Yooo-hoooo! It's Me! I'm Catching Up...

(L-R: Patti, Eileen, Julie, Sharon and Me)

Hmmm...I thought I'd blogged more recently, but realized I hadn't. I'm finding it harder and harder to divide my time between Ravelry, Facebook and Blogging. A lot of people say that blogging is outdated. Is that true? I know that at least around 200 people are checking out my blog daily, but WHERE ARE YOuuuuuuuu, lovely people??? he he

Anyway, I wanted to share with you my FANTASTIC trip to NETA (New England Fiber Arts) Spa weekend and my recent finished handspun yarns and projects. Ready??

Since beginning spinning about 5 years ago, I've tried to attend the NETA Spa weekend. (I think I've only missed once.) For those of you who don't know about this great event, I'll explain. If you knit or spin or work with fibers in any way, this group is for you. On usually the last weekend in February, the group (who mostly only converse online over the Rav group or Yahoo group) meets in Freeport, ME at the Hilton Garden Inn/Hareseeket Hotel for a Thursday - Monday (or Friday- Sunday) weekend of shopping (wonderful shops around Freeport), visiting the yummy vendors at the hotel (where you can buy the most unique fibers, yarn, patterns, spinning wheels, spindle, looms, glass buttons and other accessories), chatting, eating, spinning, knitting, crocheting, weaving, and perhaps having a Spa treatment (at the Hareseeket Hotel or nearby Spa) - pedicure, manicure, massage, etc.


(L-R: Ericka, Kerrie-Ann and Sandi in our knitting/spinning corner of the hotel.)

It is totally worth trying out, if you've never been. You don't have to be a NETA member (though it helps because you get updates on what's going on, when/where to book your hotel room and how to win prizes, etc.) to go. If you want to pick a day, you can just go over to the hotel, shop and sit and work on your projects with the hundreds of other knitters/spinners/weavers/crocheters.

I love it, not only because it's a mini vacation, but because you'll see the most amazing handcrafted clothing, accessories and items all in one place! Everyday, you'll say to yourself, "Oooh, I LOVE that shawl!" or "Where did you get that YARN??", etc. And, the best part is, no one looks at you like you're crazy and back away from you screaming! LOL! Everyone is happy to share what they've made and let you touch it and answer as many questions as you want to ask. Sometimes, they'll even let you try it on! Or take pictures of them in the item! Woo-hoo!

This year, I think that the Winner of the Most Ogled Knitted Item in our group was Amy's Shetland Tea shawl from "A Gathering of Lace" book (pages 39/40) in oatmeal, pinks and natural white. What was most surprising, was that this was Amy's FIRST knitted lace EVER!!! (Yes, you may hate her. She's okay with it.) Not only was it beautiful, but it was knitted perfectly and it was the most flattering color on Amy. Now...if only I'd taken a picture of her with it on. Damn it.

I only got a pic of her WITHOUT the shawl. Ugh.


(Britni and Amy at Spa)

I had the absolute BEST time this year and even got to exercise on the treadmill every night, go to sleep early and wake up early so that I could spin, knit, spin and SHOP! Yay!

Heather even sold 7 of my Dreamscape books and 1 Lisha Lace pattern! Yippeeee!

Now, if I don't start showing off my loot and finished handspun...plus FOs...I won't ever be done before the end of the day. So...the rest of this post will be short and sweet - with pictures! ; )

1. Spunky Eclectic's booth (Amy's in a whirl...she's so busy!)



2. Heather/Sereknity's booth (Heather is wearing my Persephone beret in her Sweet yarn!)



3. Items I bought...mmmm.


(Della Q spinning bag and lovely sportweight Angora/merino for a sweater/shawl for me!)


(Spunky silk purple scarf for Donna, Spunky Targhee and Spunky bfl/silk fibers)


(Alpaca Obsession merino and bamboo with nylon sparkle fiber for Hilary)

I also bought some glass sheep stitch markers for Jackie and Donna, a glass needle threader for me, 2 skeins of gorgeous Sereknity yarn ("Margaritaville" in Classica for me and "Envy" in Worsted for Jackie) and a little more fiber.

