And the Winners Are...

Once again, I entered a few knitted items for judging in Homecraft at the Brooklin Spring Fair.

It took me about an hour on Thursday morning to find samples of yarn to attach to the entry cards and get the cards attached to the items.

This was my Adult Cardigan entry. The Cabled Cardigan modified from the Vogue Knitting pattern from the cover of the Fall 2010 edition.

At the last minute, I decided to enter this 'Inspired by Inspira' hat.

I also switched these 'Intertwined' socks for another pair that was made from yarn with a good twist and stitch definition but contained a major knitting error. The lilac-coloured socks were from the Regia Angora Merino sock yarn and the accompanying pattern book. I hoped the lace panel that wound around from the side of the heel gusset across the instep to the toe would  impress the judges.

I entered the Estonian-style Lehe shawl I had knit with DK Smart Superwash yarn in the 'Any Item Not Mentioned - Knit' category. I was quite confident it would win something.

I was also pretty sure my GAAA (Great American Aran Afghan) would also win a prize. It is 20 different squares of loveliness (IMHO - ahem).

I got all the items dropped off at the arena in plenty of time before the judging started.

Yesterday, I dropped by in the late afternoon to see how I fared.

My GAAA didn't have a sticker on the tag. Instead I was beat out by this, a garter stitch, fringed blanket in what looked like some type of acrylic novelty yarn.

In second place was this striped afghan with bands of varying colours and textured of yarn.

And in third place, this 'work sock'-styled blanket.

I then found my first-place sock.

The one I thought should have garnered second prize ( the striped purple one second from the left) didn't even place.The blue second place sock had a nice, lacy pattern but almost twice as wide as mine.

My hat choice was a good one and I won second prize

to this one which may have actually been knit with wool.

My cardigan also won first prize.

And my Lehe lap blanket won First Prize. Yay!!!

This was the rosette-winning crocheted afghan. It was beautifully stitched and appliquéd.

Over in the Seniors section, my heart soared when I saw the red First Prize ribbon attached to my socks.

I didn't agree with the Second Prize. I preferred the colourful Third Prize socks with the picot top.

Out of curiosity, I went to take a look at the cross-stitch entries. This First Prize piece was nicely done and will be exhibited in the craft room of the Ontario Association of Agricultural Societies Convention in Toronto in February.

This Christmas ornament stitched on 14 count plastic canvas came second.

I'm not sure why it beat out this nicely stitch and finished Christmas stocking.

All three cross-stitched items (I didn't see any others in the class) were stitched on Aida cloth. I never fail to be surprised why competent stitchers don't use evenweave fabric instead. It looks SO much better. Oh well.

This was the quilt that one 'Best in Show'.

All in all, this year's entries did about as well as I expected.  I am pleased with the 4 First Prizes and the one Second Prize. I'm going to finish a few more projects before I begin my plans for next year.

Mennonite Relief Sale

Last weekend, Skip, David, Susan and I attended the Mennonite Relief Sale in New Hamburg. We had a comfortable drive in a Durango (rented while D & S's car was in the shop for repair) which allowed me to start and knit about 4 inches on an Escher sock using my new Rowan Fine Art yarn.

Throughout the day, quilts that have been donated are auctioned to raise money for the Mennonite Relief program which are forwarded to the Mennonite Central Committee for its relief, development, and justice and peacebuilding work locally and internationally. There were over 180 on the auction block that day.

When we first walked in the arena where the auction was taking place, we saw the quilts hanging on overhead poles. Most were covered in clear, protective plastic while others had been uncovered and were waiting to be taken to the auction queue table.

They were all sizes from small wall and crib quilts to very large ones. This bed quilt, Galaxia, was 113" x 113" - sized for a king bed.

I believe this was called 'Colour Wheel'.

'Black & White & Teal All Over' had been donated by a Winnipeg group and sold for $2085.

'Fall Circle' was only 30" x 30" but sold for $600. 

This 90" x 100" bed quilt, 'Chrysalis' was sold for $550.

This delicate four-patch was crib quilt-sized and sold for $395.

A 9 year-old created this 'I Spy' crib quilt from flannelette fabric.  It sold for $350. I'm sure she was thrilled.

This stunning quilt was called 'It Takes A Village', and measured 67" x75". It was sold for $2000.

This bed quilt was cross-stitched with various shades of pink and hand quilted. 

 This wall quilt looked almost 3-D with the appliquéd telephones.

The feature quilt designed, assembled, and quilted by Judy Pearce of Kitchener. It is based on a 2010 photograph of the 'Rose Garden' quilt being readied for auction. This quilt is appliquéd, mostly by hand. It is machine quilted, thread painted and enhanced with small bits of pencil crayon and fabric paint. Many of the fabrics were hand-dyed to create the appearance of shadows. It sold for $10,000.

Detail of one of the faces.

Aside from the auction, there was a plant sale and many food tents. We then went to Anna Mae's in Millbank for snacks before our drive back home.

Fine Art

On Friday, my knitterly friend, Jennifer, and I attended the Textile Museum "More than Just a Yardage" sale in the city. It was much better organized this year than last but the yarn tent was still too narrow for optimum browsing. Basically we squeezed through, trading places with people as we went. I bought some handspun yarn, some Baby Ull and 5 skeins of sock yarn for $22.

 The other tent that had the stitching supplies and fabric was much bigger and I was able to pick up a pair of pinking shears, another scroll frame and a Q-snap frame - all for only $15 as well.

