emily

i arrived home from rhinebeck to find an email from a gal who raises lincoln sheep. emily recently moved to the area from rhode island with her flock of black lincoln's. she raises them to show, sheering twice a year and that saturday was sheering day. with ten fleeces she was looking for folks who like wool. a family member had been to our festival, so she gave me a try.
as it would happen, i was in her area last weekend so decided to stop and meet her and her wool!

my photography skills stink, but this is emily and the bags of wool. she had them all set out on a table, with the name of the owner (sheep owner that is ) on top. i had the best time going round checking out the names when i realized i should really be checking the locks! so round i went again, fondling locks, exclaiming over the curls and colors .... i'm sure she thought i was loony. on the third pass, i decided that bobbi needed to come home with me.

this lamb fleece is as soft as can be and is that same color throughout. i'm eager to get this washed and start playing with it.

even in the rain and mist her flock was lovely. as soon as i find a minute, i'll be diving into this project! i know where the other nine bags are ;)

rhinebeck 2012

for various reason there were only three of us making our way to the NYS sheep and wool festival that is rhinebeck. i was looking more forward to this event than i can say. it didn't matter what the weather would hold, how many of my fellow fiber lovers made it, i was filled with excitement and anticipation to be there. we left on friday with the ~woodbury commons~ outlet mall our initial destination. sandy needed a winter coat from eddie bauer and i needed to see the vera bradley outlet. don't know if it was the rain or time of day, but it was quiet.... perfect shopping. we were decisive ( and lucky) and were headed to dinner by five.

we treated ourselves well. after a yummy dinner, we retired to our hotel room to enjoy a lovely Riesling and watch sandy ply yarn (it is a fiber trip after all)
saturday dawned foggy and warm. we were on the road early to arrive at the festival by nine. we got right in and headed immediately to the spots that we knew would be crowded later.....

socks that rock yarn in ochroid for the color affection wrap that i am going to make. the sun was lovely, the breezes warm and the fiber-vibe amazing!
cc needed some tools for her wheel, so she and i were off while sandy visited her pottery provider. low and behold, mr. ashford was visiting all the vendors who sell their product. he was charming and happily agreed to a photo with cc .....

while i was waiting, i found myself fondling fiber in another booth. 4 oz of merino roving came home with me ;)

even though i expect it, the crowds do become oppressive. we found ourselves going through barns and not being able to make our way into booths. we called it a day at 3:30, on the road to home.
cc and i realized that this was our sixth rhinebeck visit. the appeal keeps growing.... i can't wait til next year!

little york fiber festival

early this spring, amythefibergoddess asked me to consider helping her at a new fiber festival that she was considering. of course, i said yes...... it's fiber right? a weekend away with fiber? we were soon giddy with the planning. then we found out that sandy long was going to be there and cc was helping her. we tandemed to preble in vehicles full of fiber ( and stuff ) to the cortland repertory theater. the venue was a lovely old building sitting on the bank of a lovely lake. charming area, but wait.... this is a lovely old building ( clue here..... old) and the summer home of the theater (another clue.... summer) with no heat. friday was lovely, but we awoke saturday morning to a balmy 26 degrees, had to scrape the ice off the windshield. we enjoyed all the friendly fiber folk, but we were cold. frozen cold. can't feel my feet cold!

it is such fun to sit and spin, people watch and chat with people that speak my language.

delightful event. next time??? ugh boots!

picker magic

my dear fiber friend joan made her way over to play with the picker. i love the picker. i want the picker. i'm so lucky that amythefibergoddess lets me carry on this love affair with her picker!

it seems that joan is joining me in the 'picker love'. from all our dyeing adventures this summer, she had several batches that, well, got a bit felt-ie. i highly technical term for fiber that she just kept messing with during the dyeing process that got matted. it is so tempting to want to touch the fiber, stir the fiber, fondle the fiber when it is drenched in all that color. the problem is that hot fiber will get... felt-ie. hence the picker. see how it comes out all fluffy and loose? perfect to card when it's like that. we chatted and picked and soon she had..... (here it comes...) three bags full :)

all lofty and ready to put through her drum carder. i love the picker!!

follow the pattern

i was on the hunt for some yarn, and that turned into a huge cleaning frenzy. i up-ended baskets, bags, bins sorting everything into proper groups.... tossing away bits and nasty stuff.... i was ruthless. in the process i stumbled across a partial sock, on a holder with no pattern in sight. sigh. this is really not like me at all! i ripped it out, balled it up and set it on the counter. i felt sad that this yarn and project just languished. i kept looking at it, moving it out of my way and finally decided to measure how much yarn there was. then i hunted for a pattern. i didn't go far when i realized that i was going to make another 198 yds of heaven. it seems that this has become my 'go-to' shawl knit. i've made it twice in handspun modifying the directions to create a larger shawl/wrap. this time i had just enough to actually follow the pattern and make it the way the designer intended.

it was lovely, but very small. i used up all the yarn (see that little bit left). i put it on my trusty blocker and then it looked like this.....

lovely, but still petite. soon, anyone that walked past it asked 'what happened to this one?' when the residents of the house start commenting on the project, it starts to give you pause.
then i put it on.......

success!!!!

Fiber Festival Fun



 

saturday dawned sunny and brisk. perfect festival weather. yes, there were puddles, but the rain did not make another appearance for the weekend.

 

the grounds were filled with fiber folks and everyone seemed to be having a wonderful time. the committee decided to implement a new parking plan and i spent most of saturday greeting attendees and helping in the parking lot. the volunteers were amazing! there were some great suggestions to help make the process roll along a bit smoother, and all in all it was a success!

soon it looked like this.....

for our guild display this year, we had a knit along using the lala shawl pattern. there were 51 shawls created by members and placed into the display. it was amazing! the talent and skill was just stunning. i kept saying that this was a wonderful testament to our members. so many agreed to participate, and then put all their hard work into our hands for this purpose. . . .

the festival goers vote on their favorite, and this year the choices were many. i 've yet to count them (i may wrangle some help for that one:)

 

it wasn't until sunday afternoon that i made my way to the skein and garment exhibit. the gals that coordinated it told me that i had a prize waiting. since i only entered one thing, i knew what item won, but i didn't know where it placed.

it was the traveling women shawl that i had made this spring. the yarn had been entered several years ago as the handspinners basket, part one. then the yarn kicked about the house for a while before finding its way into a tote in the basement. earlier in the year when i was searching for some yarn to make my own lala shawl, i happened upon it. i had planned to make the sunrise circle jacket and as i looked at the yarn i wondered what i had been drinking..... it was a terrible idea. i brought the yarn into the house and decided to try the traveling women. amythefibergoddess was knitting one ( and i'm always quick to hop into a new pattern) so why not?
i was flabbergasted ( and really quite shocked ) to have received the award. what a great way to end the weekend!

festival set up

this weekend is the annual finger lakes fiber festival in the lovely finger lakes region in upstate new york. plans have been made, vendor arrived, set up commenced.
this.......

soon became this.......

after living in moderate draught conditions for the summer, today..... yes today it decides to rain. not just water coming out of the sky, but pelting water hurled upon us! we lost power on the fairgrounds, and thankfully the guild display was done. i'm hopeful that tomorrow will dawn dry and bright.
amythefibergoddess has oh-so-many tasks to do that i was able to trick convince her to let me come home with six pounds of freshly made roving to prepare for sale. it was amazing the least i could do to help a friend. i had to touch all six pounds of wool and silk, winding it into balls to sell.....

( i even got to spin some up...... hopefully she'll get all of these tomorrow ;)