Shenandoah Fiber Festival

I do love fiber festivals! This one was in Berryville, and there was much more than I remember from years ago.  (Why am I surprised?)  The food was surprising acceptable (thanks Boy Scouts) and the vendors were full of yummy fiber and fabulous tools.  I bought.... well, fiber!  Fleece, yarn, and even a beautifully turned shawl pin.  Petting fiber ranks right up at the top of my sensory favorites!

Quietly Coming Back

You know it really was a long three week illness. I am much much better, and have been back at work a week, but I still tire easily, and still can't hear well out of one ear. I saw (yet another) doc today re the ear, and got yet more meds, but the good news is that it really is only inconvenient and not a danger to permanent hearing loss. Whew. BUT WHAT A PAIN IN THE NECK. Ear. Whatever.

I have done a bit of stitching, and a bit of spinning, but not much. I am really just hanging out. A different feeling, that, since I seldom do nothing. I just feel the need to not rush things. Yet I do need to get things done for October, so I can't lollygag around, but I think I may have learned that a few days well taken may save many days later on. If I hadn't tried to keep on going to work, doing the regular, could this have been a one week virus? Sigh. The cats are my constant companions, and give good scratches... oh wait, that's me scratching them! Hedonists! But then they are cats, so that is to be expected.

Too Much Time on Blogging!

It seems like I have spent too much time on the blogging highway, and not enough time either creating or organizing. I have gotten a bit fyrther on the cross-stitch knit scarf, and had a wonderful time with my husband visiting Woodlawn Plantation Needlework Exhibition, and organized my studio spaces so I could fit my little loom in to weave on it, and finally, spun recycled denim.... ugh, love the color, but it is really HARD to spin. I want to work on making the yarns I want to make rather than the ones the fibers seem to want to make. Sounds funny, but it is true, fibers seem to spin easily into some forms, and be sticky and lumpy when forced into others. I will conquer this issue, but I think not easily!

Mmmm, Fiber!

So the power outage in my studio had one good result... I spun up one of the fleeces I got at Montpelier. A beautiful chestnut cria hogget, it spun like a dream, just an easy singles, spun a little tightly to ply. It is about 1000 yds per pound, and about 10-12 tpi on average. I have found a beautiful wimple pattern, and may have enough left to make fingerless gloves.

Today I spent several hours at G Street working on the needlefelting attachment. I did a sampler, and a landscape. Gee, the back of the landscape is beautiful! Bernina's attachment fits on any of the newer machines, it simply has to have a wire thread guide, the metal hook kind doesn't let it attach well. It works like a champ, much easier than the very lightweight felting machine I tried at a friends house, I can't remember the brand, but it was a whole machine that cost roughly the same as the attachment for Bernina. Having a heavyweight, mostly steel interior really makes the Bernina easier to use. I haven't tried them all, but will write my opinions as I do. I am so strongly pro Bernina, I won't ever buy another brand, unless it is an antique. The DC motor powers through everything. Okay, no more free ads for Bernina, but I do love them.

The sampler and landscape both have a variety of fabrics on a felt background. I used silk, nylon, cotton, poly taffeta and organza. Even a tissue lame! I could learn to love this!

Since I now have power in my studio ( a short in the light fixture in the hall), it is time to take the tower of stuff off my cutting table and reorganize my studio. Again.

In other news, my Marine son is currently living in a villa (very small) in Clark Airfield PI, manning the satellites in pursuit of bad guys. You go, Josh! Meghan is slogging along in retail, persisting in paying off her debts and hoping to go to design school when she is flush. More power to you Meg, you make me proud!

The Weekend

Oh a good weekend, a fun weekend, a productive weekend! Besides a little housecleaning, I just concentrated on carding and spinning one of the alpaca fleeces I bought at the sheepdog trials. I took the smaller, cria, fleece, 20 oz. I got it all carded on my Louet mini roving carder, and spun up about half of it. Maybe a little more. It was so warm and balmy outside that I did alot of the carding and all of the spinning outside, helped of course by my 2 funny kitties. I am spinning a pretty fine yarn that I will ply with itself to use in a shawl or maybe a hood/wimple. I am ready to start on the second bobbin, and hope to finish it over this week. It is so soft, I spun it with a medium draw, semiworsted style. Oh it is lovely I tell you, lovely!

More of Maryland S&W

Oh, yes, did I mention the sheepdog demos? And the sheep grooming, and the sheep trimming, and the .....