How did I do?

It's Carolina Fiber Fest this weekend, and I ended up with ten items to enter in the competitions, although I forgot to take a photo of the final one, which is one of the knit-along cowls:

Categories AK7 and AK8, respectively.
Knit from a pattern and design my own pattern.

Category AK6 - Knit from handspun yarn.  This is the back.

Category AC10 - Crocheted from handspun yarn.  I clipped
the leftover bit before entering, of course!

Another Category AK7 - The Giverny Shawl of Junction Fiber
Mills' colourway for 2025 Maryland Sheep & Wool

Hat is Category 12, because I designed the pattern, and the
scarf (which is upside down, oops!) is Category AC13, the
annual crochet-along.

:

Two baby blankets in categories AC11 and AK8 respectively.

And these are the results; I have not read the comments cards:

The other items did not win ribbons.  I am well enough pleased with what I accomplished and actually thought I'd get a couple thirds instead of seconds.  I'm not completely surprised that the baby blankets didn't do better.

I was doing VERY well not buying yarn, although I bought some "box bags", and several flavours of tea, and picked up a few books and a box of oddments in the used equipment sale.  I felt very good that I managed to not buy another spinning wheel.  As I was able to get a couple of breaks, I saw many pretty yarns, but avoided buying - until right at the end, just before closing, when I spotted this at a favourite vendor who was right behind our setup:

  

Luckily they had only one left.  I see hat and mitts in my future!

Fiberuary 22-28

22:  Different ballpark, same Sidewinder Hat.

23:  Knitting on the trip home.  Checking size of hat against the length of my book, because the instructions said the hat should be about 8" long before the top decreases and my book is about that size.

24:  Home!  But not quite, stayed at my mother's due to the late hour our flight arrived home.  Busy with helping her unpack, sort mail, and of course work was heavy.  So not too much more knitting.

25:  The Sidewinder Hat is at the point of decreasing.  But it's late so I will do that tomorrow.

26:  All day conference, took a shawl I began out of a skein of handdyed yarn purchased at last year's Carolina Fiber Fest.  It's the Tiny Kerchief pattern but continuing until I run out of yarn.  I didn't have the pattern in the bag (ooops!) so had to hunt as I wasn't sure I remembered it correctly.  Luckily I finally found it, and it's free, so now downloaded to my phone.  A couple people asked what I was doing, and one said it was a "baller move" to bring it - I pointed out it's just a fidget item that helps me focus.  After I returned home I finished the Sidewinder Hat, adding a fluffy pompon purchased at Michaels.  I debated white or black, hope I chose correctly.

27:  I took a garter stitch scarf to a concert at the community center tonight, and got a bit done.  The yarn has long passages of spotted, then a bit of solid, so it feels as if you're not making progress then it goes very quickly.

28:  I worked on the scarf a bit at a community brunch (helps to prevent unnecessary nibbling), then remembered I need to finish a friend's embroidery - begun by her husband, and my friend doesn't stitch.  I did a bit but realized one colour is missing, so I'll have to pick up another skein if possible.

Ending the month by working on the UFO Blanket.  And I finished the February puzzle:

   

Fiberuary 15-21

15:  I had insomnia so finished the replacement hat and decided to give it to the person who'd flown in for the memorial, and who had commented about it several times over lunch.  Then in the bustle of everything, I forgot.

Second MTI hat, with two braids for Alex Pretti and Renee Good.
Replacement hat on the right, Chemknits Creations alpaca yarn.

16:  Busy day at work, despite being a holiday.  I want to start something new but am focusing on finishing items first.  I need to figure out what to take on this week's trip, and I saw that a pattern I've been thinking about is on holiday sale, so I bought it.  I've nearly finished Row 30 on the UFO blanket.

17:  A little more done on the UFO Blanket, but work has been busy, and Mom and I decided to vote before going out of town, so that took up a bit of time.  I had a BOGO at Paris Baguette so we stopped on the way home and the counter clerk apologized that they only had savory items left since it was end of day.  Perfect for supper!

18:  I finally wound yarn for the Carolina Fiber Fest knitting Craft-Along, and packed it along with two other projects.  Because I'll be gone for five days, with three baseball games and two long plane flights.  I'd debated whether to use fingering yarn doubled for the pattern, but in the end selected a thin worsted weight that I think will work up as the DK the pattern requires.  I didn't want to knit the fingering weight alternative!  The yarn is pale, which should show the cabling and other pattern stitches better than a multi that the designer used.

