More Away Time Ahead

The first of the week was spent in out of town business. On Sunday, we will live for a fun trip to the north Georgia Mountains and Dahlonega. Hopefully, it will be cooler there than it has been here lately. It really, really needs to rain here. On the agenda are trips to antique stores, gold mines, dinners in two marvelous restaurants, The Oar House and The Smith House and, of course, a visit to the marvelous Spinning Shop. The Spinning Shop is in a small outbuilding (it used to be a curing house) on a farm which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The shop is literally packed with all sorts of fibers, yarns, books, dyes (mostly natural) and tools and has a lovely lavender scent permeating every nook and cranny. Outside are Shetland sheep and a natural dye garden. The last time I went there, the owner was hosting Wonderful Wednesdays - an all day open spin in. Hmm... Should I take my wheel!?!?! I also hope to give the new camera a real initiation.

Kind of Cool
While working out of town this week, I bought a Route 66 for my Mac. This thing is pretty amazing. I typed in several names of yarn shops and fiber stores, and it brought them up, along with map and address and phone number. Eweeee... I think I am going to like this. (And less important, it also brings up restaurants, lodging, parks, points of interest, etc.)

New pictures. Adding teaser, then I must be off to the grocery store.



This new pair fits perfectly!! Another shot of the same:



Here is the Jacob wool after washing. Some teased wool is to the right. I also put some on the drum carder. It was faster, but also messier - lots of trash, etc. fell out while teasing it, so I think it's best I do the teasing outside.



Here is the first skein of yarn spun on the Golding Drop Spindle. It definitely is nowhere near what I can do on a wheel (technically and quantity wise). Hmm... this will take lots of practice! You may be seeing a lot more of my pelican "model". He is perfect for showing off skeins. This skein has not yet been washed.



And last, but not least, part of my "Yarniverse." The colored skein is what I entered in the Maryland Sheep and Wool - my "also ran", and the white is some newly spun Falkland wool.

My page is taking forever to load. In an attempt to fix this, I have first wiped out all my Tag Board posts, as that was seeming to really slow things down. I'm not sure if its the new blogger interface or the tag board causing the problem. I hope it is not a blogrolling problem, as I finally have my links the way I like them, it is easy to add more, and I just plain don't want to have to mess with what is already working. So, I just wanted everyone to know the "deleted" tags are not personal! I love hearing from all of you!

My little fractured mind incorporated wool processing into a strange dream last night.

I was at the beauty salon to get my hair done. It looked fine before they started (by fine, I mean normal texture, color, etc.) As soon as the stylist had washed and dried my hair, it was all curly, frizzy and coarse and looked suspiciously like the Jacob wool I am working with (The dark and light brown parts of it, that is.) Then, horror or horrors, as the stylist started combing my hair a huge clump of it came out! I was frantic and knew I must be terribly sick.

Now, if I had to have a wooly dream, why couldn't it have been that I was really working with fiber and enjoying it. It would have been okay for me to spin in my sleep.

This weekend was mostly spent recuperating from last week. I definitely do not want to "whine" with all the details, but I'm just explaining why I haven't felt too "bloggy" lately.

Yet more beautiful and exciting pictures of the Maryland Sheep and Wool can be found on Jennifer's page. It is so much fun to keep re-living the festival over and over with everyone's great pictures.

This weekend, I started a new pair of clogs. This pair will definitely glow in the dark. The soles and cuffs are hot pink and the uppers are turquoise. I went against my resolution not to use Lamb's Pride, after finally wearing my other pair without socks. The insides of those are so soft and silky, I could not resist. The reason I wear socks with that pair is that they are way too big for me. I had another pattern for clogs the first time in only one size, which was"large", but had hoped they would shrink to size. They did not. Now that I have the pattern everyone is using, I am making some in my size.

The new week is looking to be far less stressful, and our son is coming home for the summer at the end of the week. And knitting guild is Saturday... yes things are looking up!

The business where I was working today had a "wear your pajamas to work" day.
Hmm... odd. I felt like going to sleepyland all day long looking at all those folks in PJ's. It was truly a strange sensation seeing a bunch of grown people running around in pajamas. And I wonder if they will put on "day clothes" tonight when they go to bed?

This has been one of those mind breaking sort of weeks, and I am truly, truly thankful that tomorrow is Friday.

On a happier note, I am working on a lovely shawl from the handpainted mohair boucle' I bought at the festival from Lady Peddler. It is a riot of colors and reminds me of a field of wildflowers. Funny thing is, she dyed the yarn with Gaywool Dyes, and since those are also the dyes I use, I knit along thinking, okay, here's tomato, here's mulberry, here's honeycomb, here's lucerne... well, you get the idea.

They say a picture is worth a 1000 words, so if I don't feel like writing... does this count??

My lovely son decided to get me a new camera for Mother's Day. It is quite an upgrade from the one I had before.

So, here is a picture of the illusion hat I made on the Maryland Sheep and Wool trip. It's a little too big, unfortunately (the hat, not the picture)



And here is a small sampling of the stuff I bought at the festival. (Sandra, the apron part is for you...) The fiber is a mixture of wool, mohair, alpaca, nylon and some other stuff, but it is luscious. I regretted only buying a pound, and went back for more, but it was all gone. The Golding is the Purpleheart model and spins wonderfully!

Here are some new photos to sweeten the pot:



Sheep to shawl photos - Southwest group



Traditional team, carding, spinning and weaving in the grease (ick)



Jacob Sheep Group (my favorite)




Does anyone know who won? I forgot to check.

