I made it to Taos Wool Festival after all. I was there Saturday afternoon and Kit Carson Park was incredibly muddy. As a result the festival wasn't too crowded. I took an entire roll of film of pygora goats and the wool judging competition and some neat crocheted flowers and a triangle loom and some spinning and weaving demos, etc. The photos will be ready in about a week.



DH saw Tracy Eicheim's (Woolly Designs) booth in the muddiest area but all I saw were Majacraft spinning wheels - none of his wonderful spindles. I also didn't see Marcie Dark from DFK Ranch with her Shetland fleeces. Most of my favorite vendors were there including Elsa Sheep & Wool of the most wonderful Cormo yarn and knitted items and Fire Ant Ranch where I learned how to spin about 6 years ago.



All I purchased was a Taos Wool Festival 20th anniversary t-shirt with a ram on the front (I have about 6 other t-shirts from previous Taos wool festivals) and some more of my favorite Cormo yarn. This stuff is so soft! They had it in two weights and spun worsted or woollen. I plan to use it to make the Aran Island mittens from Folk Mittens. I originally planned to buy a swift and saw some at both La Lana Wools and Weaving Southwest but we need to pay Snickerdoodle's veterinary bills instead. He did fine being alone all day. Snickerdoodle was chasing Pumpkin the cat today growling (yes, rabbits can growl) so I assume he is recovering.



The long drive to Taos netted one result - I finally finished the Dale baby cardigan. As usual the button band took twice as long as I expected on size 0 needles but it turned out well. The sweater is for my friend Lisa who is due in December. I hope she has a girl because this cardigan would work better for a girl baby I think. You can decide when you see how it turned out.



Here's my stash container for yarn odds and ends. I want to start another Spontaneous Scarf. Which colors do you think I should use?

I'm trying to finish up the baby cardigan and I'm doing the button placket/neck band and I get to the following instructions: "beg inc 2 sts every other R on each side of neck line at front opening edges, leaving 2 sts between inc sts and working inc sts into pattern as shown in photo." Perhaps it is too late at night but the pattern for the neckband is a 4 st pattern and I have no clue how to increase 2 sts in it every other row and stay in pattern. I think I'll wait until tomorrow and graph it out. I love Dale of Norway patterns but I have to say that sometimes the patterns drive me crazy.



Thanks to Lisa and Cindy who both found me some terrific vegetable buttons to use. I'm waiting until I actually do the buttonholes to see which ones will fit.



Carron asked on my tagboard last week about adding a team's name to a knitted work. To add letters to knitting, first you need an alphabet to work with. Look for any cross stitch book at your local library and you will find some alphabets to choose from. Then get some graph paper and graph out your letters. At this point you can either knit in the letters or duplicate stitch them on. If you're putting letters on something that is knit bottom up like mittens or socks, remember to graph out the letters upside down. Been there, done that...



Janet asked in my comments about the colorway I'm using for Kashmir. It is Colorway III using Tiur grape 5172 as the main color and the three contrast colors are true red 4027, terra cotta 3436, and olive 9853.



Alderson Hospitality House needs more yarn according to their current newsletter. Here's what it says: "Prison Yarn Project. We need your help in providing yarn for the prisoners at FPC Alderson. Each year, women at the prison take donated yarn and transform it into sweater, hats, blankets, scarves and mittens for the needy children and senior citizens in the Alderson area. It's a project in which everyone wins - the women learn a new skill, occupy idle hours and provide warm clothing to needy people. Skeins of yarn that may be sitting around your house could keep somebody warm this winter. Please send yarn to: AHH, Box 579, Alderson, WV, 24910."



Snickerdoodle went to the vet again today (boy is he irritated with me) and he's getting better fortunately. He still needs a lot of TLC though.

Stash Photos

Do any of you have any good online sources for buttons? I'm looking for buttons for the Dale baby cardigan - something small and plastic. Originally I was thinking bunnies but a variety of fruits and vegetables would be incredibly cute with the gardening theme. I'm done with the sweater except for the button placket/neckband. Time to get back to the Sanquhar gloves. Other upcoming projects are the Koigu cross-stitch scarf, the NFA mittens, and the Bearly Knit fair isle bear sweater kit. And I have three sweaters in progress - Kashmir, Malin, and Trondheim. Because Trondheim is meant for the same family as the baby cardigan I should probably put that at the head of the line.

Terri is also doing Kashmir in a neat colorway of her own choosing in Dale Falk. HERE's a close up and HERE's another photo. She has decided to change one of the colors (although I really like them!) so has put the project on hold.

I went ahead and added Debbie New's Unexpected Knitting to my upcoming Needlearts Bookshop order on the recommendations of Lisa and Teresa. The reviews of the book on the Knit U list sounded too much like advertisements but Lisa's photos and recommendation made me buy it immediately.

Here's an in-depth look at my stash. Here are my sock and baby weight yarns.



Here is my fingering weight Nylamb and Campion.



This is mainly Nature Spun sport weight in every color possible.



Here are my DK weight yarns.



And finally here are my worsted weight yarns.