Maryland Sheep and Wool 2011

If it is possible to have too much fun, that is exactly how I felt after MS&W this year.

It all started last February when I sold a spindle on Ravelry to someone I did not know. After the deal was finalized, she asked me if she could come and stay at my house to go to show this year. I said, sure! come on over!

She flew in on Friday, we met at the Metro station and rode the commuter bus. A quick trip that night to the LYS, and dinner. We got to the fairgrounds early Saturday morning, way before 8:30. Good thing, lots of people around already. Got a good parking spot and off we went.

First target: the Main Building, more specifically the Spanish Peacock booth. I had special ordered a mini Tibetian spindle and, although Mike was holding it for me, I did not want to risk it. They could get busy and sell it in error to someone else. Sure enough, when I got there at 8:45 the spindle had already been 'saved' a couple of times. Spindle in bag, off to the Corridale booth. First customers of the day. I got three 2 lbs bags from different sheep. Lovely stuff. Long, soft and clean as can be. From there on it really did not matter to me were we went as long as we would stop by and get a T-shirt for my dear friend in Oregon, we did mid morning after the rush had passed.

We walked all over the place in random order, the outside vendors, the barns one by one, aisle by aisle, outside new vendors. We went several times back to the the Main building, seems like each time we went there one of us would end up with something different.

My friend went wandering into the fleece sale and found a lovely Jacob/Cotswool fleece, very long locks, clean and beautiful colors. She did not want to carry it back with her and showed it to me. I in turn bought it in a heart beat. Lots of work will go into it, I will sort the colors, wash the locks, comb and spin it into beautiful yarn. One day it will become a multicolored garment.

I also bought the Spinning Wheel and Accessories collectors book, a couple of double end crochet hooks, clever tool. On one side it has a crochet hook and on the other a knitting needle tip, one of them does have a crochet hook on each side. I called mine the double hookers.

I spun on the great wheels, chatted with friends we ran into. Spun on a Schacht Reeves wheel at the Carolina Homespun booth. Stopped by the Woolee Winder booth and chatted with the ever clever and giving Nathan while my friend gave a Hansen wheel a test spin.

We ate lamb in all the forms we found and ice cream cones, many ice cream cones! I love those dipped in chocolate.

We went back on Sunday because I had someone to meet for yet another Ravelry transaction 'smiles'. Since we were there already we took another stroll, no barns this time, just the Main building and some of the outside vendors. Talked to the woodworker that sets up outside by the main entrance....forgot his name, he will be making a cone core for a cone winder...contraption that I will show here when I get it back.

The leather guy fixed my little MP3 player purse, also with beautiful workmanship and included the price of the fix in what I had paid for another bag the day before. People are so generous!

We rode the tractor back to the car, and got out of there right around three,came home to explore our goodies and dream of next time.

I love fiber shows. The feeling of people all driven by fibers, spinning wheels, clever craftsman, yarn, bags, pots, auctions, books, needles, gadgets, animals, technique, lessons, and what have you! All of us with the same goal, create something with our hands. Color, there is always color natural or otherwise. Everyone is happy there, most in a rush because who knows, we might miss something! The vendors did well, I think, except for one who was for some reason not happy at all, sat at the back of her booth, with her head down, would not greet people, it was the only empty booth I saw every single time I walked by. I hope she did well, she had nice stuff but I was not in the mood to go in and talk to someone that was not thrilled like the rest of us.

I can hardly wait for next year, I am sure I will come up with something I have to have. If nothing else, I will go chat with people and eat chocolate dipped ice cream cones.

