Sewing isn't knitting, but...

Believe it or not, at the Cobbler house, Halloween is just around the corner. Therefore, even though my sewing machine rarely sees the light of day, you will begin seeing tantalizing posts of ruffles and felt circles. My costumes take a fair amount of time to make, but they are good, baby. They're also a lot of fun to make, I can make sure the kids are warm enough for the weather, and they last longer than three wearings of dress-up afterward. I made my daughter a Snow White dress for her fourth birthday, and she wore it until she was seven, when I couldn't repair it any more. Literally, whenever it came out of the dryer, she put it back on her body. Luckily, she grew taller but not wider, so the dress just kept fitting. I'd post the picture of it, but all our photos are on my other computer, which has had a very inconvenient demise. I didn't do anything this time, but the electrical went out on our house that day, and we're theorizing that had something to do with it. If anyone else sews and wants to talk about costumes and making them, drop me a comment, ay? We could do some fun photo sharing.

The biggest loss of the computer is all of my addresses. Now I have to wait for people to email me, so I can send them messages, too. I'm not ignoring you all, but possibly you are ignoring me? Heehee. Anyway, that's why y'all aren't getting chatty notes from me.

A spinning pic! Here's my sample of the superwash wool. See how I don't have many even strands? Does that show in the picture? I don't care. I'm in love with the bright colors.


Here's a little idea I had to use up cotton dishcloth scraps. I'd use the spiral washcloth pattern and do each section in a different color. I thought it was really ugly when I was done, but it is growing on me, now that I've left it alone for a few days. But there were more ends to weave in than is reasonable for a dishcloth, so it will probably never be repeated.

Some Interesting Things!

Surely, I think to myself, SURELY there is something interesting to blog about! Interesting interesting, not just informational. Then I went out with some girlfriends last night, one of whom is now the infamous Arleta, instead of the Motley Arleta. She makes delicious yummies, while I stop and buy chips to bring along. She shows up with curled hair and makeup on, while my hair is still wet from the last minute shower (sans makeup, as well). But it's not just her cooking, fashion sense and yarn dying that I admire. It's the way she will perform impromptu lessons on a bar dance floor, on the proper way to shimmy and shake, much to the delight of the band. OH, yeah. Go, girl. It's just as well I don't have a picture, as so far this has been a pretty “G” rated site.

I've been knitting dishcloths and mittens lately, as once again pattern following has become difficult. Drama club is revving up, so there will be more attention paid to that for a bit. Oh, and I've been spinning. I took my spinning to a birthday party last week, and to a soccer game yesterday, and finally one of my friend's husbands confided to her, "Carrie will spin anywhere!" Heh. It's good to be known for something.

Here's a photo of my kid's first injury in soccer. She got the wind knocked out of her. That's a scary thing, and to cheer her up, I promised to blog her misery. She laughed, and thankfully the game went on. She's a natural athlete, and very fun to watch. Plus I learned that it's perfectly okay to scream with excitement at a soccer game, where it's not necessarily allowed at a teeball game. See? I'm never too old to learn...


And I asked a little girl to take a picture of me spinning, as I'd like to just catalogue all the different places where I show off a spindle. Unfortunately, this is what I got. Lol! That's what I get for trying to show a pic of myself. Have a great day!

Knitting with Pain?

I've been fighting an elbow pain for a couple of weeks now. And though I'm careful, and get repeatedly reminded by stabs of pain, I keep using the arm. I'm right-handed, and of course you reach for the coffee, pick up your kid, remove something from the oven, automatically with the dominant hand. The same hand your kid decided to suddenly hang her 35 pounds from, while you weren't looking. Ouch.

So I've been ignoring it for a long time, but yesterday, as I was knitting a dishcloth, I got a shooting pain up my right arm. It made me drop my needle, and I believe my mouth dropped open in astonishment, though it's hard to remember, what with the sparklies in front of my eyes. Dangit. Let's blame it on the cotton, shall we? Let's see... I'm 38 years old, been around the doctors offices a bit, and I'm thinking he'll tell me to stop using the arm and take anti-inflammatories. Do you think that that includes spinning? Could I learn to do that left-handed?

