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Coming to your from Sun Peaks........... vacation day 1 was a great success. I haven't taken any pictures yet but it was a nice day.
We set out about 8:30 in the morning, did the traditional stop at Timmies for an XL Double Double and a 20 pack of timbits and off we went.
Our first stop was at Aurelia Wool & Weaving. It's off the beaten path and out in the country and the kids had a blast meeting some chickens and the rooster and JR especially loved the loud coccadoodledoos from the rooster. Little Miss got to bring in a still warm egg from the nest. That was their first highlight of the trip. My highlight, of course, was the absolutely beautiful fibre and when you see all the pics (if I ever take a pic of it all) you will have to agree with me. I bought Corriedale and Merino and the most gorgeous Merino Silk/Blends. I also got a couple of her top knots in fun blends of colours. I left there with a BIG bag.
We moved on into Merritt where we had lunch at the McDonalds. Then we drove on to Kamloops to check out the new Twist of Fate store. Erynn has done a lovely job and I had a fun time there, too. I bought one skein of lace weight - a hand dyed bamboo in watery shades of blue and lime. The rest was all fibre. Another big bag followed us into the car.
Then we headed up to Sun Peaks. I really love the European flair up there. Of course, the place we're staying, Sun Peaks Lodge, is owned by Germans so I get to practice the language a bit, too.
We met all of Evan's cousins and family etc. and Little Miss had a blast with her 2nd cousins. There were 24 of us who attempted to go to the same restaurant, many of the kids........ it was crazy. There are 2 other girls who are Little Miss' age and she was having a blast getting to know them.
Today, the sun is shining and there's a craft show and a quilt show in the village. The kdis can't wait to get to the pool. This afternoon is great-grandmas birthday party.
We're having a good time!!!
It's the little things that count in life, right? So I have several people looking at me very strangely when I am excited and jumping with joy about the fact that I'm actually knitting with my handspun. But what's so wrong with that? I'm just excitable....
On Sunday I wound the skein of Tulip Coriedale (see previous post) into a centre pull ball to start Spirogyra. This is a beautifully simple pattern, knits up quickly and my handspun looks great with it (or at least I think so). I haven't picked it up since I put it down on Sunday but that's because I've been spinning. So, here is my progress so far:
My Tour de Fleece progress report is that I've been spinning every day (no surprise there - to the exclusion of all my other things - I didn't even get a magazine submission done in time that I had planned on). My goal is to get close to fingering weight. Here's the first finished yarn I've spun up in this little challenge:
I'm getting closer............ and I'm definitely getting more even and consistent in my spinning and thickness. I love the colours in this. The roving was a superwash wool that was very soft. It was a bit slippery to spin but I got used to it pretty quickly. The colours of course are so "ME". I bought this at the Victoria Fibre Fest from Twist of Fate.
Right now, I'm spinning this lovely Corriedale:
It's lovely and working up so beautifully. I may be able to start plying it tonight. I still have a little bit left to spin on the second bobbin. It all depends on how the vet visit goes for the kitties. Hubby and Little Miss are taking them to the vet for their shots tonight. I'm staying home with JR - aka, I might not get much of anything done until the other two get back home.
I'm off work after tomorrow for a 2-week vacation. We're only gone for about 5 days of those 2 weeks and I'm planning various fibre related stops along the way. I'll make sure to share all stories of any fibre related pursuits once we're back.
Off I go.......... I'm sure I'll be back before vacation to show a few new bits for my stash and maybe some progress on any of my knitting projects.
I have no pictures or anything - Oh, I do have one................ but I just wanted to squeal in delight that I'm knitting Spirogyra fingerless gloves from my own handspun - my first ever knit with handspun. I'm so delighted. They are a quick knit. I'm 75% done with the first glove and I didn't cast on until late yesterday afternoon. The yarn I'm spinning is a Corriedale in a colourway called Tulips. Here is a picture of the spun skein:
I'm so happy. I'll get pictures tonight. Yesterday hubby was doing stuff for work on our desktop - he was connected to his office computer running this one pesky script from about 2:30 until about 11 pm when it finally finished. I hope that it helped him get ahead. I'm not complaining because he is under lots of timeline pressure but I was a bit frustrated when we had to disconnect the laptop from the network so it wouldn't use bandwidth. Ah will, what's a bit of internet withdrawl. I probably got more knitting done that way!!!
