The reason I had to leave GGFI early was to fly back to Seattle (twice in one month!) in order to go out to Eastern Washington to celebrate my step-father's step-monther's 85th birthday. We spent a long weekend at the Sleeping Lady resort. They have their own organic garden and use what they harvest in their kitchen. The picture at left is standing in the garden looking back at the Cascade mountains. It's amazing how much drier it is even though it is only about two hours outside of Seattle. I guess the mountain range keeps the clouds from heading East.
The resort is right outside the town of Leavenworth. Called, "Your Bavarian getaway" on the website it reminded me more of Disneyland 
than a German village. It does have a yarn shop however! Wooly Bully yarns is a small store but they do have quite a selection of yarns and patterns.
I'm knitting the 'Russian Lace Scarf to Knit' from the May/June 08 Piecework magazine in the Jade Sapphire Mongolian Cashmere 2-ply yarn that is called for in the pattern for the birthday girl. I started it too late to be able to finish it on time but I've got about 1/3 finished. This is a fairly straight forward lace pattern but it's taken me a while to get into a rhythm. The yarn is super soft and easy to work with. Now that the Tactile website is up I have to focus on getting this done.
Overall the trip to Eastern Washington was lovely. I got to meet some of my step-father's family members who I've never met before, which is always nice and the location was lovely. Thank you Barbara and Happy Birthday again!
August 22, 2008
August 16, 2008
4th of July in LA
Since I'm so behind on blogging I figured I'd just hit the highlights from the past couple of months. Why not start with 4th of July in LA?
One of my husband's sisters lives in LA so we converged on her along with various other family members to take advantage of the fact that my in-laws are here visiting from Mexico. Boy was it hot!
I'm only child and I married a man who is one of ten children. My
in-laws have 25 grandchildren. When we get together with his family,
even if it a just a few of them it is always a rambunctious time. It
can be a little overwhelming for me but my husband is absolutely in his
element. This trip was no different.
While we were there we took my husband's parents up to the Griffith Observatory to see the view and check out the Hollywood sign. I'd never been up there myself so it was fun to wonder around both inside an out. Since then I've seen the observatory as a backdrop in a couple of movies that I hadn't noticed earlier.
On the night of the 4th we didn't even bother going to see any one specific fireworks show. There was no need. I have never seen so many different professional and neighborhood fireworks at the same time. We just stood out in the street and spun around looking at on explosion after another. It was crazy. If you are in to fireworks LA is a great place to spend the 4th of July.
October 29, 2007
Quick Interlude in Chi-town & NYC
Since I had to fly through Chicago on my way to and from SOAR I decided to spend a few days visiting my best friend, Jenni, who lives there before I headed out to NYC. I found out on the last night of SOAR that Julia was going to be in Chicago the same days as I. Turns out that Julia was free for dinner on Monday and Jenni, who is about half done with her masters of education, had a class on Monday night so I was free too. We ate at Vong's Thai Kitchen and my friend Erica joined us. We had a great time.
On Tuesday I flew to Manhattan and met up with Maia at her father and step-mother's apartment in the East Village. Maia's father Paul DIscoe designed and built the interior in his workshop/mill in Oakland. I have seen some of Paul's other houses that he has designed and built and the one thing that really stands out for me in his work is his use of wood. Paul receives street trees from the arborists working in the Bay Area and then mills them himself in Oakland. The picture at left is of the hallway that stretches the length of the apartment. Thank you Maia for providing such a wonderful place to stay!
Rachael arrived on Wednesday morning and we headed out to walk around Greenwich village and Soho. Not surprisingly we visited Purl and The Point while we were out and about. Cassie was nice enough to take time out of her busy schedule to meet up with us for a chat before her quilting class at Purl Patchwork. After hanging out with Cassie we walked down Houston to Katz's Deli. They claim to be New York's oldest and best deli. It's all a bit lost on me considering I'm a vegetarian but Maia and Rachael both agreed that it was the best pastrami that the had ever had. Rachael even brought some home with her for Lala. Katz's hasn't changed some of the signs on their walls since telephone numbers had exchanges. Rachael and Maia both took pictures. I took pictures of them taking pictures.
I managed to meet up with a couple of college friends on Thursday for lunch. Afterwards I took Maia to visit Habu and School Products which are about as different as yarn stores can be but both fun. That night we met up with Michelle for a cocktail. She took us to this hidden bar, Angel's Share, that was just a couple blocks from the apartment. Angel's Share refers to the alcohol that evaporates from the barrel during the fermenting process. Cool huh?
