Maryland Sheep and Wool 2018

After looking at my post for the 2017 Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival I realize how much restraint I showed this year when it came to shopping. I'll get to the yarn in a bit. I want to share a few of the sights of the show.

The last couple years we have camped at Ramblin' Pines beginning on Friday evening and departing on Sunday morning. This makes for an early start for the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival. This year, I was in line before 8 am . By the time the gate opened, the line was probably 3-4 times longer than when I stepped up. This was the first year I purchased my ticket online. It seemed a quicker choice than paying cash. I don't think the ticketed line moved much faster, though.

There were a couple nervous alpaca. Look at those lashes!

Like every year, I went to the working dog show. I love to watch these pros at work. 

The sheep are about a year old, the dogs range in age from 1 year to 12 years. I love to see the dogs because you can see their desire to do the work they have been bred to do. 

I even found a few fluffy bunnies in the rabbit barn.

In the end, I didn't come away with that much yarn. I would have shopped more if the human crush didn't get to be so, so uncomfortable. If I look in a booth and there doesn't seem to be room for another single human in there I move on, no matter how much I want something they have. I'm also not one to stand in a line 20-30 people long. Don't worry, I won't run out of yarn any time soon.

I do really like every yarn I picked up this year. I don't have precise plans for these, but I'm hoping to do better than I did last year since I still have so much of that yarn not even caked up.

This year's mad loot includes: (from the left side)
KnittyAndColor - a fun speckle skein called "Bitchin!"I had to have, and a mini to go with it
Hobbledehoy Yarns & Fiber - a yellowish green called "Wormwood"
Coughlin's Homespun Yarns - couple Flat Feet sock flats by Conjoined Creations in somewhat matching pinks
Yarn Hygge - two skeins of SW 2ply sock called "Cosmic Dawn"
Bottom: Into The Whirled - one skein of Pokokku Sock called "Captain Tightpants" because I will not be denied a yarn with such an amazing name

Now I need to go work on all the projects I have in progress so I can get to work on this new yarn!

Camper Remodel

The forward compartment has these silly little flap doors. The compartment isn't silly, it's really awesome. The problem is that that this space used to be part of the bed base for the queen-size bed. That means any sufficient breeze could sneak in through those doors an under the bed. Not a great design to keep the humans warm. When we boxed in this section, we thought it would be a great time to insulate the sides that face the inside of the camper to try to keep the inside temperature controlled.

We used one 25 foot roll of 24" wide Refletix to insulate the pass-through. I'm hoping it will be sturdy enough to hold up through several seasons. This is where we store such wonders as chock blocks and camp chairs.

We finished off the plywood of the bed deck with vinyl, peel and stick planks. They are a little dark but not terrible. We had a piece of quarter-round oak in the garage that was perfect to finish the edge at the wall. We have plenty more little things to do but it was good enough for the first trip of the season: Maryland Sheep & Wool.

Small Fans Shawl

In an attempt to post something quickly last week, I learned, again, how much I dislike drafting posts on my tablet. I'm not sure what it is, but it is so much more twitchy than my desktop, so here I am, completely rewriting that post so it won't look horrible and might have more than three words.

I wanted to try out the Small Fans Shawl. I thought I might like it in this fine ombre yarn I received from Aunt Betty. I decided I really liked the work but hated the yarn. I'm sure it is a very nice yarn, but the wool is somewhat scratchy and not suitable for something you intend to put up against your neck. The design is free on Ravelry. I must warn you, though, it is not a pattern, it is a chart, and only a chart. If reading crochet charts isn't your thing, you've been warned.

I grabbed a softer yarn and gave the design a try. This is Chroma Worsted. I only had a partial ball, but I wanted to make sure I could read the chart and that I liked the result with this yarn before I pulled out enough for the project.

I grabbed three balls in one colorway and caked them up. Why did I cake them? I've had terrible luck with ombre and self striping yarns. I will almost always find a knot, joining two very different colors, in the middle of the ball. I don't want that to happen while I'm working, so I almost always cake the yarn. That way I am touching every yard of that yarn before it gets wound and I know what to expect. It also lets me make sure those joins are quality joins and to ensure the color flow is at least some semblance of what I want. I only found a couple knots in one of these balls. The other two were perfect. It also lets me cake them so the colors merge from cake to cake.

This was a fairly quick project. I worked on it during the week after dinner during our television time. We're watching Justified and enjoying every episode. This is pre-blocking. It measured about 64 inches along the top edge.

I wet blocked the work to open up the motifs. I really like how wet blocking opens up crochet or knit to really let the design shine. After blocking it measures 76 inches across the top edge and I don't think I stretched it as far as it would go. 

It is a very nice finish for a quick project. Next up is a test to see how far 100 grams of fingering will go with this pattern. I think this design would work up great in a single color, too.

Project details:
Clover Armour Crochet Hooks (set)
Clover Armour Crochet Hook (size H)
Chroma Worsted Yarn (five pack) The colors I used are no longer available but there are load of wonderful new colors. Or buy Chroma Worsted directly from Knit Picks.
Knitter's Pride Blockers Kit
Knit Picks Blocking Wires Kit

Get It Done UFO Challenge 2018 - April

This is the next installment of the Get It Done UFO Challenge 2018.

April was number 6. What is number 6? Quite possibly one of the most difficult or time-consuming projects on my list. 

Way back in October I started playing with these fun shapes. The goal was to play with curves and use up a bunch of batik leftovers from other projects. I also threw in some solids in muted tones.

As I slowly progressed, I realized I wasn't having much fun once the pieces became larger than about 12 square feet. They were just too difficult to join up and maintain a flat piece of work. I'm not saying it was impossible, just that it was more work than I was willing to put into this quilt.  

I had added several large pieces and I really liked where it was going, but decided to cut those big pieces down into more manageable pieces. The answer was to use the largest square quilting ruler I own.

I used the Omnigrid 15" by 15" Quilting Ruler to cut these super-sized blocks. Whatever was left over got put into new blocks. The resulting blocks were then rearranged more times than I care to count.

I wanted to stabilize the perimeter, so I pieced 3" wide borders to use up some of the leftover strips and carry the improv piecing into the border. 

Overall, a great project. I still need to buy backing and get it quilted, but I learned more than little about what can be done with freehand-cut curves. Not quite a finish for April, but excellent progress. 

Want to learn about improv curves? Check out this great post by Anne of Play Crafts over on Lily's Quilts.

Also, you should check out the Mod Mood Quilt Along from Sherri Lynn Wood at Daintytime. It was a great inspiration when working on this project.