I just realized that I never posted about Crafty Bastards and that made me realize that I haven’t posted this month! Pia aka sparklypia everywhere went home with a skein of handspun alpaca. The only way to describe Crafty Bastards is crowds. Just think hordes and hordes of people. Working with Karida meant that each of us was able to take turns and try to wander the show. But the crowds made it hard. But I did manage top get some shopping done. I bought two Christmas presents for the nephews and plenty of soap for me. I adore handmade soap and never use commercially made soaps anymore. So I took the chance to stock up for a few months.

And there is more knitting going on but it is secret knitting gain. You will just have to wait for the big reveal. And I am still trying to make sure that the photo blog is updated daily.

I am scheduled to work for Karida Saturday morning in her booth at Crafty Bastards. I will be bringing down around a dozen skeins of handspun yarn from her rovings. I am not spinning them up as fast I thought I would. But I would rather spin less yarns and have nicer yarns than tons of yarns that I would not want to knit with myself. But to encourage DC area readers, I am going to bring a skein of my own yarn that I will give away to one of the readers of this blog.

Here is the deal, I have a skein of handspun naturally dyed alpaca that is a lovely blend of natural chocolate brown, pale green, and a raspberry pink. It is about a worsted weight and the skein has 160 yards in it. (Really a few more yards but I would rather error on the low side.) To win this fabulous skein of yarn all you have to do is find me and tell me what you would make out of it. If I like the idea, you will walk away with the skein. All I will ask is that you send me a photo of what ever you make out if it. I looked over on Ravelry and there are quite a few patterns that could be made using this yardage and weight of yarn. Keep in mind though that handspun alpaca is heavy and very very warm. Here are some Ravelry links to various patterns that caught my eye – Celtic Cable Neckwarmer, Turn A Square, Quant, and a personal favorite is Woodland Trails. Now for Woodland Trails the yardage in this skein isn’t quit enough to do the full repeats but I did mine and used only 177 yards so you might be able to get it out of this skein.

And I have been knitting in between spinning. I have knit three Ripley hats. I will knit a few more but I need to find yarn in the stash for them first. But I have also knit something out of handpsun too. Kristi of Designs by Kristi was looking for some people to test knit the pattern and I volunteered. I had just finished a handspun yarn that was the perfect weight and enough yardage. This cowl knit up super fast. I am planning to knit up another one here shortly. I need to see what yarns I have that will fill the bill for it.

And I should really introduce the new photo only blog Playing with Fire. Strictly photos. Click on over and check it out. Hope to see DC area readers this coming weekend.

I just looked at the calender and realized that I haven’t posted a real post in quite awhile. I am still here. Just staying busy with spinning and sewing and creating new batts. I am trying to get ahead of the game. I was invited to be part of a boutique style booth next month at the Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival. So in addition to trying to create wonderful fiber items for my Etsy store so I can have enough stock there to have an official grand opening, I am also trying to create stock for the show. So I am either at the wheel every evening or standing in front of the drum carder. And I can also be found at the sewing machine as well since I have been making aprons for spinners. I have several of the arpons almost ready to go. The ones up over on Etsy need a better model than the fence post.

And I am busy spinning up yarns for some one who is selling at Crafty Bastards. And I am trying to fit in knitting as much as possible. I am currently knitting my second Ripley (Rav link) hat out of stash yarn. I have more yarn in the stash that will become this hat. It is quick and easy and super cute. A least a few will end up as holiday gifts. And no modeled shots of the hats yet.

Actually I think I may be able to get some modeled shots this weekend. A friend’s daughter is a willing model and I will be seeing her Saturday.

The other thing I am busy doing is out wandering and shooting photos. I just took the big step and entered a major competition in the DC area this past week. I had to decide between entering the county fair or the big DC one. And the big one won. The county fair is a joke in that it costs you more to enter then they pay out. Plus people enter just to get the free pass into the fair. And you end up with lots of junk photos entered. Okay, not junk photos but things that are out of focus and such. The photo I entered was the one called Waiting which was the last photo I posted. It will be a bit before I know anything about this competition though.

An old farm truck waits patiently.

The little ones quickly slid into the water

This is the beaver pond at Big Pool on the C&O Towpath

Found near a pond

Taken near the beaver pond at Big Pool on the C&O Towpath

Found on the steps to the ladies loo at Fort Frederick

The public bathrooms at Fort Frederick are underneath the CCC building. The stone steps are narrow and cracked.

The bees have taken up residence in an old house

Taken near Four Locks on the C&O Towpath

I am busy trying to finish knitting a super secret project. So until I finish it, I am going to post some photos from a nice hike along the C&O Towpath this past weekend. These were taken near Four Locks and Big Pool. Enjoy!

Locking down into a lock on the C&O Towpath

Photos from the garden at Schifferstadt where hops are grown. I knew that hops were trained to grow up but until seeing them in the garden had never seen them grown. Without hops, we would have no beer!

And since I am hoping to play with some natural dyeing, the garden there is my friend. You can use things like bean vines to dye with! I need to finish reading how to and we may be trying natural dyeing at the World Wide Spin in Public Day event.