On Friday the three of us took the Metro-North train to Poughkeepsie and there started our Rhinebeck adventure. I'm going to save that part of the trip for the next post however since this one is getting a little long.
October 22, 2007
Whirlwind SOAR Review
I've been a very fortunate and busy girl for the past two weeks. I was very lucky to be able to attend SOAR this year again for the second time. This year it was held in the "U.P." otherwise know as the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I flew in on the last flight with Judith MacKenzie McCuin out of Chicago. When we landed (late!) in Traverse City I discovered they had decided to leave one of my bags in Chicago because the plane was over weight. Better my one of my bags than one of Judith since she was teaching the next day. Thankfully the front desk had an extra toothbrush and toothpaste so I would be able to talk with people then next day.
My room was down the hill from the Main building and this was the view as I walked back up the hill. Isn't the fall color beautiful? When we first got there it was in the 80's and humid by the end of the week it was down in the 50's and 60's. Much better for all the people wanting to wear their handknits.
On Monday we started our three day retreat classes. This year I took a fiber preparation class with Robin Russo. For the first day and half we focused on combs starting with hand combs ad then we moved on to English and Russian Paddle combs. For each different tool we used a coarse, medium, and fine wool and then spun a thick, medium, and fine sample. After that we worked with exotics such as qiviut, mohair, alpaca, angora, and llama. We then moved on to color and fiber blending. For the second half of the class we did the same fibers on the drum carders. We ended the class doing "designer batts" as Robin calls them where we had free reign with the fibers and she pulled out some silk and silk noil to use as well.
On Wednesday each class put together a table full of examples of what we did in our classes. That is Sara Lamb checking out our class table at left.
Thursday was a day off. The vendor area was open and in the afternoon we had to pick which four half-day classes we wanted to take for the next two days.
On Friday morning I took entrelac knitting with Kathryn Alexander. She is a lovely, energetic teacher. I am still working on turning my sample into a little bag.
On Friday afternoon I took lace spinning with Margaret Stove. She started out by talking to us about how to set up our wheel for super fine lace spinning. She then moved on to showing us her lock by lock washing method. At one point she scrubs the lock of wool vigorously on a bar of soap all the while never letting go of one end much to the amazement of all her students. I don't think anybody believed that it wouldn't felt until they did it themselves. The picture at left is of a handspun and hand knit shawl by Margaret herself.
On Saturday morning I took a long draw class with Maggie Casey where we spun both carded wool and cotton. I think that for a lot of people that was the first time they had spun cotton comfortably. She uses the carded pima cotton from Cotton Clouds and swears that it is "magic cotton" because it spins so easily.
My last class was inkle loom weaving with Sara Lamb. Inkle looms were the one type of loom that I had yet to weave on so I thought that this would be a perfect opportunity for a little exposure. Weaving a simple band was a great way to wrap up the week.
I'm not quite up to admitting what all I bought at the vendor's area yet but I will show you a picture of the new Forrester Spindle I bought from French Hill Farm. I love this spindle and spun on it all the rest of the week as well as while I was walking around Rhinebeck this weekend. It spins like a dream. Next to it is pictured the singles that I spun from all the samples that came in or SOAR goody bag this year. The Forrester has a tapered end that allows you to fit a straw over it and slide you singles onto the straw for easy storage and plying.
All in all SOAR was great again this year. I love going because it is a wonderful combination of learning from fabulous teaches, meeting new people, and catching up with friends. Unfortunately I seem to have come away with the same SOAR bug that Stephanie is sick with and boy has it been a humdinger. My voice, which is low on a good day, has been approaching life time smoker low and gravely off and on for the whole week. I'm finally beginning to have moments where I feel almost normal so I am hoping that this cold is on its way out.
Maia, Rachael, and I are on our way back down to NYC this morning after having a blast at Rhinebeck but that will have to wait for the next update. Right now I must pack so we can get to the train station!
September 02, 2007
May 21, 2007
Shopping in Seattle
Even though it was a quick trip up to Seattle I still managed to come home with quite a bit of stuff. I loved Seattle and can't wait to go back and explore more. You guys up there have a lot of great stores!
