One Crazy Fiber Lady

It’s that time again.   This weekend was MDSW.  This year I went down on Friday afternoon, with the kids.  We stayed with a family also comprised of twins and a SMC (single mother by-choice) who live in the suburbs of Baltimore.  Saturday the other mom kept all the kids keeping them busy, fed and safe.  This enabled me to hit the festival unencumbered.  Good thing!  It is becoming more and more of a zoo each year.  The 88F temperatures didn’t help.  This is the first year I’ve gotten a sunburn at the festival.

Did this stop the shopping?  Not a chance.  More on that in a bit.

Today, all six of us hit the festival for a few hours before the Phillips clan headed back north at 1pm.  We had a great time.  It was nice to spend the weekend them and a yearly tradition might just have been born.

Okay, so this is what my kids looked like just before I hit the Delaware Memorial Bridge on the way home.

Would you believe how much you can jam into the trunk of a Camry?

We don’t need no stinkin’ minivans to get wheels home! In that trunk are 2 bicycles that my friend’s kids outgrew and passed to my pair, the scooters we went down with and a nice wooden wheel, amongst other hand-me’s.  Boots.  Knee pads.  Elbow pads.  Fiber

My purchases were small in number but not insignificant:

The purchases:

• 4oz Mulberry silk from Little Barn
• 4oz dyed fine wool also from Little Barn
• Alpaca fiber (about 3oz)
• 34g Bosworth Moosie (need to find the tag in the trunk to get the shaft wood but it is dark)
• Frederick Bordua marked 30″ Canadian Production Wheel from The Merlin Tree

Yes i know, this makes 4 years in a row that a wheel came home.  But but but… it’s a tradition ya know!

This does mean that I do have a wheel for sale  This time it is the 27″ CPW that I bought a few weeks ago.  Pictures are here.  Its not that there’s anything wrong with it, I just wanted a 30″.  I know.  Crazy.

I’m off to bond with the new kid.

Craft on!

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

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

• 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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

This is going to be one of those “little bit of this, little bit of that” posts.

Here are the monkeys heading off for their first day of kindergarten..

Aren’t they cute? ¬†Okay, so this picture is almost a month old at this point. ¬†They’ve been doing very well, getting homework every night except Friday and are generally enjoying it. ¬†Last week they had a class field trip to the Museum of Natural History in NYC. ¬†Mom went as a¬†chaperon/helper type.

They are still at the center where they spent the last two years in Pre-K. ¬†My town does not have full day KG so this offered the best option for us. ¬†The program is fully accredited and children usually come out of it way ahead of their public school future classmates. ¬†It also offered the advantage of being able to transition into the KG class for summer camp. ¬†They joined this group right after graduation in June so they were more than ready for a day without a nap. ¬†Sort of. ¬† Once school started, Kat was wiped out and on more than a few nights, she’s punked out way early. ¬†Its all good though.

I took the monkeys to the Garden State Sheep Breeders show a couple of weeks back. ¬†The car is amazing still covered in mud from the field. ¬†The recent rain hasn’t cleaned it. ¬†I’m going to have to suck it up and wash it ¬†Anyway, we had a good time at the festival. ¬†Its the perfect size for bringing the monkeys to before their heads explode. ¬†I forgot to take pictures. ¬†Again. ¬†Yes. ¬†But I did get this one:

Again, how cute are they?  There was some stash enhancement, but needless to say no pictures of it.

In other news, I need to update the herd status.  There have been some transactions with regards to the spinning wheels.

This wheel?

SOLD.

This wheel?

SOLD.

This wheel?

BOUGHT

It was requested that I provide a closer up view of Fair Isle.  You asked for it:

Taken this morning in the car (duh) while waiting for the train

Finally, with 17 days left until Rhinebeck, here is how Rhinebeck started off this morning:

It is approx 6.5″ at this point. ¬†The plain knitting starts at the 13″ mark. ¬†I’m getting there. ¬†I’ve found it is perfect knitting for playing Sims to while watching the ballgame. ¬†Yes I am a multitasker

Craft on!

I think by the time you’ve been knitting for over three decades (there I said it), you should really know what you like to knit. ¬†There has to be some accounting for the ebb and flow of the magical mojo or my sock and lace production wouldn’t change quite so drastically year (month) to year (month). ¬†Years with fewer socks and shawls usually see an increase in sweaters. ¬†Vice versa.

