Woolybuns

The Good Stuff

I swiped this photo from someone who participated in my recent fiber frenzy.  I somehow didn't get any photos of the car load when we exhausted our bank accounts.  I think this photo happened before the final fleece purchase.  SAFF is a smaller festival, though growing well, and the supply of Really Good Stuff from small producers is wonderful.  I met one such vendor, Sue of LambsEatIvy (no link, I'm afraid), at breakfast in the hotel because all other tables were full and I sat alone. Sue has just started processing her own fleeces and I picked up a pound of her black, softsoftsoft fleece (merino x?  corrie x?  Sheesh, I hope it's written down somewhere).  I also scored some yummy dyed biffle (blue faced leicester aka BFL), 2 different dye lots, that I'm so looking forward to diving into soon.  And yes, there was more Brooks Farm Yarn.  I bought 3 skeins of Four Play in a soft green colorway, and then branched out with a skein of Acero to make a present for a truly lovely lady who housed me for a couple nights on this trip.  RJ is someone else's favorite cousin and calling her a lovely lady really does not do justice to her delightful personality.   We enjoyed an evening of watching bull riding on tv and discovered we both have a fondness for the fit of chaps on handsome young cowboys.  Lots of digression possibilities there, so I'll leave it to your own imaginations. 

One of my favorite things about SAFF is the fleece sale.  There is one producer in particular who raises amazing fleeces, and they aren't available around here.   Rising Meadow has fleeces in their booth, too.   I got a fleece from each place.  My Rising Meadow fleece is a moorit corriedale, and the fleece sale fleece, also corriedale, is variegated greys.

I think the purchase that most excites me is this book.  Lots of good technique in there and I can't wait to dive into trying all of them.  Adapted to my own peculiar sensibilities, of course.  When I took this photo, I noticed something that just tickles my fancy.  That leaf partially covering the title?  Look closer.  It sprouted a filbert!  To go along with the book, I also invested in some assorted silks.   My challenge now?  Turn a lot of these purchases into sale able goods.  Ya know, so I can do all this buying again next year. 

Back To Reality

I'm exhausted.  Rhinebeck to SAFF added a couple thousand miles to my car, and subtracted more than a bit from my check book.  I had some serious fun!  I came back to screaming puppies, a fatally crunched tv remote, puppy potty regression, and the first oil bill of the season.  I'd rather sit here and blog but reality calls.  So for now, a few photos to set the mood.

Is This Really a Good Idea?

I have a bartender living with me.  She's good at it.  Things I didn't need to know tasted good just show up.  She cooks, too.  And likes ice cream sundaes from our best in the  world home made ice creamery.  Sigh.

Oh,Yes... There Was Buying

But first, a question for any of you computer types.  How much of a disaster is this?  The irrepressible galloping galoot, aka Molly Tornado, ran through the power cord which was attatched to my laptop, nearly jerking it to the floor but I caught it in time.  Just not soon enough to keep the cuppa tea from spilling.  A tiny corner of the keyboard got wet and now my screen displays that discoloration.  I'm posting this on the laptop so obviously it's all still working now.  But will it stop?  Anything I can do to rescue the laptop?  Molly is in time out but she lives.

On to the good stuff.

Dorchester Farms sock yarn in a nice jeansy color.  Last year was the first time I bought sock yarn from Ken, who I've known for several years.  Knitting with his yarn was a delicious experience so of course I have to repeat it. 

From Ken's booth, I went to Little Barn to replenish my supply of silk sliver.  It blends so beautifully with angora and fine wool, so I always get some at Rhinebeck.  This year, I picked up a pound of Bombyx and a pound of natural color tussah. 

My leisurely stroll through temptation stopped next at Still River Mill's booth.  What fun to find some beautiful wool/angora yarn there.  I had to pet it.  The angora came from my bunnies.  I didn't buy any cause, well...  that would be ridiculous.  Even though it's just oh so yummy!  But.  I did pick up a sweet Mystery Bump. Lots of natural and dyed colors in assorted fibers all roved together.  Mostly alpaca but who knows what else.  And who cares?  It's soft, it's lovely, and it will be a delight to spin.

Next up: a stop at what used to be Nick's Meadow Farm but they took a leap of faith, bought Bartlett Yarns and that's their business name now.  Their merino is still high on my list of must buy.  So too is the ever so useful Bartlett's pencil roving, so I picked up another 5 colors.

I also picked up some dyed border leicester locks, and can't remember from whom.   She was very nice and I will enjoy using her locks.

