Fiber Arts Friday: Portland Frog Hat

I happened to see a post from PDX Knitterati on Social Media on Sunday, October 26, 2025 about her Frog Hat.  

With it being similar to the Pussy Hats from the first regime and the joy of the Portland Inflatable Frogs from the No Kings March on October 18th, I knew I had to make at least one of these.

I had suitable yarn in my stash and stopped by one of the Big Box Craft Stores to get some Googly Eyes.

I love this yarn so much.... it has a Hygge feeling for me... the color, the softness, the squishy-ness... mmm.  It was acquired from the Apothefaery in 2022 at the Estes Park Wool Market.

I did not figure out a good way to attach the Googly Eyes that wasn't far too fiddly while also being secure and washable.

So I stopped at a couple of local shops and picked up some felt and buttons as recommended in the pattern.

And ultimately just used the buttons, which are wood so they will air dry.

I am ready for the next demonstration.

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!

County Fair 2025

As in most years, I did enter a yarn.

This year it was only one Tibetan Mastiff yarn from Ramen.  I have been working on this set of yarn for a few years, since I intend to make a sweater/wrap from it.

The vision is a rustic, big, warm, hug and I have finally crossed the half-way mark on the needed yarn.

I also entered a batch of Biscochito Cookies.  There was a lot of cookie competition... especially in the "other" category.

Thanks to being laid off from my Day Job, I was able to spend some time watching the judging.

I think it's quite nice for the judging to be open to the public, but I've not been able to fit it into my schedule until now.

The baking judges were silent.  So I had no idea what they were thinking and decided to wait for the comments.

The Spinning and Weaving Judge was very talkative about her thoughts... and thanks to that, I learned a lot about what they are actually looking for on the accompanying label that goes with each entry.

I took copious notes when I got home.... so hopefully, my yarns will be better explained in the future.

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!

Fiber Arts Friday: Tour de Fleece, 2024 - part 7

 **Second part of Women's Race

Continuing with the second half of the Women's Tour de Fleece... I am pleased to have completed the Paco-Vicuna single last week.

Friday, August 16

Alpaca-ish - Paco-Vicuna:  15 minutes

I began plying today.

The cake weighed 30g (~1oz) when I started and now weighs 20g.  So I only plied about 1/3 of the single.

Saturday, August 17

Alpaca-ish - Paco-Vicuna:  11 minutes

I have a knot in the singles... if I'm not able to open it, I will have to break the singles and make 2 yarns.

Sunday, August 18

Alpaca-ish - Paco-Vicuna:  10 minutes

I was able to remove the knot, then continued plying for ~10 minutes.

I have 8g remaining to be plied.

Weekly Status:

Duration:  

• Alpaca-ish:  1 hour 21 minutes + 38 minutes = 1 hour 59 minutes

Net Days Spun: 4 of 4 + 3 of 3 = 7 of 7, no missed days

Finished Skeins:  1

Epilogue

While I did not finish the Paco-Vicuna during the tour, I did finish it this week.... while also making and resolving another ouple of knots.  :-/

The total is 30g (1 1/8 oz), 93 yds, 2-ply over ~2hours and 7 days.

Remember - The Paralympics start on August 28.

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!

Fiber Arts Friday: Tour de Fleece, 2024 - part 6

Now that the Men's Tour and the Olympics are concluded, the Women's Tour de France is beginning.  So the Tour de Fleece, Femmes is beginning too.

The Chiengora Team has decided to be loose.  So I am focusing on finishing the little bit of Tibetan Mastiff I have remaining from the Men's Tour, the 1/2 ounce of Paco-Vicuna I started during the Men's Tour, and the two rovings of Suri Alpaca I have set aside.

   

I don't have any time or specific progress goals, other than spin each day.

This tour is only 7 days, so I will not accomplish as much as the 3-week race.

