Gansey and Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival 2022

It has been a challenging weekend in some ways but I am grateful to be here. All is going pretty good despite said challenges.

When I arrived to set up on Friday morning the wind was very strong. We managed to get the tents set up and it took nearly every bungee cord in my arsenal to get everything strapped down.

The wind was too strong to risk putting out my products, so around 1 pm I went to get checked in at the hotel, eat lunch and reassess in the afternoon. I headed back around 3 pm and decided the wind had calmed enough to put out the stuff. I covered everything and clipped down the covers and zipped up the tents for the night.

Yesterday was hot, but at least it was less windy. There was a breeze which helped with the upper 80s temperature, but it was ok. Storms did roll in in the late afternoon, necessitating an hour early shutdown of the festival so we could batten down the hatches again for the night before they hit.

I packed up all the knit samples and stuff on the tables and covered the yarn displays in plastic and shut it up for the night. I am on the way over soon to set back up for today. There is a chance of rain today too but without so much wind I think. I’m sure it will be no problem and I’m looking forward to another good market day. Yesterday was great as far as attendees go until later in the day when it got hotter and storms were threatening.

I hung the gansey in the booth even though I haven’t had time to work on the pattern yet.

I also tried to get a couple modeled shots in the hotel room this morning. Forgive the goofy model, I have never been very photogenic unless caught unaware. It’s kind of hard to do that with a self portrait though. 😉

Home At Last

I returned from Minnesota last Tuesday. I have been trying to squeeze in time to get my gansey blocked and write a post. I have been working hard to get my website rebuilt plus other stuff. So I am happy to report that the website is done. I will probably do some more tweaking but it’s functional and I am pleased with it so far. My blog is now part of my shop which I have wanted to do for a long time.

So now on to my gansey and current knitting. I have the gansey blocking at the moment. I blocked it out quite a bit so that when it relaxes it will be closer to the finished dimensions I was planning for.

I only got one project started. It’s another Gridiron sock.

I really enjoy this pattern. It’s just interesting enough to be entertaining but not enough to be distracting if you are watching videos or something like that. They are also comfortable to wear. My last pair are my favorite socks.

Ok gotta go for now. I am going to be going to Lexington, KY on Friday for the Kentucky Sheep and Wool Festival. I don’t know if I will have time to post again before that. We’ll see. Have a great week!

Post from Minnesota

We had a wonderful first show in St. Louis this past weekend at the Midwest Fiber Festival. We will definitely be there next year.

I drove up to St. Paul, MN on Monday and have a few days before I will be setting up the booth again at Shepherd’s Harvest Festival. While I am waiting I plan to do some work on my website as well as some knitting and reading. My website is experiencing some issues with credit card processing. The PayPal option works and we always welcome checks but the credit card issue is a problem that needs fixed, so I am looking at my options.

Anyway, I finished my gansey last night. I hate to post an unblocked sweater picture but I don’t want to wait until next week to show you so here it is. Now keep in mind that it will look even better after its had a proper soak and block.

I now have nothing on the needles but I have several yarns picked out and I brought my swift and winder. I’ll fill you in later on what I am doing when I have the yarn wound.

Mid-break update

I was home this weekend but that is the last one for awhile. I have festivals booked every weekend through mid June except for the third weekend in May. So lots of traveling coming up soon. I am leaving Friday for a brand new festival in St. Louis, Missouri called Midwest Fiber Festival. I am excited about it 🤗.

I am working on my gansey as much as I can and if I don’t finish it before I leave, I am confident I will while I am gone. I am going straight on to Minnesota for the Shepherd’s Harvest Festival to save on gas and road time. I will have a couple free days there to knit and/or catch up on other work. I may be overhauling my Knitting Notions website soon. I am also planning another knitting project to take along and will share that when I have it picked. I know the pattern but haven’t decided on yarn yet so more on that later.

First sleeve done

I am actually a little farther down that second sleeve than I was when I took this picture. I just finished the definition ridge last night which is that band of garter at the elbow point.

Jerry has been hard at work on some new Shawl-Hair-Sticks and they are finished and thay are ready for packaging. He has also been preparing some slabs for turning blanks. These will be mostly Darning-Eggs and Nostepinnes.

While we are waiting for the wood to dry some more, it’s also garden starting time. We have a plow attachment for his lawn tractor but we needed a Tiller to break up the beds a bit more. We bought this one yesterday and here he is trying it out.

Another Festival and a Sleeve

I was at a festival last weekend and am at one this weekend too. I am in Greencastle, IN for The Fiber Event. I have done this festival since 2007 with a few missed years and I was sad to get the news in the vendor packet yesterday that this will be the final year. 😢

I also want to show you my progress on my gansey. I am almost finished with the first sleeve already. Sorry the color is a bit off here. I took it in my hotel room this morning before heading out for the day at the show.

Another Gansey Update

I am excited to report that I have progressed to the sleeves on my Gansey.

I have worked the first shoulder strap and left the stitches on a holder while I am working the second one.

I find I prefer using dpns for this part. I will probably continue to use them for the sleeves although it would be okay if you want to use circulars too. I just tend to like dpns better.

My next step will be to pick up stitches on the front and back sleeve opening to be added to the shoulder strap and gusset stitches and work the sleeves in the round. I have my charts all ready to use for those. I am really having fun making this sweater. 🙂