theraineysisters knitting and so much more

At least for the time being.  Sally is off gettin’ book learnin’, so I’ll be your blogging hostess for the week — feel free to add something, Surly!

Last evening was the Knitters Guild meeting which I described in Sunday’s post.  We had a HUGE turn out which kind of surprised me because it was only advertised on the MKG website.  There had to be 100 people there, including two of my favorite knitting peeps, Kim and Mary (hi!).  Being a VP of the Knitters Guild is a highly glamorous position (I have the bruises to prove it): setting up the chairs and tables, hauling the boxes of books, etc.  But it was a great event.  I thought Amy was a wonderful speaker.  She spent most of her presentation describing the characteristics of many non-wool fibers and it was QUITE interesting.  Her slides were fabulous, and as a person who uses PowerPoint daily on the job, I was notably impressed!

Here is proof that my future as a photo-journalist is in serious jeopardy (she’s waving at me):

The picture I took of Amy herself is so blurry she cannot be recognized!  All in all it was great fun and a good excuse to hang out with a hundred of my favorite people.

 

I have not been knitting or blogging — due to illness!  Yesterday I came home from work early and was too sick to lift my head off the pillow — I was TOO SICK TO KNIT!!  Mark your calendars — that is one of the only days in recent memory that I did not knit a stitch.  I’m not feeling that perky today, but will try to muster a little knitting. 😉

PS — thanks for all your kind words.  I did manage to get a few rows in today!

Tonight was knit night, and it was quite fun.  I just love getting together with my peeps — what can I say? 

I did get dissed a bit, though — people accused me of abandoning “My Precious” (aka the Peacock Shawl).  Au contraire, mes amies.  The Peacock Shawl is meant to be savoured, like a fine wine.  And don’t forget that I ripped back to 2% and re-knitted to 8% in pretty good time!  The only problem with Peacock is that it takes enormous concentration for me and therefore all planets must align for me to do my “best work.” 

I have been getting a running start on my work sweater, and continue to move right along on the Mitered Tote.  I’ll post some pics soon.

Okay, tonight was the season finale and it was great!!  Wow!  They left just enough hanging, started some new things, and sent in a few unexpected zingers.  I will definitely watch it again tomorrow night to make sure I did not miss a word.  You are correct – I have no life ;).  I think that became crystal clear when I wrote my 8 random facts!

Shepherd’s Harvest: the lil sheep and wool festival that yearns to run with the big dogs!!  But isn’t quite there yet 😉

I spent my Mother’s Day celebrating with my homies: knitters and like-minded individuals (crocheters, spinners, etc.) in Lake Elmo.  Part of the time was spent staffing the Minnesota Knitters Guild table.  As the new VP of the MKG I felt I should become more active and visible in MKG events.  I had a great time talking to the enthusiastic visitors to our booth.  There is so much great knitting mojo out there and lots of it landed at our table!

After my stint was over, I checked out the festival happenings – first stop:

FOOD!  What else were you expecting?  Then into each of the three exhibit buildings to check out the wares:

And some fabulous knitting;

I am not a spinner and have ABSOLUTELY NO INTENTION OF STARTING!  I really can’t get sucked into another black vortex of doom.  BUT, that said, I really like the looks of spinning and all of its accoutrements:

The beautiful spindles, like radiant flowers:

The timeless and poetic  lure of the wheel:

And if I could look as cute doing something as this woman, I might consider it:

But to be fair, the real reason sheep and wool festivals exist is to give sheep and other fiber providers their due.  Without them we would be nowhere.  So here are some pictures of the faces that make it all possible.

These lil cuties are a cross between merino and shetland sheep:

The woman who raises these sheep is selling assorted rovings for $4/pound.  I don’t know if that is a good price or not but she can be contacted at Lamb’s Fiber Farm (email philbettylamb@aol.com).  I really think her last name is Lamb!!??!!

And look at these regal beauties:

It was a fun day.  I did do a small amount of shopping.  I spotted an item I have wanted for a long time (and I had to buy one for Surly, too, of course!):

It is a tool that measures how much yarn you have.  Note that it is actually designed to measure fishing line — and is probably available in any tackle shop.  I used it to measure the above ball of handpainted 100% silk yarn that I have had for ages and could not use because I didn’t know how much I had.  I can’t vouch for its accuracy, but if it’s in the ballpark at least you have an estimate to go by.

