Ky. Sheep and Wool Festival

Last month I drove to Lexington, Ky. to check out the sheep and wool festival (May 17-18).  It was an adventure finding the park, partly because when I got directions in mapquest I ended up at Masterson Station,which is a clubhouse and not a park.  But I knew I was in the right general area so I kept driving until I saw a boy on his way to school and asked him for directions.  He very nicely told me to keep going straight, and there would be another subdivision and I'd turn right at the end.  I thought he meant at the end of the next subdivision,but I should have turned rt. at stop sign before crossing into that other subdivision.  Backtracked and off I was and thought I had found the park but after I turned into drive with a stone sign I read PRISON, u turn and back off down the road.  Finally decided I had missed the park and turned into a road where another car was coming out and asked for directions., again.   Park was on other side of prison but the sign was set a ways back from the road so I missed it.  The festival is 5 years old and will continue to grow, I'm sure. The vendors were all of high quality and friendly.   Bought some socks made on an antique sock knitting machine,  2 handmade wood buttons, rose fiber combed top, Romney/mouga silk, and Muga silk.  In Berea found a NeedleTravel book (fiber and fabric mania: a travel guide) that I'll have to see what shops are on my travel routes this year and next.  Though the weather wasn't as warm as I thought it was going to be it didn't snow like it did here at home while I was gone.

Crocheted Fuzzy Purses

Crocheted a couple of new purses with a strand each of long eyelash type yarn and regular worsted.  Just need to line them, sew them up and sew on embellishment.  Really like the zipper on they grey and the neat button on the pink.

Untangling Ear Bud Cords

When I saw various pictures on Pinterest showing cords of ear buds  crocheted, braided  and even knitted around claiming that this would keep them tangle free I thought (Yeah right).  Not every recipe, do it yourself project or craft featured on Pinterest or anywhere on the web always works when you try it.  But I did try it one day in spite of my misgivings, figured the most that could happen was I would waste some time and thread.  I crocheted around the cords with a heavier Crochet thread. You can use embroidery floss, would use all strands rather than splitting it..  It is the thickness once it is around the cords that apparently keeps it from tangling.  It is still flexible though it doesn't wind up quite as small as originally.  I am really happy with mine.  Try it and let me know what you think.

Knitting/Crocheting Tips

Since your tension is different on different days when you are making a garment and you get to the sleeves use 2 skeins of yarn and knit/crochet a row on one sleeve and then the other so you end up with sleeves that are the same length and tension.                                                                           When making a project with a large number of stitches place a marker every 20-25 stitches to make counting the # of stitches easier and if you aren't counting stitches each row you can easily tell if you have increased or decreased when you don't want to.                                                                                                       When finished with a project weave a length of yarn in so you will have it if you need to do repairs.  Not only will you have yarn of the same dye lot but as it will have been washed the same # of times as the project it will be of the same color/ texture.  Often it is years before a project needs to be repaired and finding a matching yarn can be a challenge.

Happy New Year

The new year is a time for reflection on the past year and time to plan the present year.  What went right, what didn't go as planned, what changes need to be made?  A new purse went over well, it is a small felted purse with a man's tie for the strap.  Will definitely be making more of these this year.  Didn't blog consistently this past year so that is something that didn't go as planned so it needs to go on my list of things to improve on.  To that end I went out today and bought a huge calendar to plan out some ideas for blog posts with specific dates they need to be posted.  No more procrastination.  Am putting monthly goals on a calendar and breaking those goals down into weekly goals so I am much more likely to get them done.  Sometimes a big goal just seems overwhelming but is much less daunting if broken down into smaller steps.  Figure as I am retiring this spring I need to be specific on what I want to accomplish each week or time will go by and I won't have gotten anything done for my fiber business.  Need to set goals for around the house too, flower beds are in desperate need of being tended, have a ton of photos to go thru, etc.  So what about you, what projects are on your list for this new year?

Wire Shawl Pins

I made large wire shawl pins (inner diameter about 2 1/4 " or so last year and was asked for smaller ones and again at SAFF there were requests for smaller ones.  So I made a few up the other day.  Like the large ones I made them in silver tones, gold tones and copper.  A few I combined metals for 2 toned ones.  Have not yet made any with beads like a few of the larger ones.  Here are a few pics.  Did not photo with the stick, only the pin.

Pictures from Am. Sewing Expo

The line behind me of people waiting to get in to the Am. Sewing Expo

                                              A beautiful art quilt.

                                           One of the outfits on display.

                                            
  Lost the space between the above 2 pics, one is an art quilt and the other is a cape.                                       

                  A very pretty gathered red top.

                 This dress was gorgeous, beautiful print and colors.

                               More art quilts.