And here it is! This may seem like a lot but believe me I was quite restrained compared to last year! The combs will be used shortly as soon as I start washing the cormo fleece! And then spin, spin, spin!

STR in Lagoon

Spinner’s Hill batt, 1lb

Llama roving

Cormo fleece and Pucker Brush roving

5 skeins of Cormo yumminess!

Pair of Viking Combs from Indigo Hound

I’ve been dreaming of Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival for months! Then it came and now it’s gone. Things were quite hectic leading up to last Saturday’s event and still are, but man I had so much fun! The ladies were a hoot and great partners in this yearly adventure. Our troop ran into Dani, Holly, Jasmine, Shanti, Kel, and so many others!

Now before you get too excited I don’t have pics. Yes, I suck. I do, however, have a list of my purchases and pics of those will come soon. In the meantime, just dream and wander over to the ladies blogs and laugh at the sillyness. Ooohhh I forgot to mention that I met Alice Field! Alice is the shepherdess behind Foxhill Farm, and the award winning Cormo fleeces. She won last year’s Grand Champion prize and I’m pretty sure she won this year again!

- 5 skeins of worsted weight Foxhill Farm’s Cormo cross from the American Cormo Association booth in brown

- 3 1/2 lbs of yummy Cormo fleece (Foxhill Farm) from the American Cormo Association booth

- 1 lonely STR skein from The Fold (thank you Holly, you rock!), Lagoon

- 4 ounces of Llama roving from Briar Patch Llamas

- 1 lb of Spinner’s Hill wool/silk batt in lovely blues/teals

- 3 ounces of wool/mohair roving in blues (can’t remember vendor’s name but I’ll find it) from Pucker Brush Farm

- A pair of Viking double row wool combs from Indigo Hound

- 1 bar of soap from Leslie’s Garden

And I think that’s it. I think. Next time I must focus on books! and more equipment like a Woolee Winder, handcards and a diz.

What did you get?

Or I should say oohh Cookie! Cookie A has launched a new site dedicated to selling her sock patterns. Yipppee!…Now this is old news considering I started this post over a week ago and never got around to pushing it live.

Fast forward to today. I’ve finally recovered from our NYC trip! After two nights of no sleep, and two days of running ALL OVER the big apple, I crashed *hard* Friday night and slept away Saturday. The gals and I went up to NYC to hear the Yarn Harlot speak at FIT in support of her book launch. Of course, the excuse was to hear her speak but we all knew we were there to shop, and shop we did!

—> click on image for more photos at Flickr
1. Our room at the Edison, 2. Elspeth in our room, 3. Erin’s tonsils, 4. Elspeth and Maeve strutting into FIT auditorium

Thursday was spent trolling the Garment district checking out the numerous fabric stores. We also hit some knitting stores in Upper East Side (Knitty City) and Upper West Side. On the Upper West Side we checked out String, home of cashmere delux. Their selection of cashmere is wonderful and the staff was equally fabulous. They have some wonderful patterns that they will modify for you, but you have to purchase along with the yarn. Foooey! After hitting String we needed a little sugar pick up and headed to La Maison du Chocolat. Can you say deadly?!!! The evening ended with the Yarn Harlot speaking, and us heading to Lombardi’s for dinner.

And then came Friday. Oh Friday how I love thee. First up breakfast at Grey Dog, yummy yummy food. And so the yarn crawl began…

1. The Point - Not much to say about this place. The atmosphere, or lack thereof, didn’t do it for me.

2. Purl - Love, love, love! Amazing how small could be and still retain the wonderful sense of excitement! Their yarn selection is large and beautifully organized. I couldn’t bring myself to buy any but I’m sure in the future I’ll be captured by their Lobster Pot cashmere.

