Last Weekend

Alrighty. I suppose I have a plan for this post. First I'll talk about some stuff I've gotten done and that will lead into what I did last weekend.

I finished my cowl. Pattern: Ithacowl. Lovely and smooshy and I can't remember the yarn because I don't think I can pronounce the name. I got it from my fiber guild's Christmas party fiber swap. Funny thing, I finished it and the weather went up to about 80 degrees. Cowls are not very useful when it is that warm. Thankfully (only in the sense I got to wear my cowl) there was snow on the ground this morning and I got to wear it. Yay for using stuff I knit instead of just putting in the basket of Finished Objects. Yes I have one and no I'm not sure why. I just know it is full of scarves. and felted slippers.


Another finished object, well technically half done. Because although this skein is finished, only half of the batts got spun. So it is not quite done. And I have the urge to call this yarn "Edward" because it sparkles and yeah...I read all 4...and no I'm not proud of it. But anyway, details. I got 3 oz of black merino wool from Yarn and More and I blended it with the 1 oz bag of turquoise mohair locks I got from my awesome Ravelry Rubberneckers swap. And then I threw in my body weight of blue sparkly stuff. Love the sparklys. Then it was corespun around a laceweight wool yarn. Of course I actually got to start working on this yarn because the very nice people of Strauch Fiber equipment had their motorized drum carder at the Fiber Network's Hawks Nest retreat that I attended. That thing is awesome and made making the batts a breeze. I definitely see a drum carder in my future (probably pretty distant) and I will totally be looking hard the the Strauch because I have heard nothing but amazing reviews. Now handcards, those are a bit more realistic goal for the near future. We shall see how the Maryland budget fares.

So now onto Hawks Nest. We got there Friday night. We put our stuff in the room and head down to the conference room where we are to set up. Although you will note that this picture was taken the next morning. This was still the sight that greeted me when I walked in. Except imagine most of the wheels with their owners using them so all in motion. And the entire edge of the room is covered in vendor tables with fiber stacked high. I'll get to that fiber later. And I should have gotten more business cards.
So after a bit of spinning/knitting on Friday night, we really get down to business on Saturday. It was a beautiful day out so several spinners/knitters(can't leave out Maria) moved outside to the observation deck. I highly recommend embiggening (totally stealing that word from the Yarn Harlot) the picture for a great view. The ladies you see pictured are Maria, Sheila(with alpacas), Aimee's chair, a super nice awesome lady from the Fiber Network who's name I cannot remember but I remember teaching her to Navajo ply and Judy with her giant pile of pink llama.

And now onto the good stuff. I bought two cones of laceweight yarn for core spinning and possible knitting. I was going to buy more fiber, but I had been wanting to try corespinning and I didn't want to use cotton because it tends to make the yarn unstretchy, like cotton. So I had been wanting to use a laceweight wool. Well I was not going to find anything cheaper than these so I snatched them up. And I apologize to the girl from the Fiber Network who had been eyeing up the cone of blue. If I had known, I would have left it for you. I hate having a great score snatched out from under my nose so I hate to do it to others. So I'm sorry.

This was my door prize and was actually probably going to be mine (or some of it was anyway) if I hadn't spotted the yarn cones. This is suri alpaca in fawn from Sheila. Sheila is in my fiber guild and I know where to get more. It is lovely and soft and fluffy and soft and scrumptious. I am super torn between leaving it in this lovely color or dying it. I get a bit squimish at the thought of ruining that color though, so I think it might have to stay how it is.

This ball of awesome(and its brother I also have) were from David's booth. Again, didn't think to write down the tag information before I decided to write this. The colorway is Topsy. I was hoping that he was listed on our guild's vendor list, but alas. BTW a great list of great places to shop for all your fiber needs. Anyway. This ball of awsome is Bright pink and turquoise and when you open up the fiber, there is some copper hiding in there. I cannot wait to spin this up and see what happens. It was hilarious at the retreat. I was walking around looking at wheels and looking at all the pretty fiber that was being spun. I swear, it felt like everytime I stopped to say "wow that is gorgeous fiber, where did you get it?" the answer was "David". I stopped asking where and asked "is that David's". It was amusing and a testiment to how awesome his stuff was that in a room of 30 or so women, so many were spinning his fiber. And then he paid an awsome compliment to Aimee. She had donated some fiber to the door prize pile and he picked it (we got to pick our own prize from the table).

And then there was this. I'm still not entirely sure what I was thinking. Although it is even more beautiful now that I've washed it. I bought a fleece. 5 pounds of Shetland Wool. But look at those colors. Chocolate brown fading into a light blonde at the tips. And the price was amazing. I have gotten through most of the washing (I have about a pound left). I just love that when I took it out of the bag, it all clung together and looked like a bearskin rug. I'll take more pictures once it is all washed a dried. I am seriously frighted at the thought of carding all of this with my little dog slicker brush faux carders. I am going to see about borrowing or purchasing a real set before I dig into this. And I need a scale because I want to divy it up. I want to dye some of it and leave some of it natural. I'm not sure what colors or how much or really anything yet. But we shall see. We shall see.