Is it too soon to play catch up?

Seriously, it's only mid-January, and while I'm feeling quite on top of some things, there are other areas where I feel behind. I've been mentally composing a blog post for days now. Too bad that doesn't automatically get it up here. ;)

So, we're home from our third and final trip to North Carolina. We spent two 14 hour days in the car with two days of time with our son and grandson sandwiched in between. It was an interesting visit, as we were based out of our hotel room the whole time we were there, and we were driving a vehicle that seats five, only we had six people. So anywhere we went with the whole crew, it involved me driving everyone there in shifts. As it turned out, a major snow and ice storm came through Jacksonville the Monday we were there, making everything a grand mess. Many businesses and restaurants shut down that day because they get that kind of weather so infrequently that they aren't prepared for it.

The weather made it necessary to say our goodbyes to him earlier Monday than we'd planned so I could get him back to base (which was also closed to all non-essential personnel) before the next wave of ice came through. I'd had my major emotional meltdown the week before when I'd returned him after New Years, but it was still hard to say good bye again. What was harder, though, was having to watch him say goodbye to his five year old son. I'm not sure how much our grandson understands about where his dad is going, he just knows he'll be in first grade before Daddy's back home again.

Our drive home Tuesday was nerve-wracking due to the bad roads and continued snow and ice. I was so thankful Kevin was driving and not me, but even I was tense. It feels so good to be home. I spent the rest of last week taking the Christmas stuff down (finally) and trying to catch up on laundry and cleaning as well as getting us all back in the swing of our school routine.

In the midst of all the crazy, I have been knitting and spinning! During the ride down to NC and the first day there, I made a pair of worsted weight socks for our son to take with him...he won't be able to wear them in uniform, but they'll keep his feet warm when he sleeps!

Yarn: Gedifra Fashion Trend Color; Generic toe-up sock

I started this Moody Kerchief shawl while we were in NC, and it was my drive home knitting, during which time I got most of it finished.

Moody Kerchief by Kirsten Kapur; Yarn: Three Irish Girls Springvale Super Merino, Ginger Honey colorway.

I ended up modifying the pattern a good bit. I was using two sets of color gradient mini-skeins from Three Irish Girls that I got in the Pick of the Knitter club a couple years ago. That gave me far more yarn than the pattern called for, and I wanted to use as much of it up as I could. I added a lot of extra rows to the straight knitting sections, and then I ended up adding some extra sections as well.

I'd envisioned the color changes happening at section changes, but that didn't work out completely. Still, I'm really happy with how it turned out. I finished it the day after we got home.

And right now, I'm in several swaps. I try not to do swaps too often because the pressure of getting the right things for my swap partners tends to stress me out. LOL But somehow, I managed to sign up for three swaps going on simultaneously, two of which involve the requirement of a knitted item. I've never done that kind of swap before, so...extra pressure! Ahh! I do have my first knitted item finished, but I won't post pictures of it until after it is received. I will say I'm happy with how it turned out. I hope its recipient likes it too!

For one of the other swaps I'm doing, I decided to spin my own yarn for one of the yarn requirements. I must say, I am totally loving this yarn...

The fiber itself looks good enough to eat...

It's BamHuey, a bamboo/merino blend dyed by NewHueHandspuns. I've worked with this fiber before, spinning the Sun Beams colorway for my Caricia shawl. It spins like butter, seriously. It is fabulous! And I think the color will be perfect for it's recipient.

Oh, and just another note about our deployed son to bookend this post. He actually called us last night...from Afghanistan! Seriously? I was tickled to hear his voice (and he seems to be doing just fine), but do you know how surreal that is? I mean, I know technology has changed the face of war in so many ways, but I can't help but think how in the not too distant past, families waited weeks or months just for a letter home from their loved one who was off fighting. Now, they're just a phone call or e-mail away. I'm having a lot of philosophical thoughts about that, but I'll spare you. Because honestly? I'm having a lot of philosophical thoughts about many things lately. My brain is working overtime, and it's all I can do to keep up.

New Year, Distraction

How sad that it's taken me six days into 2011 before I've finally gotten to blog. I blame it on my current state of distraction. After a blessedly wonderful holiday break, I am currently distracted by many things. I've spent over 50 hours driving since the Monday before Christmas, making two down-and-back trips to North Carolina. I have one more to make this weekend, though I'm hoping I'll have another driver to help this time. I've been distracted by the trips, and I'm distracted by the purpose of this upcoming trip - seeing our oldest son one last time before he deploys with his Marine unit. I'm distracted to the point that nothing else will remain in focus because all I can think about is that he will be gone, far away, for many months. It will be the first time in my life - in his life - that he will been somewhere that I cannot go and visit him if I so choose. He will not be tangible, and I am disliking it mightily.

And most recently I am distracted by my husband pointing out the huge effing storm that is going to make its presence know right along the 700 mile path we'll have to drive home on Tuesday. He wants to come home a day early, and I do not. I am a mother. I will drive 700 miles at 5 miles an hour if it means getting to spend one extra day with my child before he goes away to do his duty in a war on the other side of the world.

So I'm trying to distract myself from my distraction. I lure it away for short periods by knitting, by watching Stargate Universe on Netflix (I suppose I should be glad he's only going over the ocean and not to the other side of the universe, though for all intents and purposes, it really doesn't seem much different), and by pretending to be productive. I start a task, but then I get...distracted. I feel like my mind has taken a vacation and forgot to call the temp agency for a replacement.

I'm sure this will pass. Eventually I'll be back to my normal self (which isn't completely without distraction, to be honest) instead of feeling fuzzy and disoriented, the way you feel after taking a too-long afternoon nap, waking after it's gotten dark. But for now, I'm trying to ride this out and hope for the best.

How's 2011 going for you?

Um, hi...

...yes, I remembered that I have a blog. And I apologize now because this is not going to be a "real" blog post. It's just me popping in to acknowledge my blog posting lameness of late. In my defense? It's been a busy season. Much like last spring, I've been traveling a lot and still have a couple more trips to come between now and early June. There were fights out near Harrisburg a few weekends ago, then there was Spring Fling in St. Louis two weekends ago. No travel this weekend, but I did have a lot going on here at home, so I feel like I wasn't here much. This week will be another trip out to Harrisburg -- this time for the annual homeschool convention. And then the kids and I will be heading south to visit my mom in Florida for 9 days over Memorial Day.

