More Dyeing Ahead
Mood:  energetic
Now Playing: Walter Wanderley "Summer Samba"
Topic: A bit of everything

My friend Alyson used to own a wonderful store in Chicopee called Textile Traditions. She closed the store a few years ago, and still has yarns and equipment in her home from her inventory. Tonight I'm going over to her place to buy out what she has left of silk caps. I think I'll work at dyeing those tonight and tomorrow morning. I love spinning from silk caps and the colors you get when dyeing silk; so bright and clear.

On the home front: My bathroom is almost finished. I have a working shower (something we have not had in this particular bathroom in seven (yes, 7!) years, a working sink and vanity and the plumber is showing up early tomorrow to put the toilet back in (I have a funky house where things are rather messed up; chalk it up to a fly by night contractor who did less than wonderful work over 30 years ago!). I have a new floor, and new fixtures. I even hung a brand new shower curtain today with little fish on it.
Am I excited? Yeah, you could say that. Because once this bathroom is finished, we start gutting the one upstairs! Yikes!

And you are probably wondering what is up with the music I'm listening to? AOL Radio (my standard on the computer) has their Summer Daze radio station back on, and their like to mix up their music. Personally, the music I'm listening to now reminds me of the stuff my mother used to listen to when we were at my Grandmother's house in NJ when I was a kid. So you could say that I have fond memories of some music that sounds very much like elevator music. Yes, it's strange, but comforting at the same time. :)

Fiber artists and bloggers
Mood:  energetic
Now Playing: Air Supply "Love in Love"
Topic: A bit of everything
I am constantly amazed at how the Internet has brought people together. Before I was online, I felt rather alone in my pursuit of knitting. But in March of 1997, DH decided that we'd been behind the masses long enough and opened up our AOL account. Since then, I know that there are so many other people out there that share the same interests, AND are fun people to talk to!

Last night, Cassie called me about a particular fleece that had been calling her name (you didn't know that I could make fleeces talk to people, now did you?). ;-) We got to talking and she is a delightful person. Little did I know that when she stopped by the booth at NHS&W, that she was wearing an Icelandic shawl. Those of you that know me really well know that I LOVE Icelandic fleeces. I have a shawl that I made 4 years ago out of some roving that I spun and then knit myself. It is one of the knitting accomplishments I'm most proud of. Had I know that Cassie was wearing Icelandic, I would have mugged her, wanting to pet the shawl. It was lovely! I'm hoping she'll bring it to Cummington which is less than 2 weeks away.

And because I was a good wife, and decided to give my husband a break, I mowed most of the lawn yesterday before he got home (he had to do the trimming with the push mower). But mowing also forced me to start looking at my stash of Icelandic fleeces, and several have caught my eye, so I'll be carding those with some angora within the next week.

And speaking of angora, I have been working at shearing my rabbits down. Annie was shorn on Tuesday, and I'll probably do Cosmos and Chunky Monkey today. Both are in need, and I need their wool.

Later today, I'll post picture of the Hitchhiker wheel I purchased at NHS&W from Cate.

BTW, if anyone is in the area, there is the Jamaica Fiber Fest in Jamaica, VT on Saturday. There will be vendors there selling their fiber related wares, including Linda from Grafton Fibers and Cathy from IBIWISI Alpacas. Please come join us for a few hours and enjoy the lovely town of Jamaica!

And if you can't make it to Jamaica, Deanna will be at Webs Fleece Sale in Northampton on Saturday, manning the booth for Bay Colony Farm. Some great vendors there too! :)

The long and not so short of it
Mood:  bright
Now Playing: Billy Idol "White Wedding"
Topic: A bit of everything
NHS&W was a nice show. I love the fairgrounds (peaceful, and yet, lots of things going on there). I know that some of the alpaca people weren't thrilled, as one of the neighbors started burning brush on Sunday, which engulfed them in smoke, but other than that, it is a very nice show. We were located in the Home Arts Center building. I was next to MaryLynn from Indigo Moon and she's a very nice person, with beautiful batts. I had my husband and two kids with me, and they enjoyed the fair as well. DH is a glutton for fair food, my oldest son is happy eating hamburgers daily, and my youngest is getting a taste for fair food too. Me, on the other hand, did some serious damage on the charge card, all in one felled swoop! Cate happened to be walking by with Marcy on Saturday morning, carrying her Hitchhiker Wheel from the Merlin Tree. She was on the way to return it to Dave, as she had accidentally grabbed a leftie wheel at another show, and wanted to exchange it for a righty wheel. Well, since my Joy wheel was buried in my garage, and at 5 a.m. on Saturday morning, I wasn't about to start moving stuff around, and potentially wake up our neighbors, I had left without a wheel. I asked Cate to give me a try, and decided that that was the wheel for me for the weekend. Cate says I mugged her for it. ;-) All I know is that she took my credit card up to Dave, and as he explains it, she handed it to him and he said "Wait, this card says "Helen" on it; are my wheels already on the used wheel market when they have only been out for 2 weeks?" He thought that was amusing. I did get a bit of spinning done, especially since I decided that the Bobbin Trees needed more filled bobbins on them. AND I discovered that plying from a Bobbin Tree makes life much easier, especially since no cord is needed, as there is enough drag on the bobbin from the wood to allow for easy plying.

We had a lot of people stop by and introduce themselves. It makes me laugh to hear people say "Oh, I know you! You post on the NETA all the time." That just cracks me up (Do I really post that much??) :) Helen from NETA and Fibertraditions stopped by, and took a picture of me. Granted, it is by far from being my best picture, but hey, I had worked on Bobbin Trees until midnight on Friday, got less than 3 hours of sleep, drove to NH and set up a booth. I think I'm entitled to look less than stellar. BCF booth picture. If you want to see Helen's entire picture folder, click here. She's a wonderful photographer! :)
A surprise was finding Stephanie, the Yarn Harlot shopping in my booth. It was a real treat to meet her, as I had missed her appearance in Amherst at the Fiber Arts Center. And I sent her home with a skein from the IAGARB Yarn Co-op. I think she liked that.

Karla from NETA stopped by the booth with her two handsome and very well mannered sons. It was a pleasure to finally meet her. I also saw LauraJ (a long time friend) Judy, Kat, Barbara L., and so many others (forgive me if I don't mention you here; the weekend is a blur, but a fun blur). It is always a pleasure to meet people face to face that I've "known" on the various lists, or through blogging.

Anyway, we had a nice time for the weekend, and I was exhausted by the time I came home on Sunday night.

And now, for some pictures.

I've had a few people ask about the Felted Coat/Vest Class that Leslie Samson is teaching here in June. Here are some samples of what you can do;

The purple/blue vest done on a white batting

The white vest with silver streaks

The red/purple vest with really cool buttons!

And here is a picture of some of the dyeing I did last week. These skeins are part of the IAGARB yarn, and will go into kits. I've designed an easy shawl pattern, which will be ready for MA Sheep and Wool in Cummington in two weeks.

And for those of you needing a bunny fix, here are pictures I took today of the babies, which are now 6 weeks old, and below that is a picture of Molly Mae, who will be bred later this summer.

This picture above shows their favorite place to sit; the large bowl of oats. Of course, it also makes for messy clean up, as they like to pee in there too. Ewwwwww!

Mia and one of her babies.

Molly Mae, who was just shorn last week before NH. She has a great body on her, and nice wool. She's going to make a great breeding doe!