Pure Pleasure

While I am a little late in reporting this, I can't go without giving you the rundown of a most fabulous weekend.

The weekend started with DH driving me to Ogdensburg, NY. He had his misgivings about leaving a car in the parking lot at Wal-Mart for a whole weekend. I understand this, but it did make things a little complicated, at the border, when he went into a long tirade explaining the situation, to the customs guy. Sure enough, Customs Guy needed to be enlightened about all things woolly happening in his own state.

Me: I'm going to Rhinebeck.

CG: blank stare

Me: The Duchess County Wool and Sheep Festival

CG: Where's that?

Me: Across the river from Kingston

CG: Are you here to catch the bus at the Wal-Mart parking lot?

It turns out that a carload of Canuck ladies went through before me and had explained the situation to another CG who then passed on his little understanding of this weekend.

In his own humorous way, as I got on the bus, DH told me not to socialize too much. Funny man! He knew exactly what would happen. A bus full of ladies (and one token husband) tends to socialize...a lot. Some of us had never been to Rhinebeck and we were eager with anticipation. Others were returnees and were excited because they knew what was in store for them. In my own little corner the conversation went from husbands to work, kids, quilting and pole dancing. You can't say the the topics of conversation on a bus trip aren't varied and interesting. LOL

As mentioned before, the phone in my room did not work so I couldn't get a hold of Mad Mad. Bummer!!! But hopefully I would be able to run into her at the Ravelry meet up on the Fair Grounds.

At the meet up I circled the group, desperately hoping to catch a glimpse of Mad Mad. No!!! I can't see her anywhere. I can't identify her from the vast crown of ravelers gathered. I was ready to yell, at the top of my lungs "Hey Mad Mad" because I'm not above embarrassing myself in public. But then I was distracted by a couple of ladies who came up to me and went gaga over the Noro sweater I was wearing. While it might be a little vain, I think that at one point I did start strutting around because of the many compliments I received about that sweater.

But wait....I have her cell number. I raced to the pay phones only to discover they didn't accept coins for long distant calls. I tried to get the call billed to my home phone but when DH answered he didn't hear the recording of my name so all I heard him say was "sorry I need some confirmation". Despite me yelling into the phone "Just say yes" (although I suspect he couldn't hear me at all) he hung up. So I called collect and told DH to call Mad Mad to tell her to meet me at the First Aid station. At that time I didn't realize there were more than one First Aid station. Confused yet? You should have been one of the ladies in the line up to the washroom housed next to the phones listening to my conversations. I am, if nothing else, amusing to total strangers.

I think that a trip to Boston (I think she lives somewhere around there) is in order. If I'm ever going to meet this elusive blogger.

Pictures????? Of course I took pictures......traveling sock mojo with Bob

a kangaroo

a lemur

sheep shearing

a sheep to shawl competition

a way to use up stash if I ever need a place to live

the spinning wheel of my dreams (it is so on my want list),

This is the Big Sock started at the Sock Summit and yes I did knit on it

If I weren't traveling on a bus I would have found a way (excuse) to bring these little guys

home with me...

.......or maybe this one

My favorite event???? Aside from the shopping????? The leaping Llamas competition. I'd go back next year just to see that again.

Speaking of shopping, yes, I did pick up a few things. Not as much as I'd like as I have a MAJOR trip planned in a few months...but that's a topic for another post.

Until next time

Yours in Yarn,

The Fibreholic

You did.....WHAT???

ME: I've been invited to go to Chicago for STITCHES MIDWEST and stay at a complete stranger's house.

General response: WHAT??? Are you crazy? You don't know anything about this person. This person could be a serial killer. Your children need their mother.

Complete Stranger: I've met someone on the Internet and invited her to come to STITCHES and stay at our house .

General response: WHAT??? You did what??? You don't know anything about this person. She could be a crazy homicidal maniac.

You get the picture. From both camps we had people looking for ways to lock us up for our own protection for clearly we had lost it and gone loopy with this hair brained plan.

Funny thing is, the only person who didn't say anything about this plan was my DH. He may have thought it, but did not say word regarding the state of my sanity.

