Another Amazing Maryland Weekend

Where do I begin? It was a fabulous, amazing, fun, tiring, beautiful weekend. I got to hang out with friends and family, and the weather turned out to be just perfect!

It began on Thursday bright and early. Sarah and I had a great, leisurely drive down. We didn't really hit any traffic (except in Connecticut where you ALWAYS hit traffic!) and managed a stop at Chick-Fil-A when we crossed into Maryland for some nourishment after a bit of navigating.

After relaxing with my cousins on Thursday night, the work began on Friday morning. Jody so graciously picked me up and we headed to meet Jolene and Sarah at Cloverhill to pack everything up to bring to the Festival. That was some hard work. By about 11am, we had three SUV's packed full to the brim with yarn. Lucky for us, Jody's husband brought a pickup truck. It held all the displays and tables we needed for setup. We got to the grounds and it was strange to see vehicles everywhere - in the buildings and up and down the "main alley". After unpacking the vehicles we set to work setting up the booth. Looking at all the beautiful yarn made the job much more fun. By the end of the day Friday, the booth looked great.

I also managed to get a shot of the Fold booth and all their Socks That Rock before the onslaught started.

By Saturday, the lines were as long as the T-Shirt lines (we were smart and got them on Friday when it was vendors only!) and the booth was pretty empty by the end of the day. I really just can't figure out why people wait in line for it. You can order it on line, and their shipping is very reasonable. Any insight?

Saturday dawned a bit foggy and cold. Even with that, the crowds grew as the day went on and the weather got better.

We saw lots and lots of sheep (expected at at Sheep festival!)

We also saw sheep with some really weird hair...

I also managed to see lots of great people!

The day went way too fast. I watched some sheep herding, ate some great ribbon fries and had some BBQ lamb. Yum. I also managed to get some yarn (the real reason we are all there!)

Left to Right:
Tess, Woolarina, Wullenstudio, CEYEBER, Unique Sheep, Spirit Trail Fiberworks, Tess, Spirit Trail Fiberworks, Wullenstudio
Unfortunately, only four of them are for me. The rest go to a friend who was trusting enough to give me money and free reign to get her some sock yarn! (Hope you like them Kristi!) Hers are the middle five skeins. Mine are the 2 at either end. The grey Tess yarn I think will be perfect combined with a bright color for some socks or mittens. The yellowish mustard Spirit trail I'd like to put with some purple or turquoise yarn to really make it pop. I have to admit, two of my skeins came from the early pickings available at the Cloverhill booth before everyone got to it!

Being surrounded by knitting and beautiful yarn really made me want to knit again. New yarn also seems to light the knitting fire. The mustard color Spirit Trail may be first in the colorwork line up. Socks? Mittens? Hat? Not quite sure, but I know I'll be bringing design books with me to the dog show this weekend!

PS - Deuce won another Best in Show yesterday in Maine! She is on a tear!

Three, Two, ONE!

Three days and counting until the fiber event of the year! Sarah and I are leaving bright and early tomorrow morning on our road trip down to Baltimore. We both have family to visit, so the extra day will let us catch up with relatives before the fiber obsession kicks in.

My list for the festival this year is pretty short. Basically, I'm really wanting to just kick start my knitting engine again. After the tight deadline on the sample socks (which have been received by the designer to rave reviews!), it seems like all the desire is gone. I think I needed some time to re-fuel, but now I'm anxious to get back into it. The festival, and being surrounded by all my Maryland knit buddies should be a sure cure for the no-knitting blues. I do have a small list of things I'd like to look for.

