Because most everyone was from Missouri, there was a six-degrees-of-separation thing going on. Your lunch mate knows someone who knows someone who you know kind of thing.  Classes are held cheek by jowl in one room — the same room where meals are served. The vendor market is next door and there isn’t an inch of wasted space. It’s small, not more than 20 sellers but the quality and variety are good, especially if you’re a spinner. If the vendor isn’t around, she’s probably teaching a class or grabbing a bite to eat. If you can find her in the crowd and wave money in the air you’re all set.

There’s a waiting list for new vendor spots and many of the students seemed to take pride is saying that this was their third, fourth or fifth year, all signs of a can’t-miss event.

I bought some stuff — lavender bunny fiber! I took 3 classes — oooh, pretty dyed yarn — and ate too much junk food. Pictures next time.

And I won a drum carder. It took 2 five-dollar bills and 12 raffle tickets and I never dreamed when I left here Friday that I’d be doubling the value of my spinning tools by Sunday. It’s still all wrapped up and I won’t be able to get it functioning for a day or two but soon.

Love new toys.

Hope this is coherent, I’m yawning so much I can’t see to type. Of course work kicked my butt today and there’s an early morning potential crisis to prepare for, so it’s time to collect the cats from various corners and head to bed.

Sleep tight, chickadees.

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Posted from WordPress for Android

So I got a postcard in the mail on Friday which I’ve been waiting for forever. Sort of like Charlie Brown checking the mailbox looking for the Valentine from the little red-haired girl.

This is better than a Valentine, this is my registration to Fiber Retreat 2011!!!! I got my first choices: a silk-spinning class, a dye class and a worsted/woolen spinning class.

Although I may be in over my head with the last one since I just noticed it’s an intermediate class and calls for things like hand cards, flicker brushes and a lap cloth, none of which I own/have ever used. And oil. Just what they mean by “oil” is up in the air. Are we talking massage oil, WD-40, canola oil, olive oil, mineral oil or any of the other half-dozen versions scattered around the house? And how much oil? A drop, a cup or do you think half a gallon will be enough?

So all you spinners out there, give this newbie some clue please as to what I should buy for cards/brushes/oil so I don’t completely disgrace myself.

Since this is sponsored by our university extension service, the whole weekend is incredibly inexpensive. Oh, OK, let’s just say it, it’s downright cheap. Some friends and I are sharing rooms and the cost for the registration includes meals. The most expensive part of the weekend will be the market. Nothing new there.

In any case, I’m looking forward to a couple days away immersed in fiber fumes. It’s been a while since I’ve taken fiber classes of any kind and I hadn’t realized how much I miss it. Here’s hoping the woodworker doesn’t forget to feed the cats while I’m gone.

March can’t come soon enough. Le sigh.

Ten ways to Lighten My Mood. Are you insinuating I’m cranky???!!!!?

1. Plant sunflowers in your garden.
2. Go out to lunch with a friend.
3. Change the routine. We all need a little variety. So that would be peanut butter on the English muffin instead of jam.
4. Spend time puttering in the garden. As long as there are no aphids. Bastids.
5. Read an entertaining book. Fiction is best, although I just read Laurie Hertzel’s memoir News to Me: Adventures of an Accidental Journalist about growing up in the newspaper business and loved it.
6. Soak up some Vitamin D from the sun. Definitely need sun.
7. Get rid of that one thing that’s been nagging you because it’s not done, needs work, is a mess or is a constant irritation (We’re not talking husbands here, people. Stop it.) Throw that project in the trash and stop feeling guilty about it. You’ll feel so much better.
8. Clean something. It works to have my space tidy and organized. Because mostly it’s not. So when I get it organized I give myself a pat on the back.
9. I generally don’t eat to make myself feel better, but if I did it would be coffee ice cream in the summer and a baked potato with lots of butter and cheese in the winter.
10. Move. Go for a walk, a bike ride, stretch, do yoga, whatever it takes to get those endorphins flowing.

Go see Carole for more ideas.