My house is a sty. I feel like I'm behind on everything from laundry to paper work. And my desktop's flat screen monitor died a couple weeks ago and I haven't had time to shop for a new one. Thus, I haven't been able to do any photo-editing because that's where I do it. One day I will get caught up. And I'll have pictures, too! I have finished objects to share, honest! Just be patient with me, ok? :}

Life has been busy...

...and it is totally inconceivable to me that it is already mid-March! As my friend Gina observed tonight on my Facebook page, I always seem to be traveling lately. Indeed, I seem to be in a season of road trips. Scranton (for a kickboxing match) a few weeks ago, Columbus (for the Arnold Sport's Festival) last weekend (seems like so much longer ago than that!) and Chattanooga (for a Disaster Response Training) this past week. Thankfully, I have no more travel plans in the near future until late April when I head off to St. Louis for Spring Fling. I'm looking forward to being home for a while! I need to get back into a normal routine.

In the midst of all the travel, I have been knitting. A couple finished objects for your viewing pleasure...

These are my Socktoberfest Mystery Socks from last October, which I finally finished during Ravelympics, one of my WIP projects. Sorry, it's not a great photo, but I was trying to show how pretty they are from both the front and the side. The pattern was from Kirsten Kapur, and the yarn is Schaefer Nichole.

This is one of my Waterfall socks. They were my February KAL project for the Spring Fling group, the focus of which was Wendy Johnson patterns. I did get both socks done by the end of February, but this is the only good picture I got, so just image a second one that looks just like this one. And I'll point out that I just got the second one done! It wouldn't have been a big deal had I not made the Feb. 28th deadline, but I felt a little crazy that day and opted to see if I could knit an entire sock in a day. And I did! I literally bound off that puppy at 11:50 p.m. A sock in 10 hours. Definitely a new record for me, and not one I'm feeling the need to repeat (let alone break) anytime soon! My hands were dead by the time I was done. LOL Anyway, as I said, it is a Wendy pattern (free!), and the yarn was Araucania Itata...really lovely yarn!

The other evening, I finished a scarf I was test knitting for Cosy. It needs to be soaked and blocked and then I'll put a picture up of it. It was for her Marian Seaman Scarf (which she does have posted on her blog and on Ravelry, but has not yet released the pattern), and it was a really fun project that moved along quickly.

My current knitting focus is the March KAL project for the Fling group. It needed to be a Jared Flood pattern, so I chose the Hemlock Ring blanket, which I'm knitting out of some stashed Queensland Kathmandu Aran in a nice, natural, tweedy color. I'm in the feather-and-fan part now, but oh my gosh, it gave me fits up to that point. At one point I had to rip out 20 rounds because I'd gotten it so messed up! But it's going along swimmingly now, so I'm not feeling frustrated with it anymore. ;)

Pictures forthcoming for Marian and Hemlock!

MSF Donation...

As promised, I have donated 100% of the income from the January and February sales of my Call Before Digging hat pattern. I sold six patterns at $3 a piece. Doesn't seem like much, but every little bit helps the cause! I rounded up and sent a $20 donation to MSF/DWB.

If you supported this fundraising effort, either by purchasing my pattern or one of the hundreds of others on Ravelry, I thank you!

I do have some other knitting news to share with you, but it'll have to wait until next week. I'm heading out tomorrow to Columbus to spend the weekend at the Arnold Sports Festival. A couple friends are competing in various events, and then Saturday night friend Angela and I will be attending the WEC fights! My first live MMA event. Cannot wait! :) I have a quick turnaround and will then be going to Chattanooga for a couple of days to attend a disaster response training that our church's denomination is sponsoring. By this time next week, my introverted self is going to be screaming for mercy, but it's all good stuff! ;)

I'm St. Louis bound again this April!

Yep! I got my TLE e-mail today informing me that I am the lucky recipient of one of the 125 lottery spots for Spring Fling 2010! Woot! I was on the fence about throwing my name in since I got in last year, and I only decided to do so at the last minute. I know hundreds of people sign up to go into the lottery, so I really did not expect to get in again. But, I did, so...woohoo! :) (Here's the link to my recap of last year's Fling.)

Bummer, though, that my roomie from last year didn't make it this time. Darn. :( I'll miss you, Janice!

Time to figure out a budget to get this puppy paid for by mid-March. And I need to keep my eye open for good airfares, too.

Merry Christmas to me! :)

Fall cleaning...

This picture is apropos of nothing I've written in this blog entry. I just wanted to share it because it is of my friend Sho-Sho, who WON her first kickboxing fight last weekend! How freakin' cool is that? She's awesome! Loved watching her fight and celebrating the win with her! And thanks to our other friend Hannah for taking the picture because I was a total photo slacker.

Yep, it's that time of year again. The time when I start to feel the urge to clean house, both literally and virtually. Some people do spring cleaning; I do fall cleaning. (With my mom coming to visit in early October, the importance of fall cleaning cannot be overstated. Ahem.)

I wanted to get the big cleaning jobs done over the summer months, namely the basement. Ugh. The basement. But did I? Did I use those three, long summer months for that good purpose? No. No I did not. And now I'm kicking myself. Alas, it will get done. Oh yes it will. It WILL get done.

Last evening as I was waiting for a friend at a coffee shop, I used my time to make a master list and I decided today to try and tackle at least five things on that list every day. Maybe not finish all five, but I would at least make progress on them. Today, pretty good...I got four of the five finished and did a couple more. If I can just keep that momentum going, I'll be golden!

As for my virtual housecleaning, I decided to clean up the blog a bit today. Gone is the Tour de Fleece '09 button. I'm not sure if I ever shared my TdF results here, but I did indeed accomplish my spinning goals in July, spinning up two different yarns to match the albums Team BKG were using for their TdF theme. I never bothered to download whatever button they had for the winners, though. But I know I was a winner, and that's what matters, right? ;)

I'm not sure if getting rid of the TdF button counts as cleaning, though, since I replaced it with the Facebook badge. Not sure if I like that there or not. We'll see.

