The Long National Nightmare is Over

Well, OK, my long local nightmare is over.  And it wasn't actually a nightmare, just an annoying process.  A long annoying process.

I finished Papillon!!!  Yay!!!  Now I don't have to knit it any longer.  Phew.

For all the knitters out there, if you love short rows, this is your project.  For knitters like me, who find short rows annoying because I can't figure out where I turned the knitting around if I lose count, so I can't then count again because I don't know where I made the wrap and turn (that might not have made sense but I know what I mean), it's an endless knit.  Almost literally.

But it's finished and blocking and all that's left is weaving in a few ends.  I can't imagine why I picked these colors...it must have been the yarn fumes at SAFF last fall.  But it's finished and it's mine.  yay?

I Might Be Crazy

Today, I am starting this project:

Not in these colors, but this is what it will (maybe?) look like when (if?) I finish it. I am totally intimidated by the pattern---lots and lots and LOTS of short rows, which means paying very close attention to the instructions and doing a lot of counting.  

It is the Butterfly/Papillon and in a moment of yarn fumes intoxication, I bought the kit at SAFF. So did several others of the group. We had vowed to not buy the first thing we saw that we loved, that we would wander the entire event and THEN decide what we really wanted to make. The Butterfly/Papillon kit was the first thing we saw. 

sallyknit has somehow already figured out the pattern, is not intimidated in the least by short rows, and has volunteered to teach a couple of us how to make it. So later today, I will, I hope, learn how to make this.

Thank you sallyknit!!!


AND, as a bonus, while the knitters are here, dH is starting a bathroom demo project.  oh yay.

There will be dust. And I hate dust. He is thrilled because he "needed" to buy a new toy, a reciprocating saw. Which will make dust. And---BONUS---noise. 

Pray for us knitters.

Y93.D1

I am just back from a long weekend in Black Mountain, NC and Asheville, NC.  A group of us attended SAFF, the big animal fiber fair held on the WNC Agricultural Center grounds.  

The leaves had the generosity to change colors as we watched.

There was little color when we arrived on Thursday, but by Sunday, after a cold front blew through, this is what we saw from the deck of our rented house on Black Mountain.

We were a little disappointed though---in the past, the event took place in the arena where cattle auctions are held, and it was larger than the new building we used this year.  Imagine this area filled with all fiber-related vendors and displays:

This year, the arena held goats and sheep and at the top, above the seating, were the gorgeous angora rabbits.

Really, there IS a rabbit in there!

This is a French Angora Rabbit, cleaning his ears.  

There was a seven-year old girl with us, and boy-howdy, did she want a fluffy rabbit!  But her grandmother held firm, and no one carried a rabbit back to Atlanta.

Partly thanks to the cold, and then the rain, and then this:

we stayed indoors and knit. And knit. And knit. The owners of the house were pretty adamant that yes, there are bears (and snakes) so we lit a fire and enjoyed the company of the ten of us who went up the twisty, turny, hairpin turns on the sometimes paved, sometimes not, roads up the mountain.  

Yarn was bought; needles were bought. Other knitting-related items were bought. (Passive voice to avoid identifying the guilty)

One of the group made these bags to hold our purchases:

What, you might ask, does Y93.D1 mean?

Well, just in case you work with yarn or other fibers, Y93.D1 is the medical billing code for knitting/crocheting injuries. Really!

There is a code for that.

  

  

Four Years Later

Four long years ago, I bought the pattern, yarn and beads to make this:

Photo from Susanna IC

(Seychelles by Susanna IC)

And I studied the pattern, and studied the pattern and studied the pattern, and................ then I chickened out.

But the project nagged at me.  I had the yarn:

Miss Babs Yet, in Seychelles color---made for this project by the gifted dyers at Miss Babs.

I studied the notes on others'  finished projects on Ravelry, and suddenly! I understood the pattern.

No more procrastinating! Here is the first of 19 repeats, and honestly, it is EASY! I have made other complicated projects in the past four years, and now, by comparison, this looks to be a breeze.

