Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival 2009 Day 2

I arrived at 8:30am, to find the parking lot area for the fleece sale 85% full. A bit of a shock! Didn't think it started until 8:30am! Ran into Shelia as I was unloading and she mentioned that some people started at 7:20am and she almost called to let me know. Not much I would have been able to do then, but I appreciated the thought!

After paying the registration fee and spying a spot that was against the back but not right next to the auction tables, I started unloading the bags from my car and putting them in the spot. It was easy to see that there were a lot of alpaca being sold. Had the misfortune to land next to someone else also selling a lot of fleeces, smaller and lower priced. Shelia again was able to share that Carissa's prices were good. Got the car moved out of the way and parked in the Red Parking Lot and back to open up the bags and arrange them so that people could see that there were a variety of colors to choose from. Had two other ladies show up while I was doing that with their fleeces. They were also first time sellers. One had Romney cross fleeces that were lovely white and really cleaner than a lot of others and another that had some really soft crimpy border leicester/blue faced leicester cross. If I had the $25 I would have bought one of them from her!

Parking Lot Sale:

(new sellers group)

(directly across from the entrance - some of Carissa's fleeces)

(Brandy's Shetland Fleece - more about that)

(neighbor alpaca & rest of parking lot sales)

Shelia came and kept me company and tried to help with sales for both Carissa and the Tammy sitting next to us with the leicester fleeces. I brought my wheel but my cormo/silk fell out of the bag, so no spinning occurred.

I spied Barbara and Melissa checking out the tapestry looms on the auction tables. They did come over and said hi and Melissa took a picture. Here's theirs:

Karen, Rachel, and Cindy with Shelia all stopped by while I was out in the parking lot. I also got to say hi again to Mokihana. After I got back to the canopy area I found the surprise that she had left for us - some delicious brownies! Thanks again!! Shelia made mention that a group of us this next March could come up to Brandy's and help with the Shetland shearing and if we're so inclined, go home with a fleece that we helped with. How cool! Now something to look forward to in the spring. ;-)

I decided to brave the barn and see if I would have allergy issues. I think keeping to the outside area helped not cause any. I first found some Gotland sheep in the flesh:

Some Shetland sheep that I wanted to sink my hand into but noticed the "don't pet" signs hung around:

Loved the milk chocolate brown on this mohair goat, the eyes were pretty too but shy to show them to the camera:

The black and white markings and those eyes!

This guy was rather relaxed while he was getting his clip:

Some stunning red Cashmere Goats from Foxmoor Farm. I chatted with Carrie for half an hour. Imagine, she has a bedroom with 30 bags of fleece in it that she hand picks out the guard hairs using a black cloth, light and magnifying glass. She also has bunnies. 

I finally found where the Applebright Farm Pygoras were (thanks for helping out with the name Tiggywinkleknits!)

I then wandered out and happened to be by the judging ring. The pygoras were being judged, I think the juveniles. I was standing at the corner watching and there was a little white girl that I got to pet. I was then drawn to videotape this one little girl in the ring that just seemed like she wasn't happy to be there because it sounded to me like she was saying 'baaaad', 'baaaad'. The girl in green had the winner, if I understood the judge and the little white one was the one I got to pet.

After all of that I made it over to the canopies, fewer people there today, or they were all out shopping still. Ate a brownie, took a small handful of acetaminophen to combat cramps and the continued migraine from the day before. Chatted and waited to see if they would decrease and when it seemed like they were increasing, opted to head home.  Contemplated another brownie, chocolate always helps right? Opted not to but was amazed that I made it home.

Lots of people were seen, renewed connections were made, people I hadn't seen in a while were seen again. It was too short, just right, too long of a weekend. Understand? ;-)

ETA: Created a Picasa Web Album of all pictures taken:

Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival 2009

Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival 2009 Day 1

I arrived bright and early at the Canby Fairgrounds shortly after 8am, meeting Cindy and Karen there. We unloaded cars and then started setting up canopies. It really is easier if there are four people putting the so called E-Z-Up canopies - one on each leg. The funny part was having a guy sit and watch and then offer to help us 'poor weak women' and he couldn't get the canopy tops open. Once we had the canopies up, one of the OFFF organizers didn't like where we had relocated our canopies, (the original assignment was on slope - hard to spin that way!) and after we explained our logic she moved us in front of the Main Pavillion.