Orange sock yarn for one. Me, lover of orange, and I don't have one pair of orange socks! I have knit one pair, but those reside with my cousin in Baltimore. I'd also love to find a nice, light, almost dusty blue sock yarn. This one I'm going to be picky about. I have the color in my head, and I will know when I see it. Spirit Trail Fiberworks is also on my list. I want to hit them earlier this year as last year when I got to the booth, there was only a few skeins of sock yarn left. Lucky for me, they had a beautiful skein of yarn that I ended up using for my Single Sock Swap pal. The yarn was really nice to knit with, and I'd like to get some more. Gypsy Girl Yarns is another vendor I'd like to re-visit. Unfortunately, they were housed with the Socks That Rock last year and it was a battle trying to get in to see it. I may just wait for the end of the day when the STR is gone, then go shop there. I used her yarns to make the heart crook socks, and they have worn wonderfully and are still nice and bright. Her colors are amazing!

The only other thing I may be hunting for is some sweater yarn. Not for me, but for hubby. Recently the Interweave Knits Summer 2008 preview was posted, and the Brick Pullover in this issue really appealed to me.

I sent the link along to hubby to see what he thought. His response? "How long before I can have it?". I'd say he liked it too. The gauge is a bit teeny (24 sts/4"), but we will see if the festival has any good offerings for yarn for this project. I'll need a bunch - around 2300 yds - so it has to be not the priciest stuff on earth. I have plenty of sweater yarn for me thanks to WEBS and my little trip there a few months back.

Mainly, I want to go to visit friends and family and re-discover my knitting. The weather right now isn't looking too promising - it's going to be hard to find anyone with hoods and umbrellas! I have hope though. The fiber gods wouldn't let it rain all weekend! I was thinking about wearing my wrap sweater, but with temps in the 70's, I think it will be a bit warm. Odds are, I'll be wearing my Cheese, Please! t-shirt so I will at least stand out a little and people can spot me. (and, give me cheese of course, if they so desire!) I also have a bright yellow jacket with a HUGE white paw print on the back. That will be my drizzle weather cover up. Please, if you see me, say hi!!!

Safe travels to everyone heading down to Maryland, and I'll have a big round up on Monday!

How Can It Be?

Time is really starting to fly by. I blink, and the knitting event of the year is now upon us. Spring has finally sprung, and things are growing. My seedlings are doing well, and the rhubarb I got as a cutting is taking off. The lawn needs to be mowed and leaves are starting to appear on the trees. I love this time of year!

Unfortunately, knitting has suffered. Weekends have, like much else around my house, gone to the dogs. I had an agility trial with Tucker on Saturday - a very long, tiring 13 hour day, and herding with Ace on Sunday. He is really starting to learn and get into it!

We practiced "Get Around" where he goes in a wide circle around the sheep, changing directions, and keeping the sheep behind me or "balancing" them. The rake is used as an extension of your arm. Since the dog is working at such a distance, it puts pressure on them to either change direction or stay out. By the end of our session, I didn't really have to even use it. There is a lot to learn for both of us, but it's all new and really fun. I love watching his instinct take over. We do have to work on that barking though. Herding is supposed to be a quiet sport! I fully plan on continuing both of our educations. I'll be watching the herding demonstrations at the festival this year with a new appreciation. It takes a lot of training and shaping!!!

As I mentioned before, knitting has pretty much screeched to a halt after the sample socks were completed. Lately, it has felt like by the time I get home from job #2 after being up since 4am, I am just ready to crawl into bed. Following a knitting pattern or needing to have any kind of hand/eye coordination other than turning the tv on and off is not going to happen. I think this happened last year right before the festival too. It will be just the thing to get my knitting needles revved up again. I'm really looking forward to it!

Don't forget - if you are heading to the festival, visit the Cloverhill booth - most of the dyers have been profiled and previewed over at the Countdown to Sheep and Wool blog. I'm going to have to try not to blow my entire budget at that booth alone!

26 Days

The countdown is officially on. Under a month to go. Twenty Six days until the Sheep and Wool Festival!!!! That must mean that spring is around the corner, right? Last year I had such a good time. It's going to be hard to top, but I'm going to try! This year is going to be extra special though. On Friday, I'll be helping out (and hanging out) with a bunch of friends setting up the booth for Cloverhill Yarns! I've never been a "part" of the festival - only an enthusiastic shopper, so this will be an exciting new experience!