HANDSPUN GALLERY

1. Spunky Ecletic's BFL/Tussah Silk (I created a 2 oz, 2 ply, 100 yard, worsted weight yarn in "Cotton Candy" colorway)



2. Spunky Eclectic's Targhee Combed Top (4 oz. 2 ply, dk weight, 195 yards in "2010" colorway)



3. Alpaca Obsession's Alpaca with Angelina Sparkle (3 oz, single ply, laceweight, 300 yards, in "Faded Jade" colorway)



4. Enchanted Knoll Farm's Superwash Wool/Nylon/Recycled Sari Silk/Sparkle (3 oz, single ply, fingering weight, 280 yards, in "Birthday Party" colorway)



5. Enchanted Knoll Farm's Superewash Wool/Recycled Sari silk/Sparkle (3 oz., single ply, fingering weight, 300 yards, in "Blue Jay" colorway)



And, FINISHED OBJECTS!!!!

1. Lego Man for Ben (Some Assembly Required pattern with Cascade 220)



and



2. Hat for Ian (Ann Budd's Hat pattern with Rowan Lima in a goregous deep green, 881, I think)



3. Log Cabin Square Pillow (Log Cabin pattern with Noro Kureyon- 226 on back, 250 on front)



4. Persephone Beret (My pattern with Sereknity Sweet yarn in "Floozy" colorway)



Whew, I'm beat! Off to do some bellydancing, hula hooping and then have some lunch!

What have YOU been up to??

Spinning Made Me a Loser!

Finally, after many months of a spinning "dry spell", I got back on my *ss (literally) and started spinning a little on my Ashford Joy. The fact that I owed my friend, Donna, a skein of handspun for over a year now was also very good motivation! (he he)

For those of you that spin, you might have had that "nah, don't really feel like spinning right now..." turn quickly into "omg, do I have enough fiber to keep spinning through the weekend?!!??" feeling. Yup, that's what happened to me.

I not only finished this large handspun skein for my friend, but I'm also very close to finishing 7 oz of a beautiful blend of Icelandic lamb/mohair in an off-white color. Sooo pretty. I always hope for a 2 ply laceweight (which I've come close to, but not actually achieved yet) and I think this one might be the one!! I have a beautiful lace scarf or shawl in mind for this yarn, depending on how many yards I can get out of it after plying.

Anyway, here are the details of the very vibrant handspun I just finished...

DETAILS of HANDSPUN

Fiber: Sereknity's BFL (blue faced leicester, 100%) in colorway, "Blue Hawaii)
Weight: 4 ounces
WPI: (wraps per inch) 20-21, fingering weight yarn
Ply: 2 ply (singles spun with Z twist, plied with S twist)
Ratios: Singles (8:1), Plying (11:1)
Yardage: After plying, 355 yards
Fun Level: Absolutely awesome - not just because the fiber was a good quality, which it was, but also because the colorway was so interesting to look at and see how it transitioned from the bright blues to the turquoise to the purple. Lovely!

And, now, some more pics:

On the wraps per inch guide- (notice that I plied it loosely so that it would have extra softness and bounce- oh, it's SO soft!)


Finished yarn all wrapped up nicely-


I had a number of yards of singles left over from one of the bobbins, so I decided to use the navajo ply technique to make myself a little 3 ply to keep.



and, the wraps per inch for this was...about 14, which made it a DK weight-


I ended up getting only 9 yards of the 3 ply, but still enough to make a swatch!



I love this yarn so much that I'm having a hard time thinking I'll be giving it to Donna on Friday. But, she deserves it for waiting soo many months for it and I hope she likes it as much as I do! (if she doesn't, I can always keep it, right??!!??)

Now, how did spinning make me a loser?? Well, I did so much spinning this week (as well as my Wii fit, yoga and jogging some here and there), that I lost 4 pounds this week!!!! I can't tell you how happy I am about this!!!

So, now I'm up to 44 pounds in 16 weeks..woo-hoo!!! (I was wrong last week - I was only on my 15th week - I talked to the receptionist at WW today and I just finished my 16th)

I don't know if my back, shoulders, neck and wrists can keep up this level of knitting and spinning, but I'm going to try.

If you're a spinner, how is YOUR spinning coming along so far this year??

Noolie, Rolags and Lace...OH, MY!

(Okay, I freely admit that I've stolen this title idea from Laurin. Thanks, LaLa!)

It feels like I've been a lazy lump lately when it comes to blogging. With the kids home for April vacation this week (and the weather being so rainy and cold), we've tried to get out of the house as much as possible. Tim, Mike and I went to the movies on Monday night together after buying sneakers (Tim wears the same size as Ian now!!!), which was fun...and I tried to take a picture of us sitting in the very last row of the theater (as teens must do)...with a seat separating each person....wouldn't want to be caught dead sitting next to your knitting mom! (or at least I assumed that...)

