Alive and Kicking

Just like this sheep! I took this picture at the California Wool and Fiber Festival two weekends ago in Boonville. I've been interested in learning how to spin and this seemed like a perfect opportunity. I signed up for a beginning spinning on a drop spindle class with Nancy Finn from Chasing Rainbows Dyeworks and loved it. I've kept up the spinning at home since the class and I think I'm getting better. At least what I'm making is looking more like yarn and less like lumps :)

Throughout the festival, I saw many sheep being sheered as well as some very fluffy angora rabbits. I bought some fiber from Tactile Fiber Arts so that I could practice my spinning and looked at all of the other wonderful things. I must admit that the thought of buying a raw fleece and turning it into yarn is a bit daunting at this point. I think I'll stick with my little fluff balls of fiber for now.

I was also out of town this past weekend. My boyfriend and I decided to go camping in Truckee. We packed up all the food and equipment and headed up there Thursday afternoon. It was beautiful, although a little chilly at night (about 3o degrees Fahrenheit). We toasted marshmallows, made s'mores and cooked hot dogs on a stick. I also knit by the biggest campfire I've seen in a long time :) Which reminds me, does anyone know how to get that campfire smell out of yarn?















On the knitting front, I also finished my Silk Shrug. Yeah, happy dance!! It took a while, but I knew I would get there eventually. I've already been eying other sweater patterns I can make next. This was the first time I've really had to seam anything and it took a while before I got the hang of it. I'm much better at mattress stitch than I am at the other types of finishing I tried. I still have to weave in a few ends and block it, but I think it looks pretty good. I can't wait to wear it this winter :) I love the color.

A New Adventure

And I bet you can guess what it is! The spinning guild at Stitches West really made an impression on me and I couldn't stop thinking about spinning. I couldn't resist. I had to try it.

So a couple of weeks ago I ordered a Bosworth Midi Drop Spindle from Carolina Homespun. Well, it arrived on Monday and I was so excited to open the package. They even sent me some roving to play with :) The drop spindle is made of canarywood with a 2.5 inch whorl and a 9 inch shaft. If feels so smooth and seems very well balanced.

To make sure I had some instruction other than the bits and pieces I remember from that day at Stitches West, I ordered some books from Amazon that I'm hoping will help me learn. I purchased Spinning in the Old Way by Priscilla A. Gibson-Roberts and Spin to Knit by Shannon Okey. Right now all the new terminology and tools are a little overwhelming. I'm excited, but also a little nervous. It might be that the yarn I spin is so horrible I won't be able to do anything with it.

I have also been working on my Silk Shrug. Here's just a little picture to show you that it really is growing. The first sleeve is past my elbow on its way to my upper arm. Just a little bit more and I'll be working on the body. The Blue Sky Alpaca and Silk yarn is so soft to work with and I love the color! I know I'll be getting a lot of time to work on it in a couple of weeks because racing season is about to start for my boyfriend. That means lots of time at the track I can use to finish my sweater! Boogity, Boogity, let's get knitting!

Stitches West ... Oh My!

Saturday morning started off cloudy and grey, but I didn't care because I was headed to Stitches West! I've never been to this extravaganza before and was excited to see what it was all about.

My friend and I headed out early and made pretty good time driving down to Santa Clara. We found the convention center, parked the car, and followed the swarm of people leading inside the building. I figured even if I didn't know where I was going, they did. We found the Market and after purchasing our tickets, our adventure began.

I've never seen anything like it! There were hundreds of booths, thousands of people, and yarn everywhere. It was a fiber dream come true. We started down one row of booths, finding the knitting doctor and the stuffed bear charity project (sorry, I can't seem to remember the name right now). We'd only explored one and a half rows before it was time to watch the fashion show, which was excellent.

About half way through the day, we passed a spinning guild booth and stopped to watch the women spinning their beautiful yarn. Next thing I knew, one of them was showing be how to spin using a drop spindle made out of CD's. This was one of the things I really wanted to try at the show and I may be hooked already, even though I'm not quite sure I know what I'm doing yet :) They were generous enough to send me home with one and a little ball of roving to practice at home. Let's see what I can make now!

Hundred of people at the show were carrying around huge (and I mean huge!) carts and bags filled with yarn, roving, needles, and everything in between. Compared to them, I was pretty good and only walked away with the yarns in the picture. I was so happy I found the Liza Souza booth and was able to fondle all of her wonderful hand-dyed yarn. I did pick up a few skeins as a souvenir. I was also really impressed with the Blue Moon Fiber Arts booth. If only I knew how to knit socks! Hmmm, maybe that will come sooner than I think.