I also bought one skein of yarn just cuz it was so purdy:

The color is a-maize-ing (o-o-o-o-h — that’s cheesy even for me!) and I loved the lil curlicues.   I think a scarf is all I can do with one skein, but I had to have it.

That is the end of my photo essay.  I am planning on going to next year’s Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival with Sally — that should be a blast!

 

Yesterday started out as one of those days where nothing goes right and everything seems to want to go wrong. I felt as if there was a perfect storm of events coming together to keep me from making it to the Sheep & Wool Festival on Saturday (which I hadn’t accomplished in years due to work). My husband was sick and I had a zillion annoying but important errands to run in connection with my daughter’s birthday and my son’s prom. My son informed me that he had forgotten to turn in an assignment and had to go to Saturday study hall at the school. He’s never done that before. There was some kind of charity walk going on that had encircled my neighborhood with hundreds of walkers making it almost impossible to drive anywhere. Even so, I harbored this fantasy of finishing my errands by 10:30 or so and making it out to the Festival before noon. I was running errands in between not being able to pull up any seats on Ticketmaster for a concert (I don’t count lawn seats, for which you have to wait in line for hours and then run like hell in order to actually get a piece of the lawn to sit on, as “seats”). Miraculously, I finished my errands by 10:15.

There was only one problem. I couldn’t leave until I could pick up my son. He was held prisoner until noon, and then I was free.

Things looked up on the drive. It was a beautiful day — at least until mid-afternoon. The traffic wasn’t all that bad. And — because I arrived so late — people were leaving already and I got a great parking spot.

I rushed ambled slowly over to the Exhibition Hall to see if I had won anything. I had pretty low expectations, so it was really great when the first thing I saw was my Bohus:

Then I spotted the Feather & Fan Shawl:

Finally, I found my Peacock Shawl:

I was mildly surprised that the Feather & Fan shawl did better than Peacock because I think it’s simpler to knit. Maybe they rewarded me for sheer size. I don’t know.

If you’re curious as to what won Best in Show, it was not a knitted article. It was pretty amazing, though.

For those of you who’ve never been to this event, it’s pretty homey. Here are just a few quick photographs I took as I wandered around. (These photographs also explain why I am not a photo journalist.)

It wouldn’t be the Sheep & Wool Festival without some shopping. I wasn’t planning to buy yarn. Unfortunately, I can resist anything but temptation. I picked up some gorgeous lace weight cashmere by Just Our Yarn. It’s a very subtle colorway; it’s hard to photograph, however. It keeps looking muddy. Here is the best I could do.

I bought enough of it to make a floaty wrap/shrug/kimono. I just need to find, adapt, or a design a pattern. Suggestions welcome.

I was intrigued by this sweater, which I saw hanging up in a booth and being sold as a kit. It’s called the Trekking Magic Color Pullover. If you google it, you’ll be astounded at how hideous it looks online. In person, this brown colorway at least is very rich and tweedy looking. It’s made of sock yarn, two different colors held together and varied as you knit the sweater. (The color here is a bit drab; it’s better in “real life.”)

When I examined the kit closely after I got it home, I realized I have at least two of the sock colors in my stash. What a surprise.

I plan to make a lot of changes to the style of the sweater (not a fan of the ribbed bottom and cuffs). I liked the idea of the sweater and the colors.

This afternoon, I have to trek back out to the Festival to pick up my sweater and shawls. If I’m lucky, the two skeins of silk yarn that I semi-hid on the rack in one display booth will be gone. Wish me luck.

Sally just called from the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival and gave me an update on how her entries fared — she swept the show!!  Her two shawls took first (Feather and Fan) and second place (Peacock) and her Bohus took first.  She told me she didn’t think she’d win anything and I kept saying, “You may already BE a wiener!”

Way to go, Surly!!  You already ARE a wiener!

PS — Sally found out what her special awards were for:

• Best Hand Knitted Article — Awarded by the Central Maryland Knitting Guild (for the F&F shawl)
• Best Sweater Knitted from Commercial Yarn
• Best Hand Knitted Article from Commercial Yarn (also for the Bohus) — she got 110 points out of 100 (!).  The extra points were awarded for difficulty.