Tuesday, we met up with Jackie, Lora and the kiddies at the library, which was fun. Anything to get out of that rain!! You should've seen the three of us sitting at the little kids table knitting and chatting away....very funny : )

Yesterday, we spent the day at the Planetarium in Concord, NH, which is soo much fun! Ben actually sat through the hour show called, "Black Holes". It was GREAT! Even better than a movie, I think. I always love sitting there looking up at the "stars"...with no bugs and noise to distract me. If you haven't seen one of the shows, you should really go. They're amazing!

So, now I feel like I can finally talk about what happened in my knitting life since the last post. (This IS a knitting blog, I think!)

VISIT WITH NOOLIE & CHICKS WITH STICKS!!!



Super Fun Julie Noolie and lovely Patti, owner of the Yarn Sellar, came to visit the ManchVegas Knitters on Friday night (two weeks ago) while I was working at The Yarn and Fiber Company. This was their second visit to see us (woo-hoo!) and it was so much fun! It worked out well that we were also having Jackie's birthday party that night because we were in the partying mood and very lively (aka loud, obnoxious and silly). I got to fondle Julie's lace (which is even nicer in person) and talk about Clover....and catching up with Patti is always great. I know we'll be planning on visiting the Yarn Sellar this summer and Julie promised me that I could hold Clover (I have witnessses!). I love getting together with their group....I think we get along well together - and they put up with our craziness!



Look at us surrounded by yarn! Mmmm.......cozy.


ROLAGS!



This is my recent attempt at hand carding fiber and creating rolags. I have to admit that, though I feel like I have the technique down, I'm not sure how much I like it. It was nice to be able to create different colors and shades with the fibers...and I think this technique will truly come in handy when blending in shorter staple fibers or sparkle (yes!), but I just didn't enjoy the spinning process as much. I think rolags are more suitable for the long draw method than the short draw method, which is what I'm used to.

I spun up the rolags...



and then plied the two bobbins together to make this yarn: (which is kinda rough and not so great)



I think I'll stick to batts and rovings.....


LACE!!

I'm still working on THREE lace shawl projects -

1. The Leaf Lace Shawl (in the "Lipsticks" Prism Wool Lace): no update here. I can only work on it at night after Ben goes to bed and, again, since the kids are out of school this week, I've had much less time to knit overall. (and the yarn is so damned THIN!)

2. The Forest Canopy Shawl (in the "Red 56" Silky Wool): it's about 2.5 skeins of yarn done. I'm attempting to make this much bigger than the shoulder width/length since my other one was too small for my ah-hem bust. I'd say that I'm about halfway done or more. I'd like to use up the 4 or 5 skeins of this yarn I have so I can wrap the shawl over my back, arms and shoulders. We'll see....I'm trying to find out how many more repeats to do of the main lace before starting on the edging. Any ideas?



3. The Swallowtail Shawl (in "Rainbow-EQ" Kauni): Okay, I'm definitely copycatting on this one. After I saw how beautiful Jackie's came out, I just had to knit one for myself. I tried some other shawl patterns using this yarn before trying this one, but none of them seemed right for the weight or color of the yarn. I've started this shawl with the blue and hope to send with blue, but (with the way the ball is looking), I think I'll probably end with orange. I'm aiming to use up as much of the ball as I can (I've got 660 yards) and I'm using a size 7 needle instead of the size 4 that it calls for. The main lace repeat calls for 14, but I'm on number 18 now and might even go to 20. I'd like this one to be bigger as well.



I know some people love wearing the rainbow and some are freaked out to even consider wearing it. What do you think? Can I pull off wearing this with a pretty solid colored summer outfit/dress without looking weird?

Birthday Yarn for Jackie

Last year, for Jackie's birthday, I had the inspiration to spin her some handspun yarn as a gift. I'd just bought some beautiful alpaca/merino/angelina batts from Loop (in the Lavender Mint Tea colorway) and Jackie had mentioned how much she liked the color. So....I thought, since I had time, and Jackie is totally worth it, I'll spin it up for her.

Come to find out, it was the BEST spinning I'd ever done (probably because I was thinking such lovely, friendly thoughts at the time) and the finest yarn (in wpi - wraps per inch) that I'd ever made. It came out to a fingering weight, 2 ply yarn that was perfectly balanced (that only happens to me 1/3 of the time....I tend to overspin and underply) - it was a MIRACLE!

She loved the yarn (which made me soo happy), knit something almost immediately with it (The Montego Bay Scarf....which made me even happier) and then even wore the scarf a lot (which caused me to have gleeful, handspun-ery hallucinations)!!!

