Yarngasm!!!!!

Okay, so where do I begin????

Yesterday ZantiMisterKnit and I went to the NH Sheep and Wool Festival in Contoocook, New Hampshire. We were a few of the crazies who went up there, in the pouring rain, on a flooded fairground. Luckily it is for the most part indoors, or there would be lots of fiber floating around. Needless to say, the ride to there and back (90 minutes each way, give or take) was a bit hairy.

Was it worth it?? Oh, yeah!!!!!

Here's an overall picture of my loot. I tallied it up this a.m., and figured out that with the $5 admission, I spent about $72. The big green pile is 6 skeins of 100% wool yarn that I got for $13.50. I forget who the vendor was, or I would link to them. It was a good deal and it has a future in felting.

Let's look at the rest of my loot, shall we?

Thanks to Wendy at Wendy Knits, I was looking forward to this booth. I picked up two skeins of this gorgeous shades-of-blue sock yarn from Spirit Trail Fiberworks. There's about 200 yards in each skein. I can't wait to see how it knits up!

Take a look at Spirit Trail's sock gallery to see what her yarns look like knitted up! Better yet, buy some!

On to exhibit B. . .

Okay, it's not an exotic, hand-dyed, hand-spun. In fact, it's commercially produced, but -- those colors are AWESOME and so me! Plus it has some stretch to it. Wheee!

I got this from the Woolery in New Hampshire.

Exhibit C, anyone?

Unfortunately, I don't think this vendor has a website. The yanr is "Dyed by Ingrid" of Ward Brook Farm. I did find out she is on the Board of Directors for the Festivial. She'll probably be at the Maine Fiber Frolic in June. This yarn was really cheap! The blue-and-lavendar DK weight stuff will probably become something for my Mom (maybe another Odessa?), and I'm not sure what I'll do with the magenta-ish lace weight -- some sort of lacy scarf. I'm not certain of the yardage yet, just the weight. But those three skeins were $15.

On to Exhibit D. . .

I've never ever needle felted, but am always in awe of everyone's gorgeous projects on Craftster. I decided to get a needle felting kit, and what better to start with than Black Sheep Designs' Backyard Birds kit? Because I, um, need to learn another fiber-related hobby to obsess over. . .

Did I mention there were livestock there?

Llamas can be a little intimidating, especially where there is a list of "do's and don't's" that say things like, "DON'T look them in the eye!" "DON'T approach them from behind - they may kick!". Especially when you see their teeth and they give you an indignant look, like this guy on the right is.

Of course, some are cute and cuddly too. The guy above, left, is getting pats from my bud Lena, who was cool enough to come out even though she isn't a fiber-holic. (She did trudge around with us and eventually she bought a really warm hat!) I thought these little red lambs were cute.

Do you think this sheep's pen mates said, "Psst! Hey, Shirley, you got a little food on the side of your face!"?

In Other News. . .

Here's my progress on ZantiMisterKnit's sock.

I was so good and included the yarn label, and my copy of Sensational Knitted Socks, which is what I am working from.

I have about 4 rows to go before I start turning the heel. I started this on Monday, May 8, in the evening. Monday was the last time I saw the sun, as well. My excellent progress is the result of weather that is too shitty for me to go outside during lunch.

Just as an aside: Monday, in spite of the beautiful weather, I was in one m-f-ing foul mood. That seems to happen in between knitting projects. Does anyone else have that problem? I also think I was just not prepared to go to work on Monday.

I have no ETA for ZMrK's pair of socks, but I hope to have a finished sock by the end of this week. The forecast has clouds and rain as far as I could see, so I don't see myself going out a whole hell of a lot.

Last Weekend

Last weekend, we were in NYC. I'm always in such awe when I am there; there is just SO MUCH to see. We did our normal parking in the Lower East Side, so that we could have lunch at one of our favorite places - Village Mingala! I should have taken pictures of the place, and our food, but I'll just say it is on E. 7th Street, between 2nd and 3rd. It's Burmese food, and is really great! Try the dumplings with shrimp and pork. I can't remember what they are called and I'm too lazy to go downstairs and get the menu, but the place is awesome. Afterwards, go a couple doors down to the Village Scandal and get a hat. I always buy hats there.

We also went to Veniero's Bakery:

If you've never been, make the effort when you are in the East Village. It's on E. 11th, between 1st and 2nd (I thik). It's a beautiful, old, family-owned, world-famous Italian bakery that has some of the most scrumptious goods on earth. I am a big fan of their Fresh Fruit Tart, but this time around the Sicilian Cheese Cake won out.


That is, of course, a Cafe Latte (mine, ZMrK had a Diet Coke). I made ZMrK wait to start eating until I took the picture -- I almost forgot to do so myself! And yes, that is the Sicilian Cheese Cake in the foreground, chock full of sweet ricotta, cherries, and rum-soaked cake. The brown triangle in the background? That's the Chocolate Mousse Cake that ZantiMisterKnit got -- chocolate cake + chocolate mousse. It was out the box, brah! (To quote my friend King Louie -- that means it's really good, man!).

Now I want to take a moment to show off my husband's craftiness. He did a couple of embroidery pieces, and I will get a good picture soon of the patch he put on his jacket (to cover up the Stussy logo). First, here is a hat with an embroidered Weird logo, which he presented to Dick Ayers, one of the artists for Eerie Publications back in the late 60s/70s.

Not a great picture of the embroidery, I know, but I am really friggin' proud of him for a couple of reasons:

(1) he did an awesome job; and
(2) for his first-ever embroidery project, he took on a lot! It's completely filled in (I did outline for my first-ever project, and haven't done another since).

He has mentioned on a couple of occasions that he "hated" doing it, but the next time he'll do something simpler. I have a few ambitious embroidery projects in mind, as well, but I don't want to have any sort of due date on them.

So, I am going to go back downstairs now and have some lunch, continue on the sock, watch a movie, and maybe clean myself up since I smell a little barn-y. Stay dry, kids!