All Wooled Up for the Present

And so, another visit to the Estes Park Wool Market comes off relatively well.  Sis always reserves a condo at her timeshare, and we laze around, cook, eat, and do fiber arts (more or less).  The Emperor and I drove up on Thursday and stayed until Sunday, and got our licks in at the vendor's marketplace.  Sis picked up one or two nice rovings for her felted projects and for her carded batts.  I selected one roving, a nice BFL (Blue-Faced Leicester) and silk blend, in very rich colors, which don't show well in this photograph.  A few years ago I picked up a small roving from this same dyer, The 100th Sheep, and I liked it a lot.  This one is going to be spun on the wheel.
 

It was a warmish day, but I insisted on wearing my JUST FINISHED White Caps Cowl to the market.  It was perfect over my aqua-turquoise cotton tunic, and as I told Sis, it was going to be my Rheinbeck Sweater.  I received several complements and inquiries about it.
 

Yes, I finished a project, my second one of the summer!  It's much smaller than the original pattern calls for, but on me it's a perfect size.  It's light as a feather to wear.

To fill the void caused by two finished objects in a short time, of course I had to start some new projects.  One is a stash buster, pure and simple: the Molly Poncho, and I dug out leftover balls of wool of all colors to make it.
 

My other purchases at the market were a Clemes & Clemes flick carder, a tool I've long wanted, and a set of #4 double pointed needles.  I had brought along a ball of sport weight Opal with the idea of getting those needles and starting another project: a pair of shortie socks for myself.  I've been borrowing the ones I made for the Emperor but wanted some of my own.  So I started them.

Nope, I have not finished the Jupiter Cardigan -- I think that's my biggest hanging-over-the-head project still in the basket.  If I'm smart I'll only carry that one around with me to knit sessions with Artistic A-- until I get it off my back.  As for the Emperor's Christmas Socks, I might just default to the sock already in progress from last year, and finish them for him.  I'll have to see how the summer goes -- I usually try to start them sometime before school starts because now that I'm working full time and busy, it takes me forever to get them done.  Any shortcuts help, like doing a WIP-dive into the basket.

Anyway, there's yarning going on here at Orchard Ranch.