By Popular Demand

I received requests for closeups of the crochet hooks and pictures of the Niebling patterns in the Lena magazine.
Here they are:

Europe 2007

I am back from a wonderful trip to Europe. It was a 10 day trip to Germany and Austria. Mainly work but I did manage to trot around for a bit and find a couple of yarn shops.
I tried to meet with the folks from Knitters Uncensored but we ran into a language/train station location glitch and it did not work out. It would have been fun, but oh well!
I had done some online research prior to the trip and I could only come up with one yarn shop in Munich. I sent out several emails and contact info requests with absolutely no response. What I did come up with was well worth it. Wolle Rödel and they gave directions to Ludwig Beck. The first one has it's own brand of yarn and tools the second one is a bit more general needle work.
I was hoping for lace finds but did not run into any. I did get the last issue of the Lena magazine that has three Niebling patterns, all similar but non the less beautiful.
By now I think I have such a wide collection of Niebling patterns that I doubt I will ever get around to knitting them all.

The loot:



8 skeins of lovely sock yarn!



A full set of crochet hooks with Teflon tips and nice anatomical handles! Those are nice and I had not seen them around here.



The whole works put together.

I also got a Cocoo Clock for DH and a set of great kitchen knives for me!

Buttons and HTML

Here I am trying to add the buttons to my side bar. I have uploaded the pictures, copied the address, edited the HTML code mteen times and I can not get the buttons to show up! I have followed instructions, did my own thing, played with it and still NO BUTTONS. So now I will have buttons even if the links are not active!

Competitions?

Over the last few months I have found a few blogs talking about knitting competitions. Knit a shawl over a weekend and things like that. Yes, I know we are in a competitive world and we always want to knit prettier, better than others. We are always comparing ourselves with Fair Isle knitters that had to knit to make a living and to Russian knitters who’s food on the plate depended/depends on how many shawls they could knit to sell.
Is knitting faster really what we are after? Are we trying to preserve a beautiful craft and unearth patterns from the past to avoid loosing them altogether? Are we encouraging amazing designers or our era like Mim, Norah, Sharon, Valerie and others that do such amazing work? Are we trying to tell the world that we exist as a community? Are we trying to help the finances of those that make real efforts to supply the yarn that we use and the fibers and tools that we love and need? Or are we trying to end up with carpal tunnel syndrome or permanent tendon damage just to demonstrate that we can knit faster than others regardless of the final result?
I have thought about this for several days, and the conclusion I have come to is that my attitude towards these silly competitions is a combination of the love I have for my fiber crafts, the desire to get others involved so they can also enjoy the wonderful hours that I get from it and the physician in me, or maybe it is just a “wiser” attitude towards life that age brings.
You would not believe how many muscles we have in our hands, tiny little ones each one with a specific function. As with other muscles in the human body, they have to be trained, exercised and cared for. Straining your hands to knit at a speed that they are not used to will only cause pain and damage, permanent or not. Would you go out to run a marathon without the proper training? More likely not.
Doing things like this will only make people turn away from what is a wonderful relaxing and joyful “hobby”. Those of you that do it for a living will more than likely knit faster, more evenly and “better” what ever better might mean here. Would you risk your hands?
So let’s get real, this is not a speed competition. If we do want to make a competition out of it, let’s do it on color, technique, finishing, overall on quality.
I knit faster than many people I know, but I have been doing it for more years than I care to admit and still I would never risk my hands. Let's enjoy what there is to enjoy!

Rescue

I found this link in a blog today. Rescue It made me cry. I have risked my life in the past to help people and animals. I do believe I have not come across anything like this. What makes me really proud is that is was a group of women that did it.

The dreaded concrete tower!

We moved to Syracuse 4 years ago with the sole purpose of being away from noise, traffic, people (you know what I mean). Turns out that they are building a SUPERWALMART right across the street from my house!
I can see it from my kitchen window. Needless to say I am NOT happy. I guess such is life and this is the way the whole world is going to be.
On the knitting front I have a surprise comming up soon!
I've also been weaving and spinning of course. But finishing up what is OTN right now is a priority!

Spammers on attack mode

I make a couple of modifications to the blog so that spammers get out of here!
We'll see how it works.
Pictures of finished Shetlands comming up soon.

testing

Testing movie

Can anyone tell me?

