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.

Get Blogging!

As Michelle said in the comments, it's time I got back to blogging. It's not as if I haven't been knitting. I just haven't been blogging.

First, I finished the Spring Forward socks from Knitty. I really liked knitting this pattern. It is easy to remember and it was lots of fun. The yarn I used is On Your Toes by S.R. Kertzer. I knit them up with 2.25mm Knit Picks Harmony needles. They seem to have become my sock needle of choice these days. That's a little surprising to me since I've always knit my socks with 2mm needles. The yarn was alright to knit with but I didn't think it was anything spectacular. I thought the colours looked better in the ball than they did when I knit it up but I still like the way they turned out and I know the intended person will love them. I might look to see what other colours they have in this yarn and if I find something I like I might knit with it one more time. I'll wait until the Creative Festival and see if anyone has the yarn there.

The second pair of socks I finished is the Bleeding Hearts socks. This one was a surprise for me. I use Patons Stretch Socks for these and once again the 2.25mm Harmony needles. What surprised me is how much I like this yarn. It has elastic in it and hence the "stretch" in the yarn name. I just started the Jaywalker socks in a blue colourway of this yarn. I'm hoping the elastic in the yarn will help with the tightness of the pattern. I haven't gotten past the toe so I'm not sure yet.

In other knitting, I've almost finished the Forest Path Stole. I'm working on the left side border now. I've got 4 triangles left to go and then it's the top border and blocking and this will be an FO.

Last Sunday I went to The Purple Purl for a carding class. Lorraine Smith was the instructor. She was fantastic as always. I think I might actually have gotten a better handle on carding this time around. It was a blast. We were given fibres in red, yellow, blue, white, and black. Then we blended different fibres to get different colours. The carding technique was totally different to what I was shown in the first carding class I took. I found this method of holding the cards a lot easier to do than the first class I took. This is what I managed to card and I will be spinning it up on a spindle as soon as it arrives. I'll tell more about that when I receive it in the mail.


Ever since the first time I saw this at the Purl I've wanted to learn how to make it. It just so happens that they had a rug hooking class on Sunday afternoon after I had finished the carding class. I was there but I've never done rug hooking before - latch hook yes, rug hooking no. I asked if a beginner could take the class and I was happily told yes. I ended up staying for the class. I don't have enough progress to show so I am not going to bother with a picture yet. I also want to get another hook because I feel the hook that was in the kit is a little to big. There should be at least one rug hooking vendor at the Creative Festival so I will look into getting some supplies in a few weeks.



Last but not least, some Malabrigo sock yarn and Silky Merino ended up following me home last week. I know the sock yarn will not be used for socks. I have some shawls I want to make. Now to decide which ones they want to become.