Dainty Kitty

Upper Valley Fiber Festival

Today Ginny and I went to the Upper Valley Fiber Festival which, despite a little mishap with some spilled tea and an allergy pill I forgot to take, was a great time.  I went to the Wool Gathering last year with a boyfriend and, man oh man, is going to this type of thing SO much more fun with actual knitters!  We met up with a few other Ravelers who go to the Sunday knit night, too (which makes me think there needs to be a term for a group of knitters - you know, like "pod" but more yarny).  Yeah, it's much better to go with people who understand (en, in some cases, encourage - ha ha).   

There was the obligatory duck herding.... 

That photo was taken right after the ducks passed/around between us which was kind of cute.

And baby angora goats....

A handful of (very loud) sheep...unlike his pen-mates, this little Rastafarian was still unshorn when we left....

And of course, fiber.  This photo doesn't really do this skein justice - the purple is really more pinkish.

And some merino sock yarn because we know how I'm an avid sock knitter - ha ha.  I'm determined to finish a pair, though, and actually spent a lot of time this afternoon on the toe of a Marigold sock I'm making with the Panda Cotton I bought a couple of weeks ago.  I had to start over a couple of times but am happy with it now and get to start the actual lace pattern (gasp) whenever I get to pick it back up.  Oh, and I'm using the magic loop method for them - hooray for learning a new technique!  I didn't pack at all today, though, and am feeling kind of guilty so, around Mother's Day activities tomorrow, I need to get quite a bit done which means trying to stay away from the needles.

Back to the sock yarn....

And I bought more fiber to spin even though I've yet to learn to spin!  I bought a drop spindle last year along with some nice fiber and some practice stuff but...I never put enough time in it to really learn.  Unfortunately, when I got home I realized there was no tag whatsoever for this.  I know that I bought it from the really nice lady with the angora bunnies but there was no information on her shop or anything in the bag.   I think it's a mix of sheep and goat with a little bunny mixed in but we'll never know.  It's very pettable, though, and I'm sure it'll make something nice some day.

Chris - who inspired me to go ahead and write this post tonight before heading off to bed - has some other photos including a a cute one of her with one of the angora bunnies as well as a photo of all us enjoying French fries whilst dreaming of what we'll make with our purchases.

Spinning, Crocheted Cuffs and Unexpected Mental Vomiting

Here are the first few feet of my laughable first spinning attempt using Spin to Knit by Shannon Okey. 

Spinning is hard! Of course, it's all uneven but I think that's pretty normal for a first try.  At least I hope it is!  Actually, rather than getting big lumps, I had more trouble not letting it get super skinny.  The book helped a lot.  The websites I looked at said nothing about drafting  the fiber first and - holy cow - that makes a huge difference.  Luckily I have a ton of this blue stuff to practice with. 

The book doesn't tell you how to take it off the spindle without untwisting it so I'm going to do some more searching online and if I can't find anything I'll bet an email to my spinning expert friend, Delly Bean will solve the problem. 

I finished this Crochet Cuff last night in order to feel like I was getting something done.  I know it just kind of looks like a knot of yarn but it's rather pretty in real life.  The blue ribbon yarn was my very first Expensive Skein which I bought in Sanibel Island a few years ago.  My plan is to put a lot of time into the Hep Cat from the Doherty book tonight but I'm having problems with my inability to sit still or work on one project for more than a few minutes. 

I had loose plans to go drinking with a coworker tonight but it fell through.  Jake's having coffee with a friend.  I'm about to go mad, I'm so tired of coming home every night and staying here.  I need to get out more often.  I was talking to Jake about this in an email today, "Although, as usual, I have the itch to do something.  I don't know what's up with that."  He wrote, "I don't know.  Maybe you're on the verge of becoming another person; silly as that sounds, it happens."  And I replied, "Yeah, I know what you mean.  I wish I could move right now.  Not out of the city - just somewhere else.  Isn't that weird?  I've been thinking about it a lot recently."

And I have - although this confession was kind of the first time I put it all together.  I really do need some sort of fresh start.  I'm realizing that I'm, very slowly, becoming who I want to be even though I'm not really sure who that is.  I just think that maybe thirty-three is going to be a good year for me.  We'll see. 

My friend Aimee, of Vibrance Fitness & Nutrition, recently wrote something in her newsletter that really struck a chord with me, "Fall is a notable season for me.  Years of new school supplies and classes coupled with my birthday have always given autumn more a feeling of new beginnings than January does...September is naturally a time of transition, and with my birthday smack in the middle of it I can't help but stop and reflect at the events of the year and look ahead to what I can create in the coming twelve months."   