3. Purl Patchwork — oh my god! The fabrics! I came home with some Japanese prints. Lovely.

4. Downtown Yarns -lovely staff, and cute doggie! Small and quaint.

5. School Products - the legendary store never lets me down. I got 1lb of merino lace for $26 with over 3400 yards. Yup.

6. Habu Textiles - ohhh if only I was rich I would shop here each time. I’ll have to wait until they have their yearly sale again.

Project update

Remember the merino/cashmere handdyed top? Well, it’s all plied and ready to be knit. Wanna see? This is about 760 yards of laceweight yarn.

I need to get the WPI and update.

I’ve also started my next spinning project, but I can’t tell you much about it. It’s a secret! I can, however, show you a sample. This is the CVM/Rambouillet I bought last year at the MSWF from Robin Nistock at the fleece sale.

I’ll leave you with some cuteness…Lobo hiding behind my spinning wheel and Pikachu protecting the wheel.

Oh boy, I tell you, sometimes life grabs you and shakes you around and makes a mess of things. It seems that the universe has turned against our dearly loved elderly family members. Erin’s grandmother suffered a heart attack, Lolly’s grandfather passed away, and then my grandmother landed at the emergency room, and then went in for open heart surgery. As soon as I heard about this I jumped on a plane and headed to Miami. All is well now, as much as it can be…

Project updates

Before I left for Miami, I finished two projects! Yes, two! I know it’s shocking to hear. I finally finished Kepler and DH’s socks.

Project: Kepler sweater

Pattern: Kepler by Emily aka Fathom Harvill

Yarn: Green Mountain Spinnery, Double Twist in Blueberry Aquamarine, about 5 skeins

Gauge: 4.25 stitches to the inch in stst

Needles: US 8s addi turbos, and US 6s for i-cord

Notes: Awesome pattern! Very easy to follow and a wonderful design. I’m extremely happy with the fit and no modifications were made.

Here’s an upclose shot of the band:

For DH’s socks…no finished pics cause they are boring. Just picture another of these but for the other foot.

Project: DH’s steel blue socks

Pattern: Gentleman’s sock in railway stitch from Knitting Vintage Socks

Yarn: Lana Grossa Meilenweit Boot, not sure of colorway

Needles: US 1s and 0s for cuff

Notes: Loads of modifications! I didn’t follow the pattern just used the railway stitch for the body and plain stockinette for foot. I knit this toe up with 32 cast on, but the second was 30 sts cast on, and the heel is short row.

New projects and distractions

On my trip to Miami I started a new sock project. I’m knitting Dalarna from Knitting on the Road by Nancy Bush. I’m using Jaeger Matchmaker Merino 4ply in red and US 3s. Let’s see…I’ve also resurrected Tendrils (Knitty Spring 06) which was put aside last August. I’m using my own handspun with beads and I’m hoping I will have enough yarn. This has been ripped once before and may need it again. I think I will have to weigh the yarn and see if I can determine the number of yards I have.

…switching gears here. Has anybody noticed that the Sheepie festival has updated their site? Registration opens April 3rd for the classes. I’m trying to figure out if I’ll be able to take the 3 day spinning class and get down in DC in time for the Arcade Fire show, who by the way rocks!

Speaking of rocking I’ve been consumed lately by Lime & Violet’s podcast.  These ladies crack me up. I love their sense of humor and ability to laugh out loud with such energy. Best of all is their weekly yarn pr0n update where they share their recent findings.  Another obsession of mine has been Prison Break not on TV but on DVD. The suspense, action and writing is quite good. Oh, and of course Michael’s tattoos are gorgeous!

I finally finished one sock for the DH after many ripping sessions and calculations. He was quite picky on fit! I’m using Lana Grossa, Meilenweit Mega Boots Stretch in a boy color. Now I need to get psyched up to start the next one.

Now for the fun stuff! I’m done spinning up the merino/cashmere handdyed yummyness! I’m waiting for my Springwater class to start before I attempt to ply this up. I’m still not sure if I will do 2ply or navajo:

Looks like Wendy has done a short video on doing cables without a cable needle. Check it out.