05.07.08
Posted in Fibers, Photos, Spinning, Travel, Yarn, cooking/food, shopping at 5:17 pm by delipics
Happiness is attending a fiber festival –
See more festival photos here.
What an experience! I went with Maria and Jocelyn, two experienced MDSW festival attenders who showed me, the newbie, the ropes. We did so much!
Day 1:
- Wake up at 6:30 a.m., shower, continental breakfast at The Days Inn because not enough time to go to Waffle House.
- Pack bags, load-up the car with spinning wheels, get breakfast / coffee for Maria & Jocelyn.
- Drop off Maria’s and Jocelyn’s spinning wheels.
- Run to The Fold. Stand amazed at the line that is already there. Push way in to look at the yarn. Stand in line and chat with other excited knitters. Spend time going back to look, consult with friends, go back, consult — purchase two skeins.
- Help Maria take her fleece to Zeilinger’s.
- Wander around main exhibition hall. Become very excited by the process of wool rug hooking. Buy a starter kit, marvel at the designs of the rug hookers working at the table. Very nice ladies - they answered all my questions
- Lunch - pit lamb sandwich. Decide still hungry and get a lamb burger.
- Go to Judith MacKenzie McCuin’s talk on Getting Your Fleece Processed.
- Maria & Jocelyn go to their spinning class.
- Find a grassy, shaded area and nap for an hour. Wake up and work on Raquel’s scarf.
- Eat vanilla ice cream dipped in chocolate. Feel sick.
- Go back to main exhibition area and contemplate which yarn to buy. Decide to put off for tomorrow.
- Meet up with M&J. Share a plate of ribbon potato chips with everything - sour cream, cheese, jalapenos, bacon bits, fake green onion bits. Now truly sick.
- Just as we’re about to make our way to the car, we get distracted by the yarns and rovings at Persimmon Tree Farm. M&J buy more roving.
- Drive to the Ravelry party. Accidentally walk through a wedding reception. Arrive way too early so sit outside of the pool and chat with Michelle from Philadelphia & Kristy from Minneapolis. (Forgot their blogs names!)
- Ravelry party starts. Get nametags. Get drink tickets. Get drinks and munchies. We sit outside but get annoyed by the bugs and retreat to the inside. Get teased for being too New York and not able to handle bugs. Jocelyn’s friend meets up with us.
- Leave Ravelry party to get dinner - Ethiopian food in downtown Fredrick. Jocelyln completely charms the owners because she lived in Ethiopia for two years.
- Back to the Days Inn to pass out.
Day 2
- Wake up at 6:30 a.m. to pack up the car and check out.
- Maria goes to class. Go shopping with Jocelyn.
- Buy yarn from Persimmon Tree Farm in a beautiful orange and brown colorway.
- Buy yarn from The Fibre Company. $4.50 a skein!!! Go with ten of basic black and ten of a gorgeous blue to complement Darren’s eyes.
- Back to main exhibition hall to buy a rug hook and embroidery hoop. Want to start working on my rug hooking kit.
- Jocelyn convinces me to try out spinning wheels. Meet Jim of the Yarn Barn, bond over the fact that I’m from Lawrence, Kansas too. He teaches me how to spin and try out various wheels - the Lendrum Folding, the Kromski Sonata and the Ashford Traveller. So tempted to purchase one but exert self control . . . for now.
- Lunch - another pit lamb sandwich - this time the platter!
- M&J go to color knitting class.
- Find nap location from previous day. Start working on rug hooking. Take nap.
- Wander from tent to tent in case I missed anything good.
- Go back to the music performance area. Sit under tree and knit on Raquel’s scarf.
- Meet up with M&J, eat, pack and get on the road. There is so much in the car that I can’t see Jocelyn in the back seat. Thankfully we’re all petite women and we can fit amidst all the fiber!
- Arrive home safe, sound and fiber happy!
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03.10.08
Posted in Knitting, Photos, Spinning, Techniques, Textile(s), Yarn at 7:25 pm by delipics
I spied a little skein of hand spun Peruvian wool on my shelf from my lounging position on the couch. Something shifted internally and I could feel my lack of motivation moving gradually about an inch (visualize a large concrete block). I spun this yarn in July 2006 when Caroline still taught spinning at The Yarn Tree. (She’s teaching a class here this May.) I always wondered what this would look like knitted.
