What A Weekend

This past weekend was really busy. I only work until noon on Friday's so I decided to take Friday off and work a full day this Friday instead so I could get to the Creative Festival early. I haven't been in years but it was my understanding that the organizers are trying to get more of the fibre arts involved so I thought I would give it a chance. Kimberly and I met up at the Festival and were done looking around in less than 2 hours. There's too much scrapbooking and other things that have nothing to do with being creative at all, IMHO such as pots, makeup etc. Also, most of the yarn vendors had practically the same stuff and I just wasn't very excited. I think I will stick to the Knitter's Frolic in April and the Knitter's Fair in September and bypass the Creative Festival unless they have an interesting class I want to take. The only reason it wasn't a total wash out was because of Let's Hook Rugs and Black Sheep and Ewe.

Remember the rug hooking class I took in September? Well I wanted some hooking supplies and Let's Hook Rugs is the closest place I know of, so far. They are in Aurora but were away so I couldn't get up there to look for anything. When I heard they were going to be at the Festival it was just another reason for me to go. I bought the kit on the left and the book on the right. I am hoping that both will give me the help I need to start to get the hang of things. I also bought a smaller hook.

I tried to get to the booth for Gemini Fibres but it was so crowded I had to wait for a little while. While I was walking down the same aisle I saw the Black Sheep and Ewe booth and right there in front of my eyes was Grandma's Present. The one here in the picture is the one they have at The Purple Purl. I have been lusting after this thing ever since I saw it there. I asked if they were for sale and, unless they found some after I bought the one I got, it was the last one they had. Now to find the perfect place to put it. I haven't decided yet. When I do I'll take pictures. Right now we are trying to get the place in order and I don't want it to fall and smash into a million pieces so it's safer in the box.

Saturday was an afternoon full of spinning goodness. Shannon, Kimberly, and I went up to Maggie's to spend the afternoon spinning. Of course, it is impossible to go there and not get lots and lots of fibre goodness. Maggie brought out the fibre and yarns she's been dying and I couldn't resist. I don't have any pale pink roving and it is soft like butter. I am not sure what the second braid is but I think it's merino but it isn't superwash and it isn't as soft as the pink. The colours just called to me. There was no way I could leave either behind.

In the yarn department, I ended up getting one skein of merino sock yarn in the teal blue (sorry, can't remember the name) and the Satsuma is the orange which is a bamboo/merino blend.

After the fondling of yarn and fibre was over I actually got some spinning done. Not enough to take another picture but it felt so good to be able to spin. I've been having some challenges with Lily, my Suzie Pro, but Maggie helped me change the tension cord and all was great after that. Now I just have to wait for the new high speed head to arrive from New Zealand. I've been having trouble with the head not wanted to stay put. No matter how tight I tried to turn the nut into the bolt it still would tilt to one side as soon as I touched the head. 2mm is all it took to cause the problem. The original head that came with Lily is 30mm where it slides between the two posts. On the high speed head it's only 28mm. A new hhh is on it's way to me that will, hopefully, fit much better.

Sunday I was supposed to meet Ramona at The Purple Purl. Unfortunately, Ramona wasn't feeling well and ended up having to cancel. I stuck around to meet Jane Ellison and bought The Queensland Collection - Book 9. It's a book of patterns for men and it really is great. I got it autographed. The only unfortunate part of the entire day, besides Ramona having to cancel, was that Jane Ellison was sick as well so she couldn't give the talk she had planned. We did get to see lots of her designs up close and personal and I can't even describe how soft and gorgeous they all were. I know there will be some Jane Ellison design knitting in my future.

Happy Thanksgiving Canada

You would think that after 17 years in Canada I would be used to Thanksgiving in October. It still seems odd to me. Happy Thanksgiving to one and all.

Now that the Forest Path Stole is done, I've started another lace project. I actually started this years ago and it became a UFO. Now that I am ready and eager to get back to knitting I can't find the bag that has the pattern. So I've started again from scratch. I know once this one is done I'll find the other one. The only consolation in that will be that I won't have to knit the edging all over again. The lace project I started is the Magickal Earth Shawl by Sandy Terp. It is from A Gathering of Lace. I was attracted to the pattern because of the unicorns. I became a little worried about the section that has random decreases so I put it aside. The previous version is being knit in a blue Jaggerspun Maine Line that I had in my stash. This one I am using the Elann.com Baby Lace Merino in Aubergine (purple) and 2mm needles. I've already completed 9 repeats of the edging so I only have 39 to go. If I can get the edging done in a month I'll be happy. I can remember the pattern in my head now so I am moving along at a pretty good clip. No work tomorrow so I hope I can get to 13 or 14 repeats done by the time I go to bed tomorrow but that might be pushing it. Tuesday is Snb night so either way I should make some progress.

I Love Unicorns

I have been a unicorn collector for many years. I was given some flack about it years ago from someone who tried to convince me to get rid of my unicorns because it was devil worship or some such nonsense. I love the look and gracefulness of Pegasus and unicorns and that's why I collect them. One day I was looking at the Golding custom spindles and a light bulb went off in my head. I need a unicorn spindle to add to my spindle collection and my unicorn collection. So I emailed Tom and after a few sketches this is what we came up with. I am so pleased I can't even begin to express it in words. The wood is butternut. The ring is Abalone. The spindle weighs 1.1 oz. which is heavier than I am used to but I can easily use this to try and spin for sock yarn or plying. Oh and in case you're wondering about the fibre in the picture, it's stuff I did in the carding class I took at the Purple Purl in September. I'm cooking up ideas for the next spindle and I've just about figured it out.

On the knitting front, I've finally got the Forest Path Stole blocked. It is gorgeous. Yarn used is Classic Elite Silky Alpaca. This yarn was a dream to work with. I knit 19 tiers and only used a small amount of the 5th ball. I was almost through the second side border when I attached the 5th ball and then knit the 21 rows for the top border. I think I am a bit confused as to which needles I used so I am going to check later before I say anything. I know I used the Knit Picks Harmony needles. The stole blocked out to 29" by 88". Thank you to Miko from The Purple Purl for modeling the stole while I took pictures.