Sunday, November 26, 2006

Farm Toy Show, Pedal Pull and Santa

Here is photo of my nephew, Joshua, sitting on Santa's lap at the Western Maryland Farm Toy Show. That beard is real, folks! My hubby and I are part of the Tri State Farm Toy Collectors Club and we put on a farm toy show twice a year, spring and fall.

It's a lot of work and a lot of fun and I'm always glad when it's over but it's great to see that way the kids interact with Santa.

The club president, Linda, and I sit at the door and collect the admission and hand out door prize tickets. I saw a father, mother and five-year-old son come up to the door. The little boy peeked through the glass on the door and saw Santa just as his dad was opening the other door. He vanished, poof! with a scream of "I'm not going in there!". Several minutes later, they reappeared, the dad was carrying the boy and telling him not to look at Santa. The boy had his hood up and his dad was telling him which way to look so that he wouldn't make eye contact with Santa.

Here is a very enthusiastic little girl participating in the kiddie pedal pull. We have this every year as part of our show and it is a huge hit with kids and parents. If you've never been to a real tractor pull this is a kid size version of the real thing. A sled with weights is hooked to the back of the pedal tractor and the farther the kids pedal the heavier the sled becomes. The object is to pull the sled the fartherest down the track. It is divided into age groups, 5-6, 7-8, and 9-10 year olds. All the kids get little tractor toys for participating and the first, second, and third place finishers in each age group win a trophy.

Here are some photos of the toys.

Welsh Family Toy Collection












Our youngest member, Jared with some of his collection.

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Finally...an Update

Wow, it's been a while since I posted. Let's start with a report on Stitches East. This was my first yarn show. I was totally overwhelmed. I was invited by Susan from Y2Knit to help out in her booth while she and her sister/partner taught a class. I took Doug along with me because I wanted to share the experience with him. He seemed genuinely interested in the yarns. We got there before it officially opened and the first booth I came to was Blue Moon Fibers. Socks That Rock were at the top of my wish list so I bought 4 skeins of lightweigh sock yarn.

Left to right they are: Jail House Rock (my fav), Sherbet, Watermelon Tourmaline, and Fairgrounds.

This is my first STR and I can't stop admiring it. I don't know what I'm going to make out them yet. They seem too pretty for socks. Any suggestions?

I wanted one of each color plus some of the other yarns at the booth but I was on a limited budget so I stopped at four. Then Doug found the Saratogoa Llamas booth. Linda was very nice and showed us a photo album of the llamas. She takes them to schools and puts on a funny show.

Doug bought a skein spun from the fleece of ATM for a hat. I haven't closed the top because I had a good bit of yarn left and thought I might rip the whole thing out and make it a little bigger. Doug has a large head and the hat fits but it could be a little looser.

Here's the rest of my plunder. Left to right: two skeins of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock Superwash in Sand Ridge, Lisa Souza Sock! Superwash in South Pacific, two skeins of Koigu Painter's Pallete P823162, and finally Fleece Artist Merino 2/6 (what does that mean?).

The Fleece Artist doesn't have a color name, number, or dyelot. Is that normal?

Here's a closeup of the Koigu. I wasn't expecting to find any Koigu there because I'm always reading about how hard it is to come by. I didn't have it on my list but as I was wandering around looking for sock yarn there it was. Dozens of skeins.

I didn't find any Cherry Tree Hill or All Things Heather. It may have been there but I missed it. I suppose I will have to order it from the Loopy Ewe.

Meanwhile the sock for my coworker, Harold is progressing but I fear it may be too long in the foot.
I am using The Boyfriend Socks pattern from the Slipped Stitich with Wendy's Generic Toe-Up Sock Pattern.

I'll have to get him to try them on soon. I'm using size 0(US) needles (for the first time) and I'll have to say they really work well with the Trekking XXL.


Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Caps to the Capitol

Here is part of my contribution to Caps to the Capitol, sponsored by Save the Children. These caps will eventually go to newborns around the world to help fight infant mortality.

I found the link to the pattern on the Fall Cable KAL. It's by Ellen Lynch (thanks, Ellen) and is called Ellen's Ruffled Hat. I really enjoyed knitting this pattern because it worked up quickly and looks adorable. I've made 5 hats so far but have enough yarn for a few more.

I don't have the ball bands in front of me right now so I can't give you all the poop on the yarn. The primary colors and the purply are the same brand but the white one is Patons that I bought a bag of about 20 years ago.

I'm back to work on another "We Call Them Pirates" hat for Christmas. This one will be black with red skulls.