On a positive note, I actually read a magazine last night. Did you know there's some very good parental advice in these things? And an “Ask about Etiquette”section. Quite illuminating. And, yes, I do believe I could write children's books, but I don't think I want to be added to that company's mailing list...

I'm going to read blogs for a bit and live vicariously through you all. Has anyone noticed that I do that fairly often? Happy Knitting!

Pictures, and a winner!

Huzzah! The missing camera has been found, which is a boon for you all, because I can share pictures of some neat stuff! But first and foremost, let me post a couple of pictures from the shawl knitalong, these from the very lovely, though bashful, Laurie of Issues with Knitting. She made a gorgeous red shawl, and had to wait a lonnng time for extra yarn to come in. It's an amazing shawl, isn't it? And the knitalong still lives!


I had 17 unique comments about decluttering, but I only had to draw from 16 names, because Marji said she didn't want anything added to her house. She doesn't know what she's missing, because first prize is....

These three skeins of Classic Elite Yarn, in the Desert colorway, go to Marlene of Wovenflame. Marlene decluttered medicine for her dog, who had died nine years after he last took the medicine. Whew. That sort of hanging on happens to me all the time. Second prize was a set of Arleta's wonderful stitch markers, and they go to Del of Cozy's Place, and may she have much fun using them! She's quite a fast knitter, so I know these will get put on a project pretty quickly. Her decluttering was at least three bags of trash from her kids' rooms, and she's not done. Go, Del, Go!

Aren't contests fun? The best part about this one for me was how many comments I got from people I hadn't ever received a comment from before. *Waves* I really appreciated everyone entering - Thanks!

Since I've found my camera, I also took a picture of my spinning. I've got lots of little samples going on. The blue was a two-ply of Corriedale with a little sparkly stuff mixed in. It's from Black Cat Handspun, and she has great customer service, plus she's on Etsy, which is a fun site. The pink is a bamboo laceweight I'm working on. I picked it up at the fiber festival, and that's all I can tell you. I should keep better notes. I can't believe how thin it is. Bamboo strands must be pretty long, cuz I can draft a seriously skinny line with this stuff. The pretty orange/yellow and white roving is on my new birthday spindle, and it's a superwash wool. I wanted to try a superwash, just to see how it handled. It came from Spunky Eclectic (thanks, Amy!), and it was so soft. I loved working with it, and will now order more... The red roving is from Knitterly Things, and I bought 12 ounces, just to see if I could get enough to knit a scarf, gloves and hat. One of my experiments is to get a general idea of how much yardage I'll get from different ounces, so I'll know what to order in the future. (There's probably lots of information about this on the Internet. I'm that lazy, that I am not looking it up, but figuring it out for myself... help.)

Monday, Monday....

That's the day the contest ends. Have you entered yet? Look around and see what you haven't thrown away for years, or let me know what you have thrown away that was kept an insanely long time. If you do that on this blog entry, you'll both make me feel better about my own packrat tendencies, and you'll be entered for my contest! I'm going to let it run for a week, which should be ended on Monday then, and then I'll do the drawing for loot! I've enjoyed the entries so far a great deal, even though my plan of no crafting/just cleaning hasn't happened. Hehheh. I was doubtful of that plan before it even got underway...

I am exactly six things behind on my list of things that should have been done by now, and I haven't even added the knitting items! Those are more fun to talk about, though. I'm remaking the Hermione mittens, actually going down two needle sizes, so they'll fit my daughter. They should be warm, warm, warm... Last year she doubled up on her hats and mittens, wearing two at a time, poor little muffin. Her hands shall be warm this year, if I have to felt mittens myself! (No. I'm lying. If it comes to that, I'm taking them to mom...)

I never finished my Interweave Bonsai tunic, since I haven't lost the seven pounds that might give me a chance of looking good in it. I carry weight, well, all over, but right in the belly is what would be the problem with this tunic. It's so pretty! But it is not fun imagining it finished, if I can't wear it...

The husband's sweater from last year needs to be washed and blocked! But I'm scared... I have blocking issues. What if it blows up to be huge?? I didn't understand about washing your gauge then, your Honor... How do I get out of this problem?

So, in a head nod to procrastinators everywhere, in carrying on the grand and noble tradition of denial, I'll be taking my spinning to soccer practice. It just looks so cool.

