Twisp of Fate

It’s been such a varied week, I thought I would just do a kitchen-sink kind of post today.

In anticipation of the upcoming Okanogan County Fair, and also a new round of teaching the top-down raglan sweater class, I finally got the little cardigan finished that I knit over the summer.  I still needed to darn in the ends, sew on the buttons, and block it.  It was knit using Rowan Yorkshire Tweed (about 7 sts/in), which sadly is a discontinued yarn.  I only had so much of the main color and couldn’t find more anywhere, so I had to get creative towards the end.  It is knit in one piece from the top down, and for the borders I used a mosaic pattern called “Sanquar Check” from one of the Barbara Walker books (1st Treasury of Stitch Patterns I think, am too lazy to go out to the studio and check…)  I had to go with 3/4 length sleeves due to the running-out-of-yarn problem, but I think I actually like them that way.  So, finished object:

On Sunday of the Labor Day weekend, I set up my booth at the Winthrop Artisan Market.  It was very windy, overcast, and a little cold!  We had to tie all the pieces of my display down so they wouldn’t blow over.  I did sell one rug and 2 shawl pins, so it wasn’t a complete bust…but nicer weather would have helped, I think.

Also that Sunday my Dad came over from Anacortes in his little Rialta motorhome, with his cat Squeaky, and spent 3 nights with us.  Sadly, the weather remained cool and rainy, with occasional sun breaks, so we couldn’t do much outside.  But still, we had a good visit.  Took Dad up to see one of the houses Rick built cabinets for last year, and also went up to see the job site for an upcoming job this fall.  It’s in a beautiful location up the Lost River valley.

Tuesday was Dad’s 91st birthday and we went up to Sun Mountain Lodge for dinner.  We had one of the best tables with a beautiful view up and down the valley below, and it had cleared up some so the views were spectacular.

Thursday was the opening day for the Okanogan County Fair over in Omak.  A group from our guild, Methow Valley Spinners & Weavers, had organized a “fleece to shawl” event.  We had a loom already warped for a shawl with handspun yarn that several of us had supplied.  We brought a washed fleece, a natural colored Romney from The Pines Farm in Maple Valley (south of Seattle).  We hand-carded the fleece, spun the rolags into singles, then I was the “designated plyer” and made a 2-ply yarn.  This was handed off to the weavers, who wove the shawl.  We actually finished it in about 5 hours – I was amazed!  Thursday was also the day that a lot of school groups came through, and the kids were really interested and asked a lot of questions.

That’s our guild display on the wall that my friend Diana puts together each year (with some help, but it is mostly her effort).  We usually show what the guild challenge project was for the year, and as I last blogged about here, this year it was to “do something” with some emerald green and camel brown cotton yarn that we had been given an abundance of some time in the past.

The rest of this week, I’ve started on a new round of scarves on my little workshop loom.  Last night we worked late and decided to go down to Twisp for dinner at Tappi.  It turned out one of our favorite groups was playing jazz:

And here’s John with part of our dinner just out of the brick oven – it’s the “Malandrino” burger.  Calling this a burger is more than a little misleading.  And yes, we split it.  It’s a full pound of beef, with grilled onions and grilled tomatoes, melted blue cheese, on a homemade pocket bread.  Best eaten with knife and fork!