Sunday which I usually don't do. Not that it felt picked over today- but the atmosphere is different and definitely less crowded on Sunday than it is Saturday. I did kind of think there was less yarn and more fiber this year. Maybe it only seemed that way, but it was a sense I had. I think for sure there was less sock yarn than I usually see. Then again, maybe I was just overlooking a lot because I was looking for more solid colors so that I could knit socks with lace patterns. Then I kind of ran into the problem that a lot of colors I liked were colors that I already have. A lot of yarn was really expensive too. That isn't a complaint I usually have. I am used to what I consider the usual price range of $20-25 for sock yarn, but really unless it has super special fiber content, I don't want to pay more than that. It seemed like I came across a lot of yarn that was pretty and nice, but not super exclusive fiber content or lots of extra yardage that was in the $35-$45 range and that is just way too much for me.

Socks!


I did it! I knit a pair of socks in under a month. Adult socks. Not exactly "full size" because I decided I don't really have any reason to make my sock legs so long, so why bother, but they aren't exactly anklets either.

I'll take pictures when it is light outside and post if I remember.

I'm just so excited I actually did this again. The last time I did that must have been before E was born.