I went to WWKIP and have the scar to prove it

I finished the Asherton Reversible Scarf on Friday; it's been pinned out on the board and steamed, and now resides in the "Potential Christmas Gift Box" in the Stash Room. I kept this one a little on the short side and didn't block it too severely, just enough to really show the stitch pattern best.



Even though the pattern is 44-row repeat, it was pretty quick to learn; the only hard part was remembering which was the "right" side; I resorted to pining a big stitch holder on one side to mark it. The fabric works up very soft and drapey; it would make a great baby blanket pattern.

I still had quite a bit of the blue left, so I pulled out a skein of cream and started a stranded pattern beret to go with the scarf. I'm only about 1/13 of the way up, so there's not really much to look at yet.

I got my Majacraft Mini-Combs from Woodland Woolworks last week. Aren't they pretty?



Toolman gave me a clamp to hold one on my winding station.



I finally got a chance to play with them this weekend. I didn't have any locks except for the little bag of kid mohair that Barbara sent me a few months ago, but I sure didn't want to use them as a learning fiber!

So, I dove into the stash and came out with one of the first skein I ever spun. It was some unknown wool, pretty coarse, and looked like a Colinette reject. There was only about 20 feet of it, so I figured I had nothing to lose. I un-plied the yarn, pulled out the thick parts, and viola! I had "locks."



Which I proceeded to comb.



Hey, this is going pretty well!



Very little waste left on the fixed comb, so I cleaned it out and started on the second pass.



By the second combing, I had some not bad looking fiber, which I pulled off into roving.



ToolMan made a diz for me, although he had no idea what it was, or why I needed one. This one has holes that are a little too large; I'll have to ask him to make a few smaller holes for me.

Saturday was World-Wide Knit In Public Day, and also the Yarn Harlot's birthday. Tami organized a get-together through the Hillboro, Oregon group on Ravelry. How did we ever organize and share information B.R. (before Ravelry)????



There was a pretty good turnout; the knitting circle kept getting bigger and bigger!



The Knitting Bee send yarn and books to be raffled off every few minutes. And, offers a discount until the end of the month, if you show them a receipt from Streets of Tanasbourne dated June 14, 2008. I won a skein of Schaeffer Yarn in a lovely dusty green and blue.



Eventually, even though I had slathered my self with sunscreen, the sun and heat got to me and I had to move over to some shade. Some of my knit sibs came and joined me.



After I moved over to the side, it was amazing how many people (usually led by a pre-school girl) came over to see the wheel and ask about spinning. The girls all knew about Sleeping Beauty the spinning wheel and wanted to see how this one worked. I also gave a 5-minute drop spindle lesson to an older girl, about 8 or 9, whose grandma promised to take her to the Knitting Bee for her own spindle and fiber. Ah, another unsuspecting convert!

I was spinning some superwash merino from the Sheep to Shoe bag I got at Blue Moon's Destashing Sale. I think it was intended to be the Rooster Rock colorway, but wound up with too much undyed; and it didn't seem to be in a clear color pattern.



I decided to spin it up randomly and ply it the same way. Just let whatever happens, happen. Which turned out to be great for public spinning; I could tear off little bits of different colors to let people feel it and show them how to twist it in their fingers.

By the time ToolMan came to pick me up at 2:00, the heat had taken its toll on me; I was pretty worn out, so as soon as we had unloaded at home and I had a bite to eat, I crashed for a nice long nap.

And despite coating myself in sunscreen and borrowing even more sunscreen from other knitters, I missed one spot and got a burn.



Could've been worse. I just hope it doesn't peel!