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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11.11.07
Posted in Music, Photos, Scarf, Travel at 3:12 pm by delipics
Just my knitting went to Germany, not me, but I live vicariously through my honey. Look at my handsome guy posing in Dresden and wearing his 2006 Christmas scarf.
He was touring in Germany, performing as Pete with The Wholigans, along with the opener band, the Black Olives, consisting of Andrei -
Emil -
and another Darren, but sorry - no photo. (that’s a nice hat, hon - LOL). I think my Darren deserves another hand knit hat this year. Hmmm. My honey also likes Emil’s vest, which is a Fair Isle. I think I need a book on Fair Isle (*hint*hint*Christmas*gift!*).
Watch both bands play here. Sign in as “guest” and the password is “guest123.” I watched the video with some of my friends, waiting for my honey to say hello to me - we all screamed like teenage girls when he yelled my name!
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09.17.07
Posted in CTS/RSI, Rhinebeck, Travel at 6:49 pm by delipics
Today I went to WordPress to see when I last posted . . . August 28th . . . what?!?!?!
I did a quick review in my head of what I have been doing since the end of August. OK, let’s see . . . oh right, there was the Labor Day weekend. The highlight of that weekend was hanging out at the Brooklyn Bridge Park and enjoying the gorgeous weather. The school year started which means general running around at work. I’m never prepared for the beginning of the semester. What else did I do? Ummm, the next weekend I left work early to travel to the Washington D.C. area for a big family event. Then I did something really crazy after returning home - three days later I took off for the West coast because I got a great price on a ticket on Jet Blue. Hey, if I’m going to get four days off work for the Jewish holidays AND I can find a decent priced airplane ticket then I am out of here. That’s where all the time went - phew! And geez, who scheduled the Fall weather to start while I was out in L.A.? Could I please be consulted on the date next year because I was totally unprepared when I walked outside of JFK, midnight flight arrival no less, and started to shiver.
With Fall officially off to a good start, I’m feeling very mixed fiber-wise. First, my CTS/RSI has greatly improved but frankly, I’m scared to start knitting or crocheting again. Even though the injury to my wrists was caused by computer work, I am irrationally afraid that to knit or to crochet will send me into pain spasms. While I was in L.A., I saw two of my cousins and we started to talk about CTS/RSI. I learned they both had operations on their wrists because of the pain and it has helped. Hopeful and scary at the same time because I can’t help to think, “What if?”
I have had two urges to start again - I found my Teva Durham crochet book under a pile of magazines and was inspired, and then tonight when Alex showed me the progress on her new sock - fun pattern, soft soft yarn in great fall colors.
On top of it all, I am going to miss Spin Out because I am traveling to a bridal shower that day (for a very good friend so it’s not a horrible thing to have to miss it) and I am still going to Rhinebeck (even though I don’t need to buy any fiber or yarn which seems kind of crazy to go if I’m not planning to buy) because my hon will finally be able to go with me and I’m also going to meet up with a different good friend up there.
It’s a quandary. It’s a fiber dilemma. It’s a yarn predicament. It’s a wooly situation!
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08.25.07
Posted in Photos, Travel at 5:33 pm by delipics
You know it’s a great vacation when you don’t know what day it is! That’s how I look when I am really relaxed.
My honey and I had a great vacation / road trip! We drove up the Pacific Coast Highway (a.k.a. Rte. 1) from L.A. to San Francisco. That’s us in Morro Bay with the Morro Rock looming in the background. We also stopped in Solvang, Monterrey, Pismo Beach and Alameda where I got to visit with a good friend.
It was in Solvang that I almost lost my honey.
We were strolling around, chatting, when I spied a sign, “Village Spinning & Weaving.” It was like a magnet and I immediately took off. I guess I didn’t say anything, so intent was I in my pursuit of fiber, because the poor guy had walked halfway down the block still talking to me before he realized I wasn’t answering back. Of course when I realized he wasn’t with me, I went back outside to call him in.
Once inside, I did regain my control, reminding myself that I have too much yarn, that I am not knitting right now (more on the CTS/RSI later), yada yada. There was this guy sitting by the front door, obviously waiting for his girlfriend to finish shopping, so bored out of his mind that he was actually chewing on his hat, eyes glazed over. My honey is very well behaved in yarn stores - he takes pictures while waiting for me.
I did not walk away empty handed. I bought this as a “thank you” to Caroline. She was my cat nanny while I was away.
