beebonnet report

knitterati

Wow, I had to post a second time today... I just got back from hanging out at the local Eugene knitting shop called "The Knit Shop".  I went there to get some sock yarns for my secret pal projects.  First off the bat I walked in and saw Sandra of the multi sock fame a few posts before this one.  It turns out she works there!  Then I was paying at the register and I noticed some gorgeous framed lace above the checkout counter.  "Oh yes, Eugen does that " the clerk said and nodded in the direction of a dapper gentleman at the table.  My eyes bugged out and my knees went weak as I read the name on the card - you guessed it, Eugen Beugler - the lace knitter/designer.  You can see some of his designs here and here!  I didn't know that Eugen was from Eugene!  (rather fitting I think).  So then I rushed over like the gushing puppydog that I am and introduced myself to Eugen Beugler and sat down to knit and chat with him.  Turns out he's a wonderful guy, very witty, and he was knitting a beautiful short-row scarf out of a soy-silk/wool combo yarn in lovely colors.  Sandra was also at the table, and as I started my new socks on dpns I was watching her completing 4 socks at a time.  I asked her how that two-circ method worked and the next thing I knew, I had two socks going at once.  Oh, I am going to LOVE this method!  I always hate knitting that second sock.  Sandra is one of those "gem" knitters.  Someone that is very knowledgeable, and knows how to communicate that knowledge to others.  She is patient and kind to every knitter who asks for advice and I can tell that she is a true master of the craft.  I like Sandra!  (One of these days I'm going to learn her last name - LOL).

And in case you all can't quite believe it (pinch me!) here's a picture of me and the two knitterati.  Now I really have to move to Eugene!

The Very Gray Day

I woke up this morning to a very gray day. 
So I decided to get out some of my recent purchases and play with fiber today.

First, there was the rambouillet fleece I bought at Black Sheep Gathering.  hmmm... gray!
(you can see the washed lock at the top and the washed flicked locks on the left.  On the right is unwashed)

Then there was the finn/lincoln cross I bought at OFFF. hmmm.... gray again!

(washed and flicked on the right, unwashed on the left)

And the pretty Gotland curls I bought from the UK recently.  Whaddya know, gray!

And finally, the really gorgeous yak/silk laceweight that I bought at OFFF this year.  Surprisingly, gray!

I guess I've just been feeling gray lately!  Pretty funny for a girl so into color.  I don't think I'll be buying any more gray for a while, this oughta last me quite a long time.  Now to card and spin some.  Or maybe I'll start playing with that laceweight.  I wish you could feel all these heavenly grays, each one is truly yummy.

secret pals!

I've got secret pals!  I've joined two swaps, the sockret pal swap and a mittens swap!  both of my secret pals have emailed me with very secret hidden identities, I love mystery!

So for my secret pals, here are the answers to the secret pal questionnaires

Sockret Pal Questionnaire

The basics:
How long have you been knitting? about 20 years 
Do you consider yourself a beginning sock knitter, 
an intermediate, or have you been doing this so long 
you could probably knit a pair in your sleep?  I think
 I have knit a pair in my sleep!
 
The measurements:
While your pal may ask for some additional info to
ensure a great fit, please provide your shoe size, 
or any other fitting related info you think is 
pertinent. I wear a 
ladies 6.5 - 7 shoe size
 
Favorites:
What colors do you love? Brights, rich colors.  
Don't dig pastels so much.
Do you prefer solids or variegated? mmm.... love 
it all.  probably some kind of variegated
What fibers do you most love to knit with? wools, 
other natural fibers, superwash.  Acrylic, not 
so much.
Who do you consider your favorite yarn vendors? Don't 
have any favorites.
What projects (other than socks, of course*S*) do 
you most enjoy knitting? Shawls, sweaters, hats, 
mittens
 
(fiber related) Dislikes:
What fibers can  you not stand to knit with? To 
wear? acrylic
What colors would you never wear? beige
 
The Tools:
Plastic or Metal? Bamboo or wood? I like them all 
except powder coated alumninum
Circs or Straights? circs for everything except 
socks
DPNs or Magic Loop? dpns for socks
Are there any knitting accessories you don't have 
in your collection but would like? circular needle 
organizer or straight needle organizer (those rollup
kind), love stitch markers!
 