No mistakes so far. AND I learned how to add beads as I go. See them there? On the right?

YAY me!

(It ain't braggin' if it's true, you know.)


OH! OH! OH!
It just occurred to me that Miss Babs will be at SAFF (Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair) in October. I'm sure I'll find yarn to replace the yarn I use in this project, and LOTS more! I LOVE Miss Babs yarn and SAFF is the only place it's available in person. 

Been There, Done That, Bought the Shirt...

literally.

What we didn't buy was a lot of yarn.  This was our fourth year at SAFF, so I guess we've become more blasé or selective or something.  

I bought yarn for just one project:  The Shetland Garden Faroese Shawl:

knit from The Unique Sheep's Tinsel Toe yarn, gold to green gradient colorway:

This shawl has eight charts.  And all four of us bought a kit.  What WERE we thinking???

(Yarn fumes.  It's the only answer.)

My only other purchase was some bison yarn for older daughter:

I have, over the years, purchased yarn made from llama, alpaca, sheep (of course), mink, cashmere, mohair, possum, and now bison.  

So that was the Fair.

Random shots from the weekend:

A trucker with a good Halloween sense of humor...or a trucker we don't want to meet---

 Some well-packed dogs.

Our little rented house in Weaverville, NC.  It's a lot larger than it looks thanks to an addition on the back.

Welcome to Weaverville!!! They are such kind and generous folks.

Really, they are.  We spent some time in greater downtown Weaverville.

Some truly great decorating.

And that's all, folks!

Ooops. No it's not.  I forgot our mascot, provided by Sallyknit!

That's all Blogger would let me transfer from my phone, but I'm sure you remember the rest of the lyrics.

Listen to them enough, as we did, and you may never forget them.  

SAFF

Tomorrow I leave for a long weekend at SAFF (the Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair), in Asheville, NC.  Four of us have gone there the past few years and had a great time.  It's literally everything from sheep to shawl, although we have sworn off any yarn-buying this year.  Right?

The past couple of years, we've had the use of an apartment, but it is not available this year, so we have rented a house.  The apartment came complete with celebrity gossip magazines last year, but I think that the house will not.  So I bought these today when I went to the grocery store.  Yes, I was kind of embarrassed and I did feel as if I should explain to the teenaged boy checking me out that I don't usually buy this sort of thing, that I know I am the wrong demographic for them.  My proof is that I don't even know who Emily is!!!

But then I decided that he probably really didn't care.  I bought them and moved on.  Last year we took turns reading them aloud; whoever just couldn't knit ONE MORE STITCH would read to the other three knitters.  We're stocked up for this year.

Traditions are important!  

Serendipity

Again.

This time with mawatas. We bought them months and months ago to make silk mittens with. The Yarn Harlot had written about doing this, and we figured, with no good reason, that if she could do it, so could we.

Using this silk as yarn involves pulling these unbelievably thin mawatas, or silk hankies, out and sort of twisting the fiber a bit until the thickness is right for the intended project.

Isn't it pretty?

L and Sallyknit, while we were all in Asheville for SAFF this weekend, tried to turn one of the hankies into yarn. They succeeded, but only in getting what could more accurately be described as thread. They also tried to knit what they pulled into the ribbing for mittens, but that was not successful either. The mittens would have been very teeny-tiny.

On our way home from Asheville, we somehow turned off the road onto the wrong exit road, and ended up sort of ....not lost really...but sort of dislocated. Suddenly Sallyknit yelled, and I do mean yelled, "Yarn!" We stopped on a dime and this is what we saw:
A beautiful yarn shop in Hendersonville, NC. Not only is the shop as perfect inside as it is outside, the owner is a specialist in dyeing fibers, and especially SILK fiber!!! We mentioned our failure with our silk hankies, and she took us to the back of her shop where she was knitting a scarf from a hankie she had dyed herself. The scarf was beautiful.

