KNITTING WITHOUT DOG HAIR IS NOT AN OPTION

WOW - WHAT A FIBER FESTIVAL!!!

Hah - I had to do that. On the way home from today's Lily Chin workshops, I was listening to the Yarn Harlot's latest book, Cast Off. She said:

TYPING IN CAPITAL LETTERS IS INTERNET YELLING!!!

But I'm not really yelling - this is squeeeeeeeeeeeing with excitement. Yup, SAFF has come and gone and I'm still excited. I'm sure you've already seen a ton of really interesting and fun blog reviews for SAFF. Therefore I'm just going to give you my personal highlights.

THERE WAS A SPINNING CLASS:

I took "The Magic of Spinning Hand-Painted Fibers" with Margaret Heathman. It was an all-day class on Friday. She's a wonderful teacher and she made my head spin. I was a bit worried about taking this class because sometimes I have no spinning mojo, and whatever I touch on mojoless days turns into crap. Plus it was my first real spinning class. But three lovely friends surrounded me and we had a blast.

We worked with Gale's wonderful hand-dyed Blue-Face Wool. This particular color is called Festival. Margaret had us divide the roving in eight equal strips. I went home with three, so I still have some left to spin up - maybe enough to make some nice fingerless mittens.

First, we spun good ol' singles:

These are the singles, after Margaret showed me how to set them. Which means you wet them, pull them tight to even them, and hang them over a chair back to dry. Then I knitted the swatch.

I tried to have Noah hold down the swatch with his paw but he wouldn't cooperate. So, the paw stayed under the swatch. Hermione, on the other hand, has seen too many pictures of Sadie.

Second, we spun yet another single and plied it using the Navajo method. Very cool - because I have never done this before and, even tho' my singles (which were fixed with spit...) kept breaking, it turned out pretty nicely. And with that plying method you can actually turn your thin single in a chunkier yarn:

Third, we plied a single together with itself using the center ball method, which I hadn't done before either:

Fourth, we spun (and I think I should say - I tried to spin) two singles exactly the same way and length to match up the colors of the variegation when we plied them together. Not so much for me... I had a bunch of leftover singles on one bobbin... But it is purdy yarn anyways:

And with the fifth and last spinning exercise, we plied a variegated single together with a solid. I used the pink solid and not the yellow. Margaret called this pure color intensified. And would say - yes, HELLO intensified pink!

It is so interesting how all the different handspuns knit up totally differently.

THERE WAS A LOT OF ROVING, TOOLS AND YARN:

Let me tell you that all my yarn purchases fit into ONE paper bag:

I was pretty pleased with my few purchases. No craziness involved. Thank goodness. And instead of being really insane and buying a Strauch drum carder, I was very modest and only bought a pair of hand carders and a flick carder:

At least these carders are also made by Strauch. :-)

Here is the fiber I bought:

Ozark Roving - 4 ounces each blob

Sea Silk and EcoSpun

Brooks Farm Primero & Creative Yarns Sock Yarn

Ms. Babs Silk and Superwash Sock Yarn

OH MY GOD - that hank of silk is so freakin' yummy. I almost can't stand it... And lastly, one more sock yarn. Come on, you can never have enough... Right, Jen?

Knitting Notions Superwash Merino Sock yarn

THERE WERE ANIMALS:

These llamas are such hams. ;-) I dragged Hubby along Saturday morning to look at all the aminals and we had a great time. He actually got kissed by one. Too cute!!!

Llama beans.... Snicker, snicker... reminded us of coffee...

Cute and naughty little sheepies who stick out their tongue. :-)

Hello, I am a Wiener sheep with very short legs...

And goats. Is this a way to save leftovers for later?

THERE WAS A FINISHED OBJECT ON DISPLAY:

This is Gale, posing with the cardigan I knitted for her using her gorgeous handspun. It fits her really nicely.

THERE WAS A RAVELRY MEET-UP:

Hello Bob!

THERE WAS A WONDERFUL DINNER WITH FRIENDS:

We also got a little carding lesson from Jen that evening:

THERE WERE A FEW MORE FINISHED OBJECTS:

While I was on vacation I knitted the Koolhaas Hat and a matching scarf and fingerless gloves:

Yarn: 2 balls of Handpainted Pure Wool Knitting Felting Yarn (approx. 160 yards per ball) from Serendipity in South America in eBay
Needles: US #6 (4.0mm)

I also knitted the Stacked Wedges Scarf from Knitting New Scarves. Please admire the adorable woof-model:

Yarn: 2 balls of Noro Kureyon (Color 102)
Needles US #7 (4.5mm)

THERE WAS A REALLY FUNNY PICTURE:

When Hubby and I parked on Saturday, the car facing us had an interesting dashboard:

A wine glass and a ball winder. What do you know - isn't that almost exactly what you need for Drinkin' and Tinkin'?

SAFF 2007 - it was great fun. I love fiber festivals and the get-togethers with people you mostly know from online. It is always so nice and interesting to put a face with a blog, a comment, a post on Ravelry. I am already thinking about what to do next year.

If I can, and Hubby will let me, I want to broaden my fiber horizon and maybe visit a couple of other festivals and maybe go to Stitches. We'll see.

And last but not least, a little more Internet yelling...

A BIG THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO DONATED TOWARD THE RENTAL OF THE BLUE BARN. THANK YOU - IT IS VERY MUCH APPRECIATED!!!