The Extras:
Do you have a wish list? If so, please share the 
link! um no, 
but I'd like to have one, how do I do that?
Do you like sweet, sour or salty? (or all of the 
above? *S*) all of the above!! love chocolate, 
sour stuff like lemon flavors
Do you have any allergies your pal should know 
about? (Certain foods, 
smoke, pet hair, etc) ummm.. grumps!
Favorite scents? Scents you can't stand? love 
flower scents.  don't like vanilla scent or other 
food scents except fruits
Do you collect anything (other than yarn and
knitting toys of course)? 
ladybugs! spindles for hand spinning
When is your birthday? (month and day is fine!) 
June 15
Do you spin? Dye your own yarn? I spin and dye, 
in fact I own a dyeworks business.
Your favorite author/band/vacation spot, 
anything you think will help 
your pal know you better...  I'm secretly a farm 
girl although I live in a big city (Los Angeles).  
I'm addicted to those needlework mystery books.  
I love animals and all things fiber!
 

And I have a mitten pal too!  My mitten pal has asked what kind of treats I like, I like pretty much all kinds of treats.  love chocolate of course, love nuts, fruits etc.  don't love, olives!

How exciting!  secret pals!

sheep, sheep, sheep, stash!

OK, as promised here is the sheep, sheep, sheep report

Elissa's two sheep, Cupid the off-white merino and Pappy (of Black Sheep Squadron fame) the black shetland/gotland cross.  In the third picture you can see Jake trying to find out if there are carrots in cameras.

mmmm.... sheep (homer simpson accent here).  These are delicious sheep cookies baked by Ruth Northrop on our road trip.  mmmmm.... sheep......

Elissa and her needle felted rainbow sheep.  Extremely cute except for the mad yellow eyes!  I think I need to make myself one of these.

Stash!

Fleece stash.  Here is my beautiful rambouillet (the french merino) fleece that I bought at Black Sheep Gathering and had to leave at Elissa's. We have been reunited and some of this fleece is now bathing in hot soapy water so I can see it in all it's naked glory!  Can't wait to try spinning a little of it.  It's a little on the short side as far as staple length, but it was a good price and it's an absolutely gorgeous color.  The rancher is Colleen Jennings of Riverton WY

And this one is the fleece I bought at the parking lot sale at OFFF.  This one is a Finn/Lincoln cross and it's really beautiful.  It' goes from grey to brown in the lock and has a nice luster.  It is also next to skin soft, although you wouldn't categorize it as a fine fleece.  This one was only $15 for a 5 lb fleece so I think I got quite a good deal.  It needed a little bit of skirting, but overall was really a lovely fleece.  The rancher is Karla Marinch (sp?) of Brown Sheep Farm somewhere in Oregon.

Terrible Day in the Peacable Kingdom

Well, here I am housesitting in Paradise.  Here is a picture of the donkeys at twilight my first evening here and a picture of Lily in the backyard my first evening here, gazing out at the sheep and Minnie relaxing in the garden lawn.

Who knew they had such a terrible day in store for me.  It started out with a beautiful sunrise over the valley followed by a walk in the field down to the pond

And then I couldn't hear Minnie and Lily's jingling collars anymore!  The two troublemakers were gone!  Somehow they managed to escape the property fence, although I can't find the hole they used.  What followed was a nightmare I hope never to repeat, driving up and down the local lanes calling for the dogs and scouring the fields for any sign of movement.  Late in the day I took 2 trips to animal control, but no one had turned the dogs in.  Finally late last night a neighbor called and said the dogs were on her property so I hiked up there and fetched them home.  Whew!  They are now in doggie jail (otherwise known as the wonderful home of Elissa) and they get no treats from me for a day!

Today all is right again in the peaceable kingdom, the dogs are in, the sheep are out and the neighbor gave me 5 of the juiciest most delicious tomatoes ever!  I devoured one of them standing at the sink before I could even unpack them.  There is a farm for sale one street over from here, I'm dreaming and scheming....

And in Knitting News

I hung out with the local Eugene knitting group on Monday evening at Perugino's.  What a fun group!  I am always nervous about meeting new people, but then I tell myself, "what's the worst that could happen?  they won't like me and I'll go home.  What's the best that could happen?  I'll meet new wonderful people, make friends and learn new things"  The best that could happen outweighs the worst and so I screw up my courage and go on in.  Of course the best happened!  The Eugene knitters are really fun and diverse.  Here's a picture of Sandra, who was knitting FOUR socks at a time!  I was astounded. She also dyed that beautiful self-striping yarn.  Color me impressed!  I can't remember all the names, but I'm glad I will get a chance to go back next monday and meet them all again.  I'll report back.