We then ventured upstairs where the books and magazines were and I found a couple of cross-stitch magazines, a cross-stitch pattern, 'Country Weekend Knits' and Gwen Steege's 'Knit Hats' - all for only $6. I could have spent the whole day looking at the magazines! For only 25 cents each, I likely would have brought a lot more of them home with me.

It all was a bit awkward to lug around (note to self: take a durable grocery bag with long handles next time) but we managed nicely.


We then headed over to Romni Wools by way of lunch at a shawarma place nearby. When we entered Romni, we were amazed at how organized and open the place was. Jonathon has done a lot to get rid of old stuff (i.e knitted items hanging by the door at the entrance) get everything so neat and tidy - very impressive.

These are some of the Cascade 220 Superwash colour choices.

And the regular Cascade 220 yarn. I wouldn't be surprised if they stocked every available colour.

This is part of the Noro wall.

They also carry a good quantity of Madelinetosh yarns.

This is part of the Rowan section,

and only part of the sock yarn area.

I should also mention there are good deals on their sale yarns in the basement. That area has also been tidied up and organized.

The spinning wheels are now on the main floor to the right as you enter the store. The fibre and cone yarns are still downstairs.

If you've never been to Romni Wools on Queen West in Toronto, I highly recommend you pay them a visit. They certainly would be most likely to have an appropriate yarn for any project you might undertake. Directions: Take the Queen streetcar west and get off at Palmerston. They're two doors west on the north side, #658.

While there, I picked up a bunch of knitting needles donated by Romni Wools for the upcoming World Wide Knit In Public Day at Windreach Farm on Wednesday, June 12. We very much appreciate the generous donation from Romni Wools.

I bought some Rowan Fine Art sock yarn in the Lapwing colourway.

I've already cast on a pair of Escher socks (from 'Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarn') and have almost finished the first leg.

It's a very easy 2x2 ribbed pattern with 1x1 cables every 6 rows. The yarn is expensive $29.99 (!) but very luxurious with 45% wool, 20% mohair, 25% polyamide and 10% silk. It was manufactured in South Africa. Rowan yarns are definitely 'high end' yarns because they take great pains to find quality manufacturers, create beautiful designs and marketing strategies. There is also pattern support in "Fine Art Collection" with designs by Martin Storey, Marie Wallin, Gemma Atkinson and Lisa Richardson. I didn't buy it but it is definitely on my wish list.

I have continued to make progress on Spike.

I'm almost done this chart - 1 of 9.

Magnetic Nail Polish?

My fingernails are rather unsightly if not covered with nail polish. At the moment they're relatively long. Lately, I've been wearing Sally Hansen Magnetic nail colour. What??? Magnetic??

It appears that there are magnetic particles in the nail colour. There's a magnet in the removeable lid. After applying a base coat, apply a coat of the nail polish. Then apply a second coat on one nail and quickly hold the magnetic lid over the nail without actually touching the nail (and marring the nail finish) for about 10 seconds. The magnetic particles are attracted to the magnet hovering over them, creating light areas leaving darker areas. The result is a wavy pattern on the nail. Repeat this process for the rest of your nails. Then apply a clear top coat.

Fun!

Sephora sells it for about $15 but I found the Sally Hansen nail colour (8 are available) for $9.99 at a discount store and at Marshalls for $5. The one pictured is the red shade but my favourite is the plum shade.

Even without using the magnet, the colour is quite lovely.

In stitcherly news - Spike on Tuesday...

Spike, today.

Tomorrow I'm heading into The Big City for the Textile Museum of Canada's "More than a Yardage" sale. We'll also tour the museum, eat lunch someplace interesting and yummy, and probably hit a yarn shop. I'd like to have a close-up look at the new Rowan sock yarn.

A New Stitching Project

Over the last few days I've been able to assemble all the necessary items to commence the next big stitching project I'm undertaking - Spike the Malachite Kingfisher.

I purchased the pattern, assembled the 60-odd colours of DMC floss, I ordered the mohair Wisper floss and dropped into Hedgehog Stitchery to select the fabric. I wanted a 32 count evenweave but didn't like the translucence of the linen. The Jobelan looked too shiny and to me, 'synthetic' so the perfect choice was Lugana.The Wisper floss will be used with one ply of a colour for the fuzzy feathers on Spike's chest.

It took some excavating to find my Needle-ease scroll bars. I haven't done a big cross-stitching project in about 9 years. I located a few items in the process, too! The fabric is a bit wider than the widest bar I have so I just folded back the edges that wouldn't be stitched to attach it to the twill tape on the bars.

After only a couple of nights, (including my favourite Sunday night PBS viewing) this is what I have done so far. That's 16 stitches to the inch, folks.

I started in the centre and am working on the first section above and to the right of the centre axis. It's his throat and shoulder. The finished dimensions of the stitching will be about 14" x 19" - much larger than this species 5 1/2" size.

I am trying to do as much of one colour as I can at a time and am using a highlighter to delineate areas that I've completed on photocopies of the 9-section chart. It will take me a while to complete but I'm well on my way.

Backyard Birding

The bird migration is on. With today's warmer weather, our feeder is receiving lots of guests today.

This morning there was a flock of at least 7 white-crowned sparrows.

Mrs. Cardinal stopped in next. My dirty window seems to have blurred things a bit.

Then came Mr. and Mrs. House Finch.

Mrs. Rose-breasted Grosbeak stopped in next but I didn't get a good photo of her. Could her 'husband' be far behind?

After lunch, Skip alerted me that Mr. Rose-breasted Grosbeak had indeed arrived.

We've never seen grosbeaks at our feeder before. And the only other time I've seen one was several years ago at Lynde Shores off Bayly.

That beak is really suited to cracking open nut shells.