The booth is featuring 18 Indie Fiber Artists from around the country, hand crafted stitch markers, sock blockers and hand carved wooden spindles. They will also have Handmaiden Sea Silk and Flaxen, patterns from a couple of excellent designers, and some dye-your-own sock yarn kits complete with full color directions. How amazing is that!!!!! For an up close and play by play account of the prep going on for the store and the booth at the festival, check out the Countdown with Cloverhill blog here created by the amazing Jody and Sarah.

I can't believe the list of dyers and fiber artists they will have - I will have to be careful not to spend all my money in one place! Check out this list:

• A Verb for Keeping Warm
• Brooklyn Handspun
• C*Eye*Ber Fibers
• Chewy Spaghetti
• Dragonfly Fibers
• Insubordiknit
• Jolene Mosley Designs
• Loop
• Neighborhood Fiber Company
• Spritely Goods
• Knitting Gnome
• The Sanguine Gryphon
• The Spun Monkey
• The Sweet Sheep
• Woolarina
• The Unique Sheep

Pretty amazing, huh???? The booth will be located in the main building in spaces D2 and D3. Please stop by if you are coming to Sheep and Wool and support this great shop!

On a non-festival note (horrors!) a friend gave me over a dozen home grown eggs this past week. I guess she has quite a few chickens and there is no way her and her family can eat all the eggs. I was more than happy to take them off her hands. So, this weekend, I put them to good use.

Angel Food Cake! This has to be one of my favorite cakes. It is so light and just plain yummy. The recipe is from The Bakers Dozen Cookbook and it was truly delicious. Hubby thawed some frozen mixed berries and it made a simple, amazing dessert. I'm always amused how these cakes cool. When I flip it over, I'm always terrified that it will fall out. It never has though.

The sample socks are halfway done - one down, one to go. The pattern is pretty complex, and the chart large, but I'm just taking it row by row. I'm hoping sock #2 will go a bit quicker now that I am familiar with the pattern. I had to rip one more time, and let me tell you, the Lornas Laces just doesn't like being ripped. The twist completely came out and it was a bear to re-knit. Not fun.

Time to Get Creative

With the contrast yarn commandeered at the festival, I can now get on with designing some socks for my sister. She, much like me, prefers graphic designs versus snowflakes, flowers or animals. With some help from Excel, I started playing around.

These are just a couple. I'm not sure if they will truly work as there are quite a few long runs of color. Too much of an opportunity for puckering or pulling of floats. Both of these were inspired by designs in the book Celtic Charted Designs. Of all things, it's a needlepoint book! It has wonderful graphic charts though, and I found quite bit to be inspired by in there. I'm getting closer to what I want, but not quite there yet. Borders and side motifs have yet to be determined also. The colors, however, are good to go.

I'm not sure if I'd like the blue as the base background and the orange as the accent, or the other way around. It seems like I automatically think to put the darker color as the base, but I'm wondering how the orange would be as the main color. It is a great orange and deserves a lot of knitting real estate.

As the next design takes shape, I am still puttering away on Canal Du Midi. I am at the heel of sock #2 and am very anxious to get these done so I can move on! I do have to do a bit of ripping at the toe of #1 - the recipient changed mid-stream, so I need to make them a few rows shorter than originally intended. No big deal.

Still on a high from the festival this past weekend, I'm loving reading everyone's blog recaps of the event. I even found a few stealth photos taken of my socks on the move! How neat is that!

With no time to waste, all it took was me reading a post on one of the boards and my mind was racing towards the next yarny event. Last year was the first time I attended Stitches East and had a great time. Any excuse to get down to Baltimore and visit! Well, they have put up the class brochure for this year and I'm already thinking about what I'd like to take. I have never taken any kind of knitting class before (I am totally self taught via the internet and books), but I'd love to learn continental knitting, or maybe intarsia. There are so many to pick from! What knitting skill would you would like to learn?

