Some spinning and fiber

I borrowed Trtlgrl's Ashford Traveler to use last weekend at Grand Thing V. I mentioned that I did do some spinning while there. I'd started before leaving so had a bit on the bobbin, added to the bobbin and then last Monday finished off the two ounces of Coopworth I had been spinning. I still had two ounces so I started the second bobbin and while at spinning on Wednesday was able to finish up the second two ounces. Here's the finished bobbins:

The Coopworth is some stuff I had bought from Kathleen to help out the family when her husband was unemployed. It was a small purchase. I understand why it was being sold cheaply, not by Kathleen, but Louet. It was full of grass and hay to be picked out. I used it as an attempt at some long draw practice. For the most part it worked for me. I need to ply them still. Maybe something to do this next Wednesday.

Here's a couple pics of the cashmere I picked up at Grand Thing. Very soft stuff and I wish I knew who the vendor was so that I could look for them at either Black Sheep or Oregon Flock and Fiber. The lady that was in the booth said that the person who had the fiber would be at both.  I'm going to check the program to see if the vendors are listed and if that doesn't find the vendor, check with the Autocrat.

Shelia had brought a Border Leicester fleece to spinning the week before from Loyce's flock. Dana snatched it up. A steal - five pounds of heavily skirted fleece for $10. There were two more to be had so Rachel, Robyn and I said that we were interested. Rachel and I agreed we'd split one and leave the other for Robyn. I brought it home to split, but missed my opportunity to spread it out on the patio Saturday during our break in rain. I'll have to try for Monday if there's no rain for a few hours.  

I had to keep Leeloo from making off with locks, she liked the sheepy smell. ;-)

I plan to wash the fleece this week in between other projects. I think it might be fun to use with some natural dyes. Not sure if I'll try dyeing the locks or wait until after its been spun....

Sock Summit Day 3

I woke up with a migraine this morning. I took some meds to try to kick it. It was an elusive thing. It would spike and lull throughout the day.

I did drop off the figs for PDXKnitterati. They were very ripe and I did squish one in my bag. Might just have to go with a jar of jam. ;-)

This morning I spent in Anne Hanson's Lace Knitting class. She actually explained yarn overs and purls such that I understand why the British write their patterns the way they do. It all makes much more sense if you're an knitter that throws the yarn (English) versus the Continental knitter that I am. It will help out I think in the future for any students/friends/etc.

Ran into Rachel just in time to walk her to the World Record that they were trying to set. Rachel kinneared Lucy Neatby as she followed us further back up the escalator. I had forgotten needles and yarn to attempt it with. I did help get people in for a few minutes and took pictures of the massive amount of people waiting to start. Fun pictures of Tracy with yarn and needles over head telling people to please cast on before they go in. I think I even got the Yarn Harlot standing behind her at one point.

I ended up wandering the marketplace and looking inside the booths and running into people that I know after eating a hot dog. I showed great restraint in not buying much. I did buy a few items though - purple highlighter tape. This will be great for chart knitting as it lets you see through for the row you are working on as well as the last one knit. Post-its are great for showing you the row you're on, but sometimes its nice to also see the previous. This was in a booth that didn't have their name on the receipt but it was a small one with lots of wood - sock blockers, hair gadgets and stitch markers (in case you want to get one of your own).

ETA: Michele took a picture of their booth, here's their web site. No highlighter tape visible, but you could ask.

I need to figure out the yardage but was able to get a lot of some cream colored cashmere/merino fingering weight yarn (not good for socks really) for only $20. I could probably get a shawl out of it, but I walked around and petted it for five minutes so knew it was coming home with me.

The only other purchase was 4 ounces of cream colored Shetland roving that is much softer than the 1 ounce I recently spun up. I can combine it with the Finn for a project I'm sure.

Bobbie and I saw a couple of fun sights while in the marketplace and visiting Abundant Yarn. I have pics and when I can get to them, I'll share the whole thing. ;-)

We left earlier than planned and once home, I took a nap. Helped a bit with the lingering migraine, but then made it difficult to become functional again.

Finished up the wheel bag so find out that I shouldn't have had the batting where the draw string is, makes it hard to really close it. That the foam at the bottom shortened the height of the bag and so I have to take off the mother of all to get the wheel in. Brandon was a great help in getting the foam block into the bottom of the bag many times and also cutting out a section of the foam for the post. He also added a design suggestion for the bag to hold the wheel more in place while its in the bag. Ultimately, the bag will have to be redone to make it something I'm really happy with, but it will be functional enough to get me to and from the Convention Center for class.

Off to bed and another early day. Tomorrow though is spinning handpainted socks! Lucy Neatby's class that I haven't had time to do the homework for.... the Ravelry Meetup is also tomorrow night - it is going to be a long day!

I downloaded the pics and then Brandon took the server down when he got home. The motherboard is going bad and he has a replacement server but it was fighting the changeover and causing him fits tonight. So all my pics are trapped on the hard drive. Might not be until Sunday that I can play with pics - sorry!