Spinning my wheels and chasing my tail(s)

Dear Mom,
Well, September flew past. And so did my September socks.....
This is how much I've managed to knit

and I'm pretty sure this didn't get started until the last few hours of September. I'll do my darnedest to get both September's and October's socks done this month.

My absence here on the blog only means that I've been busy - with things that are too mundane to be considered blog worthy, or things that are top secret and cannot be shared here. Yet. Let's just leave it that I have had some serious bouts of creativity interspersed with the last tennis matches of the Young Man's high school career. And thanks to all the good rain we had last week, that last match took three days to complete!

Thanks to a tip from Bonnie Jo, MelissaWhoSpinsButDoesNotKnit and I went to the Hoosier Llama and Alpaca Association show at the county fairgrounds on Saturday morning.

In addition to the llamas and alpacas, there were a few vendors and I managed to bring home some snow white alpaca roving to spin, some colorful Shetland wool roving to spin (which I've already done and am extremely disappointed in myself. Note to Self : No good ideas come after 10 pm and spinning at 2 am is never gonna be good.) In my defense, I never intended to be spinning until 2 am, but was so tangled up in "my good idea" that there was no way to stop. And when I say tangled up, I mean TANGLED UP. Knees and teeth, in addition to both hands and feet, were occupied with plying. It was like Lucy and Ethel Learn to Spin.

I also brought home some wonderful ceramic buttons. All reasonably priced and there was a very healthy selection of buttons from which to choose.

Can you blame me for trying to figure out how to get around the neighborhood covenants, re-fence my yard and build a shelter for a couple of these guys?

Love,
Kim

Supporting the Arts

Dear Mom,
Last Friday we set out for Franklin, Indiana- an easy hour's drive south- for the Hoosier Hills Fiberarts Festival, and I came home with more fiber to spin, some shawl pins, happy memories, and most importantly, Inspiration.

The fiber came from River's Edge and the shawl pins from Wool's End.

These shawl pins were priced such that it felt like stealing. I did my best to convince their creator to raise her prices. I've never seen anything like these and they were priced at a SINGLE DIGIT. Low single digit. I honestly would have expected these pins to cost 10 times as much and assured the gentle artist that she should at least put a 1 in front of that single digit.

I didn't take any photos of the lambs that stole my heart, but I took several of this sweet little baby, which I am most thankful was already sold- making it impossible for the Young Lady (or YOU) to bring her home.

Soft. Sweet. Picture perfect little angora bunny.

Those ears just make my heart melt.

Like I said, good thing it was already sold....

Love,
Kim

One of the Best

Dear Mom,

If I were to keep track of such things, Friday, April 15 would go on the list as One of My Best Days. Ever.

I, along with some of the usual suspects went to our first Fiber Event in Greencastle, IN. We felt like kids at Christmas, such was our excitement and anticipation of the day.If we had planned out each and every detail, we couldn't have made the day more perfect.

We left mid morning, in plenty of time to arrive in Greencastle when the event opened at 1:00 with a stop for lunch, and using every bit of restraint not to kick up dirt and burn rubber on the way out of the cul-de sac. Not that anyone was around to notice. But still. The idea of it was great fun and gives you a little insight to the jubilant moods in the car.

In a flash we'd arrived in Greencastle- and really is there any faster way to travel than in a carload of girlfriends?- and found a delicious, delightful tea room for our lunch right on the courthouse square and on the way to the Putnam County Fairgrounds were the event was held.
I don't know if the town had decorated the trees for the event or if Greencastle had been "yarn bombed" but several of the trees on the square were decorated with knitting.

The event itself was overwhelming in the best way. I experienced a head rush followed by a headache and at one point I thought maybe I should just sit down with my head between my knees. I even felt weepy. Not from exhaustion but from the frustration of having so much I'd like to do, so much fiber I'd like to spin, so much beautiful yarn I'd love to knit with and never ever have enough time to do it all. Considering all the temptations surrounding me, I was very prudent in my purchasing, and except for an angora goat and an angora rabbit, I left nothing behind that haunts me. Leaving the goats and rabbits behind really wasn't all that hard because:

#1. I didn't drive.

#2. They poop.

Here is what I did bring home:

Just kidding. I left these cuties behind, too.