From right to left: Shetland lamb roving (named 'Coal') from a vendor at the Port Townsend farmer's market, two skeins (that I hand wound into center pull balls) of Shetland yarn from a vendor at the farmer's market outside of Clinton on Whidbey Island, different types of shuttles from The Weaving Works (they were having a sale on Mother's day!), two skeins of STR lightweight in 'lagoon' and 'nodding violet' from The Twisted Ewe and Churchmouse Yarns & Teas respectively, the pile in the back is enough LanaKnits hempwol to make a bag (the pattern is from 2nd Nature Designs but I can't find it on her website) also from Churchmouse. The fabric is some fat quarters from the quilt store in Pike's Place Market. The bumpy cord I got at the Seattle Art Museum are belts made in Guatemala but I think I am going to use them as bag handles.
This was my big purchase of the trip. A Marimekko bag. I grew up with Marimekko as a kid and it has a special place in my heart. This is partially due to the fact that it is Finnish and I'm a quarter Finnish. But really, their designs kill me. I would love to buy yards of almost all of their fabric. Since I don't have that kind of money I contented myself with a bag.
I also found that wonderful wooden sheep key chain in the same store. I've totally blanked on the name of the store but it features stuff from Finland and is just down the street from Pike's Place Market. If anyone is interested I'll go back and look up the information for you.
So all in all the trip to Seattle was very nice. It didn't even rain. Amazing, I know! It was a nice change of pace from everything else that had been going on. We spent some time with my step-father's family as well. I have only met them at weddings so it was nice to actually get to spend some time chatting with them.
Seattle seems to have quite a few really nice knitting shops. I hope I get to go back soon and check them out. It is great that the knitters up there have such great resources at their fingertips. Speaking of wonderful resources in Seattle Earthues is located there as well. There wasn't enough time to stop in this trip but I would love to take another class on natural dyes there sometime soon. It looks like they haven't updated their classes on their website since last year. Hmm, I will have to email them and see what is going on. Anyway, if you ever have a chance to take a class with Michele Wipplinger (the owner of Earthues) do so. She is a vast resource of incredible knowledge.
Speaking of natural dye classes. I taught a class locally on natural dyeing this past weekend. It went really well. Unfortunately the card on my camera was full so I don't have any pictures but Maia was there. She took some photos and promised to share them soon so you can pop over there to check out what we were up to.
While I was up in Seattle I managed to get quite a bit of knitting done. I finished the Swallowtail Shawl that I started in December while I was down in Mexico and then put down when I got home. The problem is that it is not very photogenic right now because I haven't had a chance to block it since I got home. I also finished one of the Eleanora Socks (also started while in Mexico!). I had run out of yarn on these and then once the yarn got here I just never really got around to picking them back up. I figured this trip would be the perfect opportunity to change this and it was. I also brought along the second glove from my SOAR class that was just missing three fingers. I finished those as well. So now I have a pair of gloves just in time for summer! Actually, the intent was that we would embroider a pattern on the backs of the gloves with handspun silk yarn. I'd like to do this though my confidence in my embroidery skills is a little low. So, I guess I'm undecided as to whether I'm really done with these gloves or not. I'll take pictures and share, I promise.
May 10, 2007
March 29, 2007
Yarn Souvenirs
My mother's company is based in Ireland. Before one of her trips to Dublin I sent her links to places that sell yarns and the names of some Irish yarn companies. Lo and behold she actually ventured out to Brown Thomas and bought me the yarn you see pictured here. On the left are six Tivoli Celtic Aran. This is an Irish yarn company and the label is very cute. The yarn is a superwash wool and I have no idea what I will do with it.
The yarn on the right is Rowan's Rowanspun DK which is discontinued. The woman who was helping my mom was apparently a little harried because the shop was full off school aged kids that needed yarn for school projects (I wish we would have had to knit for school!). I don't know what I am going to do with this yarn either but there is enough to make a sweater so that may be what I do. I think my mom did a great job!
My boss recently got back from Chile. While he was down there he called the office to ask me if I would like some wool yarn. How could I say no? The three balls are what he brought me back. Can you believe it? They are as big as my head! I think they weigh a kilo each. He had to by an extra carry-on bag just to bring this back to me. It was very sweet of him.
The yarn still has some grease in it and is handspun. I am going to experiment with plying and felting with it. If that doesn't work out then I may weave with it.
Fun souvenirs, no?
