4-H National Consumer Decision Making Contest

1st Place Team - Reasons

Barely able to hold all of the Awards!

My son, Tim, and 3 of his fellow Tift County 4-H friends (winners of our state competition last year) recently competed in Denver in the 4-H National Consumer Decision Making Contest.  The team had a great time, and finished 3rd overall in the nation!  In 2 out of 3 areas of the contest, they were 1st in the nation.  In addition, Tim was 4th high overall individual, Michael was 5th overall, and Natalie was 2nd – Reserve Champion!  WE are so proud of Michael, Ethan, Natalie, and Tim -our Tift County 4-H Winners!

Goldenrod – a use besides making me sneeze….

Decided to put some goldenrod flowers in a pot and simmer them for a few hours, then strained off the flowers.  I added cream of tartar and alum and some wool roving and yarn and simmered that for about an hour in the pot.  TADA!!  I like the light yellow color!

New projects

Couldn’t resist trying this new Tissue-pack cover from the latest Quilts and More magazine on p. 47.  It’s fast and easy!

Also started working on another toe-up sock, Leyburn, a free pattern on Ravelry.

It’s working up FAST and I like how it looks with the Sockotta yarn.  Hopefully, second -sock-syndrome won’t hit with this one and I’ll actually finish the pair…..

Alaska treats

Cosmic Ray and I had a wonderful 25th anniversary trip to Alaska. Here’s a few goodies I brought home. Hand-dyed sock yarn by Rabbit Ridge Designs in the “Water” colorway – looks just like the waters of Resurrection Bay near Seward.

Hand made leather purse with reindeer-antler buttons and antique trade beads for trim.  It’s very soft!!  The lady who made it hand makes all the jewelry, buttons and purses in her store.  More pics later!

Knitting Again!

I finished a dishcloth last night! First finished knitting project since the shoulder re-do in early March.  “It’s a small thing, but a big thing for me”….hopefully I’ll be knitting socks again soon.

Fun with Natural Dyes

Our Cotton Patch spinners group had a great time of food, fun and natural dyeing last Saturday.  We used cochineal, goldenrod and indigo to create a fun range of colors.  Hope to try black walnuts and madder root again soon!

Just out of bath on right, 5 minutes later on left

We were hoping for a red-er color, but this is OK

yellow over-dyed with blue makes…..GREEN!

Hail, Hail the gang’s all here…..

Well, after 14″ or so of rain in the past 2 weeks, flash flooding, thunderstorm and tornado warnings, Sunday afternoon we had hail.  And lots of it.

Tonight we’re supposed to have record lows for south GA…freeze warning has been issued.  Can’t wait to see what’s next.

February Ladies Sweater

Started this sweater last week and got to row 16 before the shoulder re-do. I’m using 2 ply handspun from some pencil rovings I won at Destin Spin-in.

First 16 rows of February Ladies Sweater

Mill Hill sheep buttons I bought several years ago...might use for this project.

Cooler Dyed Roving

Found out that I’m going to have my shoulder re-scoped and scar tissue broken, so to celebrate, I decided to dye some roving.  My friend Dona gave me this roving – it’s a nice blend of a $20 fleece she found at SAFF with

Fiber balls placed in cooler

mohair from her goats that ended up costing her more than her first house after processing, but it’s nice stuff.

Fiber balls placed in cooler

Loosely wound fiber balls

Fiber drying in sunshine on deck

Finished roving almost dry

I like the pink/red color and can’t wait to spin it up. I think it will make a great pair of socks!

As the bowl fills…..

Our Cotton Patch Spinning Guild had a great time at the Destin spin-in last month.  When we arrived at our condo, this beautiful bowl awaited us on the coffee table.  We thought it would be fun to fill it throughout the weekend with our handspun creations!  So, here’s the saga of “As the bowl fills”.