Pocahontas' Scarf

Several months ago my LYS (I use the term relatively.....if I were living in a huge metro area I might drive an hour across town to visit a "local" yarn shop. Ewephoria Yarns (www.ewephoriayarns.com) is the closest LYS I have and is approximately 42 miles away in another town. Considering I live in a "city" by Iowa standards [25,000 people] and Ewephoria is two or three counties away in a town of 2000 people, some people find it odd. That's all. Just saying.) owner, Leslie, organized an event on Ravelry wherein she invited knitters to creat 6x6" or 12x12" blocks which would be sewn together to form a beautifully handknit, diverse scarf to adorn the gigantic statue of Pocahontas that welcomes people to town who are coming in via Highway 3.

I was happy to knit a couple blocks. She was happy to get a great response from kind and generous knitter across 21 states in the U.S. and from 5 countries. The scarf was put onto the Princess in time for Thanksgiving and the start of holiday shopping and travel.

I missed going up for the big moment when the actual scarfing occured. However, since I edit the local monthly magazine, I decided it was high time to cover Pocahontas and drove up there yesterday to do my story. Here's what I found!



What fun! I spent some time visiting with Leslie for the magazine article (and buying more yarn, of course!) and discovered some interesting things. The scarf is 36 feet long. One lovely volunteer from Ireland actually sheared her sheep, carded and combed the wool, spun the yarn and dyed it, then knit up her square and sent it. Leslie remembered it as an orange square somewhere about 5 or so blocks up from one of the ends.

(Here's a close up in case you can spot it. Take note of the two blocks the arrows point to.)



See the Union Jack (flag of England)?? That square was contributed by a knitter from Gravesend, Kent, England. That location just happens to be the eternal resting place of the historical Pocahontas who married John Rolfe and went back to live with him in England. What a great connection for this small town in northwest Iowa named after the Native American princess!

The other block in burgundy and cream with the slip-stitch color work was in fact knitted by yours truly. (The other block I did with cables falls at the back of the neck of the statue and isn't visible in the photo.)

What a great thing Ravelry is to have brought all these people together for such a fun and whimsical project! And how great of Leslie at Ewephoria Yarns and the people of Pocahontas, Iowa to display the project....turning one piece of "art" into two!

Happy Knitting!

New Spindle (& FO!)

I participated in a fun "Homemade/handmade spindle exchange" via a group on Ravelry. The rules were to make a spindle for less than $10, preferrably from things you could recycle from your home. Since I've never made a spindle, it seemed like a good chance for me to learn. Besides, any knowledge acquired along the way might go a long way toward helping me expand from the one store boughten spindle that I own.

The one made for me by a lovely person in NY state arrived on Friday, which also just happened to be my birthday! (BONUS!!!) Here it is:



I'm not sure if the whorl is wooden or not. Part of me believes it may have been fashioned from Fimo (or similar brand) clay and baked. At any rate, I thought it terribly clever to actually paint the dowel as well! (My poor recipient got a plane jane model all around!)

Since this spindle is lighter weight than the one I bought in my "Learn to Spin" kit, I thought I'd give a lighter weight yarn a spin. I think it's going to work splendidly!

After playing around with the spindle on Saturday while watching the forecast, I decided a little knitting was in order owing to the fact I couldn't find a hat to wear in the bitter cold weather that has enveloped our state. Here's the result.



I got inspired by a pattern I saw on KnitPicks.com. However I decided to go with a different cable pattern from a stitch dictionary. Even though it's crappy acrylic yarn which has been in my stash for over 9 years, I think it will do the job of keeping my head warm. If anyone is interested I can type up the pattern and post it. Just say the word!

Happy Spinning & Knitting!
Stay warm!

Some of the Best Things

Sometimes some of the best things in life are the things we've forgotten.

I've seen this phenomenon with my own kids. When they were younger and we would have "clean your room" day they would often discover toys that they'd lost under the bed or behind the dresser or other places. These toys had been out-of sight-out-of-mind long enough that rediscovering them brought the kids much joy. (Not to mention distractions large enough to turn a 2 hour job into an all day kind of project, but let's not go there.)

Guess what I forgot about?



Ravelry!

I got my name in the queue last July and completely forgot about it until I received my invitation to join today. *yeah!* With waves of joy I am venturing into another fiber zone. I've only just dipped my toes in thus far, but it looks like a great place and I'm certain that I'll be diving in deep one of these days and there will be no getting me out of the water!

Happy Knitting & Spinning!