Thursday the 21st, the sock and I headed off to Chicago for our latest adventure. Kathy met me at the airport and we headed off to her place for lunch. On our way we told each other of the secret plots to have us committed because of the plan.

Kathy( after lunch): Look, all kinds of knives lying around and no one got stabbed.

A STITCHES event.

It's hard to describe. Maybe this is the place that good knitters go when they die. Aisle after aisle of yarn, needles, books and knitting gadgets, it was enough to make even the hardest hearted knitter cry. There was even an underlying scent of vinegar from all the hand dyed skeins. More than once Kathy caught me smelling skeins of wool.

I did my best to purchase only the yarns that are not locally available. However when you find Noro Transitions at 1/3 of the price you can get it locally, you just have to go for it.

I did take classes, one on the Estonian Patent stitch with Merike Saarniit and math for knitters with Edie Eckman. Both very informative and both very useful. I can't wait to impress everyone in the near future.

The sock was overwhelmed by the whole thing and was very emotional when I told it where we were going and who we would see. I was able to calm the sock down by starting to knit the heel. The sock did okay and managed not to embarrass me despite being severely star struck.



Merike Saarniit, queen of the Estonian Patent Stitch.



Edie Eckman, simplifying math for knitter's everywhere.

Stay tuned for more from my Chicago adventure.

Until next time
Yours in Yarn,
The Fibreholic

How to stalk a celebrity

You've got your traveling sock in hand with a need to acquire mojo. You really don't want another letter from the TSA (traveling sock association) so you've decided to do all you can to satisfy the rules and regulations.

You go to where the celebrity is doing a book signing, just so you don't have to wait around or pay someone to wait around to alert you when the celebrity emerges.

So there's a long line up. You don't need to deal with that. Just getting a picture of the sock with the celebrity in the background should be good enough.



Good picture of the sock, but with my dime store camera, lousy picture of celebrity. So to the line-up I go. Bonus...there is a woman from celebrity's camp who is giving out handfuls of recipes that are off the website.

Finally get to celebrity and sheepishly admit that any book of hers that I wanted signed was forgotten at home. Don't admit that while I want to buy her latest book, I'm too cheep to buy the hard cover version and am waiting for it to come out in paperback. Tell her that you did stand in line so that you could get a picture of her holding your traveling sock.



Debbie Macomber was most obliging. She even asked if she should appear to be knitting on the sock for the photo.

Okay so it's not true celebrity stalking, but I got my photo and didn't get arrested. That's what I call a good day!

Until next time
Yours in Yarn,
The Fibreholic

Mojo from Maureen

I've got to admit, that I am quite fortunate to live in an area with such a great Knitting Guild. Earlier this year the guild brought in Sally Melville and this past weekend we had Maureen Mason-Jamieson give several workshops.

I took a class on using slip stitches and advanced mitering. Very interesting, especially at the end of the first class when she picked up my hand-dyed wool that I was using, to show the whole class.....Giggle..... Maureen's presentation at the guild meeting was about knitting from your stash. The whole premise for this is that it will enable you to go buy more yarn. I like the way she thinks. I also handed in my crazy socks for the guild contest on Monday night. I figured that we were on a roll so why stop now.

And of course I got her to hold the sock. That sock will have so much mojo before I even get a chance to do any traveling with it.



I haven't done much knitting at all lately, because of a baby shower. You may ask why I don't just knit something for the baby. I fell in love with double sided quilting several years ago and look for any opportunity to make one (especially the smaller ones for babies).

Why yes, I do happen to have a fabric stash.....why do you ask????



UPDATE

As for unanswered question #3. He wanted to bring the fluff to school to show his friends. I'm still working on questions #1 & 2.

Until next time
Yours in Yarn,
The Fibreholic

A local celebrity....coming soon

That's right folks, the Toronto area is losing a knitting celebrity, and Ottawa is getting her. Sally Melville is moving to the Ottawa area this summer. She is moving here to be closer to her daughter, with whom she has written a book.