Then there was my summer reading list, which is also gone. It was an ambitious list. A little too ambitious, as many of my lists are. But I did get some reading done this summer, reading that I enjoyed. The three titles I finished this summer were:

• The Girl Who Stopped Swimming, by Joshilyn Jackson
  
• The Witch of Portobello, by Paulo Coehlo
  
• Dead to Me, by Anton Strout

I loved Joshilyn's book. I love all of her books. She is incredible with the words and the stories. Can't sing her praises nearly enough. I also really enjoyed Anton Strout's book. Very quirky genre, but a lot of fun to read. Loved the humor that is infused throughout. Sadly, though, I was not impressed with the Coehlo book. The Alchemist remains my favorite of all his books I've read. Most others have paled in comparison. Witch just didn't really do much for me. 

I did start to read The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell, but I didn't get far. I find the older I get, the less tolerance I have for books that seem to be one thing but are really just a venue for the author to spew his or her crankiness and cynicism. This is why I've stopped reading Anne Lamott's non-fiction. (Issues, baby...let 'em go!) Admittedly, I didn't get far enough into Shipmates to know for sure that was what was going on, but having read a couple other of Vowell's books, I'm pretty sure it was, and I just wasn't in the mood for it. Life's too short. 

I also started Strout's second book, Deader Still, a sequel to his first. Again, really fun read. I started it on our Chicago trip a few weeks ago and in fact spent all my airport and plane time on the trip home reading it. (I didn't knit a stitch! You know it had to be a good book!) But since getting home, I haven't had time to sit with it, so it remains unfinished. 

Did I say Chicago? Great! How about another picture then!

My great kids on our first day in the Windy (and hot and humid) City after we spent a few hours in the Shedd Aquarium. Chicago was such a cool city! I'll have to share more pictures from the trip soon.

And while the Ravelry work-in-progress widget isn't something I clean up here on the blog, I'll direct you to note that I have finished a few things, hence bringing the number of current projects down to seven. I finished the design project hat I was working on. I'm so anxious to release that, but I wanted to do matching mitts and haven't had time to work those out completely yet. I also finished my crocheted Noro granny square afghan. It's blocking now, so pictures will be forthcoming soon. I really love how it turned out! I'm finishing up my daughter's pillow project now, and then I have to do a special project that I won't even be listing on Ravelry for a while due to its secret nature. But then I'll get back to the WIP list. 

Ok...one more picture before I go, just because blog entries need pictures...

Our tomatoes all died off this year due to the blight, so I was in heaven yesterday when my friend Myrna shared some of her tomato abundance with me. I enjoyed the first of her tomatoes this morning in the form of a tomato and herb omelet. Mmm. And that scone there on the plate? That is one of the best cinnamon chip scones I've ever made! 

Great day at GLFS...

The Great Lakes Fiber Show on Saturday? Awesome! What a nice event that was! Granted, I really only have Maryland to compare it to, and it certainly was nowhere as large as that, but it was big enough to provide a day's enjoyment! Less crowded and decidedly lower prices are just a couple of the good things about smaller shows in general. Cosy went with me -- it was so much fun to have someone along this time! It was a perfectly beautiful, sunny, hot day to walk around and inhale the fresh country air and fiber fumes. (Thank goodness, though, most of the vendors were indoors out of the sun, otherwise we may have melted!)

I managed to lug my good camera around with me all day and not take one picture. I'm pathetic. But I did take pictures of my goodies once I got home, so we'll go with those, 'kay?

After going to Maryland and being overwhelmed pretty quickly, I set two goals for my shopping at this fair: one, to buy fiber that I've not yet spun, and two, to buy fiber I could dye. (Dyeing is my next step into this world of fiber madness.) I met both of those goals. Yeay!

First the fibers I haven't spun yet...

Silk...oooooh! ahhhhh! Look at these colors!

Cashmere! I'm going to spin freakin' cashmere!

Camel!! This is soooo incredibly soft! I just want to pet it.

And then the fibers I'm planning to dye...

These are one pound bags of roving! One pound! On the left is a Sheltand/Romney cross and on the right, alpaca. (Which I've also never spun, so it meets two goals!) While they are both colored fibers, I've been assured they will overdye nicely. I also bought some smaller bundles of white wool for dyeing...not recalling what they are at the moment, but just imagine white piles of fluff. That's them.

I can't wait to learn how to dye. I have a goal to eventually (maybe?) open an Etsy shop with hand-dyed fiber and possibly my handspun yarn, too. We'll see. It's a distant dream. Must go one step at a time.

Aside from meeting these two goals, I also got to meet Chris from Briar Rose Fibers! That was very exciting...she's such a lovely lady. I've purchased fiber from her online shop several times now, and the fact that she was going to be at this show was one of the reasons I decided to go. So, of course, having all her goodies in front of me, I had to buy some!

These two balls are Cormo...(which I've also not spun yet, so, goal!)...

...and these two are merino. Part of my rationalization for buying these is that Chris doesn't carry either of them in her online shop. She only carries BFL online. So this was a show-only chance to get some other wools in her beautiful colorways. Happiness! :)

Have you noticed how well I did in not buying any yarn at this show? I was sooooo good. No yarn! None! That is...no yarn until I came to the booth that had a little basket of this by the register...

Qiviut!!! I've never found qiviut anywhere before! I should have put something in the picture with it to give you an idea of scale, because baby, this is one small ball of yarn! It's a little over 200 yards, but it is only the size of a small apple. Or a tennis ball. It's a luxury yarn, that's for sure. This isn't pure qiviut, but a blend with merino and silk (45%/45%/10%). It is incredibly soft and cost more than I'd ever spend on 200 yards of yarn on any other day. But I couldn't pass it up because who knows when I might find it again? I see a lovely qiviut cowl in my future for next winter.

Lastly, these...

...I'm a sucker for pewter buttons. Love 'em!

Ok...that's it for the GLFS round up! I have more I was going to post -- some spinning stuff and knitting stuff and gardening stuff -- but I'll save that for tomorrow. I'll just leave you with this...

Nigel hopes everyone had a happy and safe Memorial Day weekend, and he thanks those who gave their lives defending our freedom.

(And he wanted me to add that the dead thing in front of him? It is actually gone now! He's so relieved!)

