A Denver Adventure

Yesterday Mary and I both had the day free, so we decided to do some exploring in downtown Denver. I took the light rail from the south side of town and Mary took the bus from Boulder and we met up at Union Station.

Our first stop was the Denver Capitol Hill People's Fair, which is an annual festival in Civic Center Park. There were a ton of booths to check out from arts and crafts vendors and community groups along with entertainment. We got there just as it was opening so it was easy to walk around and see everything.

We then walked down Broadway to find a craft shop Mary had seen before that was nearby. It was called Fancy Tiger, and it was a small shop, but they had a lovely selection of yarn and fabric and a variety of craft supplies. They have free DIY nights and it seems like it would be a fun place to spend an evening. During our walk back we stopped in a really cute pet supply shop. They had a kittens available for adoption and there were several who almost had to come home from me. My favorites were the five six-week old kittens that had just been weaned. They were so tiny and cute. I was smitten with a little calico who felt the need to hiss at her admirers. Absolutely adorable.

Our next stop was the La Piazza dell’Arte. It was being held in Larimer Square, which is an area that has a great mix of restaurants and shops. They also have a wonderful gelato shop. Even though we hadn't had lunch yet, we couldn't pass that by. I ordered the small scoop in a waffle cone which included a scoop of chocolate chocolate chip and a scoop of chocolate mint. Yum! I don't even want to know what the large looks like. I'm glad we were doing a lot of walking.

The festival was really neat. Businesses purchase a square on the street and then the artists create these incredible drawings using chalk and pastels. Some are originals and others are based on famous works of art. All were really impressive.







We left the festival and hopped on the light rail back to my part of town. We stopped by a knitting shop that is right down the street from my house called Knitty Cat. They were celebrating their 5 year anniversary with a sale. I picked up some Noro sock yarn and Collinette Jitterbug.





I guess Boulder is lacking in good fabric stores, so after we left Knitty Cat we went to the Great American Quilt Factory where Mary found a few fabrics for a quilt she's planning on making.

We finished off our day by picking up some Chinese food, trimmed the kitties claws (Mary will have scars to remember that by...Xena is not a fan of getting her claws trimmed) and then we went to see a movie.

In knitting news, I've made some progress on the handspun scarf.



And I've been spinning some merino/silk. It's going to be gorgeous, but so far I haven't really enjoyed spinning the fiber. I have a lot left to spin, so I hope it gets better.



Even though Purl got to stay at home yesterday, she still was exhausted.

The Windows are Open

Because the air conditioner doesn't seem to work. I broke down last night and decided that I needed to turn it on. It was on for about 5 hours and the temperature in my house went up about 5 degrees. Not the result I had hoped for. Sigh. The joys of a new home. Fortunately it's all under warranty and should be fixed in the next day or so. At least the kitties are enjoying the fresh air.



Let's focus on how cute Miss Ashford is as she looks out the window and not on the fact that she's violating one of the house rules and standing on the kitchen counter. She was protecting our house from the little dog that was wandering around in the alley behind the house so I let it slide. (See the flower to the right of her? That was laying on my dash when I got back into my car after getting my oil changed. The guys at the Grease Monkey near my house really take care of their customers!)

I finished spinning my the Perchance to Knit superwash merino wool. The colorway is Rainbow Black and it's about 950 yards of laceweight. I think this needs to become a scarf. There are a couple of projects that need to be finished before I start anything new though.



Much to Xena's chagrin, the lack of air conditioning doesn't keep Ashford from needing to snuggle.

Spinning

I've been extremely happy with my spinning wheel purchase. I haven't had much time to spin this week, but I did manage to finish spinning the superwash merino wool from The Dyeing Arts. It was like butter to work with and I'm really excited about how it came out. It is approx. 350 yards of sportweight yarn. I think it's going to make a gorgeous pair of socks!







I've also been working on a scarf out of some merino I spun during my spinning class. It's the first time I've actually knitted with my handspun. The pattern is the Lace Ribbon Scarf from the Spring 2008 Knitty.



I absolutely love how the color changes are so dramatic. It is a great pattern to show off handspun.



On my wheel right now, I'm attempting to get laceweight out of 3.5 oz of superwash merino from Perchance to Knit. The colorway is Rainbow Black.



This morning my builder had people out planting things in front of my house. Itlooks like I'm getting a tree and a variety of shrubs, perennials and decorative grasses. The pots have been sitting on the side of my townhouse for a while, so right now most of them look dead. I'm hoping we'll get a little rain to help them perk up a bit.

At least I know they were well supervised.