More on the Festival

here are some pictures of my booth at the festival.  Saturday was hopping busy, Sunday a little less.  We met lots of interested spinners, knitters, weavers etc.  on their way to their classes.  Here's a customer who came in with a gorgeous hand-made bead necklace.  I can't wait for next year!  The theme this year was knitting.  Next year's featured craft will be basketry.

Tomorrow, sheep, sheep, sheep and stash.

Road Trip - Part 1

Wheeeeee!  Ruth and Una and I just got back to Eugene from the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival.  Ruth and Una picked me up and we trundled on up to Oregon with a U-haul trailer and a happy-go-lucky attitude.  What a fun show OFFF is.  It's in Canby, Oregon which is a little southwest of Portland.  There were two big buildings and a lawn full of vendors plus the barns full of animals!  Ruth and I each had a booth at the show and Una was our guardian angel, I don't know how we would have done it without her.  Between the trailer driving and the canopies, Ruth and I would have been a puddle of butter.

I ran into Sachi!  and met her charming husband, and inlaws.  It was great to see her, I'm so sad she moved out of LA, but happy for her that she lives in the Pacific NW now. It looks like she did a little damage to her pocketbook with all the delicious fibery things to choose from.  And I also saw Marnie!  who has also escaped LA for the wilds of Portland. We also ran into the fabulously fabulous Trish Anderson and Alexandra, who took us to a nice pub and grill restaurant for dinner Saturday night after the show.  Unfortunately I was so pooped I almost fell asleep in the middle of my meatloaf.  But I still managed to hear at least half of the jokes that were flying around and managed to squeeze in a bite of German Chocolate cake.  Elissa  was able to join us for dinner after we found her super-secret Gotland meeting in a motorhome in the parking lot (wow, the life of sheep ranchers!) and let her know where we were going.

We stayed chez Elissa who has a fabulous house and 10 acres, and we played with her brand new baby miniature donkey, Gina Lollabrigida.  How cute is that!  And this is Jake, her uncle, wondering if the camera might have a carrot in it.

More tomorrow.

yet more fiber

The latest batch for your enjoyment.  Another 20 pounds and I'll call it a day.

fiber for OFFF

I just typed a long post and then lost it... grrrrr!  So now you're getting the condensed version, sorry about that.

Oy!  am I tired!  I've been dyeing for days.  See the fruits of my labor here.  This is only half of the fibers I'm taking, plus all the yarns too!  I really hope I do well at OFFF because I could sure use the money!

And I found out that my paper was finally published.  You can see it here.  I'm excited to have a paper even though my academic career is on hold at the moment.  If all goes well I'll be going back to UCLA in the winter quarter (january).

And here's a beautiful burl and ebony spindle.  This is made by Karen and Tom Berglund.  It's really gorgeous and spins very nicely.  The yarn is a merino/tencel blend and it was spun on a wheel, not on the spindle.  But I tthought it dressed up the photo nicely.

I felted the little hat I made in my first machine knitting class.  It was a little too scratchy for a preemie cap and that's what size it turned out.  It makes a lovely little bowl, just the right size for holding my business cards!

New Blog Format

Well, due to popular demand (um 2 people constitutes popular here) I have gone to a standard blog format complete with comments and rss feed.  Took quite a bit of time to port over my blog, but here she is now.  So, everyone sign on up now!

Anniversary

September 12, 2006

Yesterday was my wedding anniversary. It's so sad to be sharing it with a major tragedy. 2001 was obviously my worst anniversary ever. But as time goes on, we have learned not to focus too much on the sadness.

I am mostly busy getting ready for the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival! I am excited to have a vendor booth this year. It will be my first time at OFFF, and I've heard such good things about it. I am then spending a week at my friend Elissa's farm to take care of her animals while she goes out of town. I can't wait, all that navel-contemplating that I'll do! I only have about a week left to finish dyeing everything and pack up for the road trip with my pals Ruth and Una, that's going to be loads of fun!

I finally got my Spindlicity business card designed and ordered. Here's a sneak preview. I always get my cards done at Vistaprint and they do a great job and I get them in mere days.