Maryland Sheep & Wool

The Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival is taking place this weekend at the Howard County Fairgrounds in West Friendship, MD. One of my fiber-related goals has been to go to a fiber festival. Rhinebeck is my big fiber festival dream, but Maryland is much closer (three and a half hour drive versus seven hours...day trip versus weekend committment). Having traveled so much lately, I was on the fence about whether or not to go. I set my alarm Friday night and figured I'd just see how the spirit moved me on Saturday morning when it woke me up at too-early-o'clock. As it happened, I was totally in the mood to go, and I'm so glad I did. It was a wonderfully fun day!

Almost exactly three and a half hours after I left the house, I pulled off I-70 and into the big parking field for the fairgrounds...welcome to my first ever fiber festival! Yeay! The forecast had been calling for rain off and on all day, but thankfully it never came (though it had clearly rained before I got there, things were a little muddy in spots), and the temperature was perfect for walking around at this kind of event, not too hot, not too cold.

Some of the many sheep at the festival...check out the dude in the middle. He's got four horns! At first I thought he must be some freaky anomaly of a sheep, then I found out that he is a Jacob sheep, and they can actually have as many as six horns! That's pretty neat! My sheep pictures are a little dim because I turned the flash off...figured it wasn't necessary to blind the poor critters!

I've been going to county fairs and tractor shows for much of my life and I found that, for the most part, a fiber festival is quite similar, just sheep and fiber specific. There were buildings full of sheep in pens, there were sheep judging events and demos for sheep herding and shearing. Just sheep, sheep, sheep! Then on the wool end, there were buildings full of yarn and roving and spinning wheels and looms and myriad other sheep/knitting/weaving/spinning/etc. related items. That included food -- lamb kababs, lamb burgers, lamb cream cones (ok, I made that one up!). I personally enjoyed the best lamb gyro I've ever had. And a funnel cake, which had no lamb in it as far as I could tell.

In addition to sheep, there were a couple of small pens of other fiber-bearing animals, such as...


...goats! Don't they just look like little toys? The kind that you'd see on a wheeled platform that a child could pull by a string? They were adorable! And there were...

...bunnies! Seriously, these three were up for sale, and I was so dang tempted to bring them home. They are Lionhead rabbits and they were just too cute. But I resisted and left them there and brought home some tomato plants instead. LOL (The farm that had the rabbits there, though, is only an hour from my house, so I figure if I really want to pursue the rabbit business, it wouldn't be that hard.)

And then there were these little guys...

...alpacas! Alpaci? Hm...anyway...they just looked soft enough to squeeze, though I did not. I'm not sure if they were for sale, but I'm certain one would not have fit well in my car, so...moot point, eh? LOL

Between looking at the animals and going through the vendor booths, I also got to watch some demonstrations including a sheep dog demo...

...I love watching sheep dogs work. It amazes me how they can be trained to do such a variety of things to get the sheep to do what the shepherd wants. And the dogs don't bark at the sheep, nor did I see them nip at them. It's all in their movement. Pretty amazing. (Have you seen the LED sheep video? That's a pretty cool example of just what a sheep dog can do...and what shepherds with crazy amounts of creativity can accomplish.)

And I also caught part of a sheep shearing demo...

I ran into a friend, Pat, and her husband who live near me, and they have a small flock of sheep. Pat was telling me that this shearer, Kevin Ford, is like THE major sheep shearing guy in the business. (Maybe like Tiger Woods to golf, or Dale Earnhardt to racing, this guy is to sheep-shearing.) He hand shears, using hand blades instead of electric equipment (which makes me wonder if that is how we got the word "shears" when referring to certain scissors?). He sure moved smoothly and had control of that sheep. It was pretty interesting to watch.

Another fun aspect of the day was the people. Honestly, for going to something alone, I was surprised by how many people I ran into that I knew. In addition to my friend Pat, I ran into Deb (who I've known for years through an online writer's group we were both part of, and we recently reconnected on Facebook), and I ran into a few people who'd been at the Spring Fling last weekend -- Lou, Carrie and Lyn. Also from Spring Fling, I ran into Anne Hanson, who not only remembered me but gave me a hug and introduced me to her husband David. I believe David is kind of a celebrity in his own right due to being featured in a lot of Anne's knitting photos on her blog, so it was fun to get meet him.

I also got to say hi to Sharon from Three Irish Girls...Cloverhill Yarn Shop had some of her yarn at their booth and she was there when I first got there. Her yarn was going fast, but I managed to scoop up a skein of superwash merino in her Maureen colorway, which will be perfect for my last afghan swap square I need to make.

Ravelry had a meet-up at noon at the Rabbit Building, and while I hoped to run into a couple other people who I knew were going to be there, I instead ran into Lolly. She looks exactly like her pictures on her blog, and I had one of those weird moments when you see someone whose face you've seen a lot but then you realize you don't actually know them nor they you. It's good to remember that before you have the impulse to run up to them and give them a hug. LOL As it was, I just introduced myself and told her how much I enjoy her blog and then I let her return to her group of friends that I'd kind of butted into. :}

I also was excited to get to see Laura Chau (cosmicpluto) and Ysolda, and was the total groupie with them and asked to take their picture...

...aren't they just the cutest? And just when I thought I wasn't going to get to meet her, I finally found Amy Singer -- yes, THE Amy Singer of Knitty! -- at Jennie the Potter's booth...


...she was just so nice! She gave me one of her new little Knitty shwag buttons and we chatted a bit about the drop spindle I bought from one of her destashes one time, and how I might have more success with it since I still feel woefully inadequate as a drop spindler.

There was also music to enjoy throughout the day. This group, at the actual music tent, was wonderful...

...I assume they are a family, as the kids looked very much alike. They played wonderful bluegrass music, and of the three seated kids, the girl on the left with the guitar and the boy on the right with the fiddle sang, and they had the most wonderful harmony. I am also so in awe (and just a little jealous! LOL) of people with this kind of talent.

Then, not at the designated music tent but hanging out by a big propane tank between two buildings, there was this group of guys...