Monday, August 12

Alpaca-ish - Paco-Vicuna:  10 mins

Tuesday, August 13

Alpaca-ish - Paco-Vicuna: 15 mins

Wednesday, August 14

Alpaca-ish - Paco-Vicuna:  15 mins

Thursday, August 15

Alpaca-ish - Paco-Vicuna:  40 mins

I finished the Paco-Vicuna single today.

Weekly Status:

Duration:  

• Alpaca-ish:  1 hour 21 minutes

Days Spun: 4 of 4

Finished Skeins:  0

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!

Fiber Arts Friday: County Fair, 2024

As mentioned in my Tour de Fleece, Hommes wrap-up, these two skeins were entered into our local county fair.

On the left is Tibetan Mastiff (2 3/8 oz of 2-ply) and the right is Huacaya Alpaca + Bamboo (~4 oz of 2-ply). Both were primarily spun during the most recent Tour de Fleece.

I don't have great expectations for either yarn... 

• The Huacaya Alpaca + Bamboo has bits that are over-spun and not resolved during plying.  But it is a really soft and consistent yarn, otherwise.
• The Tibetan Mastiff is a much better yarn.  It is well-balanced and generally an even gauge, but not entirely.

So we shall see what the judges think...

I also had one entry in Preserved Foods for Blueberry Curd.  This idea blew my mind.  I'm so excited to learn that many fruits can be made into a curd... not just Lemon, which I absolutely love.

While we bought the blueberries, the eggs were produced by our hens.  :-)

The grand champion in the spinning+weaving category was a 3-ply yarn that was absolutely exquisite.

I always (!) love going to the Fair, and especially looking at the quilts.  I'm certain that I've mentioned this before.... we have some truly amazing quilters in my county.  :-D

We looked at all of the open exhibits and the 4H exhibits.  We watched some market lamb showmanship.  Walked through the barn to see some of the sheep and pigs.  Ate some amazing Brisket+Mac-n-Cheese.

I hope you have the opportunity to visit your local county or state fair.  It's always a fun time, in my opinion.

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!

Fiber Arts Friday: The end of the Trout Jaywalker Socks

 Welp, I did rip out the Trout Jaywalker Socks.

It took me a few days to get to it.  I thought an idea might come to me on how to save them.... but it wasn't happening.

So I spent some time over several days looking at sock patterns in my queue and then went to take a look at the next sock project that I had set aside.

In that bin, I found another pattern that earlier me had put in there to make sure I didn't lose it.  I really wanted to make this one with self-striping yarn, but didn't have a plan for which one.

After reading through that pattern, I decided that the Trout Colorway should work nicely, although it is another Top-Down pattern.  sigh.

Anyway, after making those decisions I felt comfortable ripping out the Jaywalkers... and right about here, I had a thought on how to save the socks.  sigh.

That will be a plan for another yarn on another day.  ;-)

Happier Fiber Arts Friday than last week.

Larimer County Fair, 2023

I'm in the county's new system now, so I received an email on May 16 that the county fair was ready to receive entries.

The fair itself is held in early August, but I do appreciate being reminded that it's time to think about my entries and get them finished.  :-)

I downloaded several categories and had some thoughts about branching into several of them, but ultimately decided to enter in the following categories, which I have entered before:

• Photography
• Spinning and Weaving
• Knitting, Crochet, and Felting

As we got into July, I started setting items aside as well as washing and blocking the candidates.

The entries ended up being as follows:

• Minty Mitts - these are made well and match quite closely.  I also think the thumb join was executed well.
• Inigo Socks - these have two mistakes that I know of.  One can be viewed as a design feature.  Neither are obvious, in my opinion.
• Save Our Sheep Sweater - this has one obvious mistake, but I think the overall body of work and composition is good.  It should receive high marks for the variety of yarns made and used.
• TM 2-Ply Yarn - this is one of the better Chiengora yarns I've made.
• Peek-a-boo Photo of Wilma - I love the personality of this photo, but have no feel for how photos are judged and therefore placed.

