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Wirlwind Weekend

Where did the time go?

Saturday was the Country Living Expo down in Stanwood. I went early to help with registration, so it was kind of a long day. But it’s always a lot of fun.  and lots of fiber folks represented amongst the vendors and the classes offered. I learned about milking sheep from Gretchen, trimming hooves and shearing from Amy, plus raising fiber goats, making cider, and building organic soil fertility.

I forgot to take my camera, so you don’t get to see the silly angora wether getting his feet tended to. Oh well.

I went with only a couple of bucks in my pocket (to suppress fiber buying urges),, but managed to come away with a little bit of something to play with-

IMG_0530 (Medium)cropped

Just a few ounces of border leicester  in rich jewel tones (since I don’ do much dying myself). The photo really doesn’t do the colors justice,, but you get the idea.

Was tempted by some targee, but I didn’t have enough cash on-hand to by it (see, I guess the strategy worked, eh?)

Being gone all yesterday of course meant that today it was mostly about playing catchup on housework. And so it goes.

I have to go play with my wool now.

Denise out.

Travel Knitting

I’m back.

Sorry to have missed you last week. I was off visiting in warmer climes.

Now when you go to the tropics, you have to plan your knitting very carefully, as you’re not likely to run into wool shops at every (or any) turn. So I took quite a bit of yarn just to be safe. With about 7 hours of airplane time+ layovers each way and anticipated free time on board the cruise ship to plan for, I figured I’d better err on the side of caution.

Here I am taking full advantage of the amenities on board:

Cruising and Knitting

I expected I’d get to hang out by the pool and knit (and get some odd looks), but it twas pretty cool and breezy most of the time, so we spent a lot of time in this lounge-

Here’s a picture of the finished hat that I was working on in the above photo (it’s wool from Mariah, of Little Country Acres):
Mariah Hat2

And Another:

Mariah Hat

I also managed to knit 2 socks (both are currently ABK (All But Kitchener-ed)). They are not a pair, but a study in contrasts.

Meet Miami sock and PNW sock:

Miami sock and PNW sock

Here I am with one foot in each world:

One Foot in Each World

That’s it for now-

Denise

PS. Anyone planning on going to the Country Living Expo at Stanwood HS next weekend?

Woolly Resolutions

This year I resolve to branch out and try new fibers.

As much as I love Shetland and Romney and Border Leicester,,, I feel as though I should probably try my hand at some other spinnables.

Does that mean I will be forsaking wool and spinning things like cotton (eeks!) and silk (gasp!) ?

Heck no.

I will be seeking out fleeces from different breeds of sheep that I haven’t worked with yet. I’m most interested in trying out wool from sheep raised right here in Western Washington. I have leads on the following already:

Navajo Churro,

California Variegated Mutant (CVM),

Icelandic,

East Friesan,

Black Welsh Mountain

Sounds good so far, eh?

Others I’d like to try out probably won’t find locally include Cormo, Polwarth and Tarhee.

Anybody got contacts for those?

The Man has agreed to go to Eugene, OR with me this summer for the Blacksheep Gathering (making Denise a Very Happy Girl), so I’m sure that will open up all sorts of possibilities!