Sock Yarn Anyone?
Mood:  cool
Now Playing: ZZ Top "Legs"
Topic: Knitting

Here is a portion of the yarn that I plied today, from those two bobbins shown yesterday.

I still have 2/3 of a bobbin of the Magical Roving left, but used up 2/3 of the bobbin with the Border Leicester roving. Why? Because the BL roving is a much loftier yarn than the Magical roving, which is really a combed top.

I like the way this is looking when it is plied. I don't mind the barber pole effect, and think that it will make some stunning socks; subtle yet colorful.

Unfortunately, the rest of the black BL roving is in the trailer, packed at the front, so it may be a while before I can finish spinning it up. Two weeks until my last show of the season, which is when I'll actively try to get the roving back out.

Until then, I'll satisfy myself with spinning another Magical roving, this one a cream/orchid/peach combination. And get to work on dyeing silk caps too. :)

Rhinebeck, part 2
Mood:  chatty
Now Playing: The Cure "Just Like Heaven"
Topic: Fiber Friends

No work for me this evening. When DH came home to pick us all up, DS1 was sound asleep on the couch; worn out from his exciting weekend at Rhinebeck. So I'm here for the evening while DH and DS2 head back to Hamp.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand.

I met a lot of wonderful people this weekend. Many people read this blog, which makes me happy. One woman told me I was an inspiration to her. Who knew? :)

The one thing I really wanted to do this weekend was take pictures of the people that came by to say Hi. I even had my camera in the booth, but when I realized that it might be a bit obnoxious to be photographing people left and right, I gave up on the idea.

Norma stopped by with LauraJ (whom I've know for years now). They wanted to take a picture for Sandy of the roving that I had made from the contest winning photo:

Teresa's Evening Sunset, photo courtesy of Sandy Hurley:

Fooled you, didn't I? I showed a picture of it earlier last week calling it "Mixed Berry Pie". I couldn't very well give it away that this was the roving colorway from the contest before unveiling it at Rhinebeck, now could I? The angora/wool yarn will follow, probably at The SPA Weekend in February. The colors were trickier to get with the yarn than with roving, which is why it wasn't available.

Teresa came by a little later and saw her roving. She went home with a bump of it as her prize for the winning entry. Sandy will be sent her prize, as I had thought I could give it to her directly at Rhinebeck, but she was unable to make it.

Cassie and Claudia came by, as did Joe. Joe and I had a nice conversation about his curly maple
Robin wheel that he picked up on Saturday. I'm seriously jealous that he has that curly maple one; it is stunning! And Joe was so nice to meet too. I love reading his blog!

Elisa from NJ came by and picked up her Bobbin Log and I saw some of the NJ Fiber Fanatics, including Laurie, who had to have more Rhinebeck soap.

So many other people came by and talked to me, all of them wonderful. Each person had a different story to tell; how they got into knitting, spinning, crocheting, or were just enjoying the day being out of the rain! I enjoyed talking to each and every person that came by to say hi. I can't name everyone here, but this is one reason that I adore vending; meeting old and new friends, and sharing a passion for the fiber arts.

I want to give a special thank you to Linda from Grafton Fibers. If it weren't for her encouragement and thoughtfulness, I wouldn't make it through half of these shows. :) She's an inspiration and epitomizes what is the very best of vendors, helping where she can and selling fantastic products which make these shows wonderful.

I'll leave you this time with a picture of the yarn I spun up this weekend. I'll ply those tonight for the sock yarn.

Rhinebeck; the flip side
Mood:  celebratory
Now Playing: Elton John "The One"
Topic: Show

I've been sitting here today, eagerly anticipating the next time Bloglines tells me that a blog has been updated. See, I live vicariously through you shoppers at times like this.

I bought *nothing* at Rhinebeck. Yes, you heard right. The only thing I purchased was food, and that was necessary. But I didn't buy one single thing for myself.

As a vendor, leaving the booth is difficult at best. Vendors usually rely on each other to "spell" or booth sit, so that running to get lunch, coffee or the bathroom is possible. I did have my DH there, but he was watching the boys (most of the time) and he would run and get things for me. But retail just isn't his thing. He prefers to help build the Bobbin Logs and Tree rather than sell them. :)

I did get out to visit 3 barns on Sunday morning, before the show opened. I talked to Gil from Robin Spinning Wheels. We have a running joke that I've had a wheel on order for longer than anyone else, because I originally placed my order in 2000 at MAS&W. Due to tight finances, when he's called me twice to tell me that he had a wheel ready for me, I've been unable to take delivery. So, last year at Rhinebeck, I paid off the wheel. Gil is just waiting for some cherry wood to come in so that he can make more. I'll be high on the list of getting a Robin wheel when it arrives.

I also lusted after some yarn from Brooks Farm, also in Building A. But because I have 2 skeins from Rhinebeck last year that I haven't done anything with, I resisted the urge to spend on yarn.

The only thing I did do is spin one of the Magical Rovings. See the color down in the lower right hand corner, the green/black combo? That is the one I started to spin. I now have a bobbin full of that, and I spun a bobbin full of black Border Leicester (also from my inventory). I'll ply these and use them for a cool sock yarn

And speaking of Magical Rovings, look at what Vee did. Isn't that gorgeous!? Vee was incredible nice and I enjoyed talking with her on Saturday.

