Whee!!!! The Fair is on, and....



I won!! Blue ribbon, Best of Class, and BEST OF SHOW for the sewing thread daffodil filet crochet panel, and.....



blue ribbon and Best of Class for Emma's handspun gansey, and.....



blue ribbon, Best of Class, and the special Mary Fox Award for Handspun Yarn for my laceweight tussah silk two-ply!!!!!!

(Mary Fox was a local handspinner/knitter/weaver/shepherd who was very active in the San Juan County Textile Guild, and had this award named after her when she passed away several years ago. I never knew her, but have seen some of the yarn she made, and have spun wool from the decendents of her flock of sheep.)

So exciting!!! More later!!! I need to stop using exclamation marks!!!

Thought I'd pop in for a quick update on the chaos that is my life this week:

1. MOVING: Packing proceeds apace. Shaun is finally helping. We have three more days until closing, but only two until the furniture has to be out so the carpet can be cleaned.

2. HEALTH: I babysit for two boys, age 7 and 5. Here's how our last month looked.

• Four weeks ago, Kai (7-year-old) was sick with a fever and respiratory virus.
• Three and a half weeks ago, Nik (5-year-old) was diagnosed with mononucleosis after being cranky, low-grade-feverish, and out of sorts for a couple weeks. Emma comes down with a fever and respiratory virus.
  
• Three weeks ago, Nik was sick with a fever and respiratory virus (on top of the mono). Kai and Emma are recovered at this point.
• Two weeks ago, Nik is mostly over the virus and asymptomatic on the mono. Kai comes down with another fever and vomiting and respiratory virus.
• Last week, Kai is over the virus again. Emma comes down with a fever and respiratory virus.
• Last Sunday, Emma is well. Kai is well. Nik is well. I come down with a 104F fever and respiratory virus.
• Today, I think I am finally getting better. All kids are still well. Perhaps the cycle has run its course? One can only hope.
  

Needless to say, this has made packing less than fun. I was so tired on Sunday night that I went to bed at 8:00 pm and didn't get up until 8:00 am. I can't even remember the last time I slept that long.

3. KNITTING: Progress has been stalled on the urchin shawl since Sunday (see #2 above.) I am now 9 rows behind my schedule. I'm trying very hard not to be too disappointed in myself for probably not finishing this in time for the Fair.

4. CROCHETING: The daffodil filet piece needs to be re-blocked. When I unpinned it from the blocking board, I put it down on the ironing board. Unfortunately, the ironing board was still slightly damp from steam pressing another project. This caused the filet piece to unblock a bit and shrink unevenly as it drank up some moisture. I thought I could live with it, but it turns out I can't. Back to the pins I go.

I'll be so glad when this week is over and the packing and moving are done.

The good news is that the volunteer sunflowers are blooming.



The bad news is that the feeling of being on the Tilt-A-Whirl has not subsided. The packing is going along, slowly because I need to get more boxes. I've been working on bookcases and closets, and made a really good dent this morning. It's such a hideous job.

Fiber-wise, progress has been mixed. The urchin shawl may not be finished in time for the Fair. I'm on Row 194 of 290. Then there's the edging. It just takes so long to go around each row now. I did have a potential solution, though. If I can get the body of the shawl done, I may just do a loopy crocheted chain edging to finish it off to show it at the Fair. Then I can go back later and take out the crocheted edging and do the wide knitted one.

The daffodil filet piece, though, is done, done, done! It took two complete evenings to pin it out, and over a thousand pins...



I'm quite pleased with the way this turned out.



I also spent some time this weekend putting the finishing touches on several smaller projects that were almost done. First, I sewed up a hardanger closet sachet. I've had the hardanger done for a while, it just needed to have the backing sewed on and the hanger added. I filled this completely full of dried lavender buds (no fiberfill this time) and made the hanger long enough to go over the clothes rod in a closet. This is an original design. Yay me!



I also lined and backed another hardanger piece, this time as a wall hanging. There will be a dowel through the tabs on the top, with a ribbon hanger. I was going to frame this, but I think I like it better like this. The backing fabric is the same purple-flowered print as the tabs.



