Sheep!

The KY Sheep and Fiber Festival was this weekend, and I managed to snag a ride with friends from my knitting group. As always, it was a blast! I got to shop, enjoy the colors and textures everywhere, see sheep, pet llamas and alpacas, and meet some online friends in person finally. One of my favorite parts of fiber festivals is the amount of non-wool options out there. I'm mildly allergic to wool, so I can't work with it (brief contact is okay, but no wearing it or knitting with it). But at places like the KYSFF? Racks of alpaca and silk roving for spinning! 

I wound up choosing to buy some dyed, unprepped alpaca locks, instead. I've never spun straight from the lock, so this will be an experiment for me. I want to eventually turn the brown/dark/red batch into fingerless gloves. No plans yet for the pinks/blues/purples. 

I also managed to snag 2 skeins of Wolle's Color Changing Cotton. This stuff is very popular in the world of knitters and as it's all handmade by a very nice woman, there are limited quantities each month. Getting it online can be tricky, especially the big skeins made for making shawls from, so I was thrilled to snag a Shawl Skein (185g) and a regular size skein (100g) at the fair. 

Ms. "Wolle" herself posed for a quick shot of her sweater, knit from her fabulous yarn.

Oh, and I got to try weaving! Decidedly fun. 

The day wound down with some Bunny Therapy (it was soooo hard to not give this fluffy little guy a new home, as he was up for adoption)...

... and some fluffy, and not-so-fluffy, sheep. The naked sheep always look so fed up with us silly humans. 

And the Games are over...

The Olympic Games, that is.

The Olympics are always an exciting time for me, for several reasons. First off, I enjoy a lot of the Olympic sports and they aren't ones you normally see on TV, like arial, bobsled, skeleton, ice dancing, etc. I have a blast getting sucked into the emotions of the athletes.

But the biggest reason the Olympics are one of my favorite biennial events? The Ravellenic Games.

First off, for those of you not familiar with Ravelry, it is one of the largest social media websites out there. And it's exclusively for fiber artists, including knitters, crocheters, spinners, and weavers. During the Olympics, a group of intrepid and very hardworking volunteers run the Ravellenic Games. The Ravellenic Games start when the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics starts and end when the torch goes out at the end of the Closing Ceremonies. The point of the Ravellenic Games is to challenge yourself as a fiber artist, just as the athletes are doing in their sports. We even have events, like the Shawl Short Track, the Lace Luge, and the Hat Halfpipe.

This year, the team I compete on, Team No Spoons (in reference to the Spoon Theory by Christine Miserandino), elected me their Fearless Leader. Okay, so the real title is "Team Captain", but "Fearless Leader" is just more fun. Team No Spoons is team for the group* the Chronic Bitches. The Chronic Bitches, or CBs, as we call ourselves, are a support group for chronically ill/disabled fiber artists who are a touch irreverent, fond of naughty words, able to laugh at themselves, willing to talk about anything, and, most importantly, incredibly supportive. I can turn to my CBs about anything and everything, and have for 4.5 years now. They are my rock. We share knowledge, tips of dealing with difficult doctors, discuss the frustrations of being ignored by yet another doctor with a god-complex. It's been a privilege getting to return some of that awesome support by leading the team.

I'm a rather slow knitter, and crochet is out as my autoimmune arthritis has my hands, wrists, and elbows extra swollen lately, so I picked small. I opted to knit Petunia the Patio Monster from the Big Book of Knitted Monsters by Rebecca Danger. She made out of a self-striping rainbow yarn called Serenity Garden, sold by Jo-Anne's Fabrics. 

Also during this years Games, I decided to do a bit of spinning on my trusty Lendrum DT spinning wheel. A friend bought me a batt (fiber prepared in a sheet) that is black alpaca overlaid in rainbow dyed silk. I decided to separate the silk from the black alpaca and spin the two separately, into different plies (the individual strands that are then together to make yarn). Then, once I ply the black and the rainbow plies together, and knit up the yarn, you'll get peeks through the black of a very vibrant rainbow. I'm happy with how it came out in the end- I have about 86 yds of a dk-to-worsted weight yarn from this. Though, I am quite glad to be done trying to spin silk in very dry air- it was Attack of the Static Monsters around here. The one night, my mom started laughing at me, and I looked down to find my ass being attacked by a glob of green silk- which had launched itself more than 3 feet across the room to attack me. 

The batt, as it came in the mail:

The batt, once I had separated the silk and the alpaca:

And finally, the final yarn:

I'm very happy with how my projects came out, and I'm very proud of my team. They are truly some of the greatest women I've ever had the pleasure of knowing, and it was a pleasure working with them during the Games. Can you really ask for more? 