My big purchase, both in terms of price and emotional attachment, happened at Brooks Farm.  I adore their Four Play yarn!  For the feel and color, not the name, though that's a fun plus.  Four Play is a 50/50 blend of soft merino and silk in worsted weight.  I had decided before I set foot on the fairgrounds that I wanted to splurge and buy enough for a sweater for me.  And because their colorways are so irresistible and varied, I bought with color progression in mind.  The knitting will be simple: just a basic stockinette stitch, perhaps a cowl neck or some other extra bit of neck touch.  The colors will do the singing in this sweater.  I think I need to start with the sleeves to coordinate color progression and amount of yarn.  The lure of Brooks Farm yarn is so strong, I made a second trip through the booth and picked up two more skeins, also in coordinating colors.  And this weekend is SAFF, where I will be and so will Brooks Farm yarn.  Heh.               

Getting RAW... But Don't Blame Dave

 

Sure, he inspired me.  But he did not put me up to this.  It's from my own warped little mind.  So, I present R-hiney-beck Ass Watch.

Super good sport Blogless Sharon really got into the spirit of this project.  And to be fair, I put my own double wide ample derrière out there on view, too.  But I will not be identifying anyone else.  For those who cheerfully giggled and contributed to the view, I applaud  your goofy good humor.  We all have 'em, few of us like what they look like, but we're all kind of stuck with 'em.  If you see your own and want to publicly acknowledge it, you are a good sport.  If you see yours and don't want to announce it, your secret is safe with me.

   

Rhinebeck Sky

Just glorious!  I'm having a great time and if you're not here, we wish you were!

A Nice Winner

There is a winner in my Nice Matters contest in spite of my dogs.  I asked them each to choose a winner.  They each turned their noses up.  It's drizzly outside and I still made them go out.  They retaliated by ignoring the slips of paper with names on them.  And by tracking mud into the house.   I didn't even consider asking for the lizard's help.  We might get an answer next week if I did that, but more likely she'd just go hide until I took the papers out of her house.  No one else is here at the moment, so I stuck names in a bowl, closed my eyes and juggled stuff around.  The winner?  Appropriately, since she started me on this, the winner is Christine.  So Christine, what's your preference?  Angora to play with?  Yarn from Rhinebeck?  Roving? 

 

Doofus!

1) I never told you what's in the box.  I got distracted by the self imposed deadline to reseed my front weed patch lawn.  Sure, dumping seed in the spreader and walking the patch disseminating seed really doesn't take that long.  But that pathetic moss-covered, weed infested patch of brown wouldn't really welcome seed without some encouragement.  We tried liming a couple years in a row and it did NOTHING but perhaps feed the moss.  Truly the saddest excuse for a lawn anywhere.  Earlier this year, I took a look at all the compost areas in the back yard and idly wondered where I'm going to dump all the under hutch stuff this year.  And then I looked at that awful mess in the front.  Tempting, but no, I can't turn the whole front yard into a compost heap.  That's what it needs, but I'm sure my fastidious neighbors might have something to say about that.  So for the last several days, I've been out raking under the bunny hutches, separating yucky old hay from the rich fertilizing goodness that is bunny poop, scooping up that good stuff and spreading it on the front yard.  Last night at 5 pm, with enough of the yard pooped, I spread the seed.  It's probably got a couple weeks to do something nice like sprout before my favorite maple tree dumps its load of leaves.  Nope, I'm not raking the yard when that happens.  Any sprouts will be too fragile at that point.  I'm hoping the leaf sucker will be gentle enough.  So that's why I didn't post about the box.  What's in the box is ... a box.  A finely crafted, cherry box of spinning goodness.

This is a Journey Wheel Book Charkha.  I ordered it during last June's wheel buying orgy.

2) I've forgotten how to spin.  Maybe I'm just too pooped lately, but my spinning efforts this week are crap.   I first way over ambitiously tried spinning raw angora on the charkha.  Jonathan Bosworth's mantra during last June's spinning guild program kept running through my brain but stopped seriously short of my fingers.  So I tried spinning some of my new roving, polwarth and angora which should spin seriously fine.  I got chunky bumpy lumpy.  And only in fits and starts.  With a lot of coaxing, I did convince the threads to thin out but it was not a pleasure.  I cut myself some slack, said spin on the Reeves for a while to get back into spinning mode.   Well.  Yes.  I got a very fine thread.  But it won't hold together.  I seriously need to practice the basics again.  Sigh.

3) I have misplaced my "I'm a Square" Button.  Norma so nicely sent it to me in plenty of time for Rhinebeck, then during a people are coming over mad dash to clean house, I put the button in that dreaded "someplace safe."   I know better.  The minute I consign anything to "someplace safe," my brain catalogs those two words but not the actual location of said someplace safe.   Instead of practicing my spinning or knitting something fabulous and last minute for Rhinebeck, I'll be digging into all the recesses of my house looking for my button. 