I met a bunch of other bloggers and non-bloggers this weekend. But because I have to run now, I'll blog more about whom I met later, either tonight or tomorrow. But I'll leave you with a picture of my booth. DH has made it his quest to build collapsible hutches for me. And since he builds point-of-purchase displays for living, I know he'll be able to build something really fabulous.

More! More! More!
Mood:  energetic
Now Playing: Billy Idol "Rebel Yell"
Topic: Show

We are on day 6 of rain! I kid you not. And it doesn't look much better for the weekend.

On the plus side; My booth location at Rhinebeck is A-16, which is in that nice, large, warm and dry building over by where they do all the demos of various NY state products. So, we'll be dry and warm. Stop by and visit! :)

Here is a picture of the Magical Rovings that I'll have in the booth:

And here is a (not so good) picture of the Wings Shawl.

Each shawl takes just two skeins of the Alluring yarn, and is easy enough for a beginner but a good, quick knitting project for an experienced knitter.

I spent most of yesterday turning the roving on Tuesday's post into 2 ounce balls. Today I'll be cutting soap and wrapping it (no soap cut to people's specs this year in our booth; maybe at SPA in February). And more dyeing. I have to finish dyeing yarn for the Wings shawl kits.

I hope to see a lot of you at Rhinebeck! If you can't make it, and see something you like here, just e-mail me from the website!

How is this for Wool P0rn?
Mood:  party time!
Now Playing: Def Leppard "Hysteria"
Topic: Fiber
My fabulous processor got everything back to me in time for Rhinebeck.

Want to see a sneak preview of what I'll have in the booth? Check out the photos below:

Pioneer Valley Autumn - Icelandic and German Angora Wool

Winter Night Sky - Corriedale and German Angora Wool

Mixed Berry Pie - Border Leicester

We'll also have our new Magical blends too, but no picture of those right now. :) I might show those later this week, after I've weighed up all the above blends into 2 ounce balls of roving.

NH before the rains
Mood:  caffeinated
Now Playing: Baltimora "Tarzan Boy"

To see pictures of the Wool Tour, check out Cheryl's blog. She was able to make it up to all of the stops on Saturday and took some nice pictures.

I'm home today, working, and dyeing. I'll post pictures of the dyed items later. :)

Blocking to go
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: ABC "The Look of Love (Part One)"
Topic: Knitting

I didn't get much done today fiber wise, except wash and block two shawls, including the "Wings" shawl I've designed. I'm planning to meet my friend Kristen this week and take pictures of her modeling the shawl so that I can have a picture on the front of the pattern.

Other than that, I cleaned our entire living room, and it is now presentable for any possible company that might drop by.

I'm exhausted now, having been awake since 3:45 this morning. I'm sure it will be an early night. Maybe tonight I can sleep all night, instead of waking up way too early. :)

When It Rains, It Pours!
Mood:  bright
Now Playing: Men Without Hats "Safety Dance"

Today, DH, the kids and I went on the Wool Tour up in NH. I love this show, and always find something neat.

Today's purchases included two CD's from Anne at the Wool Room (Enya and a Cape Breton fiddle CD), a children's book for my boys which is extremely funny, and several patterns from Lisa Lloyd which will work well with the angora yarn I'll be selling at Rhinebeck. Lisa's patterns are fabulous if you haven't already seen them.

Anyway, I did stop and take a few pictures of what things looked like up in NH. Due to the excessive rains we had yesterday (my area of Western MA had almost 6 inches of rain!!!), there was some serious flooding going on up in NH. Portions of the roads were closed, including the road up to Mirage Alpacas and Western View Farm.

And yes, this was covering a portion of the road, and had also made this bridge impassible because the water had torn out large chunks of pavement at the beginning of the bridge.

This wasn't the worst of it; right before we got into Hillsboro, Route 202 was closed because of the severe flooding right before the intersection of Route 9, and that there were 2 propane tanks floating down the river before the bridge. Scary, huh?

For those computer gurus out there
Mood:  caffeinated
Now Playing: Jigsaw "Sky High"

If anyone knows how to build a blog button, could you please direct me to where I can learn?

Rain, Rain, Go Away
Mood:  caffeinated
Now Playing: Foreigner "Waiting for a Girl Like You"
Topic: A bit of everything

Actually, no, we don't want it to go away. We need the rain. Everything here in Western MA is extremely dry. However, I'm questioning if we need 3+ inches of rain today! Yes, just for today, that is what we are expected to get here in the Pioneer Valley. Since DH and I took the boys out for haircuts at 8 this morning, we already saw evidence of flooding in the low lying areas where there are small streams or brooks. I suspect by tonight, there will be some serious flooding going on later. Thankfully, NECN is showing that tomorrow will be cloudy, and cool, but no rain in the afternoon. That will make it a fairly decent day for the NH Wool Tour (year 8 for me!).

I plan to do some yarn dyeing today. It probably won't dry, unless I put it near the dehumidifier, but it will give me a head start on things. And since I made up the new yarn labels for the angora/wool yarn, I'm very pleased with their outcome.

I hope to see some of you tomorrow! Look for Marcy and I to be visiting the various stops.