One Crazy Fiber Lady

The ramblings of a fiber-affected single mother of twins who makes a living as a code monkey

One Crazy Fiber Lady

Busy Weekend

October 18th, 2009 · 11 Comments

This was one seriously busy weekend. Yesterday was my day at Rhinebeck for the beloved Sheep and Wool Festival. I have to admit, I wish the fiber hobbies hadn’t gotten quite so popular. The festival gets more and more crowded each year. I blame Ravelry 😛 At least it didn’t rain yesterday, but it was pretty wicked cold for the middle of October. Brrrr.

Anyway, it was the year of the spindle for me. I bought no fewer than 3 of them. The first one was actually on my shopping list, the other two sort of followed me home. In an effort to document these things so I don’t lose their details to fuzzy memories like the rest of the spindles around here, I present them now:
golding_1009

  • Golding Ring Spindle
  • 3″ Cherry Celtic Ring
  • Walnut 9 3/4″ shaft
  • 1.9 oz

bosworthmidi-1009

  • Bosworth Midi Spindle
  • Silverwattle Whorl
  • Bloodwood Shaft
  • 28g/1oz

hatchtown-1009

  • Hatchtown Kaari
  • Purpleheart and Walnut
  • @1oz (she lost her tag before I bought her)

I did mention it was the spindle festival for me, didn’t I?  As you can tell I have started spinning on the Kaari.  She’s a wonderful little spinner.

The fibery purchases include two lbs of a BL-Romney in grey to spin for another sweater.

bl_romney_1009

Sara had to check out the wool, and well, invade the one spot of natural light in my room.  Shortly after I took this picture, I had to get her slobbery nose out of the wool.  She has a thing for fiber.

After picking up 3 spindles, I had to buy some nice fiber for each of them.  I returned to one of my favorite nice fiber vendors, ITW.  I had picked up an Etsy order from her earlier in the day, but had to add to it.   Other than the grey BL-Romney, my only other fiber purchases were from Cris.

itw_nysw_09

Front Row

  • 56’s Falkland in Moody Neopolitan
  • 60/40 Merino/Bamboo in Jonathan
  • 80/20 Merino/Silk in Sangria

Back Row

  • 56’s Falkland in Pumpernickel n Jam (x2)

Its safe to say that I’m a bit of a ITW groupie.  I have more than a few braids and batts from her.  The fiber that I started spinning on the Kaari is the Merino/Silk Sangria.

sangria

Other than a Knit Kit and a glass shawl pin, that’s my purchases for this year.  I think I was pretty restrained.    Oh wait, there was a bit more.  I bought 10 skeins of yarn from Wild Apple Farm, 5 in a denim-y blue and 5 in a dark green.  Still, pretty restrained.  Its not like I’m lacking for hobby materials 😉

Today was the twins’ birthday party.  Yes, I know I scheduled their party for Rhinebeck Sunday.  Yes I was supposed to stay overnight upstate and hit the festival both days.  But thanks to a brain fart and a desire to not move too many weekends from their actual birthday, I jumped on the first Sunday noon party available.  Alas, it coincided with Rhinebeck.  I hope to not make the same mistake next year 😉

We had 12 kids at The Little Gym for an hour of organized activity with the energetic and enthusiastic party directors, followed by 1/2 hour for pizza and cake.

party09

The staff took care of entertaining, setting up, cleaning up and even packing all the gifts into big bags for us.  These types of places are well worth the cost.  We returned with a 1/3 of one cake, a pizza and lots of presents to open.

Now  I think I’ll take a nap.  I’m exhausted!

Craft on!

Tags: Family · Spinning · Stash Enhancement

11 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Marcia // Oct 18, 2009 at 9:22 pm

    I went up today for about three hours…miserable weather but NO crowds! Loverly! Sorry I missed you…next year.

  • 2 --Deb // Oct 18, 2009 at 9:28 pm

    Wow, next to Sarah, that bump of fiber looks HUGE! I’m so glad we bumped into you and Jessalu yesterday–I feel like I missed out on seeing so many people I usually see!

  • 3 Kim // Oct 18, 2009 at 11:37 pm

    I was sorry to miss you this year….but you did well!

  • 4 Donna // Oct 19, 2009 at 10:48 am

    The sacrifices we make for our children….:-)

    I got the same Golding spindle at Rhinebeck last year. It’s my favorite so far.

    I missed Rhinebeck altogether this year – maybe next year.

    Nice purchases! Glad you enjoyed.

  • 5 Tina M. // Oct 19, 2009 at 11:15 am

    It was great to see you on Saturday, I’m glad you had a good time. 🙂

    I ADORE that Hatchtown spindle, wow, love the colors. It makes me wish I was a spindler, but I just don’t enjoy it as much as wheel spinning (for now). And yes, you have excellent taste in fiber.

    Happy belated birthday to the kidlets!

  • 6 Aponi // Oct 19, 2009 at 12:22 pm

    I also had that same Golding spindle! Alas, we never did bond, so it has moved on to a new owner.

    I love the picture of Sara with the fiber!

  • 7 Hillary // Oct 19, 2009 at 3:50 pm

    Sorry I missed you at Rhinebeck. You got great stuff. I think I have a very similar Golding but I still haven’t used it yet. That’s a little embarrasing since I got it at MDS&W. Anyway, happy spinning and Happy Birthday to the twins!

  • 8 Elsie // Oct 19, 2009 at 11:22 pm

    Happy Birthday to the twins! That merino/silk looks beautiful. Will you be using it as singles or will you ply?

  • 9 lynne s of oz // Oct 20, 2009 at 1:41 am

    Happy birthday, belated, to the monkeys! I’ve been doing my own Rhinebeck – rediscovering stuff I have in storage in various cupboards and garages…. LOL

  • 10 vanessa // Oct 21, 2009 at 9:31 am

    nice haul!
    those birthday cakes look yummy 🙂

  • 11 Ina // Oct 22, 2009 at 6:08 pm

    Nice haul! Cool birthday party! And if it’s any consolation, Rhinebeck was rainy and blustery on Sunday.