So I've done it!

So I have finally gone and done it. I have joined the Blogger mania. I had been thinking of creating a blog for a while. The only thing that had been holding be back was (1) not sure if I would stick with it and (2) I had yet to find a catchy title for my blog. I just didn't know what I wanted to be referred to by. I have been reading some by other people. Some of the members of my knitting/spinning group have one and they are interesting to read.

So here goes, my first post. I apologize ahead of time if I am a bit long winded, but I thought I would cover what has happened this last weekend and today.

On Saturday, August 18, I went to the Michigan Fiber Arts Festival in Allegan, Michigan. It was my very first experience to a fiber festival. I am not longer a fiber fest virgin. :o) I caravaned with 6 other women from Frog Pond Fiber Arts group and 1 member from my quilt guild. They included: Elizabeth S., Liz M., Mary, Vicki, Tina, Elizabeth’s Mother-in-law (sorry didn’t catch her name), Jessica and myself of course. It took us about 1 hr 50 min to drive there from South Bend/Mishawaka/Granger. I navigated, since the most direct route was to go the back way between Decatur and Lawton, and I grew up in that area. I added little site seeing comments as we drove. Not sure if the ladies cared, where my best friend grew up or if my dad had sled down 5-field hill when he was young on a snow shovel, but I found it amusing. It was fun to look at everything in a new way and to remember things tucked away in the back of my mind.

My first impression was that there weren’t as many vendors as I thought there would be. The reason for this is there was only a scattering of tented vendors in the yard. However there were PLENTY more jammed into 2 barns on the south side and another barn on the west side by the animal pens. Although Jessica, Vicki and Elizabeth, who had been there before, claim that there weren’t as many as last year, hey to me there were a lot of booths. At first it was yarn overload. Then I went through several phases:

Phase 1: Can’t decide what to buy
Phase 2: “I don’t want to buy the first thing I find”
Phase 3: “Oh my god! That’s beautiful. But wow at that price I just can’t afford it”
Phase 4: Hey were did my list go that I made for things to look at. Let’s concentrate on those items first then see what’s left over. List: Roving, Sock yarn, short sock needles 5” or 6”
Phase 5: Too tired to look anymore!

PS, I should have bought that first thing I saw in Phase 2, because when I went to look at it again, it was ALL gone. BooHoo! It was some dark purple/mauve variegated wool at half off that would have been perfect for remaking the Celtic Vest pattern from Fleece Artist. I knitted that, washed it and accidentally felted it. But since one side felted more than the other, I can’t wear it. Been thinking of trying to fully felt it, but that is another story.

I ended up buying 3 skeins of lace weight wool in 3 different purples that blend well together; thinking of a shawl, where you can blend from one color to another, 2 bags of Wool top roving (purple green and autumn colors), 1 purple/green silk hankie with instructions on what to do with it, a sample pack of Soy silk roving and a sample pack of bamboo roving to spin (need a 1 oz or lighter drop spindle), and a skein of Blue Moon Sock yarn in Grandma’s Flower Garden colorway with a set of size 1 6” bamboo needles. I plan to bring everything in and use the company digital camera to take some pictures of my haul.

I ran into several people that I knew there too: Kathy J., Robin, Nancy F and her DH, Liz L. and daughter, Susan and the wife my co-worker's Kathi B.

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I started another pair of socks a week or so ago. I haven’t been working on them much. My biggest day to knit is when I am at work on Sunday in between patients. I am knitting the RPM socks from Knitty.com. I am using a wool yarn I got as a door prize at one of our Frog Pond Frolic days this spring at Liz M’s house. I believe Michelle brought it. It goes from periwinkle blue to a yellow green; Love it!. Sorry don’t know what kind it is. If it came with a tag, I have long since lost it. So, yesterday I turned the heel on sock #1. I decided to do the short row heel, because (1) I had never done one of those before and (2) since I am new at sock knitting, I thought I would try a different technique along with a different pattern each time. Well I don’t like it; the heel that is. It is too tight across the width, not stretchy and not long (deep?) enough. I have planned to frog it back and do a heel flap. Will probably work on that tonight.

Well that’s all for today. Of course, I think that is way more than enough to keep anyone busy for a while.