Best One Ever

I really have to say, this year was the best time I've ever had at Sheep and Wool. The first year it was overwhelming - I didn't get much of anything and walked around in a daze. Last year was better - I had a plan and bought a bunch but didn't really meet too many people. This year was all about the people. I had a short list of things I wanted to look for, but most of all I wanted to connect with my fellow knitbloggers - people who I've been emailing with forever, but we've never met face to face. The Stockings made me easy to find and I loved that people came running up to me to say hi! Crazy socks may be an annual event for me - my signature festival attire.

So, on to the good stuff. Colleen was nice enough to host a get together breakfast at her place - filled with yummy food and lots of friends, it was the perfect way to fuel up for the day to come. Sarah, Jody, Jolene,Suzanne, Jen and Diane were all there (sorry if I forgot anyone - I only had one coffee!) We all headed out and re-grouped at the fair. Jody was nice enough to bring along her husband to stand in the T-shirt line for us. We all placed our orders and were free to wander the fair while he so nicely stood in line! How great of a guy!!!

My Bible for the day

I met Nova, her nice husband and adorable son while getting the shirt order organized.

We've been emailing for a bit now, and it was really nice to be able to put a name and blog with a face!

We arrived a little past the opening, but I was in no rush. By the time we wandered over to The Fold, most of the yarn was gone.

No big deal - I was on the hunt for other things, and even with no STR around, I still found it there. (see the full wall of yarn straight ahead in the picture?)

This is Gypsy Girl Creations sock yarn. Her colors are pretty amazing. She had some neon (literally - they were so bright!) that I had a hard time putting down. The two colors I got were Blackberry Bramble and Flame. It was really hard to choose. The two together are going to be (I think) a Chevron Scarf. The skeins are 200 yds each, so I may make it a bit skinnier. The colors are amazing though. Soft, tightly spun and truly variegated looking.

I caught up with Kristy and Jessica when we stopped to sit for a lunch break.

Kristy had her beautiful sweater on - the colors were really muted and beautiful. Jessica and I missed each other when I was in New York for Westminster so I'm really glad we met up this weekend.

Speaking of lunch, on our quest for Ribbon chips, we passed by this interesting vendor.

The concept was quite interesting - root beer and other sodas straight from the tap. You bought this huge mug and they would give you refills. (Nice outfit, huh?)
And, while waiting in the long Ribbon chip line, we looked across and saw someone spinning. Not too unusual at a fiber festival, but then I saw something on her lap.

I thought it was a pile of fiber. Turns out it was. Still attached to the animal.

She was spinning angora right off the rabbit! All I could picture was the yarn somehow twisting up and getting caught and the bunny getting sucked into the wheel! (sick, I know, but I just couldn't get the image out of my head!)

Ann and Elspeth were also in the Ribbon Chip line and spotted me.

I have been emailing with Ann and reading her blog for what seems like years. It was so nice to finally meet in person!

Kelly was another mid day meet up.

She is another "blog friend" who I feel like I've been corresponding with for years.

Back to the yarn. Tess was going to be a definite stop this year. I have already knit one pair of socks from her yummy sock yarn, and have two skeins in my stash. My sister will be the recipient of original designed fair isle socks, so we went to Tess for some color choices. We picked this amazing sherberty orange.

I think it will go very well with one of the blue skeins I have in my stash. Nice contrast and the slight variegation in the orange will make some neat effects. We have the pattern all picked out, now I just have to put pen to paper and design it.

While waiting in line, someone ahead of me paid and started to leave. Her hair was the greatest color - just the color I loved - a little red, a little brown - a great balance. I commented that I really liked her hair color, and it turns out it was Jodi!

You meet people everywhere.....

The main building had a huge number of vendors. The Mannings (I will get there in person someday) is always one of my favorite places for books. They have everything. A copy of Folk Knitting In Estonia along with a locking stitch row counter jumped into my bag. My Nancy Bush collection is now complete. (yay!)

Another big book score of the day was Mostly Mittens by Charlene Schurch. I spied two copies on the shelf of one of the barn vendors, and snatched them. One went home with Sarah and one with me.

