Kiri finally done

No pictures yet, I just sewed in the ends last night.

At SOAR this year, I received a number of exotic fibers as samples from peace of yarn.

There was cashmere, cashmere/silk, ultra fine merino, angora, yak, camel down, etc...

About 1.5 ounces total for 10 different fibers - most of them white or off white.

When I got home, I scored an electric drum carder with a fine drum, so I carded all the white and off white exotic fibers together with some merino I already had. I added about 25% more in bleached tussah silk to get four ounces of yummy batts.

I spun it medium fine laceweight and the single came out slightly slubby in places, but pretty.

I already had 3/4 bobbin of very fine bleached tussah singles for a different project that I had stalled on - so I plyed those two together to get 1200 yards of a very pretty off white yarn - total weight a little less than 5 ounces.

I have knit the Forest Canopy Shawl 6 times so far and wanted to do a different one.I like my shawl knitting to be a memorizable pattern - written with a chart, but a small enough repeat to be able to knit without looking at the pattern every row every stitch. Kiri fit the bill perfectly.

So, in between the felted bags and the watch caps that I've made for holiday presents, I finally finished knitting the shawl. This was my take along knitting. Everyone at work has seen me knitting it and are waiting for me to wear it to work.

I have less than about 20 yards of the yarn left and did 20 repeats of the pattern rather than the 14 called for. I dressed it on to my 7 foot triangle loom to see if I was going to be able to block it on there like I've done all my other shawls and it fit, but a very soft block. Once I wet it down with a sprayer, the shawl sagged and I was afraid it was going to stretch all out of shape. As it is, it's very large on me and I love it.

I finished it last Friday and then sewed in the ends last night so that I could wear it to my guild meeting.

I'm hoping to get some pics of it soon

Last day – Leaving SOAR…

It’s bittersweet on the last day. I am eager to get home to my family, but sad to leave the friendships I have made in the past few days. I always find that leaving SOAR and other immersion type of events and returning to ordinary life is hard for me. I don't return to work refreshed and ready to get busy. I almost resent work for taking me away from what I really want to be doing, instead of being grateful that what I do for a living provides the ability to go and do these things.



Shanty Creek is a beautiful setting - the leaves are turning colors that I rarely get to see in Arizona. The morning mist rising from the water this morning was so peaceful. I wish that I lived in a place that had the seasons so clearly delineated. I slept with the windows wide open and snuggled under the covers. On the last night I even wore my socks to bed to keep my feet warm - yum!

I took four classes during the retreat – Spinning for Lace with Margaret Stowe, Getting the Most Out of Hand Held Combs with Robin Russo, Kitchen Sink Batts with Janel Laidman and a great entrelac class with Kathryn Alexander - the name of which escapes me right now.

I learned a great deal in each class – not necessarily what I expected to learn, but valuable in any case. The staff of Interweave, and the Spin Off group in particular are once again to be commended in putting together an event that I will remember.

The best parts were seeing friends made during previous SOAR’s like Janel of Chameleon Colorworks and Spindlicity Magazine, Shirley of Lambspun, and Morgaine of Carolina Homespun; and then making a couple of wonderful new friends. I feel that I met a couple of kindred spirits in Connie and Steve of Spindlewood Spindles. I met them my first night there at dinner and we became instant friends. Their generosity of heart was appealing from the start and over the few days that we spent together, I felt like we were old friends reconnecting after a long time apart.

Funny that I make friends more easily with people who are vendors than participants, hmmm, I wonder why that is?

I also met Abby, I have been reading her blog for some time now and it’s cool to put a face with the name. She was very nice – down to earth and friendly. I ran into Stephanie a couple of times, got some good pictures with her and Janel in them from the panel discussion on Sunday morning.

Well, my bags are packed and the shuttle is on it's way. I'll spend all day traveling and be wiped out tonight.

(posted Monday - written Sunday)

SOAR 2007 - Day one

It feels strange to be blogging about SOAR when I haven't written anything up about OFFF from last month, but here goes anyway.

I arrived on Wednesday - I have only attended the retreat portion of SOAR so far and this year is no different. I like to get here the day before check in so that I am already settled in and know my way around when the market opens Thursday Mornings. Yes, one of the major draws for me is the shopping. Now that I know that the number of vendors here is is much less than OFFF or other major fiber festivals - I think the shopping will be a much less important part of the trip.

Actually that is exactly what happened yesterday. All day to shop the market and I came away with much less than ever before. I bought a couple of spindles, two more bobbins for the WW on my Gem, a couple of small doo dads and only two rovings. That's right - only two. One of them was one of the gorgeous Cashmere/silk dyed rovings that I got from Carolina Homespun at OFFF. Perhaps now that I have two of them, I may work up my courage to actually spin one.

