Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Road Trip

This is the part where I try to post photos without losing everything I've written and bashing my head over and over on the desk. At least I found the doohickey and got the pictures onto my computer by myself. That's progress (Ha--I accidentally typed "project" instead of "progress." Hoo boy.)

So here we are traveling to the Fiber Event in Greencastle, Indiana. We saw pretty skies:



and nice truckers:


We had tunes...


and cherry-flavored M&Ms...


and at least ONE of us got to knit. She was trying to finish a hat in time for the next day.
The trip went fairly quickly, and before we knew it we were in our room in Indianapolis. My KnitPicks order had come earlier in the day and I had hidden it in the trunk, so I brought it in the room and surprised Melissa (AKA the viper) with her very own Harmony needle set.
After a not-very-restful night, we headed for the show.
Me, pre-coffee:

Things were better after a slug or two of joe, and we did some KIP in Denny's while waiting for our Grand Slams (buy one, get one free--more money for stash!) Finally we got to the show, but we had to take a moment for a seaming tutorial because the hat decided to be a headband. This is because Melissa (A) refuses to knit a gauge swatch and (B) refuses to knit a gauge swatch.

We bundled up and braved freezing drizzle to start shopping. Most of the booths were inside, but the walk between the barns was miserable. Anyway, my first purchase was at the Sistermaide booth, where there were all kinds of handmade items.


I picked out a couple of shawl pins, but they were determined to sell me more, so we had to dicker a bit.I ended up with three shawl pins and a darning egg. Good purchases all.
I found a fleece that wanted to come home with me, but I hugged it and told it no.It was very sad.

My sock-yarn resistance failed me here at the Knitting Notions booth. I tried to sneak and got caught. But look at that color! Who could resist?


More gorgeous stuff:and the cutest darn felted thing I've ever seen:



AND THEN...


They lured me in slowly......but I was soon captivated. And I learned that one cannot spin while wearing cowboy boots.We bonded......but I managed to walk away.

While I was bonding with the wheel, Missy was bonding too...(cute headband, BTW)...and buying her own fiber......which is exciting since she doesn't know how to spin yet. I think the attraction for her is that there is no gauge swatch involved. This was the Chamomile Connection booth, just chock-full of luscious silk blends.
I did some test-spindling at Handspun by Stefania, and bought the Tom Forrester Kundert spindle in the second photo. I'm a sucker for natural cherry.
Here's the Briar Rose booth and I had to have some of their handpainted shawl yarn... ...but which one?? I ended up with the one in my right hand.
Speaking of shawls......this was made by Nancy McKellar of Fuzzarelly Fibers and it won second prize in the competition. Look behind the shawl in the next photo, and you'll see the batts of angora blend that she sells. I really, truly intended to buy some, but her booth was right across from the Jensen wheel booth, and, well....
Why are these people smiling? Because I went back and bought the wheel that I had bonded with in their booth earlier. This is Carl and Shelby Jaeger from Ixonia, Wisconsin. Very nice people, but I'm much poorer because of them. Ah, well...it's a fantastic wheel.
After Carl helped me load the wheel in the car, we decided to call it a day. I think I was a bit in shock anyway. I mean, I had completely forgotten about the angora batts after all!
So here's the final stash tally (minus the wheel):
Mine:Missy's:
And this has nothing whatsoever to do with fiber, but she's just so stinkin' cute that I had to include them: This is my grandbaby, who else? Which reminds me, I need to finish her sweater...

1 comment:

EARTHROAMER said...

Great writing and pics. Glad you got a wheel.