I also finished spinning and plying this superwash wool - it's hanging to dry and I'm loving it. Here is half of it on one bobbin:
These are SOOOO my colours.
I had no idea it would be so satisfying to knit with my own handspun and I'm happily excited.
I just listed a little fishie bookmark in my shop:
and I'm going to list these stitch markers in a little while:
Have a great Monday!!!!
I love to join............ but I often can't keep up with things..... my appetite seems to regularly be bigger than what I can chew...
So here are my summer "join-ins"................
I got confused by two different "Tour de Fleece's" so I think I'm in both and that's fine with me. Being such a rookie spinner, I need all the help I can get. My challenge is to work on the superwash merino rovings that I have and to practice so that I can come closer and closer to my goal of producing fingering weight yarns for socks. We'll see how that goes but it's definitely something to challenge myself:
Then, there's the Summer of Socks:
My first pair of SOS socks are a basic pair of socks made from Opal Elements in a lovely colour way. I call them my Indie socks because the entire leg (except for the ribbing) was knit while taking hubby out for his Father's Day gift (a little late) to see Indiana Jones in the theatre.
I wasn't so keen on the yarn on the ball but I love them as they are knitting up. Quite nice colours. My main take along socks for our little vacation will be mainly socks.
Then there is Seasons of Lace.............. my goal for that is to finish Norwegian Woods and to start one other smaller lace project like a scarf:
And then, last but not least there is the Summer KAL-CAL where the focus is purses and/or socks. Well, I always am doing socks and I have two purse/bag projects waiting in my stash that really want to become a reality. I'm also going to throw a few prizes from my shop into that KAL-CAL fro some of the prize draws. I'm also sponsoring the Summer of Socks with 3 small prizes for some fun prize draws.
So yes, I might be a little over committed but I also can use the inspiration of seeing everyone else rally around similar projects during the dog days of summer.
The kids want to say HI:
And I have been a busy little beaver with updates to my shop. Here's a little preview of some of the things I have added - with a few more that aren't listed yet.
I feel good................... my blogging MoJo is back........ mind you, I am very tired. I've had 2 nights of very disrupted sleep - one night due to Canada Day fireworks and last night due to repeated rounds of rolling thunder and ligtning.
So do you think it has come to this already? A few weeks into my fibre acquisition period and I already need to take a fibre buying break?
Here is a little mosaic of the lovelies I ended up with at the Farmer's Market where I once again spent some time at Yummy Yarn's tent.
There is a selection of Blue Faced Leicester, Corriedale and Fin Roving in there. The bottom is a peek of some of her "Hurt Me" colourway BFL roving as I spun it up on my spindle. So do you think enough is enough already? I'm having a tough time resisting...... Fibre spins up faster than it knits.
Here's how the plied "Hurt Me" turned out:
The plying is a bit uneven in spots and there are still some thick and think patches but overall, I'm giving myself a pat on the back. I'm very pleased with only my second roving spun into yarn on a spinning wheel.
The kids are enjoying the summer weather!!!!
JR is a maniac when it comes to water and pool. He's like a fish in the sea.......... loves it, loves it, loves it. The fact that he has no fear, however, makes us worry because we have to be so ultra-careful with him, especially at the big swimming pool.
I'm listing new stuff in my Etsy shop this week os come over and take a peek. I'm still having a 10% off sale - that runs until midnight on July 5th.
Now that Victoria Fibre Fest is over and I have a few things left from the market, I thought I'd like to introduce the Harbour Lights Shawl Pin. I had the absolute honour to collaborate with Sivia Harding, lace designer extraordinaire, on the design of this shawl pin. I was so tickled pink when I was asked to come up with a design for a shawl pin to go with the beautiful Harbour Lights Shawl that she designed for the Victoria Fibre Festival but is now already available to the genral public. If you haven't seen this gorgeous design, please, come and check it out over here.