I always seem to hear the siren’s call of the lace shawl and socks regardless of what I’m working on and where the mojo level is. ¬†Doing some soul searching, it is because I like small needles and thin yarn. ¬†It shouldn’t come as a surprise that I jumped all over¬†Knit So Fine: Designs with Skinny Yarn when it came out. ¬†I have yet to make anything from it but while reading blogs today, and the accompanying time on Ravelry, I found something that just called out to me: ¬†Bohus Inspired Yoke Sweater(yes a Ravelry). ¬†

I’ve wanted to make a Bohus sweater for a while now, but the pricetag on the kits are daunting. ¬†That and the leeetle teeeny tiny needles and massive amounts of resulting knitting leads me to believe that “I’d never finish it and yet feel guilty for not because it was so pricey resulting in a less than enjoyable knit”. ¬†Whew. ¬†Soooo, when i saw this one, size 4 needles aren’t bad. ¬†Heck, I have a coupla sweaters on US4’s going now and this would be far less complicated! ¬†

Off to Knitpicks I went.  With the help of the suggestions they had in the project page, my handy-dandy install of Adobe Photoshop and JessaLu, I picked the colors I wanted.  

KnitPicks Yarn - Bohus Inspired Sweater

This is a mix of the Gloss and Shaow laceweights.  The sweater is worked from hem to collar in the round with the colors progressing in the order above from left to right.    The body will be the Sterling (the light grey on the left).  The yoke will run from the:

Aegean –> Blue Bird –> Juniper Heather –>Chipotle–>Mango–>Hot Rod Heather

The whole thing is running under $45. ¬†Which is way way less than the kit. ¬†I haven’t ruled out one of the kits someday, probably as a reward for something. ¬†Maybe my 10th anniversary of quitting smoking or somesuch, but for now, I’m looking forward to this project with tiny needles and thin yarn, even if it is doubled!

Yes, Mr. Not-So-Greenjeans is progressing, but the big needles and heavy yarn are making my hands hurt ¬†I’m about 4″ into the cable/rib thing at the bottom. ¬†I need to either dig up a long knitpicks cable or a second set off tips in the right size (and no I didn’t order more along with my lace yarn!) so I can do the sleeves.

Craft on!

I started the traveling scarf last night. Unfortunately the originator had used a chunky yarn and all I had onhand was worsted. I had two choices for red worsted as well. I even samples both of them. No go. Looked sleezy next to the chunky, especially on the size 11US needles.

So today at lunch I headed over to my office LYS, Seaport Yarn and perused their selection of bulky red yarns.

Do I need to say that I left with more than a skein of yarn for a scarf?

I’m seriously doing my part to stimulate the economy.¬† Between holiday presents for the kids, raw supplies for knitted gifts and stuff for me, lets just say the big brown truck has been at my house alot, along with my friendly letter carrier and Fedex ¬† My new Van Eaton wheel is on its way and should arrive next week.¬† I’m really itching to play with it.¬† I have some new fiber on its way from Crown Mountain (Lady of the Lake, Shala and Mea Culpa) to get to know her with.¬†

I received another one of my recent purchases yesterday.¬† After the kids went to bed, I had to dig into the box.¬† Here’s what was inside.¬†

What's in the bag??

I included my iPhone for scale.  Whatever could it be?? 

Outta the bag

Here’s the picture from the instruction manual to help visualize what this pile of parts will come together to be

Ahhhhhh

Why yes, it is a loom!¬† It’s a DutchMaster 40/16 loom.¬† I bought it used through a posting on the Spin-Sales list.¬† I’ve since gone no-mail on it cause I couldn’t afford to keep stimulating the economy.¬† When the holiday knitting is done and I’m all spun out, I plan on doing a bit of weaving.¬† I was considering parting with my floor loom, a Leclerc 24“, but I’ve decided to hold onto it.¬† I just have to get it out of storage and find a good/safe way to store it in the basement so that it will survive the spring floods.¬† In the meantime, I’ll be using the DutchMaster.¬† It has more flexibility than one of my rigid heddles (will probably sell one of those), but not so much space is required as for the Leclerc.¬† win-win, ya?

