Uh Oh.

So we went to Lambtown. My first Fiber Fair experience. I was so excited.

Fiber everywhere.
And yarn everywhere.

Spinners too.

Lots of interesting wheels...

Kromski, I test drove this one at Carolina Homespun booth.

The Fair was pretty small, but I had to go around and around every booth to decide what to buy. And what did I ended up with...

Ashford Joy. Happy Happy, Joy Joy. (What have I done?)

As I was picking out the Jacob...

Several spinners (I'm assuming) walk by, muttering "No More Fiber, No More Fiber..."

I can totally sympasize. Now I need to go buy another Rubbermaid container for the fiber.

After coming home, Charlie decided to warp his loom. Mitch helped.

And I finished a ball of purple sliver I bought at Knitterly in Petaluma.

Very fiber-rich weekend, so far.

Stash Buster

Grounding my son helps in reducing my fiber stash.

From left to right -- Fleece Artist Wensleydale, Brown Sheep mill-end superwash, Kool-aid dyed corriedale plied with mohair. Fleece Artist sliver was the shortest resident of my fiber stash. It flew in from Toronto and in nine days it's spun up!

Very long fiber, and lustrous. Super-easy to spin. I really enjoyed this sliver. I'd have bought more, but those were the last two they had at Romni Wools.

I always scramble for a piece of paper when I make skeins, to write down the yardage. So I made yarn labels for my hand spun.

I've slowed way down on my knitting front. I'm busy busting my stash -- well, I guess I'm moving the fiber from one stash form to another!

I'm really excited about going to Lambstown this Saturday. I'll make sure to bring lots of bags.

Grounded

There is a Knit Night Friday going on at Erin's house right now. This one is the first one after a long Knit Night drought, so I was really looking forward to going. Of course Mitch was thrilled to go with me. But instead, I'm sitting in our living room and typing this.

You see, Mitch is grounded tonight, so he can't go anywhere, especially Knit Night. Charlie is attending a send-off party for Civil Air Patrol, which he just couldn't miss. So, I'm supervising and keeping Mitch grounded.

He has done something very bad at school today. Unspeakably bad. Both of his parents are shocked. So this punishment was, to much of my dismay, needed. Of course he's mad, but I guess that's a part of the process.

Sigh. And our parenting challenges have just started. A long way to go.

I think I'll go spin now. I'll treat myself with the Fleece Artist Wensleydale. I deserve it, and it's "Spinning July" after all.

Who's Mess is this?

Our house is rarely clean and neat. But lately, it's really pretty bad. For one thing, my suitcase has been left out in the bedroom all this year with stuff in it -- I've been traveling every month, twice a month sometimes, why should I put it away?

Every time I go away, I buy yarn and fiber. They are scattered all around the house (lovingly).

Here's the Fleece Artist sliver (Wensleydale) I bought in Toronto.

I'm usually a one-project-at-a-time knitter, but now I have three projects going on. That contributes to the mess.

Last Sunday Charlie flew us to our friend's cabin by the lake, and we still have the swimsuits and life vest lying around by the front door. My son says it was the bestest time he's ever had!

I've just joined the "Spinning July" ring held by Kohagi-san in Japan. I'm hoping that it will help me with the roving stash. But then there's Lambstown Fiber Fair late July... (Anyone want to go?) After that, I swear I will not buy any more spinning fiber for the rest of the year!! Um, did I say that last month?

Toronto Purchase and Blankie

So I'm back from Toronto. As usual, it was a busy, meeting-filled trip, but I was able to squeeze in a visit to a local yarn store. There is a store that stays open late on Thursdays. I jump on a taxi, then I realize that I forgot my camera, AGAIN!

It's Romni Wools, about 10 minutes taxi ride from the hotel. It's HUGE. I walked around every isle that's filled with amazing inventory of yarn, the large book and pattern section, then found out that there's downstairs. From the stairs I could see wool bats and spinning wheels. Only 20 minutes to the closing time. I hurry down. Woof, there's another big section of yarn there, on top of spinning and weaving stuff!!

I picked up some Noro, some unknown brand cotton yarn, and two braids of Wensleydale wool top -- Gotta get that of course; the codename of the project I'm working on right now is Wensleydale! I'm quite proud of myself to have kept the damage to minimal.

It's a must-see place, if you happened to be in Toronto. I have never seen so much yarn in one place. I said that to the salesperson (could well have been the owner), and she was like "un huh, I've heard that about a million and three times."

I'm plying the Kool-aid yarn with a pale-pink kid mohair.

I was hoping to get the bunny socks effect by plying with mohair, but I'm not sure if this is the color match I wanted. It looks like the Japanese red-white celebration stripes! The mohair should have been a little darker.

Mitch wanted me to knit a blankie for the Pirates. He pointed at the small roll of the mint-green single I had on the lazy kate. Okie dokie.

The lucky recipient of the hand-spun hand-knit blankie is my favorite pirate, Fernando Alonzo (name taken from the F1 racer).

Come to think of it, this is my FIRST FO from my handspun yarn!! I hope he appreciates it.

Mom, I Did Pink Too

My son's first tie-dye project at school...

He does pink better than me.

I have a business trip coming up again on Tuesday, and will be gone all week. I've been trying my hardest to stay away from my wheel lately -- my way of stash control. But before I have to go away, I always get the urge to spin. This time was no exception, and I started spinning the Kool-aid pink yesterday.

Not sure if I should call this Strawberry Stain or Tomato Smash.

Today my wheel was taken over by the pirates.

First, Long John Silver goes up on the yarn hook...

Then the whole crew came aboard. Arrr!

But I managed to finish spinning the whole Kool-aid wool. Lucky for me, the pirates appreciate fiber art.

Pink, Dammit!

After failing with the apple tree bark dye, I was determined to turn the drab beige roving into pink. But it's a known fact that pink is hard to get from natural dyes.

Fine. Kool-aid is natural enough -- well, it's non-toxic at least.

There are several ways to dye with Kool-aid, apparently. I used the microwave method, without vinegar.

First squeeze the Kool-aid on wet wool, wrap it in the plastic wrap, and zap it.

After the wool is cooled, wash it with a little dish soap.... until no color comes out in the water... the instruction says. I see no color washed out in the water. Not at all! No mordanting, no modifier, no shimmering over two days, and the wool is so undoably pink. It took less than an hour for the whole process!

So I achieved Pink.

Some people feed this stuff to kids!?

Happy 4th, everyone.