I asked Sivia several times what words she would use to describe her design and the ocean, beach, lighthouse theme kept coming to the foreground so I decided I needed to find something to play off that theme. I was so pleased when I tracked down some lighthouse charms and seashell beads to adorn the simple charm of the basic design of the pin.
So this cream coloured pin is now listed in my shop. I have a selection of other colours available as well that I haven't photographed yet. Feel free to ask me what colours I have if you're interested. Of course, the lighthouse and seashell could easily be removed if the theme wasn't desired and the pin will go with just about any kind of lace shawl, stole or scarf design.
Starting tomorrow, myself and a selection of other Canadian shops are also running a Canada Day/week sale with great discounts. I am offering 10% off anything in the shop from July 1 through July 5. I'll list the list of participating shops tomorrow. So check back to see what wonderful Canadian talent is out there in Etsy land.
And looksie at my first Ladybug handspun:
I think I'm really getting it. Of course I don't know if my technique is anything that resembles "how you're supposed to do it" but for now it's working for me. this roving was an alpacca/romney/recycled silk blend and was so easy to draft.
Tomorrow, I'll also show off some recent fibre stash additions.
I have enough fiber to last me for a little while? Or do I need to give in to more fibre purchases?
top row from left to right: 1. Handpainted Turquoise SW Merino Roving from Julie Spins, 2. BFL wool roving Sunset from Spaceromantic, 3. Watermelon (seedless) - Blue Faced Leicester Roving from Three By Hand
Middle row from left to right: 1. Bashful- Handpainted BFL Roving from Freckle Face Fibres, 2. Calm Serenity Hand carded Targhee mini Pinz batts from Whimzy Pinzy, 3. MonkeyFuzz Superwash Roving - 4oz - Midnight Flowers from Crazy Monkey
Bottom row from left to right: 1. Superwash Wool from Twistoffate Yarns, 2. Cherry Tree Hill Wool roving from Fun Knits, 3. Merino (I think) from Twistoffate Yarns
Summer has started. Little Miss had her last day at school today. She is so eager to try Bugsy but I'm not quite sure I can teach her quite yet plus I'm not quite ready to let someone else play with my dear Bugsy. But can you see how eager she is:
I'm terribly tempted to buy more.......................... but I have NO money. First I need to order the Lazy Kate that goes with the Ladybug and maybe some more bobbins. Mind you, if I don't give in to extra bobbins maybe I'll just be forced to spin up one fibre at a time!!!! What do you think?
With the big news about "Bugsy" the Ladybug out of the bag, I can sit back and recount the weekend's events. Little Miss named her "Bugsy". It's starting to grow on me - the name that is - I haven't had a lot of time to spend with Bugsy but the time that I have spent has made me realize that we're going to be happy together.
So about the Fibre Fest............
Friday
On Friday afternoon we took off to catch the 3 pm ferry from the Mainland to Vancouver Island. Not much to say about the ferry except that we had a very early, greasy lunch and that we spent most of the rest of the sailing chasing JR around. Once in Victoria, we checked into our hotel where Brenda was already waiting for us. We had little time before having to take off to sneak into the fashion show. I had shawl pins to deliver to go with the Harbour Lights Shawl that was being presented that night. I don't have a good picture of the pins handy now but I will take some soon. I'm just a tad busy right now but as soon as I get some good pictures, I will list those that didn't sell on the weekend in my Etsy shop. I have a few left but not all that many but I can always make more. This was a wonderful collaboration with Sivia. It was just amazing to meet her in person after we had exchanged so many e-mails. As the fashion show drew to a close, my cell phone rang.... well, I guess the kids were pushing hubby right to the edge of sanity. We came back to the hotel as quickly as we could. Sleep wasn't really something that was going to had much of this weekend but I didn't really care.