19:  I took the CFF knit CAL pattern and yarn on the plane, and have done most of the starting border.  I need to count the number of repeats but haven't had time - I also had to work on the flight.

20:  Baseball begins!  I knit the border of the Sidewinder Hat, but didn't pull out the pattern to start the sides/top because it was too close to end of game.

21:  I continued knitting on the Sidewinder Hat, having shifted to the body pattern before we left for today's game.

Advent-ually.

In addition to the Channukah box from ChemKnits Creations, I bought one from A Hundred Ravens.  When I saw the box held more than eight items I thought it was for the twelve days of Christmas or some such, and set it aside.  The wrapping of course should have reminded me!  I started opening it and realized my mistake - it was set up for two items per night of Hanukah!  So I opened them all in one go.

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

As you can see, the even-numbered boxes contained an extra goody, plus there was a final one at the end labeled "Open Me Last!"  And a wee crown:

Several of the extras are stitch markers, but the blue bottle came with a recipe to make freezable bubble solution, plus there is a sticker, a magnet, a snowflake-shaped lollipop, and a tiny pin with two dreidels:

Here are the mini-skeins, in order of number from right to left:

I don't think I will keep them in this order, especially because Days #9 and #10 are so close in colour.  In addition to the knitting pattern standard in this box, they sent the crochet pattern for the yarns.  You were supposed to indicate whether you are a "Knitting Queen" or a "Crocheting Queen" when ordering.  I ordered two boxes with a note that I did so because I do both crafts and thus want both patterns.  Then I received a cancellation notice for part of the order, because they decided to send both patterns to me with just one box!  Some dyers will ask for a couple-few dollars extra if you want both patterns, but they were very nice and surprised me.

Closing In.

The end of the year is nigh, and I might finish one more book and one more knitted item.  This is the one I am currently working on, rather focused to see whether I can finish:

The body is handspun from Knitting Lagniappe, and the border is from Bombshell Dyeworks.  I think I have buttons that will work, in my buttonbox.  I am going to make the sleeves slightly longer, but don't have enough yarn for them to be full-length.  Yes, this is a rarity - something for me!

A contented day.

Family celebration of Christmas today, part of it was happiness that none of us were "on call" for work, nor felt an obligation to sidle off to work for a bit.  We ate a reasonable (vegetarian and gluten-free) brunch, complete with snacky bits of cheese and multiple desserts.

Most of the gifts we exchange are donations to favourite charities.  I had token gifts for the family: dark chocolate covered apricots for my parents; socks with the Hot Wheels® logo for my brother, who owned and played with many as a boy; compost for my sister-in law, who directed it to a local farm; National Parks water bottles for my younger niece and her partner; and for the elder niece, a hat:

When I mentioned to my mother on Tuesday that I was struggling to find a token gift appropriate for my older niece, my mother suggested a warm hat because my niece's job includes working with students in a community garden, and it's been cold.  I sent a message to my niece asking for her three favourite colours, because I know she has a black coat and didn't want to make a black hat, especially on short notice.  She responded that evening.

Then I had to dig to find enough yarn in her choices of black, green, and pink.  I found a skein of handdyed yarn in pink with bits of black, and some leftover green.  I decided to use a pattern I've knit many times, doubling the pink/black to get the correct thickness.  I started on Wednesday morning, and spent the evening watching holiday videos and knitting.  I woke early and managed to finish with plenty of time to wrap the gifts and arrive at my parents' house with time to help set up.

The hat fit, it's soft enough to suit my niece, and she's happy to have it when the weather gets cooler again.  Today was unusually warm, especially for Christmas Day.

Five in (about) one.

Last night was a "wintry mix" event with all sorts of things, including the Triangle Fiber Guild holiday party, cancelled or postponed.  So errands didn't happen.  That meant I had five or six to accomplish today, and at most a 90 minutes timeslot in which to achieve them.  Could I manage all the errands in an hour?