To see this yarn, go here to my Flickr account. It's the last pic in the left hand column.

Fast forward a year....

And Jackie's birthday was coming up quickly. Having recently purchased some Spritely Goods fiber - which was HIGHLY recommended by the Spinning Goddess Cayli - I thought....this is perfect for another Birthday Spin.

So, I frantically used all my spare time (that I wasn't cleaning, cooking, working or with the kids) to spin this yarn. I didn't knit all those days....eeek! The fiber (a luscious mix of soft merino, angelina and firestar) was a dream to spin and the color truly cheered me on....she calls it, "Globe Mallow"...and it's a limited edition colorway. I'm SO glad that I picked it up. It was wonderful.

So, here's what I did:

Step 1: Take pics of fiber BEFORE ripping open.



and a close up:



Step 2: Draft Fibers (30 minutes).



Step 3: Spin on my Ashford Joy (5 hours total...not all in one day)



Step 4: Take WPI gauge before Plying...28.



Step 5: Ply (3 hours), Soak (overnight), and Dry. Take Picture of Finished Yarn (over 300 yards).



And then, I decided to rename the yarn, since it had a different (but lovely) look and color after finishing. It was inspired by jokes I overheard Tim and Ben saying to each other while I was spinning:

"Cantaloupe-I'm Already Married!"

I can only hope that Jackie likes this yarn half as much as last year's. I'm dying to see what she'll knit up with it.

And I'm trying to decide (early) what I'll spin for her NEXT year!

Can I sleep now? (zzzzzzz..........)

Fibergasm!

I finally got it!!! My Bee Fields Stole Kit from Wooly Wonka Fibers in the luscious colorway of "Buckwheat Honey". The price of the kit was very reasonable...great even....and I am so happy to finally have it. I'm not sure when I'll be starting it, but most likely in the later fall. (Which would actually be a great time to knit and wear it...)

I was thrilled to get another fantastic package in the mail last week. One of my all time favorite fiber gals, Holly EQQ, sent the fibers I ordered (plus a little extra something...which was so nice!) from her out-of-this-world shop, Oceans of Fiber.

Wanna peek?

GERONIMO

A brilliant, bright, and startling mix of greens...I love it! It's dyed using Brown Sheep's Wool/Mohair blend.



So easy to spin, though a bit "hairy". I love the way it's coming out. I'm actually almost done spinning it all up and just have to ply it. Not sure what I'll use it for, but I'm thinking either mittens for me or the kids.

PURPLE RAIN

A super shiny, silky soft parade of purples. You can't tell how shiny and soft this is. 100% Bamboo.



Once you try spinning bamboo, you won't be able to stop. Easier than spinning silk, as soft as silk and as shiny as tencel. I've almost spun up the other batch of bamboo I got from Holly last time....Bali Hai in peaches and pinks. A little goes a LONG way!

SKUNK

Yup, you read this correctly! S-k-u-n-k! And, no, it doesn't smell at all like one. I'm pretty sure it's just a wool blend, but it jumped right out at me and I just HAD to have it!



If anyone has any ideas of how I could spin this up, I'd love some suggestions. It will have to be something really special! The contrast of black and white is something I've never done before. A new experience....

And, if that weren't enough, Holly threw in some gorgeous deep purple locks for me. I love her locks!



(Forgive this picture...it looks a bit...intestinal, don't you think????)

My other treat was to pick up a skein of Heather's new colorway, "Pumpkin Patch". It's a soft, muted and beautiful color...in a bamboo/superwash merino/nylon blend! I can just imagine how wonderful it will be to knit this up. Mmmmmm.... You can check out some of her other 'selling-like-hotcakes' yarns and fibers here and here.



In the midst of "Weekend Madness" (Jackie knows what I'm talking about, right?), I had two ideas:

1. I must organize my patterns.

2. I must make a list of winter-knit-to-dos.

So, here is what I came up with:

1. Patterns- I bought 3 pretty 3 ring binders and I'm going to spend one day this week sorting through them all and putting them in appropriate catagories (yes, I'm very picky, perfectionist and...well, detail-oriented). I think some of the patterns are REALLY outdated and some I've totally forgotten I had. Before I go buying more, I think it's a good idea to just take stock...and then proceed. Anyone else thinking that, too?

2. Winter Knit To Dos- This is my list of things to knit before the end of the year...necessities in my mind. (These are totally new projects, not ones I've got OTN...like Tim and Ben's sweaters...sigh....)

