TKGA

I met up with Tiggywinkleknits and rode in on the MAX to TKGA at the Double Tree by Lloyd Center. We arrived around 11:30am. By 12:00pm I was the owner of a double treadle Lendrum spinning wheel after stopping in the Carolina Homespun booth. ;-)

I had on order through Woodland Woolworks the single treadle. The Louet I have on loan is a single treadle, I've tried Bobbie's single treadle Lendrum, so that's what I was going to go with. Then I read how Kathleen had tried the double treadle there at the show and thought I should try it out. Well I found out I can treadle just fine and that if my left knee that has been bothering me acts up I can always treadle with just one and have it still work. I did have to just go with the regular flier that it comes with and the fast flier. Getting the plying head would have just thrown my budget way out. I can always borrow Bobbie's if I need that much space. Shelia (as well as Kathleen and Sara) was working for Morgaine and she volunteered to bring it home for me so that I didn't have to try lugging it on MAX in the bulky cardboard box. Shelia will drop it off at my house Sunday afternoon. Gives me time to let Brandon know about the purchase. LOL

Morgaine let me pick out some fiber to go along with it, so I scooped up all of her merino/silk in blue/purple and the lone BFL also in a blue/purple:



Also from the booth I picked up an ebony tool made my Lacis. It has a crochet hook on one end and a needle point on the other so you can use it as a cable needle. In the same photo is a shawl pin I picked up as a sample of ones that I'd like to try making and selling. I'm not sure what the red wood is, but Brandon will tell me when he sees it later.

The last purchase from Morgaine was a shuttle for Judy. It will be a birthday present this summer. It's made out of Lyptus and very pretty.


Bobbie and I both came home with some saturated black mulberry silk silver from Klaus at Crown Mountain Farms. He's going to be very busy over the next few months and almost living out of his suitcase.


We were tempted at many of the other booths but using restraint in buying things. Mine because of how much I had already spent on my wheel! There's Black Sheep in June that I'd really like to go see and then Sock Summit in August and OFFF the end of September so lots of fiber/yarn spending opportunities.

Sunday its up bright and early (UGH!) and we're off to Islay Hill Alpaca Ranch to watch the shearing. There is the opportunity for more fiber to come home, we'll see how good I can be! I'm going to try to do some videos of the shearing too for sharing.

Still recovering.....

I woke up Monday still a bit sore and lethargic from all of the physical labor in the backyard on Sunday. My knees feel bruised without any of the actual colors of a bruise. There's also the sore muscles that take a few minutes to limber up again after sitting for awhile.

I undid the ends for the Bows sock and redid the foot and toe so its the proper length. I have photos just not off the camera yet. I also started up the boy sock with the Liger yarn. I just have the ribbing done and haven't decided what pattern yet.

Taking the baby alpaca single off the bobbin was a challenge. While using the ball winder I had it pop off of the winder twice. The second time it wasn't going back on. So I had to start it all over again. I finally got that done and then took a couple of hours Monday night plying that while watching some saved shows after dinner. It's off resting and then I'll take it off and soak it, dry it and call it yarn.

I want to work and finish up the second Shur'tugal sock but I also would like to get the shop sample socks done for Friday when I go into work. I also have that other shop sample that I need to work on. While getting paid in fiber is nice, it really impacts the knitting that I'm trying to get done too! ;-)

I had bought a nice beige cotton yarn that I thought about sending down to my mother along with a pattern for Mother's day. I've since figured out that I have enough of it to make her a February Lady Sweater and since it will be longer/heavier I can do it and save it for holiday giving. Instead I'll send her the other yarn I had picked up for her and the Hey Teach cardigan pattern. That way I can help encourage her knitting. ;-)

I had gotten from Linda samples of Mesa's locks a couple weeks ago. Mesa is a Navajo-Churro that Linda raises on her farm in Pennsylvania. I showed them off to some of the spinning ladies last Wednesday. I think that they are similar to Icelandic in that you can separate out the tog and thel portion of the locks. Not a lot of lanolin to remove and I had planned to wash them yesterday afternoon but couldn't remember what 'safe place' I had put the envelope (it was in a stack of stuff on my desk - duh!). There is some possible interest in buying a fleece and going from there but Shelia had mentioned that there are a couple of farms near here on Bald Peak that have Icelandic and Navajo-Churro that we could do a field trip to visit.

Quieter week than last for me work wise. Just working on Friday and class on Wednesday. Some chance to get a lot of knitting done along with the spinning on Wednesday. Spinnerati is on Saturday but I had signed up for an afternoon tips and tricks class at Knit/Purl so don't want to be gone all day. I may change my mind and figure out something to do for an hour and a half. I could just knit in the store after spinning. Mother's day I have one of the Cultural Passes from the library to go see the Japanese Gardens. We're going to take Judy, Brandon's mom along with us to enjoy the visit with a lunch afterward.

The following weekend is TKGA and Tiggywinkleknits has invited me to go down with her for a few hours. We'll meet up with Kathleen after her class. Sunday also has a proposed excursion that is fiber related but those details are sketchy right now. We don't have anything currently planned for Memorial day weekend, but its early yet.

Jewel YMMV Footies

Ow! I have absolutely no idea why I pushed myself so hard to get these done so quickly. Both wrists are feeling pain and my right forearm is not happy with me.
I introduce my Jewel YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary) Footies:


The bad thing about pushing is that I have another project that I need to complete by Thursday afternoon, a red fish dish cloth for Brandon's co-worker.

Can't remember her name but she and her husband also have a pond and the goldfish have been prolific that she is thinning out her stock of fish and some plants and also helping our pond out. So Brandon thought it would be nice if I could do something knit for her. I remembered the blue fish that I had already made up for the nephews. I thought one of those and another in a different color. I have I think enough red left to do that. If it's not red it may be a cream color with little flecks of color. We'll have to see.

The really cool thing about having the footies done is that I now have another two pairs of socks from the same two skeins of sock yarn. I was able to get two pairs out of the Knit Picks Felici Hummingbird too. Okay this pair required help to complete, but I think having the black toes looks cool. ;^)

I'm going to rest up the next few hours before going to The Knitting Bee for their knit night. I'm meeting Kim there so she can show me her spinning wheel. She's offered to let me borrow it. If it works for me, I may be able to arrange a purchase plan with her.

I'm going to take the Schoppel Wolle pencil roving with me to try out the wheel with:


No, I haven't forgotten about Pasha. I'll have to see how things feel later in the week, but I hope to start it this weekend. It's not needed until the 26th. Kaisha and Norbert both turn 7 that day. No, we didn't get him for that reason. I did get Nessa on my birthday though. ;^)

I can also work on Bailey's birthday present, her's is October 19th. I already have it all planned out. I do have her kitty for her, but I'm leaning towards saving it for Christmas.

William and Brandon are going to help Uncle Dave down at the beach house this weekend replacing the roof there. So I'll be flying solo Saturday and most of Sunday. I'm going to try to get down to TKGA and try to just 'look' at what the vendors have. The classes looked cool, but couldn't really do any this year. Hopefully they will be back here next year. I really am trying to save my $$ for OFFF in just a couple of weeks.

In other weekend news, I will have company. Greta is off to Canada again for a flyball tournament and her other dog sitter fell through. So her aussie, Nickel will be coming to stay the weekend with Norbert and Nessa. They like him and he's a mellow mature guy. She was going to also leave Cedi with me but may need her as a back up for Mellie. Mellie apparently gave her a pretty good scare this last weekend health wise and may need to put Cedi in for her.