~

Life is busy, busy, busy. I got approached to host a get-together for a local political candidate and turned that down only to get sucked into working for the campaign. Should have seen that one coming.

There’s been very little time to play with the Ladybug so the bonding process is slow. She’s beginning to grow on me but so far I haven’t been tempted to name her. Either she doesn’t need a name or Bug will have to do.

The garden is sort of winding down for the year. There’s not  a lot to do except water occasionally and watch things grow. And attack aphids. I’ve planted fall crops of carrots, spinach, beets and Swiss Chard so hopefully we’ll get a harvest of some sort later this year. The straw bales are decomposing nicely. While straw may make good compost, as a growing medium my considered opinion is that it sucks. Or maybe I’m just a lousy gardener.

/sigh

Next year.

She followed me home, can I keep her?

I finally took the plunge and bought a spinning wheel. It wasn’t the one I thought I was going to buy, and it wasn’t the one that I really wanted but the Ladybug will do for a first wheel.

I almost got blindsided when I set aside my prejudices and tried a Saxony-style wheel (Ashford’s Elizabeth) and fell in love. The fact that I’d have to rearrange the whole living room to fit her in kept me from justifying the purchase.  I can’t guarantee what will happen next time I’m wheel shopping though. Who needs a couch anyway.

Sunday Supper

Sunday supper was eaten in a restaurant this week. Jack has been visiting his daughter for several days and his flight arrived right around dinnertime. I had declared the house a no-cook zone while he was gone and couldn’t think of a good reason to change that ruling until tomorrow. The crying baby in the next booth almost made me regret we didn’t eat leftovers — until the warm brownie and ice cream arrived for dessert.Yum.

…

I think I may have alluded to the fact that I’m working again. It’s the same contract position at the same place as last year. This time there’s a possibility it may turn into something permanent so this assignment feels like a three-month job interview. On both sides. While the position would draw on my detail and organization skills, as a creative outlet it hardly registers on the satisfaction scale.

All the more reason to break out the fiber and book some spinning classes.

So, no guarantees, but a very real possibility that I’ll be among the permanently-employed next year. Needles crossed for me, OK?

So what’s on your plate these days?

In Tour de Fleece news, I’m still madly spinning, just not posting my progress. This is the 2-ounce bump of cormo from Strawberry Moon Fibers that I bought at Shepherd’s Harvest in Lake Elmo, MN in early May.

The spinning is rustic at best, veering from fingering to worsted weight and the plying is beginner’s stuff. Which actually fits the yarn or my plans for it just fine.

It wants to be a cowl and nothing fancy, just something to snuggle up with this winter on those cold walks. All those air pockets should make it  warm.

I spun it on the Guild’s Louet S10 and ended up with about 150 yards of 2-ply.

There’s more spinning to show, but as usual I find there aren’t enough hours to get everything done. I can spin or garden or knit or do paperwork or shop for shoes or take pictures or post to the blog or cook or read about weaving or process pictures or find my missing bra (never mind, found it) or think I’m having a heart attack, but it’s only indigestion or complain about the weather, but I can’t do it all (except for the complaining) in one day so I have to pick and choose. Hopefully more tomorrow…

~~

If you think you’ve had a bad week, see what Farmgirl Susan went through recently…her hunky farm guy got bit by a black widow spider, she tangled with a copperhead snake with nasty results and her beloved pet died, 1-2-3.

I guess I won’t complain about my single watermelon rotting in the garden.

That woman has guts.

~~

Sunday Supper

Actually I don’t know what supper will be, most likely something simple that doesn’t require slaving other a hot stove. I need to spend the day making pesto and some kind of dessert for the week and figure out what to do with a drawer of rhubarb and Swiss chard and an over abundance of potatoes.

But I can tell you about brunch. I wanted pancakes but we’re out of maple syrup (the horror!) so we ended up with breakfast burritos.

I heated up leftover brown rice, seasoned black beans and Cuban pulled pork from earlier this week. While that was reheating in the microwave I  scrambled eggs seasoned with onions and cumin, and served it all with cheese, lettuce, homegrown (just not mine) tomatoes and pico de gallo sauce. Make your own burritos rolled up in flour tortillas. There was strawberries and cantaloupe for fruit and Jack finished it off with orange scones; coffee for me (not fair, I know).