Not quite, but I tried.  Part of it was maximizing the route:

• First to the library, to return a book and drop off a couple jackets for the Welcome Baby collection.  As I did and turned to leave, I heard a happy "thank you, dear!" and over my shoulder responded "Absolutely!"  The guard and I then wished each other a happy day.
• I thought that if there was a close post office I could shave a bit off the route, and the car's navigator claimed there was, but after following the directions I didn't see one.  It could be that the gas station or another shop on the strip mall next to it had a postal kiosk or a courtesy station, but I wasn't going to spend time looking.
• Instead, I headed to the Durham Rescue Mission to deliver a duffel bag of mostly clothing, plus a lot of unused wallets that could be likely holiday gifts.  I wanted to be sure they would arrive as early in the month as possible, and we'd just located them during a drawer-cleaning.
• Then to the post office, and the automated machine was available and working!  Package was quickly postage'd and in the big rotating slot.
• Off to Kohl's to pick up another couple jackets, the result of rolling Kohls Cash credits.  While waiting for the item I realized I'd forgotten to grab my knitting, so I checked work email and dealt with a few things.  Which is how I noticed that a meeting was just beginning, less than an hour after I'd left.  Ooops!  A new addition to my calendar.  I joined, apologized, accepted the bag of jackets, and headed to the loggia where a bench waited in a sheltered spot.  Luckily the call was quick and I could continue on my route.
• Stop at the pharmacy for a prescription and an OTC ear-unblocking spray recommended by my PCP that I use before flying this week.  I have until tomorrow afternoon to figure out how it works.

So it took a bit over an hour, almost an hour and a half, but I think there needs to be some adjustment for the meeting and of course the stupidity penalty whilst hunting the snipe of a post office.  And a lot of extra slowness and stoppages due to construction on or next to the roads that took them to one lane in places.  So I came close.

This is the current knitting: I reached 99 hats for the big collection I've been doing (some were made by others, which I figure balance the ones I made and donated to the Blue Elves and otherwise) and stalled over the weekend for the final hat.  All the yarn was too thin, or too pink, or already used in other hats and I didn't want to make one more for this year, or........  So I started the scarf:

I knitted the first ten inches of the scarf in a knitting group
online gathering on Sunday.  Garter stitch moves quickly.

Then yesterday, a box arrived that included some mystery skeins, and one immediately spoke to me about turning it into a hat!  So I am doing that and may have it done before I leave tomorrow.  If not, it will be quickly finished when I return, then THAT box can head out too.

Some people may ask why I used hand-dyed yarn for charity work instead of cheap acrylics.  Well, I can afford it; the purchase helps a small business indie dyer; I get the pleasure of making something with the yarn; and somebody gets a warm and unique hat.  Wins all around!

There went the days.

The Days of Awe finished last week, with Yom Kippur.  I've had two crazy weeks because I went to the NAMWOLF Annual Meeting, then DFW Fiber Fest, got home just in time for Rosh Hashonnah to begin, and then last week did a cybersecurity test development workshop for three days, followed by Yom Kippur on the fourth day, so Friday was my only full day at work.  And unusually for a Friday, it was loaded with meetings, many of which had been pushed out from an earlier day.

So posting was sidelined.

I was able to work on hats, since they are simple and portable and much needed for two charitable donation projects.  Some are using up leftover yarn, and some are using new balls or skeins.  One is a skein I received in a yarn exchange, which turned out to be very tangled:

I should have taken photos of the tangles.  I wanted to wind it on the speed winder, but couldn't until I'd pulled out about a fifth of the skein.  Then it kept jamming, and this was when I realized I couldn't do any more as the yarn wove in and out of the remaining rounds.  So I finished by hand.  Then knit a hat:

I knit it using the yarn doubled, because it was thin, so this is a thick and warm hat.  I might crochet the remainder into a second hat, but there isn't enough for more than a newborn size, so I'll have to use it with something else.  I didn't know the yardage or weight since the skein was untagged, and I think it's sportweight instead of the expected fingering.  Usually I can get a hat and a half or a couple hats out of skein of fingering, depending upon pattern and method.

Speaking of method, I need some crocheted hats for a demo class at the Triangle Fiber Guild meeting next week.  So I worked up a few from a jumbo skein of yarn:

There is yarn left, which might be a knitted hat as I want to do a couple in other weights of yarn to show how the basic pattern adjusts.  That is what I thought I'd do with the leftover autumn coloured yarn.  I'll see what the stash suggests.