I met some wonderful people at dinner Wednesday evening. Connie and Steve from Spindlewood Spindles. Steve makes square spindles and they are gorgeous. He and I talked about custom spindles so now I have to ask D's son if he still has any of that Koa wood that we sent him from Hawaii.

I've run into Janel, Patty and Morgaine - so nice to see people again from last year. Stephanie and I have bumped into each other a couple of times also. Last night I was in line to use the ladies room and she was struggling with the latch on the stall she was in. I told her that it would be on the internet by morning and here it is.....

I was able to sign up for all the classes I want and will actually take my camera with me today so that my next post may have photos.

It's nice and cool here, I get to wear my sock and my shawls. Yippee.

It's that time again... SOAR

I just finalized my lodging and shuttle trip for SOAR 2007. I'm very excited to think that it's right around the corner.

Last year's trip was so much fun - my second time - I was starting to feel like I knew what I was doing.

I didnt' get my registration in on time this year and had to wait on the standby list to see if I was going to be approved to go. Once I got that confirmation - I was thrilled.

Again this year, I am only going for the retreat weekend. Going to the whole thing is just too cost prohibitive. Someday, perhaps, I'll be able to attend the whole event, but for now I am just happy to take the retreat classes and hang out with everyone.

Hey, if you are going too, drop a note in the comments and we can meet there.

Lots to say - more later

I have a bunch of stuff to blog about - finished my sister's socks, knitted for the 4th at my favorite LYS, cast on the first clue for the MS3, and the most important thing of all - I got a call today saying that the waiting list for SOAR finally got to me!

Yippee! I am going to SOAR this year!.

I will try to take some pics tomorrow morning before work.

On Saturday, DeVia and I are off to Portland again. She will be at a conference, but I will be hanging out with the PDX bunch and trying to get a group together to go to Woodland woolworks on Monday or Tuesday.

Soar Retreat classes

I took 4 Retreat classes at SOAR - here are the results from two of them.

The first class I took was painting handspun yarns with Deb Menz. I took a drum carding class last year with her and it's made all the difference in my color blending on my drum carder.

Anyway, this is 1600 yards of grey polwarth spun laceweight or cobweb. It weighs 6.5 ounces and is amazing yarn that I still can't believe I spun. I experimented with some different colors, but knew that I wanted to keep it simple so as to not detract from the lace shawl that I intend to knit from it.

The color theory in class really helped me decide that I wanted the different colors to have roughly the same value. Every chance to take a class with Deb, you can bet I'll jump on it.

I was standing there, afraid to put dye on my yarn cause it took so long to make. and she said: "don't make it too precious, you can always spin it again" - this gave me the freedom to just dye it and not agonize over whether it was going to turn out great or not. Luckily, it did. I love the colors and the way they go together. I am leaving it in the skein form until Guild tomorrow night for show and tell. Then it's off to the ball winder to get it ready to knit with. I still don't have a pattern for the semicircle shawl that I want to knit from it.

This is from Maggie Casey's class on Boucle the easy way. The bottom sample can't be seen very well in this picture, but it didn't come out as boucle as the others anyway.

This is the result of spinning one finer ply of soft wool with one ply slightly thicker of adult mohair. The two different white samples were both rambo roving with different preparations of mohair - the top one was mohair roving and the bottom one mohair top. After spinning, you shock the yarn to shrink it - agitate it in hot hot water and then plunge it into cold water. Instant Boucle! What a great class. I took a class with Maggie last year on spinning skeins for submitting in a skein contest. She looked at my niddy noddy and instantly knew who made it. What a fount of knowledge she is.

Stash enhancement project

This doesn't look like much does it?













Even spread out, it's not really that much.








Left to right top: three 4 ounce braids of superwash, 2 ounces of camel down, one ounce of alpaca, two 4 ounce bumps of alpaca/silk/cashmere, 2 lbs of chocolate polworth

Left to right bottom: 4 ounces dyed tussah, two 4 ounce braids of optim, two more 1 ounce samples of alpaca, two 4 ounce braids of merino tencel, three different 1 ounce cashmere samples

Promised Harlot picture

Here is Stephanie holding my red sock up with her blue one. She was so friendly and said nice things about my sock.

She rocked the tent on Thursday night.

More Yarn Harlot

If I was able to upload my pictures - right here would be a shot of Stephanie holding up my sock with hers. As soon as I get home, I'll add a post with all of the pictures.

She was sitting at the book signing last night and I asked if I could take a picture of her with my sock. She was so nice about it - and said very nice things about my sock and the yarn that I am knitting it with. It's just one of those feather and fan socks that I like to make with a purl ridge added right before the pattern row to make it fancier.

She said that she recognized my name and blog address once I got over my star-struckedness and told her what it was. I babbled something about reading her every day - she was very gracious. When she complimented me on my sock, it was all I could do not to just give it to her right then and there.