Voice in my head,” I’m going to knit this baby up and see what happens.” Voila . . .
It has been a long time since I have knit for knitting’s sake. No planning, no agonizing over a pattern, no swatches, no decisions, just knit. I grabbed the first needles I found, cast on and let myself enjoy the process of knitting - one loop through another loop, sliding the stitch over from one needle to the other needle, finishing the row. Each row, in fact, was a discovery - what it was going to look like as I used up the yarn? I looked at the yarn as it made its way onto the needles - a thick section or a thin section of the yarn could produce such different results.
I took the time to look at my knitting - from the micro - how the stitches and rows were different from each other - to the overall effect of the knitted fabric. I remembered how much I like garter stitch. I think garter stitch gets over looked too often, as if it is too basic. It is one of the building blocks of knitting - yin to purl’s yang. I took my time knitting this yarn; there was not much yarn to begin with and I wanted the experience to last as long as it could.
I felt many things when I was done: proud, pleased, joy, curious, peaceful.
This knitted piece is what it is - the spaces between the stitches, the random slubs, the twist in the knitted fabric that resulted from being over-spun, the wonderfully uneven texture - all from two sticks and some string.
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02.04.07
Posted in Fiber Artwork, Knitting, Lace Knitting, NYC, Photos, Spinning at 1:49 pm by delipics
I was hoping that the next time I posted my blog would be all fixed but I can’t wait that long. I hope to have it fixed this week.
I took a little break from the knitting world to catch up on some reading. I got tired of rereading the books in my personal library, although I do have some really good ones - several Jane Austen novels (personal fave - Persuasion), all the Barbara Kingsolvers, Roddy Doyle, A.S. Byatt, Jhumpa Lahiri, just to name a few. A couple weeks back I went to B&N and indulged myself; I bought four books: Never Let Me Go, The Jane Austen Book Club, The Blue Flower, and The Gate of Angels. I’ve been trying to make them last but I just finished Never Let Me Go and I only have the Blue Flower left. It’s been very satisfying having new books on my bedside table. I’m still processing the story from Never Let Me Go - I can’t get the characters and plot out of my head. Ishiguro is a beautiful writer; I’m going to have to read more books by him.
So now I’ve been trying to keep busy fiber wise. This incredible cold weather helps - below zero temps makes staying at home and knitting very easy. I’m about sixteen inches into my lace wrap. I’ve picked up the spindle again and I’m tackling fiber I bought from Rhinebeck. This is the knitting highlight of my week.
Here are three of my knitting friends (Diana - a very good KB@W, Maria, and the Sock Maven) at Sabrina Gschwandtner’s art piece at the Radical Lace & Subversive Knitting show at the Museum of Arts & Design. When we got there, Alex was already knitting the balaclava, which she basically finished but for the ribbing. Maria went for the slippers pattern, and Diana and I picked up the half-finished blanket squares. It was a very good night out - knitting, talking, seeing the show (I want to go back!), and then yummy Japanese ramen afterwards. Hey KB@W - remind me I’ve got your yarn that you left that night!
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11.25.06
Posted in Fibers, Knitting, Spinning at 9:32 pm by delipics
- Medical procedure - the preparation for it was horrible (if you know what HalfLytely is, you know what happened!) but now it’s over and done with. Results to follow . . .
- Thanksgiving - my honey and I cooked a successful turkey dinner with all the trimmings for his mom and stepdad. Considering we woke up late and the turkey was done sooner than I expected, I’m really proud of how well we did. I highly recommend this turkey recipe if you’re looking for something different next year.
- Roof - it has been repaired! The ceiling still needs to be addressed but at least I don’t have to worry about water dripping in my apartment.
- The Blog - still needs to be worked on, sigh!
- Knitting - still need to buy more yarn for the cropped cardi (thank you KB@W for all your work on finding the web links for me!) but
- Spinning - picked up my spindle during the Thanksgiving weekend to continue spinning my cashmere fiber.
Slowly but surely getting back on track - phew!
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11.02.06
Posted in Knitting, Spinning, Travel at 7:58 pm by delipics
I am off for a long weekend, and I have my newest knitting project in hand. The pattern calls for knitting with yarn doubled so I’m zipping along. Trying to decide if I should pack my spindle and some fiber in my check-in suitcase. I am a little nervous about packing my Golding - what if something happens to it? I would like to have it. There is going to be lots of hanging out time while D’s band rehearses, so I might as well spin yarn.
