Friday, September 30, 2005

Kinky Yarn and Peddling Along

I've had some singles sitting on a bobbin for a while, and decided that it was finally time to ply it and get it off the bobbin. It plied easily, and looked great on the niddy noddy. Once I took it off, however, imagine my surprise when the yarn did this:

There is not much overtwist in this skein, only about half a twist, which is fine. The yarn just wants to kink back up on itself, unless stretched. I washed it and left it hang to dry overnight, with a little bit of weight on it:

It will be interesting to see what the yarn does when I take it down tonight.

In knitting news, I am peddling right along on my Wool Peddlers:

This is being worked in a wool/mohair blend from Persimmon Tree Farm, pikced up at MDSW. I've been a fan of theirs for years, and was happy to see them at OFFF as well. I didn't realize that they travelled the country. I'll have to remember that for next year!

Thursday, September 29, 2005

What is your Harry Potter alter ego?

You scored as Albus Dumbledore. Strong and powerful you admirably defend your world and your charges against those who would seek to harm them. However sometimes you can fail to do what you must because you care too much to cause suffering.

Albus Dumbledore

90%

Hermione Granger

80%

Remus Lupin

75%

Harry Potter

65%

Severus Snape

65%

Draco Malfoy

65%

Ron Weasley

60%

Sirius Black

40%

Ginny Weasley

35%

Lord Voldemort

15%

Your Harry Potter Alter Ego Is...?
created with QuizFarm.com

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

OFFF Booty

Lisa asked about what was found at OFFF. Here's the booty:

Starting with the black fiber coming out of the bag, and moving counter-clockwise:
two balls Rambouillet fiber from Silver Mist Hollow in Silverton, OR
purple mohair locks from Green Peak Farm in Monroe, OR
black ball of shetland roving from Elemental Affects
purple/black/green ball of corriedale roving from Dicentra Designs
2 balls white combed top CVM and notecards from Silver Mist Hollow
glass top knitting needles and shawl pin (yes, I found it!) from Sheila
merino/silk blend turquoise and gold roving from Dicentra Designs
not to mention the cute tote bag, sheep pin, pads of paper with sheep on them, and great smelling soaps!
It was a really quaint fair. Many of the vendors were also seen at Black Sheep, but I felt that this fair had more of a focus on alpaca and pygora goats. I would definitely go back to this fair, the drive was much more manageable than to Eugene!

A great weekend in OR

OFFF was small, friendly, and full of cute creatures like this one:

Unfortunately, that was the only photo I was allowed to take. The kids took the camera, which explains why I am left with photos such as this:

and

I didn't see much that I hadn't seen at other fiber festivals, so I decided to buy a little bit of this and a little bit of that, so I could try my hand at spinning different things. I bought small amounts of shetland, CMV, rambouillet, mohair locks, angora blends, and a few others. I did get to visit with Sheila and Michael for a wee bit, of glasspens fame. They are now making glass top bamboo needles, of which a pair just had to come home with me:

I also bought a hair stick to use as a shawl holder, but it seems to be MIA. I'll be tearing the car apart tonight looking for it.
On the way home, we drove up to Mt. St. Helens for a little bit of nice scenery and further education for the kids. They all loved it.

Friday, September 23, 2005

OFFF

Where are you OFFF to this weekend?

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Meet Mr Gem and Miss Gemma

I realize that there has not been a lot of fiber related content recently. I thought I should fix that problem!

Introducing, Mr and Miss Gemma!



That's a Little Gem, picked up in New Zealand and schlepped hand carried back to the States. Oh, and the cutie patootie holding the fiber? That's my baby, who just turned 3. Happy Birthday, Baby! He's a big boy in pre-school now and even sleeps in a big boy bed to prove it! Wow - too much information?

The fiber is also from New Zealand, 100% NZ merino. No, there is no noticeable difference between NZ merino and say, US merino, except for the fact that I schlepped hand carried it back into the US. Yes, I did declare it in customs, and gave the customs agent quite a chuckle since fiber is not what they were looking for under "animal by-products". Who knew?


And this is my current WIP. It's Manos del Uruguay, in a no where near solid nearly-solid simple aran pattern with bits of seed stitch in between. Another adorable and recently upgraded birthday kid models. I am so glad birthday season is over!

Nope, it's not a koala

Nope, not me!


Just as a point of information - this photo is of a koala in the wild. Do you know how hard it is to spot a wild animal, about 12" tall, sitting up in a tree about 30 feet, camouflaging in the eucalyptus leaves?

It's hard.

Very hard.

Kudos to my husband for
1) spotting the wild creature
2) shouting out so the driver would stop
3) taking awesome photos without a telephoto lens
4) and publishing a really cool book (did you notice it in the sidebar?)

In fact, the owner of the foot is a rather agressive one of these:

The only reason I say agressive, is that he/she? stepped on my foot and nearly knocked me over trying to get the bag of food out of my hand! Who can blame it? If the kangaroo was holding a bag of popcorn, I might have done the same thing.

Check out this sweet Mama with her Joey:



Here's a closeup where you can see the joey getting in on the action, eating some food off the ground.

I had the opportunity to feed a kangaroo:

They really are quite tame (in the wildlife sanctuary)!

And to see some in the wild:

Some Australians allow their property to go wild for wildlife. Evidently wild land is becoming scarce in areas and the kangaroos are being displaced. How cool would it be to have kangaros hopping through your yard?

Coming soon...birds of Australia...a fiber addicts' personal experience

Friday, September 16, 2005

Who's that stepping on my foot?

Can you identify this paw?



Leave me a comment.

Thursday, September 15, 2005

More on NZ

Many of you have asked to see more photos from my adventure down under, I think I finally have all of the technical bugs worked out and will attempt to share some of my adventures. This post will be photo - intense, but I have downsized all of the pictures greatly so hopefully they will not take too long to download.

One thing that amazed DH and I was the incredible foliage and fauna in New Zealand. This is the view from the loft at Majacraft:

It's a kiwi farm! Who knew that kiwis grow in trees? We took this photo for DD, who absolutely loves kiwis.

And this is a photo of the tangelos growing in trees along the drive leading to Majacraft:


Who wouldn't want to go to work in such a beautiful area? Remember, these photos were taken in Winter/early Spring.

Did you know that ferns can grow in trees? Evidently, in NZ they do:


After the awesome visit at Majacraft, we stopped by an historic village where the local spinning and weaving guild had a store. I purchased some merino from local sheep, but have not photogrphed it yet. There was a cute sign that I momentoed (is that a word?):

Kiwis are the national bird in NZ. I don't think we saw any.

Next we drove a little further south to the town of Rotorua. This town/region is famous for its geothermal properties. Evidently even the smallest motels have private, naturally heated mineral baths, in the rooms. We walked through the Kuirau Park, which is a public park that was created after a 15 minute volcanic eruption on Jan 26, 2001. Amazingly, there were no injuries as mud, steam and debris was thrown 200m into the air. DH had fun with is fancy camera trying to get a shot of the bubbles:


This was my reaction to the smell:

I bet every rental car that gets returned in NZ has an interesting odor. I wonder how they get rid of it?

A few days later, I ventured to the dead volcano called Rangitoto. This is the view of Auckland from the ferry:

The volcano:

And proof that I did climb to the top:

My personal trainer, Robert, would have been so proud of me. It was painful. It was steep. It was so totally worth it.
The ferry ride home included a stop at the lovely town of Deavenport, which has a wool shop. How do I know this? Proof is in the pictures. Unfortunately, I am all out of pictures, and if DH is reading, I can't get to the server again! HELP!