I spy something...Blue

Everywhere I look on my property, I am finding Robin's nests.  They have built their nests in about every nook and cranny they could find surrounding my house and barn including the Clementis next to the sun room.  I didn't realize the nest was there until I spooked Mama Bird this afternoon.


I love Spring.

Fiber Arts Friday - Much to do

Welcome to Fiber Arts Friday!  Join in the fun we have here every week by visiting everyone who has linked in their Fiber Arts blogs and make sure to share your own adventure.

This has been a busy week for me attempting to complete the last of my Round 3 Nerd Wars submissions for Tournament 4.  I've created a few projects to submit but have no clue which challenges they should go with.  I also took yesterday off to have a Yarn Quest.  My friend Terri and I visited eight yarn shops here in Michigan.  I will save that adventure for next week because there is still too much to process from all the fun I had.  Instead, I am sharing the Zombie Killer Slouch Hat that I knitted using my handspun yarn.

I have been wanting knit something using my coiled yarn for some time but didn't find a project that would fit.  I decided that a simple slouch hat would do the trick.  I let the coils "loop" on themselves between stitches to created a "bobble" effect.  I'm very pleased with the result.

The photos are of the hat on my styrofome head because the yarn still isn't dry.  Hopefully in the next few days I will share my other yarns I've spun for Nerd Wars.  I've had issues with the new Blogger update and I'm not very pleased with how it's letting us read other blogs or post.  Argh!  I guess that's another adventure I'll have figuring that update out.  Now, share your adventures in Fiber Arts.
Fiber Arts Friday ! 
To participate:

1. Submit your blog article using your current blog address NOT your complete blog  i.e. you would submit 

http://wonderwhyalpacafarm.blogspot.com/2010/02/e-i-e-i-doh.html  

NOT 

http://wonderwhyalpacafarm.blogspot.com

 Link back to Fiber Arts Friday from your post so that your readers can come and see everyone else’s projects! Text link to  WISDOM BEGINS IN WONDER!   

1. Visit as many of the other participants as possible and leave comments! That’s what helps us all connect!

Check out these wonderful blogs

Fiber Arts Friday - Blue and Green Day

Welcome to Fiber Arts Friday!  Another great week of adventures in spinning, knitting, crochet, weaving, felting, sewing, quilting and all around arts and crafts with fiber.  Today is National Donate Life Blue and Green Day in support of organ, eye and tissue donation this is the first year for this event.  Wear Blue and Green and show your support for Organ Donation.  

Before blocking

This week I really put the knitting needles to work so I could finish my Tuck Shawl.  I started it on February 1 for my Nerd Wars dissertation.  I was allowed three months to complete this shawl and I'm glad I was given that time.  I need to submit this shawl along with a write up for my Nerd Wars competition by Monday but really wanted it completed by today so that I could show my support for Organ Donation by wearing my sassy hand knit.

Blocking

This shawl has been one of my bigger knitting challenges.  It's essentially all pattern work with few knit or purl rows.  I learned some new knitting techniques and a lot about my patience.  I managed to get some finished photos due to some amazing help with blocking.  I am going to have to invest in blocking wires and more pins if I'm going to continue to knit patterns with details.

 

The Tuck Shawl, Blocked

Tomorrow is our Shearing Day of Wonder.  Our herd of Alpacas will get their yearly shearing and I will harvest my fiber crop so I can create more yarn and roving to sell.  I've been freaking out with the weather all week hoping that the rain holds off tonight and tomorrow.  My Alpacas don't like being locked in the barn and seem to poo and make a bigger mess to show their disapproval.  Alas, we want that fleece dry before shearing so they have to put up with it this one night a year.

Now that I've finished Tuck, I am also getting re-acquainted with my spinning wheel.  Frodo was neglected for a few weeks while I worked on various knitting projects.  I promised him that I won't do that again so we are making up by making some fun textured yarns.

Now...share your adventures in Fiber Arts!  Remember to wear your Blue and Green.  Show your support for Organ Donation.  As the daughter of a double lung transplant recipient, I thank each and every registered organ donor.
Fiber Arts Friday ! 
To participate:

1. Submit your blog article using your current blog address NOT your complete blog  i.e. you would submit 

http://wonderwhyalpacafarm.blogspot.com/2010/02/e-i-e-i-doh.html  

NOT 

http://wonderwhyalpacafarm.blogspot.com

 Link back to Fiber Arts Friday from your post so that your readers can come and see everyone else’s projects! Text link to  WISDOM BEGINS IN WONDER!   

1. Visit as many of the other participants as possible and leave comments! That’s what helps us all connect!

Check out these wonderful blogs

Fiber Arts Friday - Green Thumb

Welcome to Fiber Arts Friday!  Knit, Spin, Weave, Crochet, Sew, Quilt...are our ways to create art.  Share your adventures in Fiber Arts.  This week I completed my Green Thumb Mitts.  I really enjoyed this pattern and it was a sneaky way for me to work a tiny bit of lace knitting into my skills.  I adore lace but not the patience it takes to knit it so when there are projects with just a few short rows, I'm all for it.  This was also my first Nerd Wars submission for Round 3.

