shepard's market

fiber, yarn, spinning, fabulous folks......must be the 2nd annual shepard's market. with ten vendors in a large room, the market is a 'must do' event. the large festivals have a special appeal with all the glamor and trekking about that a large venue requires. this event is an opportunity to connect with folks in a more intimate setting. amy~thefibergoddess, jess, and joan chatting and examining the sock.
joan bought a lamb-skin, curly locks and all.
we got her started on her first pair of socks. she was extremely patient with me. i want her to enjoy the process, feeling the thrill of each stitch.....the progress from cuff to leg, heel to toe.
she doesn't. love it. at all. she would do a round, then set it next to me. as it lay there tempting me to pick it up, knit a round. or two.

it was painful to resist, but i did manage to show restraint. i came home with all sorts of fiber. i'll get some pics in the sunlight to share.

can't wait til next year.

sheep shack

remember the B52's? come on, dancing at every party to the infamous 'love shack'? well, amy thefibergoddess, went and got herself one. and hers is truly a shack of love as it is full of ......
fiber!!! it sits ever-so-sweetly on her yard, beckoning the wool enthusiast to come in and browse. it even smells like wool! (you'll have to trust me on that one, i can't cyber-smells)
it was a potting shed that was very-gently used and needed a new home. she found it on my new favorite site.... craigslist. low and behold, it was just a short distance from her... fate you ask? no, it's the fiber goddess at work. soon she will be picking and displaying all kinds of woolly goodness.
i finished the merletto mitts. super easy pattern with a great 'wow' factor. may need to make more!

two bags full

when i volunteered to spin a few weeks back, the compensation was a fleece from the sheep that live at the shelter. yesterday i got a call that they were shorn and ready. i immediately wasted no time in contacting amy~thefibergoddess~ for her help. i have only chosen one fleece in my short spinning career and the only reason i got a good one was beginners luck. so this time i was leaving nothing to chance. amy happily (she's that kind of gal) agreed to be my teacher.
there were fourteen bags of wool and it was raining when they were shorn, so it was damp wool. getting right to business, amy opened a bag and dug in. i mean that literally. she parted the wool at the top of the bag and reached in and started looking at the overall quality. that doesn't mean how pretty it is. (i asked:) she looked for dense areas of vegetation and soil, how long the lock was, the lock strength (i finally get the snapping of the wool) and crimp. the fluffier ones will produce loftier yarn, the crimpier ones yield denser yarn.
she narrowed it to these three and let me choose. so i came home with the grey one and the top one.

my lock choices. each had so many great elements and the best part is that i think i've really got a grasp of the process. i'm not ready to fly solo, but the young jedi is learning.

how does it relate?

so in my other life, my students are used to hearing me ask 'can you relate that to this class?' meaning that they bring up all sorts of things....., political issues, current events, the price of chicken, so they have to somehow make a correlation to our course material. it's funny watching them struggle with a simple request, but hey, i have to have some fun too.
that brings me to this.
friday was garage sorting day. as fascinating as that was, i got distracted. by a forwarded email that had this church pew (#4) on craigs list. my partner casually mentioned that it sounded like it would be good. good? that was all i needed to send me to the phone to call the seller. of course it was spoken for, however the longer i chatted with her, the more obvious it became that she wanted it gone....now. so in the car we hopped, and twenty minuted later i was the proud owner of pew#4.
i was certain that it would fit in my car. thankfully my partner was with me and slapped me with the silly stick. a ten foot, solid wood bench that weighs more than, well me! so a quick survey of everyone we knew that had a pick-up led me to a neighbor. he handed me the keys and home she came. some minor re-arranging of the furniture in the parlor, and in #4 came. it is beautiful! i have packed antique tubs and baskets with yarn and roving placing them under the pew. see.... i can relate it to fiber. here is the current project. merletto fingerless mitts.

i'm just a girl who can't say no...

to a yarn sale! cc and i headed off to pollywogs tent sale. it was a delightful day for a drive through the countryside . . . . sun shining,leaves just bursting and flowers everywhere.

scavengers, er.... yarnaholics, er.... shoppers where already in full swing when we arrived. there were bags and tables and boxes overflowing with fiber, yarn, and treats. we meandered and touched just about everything before we started filling those bags.the rice basket came home with me as did a ginormous amount of stash enhancing stuff. several bags of louet roving. spun it and loved it, so i needed more. i chose wool top and soy/wool blend and merino silk. why not try it all!

i found misti-alpaca lace, kraemer mauch chunky and brown sheep hand paint. to top it off, a few patterns.

ahhhhh, the sound of a happy stash!

dear goddess

amy, the fiber goddess, paid me a visit today. in part to retrieve the second sock, share some new books and ..... tempt me with this!
my dining room table ladened with a feast of handpainted sock yarns! my dear second sock is resting on a bed of sumptuous woolly goodness. she tempted me with a hank of the pomegranate for lacy fingerless mitts, and yes, i succcombed.

a pair

of socks! amy the fiber goddess has a winner on her hands.... or feet! love this sock yarn. through no skill of my own, i had the coolest pattern working. if you look close you can see the swirls of the knitted pattern move in the opposite direction of the line of color. can't explain it, and when i do i'll be sure to take credit and create a completely believable design tale for it.

i'll have to wait until the weather changes again to get some test wearing on these lovelies. the eldest for whom these were knit, is already into flip-flops so that is a long way into the future.

i've found a pattern to create some more fun with this yarn..... now i just need to get me some!

baabaa black sheep...

have you any wool? yes sir, yes sir, three bags full!

i'm plying the lollipop and it is grand. the colors are somewhat subdued from their roving form. i hope to have that done soon. and i'm still chugging away on sock #2. just the foot to finish and today i finally had some knitting time.
the youngest child serenaded us with her piano recital. and yes, baa baa black sheep was one of her songs. she chose it, 'because you love sheep mom!' with her elder sibling accompaning her, it was very special indeed.