...I have no idea if they are an actual group of if they are just a bunch of guys who are friends and like to play music (I kind of think they were the latter), but oh my, they could play! More bluegrass, which was fun (I don't so much like much country music, but I do enjoy bluegrass, especially the instrumental variety). One of them would suggest a song and start playing it and then the rest would start joining in. What was especially fun was watching the little kids who would come by with their parents...I love watching children react to music. They usually do either one of two things: they stand and watch with very serious expressions on their faces, intent on watching what the fingers of the musicians are doing to the instruments to make them play, or else they dance...they just let themselves feel the music and move their legs and bodies and heads in time to the tune, totally oblivious to anyone else around. I saw both reactions yesterday, and it was just joyful to watch.

Lastly, of all the people I saw yesterday, this guy was one of the most interesting, for a variety of reasons...

...this is the Kilt Guy. (I have his business card somewhere with his real name...will have to add that later.) He was standing outside one of the vendor buildings, and I saw him at a distance and noticed the kilt (hard to miss, as this was not really a kilt-wearing crowd, unlike some Celtic music events I've been to where kilts are de rigeur). Then I noticed the fabric of the kilt, so I went up to him and asked, "Is that leather??" (and my brain was also saying, "Yowza!") and he said it was. And I said, "That is just so cool! I've never seen a leather kilt!" (and my brain was saying, "Dude, you are totally hot!") And he then went on to explain that he makes these kilts and unlike some other leather kilts that are on the market and are of a heavier, biker-type leather, his are made from a lighter, softer leather...and he was fingering the flap of the kilt to demonstrate the softness. I did not ask if I could feel his flap (my brain was alert enough to know that a) that might be an invasion of personal space and b) I might give in to the temptation to pull that flap back and see what men REALLY wear under their kilts! AHAHAHahaha...ahem...sorry...I'm 12, ok?), though I imagine he may well have been fine with that. He did turn around to show me the kilt's lace-up feature in the back, which made it adjustable for a comfortable fit (and my brain just kind of melted at that point...besides looking good in the kilt, the guy has amazingly beautiful butt-long hair...oh my...). Managing not to make an ass out of myself, I did ask if I could take his picture (though I did not ask if I could have my picture taken WITH him, which just seemed like it might be a tad inappropriate, LOL). He was quite kind and seemed happy for me to take his picture. I hope he has good luck with his leather kilt-making business, because he was so hot very nice.*

Ok...so, um...what was I talking about? Oh yeah...sheep, and fiber...um...and yes, yarny things. I did make several purchases, but I think I'll save that part of the recap for another day since this post is so long already. And I need to go fan myself for a bit. Leather is so...hot... ;)

*Ok...really apropos of nothing else in this post, my kilt guy thoughts are totally reminding me of The Pink Panter movie, where Steve Martin is Inspector Clouseau and he and his sidekick Ponton are supposed to be interviewing the singer, Xanya, about the murder of her boyfriend and seemingly simultaneous disappearance of the Pink Panther diamond. Ponton keeps asking Xania these normal, police-like questions when Martin's character finally says (in his crazy French accent), "Zstop brow-beating ere! Can't you zee zshe'z SEXY??" Just cracks me up. :}

Spring Fling Recap

Ok, so it's taken me three days to get around to posting a Fling recap. I've been in recoup and re-entry mode. This traveling thing...seems so fun and glamorous when you're planning it, but then you actually do it and have to deal with the reality of going away and coming home again to real life! It's true...I usually need a vacation from my vacation!

But enough of that...how was Fling, you're wondering? Well, it was great! I didn't go last year, and I've never been to any other knitting retreat event, so I had really no preconceived notions of what it would be like. In fact, to be honest, I signed up for it on a whim, knowing that only a limited number of people's names got picked in the lottery for it, thus I figured I probably wouldn't get it. When I did get picked as one of the lucky 100, I figured it was meant to be and I was just open to whatever that turned out to entail, including me spending three days with 99 strangers, one of which would end up being my roommate!

I needn't worried. With only one very odd and bizarre exception (and I won't bother going into it because it was just so random that I'm sure there was probably a good explanation for it), everyone I met at Fling was lovely! Knitters generally are anyway, right? Everyone was there to have fun and knit and it was great. My roommate and I actually paired up via the Ravelry Spring Fling board beforehand, so it wasn't a complete surprise.


Janice and I could not have been better suited. We ended up having so much in common, and we talked and laughed late into the night the whole weekend. Totally wish we lived a little closer to each other so we could meet up in person more often!

And now is when I have to admit: I was terrible about taking pictures. I had my camera with me all weekend, and it turned out that I took TWO pictures the whole time. Sad, I know. The one of Janice and I above would be one of them. The other would be one of Cookie A. during her Sock Innovations class on Friday morning...


Here she is explaining the mathematical madness of "cable suckage" -- the phenomenon of losing width due to the stitch crossover in cable patterns. I'd read much of her new book before going, so the concepts she talked about weren't completely new to me, but it was interesting. This was a design class, and while I have no illusions of being able to design socks as fabulous as hers, I was encouraged to realize that my design process, while different than hers, uses many of the same ideas. So I feel like I'm doing something right.

On Friday afternoon, I took Wendy's class on toes and heels for toe-up socks. I've never done a toe-up sock, but I now know how to do Judy's magic cast on and a slip-stitch heel going in the opposite direction that I'm used to, so I'm all set to give it a try. Wendy also has a new book out, so I'll likely try one of those patterns. I have to say, Wendy is a hoot...great sense of humor and a wonderful teacher.

Saturday morning was my opportunity to go shopping at yarn mecca, er, Loopy Central. (This event is organized by Sheri of The Loopy Ewe fame.) Oh. My. Gosh. It was amazing! What a wonderful store! If only all LYS's could be like TLE! And to think TLE is mainly an online store, with very limited in-person shopping hours. Anyway, I mainly study to buying roving, and I found some absolutely gorgeous stuff (from Scarlet Fleece and Yarn Love)...I did take pictures of that, but they are on my phone, and I have no yet figured out how to get them off. So, they'll be coming later. LOL I picked up a bunch of patterns as well, and of course a few skeins of yarn hopped in my bag as well. I just couldn't help it. All told, though, I stayed right at my budget for what I planned to spend there, and I paid cash, so I felt mighty virtuous about it all.