This is a commercial sampler pattern, and it's very versatile. I've used the line of five fancy motifs through the center as a bookmark, and the heart motif at the top as a sachet topper.



I also finished the fulled and needlefelted purse that I started last November. All that was left was to sew in the lining and put on the strap. I haven't decided yet if I will add some sort of closure. I think it would have to be a magnetic catch, because I don't want to have a button or anything on the front of the bag.



The design on the front of this just makes me smile. It was such a serendipidous accident, the way my random needlefelted swirls made a face when the fabric was folded.



The last fibery thing I did over the past week was to fix my Chevron Shawl. I took out the i-cord along the top edge, knit six rows of garter stitch and knit the i-cord again. It looked fine the way it was while it was blocking, but the top edge had quite a curl when I took the pins out. Stockinette shawls are prone to that. Adding just those few rows of garter stitch completely cured the curling, and now I'm perfectly happy with the shawl.

So my Fair entries are shaping up well, the packing is progressing, the house is sold, we have temporary quarters to go to between closing day and moving day, and Emma is thriving.

I really have nothing to complain about.

It’s been sporadic, but I have been working on the sewing thread Daffodil. After not doing much on it at all for quite a while, I picked it up again for real, and in the past two days I’ve done twelve rows.



That’s 63 rows, 4 ½ inches, and roughly 33 hours of work. The flowers of the daffodils are just starting to show (the double blobs on the left and right sides).

I’ve had a bit of a change of direction with this project. I was originally going to do it as it was written, for a table runner. You crochet the chart once bottom to top then turn the chart around and work it the other way to mirror the daffodils. However, I realized that I would probably never actually use it as a table runner, because I wouldn’t want anything spilled on it. In fact, if I do display it, framed and on the wall will probably be the method. And I think it would look strange to have a framed runner. One of the daffodil clusters would have to be upside down, or they would both be sideways. So instead, I will only crochet the chart once and just finish with the top border.

This feels strangely like a cop-out to me. But really, I’m not out to prove anything by making this project. By doing it this way, I will have a finished piece that I will actually look at and enjoy, rather than just have rolled up in a drawer.

I’ve also been making fan bookmarks.



I used up the last of the blue variegated thrift store thread on a long bookmark, then the next morning went into the living room to see that Emma had been playing with my scissors. The short blue bookmark on the top is in fact the very same one I showed last Thursday. See anything different between the first picture and this one (other than the twisted tassel)? Yep, it’s now shorter. She had snipped the tassel and the base two fans into itty-bitty little pieces. I was extremely unamused. Emma went for a nice long time-out, and I sat down and repaired the bookmark. Because she had snipped the first fans, not the last ones, I had to completely unravel and re-crochet it. I made it with 12 fans instead of the original 14, and cannibalized the tassel from the long blue bookmark to make the tassel for the short one. I think the long one is long enough that it doesn’t really need a tassel, but the short one definitely does.

The purple one is also thrift store thread, #8 perle cotton, worked with a #11 hook. The perle cotton has a much softer twist than crochet cotton, and is a bit of a pain to crochet with, but the finished fabric is nice and smooth and sheeny. I don’t think it will wear as well as a more firmly twisted thread (the blue variegated is a nice firm 6-ply cable), but I crocheted it tight and really, how much wear does a bookmark get?

Lastly, it’s time for an aquarium update. All the fish are swimming, the plants are thriving, and all is well.

• The Amazon Sword (left background) keeps putting out more leaves, though the three oldest have died back. I think these were the original leaves that were on the plant when I got it.
• The tapegrass (far right) has put out another leaf, and I saw today that it is starting a bloom spike!
• The Borneo fern (second from right) isn’t doing much. The leaves are still all there, but I haven’t seen any new ones. I know this is a slow growing plant, though, so it’s probably still just acclimating.
• The Java fern (left foreground) keeps getting bushier, though some of the oldest leaves have died off. It is also producing plantlets from the tips of the leaves, and I detached a couple and started them on the other piece of wood (the one with the Borneo fern). Their roots have attached to the wood, and they’re making lots of leaves.
• The Micro Sword (center background, right foreground) is doing well, though it seems to have trouble rooting in the gravel. I think the grain size is too large- this plant would probably do better in coarse sand. But it hasn’t lost any leaves, and I just keep poking it back into the gravel when it floats out.
• The “lily grass” that I thought was going to die (center foreground, between the pieces of wood) may make it after all. It stopped losing leaves when it had four left, and now actually has a new leaf starting! We shall see.