*Mittens for Me (to match my Tassled Hat)
*Mittens for Tim
*Mittens and Hat for Ben
*Holiday Stockings for all 4 of us

Not sure if I'll be able to get ALL these done....with all the other things I need to do, but the mittens are pretty easy projects and I think I can do a "Month of Mittens" in November. Yeah! Actually, I will do a contest for it! So, start putting patterns and yarn aside...you can join me and win some free yarn to boot! What do ya say?? (I'll make a button that you can put up on your blogs, too.)

Is that all? Hmmmm....I think so. I just cooked a 3 lb. chicken with potatoes, carrots, and celery for lunch and now I'm sorting through the grosstastic stuff that's left so I can make homemade chicken soup for lunch tomorrow. YUM!

Invisible FO Friday

Let's pretend that you are looking at a picture of an adorable (and PINK!) finished object. Let's say that it's also knitted in a delicious merino/cashmere blend yarn. Can you picture it? Okay. Good. Do I WANT to show it to you? YOU BET YOUR SWEET A*S!! But, I'm going to wait....and I can tell you why- soon. But, for now....just ooh and aahh and imagine you are viewing something fantastically cute. K?

Now, where did I get this lovely, scrumptious, baby-butt-soft yarn? At Joanne's wonderful store, A Knitter's Garden. (She not only has really great yarn, but local fibers, soaps and nice patterns and books, as well. Make sure to check it out when you're near Chester, NH....oh, and seeing the sheep and angora bunnies on her farm is a total treat, too! The sheep don't say "Baaaaa"...they say "Buuuurrrp"...or at least I think so.)



Hmmm....where was I? Oh, yes, the pink cashmere blend yarn. It. Is. So. Nice. Jackie and I both fondled it, but I was the one who took it home...YUM.MY. There are about 85 yards per skein for $7.00 and it's 17 stitches per 4 inches for gauge on size 8 needle. I truly love it. My "invisible" project that I just finished only took 1 skein, so I have one more left to cuddle with...mmmmmmm.

What else did I get when I visited the yarn shop? Well, a set of lace blockers (which I sorely need) and THIS:



Isn't it the cutest thing you've ever seen???? Well, at least for an accessory case. Jackie got a dark pink hippopatamous and I got the frog. It unzips around the mouth and you can put your scissors, darning needle, stitch holders, stitch markers and all sorts of stuff in it. The longer ones...like the hippo and crocodile...could even hold your dpns! You can find them HERE, though the price was better at A Knitter's Garden. And no shipping to pay either.

Guess what I got in the mail today??? Cayli sent me the most gorgeous fibers from the Fantastic Fiber Queen, Holly EEQ of Oceans of Fiber for my birthday!!! Super soft and brilliant turquoise/aqua mohair locks and a shine-tastic pink/peach roving of BAMBOO!!! I haven't spun either of these before and I'm thinking of trying to do some tomorrow night. (You have no idea how much fiber I have to spin and how much I'm hoping to get started again....really.) THANK YOU, THANK YOU, Cayli!!!!! (you always know the perfect gift!)



(for some reason, this one is upside down or something....weird)



Still working on my lace stole. Doing on repeat every single day and it's really coming out nicely. The longer it gets the more motivation I have to work on it. I think my mom is going to LOVE it!

Other things I've got on my "Knitting Mind" at the moment (besides my stack of UFOs on right):

-The Tulip Sweater shown on the Yarn Harlot's blog. (Going to use KP Swish instead of the yarn given....both are superwash merino, worsted weight)

-The Baby Pea Pod sweater by Kate Gilbert....(I'm thinking of seeing if I can join the Pea Pod Knitalong, too.)

and

-Baby size version of THIS.

No, I am NOT pregnant....perish the thought! But, I AM having those "baby feelings"....so to comfort myself, I am knitting for a baby (well, toddler really) girl of a friend of ours.

Still trying to work on the next podcast, too. OH, and if you've been having trouble downloading them from iTunes, do this:

Unsubscribe to my podcast on iTunes. Then, immediately resubscribe and you will be able to get all the episodes you missed. I had my xml feed wrong and the dates never got through, so it might have seemed like some were missing. There are 13 now and 14th on the way, so catch up if you can...(grin)

Well, I guess that's all for now...not a GREAT post, but doing it pretty late and had a hard day. Hope you all have a fab-u-lous "Knitting in Public" Day tomorrow!!!!

Spunk-a-licious!

