Nothing to See Here....Move Along

At long last I have finally invested in a domain name of my own...and I have moved the blog.

For those of you who need to manually update your blog readers, you can now find me at www.writeknitspin.com

Everyone else can simply click here and then do whatever you have to do to update.

I hope you all join me over in the new space.

Clermont!

The official name of the festival is The Chancellor's Sheep and Wool Show. It is held at the Clermont Historic Site and, in the fiber community, is known simply as Clermont. With 30 vendors (plus or minus) this event is tiny compared to Massachusetts Sheep &Wool (Cummington) taking place next month, or New York Sheep & Wool (Rhinebeck) taking place in October. However, In the capital district, this is the first fiber show of the season and the gaiety surrounding it far exceeds the size of the show.


We arrived early, at 10:30, for an 11:00 am start. This proved to be a great idea, as we got the first parking spot that was not designated handicapped. It's a bit of a hike to the grounds from the parking lot, and I could feel the excitement building as we got closer.

First, we couldn't ask for a nicer day. After seven months of winter, we in the NY State we get really excited at the site of flowers:

A view of the river that is not frozen over and surrounded by snow:


Even if the trees are still bare, the grass is green.

And then, of course, the first sight of the house itself, majestic and white:

Then, as we made our way down the path, the festival grounds open up:


The excitement builds. If we weren't lugging a picnic lunch, spinning wheel, knitting, chairs and blankets, we might have started to run. However, we were, so we had to content ourselves with taking pictures as we made our way deeper into the grounds.

And this is what we saw:

Spinners

Vendors:


More spinners:



Friends, Jess and Risa

Wendy (who spun for the first time, and Tina who taught her)


Llamas


We got to ask questions:


And last, but not least, we got to shop:

Now, being that we need to stuff more spinning fiber in our 700 square foot box (I mean town house), we kept the shopping to a minimum. However, we couldn't turn down the lovely, light and lofty Shetland being sold by Hudson Valley Sheep and Wool:



The delicious, buttery Cormo offered by Blackberry Hill Farm

Yummy Wool and Alpaca from Sandy at Longmeadow Farm (who doesn't have a website and really should)




Or the deliciously soft Shetland and Llama blend from a farm that did not have its name on their tag (but was tied by a black ribbon, and if anyone knows who they are, please let me know in the comments)



Although the temps were near 90 degrees, and no one was prepared for it. It was with joy that we, the fiber-addicted, got to shed our winter gear and dive into the 2009 fiber festival season. A wonderful time was had by all (even if everyone did feel the need to go home, take a cool shower, and nap.)

Weekend Update

What a busy weekend! On Saturday I taught the 4th, and final, section of Knitting: Beyond the Basics. It was a truly great class. I lost a few students and that could have been that it was the last weekend of Spring Break up here and family obligations might have intruded, however, I still had 3 of the original 6 students and one who joined us for the last class only. I learned a lot as a teacher in doing this series and I will definitely teach it again...maybe in the fall.

First, I have to get through the CR-RWA Conference. I knew it was going to be a lot of work, but I underestimated the amount of free time I have. I have not written a word since becoming Conference Co-Chair. Of course, I'm not great at budgeting my time, so that may have something to do with it.

On Sunday, I drove down to Tina's in Catskill, where a group of women met to do henna tattoos and bless the belly of a woman soon to deliver her 2nd child. I love henna. I adore the opportunity to decorate my body and have it be semi-permanent. About the time I'm getting tired of it, it fades. What could be better than that?

I had 2 pieces done. The first on my chest:

This is with the henna paste still drying.

The next is what it looked like right after the paste finished curing and came off:


The other piece I had done was the back of my left hand.

Again, this is what it looked like with the paste on:


And htis was taken on Tuesday, after the stain had time to set for a few days.


I can't get a shot of the chest piece. Maybe after Tim gets home from work.

Stay tuned for details on the trip to Northhampton, MA and (of course) Webs. I would have posted it today, but the weather decided to thwart picture taking. How could I talk about Webs without posting pictures of stash enhancement?

Today's Post Was Brought to You by the Colors Blue and Green

At Rhinebeck in 2008, I bought this:


And now it looks like this:

This lovely skein started out as 50/50 Merino/Silk with bit of Angelina for sparkle. Unfortunately, the sparkle isn't showing with my craptastic camera. But, it's a really nice 150 yards of sport weight. I'm kind of surprised that 4 oz of silk/merino had such a small yield, but what can I say? It's loverly anyway and I'm sure it will knit into something small but pretty.



This next lovely is actually purple, and again, thanks to my needing to be replaced camera (which completely didn't take 15 pictures taken with the digital zoom), looks blue. It is a sweater for a bear (a rather small bear) and is part of the Bear Hugs Project being done by Bridging People and Places. The original patter called for seaming, and that's not my thing, so I converted my favorite top down raglan pattern:



And down-sized it:


Yes, that's my hand it's sitting on, which will give you an idea of its size.

It was so much fun, I'm at work on another. What a great way to use up all that legacy acrylic from Mom.

On another note, my bag from Jessilu was delivered (by hand) on Tuesday night.



Again, the crappy photo's don't do it justice. But the fabric is called "Bad Kitty" and has a cat (much like my cats) chewing on computer wires and scratching furniture and altogether getting into mischief. The only thing tht could be truer would be cats eating plants and then barfing....But that wouldn't make for good fabric.