* Groups are basically sub-forums within Ravelry- you have to go looking for the group you're interested in to read anything posted there. You can join groups to get them to show up on your main page when you log in, which is very useful. The groups represent a wide variety of interests, from the fiber arts related like lace knitting and Sock Knitters Anonymous to non-fiber arts topics, like politics, TV/movie/music fan groups, and even health/wellness groups.

Temporary Pets and Shiny Objects

Obviously, I haven't been around much since the SCS stuff all got into full swing. At first it was basic exhaustion, then, well, honestly? I got out of the habit of posting. Anyways, I figured I'd share some of the crazy fun I've been having while hiding from The Cold. (Seriously, we spent multiple days this month colder than the friendly state of Alaska.... I live below the Mason-Dixon line. That sort of cold ought to be illegal.)

First off, a friend wound up living here for a few weeks, along with her hysterical cat, Annabelle. Belle appears to have forgotten How to Cat somewhere along the way. Why, we don't know- she grew up with a litter then was adopted with her sister, so the silly dog behaviors are just fun. She plays fetch. She also loves to sit on peoples heads and watch TV. Like I said, silly cat. A standard day in the life with Ms Annabelle around went a bit like this:

"This is my toy. No, I will not share right now, but I will stare you down."

"I have brought you my kill. Now I must stare at it to make sure it's dead."

"It's been 2 seconds- why haven't you thrown the octopus yet?!"

In between being owned temporarily by a cat, I made an awesome discovery- I can spin again!! On my wheel!!!!!! Yes, that requires that many exclamation marks. My fabulous Lendrum DT spinning wheel has been languishing for the last 2 years, since my RSD/CRPS flared completely out of control. The foot and leg motions needed to use it were horribly painful. In  the 2 years before the SCS surgery, I managed to turn a mere 1oz of fiber into yarn. That's about 20 yards, for what it's worth. You can't even knit half a fingerless glove with that amount. Since the SCS was implanted? I can crank it up, drown out the pain, and treadle for hours. In 3 days I managed to spin 4oz of alpaca roving and 1oz of a baby camel/mulberry silk blend. (And yes, fiber counts as "shiny", as shiny applies to all things good and awesome.)

The alpaca:

Part of the camel/silk (I'm now up to 1.5 spun of this):

Ms Annabelle disapproved of the spinning, and instead felt I should stop moving my legs so she could rest there while I adored her.

This is so much FUN. I'd almost forgotten how easy it is to loose yourself in a bag of fiber for hours on end. I feel like this surgery has given me a part of myself back. Still no way of knowing how much mobility I'll really regain, but if I get back just this one thing? The entire surgery was worth it. 

I think Prednisone ate my knitting mojo....

As I've spent the last 2 years trying to find the right balance and mix of immunosuppressants to give me ideal symptom relief, I've spent a good bit of time on prednisone. The steroid is a great immune suppressant and it works perfect for temporary situations, but it's dangerous to take it long term. Since I've been on it 6 months or more now, my rhuemy and I decided we needed to get me off of it. I've been having some vascular side effects (it's weakening the capillaries, allowing them to be far too easily penetrable, meaning meds that are injected but not into a vein are getting sucked up and I'm bruising and I'm bleeding too easily, plus blowing veins when dealing with IV's). So I weaned myself off and am now dealing extra symptoms. More arthritis, more pain, more skin issues, all of it.

So imagine my surprise when I suddenly felt the urge to Make Things. Not just the woodworking and sprucing up the house I've been doing, but I've been wanting to sew, make jewelry, knit, and crochet. I honestly don't think I've completed a single project this calendar year since I've spent most of the year with major arthritis issues. Hands and wrists that don't bend don't lend themselves to crafting, especially crocheting (lots of wrist rotation with that craft).

I listened to my Inner Crafter (which is about 10 years old most of the time and tends to insist shiney things are the best) and picked up a skein of Project Linus yarn that was still in a box from moving this spring. It's cheap acrylic boucle in blue and white, but perfect for a super simple crochet project that I can pick up and drop with no warning. So I started doing a Corner-to-Corner Blanket. It's fun. I'd forgotten that crochet and knitting can be fun- they had been mentally feeling like work for months now.

Complete and utter weirdness. I knew prednisone had weird side effects, but eating crafting mojo? New one to me! Been stuck dealing with weird side effects lately, or just a lack of crafting mojo? Working on some Project Linus projects? (All little kids need blankies!) Feel free to share! Also, if you're a Raveler, feel free to look me up there- my Rav name is DaapAteMySoul.