Wednesday, April 23, 2014

romney

since our trip to rhinebeck last fall, i've been doing the sheep study with our guild. it has been stressful, frustrating, a pain in the a#%%, challenging to keep up with two little ounces of fiber. i'm always excited when i get the fiber at the meeting. i love hearing about the different ways folks are washing, spinning, knitting their samples. i try to take it out of my bag right away ( so that i don't forget about it). sometimes i leave it on the kitchen counter where it gets shuffled about and discussed by my herd. i've also taken it right into the bathroom and set it by the sink. that usually leads to it being dumped into the towel basket, forgotten, until i go on a frenzied hunt to find it.
this time, i put it right in a bath of lavender scented laundry soap as soon as i got home. it was drying in the beautiful sunshine sunday morning while we searched for eggs!
it was clean, and soft, and i remembered why i love, love, love this wool. i wanted to really treat this well and learn from the preparation so.....
i pulled out the set of hand-combs. it seems that the deck railing accommodates this perfectly.... plus i get to soak up some vitamin D .....

my little fiber balls came out perfectly! i got better using the diz and rolling the roving as i went along. i couldn't wait to see how it would spin...

beautifully! it's resting on the bobbin, waiting to be plyed. so, i'm done in record time. look at what a little sunshine will do ;)

Saturday, April 12, 2014

beaver lake ~ cny fiber frolic

amythefibergoddess and i were trying to remember just how many times we've been to beaver lake. after a while, it just hurt our brains to try to figure it out. she went solo the first year, and i've been going with her since, i'm thinking that this was our third year ( or maybe the fourth, my brain is still tired). anyway, it's a great way to spend a saturday. the nature trails were busy, spring seems to finally be showing itself here in upstate new york. peepers are out, windows are open and the snow is finally melting!
so, beaver lake. really it's the cny fiber frolic and frolic we did! all the dyeing that amy has been doing was on display....
lots of yarn and roving and project bags found new homes today. there were lots of folks that have shopped with her before...
i love seeing the finished projects return for a visit. this gal made 'lala's simple shawl' from a coordinating pack that amy put together. she took three more home with her... i hope we get to see those done. on the drive home, we both agreed that there are some pretty awesome fiber folks!
so what is on my needles? i've just started a vest, for me, from a pattern i found online. still not sure if we can work well together, but i do want to have something fibery to wear in mary-land. i actually finished the knit-a-long for this year's fiber festival. after much ( and i do mean much) b+*&^ing and moaning, i got through the wingspan. as is often the case, it was user failure at it's finest. i chose the wrong yarn and just would not give it up. then, last month i saw one completed with almost the exact roving that was on my wheel. yes, i cast on......
it turned out even prettier than i imagined! so of course, i need want to do another. we'll see, my chairs are all quite warm with all the shawls that are stored on them. i may need to find real human ones.