It hasn’t been all fiber around here either.¬† I mentioned before that my company wants us developers to get Microsoft Certified.¬† To that end, I’ve been studying for the first exam.¬† I had been toting around one of them big programming books when I spied something very cool in one of those weekend circulars.¬† Enter this:

Acer Aspire One

It’s my new netbook:¬† an Acer Aspire One .¬† iPhone again included for scale.¬† I have¬†not only the PDF version of the programming book I’d been schlepping around, but the self test application AND MS Visual C# development installed on it.¬† Awesome.¬† It’s become my go to meeting note taker platform as my typing is far faster and easier to read than my handwriting.¬† Add in Evernote and you have another win-win.¬† I lurve it!¬† This bad boy is small and light enough to go into my purse.¬† It weighs in at 2.6 lbs.¬† We weighed it on the postal scale here in the office because my boss wouldn’t believe it was under 3lbs.¬† I don’t have any trouble typing on it, which surprised me as I had loads of issues with the keyboard on my smaller Dell Laptop.¬†

Been a while since I posted one of these (yeah yeah, since I posted a real post at all).  Sorry for the lousy photo, but the weather here is less than stellar today.  You get the idea though.

And finally, the newest thing:

 

I guess its time to come clean. ¬†I mentioned recently that I was trying to get on the waiting list for a Wyatt Pegasus. ¬†Well on Friday I saw a sales post on the Spin-Sales group where someone was selling hers. ¬†Fortuitious no? ¬†Naturally I lept and sent an inquiry regarding the wheel. ¬†It was still available, however it was a right flyer and a miner’s head too.

Miner’s head scare me. ¬†That pointy bit of metal sticking out scares this klutzy individual witless. ¬†Additionally I’m also left flyer kind of girl. ¬†Its a gorgeous wheel that I’d still love, but that configuration just wouldn’t work for me. ¬†

However, in the background of one of the pictures she sent, I spotted a beautiful wheel. ¬†I re-read her posting, which had listed some 6 different wheels. ¬†Below the Jensen Tina II (which I usually remember last minute that I have one too) was a Van Eaton 24″ Production wheel in Black Walnut with many extra bobbins. ¬†I requested pictures of that if it was still available. ¬†It was and those pictures I received are the ones I posted as a teaser the other day. ¬†After doing some research into the wheel and getting the sellers opinion as to how it compares to say the Tina or a Schacht, i decided I had to have it. ¬†I sent off a check and when it clears, she’ll be shipping me my new wheel. ¬†I can’t wait.

You know what a new wheel means, right? ¬†One has to go. ¬†This one is a tad bittersweet for me. ¬†I sold my Lendrum folding wheel. ¬†My very first wheel. ¬†I know I can’t use it, it hurts the ankle too much, but she was my first. ¬†I also sold my drum carder. ¬†I don’t use that either. ¬†I have so little craft time that when i do have craft time, I’d much rather spin, then prepare fiber. ¬†That baby went off to her new home in Utah today.

So there you have the rest of the long story

As I don’t have enough going on, remember my sister is with child. ¬†A baby girl. ¬†Remember also that I spun me some yarn to knit the wee one a sweater. ¬†Well, last week after injuring my knee and spending the weekend laid up, I got some serious baby knitting done…

Whatever could this be?

Of course, it’s a Baby Surprise Sweater!
 

Surprise!

¬†Here’s a closeup of the cute little buttons I found in my stash:

Awww widdle bunny

We’re headed out to my sister’s house for the holiday. I’ll finish up the seams and sewing the buttons on before we leave on Wednesday. The baby girl keeps threatening to come early and this weekend provides to be a good time for sweater turnover

And because I don’t have enough going on, I took the kids to buy new coats last week. ¬†Three winters out of a single pair of coats just wasn’t to be ¬†Alex’s arms were finally getting too long for his, though Kat could probably have worn hers for another year. ¬†She just hates to wear a coat and had refused to put it on to day. ¬†I figured that maybe being able to pick a new one would take some of the coat sting away. ¬†So off to Sears and the Land’s End section we went. ¬†Out we walked with 3 new coats. ¬†One each for the monkeys and one for their mama. ¬†Got tired of that hideous raspberry coat I’ve been wearing for 4 winters now. ¬†Problem I generally have is that I wait until late in the season to buy and wind up with one that fits, but the ickiest to me color. ¬†Not this time. ¬†My new baby is a Land’s End Weatherly Parka in Spice Brown. ¬†Not surprisingly, this brown coat has pink and cream accents. ¬†Go figure. ¬†After years of Neapolitan rovings and yarns, my winter coat now matches. ¬†But it does mean that the charcoal and pale pink that I bought to make the Fiddlehead mittens now doesn’t match so well. ¬†I picked up a skein of Cascade 220 Superwash in a perfectly matching brown yesterday at MY. ¬†Last night I got busy:

Neapolitan Fiddlehead Mittens

The mittens will have a cream alpaca lining. MmmmMMmmMMM. Can’t wait!