The daffodil runner continues to grow, and is about 3 1/2 inches high now, unstretched. This is 48 1/2 rows (out of 260) completed, and approximately 25 hours of crocheting. Each row takes half an hour.



Here's a crochet tip that I especially like with fine thread: Use a safety pin (coil-less is best, but mine seem to have all disappeared) to hold the working loop when you put the project down. That way, there's absolutely no chance that it will start unravelling while you're gone. I've found that there is a law of probability similar to Murphy's, which states that the finer the thread and the smaller the stitches, the more likely a catastrophic, unplanned frogging is to occur.

I also knit a bit on the urchin shawl yesterday, but I'll spare you another picture of the lace blob. It looks essentially the same as it did here.

Last night, because I was tired of tiny yarns and intricate lace, I started this (and finished this morning):



A child's hat, knit from Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece (color is Jungle, and not quite as shockingly green it may appear. I had to fiddle in Photoshop because my camera wanted the yarn to be blue). This was knit on #6US Addi circs, the design is original. It will probably fit a 7-9 year old. I need to find one of those to try it on, because it's too big for Emma and too small for me.

I like the top of the hat because it lays flat when it's not on a head, even in its unblocked state (as it is in these pictures).



With this yarn, these needles, and my gauge, decreasing every other round at nine points gives a flat circle.

I've also been spinning a bit recently, though (amazingly) not Ashland Bay top. We've begun the Sheep-to-Shawl warp! We do a practice shawl at the Fourth of July celebration, and so like to have the warp spun and ready for dressing the loom by the middle of June.



This year, we're doing a blended yarn. It's 60% Romney ewe lamb and 40% baby alpaca. Both these animals live on the island at local farms, the fiber was shorn by an islander, and it will be washed, carded, spun, and woven by my spinning group, so the shawl will be truly an island original. (Hey, Liz! does this count for anything toward the Eat Local Challenge? Maybe it's Spin Local! Supporting local fiber farmers... ) I love Sheep-to-Shawl.



It's really amazing what the addition of the alpaca does to the Romney wool. I find Romney, even Romney lamb, to be on the coarse and scratchy side. But that bit of alpaca changes the hand of the fiber to something soft, puffy, and incredibly luxurious. It's a dream to spin.

Another progress picture of the Daffodil Runner-



Moving along fine. This is a fun, easy pattern.

Mostly what I wanted to post about today is my aquarium. Looky what I discovered yesterday:



I'm pretty sure this is a Malaysian trumpet snail, Melanoides tuberculata. These are livebearers, unlike the physids, which lay egg masses. Like the physids, these can overrun a tank, but I'm going to keep it because I like snails. If the snails become a problem, they can be thinned.

I also have other new residents of the tank. Three panda corydoras catfish!


Corydoras panda

Yes, I know I said I wasn't going to get more fish, but these are very small and having just three won't place that much stress on the system. The filter is so efficient, and is overpowered for the tank size to begin with that it should be OK.


Corydoras panda

They look like something out of Dr. Seuss, don't they?! Their mouth is underslung like most cories, and they have two barbels that are forked. It's really cool to watch them mouthing around on the gravel. Their barbels seem to be muscular, and they move them around to clasp the gravel pieces and feel for food particles. They also like to school together, and trundle around the tank all in a group looking for food.

I also got a new plant a couple weeks ago, to replace the "lily grass" that is well on its way out. I think it has two leaves left, and either doesn't like my water or isn't an aquatic at all. The new plant is the grassy stuff in the center back, and is Micro Sword (Lilaeopsis novae-zelandiae). So far it's doing well- no dead leaves.