4) Obligatory photo of this goofy Square for Blogger Bingo.  Yes, I may end up being the doofus wearing yarn in it's natural state.

Nice Matters

Christine tagged me with a Nice Matters award.  Thank you, Christine!  That's a lovely compliment and I'm flattered.  I don't know who started the Nice Matters award but I embrace the concept.

"This award is for those bloggers who are nice people; good blog friends and those who inspire good feelings and inspiration. Also for those who are a positive influence on our blogging world. Once you’ve been awarded, please pass it on to 7 others who you feel are deserving of this award."

Nice really does matter and it's one of the many appealing aspects of fibering.  Sure, there have been a few fiber related people who have been less than nice, but on the whole, you lot are a very nice bunch a people.   Choosing only 7 of you will be a daunting task.

First up, I have to go with Cathy, who creates good feelings, great day lilies, and amazing pieces of crochet.  We've never met in person but nice just soars across the miles. 

And if you start with Cathy, then it's no surprise that Anne springs to mind.  Remember all that wonderful positive influence spread because of the ABC-Along?   

Also tops on my list of nice people is a very dear friend, Leslie of Greenberry House.  We met online - goodness, a number of years ago.  Her words and pictures of life in the Blue Ridge Mountains spurs me to greater heights. 

Diane also fits "nicely."  She fills her blog with great photos of cheeriness and some wonderful knitting.  We bump into each other at lots of fiber events and she brings that cheerfulness with her.  I do a lot of smiling under her influence.

And then there is the bubbly good nature of Kelly.   We met at spinning guild a couple years ago, when she was new to spinning.  I've had the pleasure of teaching her a couple of fibery things, and the enthusiasm and talent she brings to all things fiber is truly inspiring. 

Vanessa not only spins her life away, but she knits beautifully, cooks up some very appetizing food, and tackles all sorts of crafty goodness, like making a Windsor chair, with a wholesome enthusiasm that is very catchy.

Finally, there is Laurie, who infuses her blog with winey goodness, amazing photos, great travel adventures, math challenges, and knitting with stainless steel and silk yarn.  All with great good humor which she shares so well in person, too.

Uniquely lovely ladies they each be, and each deserves the Nice Matters Award.  And so do a lot of other folks.  If you're one of those so deserving but not on some list, please know this: we do notice and appreciate you.  So now a challenge: tell me why Nice Matters to you.  Post an answer to your own blog and leave a comment with the link, or if you are blogless, leave your answer as a comment to this post. All answers by Thursday at 11:59 pm EDT will be entered into a random drawing for a fibery prize.  If the winner is at Rhinebeck, I'll bring the prize with me, otherwise, I will mail it. 

 

Just in Time

We finally got some rain.  After a couple months of pretty much no rain at all, we got 5 days of it.  So here I sat through all that rain with two very active Irish Setters, socially inept Amika who has difficulties getting along with other dogs except for Molly and Gypsy, and Gromit the Australian Shepherd visiting for a few days.  Obviously they all had to go out but it had to be in shifts because Amika decided a while ago that Gromit is an enemy.  Gromit doesn't care if he gets wet, but those girls are all a bunch of prissy princesses.  They step outside, feel the wet under their tootsies, and turn to me with a look of disdain and horror and just plain priss.  "What?  You expect me to go out in this?"  And they won't go out unless someone takes them.  Which means I have to get wet, too.  And first thing in the morning while I'm still in my jammies and before I've had tea, I don't like it anymore than they do.  We all get wet but I'm the only one with the sense to keep it off the rug.  So when I got the email from Still River Mill saying my fiber order was ready, you betcha I locked the dogs up and took off for the day.  I picked up a total of almost 15 pounds of stuff.  Three and a half pounds is mill spun angora, polwarth and silk, about sport weight, I think.  The plan of course is to dye the yarn. If I can find my dye pots and dyes.  Once it's dyed, much of it will be up for sale.  Next up: a 4 pound batt of rambouillet blended with angora dyed blue and purple.  Think felt.  I want to make some mittens and scarves, maybe try a vest.  And then there is 6 pounds of roving, a blend of fine chocolate wool  and 3 colors of dyed angora: pink, cherry red and spruce.  Original plan was to blend them for a variegated roving, but we decided that might be too subtle because of the darkness of the wool.   So the roving is done as solids.  I'm going to spin about an ounce of each color, then ply them as a three ply, just to see what it looks like. 

So what is this just in time for?

Details in the next post.  I still have to open the package and play.