Murphy's Law (Carrie's?) #2

All the good stuff happens when you've misplaced your camera. I had a birthday party yesterday (38 yrs old now, thank you very much), and got so many nice gifties. My mom made me gloves out of sock yarn, self-striping, and they look so cool. Pictures as soon as the clapper on my camera starts working. The gloves came with a matching hat, also very smart looking. She also bought me a gift certificate (for yarn) and a spindle! (Thanks, Mom!) My brother gave me a coupon for baby sitting time from him - yay! Then later in the evening, my husband and I smashed up grapes for wine, which would have made such a good picture. No, we didn't use our feet, but just the smell of the fresh grapes took me back to my childhood. Mmmm, smashed grapes....

Oh, and the kids gave me a pet rock, and The Sims 2 computer game, and a can of beets. The beets were taped to the video game, and I thought it was to disguise the gift so I wouldn't guess it. Apparently, though, at some point in the past I'd complained that no one else in the family liked beets, so I never got any. My daughter remembered that and made sure I got my own can of beets for my birthday =) Funny, no? I have a great family. Even better, the three-year-old kept saying, "We got you beets" before I opened my gifts, but I just didn't understand what she was saying, or why my husband kept laughing. Hee, hee. Now I get it.

I also knitted bookmarks, one for a friend's birthday later this week, and I have to get it in the mail (along with her book). So there shall be no pictures of that one =(, and it's cute, too. I got the bookmark idea from Criminy Jickets, where a lot of my inspiration seems to come from. He's got a great blog, with lots of good gift ideas, so check him out, if you haven't already.

As to the contest of what's the oddest/oldest/silliest thing you've kept and need to throw out, please leave those comments on the actual blog entry, to be entered in the drawing. That will make it much easier for me to keep track of and draw names, so thanks! We're getting some great responses, very funny, and I don't feel so badly about some of the stuff I've failed to throw out.

Now I'm off to recover from too much cake, and deal with the umpteen birthdays that are coming up this month. You may gather from the sheer number of births around here that November and December are very chilly months. Have a great day!

Murphy's Law, and a contest

Well, there you have it. The kids are off to school, doing well, and you're looking forward to a bit of time around the house that's, well, quiet. And then - blam! You're descended upon by some new flu germ that you've never fallen prey to before. I spent yesterday on the couch, alternately throwing up or leaking tears from the effort of trying not to. At 1:00 o'clock, I realized I had a problem. I couldn't go get the kids, and everyone else related to them was working. So I had to call my husband home, which he arranged with complete grace, even though he had to conduct a meeting from his cell phone as he went to get them. And then I crawled back to the couch and went to sleep. All during this incredible day, when I was wearing a path from the couch to the bathroom, my three-year-old raised herself. Seriously, she pottied herself (who knew she could?), and brought me granola bars to open for her. I did manage to get up once and get her a jelly sandwich and some water, but that's as much as I could manage.

The point to this entry, other than garnering sympathy, is I had some serious time to lay there and look around me. (I couldn't manage any knitting, and reading was sporadic.) As I'm looking around, I realize my house is a flat out mess. It gets like this whenever I don't work on it constantly, picking up and decluttering. Every day it's the same thing, put things back in their niche and in the hamper, drawers, fridge, cupboards, wherever it belongs. It occurred to me that my house was FULL! Too much stuff. And so I'm considering (it hasn't been fully decided yet) taking a week off from crafting, and using that time to move things out of my house that we don't use. Seriously, I opened a drawer for a girlfriend the other day to give her baby bibs. I had a baby bib drawer, and the littlest one is three. I have been avoiding this for too long. But I'm just considering it, because it sounds like no fun whatsoever. But I think that I'd be happier if my house was less messy, and more peaceful, as I knit. I'd probably lose many guilty feelings of the things there are to do, while I sit and craft.