The Minty Mitts and Inigo Socks are in the same class.  I only realized that one entry per class was allowed in the Knitting/Crochet/Felting department after I completed registration.  So it seems odd that the registration system allowed for and confirmed both.

So upon confirming with the Check-in Staff and then the Special Check-in Staff my second entry was cancelled.  Then as I was speaking with the Department Steward during Drop-off, She confirmed they were both allowed because socks and mittens should not be in the same class and they would be judged separately, but they would not let her break the class, so I re-entered the second entry.

There was also a change in the Photography Department to disallow matts, even though it is called out as specifically required in the Premium List.... and to be clear, I would not have mounted my photo unless the Premium List said it was required.

I also confirmed that the Premium List Posted still states the matt is required the morning after Drop off.

Annoying on both accounts but alas, all of my entries were dropped off to their appropriate departments.

Judging happens the day after Drop Off and is open to the public.  However, I've never been able to attend judging due to day job commitments.

Upon visiting the Fair over the weekend, I saw that my entries placed about where I expected them to.  It's always fun trying to find them in the display...

My Sweater was displayed prominently, with no ribbons.

I have to acknowledge that the Sweater Competition this year was quite good.  With the Brown one receiving the Grand Champion placement.

My Tibetan Mastiff yarn received 1st place and a Special Award.

The Minty Mitts received 2nd place.

The Inigo Socks received 3rd place.

.. and Wilma's Peek-a-boo photo was placed prominently in the Amateur Domestic Animal Display (directly under the Labrador/2nd place photo), with no ribbons.

So I am pleased that my entries placed about where I expected them to as well as looking forward to getting everything home and seeing what the comments are.

The written comments received were minimal.  I did not receive the written comments/score sheet for the Mitts, but I did receive some oral comments on the photo as I was checking out.... so I now have something to focus my attention on.

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!

Fiber Arts Friday: County Fair, 2022

It's County Fair time again.  :-)

Upon looking at the Hand Spinning and Weaving Department Premium List when it became available in early June (~6/6/22) I was surprised to realize that I did not have any yarn completed since the specified date (8/1/21).  However, it does make sense given the move and focus on the large SOS Sweater.

Then, as I started to review the premium lists for other departments and thinking about where I was on projects, I realized that I might be able to field a decent entry.

So I have three photos:

Thanks to the Tour de Fleece, Hommes and Femme, and some warmup spinning, I finished two yarn entries.... Tibetan Mastiff (Ramen) and Dorset Horn (SE2SE) to go with one Handspun+Handknit Hat.

And some last minute Strawberry Jam.

Of all of these things, only the Hat was complete between August 1, 2021 and June 6, 2022.  Everything was dropped off last week.  Judging was on Wednesday and the Fair was open Friday thru Tuesday.

I went over the weekend to see the exhibits.  There were large entries in both the Spinning/Weaving and Needlework departments... especially Needlework was much larger than in recent years.

I'm happy to report that each of my yarns received second place and were displayed on the wall with the other beautiful yarns.

    

None of my other entries received ribbons, but it was quite fun to see my photos displayed with the other entries.

  

As well as my hat and jam on the shelf displays.

 

The Best in Spinning was this remarkable Handspun-Handknit Sweater.  This did not look like handspun yarn at all.

Some of the other entries....

  

  

  

Wilma and I picked up our entries on Wednesday.  She was a very good girl while waiting in line... and very excited when we picked up the fiber projects.  :-)

The comments received mostly make sense.

For the yarn:  The majority of points lost were for not following instructions.... while I did state the intended project for the yarns, I neglected to include the intended technique... knit, crochet, weaving.  oy.

The canned goods can only come from pre-approved recipes.  This wasn't clear to me in the Premium List prior to entry.  In going back to read it again, it's still not clear to me.... Although I now have the list of approved sources, so I will take a look and then decide if I want to try again.

There were no notes on the photographs, which was disappointing.

Overall it was a good fair for me and the fibery-stitching competitions are definitely my favorite.  I have no doubt that I will continue to compete.  :-)

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!!