 

By this time it was ten minutes to 9am. We had just enough time to head over to the pastry vendor - some people got cinnamon rolls, I picked up a marionberry strusel topped muffin. On my way back I stopped in at Knitted Wit's booth and picked up a blue-green I think BFL braid she had in her sale bin. I also remembered to check back in on Lorajean and was able to at least offer her a chance to use the restroom, if not get a lunch.

By this time it was 9am and I headed over to pay for my pre-order with Klaus at Crown Mountain Farms - Finn (8ounces), Shetland (4 ounces for a total of 8) and then added in an additional 2 ounces of Black Mulberry Silk Sliver. I thought I was doing good. I was being restrained.

Not too long after, Cindy was back waving around a bag of Blue Moon Fiber Arts Twisted that she had gotten out of their $8 bins. $8 bins? So beat feet in and found 2 skeins of Rare Gems Woobu and 2 skeins of Rare Gems Laci that called to me. I decided that since they were such great buys, why worry about only getting one or two, I'd just go ahead and get all four. Awesome deals!!! Rare Gems are dye jobs that didn't come out to Tina's standards and so I'm guessing at colorway names in my Ravelry stash.

Feeling pretty good at my purchases. I sat down and had some coffee. Then I decided that I hadn't been inside the Main Pavillion and thought I'd go check it out and stumbled across Judy's Novelty Wool and she had some really dark saturated really soft black merino. I immediately thought of the black alpaca, black silk and thought that adding in 8 ounces of it would make for a really soft blended batt.

Angela and I opted for Lamb on a stick for lunch. There was some learning of how to use Turkish Drop Spindles by Rachel and Tammy. Then Michele arrived and Leila was pulled in as the original enabler from Sock Summit and we were able to get pictures of all of them using the Turkish Delights:

(Tammy, Rachel, Michele, Duffy, Leila)

I had picked my chair location in the morning because I thought the shade it started in and the angle of the tree near by would cause me to stay in the shade. That was incorrect! My chair spent the greater part of the day in the sun. I borrowed chairs that were in the shade and did get some spinning in on the cormo/silk but then was lured away in search of some pygora. I was going to try to find Applebright Farm, suspect that they may be located in the barn. I never made it into the barns. I stumbled across Foggy Bottom Farm Pygoras. After feeling the various bins that she had out, I went with the 'Grade B' and found out that she's named Fiona, see her on this page, 4th down from the top. She was also right next canopy to Abstract Fiber.

We had a 'famous' visitor stop by our canopies - Franklin Habit. He's in town for the weekend and has a class and an evening with him at Knit-Purl. Some fangirl pics were taken. I caught this one of him:

I helped Carissa find some rovings to add to her collection, not the first time today I was accused of enabling fiber purchases. ;-) All too soon it was 5pm and packing up the car and headed home. After unpacking the car I packed it up with Carissa's alpaca fleeces for the Parking Lot sale tomorrow morning. Here's my car all loaded up:

I'm all set to sell, sell those fleeces and spin while doing so. Here's hoping that I can sell them all before Carissa gets there and we can enjoy the afternoon spinning under the Spinnerati canopy.

Washed Alpaca & early Happy Birthday Norbert!

I've been working on the Fairy Wings for Kaisha, but will not be done in time to give them to her tomorrow for her birthday. You'd think bigger needles would make it go faster, but those yo's can be a pain, especially if you forget one!

Similarly, I've been working on the Flaxen Kernel and this yarn is nice to work with! Much more fun than the Habu raw silk. This pattern also has yo's to watch out for and I'm getting better about checking at the end of each knit row that I still have the correct number of stitches.

This is with the end, the bead section (minus beads) and two of the main pattern chart repeats done (only 21 more to go!)

Lisa showed us the Lucy Neatby, ssk technique that was part of the class I was an aide in the afternoon for at Sock Summit. I missed it because I was in the sock spinning class with Janel. I've been using it a lot with both of these projects! So much nicer than the old way. Thanks Lucy!! and Lisa!!