But this sounds like no fun, you know? So - hey, I had some time - I thought I'd try to make it a bit more exciting. Why don't all of you look around your house and find something you should have thrown out long ago? Then leave me a comment about what it was. I'm entering my baby bib drawer, two years overdue. I'll be very interested in reading what everyone else has collected but should have gotten rid of, and I'll do a drawing and send the winner a prize. Don't worry. It won't be stuff I need to get rid of, but some verrah nice yarn, I'm sure. And a second runner up will receive some of those awesome stitch markers from Arleta. She does a really nice job. So leave me your comments! And don't worry. I'm not delirious. I'm really feeling much better today.

Remind me next year...

The kids love school. They loved it, can't wait to go back, didn't want to come home. Please remind me of this next year, in whatever way seems suitable, when I once again over-worry about the little darlins. Thank you in advance.

Happy Monday! Now take a deep breath...

That's for me, anyway. The kids go to school tomorrow, and I woke up with total anxiety on Saturday. I shook my husband awake and explained we didn't have lunch boxes yet. After a bit of discussion, he asked if there was any reason he couldn't go back to sleep now? Well, I was up, anyway. A trip to Meijers was made on Sunday, and lunch boxes were bought. Good prices, too, I might add, which is not what you'd expect two days before school starts. They could have charged me an arm, leg or pile of roving, and I'd have had to hand it over. (Well, my roving collection is getting pretty sweet. They could brown bag it...)

After much arguing with the girls about whether or not their clothes were comfortable, or if the tag placement made them absolutely unwearable, I told them a little story. It's a true story about a woman who bought her children two outfits each, and she washed whatever they weren't wearing. There was no arguing in the morning over what to wear. This began a whole new discussion with my husband about why our kids need so many clothes. Do we really need to impress? Will they be shunned if their clothes are just clean, but worn overmuch? Probably/maybe/it could happen - or maybe not, even. School can be a harsh place, as I remember it. Kids judge each other and compare themselves to a standard that is amorphous and constantly changing. The only way to really win is to not care about "stuff," and that's so hard to teach, what with t.v. and peer pressure, from family as well as friends. But kids who don't care so much about how they look - as far as keeping up with fashion, I mean - were the kids who always impressed me in school. I wish my little beans well in that environment, and hope we can just keep them grounded in what's important. In the meantime, though, all clothing manufacturers should print the information on the shirts, as some do already. It takes away one more thing to argue about in the morning.

Wish me luck! I'm sure they'll do fine. I'm considering moving into a cave, just to avoid all societal pressure. Too extreme, do you think?

The Knitting Zone

I finally took a break this morning from all of the school preparations, housekeeping, parenting and home business nonsense, and picked up my knitting. With Spongebob in the background, and my three-year-old laying by my feet, repeatedly dropping Pooh Bear toys on her head and saying, "Ow. Ow. Ow," at last I reached the blissful state that concentrated knitting can give you. I zoned out, following a pattern (Christmas gift - I can't show you) that I had to concentrate on. I couldn't even stop to answer the phone, as I might lose my place. Ahhhhh. Wonderful peace. Can't you just feel the stress losing its hold on you for a minute? I've been trying to get near my knitting for more than one row for days. Honestly, I think this is better than Xanax.

Back in the stress-giving world of nonknitting, I took my kids to the school openhouse last night. My oldest daughter is in a class with many of her friends, which made me breathe a sigh of relief. School can be hard, and all the worse if the people around you close you out. Thank heavens I don't foresee a year like that for her this year. My younger daughter's best friend moved away this summer, and she doesn't have a single friend in her class. I'm a little concerned for her, even though she's a friendly child. She gets very nervous about school, and this year she keeps looking around and seeing things she did with last year's friend. It's almost like she's the new kid at this school, and has to find a friend to hang with. And it's not that she's not likeable. So far she hasn't found anyone she likes that well. She'll loosen up, and I'm sure things will work out.

In the meantime, I am gearing up for the activity that comes with entertaining a three-year-old by myself. If I lived closer to Del, we could throw our kids together with some Hostess cupcakes, and not have to turn into circus clowns to keep them happy. (Right now my little one's being Super Monkey on the back of the couch. Gotta go.....)

A Beachy Picture For You

How's this for a way to spend an end-of-summer day? We live by this water and can visit it all the time, so of course we only go there a couple of times a summer. Locals. It's terrible to take this huge body of water for granted, isn't it? But we make the most of it when we can get there. You can find Petoskey stones on this beach, when the waves aren't knocking you around. Seriously fun.



