BLACK SHEEP GATHERING - CONT.

Here's the third installment of my trip to Black Sheep Gathering. I always like to enter things in the fiber arts and yarn competition. It's fun and I love to see the creative things that other people do with fiber. I am happy to report that I got four first place awards for my entries. The first entry was a cute little tam that I designed and knit with my handspun yarn. The yarn was spun using two of my handpainted colorways (Sangria and Sevilla) in a merino/tussah silk blend. (Sorry, the pics are little washed out.)

My next entry was a pair of socks, again knit with my handspun yarn. The yarn was spun from some Shetland wool rovings that I got from a ranch in Montana. I took a light gray roving and a white roving and laid them down side by side and handpainted them the same colors. I then spun a bobbin of each and plied them together to get a heathered yarn. The sock pattern is my own original design.

My third fiber arts entry was a handknit scarf using a horseshoe lace pattern. The yarn I used was a natural caramel colored baby alpaca. I bought this raw fleece at the NY Sheep and Wool Festival last October at Rhinebeck and I processed the fleece myself, washed and carded it into batts and then spun it into yarn. This was a very buttery yarn and was just a joy to knit with.

Here's a close up of the pattern. The white skein was entered into the yarn division. It is a two-ply yarn: one ply is a 40/60 angora/merino wool blend from Toots Le Blanc and the other ply is a 75/25 cormo/tussah silk blend from Foxfire Fibres in Mass. (Barbara Parry's fiber).

In my last post, I showed some of Sandy Sitzman's rovings and some of my handspun on the bobbin. Well, I finished the skein last evening and here it is. This is a superwash Corriedale that was handpainted by Sandy. I'll be taking this down to the beach with me this afternoon to start a pair of socks. I ended up with 325 yd. -- just the right amount for socks.

I may have a little more BSG stuff to report, but that will come later. Oh, yes, Karen got two first place awards for her entries and I'll try to get her to send pictures of them so I can post them.

Jumbuk Fibers - New Yarn Store
I was walking down in the cute little Los Rios District of San Juan Capistrano recently and came upon a new yarn store. I decided to go over there the other day. It's a small shop in an adorable little house. Diane, the owner, is a rep for a few Australian yarn companies and she is stocking Pear Tree, Fable and Kaalund yarns, as well as some others. Lunch at the Ramos House Cafe and a walk down the shady lane to Jumbuk would be a very nice outing.

MY ETSY SHOP IS UP AND RUNNING AGAIN
I've been working over the past couple of days to get my Etsy shop up again and have posted lots of good rovings and some sock yarn. In the next few days, I'll be listing more colorways of my sock yarn and I'll be putting some of my other handpainted and hand-dyed yarns in my sale section. [ http://capistranofiberarts.etsy.com/ ]