Fiber artists unite! And a new contest!
Mood:  party time!
Now Playing: T'Pau "Heart and Soul"
Topic: Fiber Friends

How about some pictures first?

Marcy, the blogless, intent on a conversation and enjoying a Lazy Girl Margarita

Cheryl spinning the beautiful purple fiber from Nicks Meadow.

It was a small gathering (and some people didn't want to appear on the blog), but we had a great time. We were able to chat about lots of things, and it turns out that Cheryl and I share several things in common, which made us both laugh upon discovery. I really enjoyed our conversation about Bloglines and how good some of the blogs are that are out there.

We had some wonderful food (and I'm really hoping that Cheryl posts her recipe on her blog!) and talked spinning for much of the day. Marcy supplied the drink makings and Deanna contributed a delicious fruit salad, which I plan to finish up for my breakfast this morning. ;-)

Marcy got me started on the Flower Basket Shawl, which I've had to rip back 4 times now since yesterday afternoon, but hey, I'll figure out lace sooner or later.

We all took turns spinning on Abigail. Marcy was shocked that I hadn't taken the time to spin on her yet, but I spent a lot of time spinning on her yesterday. She spins nicely, and I think we've figured out a small fluke in her spinning that will be easy to fix. But for a very old wheel, she spins well.

After everyone left, I'd found that my husband had started our woodstove downstairs. I went down to find Smitty warming herself on the back of my chair.

I think she looks rather indignant about being disturbed in her reclining pose, but hey, that's my prerogative. :)

And now, for the contest; The winner will get a skein of the Alluring yarn, which is an 85% German Angora/15% wool blend yarn.

What are these?

This contest will run until Wednesday and from all the correct answers, I'll pick a winner at random and announce their name on Thursday on the blog!

Ready, set, go!

We should do this more often!
Mood:  party time!
Now Playing: Alphaville "Big In Japan"
Topic: Fiber Friends
Yesterday, I had a few friends over for a fiber gathering. When I used to hold these on a regular basis up until a couple of years ago, we'd have upwards of 25 people here, but today was just a few, and that was fine, because we had the chance to sit and visit without the shouting over one another. ;-) And the food people brought was great too.

Laura brought corn muffins, Cath brought Wallace and Gromit Wensleydale cheese (how cool is that?!), green apples and three kinds of chocolate; ivory, milk and dark (YUMMMMM!), Deanna brought my favorite pea salad and Terry brought two pies, pecan and pumpkin (Terry, my son Nathaniel seriously thanks you; he had two slices tonight after he ate dinner!). I made black bean soup and marinated tofu. We actually had too much food, but it was all delicious. And we got to meet a new fiber friend of Deanna's named Susannah, who is a spinner and knitter and she works with Deanna. I look forward to seeing her at the local SnB soon! :)

These types of gatherings have always left me energized. I feel like I could knit on 10 projects at once! I did get some spinning done today. I plied most of the black/green/blue Magical Roving that I spun up at Rhinebeck. Then I spun up another Magical Roving which is white, lavendar and peach. I have no idea what this will be, but I like it anyway. It reminds me of early Spring.

Terry was working on a pair of socks, Cath was working on spinning a beautiful batt by Indigo Moon, Deanna was spinning a batt from Spinners Hill, and Susannah was working on what looked like the beginning of a sweater. Laura was knitting; I can't remember what she was knitting, but she was also getting ready to go see Harry Potter in Boston. We also got to see Cath's gloves from Pam Allen's pattern in IK 2003. And Laura brought me an autographed pattern for fingerless mitts. I want to make a pair for my husband for Christmas and a pair for me (these work SO well during bunny feedings and watering!).

Anyway, I think I'm going to go back to working on my knitting.

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.