The owner gave us a little demonstration on pulling silk from the hankie---and no kidding---we can do this! We decided to make scarves instead of mittens---we don't much wear mittens in Georgia, but a silk scarf? We can wear that all year long.

Serendipity. It's a wonderful thing!

SAFF, year three

WE CAME.

But this is the sign that greeted us at the entrance. Some very confused tractor fans must have shown up and wondered what all the yarn was doing at their tractor show....and where were the tractors???WE SAW.

Beautiful colors outside.

Beautiful yarns inside.

.

WE CONQUERED.

(We found lots of yarn that we needed. Really!)

And I learned something new.

Chart reading.

We decided to make a souvenir project---fingerless gloves, and doing that necessitated reading charts for the pattern. I have always avoided charts, but these were easy. They were for knitting in the round, so there was no reading backwards or upside down. I finished the thumb on glove one yesterday, and now I look forward to the second. They are made on size one needles and have some weird stitch combinations in them. It was intimidating the first time, but now? No problem. (I hope.)

And Anna, one of the Coven, won first prize for a beautiful scarf that she designed and knit. It was worked in double knitting, and even though I watched her work on it week after week at Thursday's Knit Nights, I still don't understand how she did it. She tried to explain it to us, but it just didn't click with me. We have all admired it and she had dismissed it as no big deal. But now she has to admit that we were right all along!

We're Off!

Tomorrow morning at way-too-early-for-me o'clock, my knitter coven and I are leaving for SAFF, the Southeastern Animal Fiber Festival in Asheville, North Carolina. This will be our third year there, so we know what to expect. Lots of yarn, yarn-yielding animals, and yarn accessories.

We have made a pledge not to buy yarn this year because we all have yarn and projects galore. (Unless we come across never-before-seen-must-have-for-that-yet-unknown project we've always wanted needed.)

We'll see how this goes.

SAFF, year two

Three Thursday knit-night friends and I went to beautiful Asheville, North Carolina this past weekend for our second trip to the Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair and had a blast. I have a sore throat today, and I don't think that I can blame it on a cold or H1N1....it's from talking and laughing so much!

On Friday we went to SAFF itself, held in a cattle auction arena at the agricultural center. We saw yarn; we bought yarn:

Laceweight yarn-

Natural mohair/wool boucle-

And I bought a gift for older daughter, the knitter-

On Day 2 we decided that because we had met sheep, goats, alpaca, llamas, and rabbits last year, we would go into Biltmore Village instead. There was a yarn shop there-who'd a thunk?

We saw yarn; we bought yarn:

Beautiful Koigu yarn for a very complicated scarf.

On Day 3 we decided that because we had been to SAFF already, and because we had been into Asheville already, we would go check out the gorgeous Grove Park Inn -----but first we stopped at the yarn shop in Biltmore Village again, because we wanted needed more yarn.

We saw more Koigu; we bought more Koigu, for another, easier scarf.

I also bought, for a friend's cat, this cute felted mouse, stuffed with catnip. I forgot about it, and filled the bag with yarns and other things for the trip home.

My cat has NEVER played with catnip, but last night I noticed Cat sticking his head in a bag of yarn. That was odd, because he rarely pays any attention to yarn either. I dumped out the bag's contents, and there was the forgotten mouse. Cat played and played and played with it. It may not end up as a gift for Miss Emily...

Anna, one of our favorite knitters, is from the Ukraine, and she brought some traditional Ukrainian food for us to try. It was all delicious and we really enjoyed it; however, she did say that it was meant to be eaten accompanied by shots of frozen vodka. Only one of us joined her in drinking the vodka, and it wasn't knittergran, but these ARE my glasses. Alcohol consumption played no part in the destruction of these glasses; we don't know what did. I looked down at the coffee table, and there they were, snapped in half. It's a mystery, but until I replace them, I have a curfew: sunset. I only have prescription sunglasses left in one piece.

