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 ;)

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.

open house at longmeadow farm

bright and early saturday morning, my car was filled with fiber friends as we made our way to freedom, ny for sandy' s open house. it's about a two hour drive from home, and i wanted to get there early to enjoy a day of lams, fiber and food! what more could anyone ask for?
the wool room was full of amazing colors and textures.....

sandy had been busy with yarn and a trip to the mill. she offered some -not to be missed- specials, so i got shopping. in the past, i've chatted and slowly made my way into the shop, not this year! i didn't want to be sitting there, disappointed that i missed out. i had lots of help filling my basket.... well it was really her sink.....

but fill it i did. i got just over a pound of two different colorways, and a small bump for the 'just in case' part of the stash. that little maple leaf on the shelf? yep, fresh maple syrup. sandy's daughter and her family have started making maple syrup. that's some of the first batch that they did. i've got it hidden tucked away in a safe spot to drizzle over something yummy.
it was wonderful to see old friends, and meet new folks. we visited, spun and ate a wonderful lunch. it really is one of my favorite events of the year.
we eventually made our way out to the barn to meet all those sweet babies that miles was busy making.....

this little darling would not stop asking for love. when i moved my hand to take the picture, she climbed up the pen after me. her fleece was sooooo soft. miles did a good job!
now i'll have to decide what fiber makes its way onto my wheel.

tick tock

when amythefibergoddess asked me to test spin & knit for her booth display, i quickly agreed and followed it with a not so gentle reminder that time was a wasting! tick-tock. well, she's not let me live that one down.

we spent tuesday out in the barn painting yarn......lots and lots of yarn.

she has such a great eye and always seem to have her finger on the pulse of what is trending for colors. me, i'm all about what will make me happy, so when she asks my opinion i have to remind her that i'm just the apprentice, she is the master ;)

amazing colors. restful, season less and oh so soft!
i'm still slogging away on the sample..... for the beaver lake fiber show...... in two weeks... tick tock!

lucky...

i was gifted with this lovely clothe in honor a st patrick's day from a dear and special fiber friend....

this one will be used and used......and each time i'll think of annemarie.

winter wonderland

hopefully winter has made it's last major impact on my life. i loved being inside, soup on simmer, my family all safe and sound......... but work is all topsy turvy. i think i've got it figured out and all will be well.
so with the snow days, i had fiber fun! i'm working on the second zuzu petals. i am making great progress, the pattern is getting very familiar and i'm not sick of it yet. considering i've got to make at least one more..... that is a very good thing.

here are the two bobbins that i've spun for amythefibergoddess. i'm following the path that the yarn harlot took when she made one from amy's fiber. i hope i stayed consistent spinning these babies. one is just 0.2 ounces more that the other. there are long block of color and the inside looks like this:

after they sit a bit on the bobbin, i'll start plying. actually right after the photo shoot, one rolled off the balcony and into a snow drift. so it will need to dry off ;)
finished and blocked? it'll look like this.....

yea.... got a few more in me.

GW 2014

i'm springing forward into the new week after a fantabulous weekend. our annual  'girls weekend' was hosted by my lovely cousin in emmaus, pa. we gathered on friday, all driving in from distant points. one car was from the boston area, and mine from upstate new york. we timed arrival perfectly and i got to visit her local yarn store, conversational threads. several years ago i had visited and liked it, but it has evolved into this amazing space filled with great stock.

if you've ever walked into a store and felt like you could settle in, this was the spot. staff was friendly and helpful.... in a good way. i wandered, fondled and purchased. the first purchase of girls weekend. we ate, shopped and chatted away friday evening.

saturday morning, half the group headed out to a 5k run, and the rest of us walked kathie's neighborhood. the walkers finished first and were ready to to go. on the way to the yarn shop, a used book store caught our attention. i dropped my two sisters there and went on alone to conversational threads.

i finished zuzu's petals on the trip down. with my penchant for repeat knitting, i was eager to cast another on. i talked my sister into one for her birthday gift and let her pick a color. or a non-color since she chose madelinetosh dk in subtle dove. there were a few other things that hopped in my bag, shawl swirls, key chain, malabrigo roving. perfect morning!
we met up with the rest of the gang at an outdoor mall, and continued eating and shopping!
sunday we parted, caught up on the latest family news!

i was able to get some knitting done on the ride home, and have zuzu #1 blocking.

hope to have zuzu#2 done this week!