This roving is from a local farm. I mean LOCAL. As in not far from home! Funny to drive all that way and stumble across a fiber farm that is nearly in my own backyard. This fiber is a Border Leicester/ Cormo cross, is a soft, beautiful sheep's gray and should be wonderful to spin- from Westfield Woolies.

This beautiful yarn will be this scarf.

Kauni EQ

In hindsight, I wish I'd taken a photo of the Fiber Optics booth. Kimber Baldwin's saturated colors were stunning. I lingered there and enjoyed chatting with Kimber. Kimber blogs about the day and you can see photos of her booth being set up. It was hard to narrow all those color choices down, but having the expert dyer close at hand helped me to make a decision. I bought these two skeins of Footnotes-

Footnotes- Straight No Chaser (gold) and Cabernet Nights

-and I plan on using them for this scarf.

As if all that isn't enough- and let's just pretend that there aren't already more than several pounds of roving already stashed away- I couldn't resist adding these to my spinning stash.

This is "Shimmy" from River's Edge Fiber Arts, colorway River Stone. The fiber is 65% Merino, 15% Tencel, 10% Banana (yes, BANANA!!) and 10% Milk. I love the feel and colors of this but also can't wait to be able to say I spun some banana!!

This lovely roving is also from River's  Edge Fiber Arts and is called Screaming Wild Monkeys. The colorway is called Bachelor Button, which is a perfect description of the colors. It is 70% Superwash Merino, 15 % Seacell, and 15% Banana. We spoke with the mastermind behind the fiber. She is equal parts mad scientist and artist and I say that with respect and awe.  Hers is a brain that does not rest. She Has It Figured Out and if she hasn't figured it out yet, she will.

I also ordered a jumbo flyer and bobbin for my spinning wheel from the Woolery so I can ply my yarns together into one skein rather that breaking it into two small skeins.

It took the entire afternoon to peruse the booths and then go back to select booths to make our purchases. Even having done that, it was hard to leave, and there were a couple of false starts back to the car as one or another of us decided that she couldn't leave without something, or without one last look at something else.
We stopped on the way back home at the Swizzle Stick, the bar companion to the tea room we lunched in. Another good meal, a glass of wine, good conversation and home by 9. Like I said. One of my Best Days ever.

Love,
Kim

Dear Mom,

We spent our weekend celebrating the 80th Birthday of my father-in-law. The party was held at the farm of one of his daughters and the setting was ideal. There was plenty of activity to keep the kids of all ages happy and busy, and 40 beautiful acres surrounding the reunions.

Each table was decorated with a theme based on favorite stories or interests from Granpa's past. Even the barn was dressed up.

I took plenty of pictures of people, and almost as many of the animals. Here are Mandy, a 15 year old lab,

one of about 2 dozen chickens,

one of a panicky group of lambs,

and one of my favorite pictures taken this weekend- the barn cat.

Love,

Kim

Mrs. MacGregor Knits (and not much else)

Dear Mom,

The cupboards are nearly bare and the house is a mess. I still haven't done Monday's ironing and it is Thursday already. I think I vacuumed once or twice but only because the new floor looks too pretty to let it get dusty. All because I have been knitting like a mad woman to beat a design submission deadline. I did it. And no one has gone hungry or without underwear. Yet.

Blue Sky Alpaca yarn company is having a contest right now, and designs need to be submitted before the end of the month. A requirement of the contest is that the patterns must be available as free downloads on ravelry, so I needed to knit the garment, photograph it, write up the instructions, and link it all to my ravelry shop. The prize is more yarn (not that I am really needing anymore of that), but I am hoping for some exposure as a designer and maybe a connection with another yarn company. We'll see what happens.

In the meantime, I have had to replant some of my garden and put a taller fence around it. Call me Mrs. MacGregor. The bunnies have been feasting on all those tender plants. Shortly after the fence went up, I walked around to that side of the yard and a gang of three rabbits were surrounding the garden, staring at the new fencing. And then at me. I think they gave me dirty looks and kind of kicked up some extra dirt before hopping away.

And then(!), as I was knitting into the dark of night on the screened porch (thanks to my new ceiling fan and its bright light courtesy of the Zucchini Queen's dad), I looked up to find a cute little furry, masked face looking in at me. A raccoon. She looked at me like I had a lot of nerve sitting out on the porch way past my bedtime. I imagine that she has been visiting the porch via the doggie door. A Hav-A-Hart raccoon trap has been purchased. Maybe I'll catch a rabbit or three in it, too.

Love,

Kim