Saturday afternoon was my final class, advanced lace, and it was with Anne Hanson. Can I just say Anne Hanson is my #1 knitting & designing idol? She is amazing. Her work astounds me. If there was ever a knitting celeb I was going to stalk, it would be her (but of course I WOULD NEVER stalk a knitting celeb! That would be creepy, right??). In fact, I was so worried that upon meeting her, I was going to start to babble endlessly about how much I loved her work and her blog and thought she was totally cool and her husband has great hair and I want to be her new best friend that I actually avoided her all weekend until her class. LOL Seriously. I saw her throughout the weekend and I could have gone up and introduced myself, but I was certain I would suddenly be crazy and stupid that it would prompt her to back away from me while frantically feeling around her knitting bag for her pepper spray...so I just didn't. I observed her from afar. (Even that sounds creepy! It's not like I had binoculars though, ok? Sheesh!)

Anyway, her class was great, and I now feel equipped to tackle an actual knitted lace pattern like her Bee Fields shawl. After class ended, I did have the chance to introduce myself (and she seemed to remember me from comments I'd left on her blog), and I took the opportunity to show her my Rivolo scarf, remember the one I made last winter out of some of my first handspun yarn? She was so nice about it and liked it enough to take a picture of me with it on and she even posted it on her blog! (OMGI'monAnneHanson'sblog!!! Howcoolisthat???) Apparently I was perfectly normal and not scary to her as she even sat near me that night during free time in the lounge.

(Anne, if you read this, seriously...I'm a normal person...really...I just think you are cool and awesome and really enjoyed getting to meet you!)

The rest of the weekend was largely spent knitting in the lounge and eating. And eating. And eating some more. And did I mention the eating? Holy cow, Sheri made sure we were fed well at all times, and though dinners were on our own, there were so many good restaurants right there that you just could not go hungry!

Oh, yeah, the knitting...I managed to actually finish a few things while I was away! I finished the first sock of a pair I'm designing, which I started when I was in Florida...it's working name is Brickle...

It's made of Regia Bamboo, and while I like how the texture works with the color, I think I'm going to make the pattern out of a semi-solid before committing to publishing it.

I also started and finished these You Snag mitts for the girlie out of Austermann Step...


Aren't they fun??

And since I've been home, I've started this...


It's the Dream in Color Shrug, the pattern for which I picked up at TLE. I've been seeing this pattern around and it looks so nice, so I wanted one for me. However, upon getting home, the girlie saw it and said she'd like it, so this one is for her. The yarn is Three Irish Girls Elenya (a merino/alpaca blend) in the Aiden colorway. I've had the yarn for a while and this is a perfect project for it. I absolutely love how the colors are playing out in it! They are fantastic! I'm about half done...it's a very quick knit and easy pattern to memorize.

Ok...there is probably a whole lot more I could say about Fling, but these are the highlights. Mainly: it was great! Would love to do it again! :)

Checking in from Spring Fling!

Coming to you, LIVE, from St. Louis! :)

I arrived yesterday and immediately got into the groove of Fling...meeting my fellow Flingers, eating cupcakes, eating Mexican for dinner (complete with margarita, of course) and eating dessert. Are you noting a theme? Uh, yeah. Lots o' eating going on. Hm.

Today was our first full day...I had two classes today, one with Cookie A. and one with Wendy. Cookie's class was a sock design class based on her new Sock Innovations book. It was interesting, though I'm tend to go about things more organically/intuitively when I design and use less of the math that Cookie was showing us, though I think I end up with similar results. It was good to confirm that at least how I do things makes sense, even if it isn't the exact same process. Wendy's class was heels & toes for toe-up socks, which was really good...I've never done a sock toe-up before, so it was great to learn the different cast ons and how to do a slipped stitch heel going in that direction. Wendy's got a great sense of humor, too...fun class!

Tomorrow I get to start my day off with an in-person shopping trip to Loopy Central (woohoo!) and then my last class will be in the afternoon, Anne Hanson's Advanced Lace class...I so cannot wait for that!

But now, I'm off to my room to grab some knitting and head down to the lounge for some social time. More later!

St. Louis-bound...

With barely a week behind my Florida trip, I'm gearing up for The Loopy Ewe's Spring Fling in St. Louis this weekend. I have never been to St. Louis before, nor have I been to a knitting retreat before. Should be great fun! I'll be taking classes with three incredible knit designers: Cookie A., Wendy Johnson and Anne Hanson. How cool is that?! I'm giddy just thinking about being in the presence of their knitterly awesomeness! I'll also get to enjoy shopping in person at The Loopy Ewe and hang with a bunch of other cool knitters, all without having to stop and make dinner or do laundry! I soooo cannot wait! 

Lots to do between now and the airport on Thursday...not sure I'll be around much between now and then. I'll be sure to post a recap of the weekend once I return, though! Promise! :)

What I Did on My Easter Vacation...

Photo-heavy post...ye be warned...

Easter in Florida...there are worse things, lemme tell ya!

So...we went to the beach...

...this is as much sun-bathing as my hubby does, but at least he wasn't twitching. Much. ;) (He's just not a beach guy.)

We went out to eat (a lot) and had really good seafood...here's my mom and me...

...for the record, we are freezing our collective arses off in this picture! We were out on the deck of the restaurant, and it was freakin' windy, and we were in the shade! But, good fish and a few rum and cokes and you're willing to put up with a little hypothermia!

We went and walked beneath the pier at Fort Clinch, always a lovely time, and managed to get a reasonable family picture that will serve as proof that we actually took a family vacation that included all four of us...


Fort Clinch is an excellent place to find really nice shells. I happened upon a lovely conch shell and went to pick it up, only to have it try to pick back at me...

Ooops! So sorry! Didn't know you were in there!

Scared the bejeebers out of me! (I put him back!)

And of course, there was knitting. On the way down, I finished this afghan square for the swap I'm in (just two more squares to make! I did start the next one, but no picture of that yet)...I am so loving the mitred square. It is awesome!


I also got over half of this pencil pouch done on the way down, and I finished it on the ride home...

It's a WendyKnits pattern that I knit for the April Spring Fling KAL (the pouches are being donated to HELPSudan).

Took along some Regia bamboo that has been in my stash for some time and started a new sock, totally winging the pattern, which admittedly doesn't show up that well in the colored yarn, but I think it will look cool on a solid or semi-solid sock at some point. Still, gives it some nice texture, as the bamboo yarn is really very smooth and soft.

