Sheep Encounters and FO: Binary Hat

It's been a slow few days. I have some kind of mild intestinal yuck that's keeping my days very low-key and close to restrooms. Fortunately, I seem to perk up a bit in the afternoon and/or evening, depending on when and how much I've slept. Two cool things have happened during "on" times this week.

The first was Monday night, when I went to a Rock Day potluck and spin-in/knit-in at my LYS. Rock Day, I'm told, is the day after Twelfth Day, when spinners in England (?) went back to work. Rock seems to be another word for distaff, or the staff on which flax was held for spinning. It seems that boys in certain trades went back to work a day or two later than the spinners, so they'd amuse themselves in the meantime by setting the flax on fire. As the organizer pointed out, a potluck sounded like a great deal more fun! She also told us that the only time spinners (knitters? textile workers? Not remembering this so well...) could start a project for themselves was between Christmas and Twelfth Day. Aren't you glad you don't live in old-time England, or wherever these customs held sway?

Anyway, the potluck and knit/spin-in were great fun. There were a ton of folks there (perhaps 30 or more; I didn't count), and many wonderful projects and conversations were underway. I ended up sitting next to C., who keeps the membership files for our local fiber handweavers' guild, and who was spinning top produced from one of her own Corriedale sheep fleeces. We talked a fair amount, and I found out her sheep love to eat Christmas trees. I offered mine.

That led to the second fun illness interlude today, when I took my tree and some home-canned red pepper relish to C.'s farm, and my daughter and I got to meet her current group of lambs -- Lincoln, Corriedale, and various crosses. One pair of twins hung out close together and walked around in formation a lot. It took DD a couple of days to psych herself up to meet sheep, but she was ready, and it was great fun for us to meet, pet, and feed a fir tree to these lovelies. We also admired C.'s cashmere goats, llama, and friendly sheepdogs.

If you've never heard lambs' voices, they're worth the trip.

My current project, which was started during the twelve days of Christmas (whew!) is still the Diagonal Cross-Rib Socks from Interweave's Favorite Socks. I cast on and knit the toe of the second sock at the Rock Day event, and have made it a little farther. Here they are:



And finally finished is DH's Binary Hat, which is based on a pattern by Erica Barcott. See my last post for the story of this one. It survived its short-row surgery and now fits happily and gets worn more.



Looking ahead, on Friday I start a wheel-spinning class at my LYS! I'm so psyched! You can be sure I'll have something to say about that. I have been hanging around spinners and reading up for a month or so now, but have never actually touched either a spindle or a spinning wheel myself with intent to produce yarn. I will say that I've handled some sublime fibers at my last two spin/knit-ins, though! I'm looking forward to meeting more of the local folks who produce this yummy stuff. On Monday, besides C., I met The Redhead (here's her web site), who had a decadent merino/alpaca/silk blended batt (I think that's the right link) for spinning, as well as other goodies, with her.