Saturday
Saturday was a fun day. After breakfast we took off to Minderal World in Sidney. Little Miss really loves that place. She collected a nice little bag full of tumbled gem stones for her collection. From there, we took off to Honeysuckle Studio. It was a lovely place, a home with the most wonderful garden and a really neat little studio in the front. This is where Brenda gave up resistance and got her new Lendrum wheel. I was so excited for her - of course I didn't even try at all to stop her. By this time, hubby had taken off with the kids to give us some fun time and they wanted to go and play at the pool back at the hotel anyways. We then visited Beacon Yarn Cabin and looked around a bit. It's a nice little shop and staff seemed welcoming and friendly. I bought one skein of Lana Grossa Meilenweit in a colour that I could just not resist. It was just too much "ME" - Mind you, I'm trying not to accumulate too much more sock yarn or any yarn - I have so much and of course, now I'm a tad fibre obsessed as well.....
The highlight of Saturday evening was Sivia's talk which I enjoyed thoroughly. It was wonderful to see and touch all these lovely lace pieces she had brought. There were at least one or two designs that I didn't think about knitting before but now that I have seen it close up..... well, more lace patterns, here I come. This time, the kids behaved better for hubby and I didn't get a "please come and rescue me" call.
Sunday - The Big Day
The big day - the market!!! It was windy and I couldn't set up as well as I would have liked to. I think I got the windiest spot in the whole park. As a small scale sponsor I had hoped maybe for a spot along with all the other sponsors who were on the far edge of the park where the wind, I think, didn't blow quite as hard. But anyways............ my tent survived and it didn't blow away. Yeah!!!! I had an awesome day meeting all kinds of like minded people. I'm sending a shout-out to my tent neighbour Erynn - I met Erynn via Etsy quite some tie ago. Her Etsy shop is TwistofFate. She's recently moved back to Kamloops and is starting up her own store in Kamloops in July. All in all, a fun day. Here are some pics to show off how nice it was at the park.
We came home on the 7 pm ferry, very tired and very happy. It has been a busy week so far so I haven't had much chance to play with "Bugsy" but the fibre I was given as practice fibre drafts so easily it's amazing so I've actually been having very, very positive results and that's so encourageing. I have to admit that I'm getting tired of dark grey though and I'm ready to move onto some of my fun coloured rovings.
a 2.25 DPN stuck in your thigh............................ you still can't complain because firstly, you didn't break your precious needle at the beginning so you still had it to knit with for the entire weekend and it just shows how wonderful of a weekend you had........... I was so tired that as we were getting back into the car at the end of our ferry trip home from the Island, I stumbled and lost balance and sort of fell on top of my felted tote on the seat of the car. Of course said DPN poked out and jammed into my thigh and it broke. But don't worry, I am fine......... I can still feel the spot where the poking occurred but I'll live. I guess there's something to be said about even wooden DPNs being a possible weapon. :-) And so much for the smart people at Knitpicks sending 6 DPNs in a set of 5 just in case you lose or break one. From that set, I now have lost one and broken one..... a lot of good that's doing me.
I don't have pictures yet. Brenda has already done a really nice job blogging about the weekend. My blog post will be up tonight or tomorrow depicting the events from my point of view and the angle of my lens. I just quickly came here to show off the object of my love and attention:
It's the Schacht ladybug and somehow we managed to fit her into the car. I'm sad that I'm at work (and feeling very tired) and that she's sitting at home. I think we will be able to spend many happy hours together.
It's off to Fibre Fest in Victoria!!! I'm not ready but what the heck!!! Life is too short to worry about it. My alarm was set for 7 am and I promptly jumped out of bed at 5:30 - my normal weekday wake-up time. The weather forecast looks decent (let's hope it stays that way). Brenda will be on her way soon!! I'm more than sad that Shelley can't be there. You should see the kitchen table. At this point, it's still covered in beads, and pins and wire and various findings and accessories. My hands are sore. My finger tips are scratchy and with little cuts from all the wire........ but who cares
I`m just feeling generally excited. work has been busy and stressful so it`s nice to get a break. Kiddo is at Sports Day at school for the morning and then we`re off to catch the 3 pm ferry.
See you all next week with lots of news and pictures.
Mo'nonymous on Vacation - Day 1
Mo'nonymous on A Great Sense of Acc...
Mo'nonymous on A Great Sense of Acc...
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Mo'nonymous on Wheee..................
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