MA Sheep and Wool, baby!

It was a blast! Thanks mostly to my three awesome companions, Cirilia, Val, and Huelo. The trip to Cummington was so easy, and the weather was gorgeous. We did a preliminary run through of the fair, ate some food (it was a veggie burger, damnit, a VEGGIE burger!), but oh, the animals! More adorable pictures here, in my Massachusetts Sheep and Wool flickr set, or here in Cirilia's. It was a very Webs-filled day - we saw Steve and Kathy leaving just as we were pulling in; Sara was there to teach workshops; and we saw Dena standing a safe distance away from the angora bunnies. We also ran into Melissa and Megan, and had a blogging standoff: Here's my haul for the day: Clockwise from the top: Romney and Wool/Mohair blends from Fantom Farms; Merino/silk from Spunky Eclectic; Camel/Tussah silk from Foxfire; a skein of Bunny Blend from Acker's Acres Angoras. Whoo! Not too bad, right? Oh. Right. Yep, that's a fleece. A 10.5 pound, unskirted Romney fleece from one of Consolati Farm's favorite sheep, Edsal. I'm in trouble, aren't I? Any advice will be ridiculously welcomed. I might tackle the skirting today. Oh, and here's the project that kept me up until 4am on Thursday: Kureyon. Log. Cabin. Blanket. Whoo! My plan is to do 20 squares (all different colorways), but I might add more if it's not big enough. I don't think I'll be knitting much else for a while :)

Dudes.

I'm back! I've missed you all soooo much. Eep! I won't draw this out - here's what I've been up to in my absence: -I got a job at WEBS, only the best yarn store ever! I've been working there since March. Now that it's summer, you can find me there Tuesday through Friday, and 2 Saturdays a month. -I joined Ravelry, just this morning actually :) I'm a bit obsessed. If you're on there too, add me as a friend - don't make me track all you down. -I got my driver's license :) in February. Having always lived in cities, I never needed one before. I'm enjoying my freedom very much. -I went on a fairly restrictive diet for 2 months and lost 20 pounds. I also became a vegetarian in the process! I have another 15 pounds that I want to lose, but I'm currently taking a break and partaking freely in cookies and beer. -I finished another semester of school - only two more to go. UMass has been a welcome change, and I had one really excellent class that made it all worthwhile (on the Mongols - an interesting and entertaining bunch). -I've been reading all your blogs! Seriously, I have. And I want to give you all a collective hug, pat on the back, high five, cup of tea - whatever applies to your particular situation. Thanks to those who checked in on me, and apologies to anyone who commented with a question if I didn't get back to you. Most of the knitting I've been doing lately has been for Webs - many of the sample garments in the store are knit by staff. There are more pictures of all of them in my Flickr or on Ravelry. Here's what I've done so far: This is Sunshine from Rowan's Kasbah Collection, in Summer Tweed. Cute little pattern, and a fun bit of crochet too. This is the Lace Accent Tank from Artful Yarns pattern book #92226. It's knit in Artful Yarns Olympic. The pattern was designed by Interweave fave Veronik Avery. There are a bunch of cute little details in this pattern, check out the back: Basically, you knit four pieces: the lace band, the back, and the front top and bottom. Then you seam it all together (I'm surprised the pattern doesn't just have you pick up stitches from the lace band, but whatever). Anyway, it was a nice little challenge, and the yarn knit up much nicer than expected - I don't suspect many or any of you have worked with it, and I don't necessarily recommend that you do ;) This is Krista, from White Lies Designs, knit up in Cascade Pima Tencel. Also fun, and super quick to knit - lace on size 7 needles. If you want to knit it, I suggest making it a little longer than suggested. Something else to show you: You can see this in my second ever post on this blog! It's the Tina shawl from Fiddlesticks knitting. Even though I finished knitting it in February of 2006, I didn't block it until this March! I decided to bring it to my Webs interview. Heh. Anyway, it's knit in Jaggerspun Zephyr in Daffodil. Pretty. I have more to show (you can probably sneak a peek at Ravelry or Flickr), but I'll wrap this up for now. Will I see any of you at Massachusetts Sheep and Wool this weekend? I'll be at Webs on Saturday, and Cummington Sunday. Whoo, weekend!