Residing in said bag are my Monkey Socks

Being made from Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Merino. I've turned the heels and am on the home-stretch...one would think I'd finish them instead of knitting bear sweaters. One might think so.

Tonight is knitting. Tomorrow is a knitting class (part IV) and the wrap-up. Sunday is a henna party, so expect some funky foto's next week.

Have a great weekend everyone,

Spring, Glorious Spring!

Today is one of the 10 best days of the year. The widget on the lower right corner of my screen says "Now Mostly Sunny, 61 F". Can it get better than this after a long, cold, hard winter? Maybe it can, tomorrow is supposed to be just as clear and bright and 70F. Time to shave my legs. (Is that considered over-sharing?)

A bunch of you have been giving me crap about not blogging often enough. Maybe I would blog more if you would leave some comments! It's hard to know if anyone is reading if you don't say anything. Maybe I should get one of those widgets that counts hits on the page. Yeah, that's the ticket. Hey, Tim! How do I do that?

I also, finally, uploaded all of the pictures that were on my camera. I'm not going to overload you all, dear readers, with all of them...but i think I'll start posting them in groups and catching you all up on what's going on.

So, back in February, we needed a getaway, and so we went to the famous Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge, MA.




It's been a continuously operating inn since the 1700's and I've always wanted to stay there. The economy being what it is, and tourism being down, I got a great deal for the weekend. What's more, we got upgraded from a queen-sized room to a king-sized SUITE.

Of course, the first thing I did was take pictures of:

The living room:



The bedroom:


Note the king-sized bed swathed in high thread count 100% cotton!!

The bathroom:


Now, what I'm not showing you (because the pictures don't do it justice) is the 2 person, walk-in shower with 2 hand showers, 2 rainforest shower-heads, and about 100 side-jets. Let's just say that between the tub and the shower, we were both squeaky-clean.

And the view from our room:


Yes, heated outdoor pool and hot-tub OPEN in FEBRUARY

So, that was February....and now it's April.

I'm trying to get control of my life, which for lots of reasons I feel like I just been returned to (already in progress), and some of what I'm doing is trying to take a daily walk. Today I added the camera, so I can show you signs of Spring in the North Country.

Winter is our predominant season, lasting from November to March, and now in Mid-April, we're just getting crocuses:


and Forsythia:


And the magnolias are just starting to bud:


And that's when my batteries died....sigh.

Tomorrow there will be spinning content and maybe knitting (maybe even writing...who can tell?)

Drive By Post

Just a quick Drive-by post to let everyone know that I'm still alive. I've been busy, but that's not the reason I'm not posting. Frankly, I can't think of anything to say.

I know this means that there will be a lot to say as soon as I process it all. I've no idea what I'm processing, but I know when I go all internal like this, that's what it means.

Still not taking any piccies of yarnliciousness. Maybe I need a new camera, (no, really, I NEED a new camera), but the urge to photograph the finished objects isn't strong. Maybe later?? But I have been spinning, and knitting, not so much writing...OH MY!!!


Off to work now, and then maybe....who knows?

Time Flies

The problem with having a life is that it doesn't leave much time for blogging. I don't count end of the day drooling from exhaustion plopped in front of the TV time. That's non-productive time, no matter how hard I try to make it different. The only thing I can possibly accomplish during those hours is knitting. There has been quite a bit of that going on, but there are no pictures.

In fact, this is going to be a piccy free post. (Yeah, I know booo hisss) But there will be links. Starting with:

Most of my life is being sucked up by this: The Capital Region Romance Writers Association Annual Conference.

What's that you say? What is this? Why am I doing it? Hell if I know.

Remember media vacation week? When I had all that free time to write and read and do all those loved thing? Well, at the end of that week, I was at my local chapter RWA meeting, and the VP of our Chapter voiced an appeal for someone to chair the Conference Committee. I'm not totally insane. I did specify that I would only CO-CHAIR. And someone else did step up to the plate with me. That was in February, and I've been overwhelmed with conference stuff since.

Of course, since the past chairperson is not helping, and won't release any information because she's a control freak; and the person doing our web-maintenance refuses to talk on the phone and will only communicate via email; this has not made for an easy transition.

Oh, did I mention that the conference is in June?

Onwards and upwards.

The first of the knitting classes, Beyond the Basics at Beau Knits in Cohoes, went smashingly. I had 5 students and although we didn't cover as much material as I would have liked, everyone got their project started. I can't wait to see what they come in with on Saturday. I've always known that I love teaching, and I'm totally stoked to be teaching knitting. I would really like to do more of this in the future.

;This past weekend was the Capital District Knit-in 2009 at the Troy Arts Center. Put on by 4 local area yarn shops. It was fantastic. The venue was great, the turn-out wonderful. There were door prizes and great conversation. There will be pictures as soon as I get them from my cellphone camera to the web.

The highlight for me was sitting a newbie down at Asherah with some good beginners fluffy fiber and teaching her to spin. I have a feeling there will be another new spinner in our midst. She seemed quite taken by it.

On the spinning front, I've been doing a fair bit of that, and will have pictures as soon as I wash what I've been working on.

Oh, and my dear husband has joined the ranks of the bloggers. You can find him at Geeky Fiber News.

On the writing front, I'm working on the new book. In fact, that's where I'm headed for now...to work on it.

Look for another post in a few days, and in the mean time, keep on giving those sheep a reason to give up the wool.