Yeah, I get that.

A Wool Gathering

I almost went to the Wool Gathering again today.  I think I felt like I didn't spend enough.  I didn't buy any yarn (or come home with an angora rabbit which were selling for only twenty-five bucks - can you believe that?).  I'm sure that seems strange but I did buy a drop spindle and some wool roving to learn to hand spin with.  So far?  Tremendously difficult.  I got a book at the library today, though, that I think will help me out.  I also bought a merino/alpaca blend to spin when I actually get good at it.  If there's enough (and there should be), I'm going to use it to knit the Bainbridge Scarf.

Jake bit the bullet and went with me which was nice but he didn't really have a good time.  He liked talking to the ladies from the weaver's guild (one showed me how to use the drop spindle but I'd forgotten how to by the time I left - I should have asked if I could actually try it myself), a man who raised the border collies that were doing demonstrations with geese and a woman who raised alpacas.  It would have been more fun to go with some knitting girlfriends but...you'll have that.

Yesterday while waiting for Jake to get his hair cut in Yellow Springs (down the street from where the Wool Gathering was held), I worked on a crocheted hat using Lion Brand Moonlight Mohair in Purple Mountains. It's a gorgeous yarn to work with out in the sun but the hat was floppy and not very hat-like by the time I had it nearly finished so I frogged it.  I've also finished the arms, ears, tail and part of the head of the Hep Cat pattern from the Elisabeth Doherty book but I'm stuck for the moment as I don't have a hook tiny enough to make the eye patches.  So it's been a weekend of fiberous stalls and false starts.

I can't remember if I mentioned it or not but there's a tie between another blogger and I for the Knitter's Hunk.  Both of us had nominated the winner, Alan Rickman.  Kim, who ran the whole thing, put together an assignment for us in order to determine the Grand Prize and Second Place winners (I love that we're winners no matter what).  It was an essay question of sorts (ahem, she's a teacher): You have to knit one (ONE) thing for your favorite Alan Rickman character. For whom will you knit? Why? What will you knit? Explain your choice of project, including color(s), yarn(s), etc.

My submission?

My character choice was easy. Who needs something knitted for him more than cold, dead Jamie from Truly, Madly Deeply? This was the movie that made me love Alan Rickman, after all. I had crushed on him after seeing Galaxy Quest but…oh Jamie, baby.

But what to knit? Fingerless gloves to make cello playing easier? A hat? A scarf? A sweater? 

No, no, no…I wanted to knit something that would bring us together.  Therefore, I chose a soft, warm blanket - perfect for snuggling and cuddling. 

I searched and searched. Finally I came upon the Luxurious Bedcover from the Suss Cousins Home Knits book. It’s beautiful – I fell in love instantly. The book wasn’t kidding, though, when it said this blanket was an investment of time and money. Completely knitted in seed stitch with forty three skeins at $12.50 per means Jamie and I aren’t eating for a month (wait – do dead people eat?) but he’ll have lots of time to watch his classic films while I knit and…he’s more than worth it.  

I thought about switching to a less expensive yarn but, after doing some research, I realized nothing would make this blanket quite as…well, luxurious as Suss Butterfly. I was a bit unhappy with the color choices, though. The orange is stunning but not very masculine. The black is beautiful but it doesn’t pick up the contrast as well. I would have loved to have found a brown to match Jamie’s hazel brown eyes but they, unfortunately, don’t make Butterfly in any shade of brown. Blue it is – at least it’ll match my living room! 

So when body heat doesn’t keep us warm enough, Jamie and I can cuddle under this insanely warm soft blanket. 

Naked. 

‘Cause Alan Rickman’s awfully sexy for a dead guy....

* * *

I wrote it up in Word and added a couple of hunky photos.   Yeah, I was that kid in high school who used a large font size when tying a paper in order to make is seem longer.  And I was an English major!  I  liked my English classes, I just  I hated writing papers.  It's silly.  My emphasis was on creative writing - I wanted to write books, not write about them.

Anyway, we'll see how I do!

Also, this is my 101th post on this blog.  I've had several blogs over the years (Diaryland, LiveJournal, Blogger) but I think I'm happiest here.  I've made some great friends on each and every blog, though - the crafty web world is a very good place.

To celebrate my mini anniversary, I put up another one of Bertha's amazing banners and changed the look a bit.

I think I heard my phone ringing with Elvis Costello's "Monkey to Man" a few minutes ago which means Jake called.  He's making turkey burgers tonight and introducing me to the world of Battlestar Galactica...I have my doubts but I'm going into it with an open mind (and a crochet project).

And in closing, a sweet smile from a fella I met at the Gathering yesterday....