Why in the world my Tazha the M2 would be spoiled rotten to the bone? In the picture Gary my husband and Tazha at dinner time. They sit there eat each one from his plate and have a wonderful time :)
Talk about spoiled!

SOAR 2005

I went to the market yesterday. What a fun time I had!
I met Sheila and Jonathan they are lovely people.
The plan I followed was: walk around and look around then come back and buy. I bought a Bosworths Midi Spindle that can spin forever this one in particular spins more forever than the others they had there.
I am on the waiting list for the ones that will be comming in December and I can barely wait!
A friend of mine bought the attache charkra, she already has the book size one :) one happy camper she was for sure!
I also found a set of Ebony circular knitting needles 3 mms and 40 inches long. Lovely and they have a tip that I know is going to be just great for my upcomming Shetland Shawl.
Things that struck me for their beauty: dyed mohair locks. Since I have a full kid mohair fleece in locks, I did not buy any, but I will be dying some pretty soon!
Greensleeves spindle where there too. Elizabeth has beautiful spindles too and I have several of them. Since she is local and I can buy from her any time, I only bought the Bosworths this time around.
Horrible a booth with felted hats. They are made out of felted fabric and then cut and sewn in bits and pieces into the most horrible hats I have ever seen in my life. Sorry if I hurs someone's feeling but the thruth is that.
Something else that I saw that was horrible was some beaded yarn. Over priced as can be $50 or so for a skein of 100 yds. What was bad about them was the core thread with the beads was loose in some spots. That will make the beeds move around in your knitting and maybe get snagged. I have spun beaded yarn in the past, and I know this is one thing to be aware of. Plus the price! I agree that it is more work and all that. But $50 for a skein is way too much!
Other than that everything else was just beautiful. Vendors friendly and things just beautiful.
Paula Simmons was there with the smaller versions of the drum carders. I have a Supercarder but it was fun to see her. Good thing is that Spinning for Softness and Speed has been reprinted. If you are going to own a Spinning book that is one you want to have.
I did not take any pictures.........and I should have. Oh well! next time I guess.

Katrina

I have seen death and devastation in my life but this is the worse I could ever imagine. Katrina did take a huge toll even if they say it could have been worse.
I have been following this great blog:
http://www.brendanloy.com/
Well worth it, better than Fox, MSN news and CNN put together.
May God give those people patience and resistance for what they will have to face from now on.

Things that happen!

Last Sunday night I got really really sick. I don't think I had been that sick since the kidney stone n years ago. And so it happens I ended up in the hospital with surgery. A twisted bowel of all things. I am home recovering now, thankful that things did not get any worse and that it was all taken care of in time.
I am not feeling well at all, I am afraid of spinning even tho my spinning wheels are very nice and easy to threadle, I get dizzy if I knit or read. Sure hope that I can get back to my old self some time soon. My husband has been wonderful taking care of the house, the flock/pack and me.
Now answering Susan's question on the colors of the Pi Shawl: I had a baggy with 4 oz each of white and three shades of grey. I started from the white and went increasing shades of grey. Darkest last. Rumor has it that the shawl recipient: Judy Gunn, entered it in the County Fair and it took First Place. So now I have blue ribbon to attach to it.
I have a couple of shawls, and skeins of handspun to enter to the State Fair. I just need to gather up enough energy today to properlu tie the skeins and fill out the entry form. One of my friends will come and pickup the stuff and take it to the Fair.
We'll see how it goes this year.

This is interesting!

I am doing it! A Blog. Been trying to get one going for a long time, so now maybe it will work out. I have tons of pictures that I want displayed maybe this is the way to do it.
Let's see how it goes.
The picture is a pi shawl knit from my handspun for the Wasatch Woolpack Retreat Fiber Exchange. The recepient was Judy Gunn. She well deserved it since she was the one that got me started with spinning.