Just one of those days

Waking up at 5:30 a.m. to a blaring carbon monoxide detector followed by a visit by three of South Metro Denver's Bravest is not a great way to start the day. Fortunately, it was a false alarm and I've purchased a new CO detector. I hope I'll get a good night's sleep tonight.

It turns out that 2.5 years after you move into a new house is when things start to break. Last week, I fixed a toilet, and this afternoon my doorbell started buzzing so I had to dismantle it. So, if you're coming over to my house, please knock and walk carefully. Hopefully, this isn't a sign of bigger things to come.

In happier news, Colorado decided to skip spring and after a mid May snowstorm we have gone straight into summer. While I would have liked a little bit of a spring, I'm just thrilled to see the sun. I've been able to get out and ride my bike and go hiking with friends.



Last night, I met some friends in downtown Denver and we wandered around the Denver Chalk Art Festival. The artwork was amazing. It is hard to believe it is chalk on concrete.







And Xena and I have spent a lot of quality time sitting out on our front porch. She loves to roll around in the sunshine.



This coming weekend is the Estes Park Wool Market and this year my friends Denise and Megann are flying in to go with me. It will be great to see them again and I'm looking forward to a weekend of knitting, spinning and weaving! I'm also frantically trying to finish a two skeins of yarn before they arrive on Friday to enter in the handspun competition.

I finished my first skein this morning. This is some Pygora (really really soft cashmere-like goat fiber) that I bought at the Taos Wool Festival. The goats the fiber is from were raised on a farm in western Colorado so I thought it was appropriate to enter in a local competition.


(Pygora fiber, 1 oz, 192 yards)

I'm not sure if it's spun well enough to win because the fiber was a little nubby, which makes it hard to spin smooth, but it is the softest yarn I've ever made. And I think it's really pretty, nubs and all. I'm still trying to decide what skein #2 will be. I think it will be a low twist single spun from a long fiber like Wensleydale.

I also recently finished spinning this fiber from the Southern Cross Fibre Club. This fiber is dyed by a very talented dyer in Australia. The fiber is Shetland, which is one of my favorites.

Before:


After (4oz., 612 yards):


I have way too many projects on the needles and haven't made much progress on any of them. The one I'm most excited about right now is my second Daybreak Shawl (see Daybreak #1 here)

This version is made from Zauberballs, which is a single-ply self striping sock yarn. The colors in this yarn are amazing, but I have been disappointed with the quality of the yarn. I'm not even halfway through one of the balls and I have already come across three knots and numerous frayed areas. Not a good thing. That said, I'm very happy with how this is turning out.





Purl and Ashford are more interested in the project bag I'm keeping the Daybreak in than the actual shawl.



And another Purl photo just because I think it's adorable.