January 10, 2007
October 26, 2006
The Rhinebeck Report
My trip was great! I left first thing on Wednesday of last week and flew to NYC. I was lucky enough to stay with a close friend from highschool and visit with friends from college while I was in the city. On Thursday I walked down to Purl to check out what all the hype was about. Admittedly it is a very cute store but boy is it small! I got there just before opening and by the time they opened there were five of us waiting. Add to this the three people they had working and the store was full. I didn't buy any yarn there but I popped into their fabric store just a few storefronts down (where there was only 3 of us in the also tiny store) and bought fabric to make my own nappy bag and some fat quarters. The large print green fabric is going to be on the outside and the small print will be the lining. I have no idea when I am going to get a chance to make this bag but regardless I am really looking forward to it.
Next I walked a few blocks to The Point and checked out what they had. There was a class going on while I was there and I left without buying anything partially because I was getting hungry for some lunch. After I had some Pad Thai at a noodle shop around the corner I walked up to Habu to see what their store was like. I also didn't buy anything there but it was neat to see the woven pieces they had on display. I really like Habu yarns but I have plenty at home and they come out to the shows in California so I wasn't worried about missing out. The next day I went to School Products (which I have a hard time not calling Schoolhouse products even though they are different animals). There I bought two books and cashmere. Five skeins of cashmere in fact. In the above picture you can see four skeins of lace weight two in white and two in gray in the upper right hand corner. The fifth skein is the dark blob on the left. It is some of their bulky weight cashmere to make a hat for my dad.
Saturday I got up early and got on the Metro North train and took it up to Poughkeepsie. The fall color was beautiful and the trip easy. From there I picked up the rental car and drove straight to the fairgrounds. I had no idea what to expect. I heard two different numbers for the attendance on Saturday one was 10,000 and the other was 30,000. Regardless there were tons of people there. I walked into building A which is apart from the other vendor booths and did the loop around twice to see which vendors were there. This where the huge line for STR was as well as the Grafton Fibers booth so needless to say it was very crowded. At this point I didn't realize that there were 10 barns full of vendors and I begun to wonder what the big deal was. I mean the vendors in building A were great but there were about the same amount as the fairs in CA. Little did I know what was in store for me.
While in building A I bought a bag of Cormo and Silk Roving and a skein of Cormo and Silk yarn from Foxfire (pictured above). I also bought the Golding Spindle pictured at left. I saw a picture of this spindle in Spin Off a long time ago and have always loved it. I bit the bullet and bought one. It is pictured with some Coopworth dyed with Osage and Indigo from Handspun by Stefania that I started spinning the same day. I have to say that this is now my favorite spindle. I'm very happy I went ahead and bought it. After lunch and the blogger meet up (which was crazy but awesome) I finally discovered the other 10 barns full of vendors. Then it clicked as to why this festival is such a big deal. I just spent the rest of the afternoon walking through the barns taking it all in. Because it was so busy I couldn't really see much in the booths but that was okay because I knew I was coming back the next day. I didn't buy anything else that day. Wait, that's a lie. When I walked by Carolina Homespun and said hi to Morgaine I stopped and watched Mr. Strauch demonstrating his drum carders and I knew right then that I wanted one. So, basically I went all the way to NY to buy a drum carder from a vendor that is less than 45 minutes from me. Don't worry. They are sending it to me. Oh, and I bought 2.5 ounces of merino too.
At about four I left and drove over the Hudson River to Kingstown to check into my hotel and grab some dinner. Once done with dinner I drove back over the Hudson River to Moorehouse Merino for their "after party". The only thing I bought there was the Stupid Sock Creatures book even though I really liked their yarn. I also got to talk with Amy while there. She put in a plug for the STR Sock Candy so on Sunday I went to the Fold's booth first and picked out the two skeins you see above for a pair of socks for myself. While I am not allergic to wool I do live in California and so I wear wool socks more like slippers rather than in shoes.
Sunday was way calmer and I saw so much stuff that I missed the day before. Other than the sock candy I really only bought some packets of fiber to dye at The Little Barn. They had linen buy one get one free so I did. I also got some angora and some tussah. Their prices are excellent and they were very nice. Before long I had to head back to Poughkeepsie to return the car and catch the train. It was all over too quickly.
While it was a bit overwhelming especially to have gone by myself I am really glad I did it. I meet some wonderful people and I hope I get to go again next year. Speaking of wonderful people, it was really nice to meet you Cassie, Jessica, and Risa. You made a good time even better. Can't wait 'til next time!
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