I also bought this button at another shop. I am going to use it with the fabric of a dress I am in the process of deconstructing. The plan is to make a project bag out of it. (A confession - I’ve had this dress sitting in my project basket for at least four years or so. I thought buying the button would kick-start me to into action. Plus, Alex said if I would made the bag then it would inspire her to work on her own project, so now it’s in writing and I will make this bag!) I like the funky tropical-like print of the fabric and the palm tree button compliments it well.
And now it’s back to business as usual here in Brooklyn. I’m still playing catch-up from my vacation return. Next on the list is to do even yet another load of laundry, vacuum the apartment, and clean the bathroom. I really think it takes about two weeks to transition back. I’m already thinking about my next trip back to CA in September!
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06.24.07
Posted in CTS/RSI, Photos, Scarf, Travel, Yarn, fashion at 5:05 pm by delipics
Still no knitting but I was busy with this guy -
His name is Soso and this is his friend Vladimir -
and their third companion is Gizmo.
In between keeping these guys happy I went to The Little Knittery and Steinberg & Sons where I bought the requisite cute L.A. summer dress to show off at the reopened Griffith’s Observatory. This is me telling my honey to puhlease take the photo already - note the attractive wrist bands as the hot accessory for the CTS/RSI gal-on-the-go!
And I bought Misti Chunky Alpaca to be made into Patty’s scarf.
This is life without knitting. Pretty damn good but I’ll sure be glad when I can pick up the sticks again.
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03.11.07
Posted in Photos, Travel, shopping at 3:03 pm by delipics
Last weekend, my honey took me to The Little Knittery, an adorable yarn store in the Los Feliz neighborhood of L.A. It shares its space with perhaps the second best combination that could go with yarn (number one for me being food) - clothes! - the really cute clothes of Steinberg & Sons.
I had a very nice conversation with the owner of The Little Knittery. I liked the selection of one-of-a-kind yarns and the comfortable sit-and-knit section of the store. I asked her if she has noticed if West coast knitters are becoming more interested in spinning and we laughed about people who don’t understand why anyone would want to learn how to spin or dye their own yarn.
And while I did not buy any new yarn (oh the Misti Alpaca!) I did check out the offerings of Steinberg & Sons and walked away with this:
The dress is by Lewis Cho. I like the details to it - the asymmetrical belt and the one perfect button to the side. It’s versatile - I’ve worn it over jeans and alone with boots. What I think would really add to it is a knitted garment. It’s too cold to wear sleeveless here on the East coast, so I was thinking a cropped top - maybe Stefanie Japel’s One Skein Wonder. It would cover my shoulders and nicely complement the empire waistline and gathers around the neckline. I bought the pattern a while ago and have yet to knit it up. Any other suggestions?
I close with these two funny photos of us chowing down, shabu shabu style in Little Tokyo - long lines but worth the wait!
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02.28.07
Posted in Knitting, Lace Knitting, Photos, Travel, Yarn at 7:43 pm by delipics
I took my new ball winder and swift out for a road test, using my handspun yarn for the inaugural wind.
It worked! How did I live without this wonderful tool for so long?
And I succumbed to a distraction: I put the lace shawl aside and knit up The Santa Cruz Hat - easy peasy. (Please excuse the bad lighting - it shows off the dark circles under my eyes very well)
Specs:
Yarn: I was stash busting and used a leftover skein of Zara merino extra fine. It turned out to be the perfect yarn because of its stretch-ability around my head.
Needles: Clover 10.5 double-pointed
Notes: I added an extra round of ribbing because I thought proportionally it would look better on my head. I followed the pattern for bulky yarn, where it calls for only one pattern repeat. I think I could have slipped in one more repeat before decreasing, to showcase more of the cables. All-in-all, a fast and fun pattern that can be cranked out on a lazy Saturday.
One more thing - I thought this was just too funny. Last the weekend I went to IKEA with Alex and Mark. They were doing serious furniture shopping and I went along for what I called furniture research (I long to redecorate. Maybe I’ll explain for another post). In all of the many displays, what did IKEA showcase for their small business idea? A yarn store!
Alex and I laughed and laughed. Knitting is so pervasive - I love it! The model store was called All Spun Out. Alex and I walked around in it and touched the yarn. I can’t help but wonder what they will do with all the yarn when they decide to take the model down. Will some lucky yarn-loving employee get to take them home?
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