Our Geek Pride challenge was to make a project inspired by another competitor's project.  My friend Val, from Maine, who plays for Team Impala, fans of the show Supernatural, knitted these mitts for a challenge last round and I thought they were pretty sassy.  I've actually added quite a few items to my knitting queue due to her awesome projects.  Anyways, I decided to make these using yarn from my farm that I dyed.  There is something to be said for using your own product.  Knowing that I was in charge of those animals health and care, that I sorted their raw fleece and prepped it so it could become the yarn that it is.  Finally to knit with that yarn just completes the experience.

I feel that way when I get the opportunity to knit with someone else's handspun yarn too.  Knowing that they took the time to turn that roving into yarn...there is a story and emotion tied to that product.  This pattern was fun too.  Just enough to keep me busy but not enough to bore me.  I LOVE the thumbs.  The pattern writer has some other fun patterns too that I intend to knit in the future.

I was very pleased with our early Spring because the early blooming Lilacs really compliment the Purple tones in my yarn.  If I had more of it, I'd rename it Lilac but, alas, I have sold out of this colorway.  Hopefully I will get enough fiber to create another run of yarn that is similar so I can dye more of this.

Thank you to everyone who links in every week and leaves wonderful comments.  We've become quite the Fiber Arts Family over the last few years.  Welcome to everyone who is new to Fiber Arts Friday.  May you find the kinship that so many of us have found here each week. Now, share your adventures in Fiber Arts. 
Fiber Arts Friday ! 
To participate:

1. Submit your blog article using your current blog address NOT your complete blog  i.e. you would submit 

http://wonderwhyalpacafarm.blogspot.com/2010/02/e-i-e-i-doh.html  

NOT 

http://wonderwhyalpacafarm.blogspot.com

 Link back to Fiber Arts Friday from your post so that your readers can come and see everyone else’s projects! Text link to  WISDOM BEGINS IN WONDER!   

1. Visit as many of the other participants as possible and leave comments! That’s what helps us all connect!

Check out these wonderful blogs

Fiber Arts Friday - Wear my Easter Bonnet

Welcome to Fiber Arts Friday!  Knit, Spin, Dye, Crochet, Weave, Quilt, Sew...the possibilities are endless.  Join in the fun and share your Fiber Arts Adventures.  Come on!  What are you waiting for? 

This week I am sharing with you my newest "hat", a Fascinator, which I felted this last Sunday with the help of my friend, Jone who owns Spectral Glass and Artworx.  We had a wonderful afternoon of sunshine, laughter and felting...and of course, a visit to the barn to see the Alpacas.  What more can you ask for?  I learned some new techniques for felting and came up with my Easter Bonnet. 

Yes, it's Orange.  Now why would I pick a pastel when I can rock the Orange ;-)  Why I could be the grandest lady in the Easter Parade.

Easter Parade 1948

Can you see it now?  Me, Fred Astaire and Judy Garland walking in the Easter Parade.  Would someone write a sonnet about my Easter bonnet? Seriously, life would be wonderful living in an Irving Berlin musical.  

I didn't take photos during the felting process but I will share that this was totally wet felted. We did use pre-felt that Jone dyes which means that we took the felting from felted "fabric" instead of from roving.  I had never done this before.  Of course, a wee bit of sewing was involved.  Yikes! I know!  I needed to stitch some loops so the Fascinator would stay on my headband.  I know...another sneaky way to get me to sew ;-)

Besides felting and sewing, I also finished another Bandwidth that I made for Sister Bear.  She was so impressed by the one I knitted for myself that she asked that I'd make on in her school colors.  I am really pleased with how hers turned out.  I knitted the band on size 6 instead of size 8 and only knit 10 of the 15 rounds in the middle since her head is smaller.  I did a great job eyeballing the measurements and it fits her perfectly.

So mother and daughter both have sassy new hats for Easter.  hmmm, I think I will treat us to an evening at the movies watching Hunger Games as our night out on the town.  Now...share your adventures in Fiber Arts and have a wonderful Easter weekend.



Fiber Arts Friday ! 
To participate:

1. Submit your blog article using your current blog address NOT your complete blog  i.e. you would submit 

http://wonderwhyalpacafarm.blogspot.com/2010/02/e-i-e-i-doh.html  

NOT 

http://wonderwhyalpacafarm.blogspot.com

 Link back to Fiber Arts Friday from your post so that your readers can come and see everyone else’s projects! Text link to  WISDOM BEGINS IN WONDER!   

1. Visit as many of the other participants as possible and leave comments! That’s what helps us all connect!

Check out these wonderful blogs

WIP Wednesday - Green Thumb

What is wrong with this photo?  Oh yeah, only one mitt.  I am halfway through with my Green Thumb mitts that I'm knitting for Nerd Wars.  It's a really quick knit and has a nice design without angering me in to Hulk mode.  I am using some of my Sunshine of Wonder Sport Weight Yarn dyed in tonal Purple.  It's 50% Suri Alpaca, 25% Merino and 25% Silk.  So far I have used this blend of yarn in weaving projects, hats and shawls so I was eager to try it in these mitts.  Loving it.  Next time you see these mitts, they will be completed and turned in to an awesome Nerd Wars challenge submission.

I am also participating in Yarn Along with Ginny.  When asked what book I am reading, I have to admit that I am re-reading the whole Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris.  She has a new book coming out in May and the new season of True Blood starts in June so over on Ravelry a group of us in the True Blood Group are re-reading and discussing the whole book series.