And greetings from a llama friend:

Various pictures from Maryland, including some cute, cuddly pets:



A darling little shepherd and his bedecked sheep: (This was something I missed, but I am so glad Elayne didn't)



Reunion with good friends and an opportunity to meet more:


(Yes, I know these are on everyone's blog, but maybe there is a picture of someone that got missed.)



And because I have to brag just a bit, and you have followed the project with me from the start:

Wheee, pictures came today from Elayne. Testing... This is one of us at Harper's Ferry.

Too hot to knit today. Well, at least outside it is. #1 son, Phillip, came in from school in Savannah and wanted to go over to the island to do some sketching. I took my knitting with me and practically burned up. Miss Weather Pixie says its 90 degrees here, but she must not be counting the heat index. It's nice to be back in the cool house. I finished my "Now You See It" hat. The pattern shows up very well. The only bad part is that it really turned out too big. Oh well - it was mainly an exercise to see if I could do the illusion knitting, and hats look wretched on me... or should I say I look wretched in hats. It certainly isn't the poor hats' fault.

I have gradually had some time to play with some of my new loot. Blue/green/gold/silver silk is on one bobbin of the wheel. I have weaved a small bag on the Wee Weaver and figured out how to re do the warp on the small little loom, and in fact have improved on the method the vendor used to string it (at least I think it is an improvement.) I just wound my skein of mohair boucle' into a ball and will soon start a shawl from it.

My cranky camera failed the "new battery" test. The flash works, as does the preview screen (sometimes), but the camera absolutely refuses to take another picture.

My thanks to everyone who has posted their fabulous pictures of the festival.

Has anyone else heard about this story? Some people at work were telling me about it today, so I had to search the web to see what they were talking about. I just wonder how the poor fellow could get around in that condition!

Blogger Come Lately

First of all, an aside... Now I have been blogging over 6 months! That is certainly a record for diary keeping for me.



Well, oh, oh, oh, where to begin?

The Maryland Sheep and Wool was far more than even I had imagined! Elayne and I left Thursday morning (escorted and chauferred by her longsuffering Bill) early and had a wonderful first day in the back of their extremely comfy van - it was sort of like a rolling girl slumber party, as Elayne hung out with me in the back seat and we worked on a trip project. We decided to do the shadow knitted hat with a star pattern that is in the current InKnitters Magazine. We had a long, but fun day on the road and stayed in Roanoke, Virginia. Unforutunately, my camera was throwing a temper tantrum after the first picture was taken, but Elayne had her digital one also, and took plenty. So, as soon as I get them and can upload, I will be sharing. Up bright and early the next morning with a glorious, fun ride along I-81 and the Shenandoah Valley with a 3 hour or so stop at Harper's Ferry for sightseeing. Then, on to Frederick to check in and wait for Saturday!



Saturday dawned with perfect weather (at least at first) for hitting the festival. Later, it became pretty hot and humid, but no rain. We hit the festival running with both feet! First, we visited some outdoor vendors pretty close to the gate, where I made my first impulse purchase. (Long inventory list will soon follow). Then, into the skein and garment competition for a peek at Bess' marvelous hat and to see if I had won any prizes. At first, my heart jumped up into my throat, as I saw neither one of my entries and just knew they had to have been lost or forgotton, or something. And then, turning, I saw it... I had a blue ribbon for my Easter Entrelac Socks, and I actually started crying! Totally unexpected, let me tell you. Thanks to everyone who encouraged me to enter and who cheered me on. It's nothing without being able to share with good friends. You all deserve blue ribbons from me! By then, I was too keyed up to do much looking and anxious to go check out the seemingly endless string of treasure that awaited to be oohed and aahed over, handled and, of course, bought!!

At 12:30, we met our friends from KR for food, fun and fellowship! Especially great (well... that's a hard one... it all was great) was reunion with Bess, Jennifer, Lissa (with hugs from all three of these), Anita and NEW friends too!! I met Martha, Clara, Patricia, Julie, Christina, Amie and family and actually, there were too many there to actually chat with everyone. But what a happy bunch of chatterers we were... everyone talking at once and smiling and passing around Jennifer's awesome newest additions to her exquisite Spirit Trail fiber line: handpainted yummy sock yarn (sampled in lovely socks designed by Annie Modesitt and sweater kits also of Annie's designs. Bess and Jennifer showed off the lovely yarn they learned to spin in Judith MacKenzie McCuin's workshop. Fluffy, great stuff with beads and feathers! Elayne left us early to check out the spinning and weaving equipment auction, but ended up throwing up her hands in frustration. Let me tell you, this is a long auction!!



Inventory of what I bought (I have spent the last hour of so sorting through it):

Hardware:
Golding Ring Spindle (of course) ... Solid Purpleheart
A Small Valykyrie Hackle for Blending Fibers from The Woolery
A Wee Weaver Loom from Susan's Fiber Shop

Software:
2 pounds of grey CVM from Little Barn
2 packets of 2 oz. dyed silk roving from Stony Mountain Fibers
1 lb. 7 oz. scoured Jacob locks from (oops, don't remember... a fiber shop someplace in Pennsylvania
1 + pound of "marvelous stuff" - wool, mohair, alpaca, nylon blend in mostly blues and turquoise, but with other colors and some glitzy stuff from Puckerbrush Fibers
A handpainted boucle skein of yarn from The Lady Peddler

Patterns:
Shawl Pattern
Felted Clog Pattern

Souvenir:
Spinning apron with Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival Logo!

Oops, and by the way, thanks a lot folks for recommending the Deep Fried Twinkie (you know who you are!) I had one, and the thing exploded all over my face and coat, and Elayne threatened to take my picture.

Well, that's all for now. A writer I am not!

Addendum: Also got Deb Menz' new book, Color Works