Not only did I find this rare out of print book, but I got it for 50% off the cover price because it was a bit dirty and worn! As you can see from the Amazon link. This book is going for a pretty penny. I think this was my find of the day. I would have gladly paid full price for it. Now, if I could only find Fancy Feet.....

Spirit Trail Fiberworks was also in the main building. She didn't have much yarn left, but I did find a skein of beautiful burgundy.

I am a huge fan of almost solids. This one is stunning.

We also managed to catch some of the Border Collies in action over at the sheepherding area.

I love watching working dogs in action. They are amazing.

The socks held up really well. I did have to use hair elastics to hold them up as they started to slouch. By the end of the day, I ended up taking them off as the elastics were cutting off my circulation! Some elastic thread was purchased and will be woven into the socks to make them a bit more, well, elastic. They need a good washing! Also good news to report on the clear clogs. They were really comfortable and I was able to wear them all day without a problem. I had some minor fogging issues at the toes, but a bit of an air out and they were good to go again.

By the end of the day, we were tired, a bit sheepy smelling but happy and yarn and fiber rich. For sure, my best festival so far. Thanks for a great day girls!!

Only 363 days until Maryland 2008!

The Time Has Come!

The Turkish Stockings are packed and I'm more than excited and ready to go! See you there!

T Minus 3 Days

As a distraction from the yet photographed Canal Du Midi socks, I offer up that there are only THREE days until the Festival to end all festivals. Who is going? Saturday I plan on being there pretty much all day. I would love to meet any of the knitbloggers out there who I have only corresponded with via email. Feel free to stop me and say hi! How will you recognize me? Well, I'll be wearing these of course! (Still trying to find an appropriate and not too goofy looking outfit for them. The pressure is on!) The weather looks absolutely perfect.

It may be a tad warm for my clear clogs, but my Crocs will serve the purpose pretty well also.

Some must see booths for me?
Tess Yarns- incredible yarns in a rainbow of hand dyed colors!

The Mannings- their book selection alone is so impressive. I hope to pick up a copy of Folk Knitting In Estonia.

Ellen's 1/2 Pint Farm- Once again, great hand dyed colors and wonderful sock yarns.

Three Waters Farm- I have a skein of their sock yarn from the last festival. The colors are bright and saturated, and they are super nice!

Hillcreek Fiber Studio and Yarn Shop- I got my first Louet yarn from them and plan to go back for more! They also have tons of dyes and needles.

There are many more I plan on visiting, but these are some of my "must sees". I plan on avoiding The Fold booth. Just not worth the rush or waste of time. You can order on line without the hassle.

This year I plan to look for more crafty things along with yarn. Really take in the festival itself instead of running around like a nut!

To enable those T-Shirt lovers in you, did you see this new one up on Threadless this week?

How knitter appropriate is that??

The ex-horsey girl (I used to do both Dressage and Eventing all the way through college and beyond) loved this goofy one.

Not that a cat would willingly do anything for a human, but it's a funny concept.

So, make those Maryland lists, check them twice and I'll see you there! My camera batteries will be fully charged!

Much of the Same

Not much pictorially to report on here. Both the Turkish Stocking (thank you again for all the comments!) and the Big Hubby's sock are progressing along. They don't look a heck of a lot different. See previous post and just imagine a few more inches on each. I'm trying to set goals with the Stocking. Now that I have knit one, and taken more than copious notes on the process, the second is not as thrilling. I know what is happening and when - that element of surprise (not a great thing for knitting) and adventure is missing. Don't get me wrong, I am loving knitting it and though I have no idea how I will show these off, I will wear the completed pair. The second sock so-so's have set in. So, I set goals. I know how many rows until the heel flap - I try to do at least x rows per knitting session so I make steady progress. The chart has pretty much been committed to memory, so the knitting itself goes a bit faster. New projects taunt and call me. Yarn from the stash beckons.