It was a wonderful four days, with nothing to do but relax, enjoy great company, delicious food, beautiful fall scenery, and knit. What more could we ask for? [view of Asheville from the Grove Park Inn]

Five days??? Six days????

Just So My Daughters Will Have Something New to Make Fun of Me For

"You are such a knitting nerd," is what they'll say, I'm betting. Anyway, the group of women I went to SAFF with found this on day one, and when I arrived for day two, our first stop of the second day was to find the booth where these were sold. I scored the last one!

What is it? Why, it's a yarn keeper bracelet, that's what it is!
It lets you knit while you are on the run, or keeps the yarn near you if you don't want it rolling all over the room. It also keeps the cat from playing with the ball of yarn because you wear the thing on your wrist and the yarn is not on the floor; it's in your lap.

Now, I was caught up in the excitement that is SAFF and didn't stop to consider that I never knit on the run, or even in public very often. The only line I've stood in lately (and I wished that I had brought my knitting) was to vote early - note the Obama bracelet. My cat rarely pays attention to my knitting. I don't know when I will use this, but it is clever, at least in theory. My three friends and I aren't the only ones who thought so - the booth was sold out when I bought the last yarn keeper bracelet early on day two of the three-day event.

So, go ahead and laugh. I may even join you.

SAFF

I am so happy to report that I made it to the Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair in Asheville, North Carolina! I drove up on last Friday, in horrid rain and fog and the three-hour trip took five hours. But it was worth it. I didn't buy much yarn---the place was beyond full of yarn and it was overwhelming to a knitter of my capabilities. I am not yet an experienced enough knitter to look at something yummy and just buy some number of skeins with plans to knit a *whatever* out of it. But I couldn't resist this: It is from the River's Edge Weaving Studio and it is made of 3 ounces of kid mohair and 1/2 ounce of Bluefaced Leicester Wool. It is much creamier in color than it looks in this photo, and it is very soft. I may just keep it as a pet. One of the friends I was with bought wool from a sheep that she met, but I didn't meet any Bluefaced Leicester sheep.

I was talking with a non-knitting friend when I returned from the fair yesterday, and I apparently went on and on about all the animals we had touched and petted. She stopped me, asking, "Why are you all so thrilled to be touching these animals?" I hadn't thought about it but it's true. We were just so interested to see and feel the animals whose fiber we knit with. It's fun to find out what the fibers feel like before they are washed and treated and spun into yarns.

This is an alpaca, and I have knit many, many things from alpaca. Hello, mr? mrs? alpaca!




This is a lamb. Isn't it cute!?

This is an angora goat. Mohair comes from this animal.

This is an angora rabbit. They are every bit as soft as they look. This is the fuzzy, furry angora you find in sweaters. The angora from these rabbits is harvested, if that's the right term, by hand. The owners just pull it out, and the rabbits don't mind at all.

The fair was held in a huge agricultural structure where rodeos and animal auctions are held. As large as the place is, it was FULL of all sorts of fiber-related things, from drop spindles to felting machines, antique sock-knitting machines, spinning wheels, looms and on and on and on. There were demonstrations of all sorts of activities, and the attendees like my friends and me took along our knitting to do when we stopped for a break. One of our knit-night friends had submitted yarn she had spun herself and a lace shawl she had knit from her own spun yarn. She won three ribbons in all. Congratulations, S!

Why I Should Live at the PO

Not by Eudora Welty
Because I've been to the freaking PO twice today!

If I had a brain, I'd be more organized and only go once.

OR, if I had the appropriate drugs, I wouldn't be so OCD that I am compelled to take things to the PO the moment they are ready to be mailed.

I was supposed to leave today for SAFF in Asheville, North Carolina, but I returned from Austin with a crummy bug and it's lingered and lingered. I'm enough better today to try and catch up with the week's errands, and---go to the PO twice. If I can get myself together, I can drive up tomorrow and join my friends there. A big if at this point, thanks to my lack of brains or drugs or both.