Fiber Arts Friday: Lovely Yarn from Japan

Hubba went to Japan last month for the 30th Oita International Wheelchair Marathon.

He had a good race and lots of rah-men and sushi.

I did not go, so he asked what he should bring home from Japan.  My answer was Yarn, of course. I told him that only natural fibers will do... wool, alpaca, cotton.... absolutley no acrylic, polyester or nylon shall be brought into this house.  To which he replied, "This is not my first yarn rodeo."

So since I've been on the road this week and haven't made much progress on any of my works, I thought I would share the lovely yarn Hubba brought back from Japan.

One of the race volunteers helped him find a yarn shop. Where he found, not just a couple skeins, but a huge sack of lovely yarn.  Which included...

Two skeins of an amazingly soft beige suri alpaca blend.

It is a very fine strand and blended with something, but I don't read Japanese, so I don't know what it is.  I suspect it's silk.

Our WonderWhyGal and other Suri breeders will appreciate this... When Hubba told the shop keeper that he needed "the best" yarn she had, she found this yarn and told him that "it is very special."

It is very special indeed.  Each one is only 25g, so I need to find something equally special to make with it.  I am thinking small, lacey and close to the skin...  and after reading this post from If the Knit Fits, I'm am feeling optomistic that I will be able to find something appropriate.

The other wonderfulness he brought home was 9 skeins of Yak/Merino... I'm in love with this yarn.  I love the natural colors, I love that they could go together or alone.

I also love that it's Yak!  I haven't worked with yak yet, but I have met some yaks.  I have some yak down in my stash waiting to be spun for the perfect project, and frankly, yak is just really fun to say.  :-)

As Hubba was making his selections, the race volunteer suggested that he should choose brighter colors, but he knows me well.  He knows that I love the natural, earthy colors best.  After all, it was one of the (many) reasons we decided to raise alpacas.

By the way, is it called a skein when it's wound like these?

I wish you all a very happy day.  Of course since it's Fiber Arts Friday, it is already. ;-)

Fiber Arts Friday: Plumber Sweater, part 3

I'm actually making some visible progress on my Plumber Sweater, finally.  :-)

I finished the first sleeve last Sunday in between watching New York City Marathon, listening to football coverage and helping Hubba finish packing for his trip to Oita, Japan.

Some of our friends were competing in the wheelchair division of the NYC marathon.  So while we were thrilled to be able to get live race coverage on Universal Sports, there was very little wheelchair race coverage.  Which means we were invoking, Twitter, Facebook, UniversalSports.com and INGNYCMarathon.org to get live race updates... but that's a different post for a different day.

Back to the sleeve... it's actually about an inch longer than it should be.
 
Yes, reading instructions foils me again... I did an extra increase section.  But rather than tinking back 10 rows, I dropped the increases and tinked back a few stitches to finished the last row correctly.  I'm assuming that slightly longer sleeves won't be that big of a deal.  So, sleeve number 1 is now safely on stitch holders and waiting patiently with the body of the sweater.
 
I quickly wound another ball of yarn and cast on the second sleeve using my newly found, super-short-9-inch circular needles.

The whole time I was thinking, wouldn't it be great to show two finished sleeves today?

.... and, well..... it's really too much to expect from me for a few evenings of work.  So I have about 20% of the second sleeve to share.  :-)

Please share my joy, by sharing your fiber projects over at Wisdom Begins in Wonder.  Then be sure to see what everyone else is sharing because it's Fiber Arts Friday.

Books, Alpacas and Marathons

Hubba left for Japan this morning.

He is headed to Oita City for the Oita International Wheelchair Marathon.  It is the largest wheelchair-only marathon in the world.  This is his fourth time competing and the 30th anniversary of the race.

I have been to several races with Hubba and the Oita event is by far the most organized.  There are a huge number of volunteers that help to make the entire trip a wonderful experience.

The importance the Japanese culture places on being a good host comes through...

because of that, we feel it is important to show our gratitude.

We continually say thank you, try to experience the city as much as possible, tell them how much we love being there, and we bring a few gifts that are a small part of who we are or where we are from.

Since this is Hubba's fourth trip to this race, he's gotten to know many of the volunteers.  They know that we have moved to our own farm and raise alpacas.

So I felt it was important to find something that reflects alpacas and/or Colorado... enter Mary King.  She and her husband own and operate AlpacaKing in Fort Collins.

Mary wrote a book about one of her alpacas.  It's a fantastic and uplifting story about believing in something even in the darkest of times and seeing it through to a positive outcome.  The book is guaranteed to bring tears to your eyes... in a good way.  :-)

Alpacas are relatively new to Japan and therefore quite popular... especially with their cute faces.  So one of Mary's good friends, who is from and lives in Japan, had her book translated and published in Japanese.

I thought this was the perfect gift for those volunteers who help so much during the race.  Since I am not making the trip this year, I told Hubba to tell them the book is from me to thank them for taking such good care of my beloved hubba.  ;-)

If you're interested in reading the story of Rocky, you can get the book from Mary directly or email her if you're interested in the Japanese version.

If you would like to watch the race and won't happen to be near Oita City on Sunday, there is a live broadcast, 10:45 am to 2:00 pm, Japan time on Sunday, November 14th... that's Saturday evening if you happen to be State-side.

Japanese

Aside from recognizing a few characters and saying hello, I don't speak it, read it or write it.  I wish I did. 

I have been to Japan.  Once.  I loved it.  I want to visit again.

I bring this up because, someone has been commenting on this blog in Japanese.  There are always a few characters and then a long string of periods.  Since I don't read Japanese and a long string of periods seems fishy, I have been deleting these comments.