Being the knitting monogamist that I tend to be (more than two projects on the needles at once really stresses me out!) I focus on the project at hand and get it done. For right now, it is the Stockings. Hubby's socks do factor in every once and a while when I don't feel like knitting two handed. The poor Street Smart Hoodie lingers waiting to be worked on again. If I let something sit without being worked on for too long, I loose all interest and end up ripping. This will have to be addressed this weekend. I'm not so good at dividing up my knitting time, but the Hoodie deserves some additional rows before it gets pushed farther to the back of the line.

Because the coming of Spring (it is 28 out right now and was quite a bit colder this morning - I know Spring has to come eventually, right?) renewal and the rebirth of just about everything takes place. Hence the knitter turns to "birthing" new projects. (bad pun, I know) Elspeth has a great post on thinking through a new project. Many of the things she mentions I do myself. Some are great new ideas that I will surely take to heart before my next project starts. If all goes well, my next pair of socks will be a self designed pair for my sister. I kind of feel like I cheated her as the Stockings were originally supposed to be for her. With the yarn bounty at Sheep and Wool I think I will let her pick the yarn and colors she'd like. The day before we'll browse through some stitch pattern books to see what looks good and go from there. Barbara Walker's Second Treasury is on my list of things to look for, along with some more Nancy Bush

Speaking of Sheep and Wool, it is exactly a month away. Must knit faster!

More Inspiration

My library network is pretty great - if I can't find a book in my own library, odds are one of the libraries in the network will have it. The woman who runs my library is a knitter, which really helps, but we are a pretty small area, so what I usually do is search our network on-line. I find it, request it, and a few days later, I have it in my hot little hands. Ethnic Socks and Stockings is a title I stumbled across - I can't remember where, but I think I saw it mentioned either on someone's blog, or somewhere on a forum. Anyway, the book arrived and what inspiration! These are just a few of the socks that immediately caught my eye.

The top part of the sock pictured below reminds me quite a bit of the pattern that Kathy knit. I like it with the variegated yarn - something I haven't tried yet. (I'd actually have to get some to do it - I only have solid sock yarn in the stash now!)

I haven't had a chance to really read through the book yet, but it looks really interesting. Lots of information on heels and toes - it may help with my sisters socks and designing a heel that will take a stranded pattern. It doesn't really have sock patterns, but more guidelines as to how to construct the sock, as well as the chart for the colorwork.

Sigh. Another book to add to the growing list to buy! Even after a quick flip through, I know this one will have some great information and has tons of instructional pages on different sock parts - it reminds me a bit of the beginning of Knitting Vintage Socks.

For an update on current sock knitting (I can't stop planning for new socks!), the Childs First Sock #1 is complete!

The second one is well underway - only a few repeats to go before the heel. This picture shows the color a bit better. The purple is so rich and dark that it keeps photographing as blue.

The back of the Street Smart Hoodie grows as well.

I worked on this a bit in-between the sock and cleaning the house this weekend. I still have a ways to go, but I'm in no rush to finish this one - I'm quite enjoying the pattern. Plus, I haven't decided what I want to do about the front yet, so I'm slowing down on this one to think about it.

I had such opportunity for intensive knitting time on Saturday. Terri and I were doing some agility training and she went to give a tug toy to one of her dogs and he mistook her hand for the toy. She got a pretty good laceration, so off we were to the emergency room. It was a five hour ordeal (not too horribly bad for a city emergency room on a weekend) but with no book, no knitting, the time passed very slowly. As I sat there I thought about how much knitting I could be getting done! Oh well - she got her hand taped (they wouldn't suture it as it was a dog related injury) and is on the mend. Luckily I made up for it on Sunday with some great knitting.

Mark your calendars - two months from today is the 2007 Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival!!!! I can't believe it is coming up so quick! This will be my third year going, and I'm just as excited as I was the first year. The vendor list is posted, so the planning can begin! I guess I really have to get cranking to use up some more sock stash before I go! I plan on going Saturday for sure and hopefully meeting up with as many people as I can....