Sunday, February 17, 2008

Fiber Festivals Plans, Lastest Purchases, Bad Pooh Puppy....

Well, I'll start with the bad Pooh puppy first. He is now over a year old and hasn't been chewing on anything. All of a sudden, he's after the kitchen cabinet door trim. Pat had to block it for now with a long board to keep him away from it. I picked up a package of four rawhide bagel chewies that will hopefully deter him from the cabinets. He won't share with Hanna and Babs, so only one is given at a time. He will just keep taking them away from the others if they have them and sit with a pile in front of himselt. Greedy little munchkin.

I stopped by Yarns at Lace Wings just to see what was on sale, if anything. I came out with enough Cascade 220, not on sale, for another sweater. Now, I have no pattern in mind at this time. The color just called to me. It's a shade of blue with a subtle hint of green if you are in the right light. While I don't usually like greens on me, this one was too pretty to pass up. I bought 10 skeins. I know I don't need that much, but don't want to be short when I get to the end of a sleeve or the neck edges. If I have full skeins left, I will probably use them for a mittens and hat set. The excess will probably go in a pile with some other yarns. I'm playing with the idea of crocheting a blanket from scraps and left overs. That's all I bought.

Now, for the festival part. I'm planning on attending the CT Festival at the end of April. I would like to go to the NH Festival on Mother's Day weekend, as well, but don't know if I can due to other commitments. The Annual Pottowamut Family Yard Sale is the same weekend and so is my spinning guild meeting which is also being held at a sheep shearing at Watson Farm in Jamestown. The following Saturday, May 17th, is the 2nd RI Annual Wool and Fiber Festival held at Coggeshall Farm in Bristol, RI. My wheel and I are participating as well as attending that one.

Other exciting things are in the works as well, but until something definite is planned, I won't post about them here.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Pain the the Wrist, Rainy Days, and Fiber .....

I'm sitting here debating if I should take a short nap before heading out in about an hour to meet some friends at Panera for Craft Night. It snowed last night, but, the dreary heavy downpours of today have washed it all away. It's been dark and gray and miserable weather all day. If it was snow instead of rain, we would have had nasty blizzard conditions to deal with. On the other hand, it is good snoozing weather, or a cuddle up on the sofa with some knitting and a good movie kind of day.

Instead of doing either of those things, I had to go to the doctor's for my wrist followup. I thought it had improved with the therapy exercises even though I have been having tightness in the mornings. Nope. He decides the tendons and muscles were too tight. This meant a Cortizone shot. If you have ever had one you know how painful it can be. If you've never had one, consider yourself extremely lucky. I only accept getting these as a last resort for relief of pain. My first experience was with a shoulder injury in 2000 and it was horrific. No pre-numbing spray and that doctor missed the spot. When I needed one in my ankle, in 2004, I made the doctor wait a month before giving into it. That one was no where near as bad as the first. The one today wasn't too bad. My ortho doctor was a gentle as he could be and also sent me home with a wrist/thumb support to wear as needed and instructions to ice the wrist, which I've done.

On the way home, I stopped and checked the mail box. Goodies galore were waiting for me. My sock yarns from DKKnits had arrived and are snuggly soft and vibrant as always. Another box held my black Icelandic roving from Annawolfsong , from Ravelry, who has been doing a major de-shash over there. The third and smallest package was the Buffing Polish I had ordered for my wheel. It smells of lavender and will make my wheel shine so nicely. It needs a good cleaning again with all the spinning I've been doing lately anyway so this is perfect timing.

O.K. My bag is ready to go in an hour, so I think I will snooze for a half hour now.......

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Spinning Retreat, Alpacas, Newborn Lambs, and Knitting.....

The Spinning Retreat from last weekend, February 1st until the 3rd, was so much fun. The Bayberry Spinners hosted the retreat and invited the RI Spinners to attend. The place was fantastic. The "house" was in Watch Hill, RI and is huge. It had a double kitchen, dining room, room for the food to be served in, sitting room and huge living room/great room for us to gather in. There were two wide staircases so no one had to navigate around anyone going up or down the stairs. The bedrooms and several baths were on the second and third floors with panoramic views of the ocean. There was also a terrific stone porch for us to sit and spin, knit, work with a drum carder, or just relax on. The food was tremendous and more than anyone could need. There was a "snack" table set up the entire weekend for nibbling. Wine, water, soda, and coffee were available to all whenever they wanted a drink. There was much laughter, spinning, knitting, sharing, and good fun happening. There was even a sock teaching session and a fiber/yarn swap held.

One of the retreat participants mentioned a local alpaca farm and arrangements were made for a visit. These sweet animals let us feed and pet them until our hearts content. They were so friendly, trotting up to the fence, as they were making humming noises at us. I would love to attend another retreat in the future.

My wrist was a bit sore on Monday, but I think I moved it the wrong way while helping to rearrange the furniture. I lifted the sofa with the hand more than the wrist. I still have tightness in the mornings, but, work it out during the day until it doesn't hurt as much.

I decided to buy a Woolee Winder, which was being offered for sale on Ravelry, for my wheel. It came in Friday, but I need to finish the bobbin I have on the wheel before switching it to try it out and have fun with it.

Last Wednesday evening was the Panera meetup with Marva and Donna. We knit, ate, and had a good time together as usual. Yesterday, Saturday was our monthly Spinner's Guild meeting. It was held at Jen's house. Her ewes are delivering lambs this week. There was a week and a half old, a two day old, and a one day old lamb for us to see. The oldest is white and the other two are black or brown. They are just so sweet and precious to see. I went to The Beads Go On with Marva after the meeting, but was good and didn't buy anything.

Today, I had to buy a new driveband for my wheel, so Marva met me at the LFS. After that, we decided to go to Sakonnet Purls, since she had never been there. Because I knew how to get there I drove. I also knew, thanks to an email newsletter from them, they had solid Alpaca Sox Yarn in as well as a book I was interested in. I came home with both these items plus yarn for socks from the sale shed. Marva shopped for some goodies, too. From there we went to Cracker Barrel in Coventry for delicious pork chops. They have an antique drum carder on one wall and sock blocker on another wall. No spinning wheel though. We headed across to the SuperWalmart, did some shopping, and came out of the store to snow falling so hard, you couldn't see in front of you. The squall stopped before I got back to her car in Warwick. Then I headed home for the night to fix my driveband and spin or knit. I've restarted my Pi Shawl four times now and hope this time it's correct.