We had Harlot last night

That's right, Stephanie came to SOAR to give the speach last night. It was raining and cold, the water was seeping in under the doors to the tent and we all sat there enthralled by her.

She kept us laughing the whole time and every word she said echoed for me.

Like a goof, I left my camera in the room, so no Harlot shots from me. She is sticking around and perhaps I will run into her at one of the workshops or at a meal.

SOAR shopping

The market opened at 9 am sharp and it was like a feeding frenzy. Once again, I felt the space for vendors was too small. The booths were very crowded and it was hard to look at everything.

But persevere I did, and came away with many many goodies. This is truly the year for browns for me as you will be able to see as soon as I get home. I did not bring the camera USB cord and this laptop does not have the little port for my camera memory card.

Some will not be posted here yet as they are gifts, but a list of the haul so far includes:

• 2 lbs washed polworth fleece in a gorgeous deep brown from Rovings
• 3 different colors of alpaca From McKenzie Alpaca Breeders
• 3 superwash braids in browns and oranges from Royale Hare
• 4 ounces of dyed tussah - again - brown and oranges from Nebo Rock Textiles
  
• 2 braids of superwash merino/tencel from Chameleon Colorworks
• 2 braids of green/yellow purple optim from Chameleon colorworks
• Toni at The Fold had some amazing cashmere - I got 3 different blends of cashmere from her
• 2 four ounce bumps of cashmere/alpaca/merino from Shirley at Lambspun. There was more I wanted from her, but it was so crowded.

The market will also be open after check in at 1 this afternoon, but I may be shopped out. I think I want one of the shawl kits from Lambspun and that may be it for me.

SOAR update

The flight was uneventful, but the altitude is getting to me pretty hard this year. I had a headache all day yesterday and was sick to my stomach after dinner last night.

I met some wonderful women yesterday. Re-connected with Shirley from Lambspun that I took the Deb Menz workshop with last year and met Maggie Sefton who has written some mystery novels set in the Lambspun shop. Now I have to run out and get her books - she may have some here as she is doing a book signing.

I also met a woman from St Louis MO on the ride from the airport. Again, I will have to look an see what her name is today as it escapes me from yesterday.

A nice girl name Michele came from Winnepeg - met her at the airport. Her luggage didn't arrive with her - what a bummer that must be. Luckily she is meeting her mother here and her luggage may come soon.

I keep running into a woman that is also staying in my building, but cannot remember her name for anything. I'll look for her at breakfast and commit it to memory - she was so nice to me at dinner last night.

I saw some of the Arizona contingent and said hi to Susan.

I'm looking forward to market today. I've set aside lots to spend and am determined to spend it all. I want another polworth fleece and some more rovings from Royale Hare. I will probably spend quite a bit at Lambspun too. Her stuff was so pretty last year, I kicked my self for not getting more of everything.

Waiting

I am packed, it's not even 6 am and I am waiting for my son to come take me to the airport.

My flight doesn't leave for almost 4 hours and it's only a 20 minute drive - anxious - ya think?

The cats are fed, the dog is sleeping - all is ready for me to depart.

It's going to be a crazy couple of weeks with travel around here. D left on Monday for a business trip. She returns this evening, but I am leaving this morning. I get back on Sunday afternoon, she flys out Sunday morning. We won't see each other until next Wednesday.

I have friends who hate it when their spouses travel, and others who can't wait for them to leave. I'm kinda in the middle. I love to travel, I like it when D is out of the house - and love it when she comes back. We are comfortable with each other - and that's what I've always wanted.

Enough of this, I'm going to go work on my sock.

Preparation for SOAR

Ok, I am starting to lay out all that I need to take to SOAR with me. I have to take my really big duffle bag that I got in Hawaii earlier this year, in case I get to bring back another wonderful fleece. I lucked out last year cause my friend Alicia drove to SOAR and was able to cart some of my additional purchases back to Phoenix with her.

Now, do I need to take my swift? I have already decided that the drum carder and the combs can stay home, the ball winder is going as is the lazy kate and the niddy noddy.

I have 3 knitting projects and 2 books to read - that should be enough? Oh my gosh - the spinning wheel - I have to break it down and put it in the suitcase. Hand cards - yes, I need the hand cards.....

The cat isn't going. Hey, I haven't packed any clothes yet. Or my laptop. I wonder if I should pack my coat? I hardly used it last time.


http://www.interweave.com/spin/events/soar/default.asp

My favorite picture from SOAR last year

I can't believe that it's taken me almost a year to post this picture. But then again, I didn't have this blog last year.
From the left we have Alicia, myself, and Fudge. We had the best time at SOAR in 2005 and I can't wait for this year.

Spook is going with me this year and I don't think Alicia or Fudge are going. I hope it's as much fun. It's different for me when I am not sure if I will know anyone there or not.