I mentioned that I bought a pound of black alpaca from Carissa last Saturday at the Spin in Public event. I thought I should get it washed in a timely manner. I did go through a bit of fleece envy on Wednesday. Angela had gotten some also but her was 1.9 pounds and felt softer than mine did even all dirty. The goodness is that mine had really come through the wash and all that dirt (four wash cycles through the kitchen sink) removed has caused it to really soften up. Still not as ultra soft as the stuff Angela has, but I'm still happy with what I have.

(The little pile is the second level of rejected fiber - from first level pre-washed stuff)

Plans are to rent an electric drum carder and run the cleaned fleece through it along with some black silk that I got from Klaus at TKGA. Since the silk was only 2 ounces and my 18.2 ounces has been reduced down to 13.12 ounces, I think I'll need more of the silk. I already have Finn and Shetland that I'm picking up from Klaus, getting another bag of his silk won't be a problem. ;-) Yes, I've pre-shopped for Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival.

Due to be at the Fairgrounds at 8am, Saturday to help setup the canopy. Vendors open at 9am so I'll be part of the mass of people that will also be early. Some shopping, visiting, eating, spinning, and knitting. Then meeting up with the boys for some good German food at the Oktoberfest. Sunday I need to be back at the fairgrounds by 8:30am and unload Carissa's alpaca fleeces and work the Parking Lot Fleece Sale until she can arrive from church. Carissa's dropping off the fleeces tonight. I get to go through and pick out the one or two that I want as payment for helping her out. More fleece! She has a variety of colors, so it may be hard to pick, but I'll do my best. ;-)

Saturday is also Norbert's 8th birthday. He's matured into such a nice gentleman in his prime. He still barks at people when they come into the house but is more comfortable with people visiting. In the last year he's been very puppy like in his play and soliciting play with Nessa. He's learned how to enjoy tugging and doesn't just have to play chase the ball. Unfortunately, his trouble ear has blown up like a balloon like his right ear did last year. We're trying home aspiration in the hopes that we can avoid the $600 button surgery that was done on his right ear. (No economic stimulus check to be gobbled up in ear surgery around.) I have some leftover antibiotics that will hopefully help. Last night's aspiration seems to have helped, its significantly less balloon like. Fingers-crossed that tonight's will be enough.

 

Patience please

Patience is a virtue. People tell me that all the time. I *can* be patient, really, I can. I after all have knitted more than a handful of scarfs and survived them and had the scarves turn out well.

Maybe that's not a good example of patience? Does raising a child to adulthood and not beating/abusing/killing count?

We had a deadline of September 1st to get our application in for a booth at OFFF. The check and paperwork were sent in before then, okay, by just a day or two. It was getting all the money together from the various people that caused the slow down, but we did get it postmarked before September 1st. It was only going to Jacksonville, a five hour drive south. I tried calling on Sunday of Labor day weekend to find out if we had a booth.

Waited until Tuesday for being out of town over the holiday weekend. Called again. Left another message. Called Wednesday and still no reply. On Thursday, I got lucky. I got a real person to answer the phone. The person coordinating the booths was at work and here's the cell phone. Progress! Called it and left voice mail there. Friday afternoon called again. Called on Saturday too. Sunday I politely refrained from calling.

I've left another voice mail this morning, Monday. I have a dozen or so people who are contributing to this booth and I'm sure they are busily getting their wares ready for sale. It would be really nice to confirm to them that yes, we have a booth and it is 'this' size. We had requested two 10x10 booths. I even left in my voice mails that if there's a space limit that we would take just one. See I'm flexible.

I am being selfish. I don't want to go through the mental gymnastics of coordinating shift schedules for all these people to work over the weekend in the booth, if there's no booth to be worked in. Selfish.

There's also one person flying in from Arizona and it would be nice to tell her more than a day or two before that she doesn't have to bring a suitcase filled with batts. Okay, she might do it anyway so she has a bag to bring back goodies in, but I'm sure she'd like a choice.

So....Does anyone have some patience they can loan me? I'm clearly not patient *enough* and need some more.

