Rhinebeck, part trios: Sunday recap

A bunch of us crazies got up early Sunday morning to take the Down Fibers Spinning class.



Cashmere and other tricky [read: expensive] fibers were something I had been wanting to learn, but I was too afraid to waste good fiber on learning. The class booted my ass into getting that cashmere and qiviut and buffalo and angora bunny fiber that has been in my stash out of my stash and onto a bobbin.

Here's KnitHoundBrooklyn and her fabulous yellow socks with a bobbin full of baby camel and cashmere and cashmere silk blend:


Stellina took the whole "high fiber diet" thing literally:


I'm sure Shansays has a picture of me taking a picture of her


After class, I decided to make myself feel like a total slouch and I went to watch the Sheep to Shawl excitement:




Then I had a pretty good internal argument with the philosophy behind my vegetarianism:


Of course, there were more sheep and goats to pet. This Romney from Anchorage Farm in Saugerties was just begging to be shorn. I had to bargain with him: I would take his fleece, but he would have to stay on the farm. No deal.


This blue-eyed cashmere kid wanted a home as well:

He was unhappy living at Black Locust Farm in Maine (!) and wanted to try city life. Adventurous, isn't he?

I had no idea how big in size Rambouillets were. They all seemed really docile, but that's a lot of wool! The rams looked so regal with their curly-q horns.




I encountered a rather friendly Romedale/CVM:




He kept nosing my camera and fogging up my lens!




More pretty Leicester Longwools:


Have I failed to mention that there was shopping to be done? All I have to say is THANK YOU to KnitHound for having the foresight to buy a Volvo!


We were all pretty pleased with ourselves, but I feel as though I missed enough of the vendors so that I'll have to go back next year in order to feel like I've had the full-on Rhinebeck experience.



Back to the big bad city to wash a mountain of wool.

My Week Without Blue Cheese

Back from Vacation! I had a rather chill and refreshing week in the far North of Maine. Good times with family and friends, unfussy food, sleeping in the great outdoors, hiking, kayaking, swimming, and most importantly, lazing.



The Katahdin region is beautiful this time of year.





It wasn't all fun and games though...



A pair of socks were finished. These are the Rogue Roses socks. It was the BMFA Rockin' Sock Club shipment from, um, March. I've come to realize that it's okay to not start and finish the club socks the day you get them.

I modified them- i discontinued the rose vine pattern on the foot since the roses would irritate the tops of my feet. I'm thinking about gifting them. I have a lot of family who live in the far Northern Maine, and they need warm woolies more than I do in the relatively balmy winters of NYC. Some of them were eyeing the socks in progress with a bit of interest.



Some spinning was done. Actually, a lot of spinning was done. Much more than I would on a normal work day! Miraculously, I spun every day for at least 10 minutes as part of the Tour de Fleece Goals. The Bee ended up being a perfect travel compainion. It was my carry-on bag and fit right under the plane seat. It survied a couple of boat rides as well.

I finished the BFL for the Aeolian Shawl:



Not sure of my yardage yet since I just did a hasty elbow skein. I need to throw it on the niddy noddy and give it a bath to set the twist. This is my first finished yarn in long draw. It's 2-ply lace weight.

I started some brightly colored Shetland for a yoke sweater. It's a ply of dark purple Lorna's Laces wool top in "Black Pearl" and some Spunky Eclectic Shetland in the "Raisin Wannabe" colorway.





I love how the purple in the Shetland matches up with the purple in the Lorna's Laces, but then transitions to pink and then acid lime green.

Back to reality now, where everything seems a bit too frantic and noisy. At least there is blue cheese here! I sat down and chowed a good portion of a block of Roquefort. There was a noticible lack of it in my diet the past couple weeks.