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10.22.06
Posted in Fibers, Photos, Rhinebeck, Spinning, Travel at 2:14 pm by delipics
What makes mine different from all other posts about Rhinebeck?
I went with Miss April of the Knitty 2007 calendar and her super-great boyfriend who drove, took photos and learned about spinning yarn. It was her first time to Rhinebeck, my third. Here we are reading the directions but a distracting conversation on Beethoven (?!) caused caused a missed exit.
It’s okay, we had snacks to keep us occupied.
We got there around 1-ish and the parking lot was packed! We found a spot at what seemed to be the end of the grassy field. Once inside, we thought about eating lunch first but the lines for the food were crazy long. So we separated for our own wanderings through the vendor barns and met again after an hour. I staked out a claim on the line for the lamb burgers - one of the best food deals at the festival. Ya can’t beat $2.50 for a burger with optional peppers, onions or cheese. It was tasty and yummy, until half way through I realized they didn’t cook my burger all the way! I thought about going back but not wanting to deal with the whole thing I assuaged my hunger with lamb stew from the 4H booth. I always like going to the 4H booth - the teenagers who man the counters are so polite - a refreshing change from some of the city teens I’ve dealt with.
You can’t help but run into friends while there (and I forgot to take photos of everyone, like Elizabeth and her cutie son, Caroline and her pals) -
Maria scored at the fleece sale! She is such an awesome fiber chick. I caught her in the act of weighing her purchases. I admire her fiber expertise - she knows a lot. Hey M - did you find the nostepinde?
Here’s a group of us flashing our purchases -
That’s Tania standing next to me - also her first time to the R&SW and her friend (sorry I forgot your name!). They were staying for the whole weekend. One of these days I’m going to do that. I know I can’t see it all in one day. I can’t help but think I am possibly missing the most fabulous yarn or fabulous sale or something! The ideal Rhinebeck trip would be go up Friday night, stay at a charming B&B, go to the festival for a couple of hours, spend the rest of the day wandering through the town of Rhinebeck, go back the next day and leisurely check out whatever vendors I didn’t catch the first time.
Next up, obligatory photos of animals - decided to go with the goats this time instead of the ubiquitous sheep.
But wait, what did I buy at the festival? Fibers for spinning -
The photos do not do the colors justice. On the left is a half pound of merino/tussah blend from The Sheep Shed at Mountain View Farm. I was immediately drawn to this colorway. The label has no name but it makes me think of vanilla ice cream with a blueberry stripe. On the right is 4 oz of a merino/wool blend called Autumn Maine Wood from Persimmon Tree Farm. I couldn’t resist the glittery angelica that sparkles amidst the gorgeous coppers and greens.
A practical nostepinde from The Fiber Kingdom -
Love at first sight -
My new Sweetheart Golding Ring Spindle. The whorl is two inches and the weight is 0.9 oz. I bought this size because I want to spin laceweight yarn. There were so many beautiful spindles on display. I had a tough time deciding on the style and the color of wood. I tested it on a wisp of my Sheep Shed fiber - the spindle kept spinning and spinning and spinning - amazing!
I bought this spindle near the end of the day, which coincided nicely with the end of my money. I set a budget for this trip (I’m still recovering from Hawaii!), and I’m very proud of myself of staying within budget. What’s strange was I did not buy any yarn on this trip. I really just want to spin right now, hence only fibers. I had planned on buying hand carders - that will have to wait. I looked at spinning wheels, but that’s just so beyond my budget right now.
Now that Rhinebeck has come and gone, whatever will we do next?
Well, we’re going to buy more yarn! We have to use our coupon at The Point before October ends.
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10.10.06
Posted in Photos, Spinning, Textile(s), Travel at 6:46 pm by delipics
A quick field trip to the American Textile History Museum.
While visiting a friend in MA, we had only about an hour to drop by the museum, so of course the first thing I did was try out the spinning wheel. The second photo is me just trying to get the hang of working the treadle. The docent had me singing a song to get the rhythm right. How did I do? Let’s just say I’ll still be spinning on my spindle for a while.
I had a quick run through the the museum, but there was not enough time to really take it all in. I will be back. I have a little Lowell fantasy going - move to Lowell, live downtown, get a job at the museum, handle textiles all day, do my fiber work at home - sigh!
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