Fiber Fiber Everywhere

This past weekend I attended Fiber Fusion Northwest in Monroe, WA the second year of this festival.  It was a low-key, yet content rich event for fiber and fiber-animal lovers.  There was spinning, weaving, felting and a good sized market with something for everyone.  There were representative alpacas, pygora goats, sheep and llamas from local farms and knowledgable farmers.  There was alpaca fleece judging, daily fleece sales and end of day equipment & fleece auctions to round out the day.

I purchased this 4.5 pound fleece within 5 minutes of walking in from Reflection Farm:

It's from a Romeldale lamb and is mostly white with gray and dark gray/brown spots.  I will separate the colors and process in small batches.  Someday it will be a great natural colored sweater...a cozy raglan pullover or cardigan...No veg. matter and although it's greasy, it's very clean.

Here's a close up of the crimp and staple, 3 to 3.5 inches:

This will keep me busy for a long time.

I did a little damage at woolgatherings, Greenwood Fiberworks and One of a Kind Buttons
And althought I missed out on going to OFFF this year, Fiber Fusion was a good substitute only about 40 minutes away.

Catch UP!

Busy is an understatement...summer came (finally) and went just a couple weeks ago thanks to a mild start to fall.  We had camping and cabining trips and long days of sun.  Kids are back in school and I am welcoming some semblance of a routine.  The weather is now good for knitting and spinning and I am trying to complete a few projects:

Some Suffolk fleece I received from friends who have meat sheep.  Lots of dirt, vm and grease but after washing and carding (blended with some mystery wool I dyed) it's a nice fluffy batt.

Some socks I am trying to finish by end of October:

And I started knitting the Creature Comfort Cardigan from Madelinetosh in Vintage, Firewood.  A super yarn to knit with.

We had our annual dyeing day in early September:

And finally, I will be heading to Monroe, WA Oct 20-21 for Fiber Fusion and looking for a sweater's worth of fiber to spin then knit.  I think I'll be busy this winter...especially playing with this:

Here's hoping your fall and winter are full and fulfilling too!

Spring Has Sprung!

April and May have gone by too fast!  The smell of lilacs and splashes of bright colors from flowers popping up all over is almost a distant memory.  Lush green trees, impressive rhododendrons and azaleas are in their prime now.  We did venture north last month to the Skagit Valley to see the fields of tulips:

And while in Mount Vernon, I stopped at Wild Fibers, a wonderful shop in the downtown area.  They had a large stock of Madelinetosh and Hazel Knits so I picked up just this one skein (quite proud of myself that I did not walk out with armloads of the pretties): in the colorway Carnelian

The picture does not do it justice, no idea yet what to make with it...socks yes, but what pattern is worthy of this beautiful yarn?

On the needles is the second of my Ribbelmuster Socks in Lorna's Laces Zombie BBQ for my husband, a simple 2 row repeat with 1x1 cable (done without cable needles).  I have been spinning up a Loop Spontaneous Striping Bump for a spinalong on Ravelry and have done a couple washcloths for the Knitabulls Washcloth KAL that will make nice teacher gifts. 

This weekend, before the parties and chores, take a moment to honor those who have fought and died for our country and their families who have sacrificed so much.

Happy Memorial Day to you all!  And Happy Knitting/Spinning/Crafting!

Spinning Rules!

I am totally bitten by the spinning bug...  have just finished washing and drying my Edgewood Gardens Corriedale in Clematis and will be casting on a shawl this evening.  About 630 yds in a (mostly) fingering weight.

Now to choose my next spinning project... I think a gifted Christmas batt will be my next spin.

Enabled!!

I was going to resist, really, I was.... and since it's a blood sport on Etsy to get one, I was going to resign myself to never getting the chance to spin one of these:

The update came and went earlier in the evening but just before bedtime I thought I'd check my favorite shops to see if there was anything to dream about...

Boy was I surprised when I saw this Sahara Sunset, a Loop Spontaneous Bullseye Bump was still there at 10:14 pm my time!  And since my iphone app makes it way too easy to shop, I went ahead and gave in.  Yesterday, it arrived, a beautiful combination of white. various shades of pinks, orange, and a little dark purple for contrast.  Even better, my youngest son, picked flowers and arranged them in a bowl of water - They are a perfect match to the dark pink in the bump.  Merino, Corriedale, nylon and angelina for sparkle.... Now my fiber diet can begin!

Too sick to knit...

We did not escape the winter without the entire household catching a nasty stomach bug. The last few days have been interesting to say the least. The kids rebound so much faster than the adults, who are still struggling to get upright.

Been too sick to pick up the needles, not sure where the current project bag is...

The mailman brought me something that lifted my spirits & got my blood pumping. Three beautiful batts from Inglenook Fibers, 2 in Susan Pevensie (Queen Susan in the Narnia Chronicles) and 1 in Leatherbound.

With a little luck, I'll be spinning and knitting again soon.

Progress

Happy March!  Yellow crocus' are popping up, but we all know that there'll be more winter-like weather for a while... in the meantime...

My Lillian Fay Cardigan is soaking in a nice bath to be blocked and buttoned this weekend.  I'll be wearing it on Monday!  Yay!

I also completed a sock with Nalani self striping yarn in the Perry the Platypus colorway:

 Love this!

Back to some spinning for TheKnitGirllls Feb/Mar Shetland wool spin-along and also the Completely Twisted and Arbitrary Spinning group on Ravelry.

A good start to March - hope yours is off to a good start too!