I have a picture here of a Webkinz, posing with some spinning that needs to be two-plyed. He felt he wasn't getting any blog time, and was beginning to feel unimportant. Poor little guy. I'm trying to figure out how many yards I get out of two ounces, four ounces, et cetera, of roving. Only my experiment has come to a screeching halt, because, having successfully kept the house clean for an entire week (last week, not this one), I have lost the spinning. I've looked everywhere. Now I've thought back on it, and the last time I remember seeing it was at church, when I was being a maniac about the dishrag tag. Haven't seen it since. I wonder what happened between there and my home? Because I'm pretty sure I brought it out to the car with me, and there was no big bag of spinning and knitting laying on a table when I was at church on Sunday. Seriously, I need a homing device that helps me find things once I clean.



Pretty, no? My mom and I also took a turn at making spindles. (Don't you love that my daughter wanted to try a very small flower pot?) They came out okay for us being newbies, and I'll likely try again. I need more spindles. I've misplaced one.

Tagged!

Finally, my package for the Dishrag Tag came, and it was the most joyful 90 minutes of my week. After opening it up, I found a very awesome dishcloth, nice and large, and some gifties! A mini-stocking blocker and instructions for making those itty bitty little socks, as well as stitch markers and extra dishcloth yarn! Yay, and many thanks to Carol!



As fast as I could, I knitted up one of the skeins, and put in two fresh ones, plus the dishcloth, to send to Kathy, for her turn. I also put in a soap sock and some stitch markers made by my good friend Arleta, who graciously agreed to run home for me and get them, so I could get my package to the post office sooner. You gotta love friends.



Then, in complete disregard of my husband's opinions on the matter, I tossed all the kids at our knitting group on top of the car and let them pose with the dishcloth. They had fun, and it took me back to the summers of my youth, when people didn't care if kids climbed all over their cars. Paint job, schmaint job. He can consider this, in effect, telling him that I put kids on the car, since he should be reading my blog like any other good husband. Heehee.



And here's some picks of Arleta's new obsession, spinning (and winding), and the box that she takes everywhere with her, cuz she doesn't want to be caught without her roving. So cute! It just makes me happy seeing all of those colors, most of which, by the way, she dyed her very own self. She's a wizard with color, I tell you.





And as to colors and wizardry, I have to recommend Amy from Spunky Electric. She has a huge selection of rovings, yarns, et cetera (those are the two I search through), and her customer service rocks. She's answered many questions for me, even when I had a tight hold on my purse strings, and she's always been extremely quick to respond, and very friendly. When I have money, I spend it on her. That's my plug for the week, and I'm not the only one who thinks she has a great store. So check it out, if you're an on-line shopper.

Back to the Basics

It's fall, folks, or close enough to count. I've been canning peaches, which is a sure sign. I've also been spinning. This is what mohair looks like, when you're not very good at washing it so that it doesn't have any wrinkles!



I've been baking bread and making pies and cleaning the house, and I don't know what all. My husband says I'm all a-glow, and he'd think I was pregnant if it weren't scientifically impossible. So why the nesting instinct? It's gotta be these



soon to be riding this.



Another school year about to make my life as crazy as possible. So I thought I'd start spending a few minutes a day sitting quietly, trying to figure out how to avoid being so busy. (It's not going well) They've already joined soccer, 4-H (bunnies), still in choir, and we teach a drama club. Hmmm. Friday night football games, and our week's all sewn up, folks! And it's a testament to our summers that I always want a few more week with the kids. I love snow days as much as they do =) Here's a couple of pictures of the summer camping trip. We live in a beautiful area, and this view is less than half an hour away. It's been a great summer, the best one yet.





So I'm not complaining. I'm just trying to get my head around the idea of fall.

Hey, shawl knitters! Anyone else have any pictures they'd like me to post? We've got a couple more weeks here, and then I'm doing the final fiber drawing, and a little shawl recap. It was fun, wasn't it? Let me know if there are any more updates, and I'll take care of those. In the meantime, I've got another water balloon fight to plan.