So pretty! As you can see, the plants are happy. Compare this picture to the one from March 12. The Java fern, (left side, foreground) has almost doubled in bushiness! And last night I discovered another new leaf each on the Amazon Sword (left background) and tapegrass (right background).

Not a very productive fibery weekend this time. Poor little Emma was a sick chick, with a fever of 102°-104° and extreme clinginess from Friday morning until Sunday afternoon. Tylenol and cool washcloths controlled the fever (somewhat), but all she wanted to do was be held and rocked, with the occasional book or Dora the Explorer when the Tylenol was working. She hardly ate anything, and when that happens, we know she REALLY doesn’t feel good. After she threw up three times in the wee small hours of Sunday morning (all over herself, me, my bed, and her bed, of course) and still wouldn’t drink anything, it was to the point at Sunday noon that I was concerned she was getting pretty dehydrated and considering an after-hours emergency visit to the island clinic, which isn’t usually open on the weekends. Thankfully, she got up from her nap at 5:00 without a fever, and asking for orange juice. Whew. Color me a relieved mama.

Anyway, here’s the progress so far on the Daffodil Runner. This 30 rows, about 11 hours of crocheting.



I’ve just gotten to the point where the picture of the daffodils starts. The forked blob in the middle is the bottom of the stem, the swoop on the right is the first leaf. I really like the way this is working up- the mesh is coming out nice and even, and like the other doily I made from this thread, the fabric is drapey, smooth, and has a nice sheen.

In other flowery news, my Phalaenopsis has opened two more flowers, and is looking very pretty.



The blooms this time are definately more stripey-veined than last time. I wonder if it's the temperature that has such an effect on the coloration.



Since Emma was feeling so much better today, I decided that we could go for a walk in the afternoon. I wanted to go back to Jakle's Lagoon to see if the Heart-leaf Twayblade orchids that were in bud last weekend are blooming yet. Plus, it was a really beautiful day today, and after not leaving the house all weekend we both needed some fresh air.

This is the view from the parking lot at Jakle's Lagoon, looking northwest across Griffin Bay.



And here are the orchids blooming!



What? You don't see anything? Believe it or not, there are 34 orchid plants in that photo! They're fairly unobtrusive....



But like so many things, when you really look, they are beautiful. There's a purple form...



a pale form...



and an intermediate form...



All three color morphs occur mixed together, and a stand of these is quite beautiful even if it is only four inches tall. The flowers are so small and well camoflaged that I'd wager most of the people who walk the trails at Jakle's Lagoon never even know they're there.

In addition to the orchids, we saw some lovely morels. After Emma saw these she spent the next five minutes bouncing along chirping "Shroom!"



We also saw some of the slimier denizens of the Northwest. These are the last pictures in the post, and if you're squeamish about crawly things, you might want to stop reading now.

OK?

Ready?

For those of you who are still here, we saw lots of big banana slugs. Emma loves these, and kept picking them up and saying, "Yum yum yummy 'nanas.... Nooooo! Icky! HeeHeeHee!" She is just so cute.



This one didn't have the dark spots that they commonly show.


BOO!

I still haven't finished the doily, in fact I haven't worked on it at all since that picture was posted. I'm not entirely happy with the way the ninth round back came out, and am debating whether to rip back to that point. This was the round that I had such trouble with, and I'm still not quite sure it looks right.

While I mull over that problem, I started another crochet piece. It's the Daffodil Filet Table Runner, designed by Hugo Kirchmaier in 1919, recharted by Sandi Marshall. I'm making this in the same sewing thread that I used for the doily last summer, Coats #50 Machine Quilting and Crafts 100% cotton, and a #14 steel hook.



The website says this doily comes out about 21" x 60" when made with #30 crochet cotton, but my sewing thread version looks about 12" wide at the moment. It may narrow a bit when it's stretched lengthwise as well as widthwise and the filet mesh actually becomes squares rather than rectangles.



Six rows so far, and just under half an inch high. Each filet square is 3 mm wide (0.1 in).