That’s about it for today. ¬†I’m far behind in just about everything right now. ¬†Sorry

Have a happy Thanksgiving to all!

Craft on!

I hope no one was counting on seeing pretty fall pictures, or shots of whacks of knitters/spinners or even sheep.¬† I had serious a serious case of camnesia even though I made sure to charge the battery Friday night.¬† Oh well.¬† Nothing new from me.¬† I’m trying to remember the last time I actually did take good festival pictures.

Anyway, for the first time in a long while, I actually stayed over for the festival.  When posing the age old question of Saturday vs. Sunday to my father, he suggested both.  Sold.  I drove up early Saturday morning, leaving my house at 8:00 and entered the promised land at 9:30 where I promptly met up with my weekend buddy, JessaLu. 

Saturday was very crowded.¬† Even early in the day.¬† So much so that I don’t think i will be going back next year on Saturday.¬† It is now too crowded.¬† Maryland crowded ¬†¬† I didn’t do much shopping, but mostly socializing, reveling in the chance to see festival friends (Carole, Margene, Kim, Laurie, Cheryl, Kathy, Marcia, Marcy), local friends (Ina, Kim, Deb, Nancy, Chris, Jessica) and meet new friends (Lynne, Scout, etc.) – wow all that linky love was exhausting!¬† I apologize if I did not include you, the weekend is always such a whorlwind that involves blogging buds, festival buds, knitting buds and spinning guild buds all mixed together with the sites and sounds of the festival.

The weekend included sitting in the lobby of the hotel watching the Red Sox with fellow festival goers. 

While there are no pictures of the festival itself (and while I was tempted to take a shot of the folks in the lobby knitting to the game РI spun, my camera never came out), I do have photographic evidence of my much restrained weekend purchases.  Also note that I came home with one LESS spinning wheel then I went with

• From left to right, even worsted weight yarn from Wild Apple Hill Wool in a charcoal color to make another sweater from A Fine Fleece.¬†
• The white stuff is 1.5lbs of SW Merino/Bamboo from Sheep Shed.¬†
• In front of that is a small supported spindle and bowl (which are barely visible).¬† Two braids of BFL from Susan’s Fiber Shop.
• Next up is some interesting fiber that is set up to stripe.¬† It is a 4 color progression with each color being 1oz.¬† I bought 8 oz of it.¬† Not entirely sure how I”m going to spin it, but I’ll figure it out.
• In front of that is a skein of laceweight and a skein of sock weight (both in the grey) from Tongue River.
• The white mass is just about 2.5lbs of a border leceister roving to spin enough to make another sweater from A Fine Fleece.
• Lastly, I picked up two Grafton batts.
• Not shown were two little furry sleeping kittens in basket beds for the twins.

All in all, a rather restrained weekend for me.¬† I could have gotten more but I’ve become a touch more descriminating at festivals now.¬† I look at all items as to what I’m going to do with it rather than how darn pretty it is.¬†

Craft on!

…. so very close…

You can see the one on the left is just thiiiiis much shorter than the one on the right.  I made some astounding progress on it yesterday.  This sucker is going down today.  Which leaves, seaming, collar, button bands and picking n sewing on of buttons.  Almost indeed.  I seriously loves it.

Yesterday I had one of the rare days when I was able to go shopping by myself.  Let me repeat that.  BY. MYSELF.  Neither kid wanted to come along.  I know I mentioned on Saturday that the stores in my county are closed on Sunday, but the county over threw off their blue laws ages ago.  We all schlep over to shop there.  Not that terribly far as the southern end of my town borders the river, which is also the county border.  And for perspective, the town is only 4 sq miles or so.

So anyway, yesterday, both kids opted to stay home which left me footlose and fancy free.¬† I wanted to get over to Michaels to take advantage of a sale on Patons Classic Merino.¬† I’d decided that this year’s teacher gifts are slightly larger booga bags [ravelry link].¬†¬† I spotted the new Lion Brand Wool while I was there and picked up a mix of both the Patons and the Wool to use to make two bags.¬† They’re up in the queue soon after finishing T&C.¬† I still need to make the twins hats/mittens/scarves first though.