Most excitedly, I finished up my Lemongrass bolero...


I'm sooooo happy with how it turned out!The Aurucania Pomaire was a great yarn for it, and it will make a nice little spring-into-summer sweater. Here's how it looks closed with a shawl pin...


Lastly, on Easter evening, after dinner, we walked the beach for a while. The girlie was being silly, jumping over the waves, and I was trying to capture her in mid-air. And then THIS happened...


Whoops!!! Salt water + electronic devices = not good. :( On the up side, I was impressed that it took exactly one year for either of my kids to destroy their phones. (They got them for Easter last year.)

Happy Easter!

Just wanted to pop in with some Easter greetings before the day was over. So, hope you're enjoying your day of chocolate bunnies, jelly beans and time with family and/or friends. :)

We're still in Florida...it's our last day. (Sad!) It's been a nice trip...very laid back, no big rush to do anything, which is nice. I woke up with a cold the first morning we were here (blah!), and while I've felt sort of under the weather most of the time until today, it hasn't been so bad that I haven't been able to enjoy our visit. 

We've been to the beach every day except today (though I'm hoping for an after-dinner drive to walk on the beach and say goodbye to the Atlantic), and we've spent lots of time together, playing games (my mom and step-dad are total Wii fanatics, so the kids have been having fun doing that with them!), eating out (shrimp salald! fresh fish! mmm!), and laughing. And of course I've been knitting (more on that -- with pictures -- once I get home) and reading...I started and finished the first of Charlaine Harris' vampire series, Dead Until Dark. OMG! What a fun book! I can't wait to read the next one (which neither of the local bookstores here have in stock, darn it!). 

Ok...almost time for dinner...my step-dad's famous baby back ribs and potato salad. Does it get any better?

Happy Easter! :)

Florida minus one...

There is SNOW on the ground today. SNOW. It is April 7th, people! Granted, it is Pittsburgh and it is not unheard of for there to be snow on Easter in April here in the 'burgh. When the kids were little, it used to make dressing the kids in their cute Easter shorts and sundresses a bit difficult without covering the cuteness with snow gear. We had the same problem with cute Halloween costumes some years, too. October to April, snow is possible. It's nuts.

Anyway...snow. 

Did I mention we leave for Florida tomorrow? Thank GOD!

I'm actually feeling rather ahead of the game for this trip. The packing is mostly done. I still need to gather knitting projects, but that's the fun part of packing. I need to do some tidying around the house, and I'm planning to go to the gym tonight since I'll miss for a whole week. (I skipped last night...besides feeling overly tired from a poor night's sleep the night before, it was SNOWING, and I couldn't bring myself to go out in it.) And with any luck, I'll get to bed early so we can be on the road at ungodly o'clock.

Sunshine and warmth...here I come! :)

 

Slow down, please...

Ok, this week? She is just flying by. If she could just slow down so I could get more things accomplished, that'd be great.

So, a brief report on my week, bullet point style...

• The UTI is under control...woohoo! I'm feeling way better, and I'm back to the gym! Hated missing Sat. and Mon.

• I'm still trying to finish purging my clothes. I get so far into the process, have to stop and never get to finish. Which means that for three days in a row I end up with sorted piles on my bed, which I then have to move so we can go to sleep, just to do it again the next day. Later, rinse, repeat. Argh.

• I'm dangerously close to being in paper work hell again. I need ONE DAY to just do nothing but get caught up on paper work. The problem? I do not HAVE one day to devote to paper work. I do not seem to have one day to devote to cleaning my house, either, hence it is rather sty-like at the moment.  Gah.

• Despite not having time for paper work or cleaning, I do manage to have time for the more important things in life, like SPINNING and KNITTING! Priorities, people!

• I went to Cosy's house today for a spinning lesson to help broaden my spinning abilities. 'Twas fun, and I got a lot of my spinning questions answered. And I now know the difference between spinning woolen vs. worsted. Among other things, I learned that a) my default spinning mode is worsted and b) I spin left-handed, which is kind of weird because I am right-handed. 

• Have you checked out the WIP progress bars over there to the right? Hey! I was down to only SIX WIPs! Can you believe it? Then I went and cast on the Lemongrass Bolero last night, because I saw a picture of it that someone in one of my Rav groups made, and I instantly and immediately had to start one for myself. I'm doing mine in Arucania Pomaire, a cotton, so it seems I'm phasing into my warmer weather knitting. This does not bode well for getting Cosima finished anytime soon. :P

• And speaking of warmer weather...two weeks until we leave for Florida! Yeay! The travel plans for this trip have been a freakin' headache. I won't bore you with the details. Suffice it to say that despite my best attempts to fine reasonable airfares so we could fly, that ain't happening. So, we'll be driving. Fifteen hours each way. I'm trying to think of all the knitting time I'll have, because Kevin will, no doubt, want to do most of the driving. So, um, yeay. Lots of car knitting time. Hopefully we all make it there without killing one another. (Honestly? I do road trips with the kids all the time, no problem. But adding Kevin adds a whole other dimension. He is not a relaxed traveler, and knowing that stresses me out because I try to make our family travel -- as infrequent as it is -- have the least impact on him as possible. But there isn't much I can do about 15 hours in the car with two kids in the back seat, you know? I think our kids are good car travelers...but then I'm really good at tuning them out when they get wound up. Kevin? Not so much.)

Warning: Pictures Ahead...

A fair few, to boot. So sit back with your favorite beverage in hand and allow me to take you on a leisurely stroll through this past weekend. And just a head's up: if you aren't into American history, scroll to the end of the post because there are indeed some fiber-y and FO-related pictures down there.

Ok...we begin our tour at Mount Vernon, home of George and Martha Washington (the US's first president and first lady, for those of you in other non-US locales), located on the lovely Potomac River just south of Washington, D.C. Kevin and I drove down Saturday morning, and we arrived around noon-ish. It wasn't the brightest of days, but the rain didn't start in full until after we were mostly done walking around, so I can't complain too much.

George and family were on hand to greet us when we arrived...


I assume these are meant to be life-sized statues. However, I'm 5' 4" and according to one guide, Martha was only 4' 11". She's bent over a bit in this statue and is still nearly as tall as me. I don't remember...maybe the statues were on some sort of plinth that added height. Anyway...