Finally, a look at how cute the yarn-eating kitten is.

Mine, all mine!

I brought home a new toy yesterday.



Isn't it pretty? It's a Schacht Matchless and I had the opportunity to bring one home from my class to play with for the last week and I had to take it back yesterday. It just so happened that the shop had some that were just waiting to be taken to their new homes. This one wanted to come home with me.

I've been spinning all day today. This is the roving I chose for my first spin on the wheel.



It's some superwash merino from The Dyeing Arts that I picked up at The Loopy Ewe Spring Fling. It has two ounces of two different colorways that go well together. One is a rainbow, the other is blues, greens and purples. I'm trying to get sock yarn. So far, I think I'm close.

Yesterday was a big day. I also rode my bike up a mountain and I lived to tell about it. As far as mountains go, it wasn't a really steep one, but since I have never ridden my bike up a mountain before and my training this winter has consisted mainly of knitting, it was a good one to start with. We rode from north Boulder to Jamestown.


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Summer has finally made it to Colorado. I turned off the heat yesterday and opened up the window. The kitties were very happy, or crazy, it's hard to tell. Fresh air does strange things to the kitties.

Yarn!

I have been trying to take full advantage of having the Schacht Matchless live with me this week. I finally (it seemed to take forever) finished spinning 4 oz of Merino that was dyed by the Yarn Wench in her Flaming Pie colorway. I was trying for fingering weight to make a pair of socks, but I think I ended up with about 500 yards of lace weight. I'm still really proud of it and I think it will make a gorgeous lace scarf. I think the yarn is better suited for a scarf anyway. It wouldn't have made a very sturdy pair of socks.

I had to take the photos without the flash because it washed out the color, so it's a bit dark, but it's close.



See the scary kitty shadow? No yarn is safe in my house.





Talk to the paw

Surf Divas

Last weekend was my annual trip with my girlfriends from Kansas City. This year, we took advantage of the fact that one of us moved to San Diego. Christy was a great host! She arranged for us to take surfing lessons. I tried to block out the fact that there had been a deadly great white shark attack off of one of the beaches in San Diego the week before and got in the water. We had so much fun. Our instructors from Surf Diva were fantastic (and incredibly patient), and all of us were able to get up on the boards. The two hours we were in the water just flew by.

The surf divas: Deva, Me, Allison, Sheryl and Christy





It would be very tempting to move to the beach. Look at the blue skies!

This week was my last week of spinning class. I got to bring this home.



It's a Schacht Matchless. I get to keep it until Saturday, so I need to somehow find time to spin. It is a very cool wheel and there is a possibility that one of its brothers or sisters might need to come home with me from the shop when I take it back.

The last day of the spinning class is a natural dyeing workshop. We each were supposed to bring 12 small skeins of yarn, and we used four different dyes: onion, rosewood, cochineal (a bug), and cutch (a resin). We used three different mordants which help the dye bond to the yarn. We used, alum, copper and iron. Each mordant has a different affect on the dye.

Onion (alum, copper, iron)



Rosewood


Cutch


Cochineal (the alum skein was plied with one strand spun worsted and one wollen, that's why it's two different shades)


We also dyed some Lincoln fleece using synthetic dyes. Each of us had a different color of powdered dye and we sprinkled a small amount of each dye on the white fleece. I love how it came out with the different shades of purple.



It is very hard to photograph. The first photo is more true to color, but you can see the variations better in this one.



Xena would prefer that I not spin so much so she can sleep on my lap.

Let there be light!

When I moved into the townhouse I loved everything about it...except the light fixture in the dining room. I'm assuming that the woman who picked everything out had a chandelier she planned on installing because I couldn't believe a person with such good taste would like such a horribly ugly light fixture.



It was so ugly I must have tried not to take photos of it. This is the best one I could find.

Now I have a fabulous light fixture. It looks great over my dining room table.



I'm very happy with the way it looks with the pendant lamps and the rest of my kitchen. (Just ignore the artwork that is leaning against the island. I'm hoping it will eventually decide to hand itself on the wall.)



Next week I get to take down the temporary blinds I hung and get the real blinds installed on my bedroom balcony door.

I've also been doing quite a bit of spinning. This is the wheel i got to bring home from class last week.



I'm hoping I'm making sock yarn.



This is merino wool from The Yarn Wench. Love the wool, and the colors are gorgeous.

I also went out and bought felt pads for the bottom of the kitty bunk bed because it gets moved around so much its starting to scratch my pretty hardwood floors. The upside down bunk bed is much more fun!