I also reallly realllly realllllly want to make this:

That’s Yank by one of my most favorite designers, Bonne Marie.¬† While I’d love to use the Pastaza that Bonne used in the original, I couldn’t justify laying out the bucks for that much of it.¬† I did find that I had some Rowan Yorkshire Tweed Aran in stash but the note in Ravelry says I bought it for Juno and I didn’t like the color for this project.¬† Good thing I put the note in it though as I couldn’t remember from looking at the picture the why.¬†¬†¬† I picked up the LB Wool in a dark navy blue at Michaels.¬† It is a 4st” on US8, just a smidge smaller than the 4st” on US9 that the Pastaza is but I think it will work.¬† I’ll have to swatch it.¬† It won’t go to waste as I could always do one of the other sweaters in Fine Fleece with it.

When I got home (after getting lost in Clifton having made a wrong turn on the back roads), we had a quick lunch and then took the kids over to the open house at the local fire company.  They got to see what the inside of a house is like when there is a fire.  They crawled around in theatrical smoke trying to get from the entrance door to the balcony where a fireman awaited at the bottom of a pullout ladder.  Then came the fresh made donuts and apple cider from a local farm (which is sadly going out of business).  Up next was a short film on fire safety which culminated in a ride around town on the fire engine with lights and sirens running!!  Dad was sitting up front in the cab while the twins, mom and I sat in the middle seats facing rear.  The back of the truck was filled with kids.  We even went down our block!  The kids loved it.  After we got back to the stationhouse, the kids got balloons and played on and around equipment with their friends, whose father is on the squad.

A good time was had by all and the weather was just lovely for it.

Craft on!

So yesterday I mentioned that I was thinking about doing mittens. Seems like a good idea yes? I need a small purse project and I’m somewhat out of love with socks again. And we can always use new mittens. I headed for my knitting bookshelf in the basement and came back with this small selection:

Why yes, I do have a few mitten books. I spent the next hour flipping through, getting all excited about a pattern, mentally reviewing stash and what Modern Yarn carries only to pile em all back up and move em back to the basement. I also sort of decided to let the twins have some voice in what I make them this year. I went back to knitting Ballerina and took it happily off to SnB last night.

I mentioned my mitten book excitement and how I couldn’t settle down on a pair at SnB. I was also looking at a newly restocked collection of Rowan Felted Tweed. Paige suggested Jared’s mittens in the new Vogue Knitting. So…

+ = mitten project.

I actually bought enough of the Felted Tweed so that I can fudge a coordinating hat and perhaps neck wrap of some sort.

While I was at it, I flipped through both Vogue and the fall IK.¬†¬† I have to admit, I’m underwhelmed by the IK and am not sorry that I’ve let my subscription lapse.¬† As to Vogue, I’ve never been a big fan as there were far more of the “what where they thinking” kind of projects as compared to something that I would actually knit.¬† I have to say, I really like this issue.¬† There were at least 4 sweaters that I’d love to make and a whole collection of mittens.¬† Awesome.

No, I haven’t started the mittens yet, need to dig out the DPN’s, so I worked on Ballerina during my commute.

The short rows are getting quite long!¬† I’m this close..

.. to finishing up this striped section and working the solid blue gusset that sits next to the middle back stripes.¬† You know, that sentence makes no sense even to me and I KNOW the pattern! Suffice it to say that that little clump of blue stitches on the needle are what are left to be eaten up in the “short” rows.

I’m somewhat amazed at how much progress I can make on a particular project when working solely on it.¬† Project monogamy:¬† who knew?!¬† I haven’t touched anything since Ballerina returned to¬† active duty.¬† I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that I’ve made this much progress, but I am.¬† I do need to put something in my purse as Ballerina lives in my small tote bag and doesn’t go everywhere with me.¬† I’ve been caught sans knitting recently, like on the iPhone line, because of that state.¬† I did pick up some new sock yarn last night as well, and nearly started the a pair this morning, but I hates the circs that I brought.¬† Cable is far too enthusiastic for me.¬† I might have to venture out at lunchtime and pick up new ones.¬† Maybe Century 21 for a new purse and then to Seaport for DPNS.¬† sounds like a plan.¬† Then I can knit this yarn….

I know, socks??!  What a concept

Craft on (and have a wonderful weekend!)