We watched the introductory video about Mount Vernon that was narrated by Alex Trebec, which I found an odd choice of Mount Vernon spokesperson, but whatever. From all of our Founding Fathers studies that we did last school year, I have to say that the video was really a very accurate account of many George Washington hightlights. Accuracy. I like that in a history-related experience, and it isn't always guranteed.

From there, we wandered about and I soon realized that Mount Vernon is lousy with sheep. There were sheep at every turn! How cool is that?

At one point, we actually stumbled upon this little guy...

...who had literally just been born moments before. (Not so clear in the picture, but the umbilical cord is still hanging out the back of Mom. LOL)

With so many sheep around, its no wonder they needed this...


...the spinning room! There was also a huge floor loom in this room, but I wasn't able to get a very good picture of it. Still...cool! :)

The line to wait to get in to tour the actual house was a bit lengthy, about a 45 minute wait in the drizzle, with me hiding my camera under my jacket to try and keep it dry. (It was at this point Kevin and I were most glad to have come without the kids, lest we be hearing, "I'm cold!" "How much longer?" "Are we almost done?" and other general whining.) Pictures were not allowed inside the house itself, so I snapped a few from the outside.

Here's the house from the end of the bowling green...

(I posed the question to my husband as to why it is known as a bowling green...he didn't know...I guessed it was because they would play lawn bowling there, and he rolled his eyes clearly indicating he thought I was silly. Well, according to Wikipedia, that is EXACTLY why it was named that! And what's more, before the lawn mower was invented, sheep used to be grazed on it in order to keep it closely trimmed. So there! I was right, AND sheep were involved!)

(Also...in case Cheryl is looking at this picture above and wondering, yes, I did Photoshop something out of it! LOL)

The house features a cupola...

...which I think is pretty neat. I could imagine looking up and seeing ol' George standing up there, looking out over the Potomac behind the house, or watching the sheep bowl on the front lawn...ahem...

The view from behind the house...spectacular!

I could so sit out on the back porch and sip my morning coffee whilst drinking in this vista, couldn't you? Apparently so could over 600 people in one year, which was how many guests the Washingtons are reported to have played host to at one point. No wonder they had their own private quarters!

We visited the museum last, after warming up and getting a bite of lunch in the food court. Standing around in the damp so much was wearing on us, so Kevin wasn't much in the mood for posing too animatedly with our original Commander-in-Chief, but he humored me nonetheless...

I told him I needed photographic evidence that he actually went on this trip with me. LOL

Those were Saturday's highlights. I'll spare you the gory details that were involved in both finding our Annapolis hotel that evening as welll as being assigned a room that a) did not have a family of ants in the bathroom and b) that did have a working heater. We did, however, score an excellent crab-oriented dinner at Mike's Crab House...totally hopping place. Gotta love fresh seafood.

Sunday dawned just as rainy as Saturday had been, but thankfully the Homespun Yarn Party was indoors. ;) It was also packed! We arrived right before noon, when it opened (and yes, I said "we," as Kevin was going to just walk through it with me as he had nothing else to do), and there was a line of close to 200 people serpentining around, waiting to get in. My dear husband's words? "You've GOT to be KIDDING!" Not that there was a line, per se, but that there was a line of this many people waiting to get into a yarn event. Poor guy just has no idea how many of us there are. LOL

At that point, he opted to take his chances in the rain and wander around outside while I enjoyed the yarn and braved the crowds. It was lovely. Lots of very nice stuff. I was only going to buy roving, but you know how that goes. Yarn at these things just reaches out and grabs you and won't let you leave without it.


The two on the left are Vesper sock yarns from Knitterly Things from right up here in Pittsburgh (the red, black and gray one being for socks for my son, as he loves those colors...the colorway? "Hell Fire." LOL). The pink and orange is Sock Hop sock yarn by Dancing Leaf Farm in Barnesville, MD. And the blue colorway (Poseiden's Revenge, I think?), is some cashmere and silk Gaia lace from Dragonfly Fibers, who shared a booth with The Sanguine Gryphon (who is just too cute!).

And of course...fiber...


The first is a Crash into Ewe roving, colorway Bed of Roses. It is a Merino/Targhee/and something else blend...I'll have to double check on that!

The middle one is unlabled so I have no idea what colorway it is, but it is from Three Irish Girls. I've often wished TIG sold roving, so it was awesome to find some at the show! I've bought from TIG online a couple of times, so it was nice to meet Sharon -- and absolute doll when it comes to customer service! -- in person! I meant to get back to her booth and pick up a skein of one of her new colorways she was sneak previewing there, but her booth was always very busy when I went by, so I never got to do so. Bummer. :( (I believe she is officially unveiling her spring line of new colors tomorrow, though, so check it out!)

The two on the right are from Serendipitous Ewe, Happenstance Roving, South African Wool, in the Tulip colorway. I saw some yarn there also in this colorway...very pretty! Nice springy colors. :)

I bought two other things at the show as well, but they are for a swap partner, so I can't show them to you here! But they're yummy! :)

Lastly, the fruits of my many hours of car and hotel knitting this weekend! First, a FINISHED Februarly Lady Sweater!


Yes! Look at those sleeves! Note the length! Yes! They are about the same exact freakin' length as shown on the pattern. The same length I've been fighting for over SIX MONTHS. And guess what? The length is perfect. I am stupid. But at least I have a finished sweater that fits wonderfully and is light enough that I can still get some wear out of this year. Wore it today, in fact. Perfect!

Lastly...


...my first finished Monkey sock. Looks lovely, no? Yep. Does it fit my foot? No. No it does not. It is exactly 3/4" too short. That is about how long one pattern repeat is. And I measured it and thought, "No, I can't do one more repeat or I'll need to do toe decreases within it and gawd I don't want to do THAT." Of course, this was me measuring the sock in the car on my lap, after I knit it in the car and in line waiting to get into the HYP and then in the car again. I should know better. Again...I am an idiot. My plan is to knit sock #2 then go back and rip the toe out of #1, do another repeat and redo the toe. Damn. :::sigh:::

I also made significant progress on my 2nd Blackberry Jam sock. No pictures of that. But all in all, a very good knitting weekend!