New Fibers

I tried for more of this, but was given 4 ounces. It's raw unwashed, undehaired buffalo. It's very pungent smelling. Kind of reminds me of trips to the zoo for some reason. ;-) Shelia looked at it with me on Saturday when we were spinning and showed how to dehair. Good news is she says that the guard hairs, that don't seem very coarse, can also be blended in and used to knit socks to make them a little firmer, kind of similar to nylon.


Patience, and a nice white surface, will be the name of the game while dehairing. I'm looking forward to having this in my stash to work with over the winter.

Shelia spent a few weeks on the island of Gotland studying the sheep there. Hopefully she'll do a blog post soon about her trip. I had asked her to bring me back some Gotland fleece so was happy to get it on Saturday. It's lambs fleece from probably their first shearing. Pretty curly locks in light, medium and dark grey with whites and blacks thrown in. The fleece has all been washed, so no smelly bits, but some vegetable matter can still be found. Shelia screened it a bit to get most of what would willingly fall out, out. We also bagged up 20 little baggies as samples for the WWSiP day event. Shelia shipped home 120 pounds of fiber, so if you have an interest in spinning this, contact her. ;-) I'm lucky to get to play with a little over eleven ounces of this lovely stuff.



Just one week until WWSiP day and two weeks until OFFF (I'm *still* waiting to hear confirmation on the booth!!!). Lorajean has started a group on Ravelry for spinning your stash from the Fall Equinox (September 22) to the Spring Equinox (March 20). She's also tempting me with sales of fiber at OFFF. ;-)

Since I'm currently trying to spin up the Cormo/Silk that is the last of the purchased fibers from last year's OFFF, Lorajean's Spin Your Stash group will be fun to see how much gets spun up out of the remaining stash. Mine sounds like it is a smaller stash as it all currently mostly fits in one big bin. Though after OFFF, I may need another bin.

World Wide Spin in Public Day Event Scheduled!

I was finally able to talk to the manager of the farmer's market to confirm that yes, she had received my application and that we are able to use the Hillsboro Civic Center as our meeting location and that since we aren't a truly organized group, that there was no vendor fee to be there. Sigh. Took way longer than I really think it should have and a hoop too many really.

Details:

Location - Hillsboro Civic Center, 150 E Main Street
View Larger Map
We're going to be on the steps area above the fountain if its nice out, so bring sunblock and an umbrella for shade. If it rains, or if its too hot, we'll sit under the overhang area by the Starbucks.
When - September 19th, 10:00am to 2:00pm
What to bring - your spinning device (wheel or drop spindle), something to spin with - fiber of your choice, something to sit on and money for brunch/lunch/coffee - but that's totally up to you. ;-)

As mentioned the Farmer's Market will be going on with lots of vendors to check out if you'd like to take a break during your spinning.

If that isn't enough to get you to come spin with me, I have pulled together some Goodie Bags for the first 20 people who come with their spinning devices in hand. You're more than welcome to join us knitting or weaving, but the Goodie Bags will be for spinners.

I have received sample donations from Stitchjones, Abstract Fibers, Dicentra, Knitted Wit and still have donations coming in from Woodland Woolworks, The Cupcake Factory(some alpaca fleece), and some Gotland from Sweden - courtesy of Shelia January.


The bags already filled with samples.

Those of you who receive a Goodie Bag, please do remember to stop by each of the vendors booth's and say thank you for their samples at Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival the following weekend. I plan to spin my samples while at the spin in public event so I can use that as a guide for my shopping at OFFF. ;-)

Progress

I'm in charge of organizing a vendor booth for the PDX-Knit-Bloggers at Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival, but for legal purposes our booth is going to be the PDX-Knit-Co-Op booth.

We're going to have a variety of things for sale - fiber - amazing batts and rovings, yarns, patterns, stitchmarkers, row marker bracelets, soaps, spinning related wood items, bead orifice hooks are some of the items we'll have.

Since we have at least a dozen people pulling together items we've decided to go with two booth spaces. Now it will be interesting getting everything into the space at the event! All the sellers have thought about how they'll display things so that's a big help.

Next up is coming up with a shift schedule so that everyone also helps out in the booth but doesn't feel overburdened.

Just six weeks until OFFF! No pressure at all.