When they don't know you're listening

Last night, my seven-year-old was on the phone with her friend, who has recently moved to Maryland. I am a fly on the wall, or nearly so, as I'm invisibly working on my computer around the corner. Here is the conversation, as I heard it:

"Women are multi-talented. We can multitask. My mom multitasks all over the place!"

Pause...

"At night, when she reads to us, she holds the book open with her foot, reads us a story, and knits, knits, knits. It's amazing! That's three things she's doing at once! She's holding the book open with her foot, reading, and knit, knit, knitting."

I'm cringing a little at the picture, but proud that she's proud enough to brag on me to her friends. Needless to say, at reading time last night, I hunted around until I found a pair of mittens to start. Plain knitting is really almost a must for reading time. =)



I have some photos from the Relay for Life the other day. Arleta was face painting away. She does a beautiful job, and it was so hot! I beat feet out of there when I saw how red my daughter's face was. Here's some pics! (Sorry about the face you're sorta making, Arleta, but you still look pretty, this shows the left side of your face, which you wanted to see)





Here's some final pics of the birthday party. I thought it was cute that the kids were putting the candles on the cake. Very crazy, leaning candles.



And here's the princess herself. Isn't she pretty? I'm so proud of my mom. If you've been reading this blog for any time, you know that. She raised us four kids on such a small amount a year, you'd call me a liar if you knew. And put herself through nursing school, and somehow stayed connected and on top of every little thing we tried to get away with. Oh, and she's still in charge. She made me cut her hair one day, with no notice. She had really long hair, but she was determined I was going to cut it! So this is the final look, and aside from the fact that she probably could have gotten it cut even shorter, this is what she got. I saved it for Locks of Love, so now I need to figure out how to donate it. If you know, pass me some information, ay?



In the meantime, happy knitting!

Sun, fun, and a Happy Birthday to Mom!

I have two blog entries in the works - yay me! The first I wanted to share, though, was Friday, when my nieces stayed the night, and Arleta and her daughter came over. Water balloon fights! Whee! All was going well, until Arleta suggested I wasn't wet enough, and they ganged up on me. *sigh* What could I do? I had to go and get the hose to defend myself. There were just too many of them, and only the one of me. Actually, Arleta got much more soaked than I did, and she was probably a better sport about it. And afterward, nice tasty summer watermelon. Only a few more weeks of this sort of action, so we're enjoying it all we can.



That morning, I decided to work a bit on my Christmas gifts, and got out the Hermione mitten to go with the hats I made and put away. I put it on, added stitches to the thumb, tried it on again, decided it needed to be a bit longer... then decided that either my hands were large-ish, or I hadn't worked gauge out correctly. I have always believed myself to be fairly normally put together (thanks, mom!), so it had to be gauge. I tugged out the mitten and cast on again. The Hermione pattern is much fun, and I'd suggest it to anyone. This mitten was just too snug for me, and I couldn't deceive myself any longer about it. "Blocking out" isn't a theory that works well with mittens, since they'll just revert to their previous shape when you actually use them in the snow. *sigh*




I did put some girls to knitting their own gifts. Look at the concentration on their faces! Much good comes of passing these things on. In a few years, I see many gifts coming my way... *crossing fingers*


And on a final note for this part of my entry, look at the neat stitch markers! Arleta makes and sells em, very darned reasonably, too, if you're searching for a cute little gift. She has an Etsy shop, also. I buy these things and tuck them in all over the place. One of these goes to my mom (Happy Birthday, Mom!), and one goes as a prize to the Dishrag Tag.


And, last but never least, let's all join together to a hummed rendition of Happy Birthday to Mom.... as she's a great lady, and works very hard to always be there for all of us. If there was a medal for "Heart", she'd be wearing a load of them. Thanks, Mom, for everything! Have a great day!

So Many Pretty Things

This shawl knitalong has been so much fun. I can't even tell you. It has gone far beyond anything that I may have expected of it, though I didn't really think of the ending when I was at the beginning, you know? Just seeing people finishing up and showing off their work is so inspiring! I am now a shawl addict, and I've only finished one myself. But I've gotten to enjoy many, many more. And I love the pictures where people are modeling the shawls. They look so happy!