She was in Ottawa this past weekend and came to the knitting guild meeting last night to give a talk. She is a very down to earth and funny woman. She is also brilliant. Here she is with my traveling sock....okay so I won't be traveling for awhile but she really liked it because the sock yarn has cashmere and what's not to like about that.

I took her "borders and buttonholes" class and all I can say is that I feel empowered. At one point she taught us how to do cool loops for buttons along a reverse stocking stitch border. Then something happened.....

My right brain went into high gear, the Heavens opened up, a choir of angel began to sing "Hallalujah".

"Ahhhhhh," I exclaimed, "I am working on a cardigan that this technique would be perfect for. The pattern call for attached I-cord and ties, but this is so much better."

When I got home, I pulled out the cardi-in-progress. My left brain the took over and told me that it wouldn't work. Stupid left brain.....it's always holding me back. Sally says that we shouldn't listen to our left brain and just go for it.

I'm listening to Sally.

Until next time
Yours in Yarn,
The Fibreholic

The Babies...week 2

The Babies are a week old and no longer look like little pigs. They have a fine coating of wool and I already have an idea of what colour they will be. Their eyes are still closed, but the ears are starting to pop up. Last Monday morning I miscounted, there are 7, not 6 babies. So like any proud bunny Grandparent, here are my update photos.Seven Things Update

Last week
OUT
a large garbage bag filled with towels (didn't count them) My MIL was doing some house cleaning and decided we needed her old towels and sent them with my parents when they came to visit. Why?????? I have no idea why she felt we would want them.
2 shopping bags filled with kids clothes
It all went to charity.
IN
I was doing so well, I hadn't bought a thing. But on Sat I walked by the local fabric store and heard the seductive whisper calling my name. I bought one piece of cotton for quilts and a piece of flannel for a pair of sleep pants for the teen.

This past week
OUT
Arrrrgggghhhh nothing. I'll have to do better this week. DH is selling things on Ebay like crazy but I'm not going to count his totals with mine. He is doing it for the money and not to live with less stuff.

IN
2 skeins of Hacho yarn (hand painted DK/8ply Merino) (free at the Jane Ellison workshop)
The Mirasol Collection book (I had to get her to sign a copy while she was here....didn't I???)
1 skein of lace weight baby alpaca from Misti Alpaca.
1 pattern for the "shy sheep" cardigan. Can't wait to make this one.

Until next time
Yours in Yarn,
The Fibreholic

Even Jane Ellison Agrees

Jane Ellison came to Ottawa on Sunday Oct. 14th and I was fortunate enough to meet her. I decided to throw caution to the wind (in the case of my budget) and buy some silk garden by Noro (shade 8). The Jane Ellison pattern I chose was one of her men's patterns as I wanted to to make a "boyfriend" type sweater. The sweater is big and loose and very comfy. Not to mention that I received many compliments on the finished product. Even Jane, after looking closely at my shoulders, praised my finishing abilities. (This is me doing the happy dance at a compliment from Jane.)BUT.... guess who the sweater fits perfectly and guess who has a birthday coming up very soon. You guessed it....The Sweater Boy. Hmmmm do I give him the sweater or not?????

Jane came to Wool N' Things that day. She gave a trunk show, there was a workshop on how to make the gloves from her latest book The Mirasol Collection with the free skeins of Hacho yarn everyone received, and we ate. Very friendly and down to earth woman...well after all... she is a knitter.

After telling her about the lost sweater incident, she agrees with every one else. DH shouldn't be getting this sweater. He doesn't deserve it!


Swap Pal...if you are reading this....look away. With no up close photo, my pal can't see the detail so they look like basic stripes. ( a much better photo will follow). Jane totally understood the need for a sock photo for my blog and was willing to help out with sock mojo. She liked the socks! I am beginning to get star struck at this stage, especially when she asks for my blog address.

As soon as I find the needle nose pliers, I'll make the stitch markers and be ready to mail my package and send it off to my swap pal. This is just too fun.

I've been given another knitting commission and have to give a quote on another so I'd better get to work.

Until next time
Yours in Yarn,
The Fibreholic