I've also started working with the Habu raw silk with the Miriam Felton scarf pattern. It's interesting to work with. I'm using my Harmony needles and and they still occasionally shred the strand. Like a lot of lace, blocking will be the key.

On a separate note, I've been having problems being monogamous in my reading. ;-) I currently have four different books going. One is an owned book put aside for library books. One is a non-fiction book that really is interesting, I just had to switch it up with a book that has an earlier due date. The final book is by a local author that lives up on Mt Hood. I've enjoyed her series, but for some reason feel like I'm having to work to read the story. Three out of four will be read before their due dates. LOL

Happy Birthday Kaisha and Norbert - both 7!

Kaisha is Brandon's brother's daughter and oldest. She is currently in the first grade, and just turned 7 today. The Pasha Penguin and one of the cupcakes were made for her. We didn't see her tonight but will get them dropped off to her this weekend. Here's the finished Pasha:


I must say that getting Pasha completed was a challenge. The knitting part wasn't difficult at all. It was sewing the front and back pieces together that was a bit of a challenge. I think that it might be possible to do it in the round and intarsia like for the white and black halves, not that I'm going to rush out and do this brain twisting feat soon.

I'm crazy, I have eight projects planned for the month of October as part of the Malabrigo Junkies group's Holiday Stockpile 08. Here's the description if you want to join the insanity:

Holiday Stockpile 2008

Since the Holidays are fast approaching, and there’s always a birthday or newborn baby sneaking up on us, why not be prepared? Starting October 1, 2008, we’re going to encourage knitting for others - as one of the most generous groups here on Ravelry, it’s time we show our generosity off the boards too! Whether you’re knitting for your own family, friends, a homeless shelter, your favorite charity, preemie babies, your local hospital or nursing home, or simply stuffing your closet with things to give away (or keep for yourself - you need a little self-charity too!), this October is the month to do it!

Of course, there are those Competitions:

Prize winners will be selected for the first and second place in each of the following categories. Each category has been given it’s own board - just click on the name up here to find out more about it! The rules are category specific, but in all the categories there are some basic guidelines:

* The project must be made out of Malabrigo (some contests are worsted-specific, others will let you use anything)
* You must start this project no earlier than October 1, 2008
* All entries must be entered into your notebook. We prefer that you have pictures, but, if not, make sure you’ve got good documentation on your project pages!

Most Generous Member
One-Skein Wonder
Achievement Award
Prettiest Packaging
One-Skein Design

And, after all this, who could forget the PRIZES?

First places in each category will receive a skein of Malabrigo Merino Silky and a skein of the new MALABRIGO SOCK YARN! In some categories there are additional secret prizes!

We’ll also be doing five random drawings from participant threads for a skein of sock yarn! So everybody has a chance to win!"

I'm using the contest to my advantage. One I got to buy a few skeins of the mmmmmMalabrigo yarn crack for knitting delight and share with family members in the form of hand knit gift items for Christmas giving. I'm done with some of them early allowing me to get started on the other planned projects in a timely manner. I have gifts planned for people and yarn matched up with projects. I'm really ahead of the game this year and hopefully not going to have delusions of ability to finish them like a certain Yarn Harlot. ;^)

Norbert too had a lovely birthday for a dog. He got to go out and check out his yard for any interlopers and scared off a large bird, think it might have been a heron, from the pond this morning. Slept on his favorite perch and his boy went to the store and bought him two new mini-balls for his fetching pleasure. There were a couple of pork rawhide bones too, but the balls had his full attention. Nessa enjoyed hers over the next hour. I've spent the last half hour throwing them for him, so he's happy. We hope to have him for another 7 years and more.

Tomorrow will be a busy day. We plan to be over at OFFF for opening at 9am. I have hopes of a mill end or two from Blue Moon and have a few things to look for from Village (camel, yak and natural bfl), plus all the other vendors. Possibly a lamb sandwich and then heading to the Memorial Coliseum for the Halloween Bazaar for the boys.

Wednesday night Bobbie showed me how to navajo ply with her green. I have some yarn barf to show for it. I'm thinking of using it for the top of the pumpkins. With Pasha done, I need to finish up my Leapfrog Moss Grid Hand Towel. It's also a gift item, so working the list already.

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.