With everyone finishing up and getting close, does this mean that summer is almost over? Now I wonder if we should have been knitting slower, make summer last longer... Oh, don't look so nervous! There's weeks and weeks left. No reason to go school clothes shopping yet. Deep in denial is a good place to be.

Asa from knittingnutter has nearly finished her shawl - just binding off! This is the most current picture I have, but I'll be putting up the new one as soon as she does!


Brigitte is four rows from finishing Kiri!


LaurieM is working on the border of her Frost Flowers and Leaves.



Tala's Luna Moth shawl is racing along.


Here is Cheryl with her curved shawl, which is looking great.


Jen of Out of the Basket has finished her Cozy shawl, and her daughter looks lovely posing with it. Beautiful work! Congratulations on being done!


I am so very, very impressed with everyone's knitting. I keep chattering on about it while my husband is trying to work. I'd better go now. Great job, you knitters! Keep rocking on!

Fiber Acquisition

It was the first fiber festival I've ever been to! I went with my very good friends, Mom and Arleta. See? A picture. Proof. I met Jae, who designed an awesome shawl. It was in the fashion show (there was a fashion show - fun!). It's an amazing design, I can't even imagine all the work that went into it. It's a huge, beautiful shawl that's just what I want next. She's still working on the pattern, though.



My shawl got worn around, and people were very kind about commenting on it. Arleta got more comments than I, however, as she was very clever, and made an "Arleta's Motley Wool" t-shirt. She's really pretty well-known in the fiber world. We had to keep wandering on to the next booth without her, she met so many people that knew her.

In one of the booths, a very nice lady showed us how to knit with roving. Spinning left out! Apparently it's not necessary, after all =) She was nervous about me taking a picture (apparently NOT a blogger), so I blocked out her nametag. The knitting with roving was really neat, though, and she was making a scarf. And once I thought about it, why not? I sucked all the knowledge I could from her, and then my mom bought the roving to actually do the technique, and make a hat. Because, honestly, if I bought something from every person I begged for knowledge, I wouldn't be making my house payment this month. (I cleverly waited to pay the house payment until after the festival, just in case)


I plagued all spinners I saw, and I learned a bunch. I can now spin as fine as a thread, without predrafting a long line of roving first. Very neat. I bought several spindles and many rovings with materials I hadn't worked with before (like, anything not just merino), like bamboo and silk and tencil (what is tencil?). I really wanted the roving with the bunny fur worked in, it was so soft. But, unfortunately, I'd already borrowed twenty bucks from my mom, and I thought I'd better stop. I've thought of that roving ever since.

I was very excited to find sheep shearing. I have seen it when I was younger, but it had been awhile. The sheep was very docile, but I was informed it was because this man was sitting on his head. I'm so easily impressed. This festival has nearly convinced me to buy hand carders. I feel like I'm being sucked down into a yarny black hole, and I might as well give up and buy an alpaca.



And here's the big ta-da! I met - *met* - Sharon from Aurora Alpacas*! She designed, as you can see from the picture, the Dragone shawl. I was so excited, it was like meeting a celebrity. (Yes, just like that, because she is one) I fussed on her, called her a genius, made her pose for a picture, and basically embarrassed Arleta, who claims I told her I loved her. *ahem* Moving on....



She was so nice! We chatted about her other designs (she has three in the works), and she showed me her Pegasus shawl (knitted on #2 needles - ouch), and I bought a very pretty pattern, Misty Morning, from her. Speaking of buying things, here is my fiber acquisition:

Merino and Bamboo, spins like a dream. May end up being laceweight for the Dragone shawl.
Merino and Tencel, I'm trying to figure out how to spin it so it's not variegated, but solid colors.
Alpaca and Bombyx silk, I am scared to spin. It feels so soft, it's like hair, silky, silky. I had to own it, but I'm not sure when I'll get the nerve to spin it.
And camel roving! From - well, wherever this particular camel lived. I'm impressed. I only bought an ounce, but it was only four bucks, and it'll be fun to try something really different. I'll have to spin it along with something else, which, again, I haven't done before. I'm sure I'll update with pictures, though!

For now, I'm spinning the Merino/Bamboo, and a neat Mohair, which is going to have to stay single-ply, as it will be SO chunky if I two-ply it. But enough pictures. That was my weekend! How was yours?