I still want pancakes. Sometimes the stomach wants what it wants.

So what are you having for Sunday supper?

Short and sweet today, I’m a little under the weather and need to go take a nap.

I’ve managed to spin everyday and it’s been delightful. Partly because the fiber is bright and cheerful and partly because a friend loaned me her Louet Victoria. Now I have two wheels in the house (the other is a Louet S10 from the Guild) so I’ve been comparing their action side by side.  I’m spinning some worsted weight coopworth on the S10 and it’s doing a good job with it. The Victoria is producing the closest thing to frog hair that I can manage. Pics in a day or two. In the meantime, have a good weekend and drink a glass of lemonade margarita for me!

If it’s July, then it’s time for the Tour de Fleece!

Time to get out those spinning wheels and spindles, raid the fiber stash and spin every day the Tour de France boys ride their bikes (and did you see all those crashes this morning? Oy!)

If you’re in to group activities and prizes, you can join a TdF team  on Ravelry. By posting pictures of your completed handspun in various threads you’re eligible to win beautimous prizes at the end of the tour. Just writing about this makes it seem all official and rulesy but it’s not. It’s a bunch of like-minded people having a virtual spinning bee.

Just spinning every day is a challenge for me, but I hope to be improved enough by the end of the month to have tackled some of the “special” fiber in my stash. I picked up the Guild rental wheel on Thursday, an older single treadle Louet S10 which is just now settling into its new home. I had a bias against single treadle wheels even though I’d never used one. Turns out, I sort of like it. At least until I got up this morning and found out my right hip wouldn’t go. Must remember to switch legs if I’m going to spin for long periods of time.

To bond with it, I spun this:

About 3.5 oz. of a generic wool. The spinning was done Thursday & Friday. The plying I did Saturday to kick off TdF. It’s been soaked, thwacked and dried and there’s about 100 yards sport to worsted weight two-ply.

I feel like I’m getting some control over my spinning, so decided to kick it up a notch and moved on to this bump:

2 ounces of cormo roving from Strawberry Moon Farms bought at Shepherd’s Harvest in Minnesota this spring. It looks like strawberries with just a hint of yellow in it. So far it’s spinning up to a light fingering/heavy lace weight and it’s a pleasure to work with.

Meanwhile, the poor Minimalist cardigan sits with just a fourth of a sleeve left to knit! I’m adding a challenge for July to get this finished.

But right now, it’s time for a nap.

Ciao chickadees. Hope your holiday is fun and sparkly!

I was very impressed with the organization and quality of the festival, especially since it’s an all-volunteer effort. A lot of work went into making it a success and we were glad we picked this one for our fiber fix for the year.

The downside, as often happens with these things, was the weather. While it didn’t rain, it was cold and damp. My second purchase of the day (after some lace weight yarn) was a pair of alpaca socks. I sat in the vendor’s booth and switched my athletic socks for the wool ones and the day immediately got warmer. Yes, of course I have wool socks, but not as thick or yummy as these. Before long we all had new wool socks, which probably saved the day. 

Gail and her new socks

(note felt balls on hat (made by Geri) which garnered many comments )

At lunch we passed on the vendors selling walleye chunks, popcorn and fudge, and had a picnic in the car with the heat turned up high until we thawed out.  Then we went back for Round Two.

I was sort of restrained in my purchases, meaning I came home with money left over and pretty much kept my credit cards in my wallet. I didn’t buy everything that called to me, but enough that I’ll have new yarn and fiber to play with for the rest of the year. I also bought my first support spindle, which will be fun to learn to use.

Geri in her festival-bought hat and me being a responsible blogger

Bunny in a bucket…

….next door to a three-day-old goat in a box

Cheese curds on the way to see the…

…buck-toothed llamas (loving the matching halters/scarves)

and clowning around at the end of the day

We’re considering our options for next year’s trip. The only thing we’ve settled on is it will be later in the year so it’ll be a little warmer.