CAUTION....had too many pics to post, so I had to choose only some. Sorry! Hope they all come through...



What can I say about a day spent at a fantastic yarn store with a to-die-for view and....best of all....Amy Boogie of Spunky Eclectic?



SpunkyTastic!!!!!

Melissa, Lora and I started off at Donna's house (Blogless, Koigu Donna) and headed to York, ME to the Yarn Sellar to meet the fabulous Julie, Brenda and, YS owner and sweetie, Patti. (Ericka and Chris met us there before leaving for Lisbon.) Here we all are before leaving...with Donna holding a basket of Heather's Sereknity Sock Options yarn.



(l-r...Lora, Roger (Patti's hubby aka Bruce), Patti, Donna, Melissa, Me and Julie)

After stopping for a quick lunch, exchanging cell phone numbers (thank GOODNESS we did!), getting lost a couple times and then finally meeting up at a Dunkin Donuts/Mobil gas station (to refresh ourselves with waters, coffee and candy...namely, PEPPERMINT PATTIES...hint hint...wink wink....), we were on the home stretch to Spunky Amy's.

Donna made a very impressive, race car driver's sharp and short right turn into the parking lot at once when we screamed, "THERE IT IS!!!" and, I think, ralllied rather well after her heart stopping for a second or two. (and saying, "You are FIRED as the copilot for the next trip!" to me....which, of course, I've heard before, right Laurin?) Sorry, Donna!

Here is the view from Amy's shop...



Impressive, isn't it????

After getting a huge hug from Amy's adorable, squeeze-her-face daughter "Medium Boogie" (not to be confused with "Baby Boogie") and Amy herself, we all rushed like a mob into the shop. Although the size is small (especially for about 10 of us at once), everything is arranged very nicely and you know exactly where to go for what you want. Not only does she have YARN! and FIBER!!!, but also spindles, spinning wheels, spinning equipment, and her own handmade pottery, which is gorgeous. It was just like at SPA, we all kept going back in for more! Go outside, go back in, go outside, go back in....it was a vicious cycle of horrible monetary proportions. shiver

Wanna see pics of the store?? (of course you do!)

Exhibit A: The Yarn



Exhibit B: The Fiber



Exhibit C: The Spindles



Exhibit D: The Pottery



And, you know what else???

Melissa and Lora learned how to spin on the drop spindle!!!! Woo-hoo!! (Ericka and I thought to ourselves, "He he...we've corrupted MORE knitters!"...or at least, that's what I think we thought!)

Here I am giving Melissa a hand, though she was really a natural.



And Melissa and Lora succesfully spinning! (Lora, you are awesome at the S twist!!!!)



Most of the time, we spent on the porch, knitting (welll, I talked....mostly...shocker) I think I was getting a little too "photo happy" because Brenda and Julie looked at me like THIS:



And the lovely Patti...



I thought Chris and Ericka looked so cute here together...dont' you? Busy knittin' away....



I think we spent almost 3 hours there and it was the most relaxing and fun time I've had in weeks....I even got to draw chaulk pictures on the driveway with "Medium Boogie", which was almost more fun than knitting! (gasp!) Here are some pics that we drew together...



Boy, it really made me want to have a little girl....boohoo...but, no, I'm happy with my video game playing boys : ) Maybe I could just borrow Medium Boogie or Jackie's Little One sometimes....right?

On the way home, and Donna's trunk stuffed to the brim with yarn and fiber, we stopped for dinner and it was delicious! We had a waitress, Jamie, that rivaled Famous April for friendliness and that "je ne s'ai quoi" that we look for when dining and knitting. It was a long ride home and though I tried to give Donna subliminal messages on the way...(saying "Yaaaarrrnnn" instead of "Yaaaawwwnnn")....she wasn't really fallling for it. Damn it.

So, you ask, what are the treasures that you took home??? Well, here are some of the things I got....some are gifts and I didn't take pics of them. Wanna see????



(l-r) "Nuclear Flower" sportweight, "Walking on the Sun" laceweight merino, "Your Majesty" skinny sock, and "Killer Tomato" skinny sock.

Plus, I got "Pulsations" in green to knit up Amy's new "Pulsations" sock pattern...see HERE and a couple rovings for spinning.

All in all, it was a FANTASTIC day, although I missed everyone who couldn't make it. I'm sure we'll go again, though.

Oh, let me leave you with THE WALL OF GINA...



(Medium Boogie wrote my name all along the brick wall near the shop. I LOVE her!!!) Go visit Spunky's Shop NOW! (he he)