One Crazy Fiber Lady

First I would like to thank everyone for their warm thoughts regarding my headache on Friday.  Yes it was pretty bad, but thankfully it didn’t last all weekend.  While I have the periodic migraine, I also get sinus, tension, atmospheric, hormonal headaches, blah blah. This time it was a sinus jobbie as even my teeth hurt from the pressure.  I struck on the right balance of drugs and the afternoon started looking up.  That was until I started making dinner for the short people.  I opened the freezer door and the box of frozen pops disgorged its contents all over the floor.  After retrieving these darn things, I stood up full force into the bottom of the freezer door, slamming the top of my head.  I saw stars and compounded the headache problem.  Percocet and a weekend had me feeling much better by yesterday, though Saturday wasn’t very pretty.  I did take a vacation from the computer so please bear with me as I catch up on email and blog posts. 

I got my first Secret Pal gift.  It arrived on Friday.  I have an awesomely cool SP buddy.  Two skeins of Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in Barn Red, a Fiber Trends pattern:  Baby Brights.  A nifty pendant yarn cutter which will come in very very handy with my secret project, which I am indeed documenting for future postings. (Though I am considering posting using the extended post feature and issuing a warning to the recipient to not look if she wants to be surprised.  Any thoughts on this?)  Some very yummy milk, white and dark chocolate covered espresso beans!!!  How cool is that?!  I can’t think of anything better than yarn, chocolate and coffee combined   Thanks so much Secret Pal!!!!

While the kids slept and I had the camera out, not to mention that I was rearranging the closet fiasco disorganized stash, it was time to take pictures of the remaining Cummington haul.  Ya’ll have seen the Hitchhiker and the very yummy Barneswallow Farm butterscotch lincoln cross batts, which I did spend an hour or so spinning more of on Saturday, so I didn’t photograph them again.

Kristen can attest to how excited I was when I saw the Sheep Shed booth.  I made a bee-line for them and fondled lots of fiber, not to mention added more while I waited in line to pay.  (Hmm that seems like a theme I repeated that day- first Sheep Shed, then Barneswallow Farm.)  I came away with these.  Well, actually that’s one third of my haul from them.  The larger sausage is 1/2# of 100% merino.  The colorful bit is 2oz of Merino/Tensel blend.  As I said, I have 3 of each.  While knitting last night, I decided that I’m going to ply these two together and use that resulting yarn for Clapotis.  I think I’m going to use my Jensen Tina to spin this.  I don’t think that wheel is presently busy with anything at the moment, plus it does have the Woolee Winder.  The peach Merino is what Kat was fondling from her position in the stroller.  Can’t say as I blame her.

My first purchase of the day was this, 2.5# of beautiful grey Polwarth fleece.  My resolution to buy no new fleece was definitely weakened when faced with Polwarth.  Now tell me, who could turn down something as gorgeous as that.  I am proud of myself in that I didn’t buy the whole darn fleece, just half of it.  Its fine and various shades of gray that I will love spinning.  No idea of a yarn weight or final project for this yet, but that is not new.

This is a 5.5lb Mary Pratt romney fleece.  I couldn’t leave it and had to have it.  Again, a variegated gray fleece.  I just can’t pass up the colored fleeces.  I spindle spun a lock of this fleece with my Hatchtown spindle right there outside Mary’s booth.  Not surprisingly, I don’t have any idea of what I’m going to do with this either.  I might have to join the Romney combing wave and give this fleece the same treatment.  It would be stunning that way.

Two photos that just didn’t come out decent enough to show documents the remaining haul.  One was a shot of 3 patterns that I bought, all cabled – go figure.  The other was 4oz of a wool/alpaca/silk roving from Barneswallow Farms in a color similar to the batts.

I do have a picture of a finished object.  Surprisingly, it is a FO that I never posted the in progress photo of.  There’s a good reason.  I started and finished it yesterday.  I’d seen these little shoulder shrug things on a host of blogs recently.  I figured it might be good for the summer on the train, what with the exceptional air conditioning that the things have most of the time.  I went digging in the stash and found some handspun yarn in around the right weight.  Its been in stash for so long that I can’t even begin to remember when I got it nor really where.  I’m pretty sure it is 100% merino and I know that I didn’t dye it. I probably got it off eBay.  Anyway, I had purchased the pattern about a week or so from Glampyre.  As I can knit when the twins are out and about, I managed to go this whole thing done before going to bed last night.

I’m not entirely sure if/where/when I’m going to wear this thing.  It is cute and a very quick knit.  I love how the colors worked themselves into stripes.  I know it looks lovely with my orange headband.  I had matched until this point.  I actually changed my shirt, an orangey type thing, to this blue for a better idea of what I could wear with it.  I’m sorta feeling a bit old to wear this.

Well, time to get some work done..

Craft on.