the Akamai Knitter

This is where it gets really crazy. I didn’t realize how much I bought until I set everything out on the deck this morning to take pictures. Those fiber fumes must have put me in an altered state of mind where all thoughts of reason and all efforts of restraint fled from my being.

You see? Crazy.

It started with some wool roving from Brush Creek Wool Works that I bought to practice spindling. It’s dyed with cochineal with chrome as a mordant. I thought that was just really nifty. And for only $5.50 I thought it was a steal.

Then we have some pencil roving that was on my list of things to watch out for. I’ve always been intrigued by pencil roving so this was my chance to see what it was like in person. I’m not sure which vendor I got this from or what kind of wool it is as there really isn’t a label on it and the receipt got jumbled with the others I accumulated.

Although I’m not a fan of the softer colors, I was attracted to this next one because it was so pretty. Plus it’s Targhee and I’ve never spun that particular fiber up before. This one is a Mountain Colors roving from Carolina Homespun.

Now this next one is much more up my alley. I love the deep, rich, saturated colors of this braid. It’s a superwash merino that I’ll most likely knit up into socks by Spirit Trail Fiberworks.

Then I decided to jump off the wagon of my normal color repertoire again. This braid is by Gale’s Art and the colorway is called Cherry Blossom.

Yes. It’s pink. Yes. I’m supposed to have an aversion to pink. As Cookie would say, shut up!

I’m particularly tickled with the next batch of fiber. It’s handpainted silk by A Touch Of Twist and it’s so soft and luxurious. I want to spin these up with my spindles into a laceweight yarn.

Finally, finally (!!) we have about a pound of a wool and mohair blend from the Barefoot Spinner. I blame this purchase on Patrick as he raves about this stuff. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with all of the fiber as I just want to make a pair of socks, but I really like the colors. I’ll most likely try to share the wealth with the other spinners back home.

There is one more thing, but it isn’t a purchase. I won a prize at the spin in for being the spinner who traveled the farthest to attend the festival. There were others there that came from the Netherlands, England, and Belgium, but apparently Hawaii beat them all. The organizers of the event were really excellent though as they all got a prize as well. :)

I hope you’ve enjoyed delving into just how crazy I got, because I’m a little dizzy from how much I spent. Just think, I also bought yarn as well. I think I’ll save that for another post.

I look at it this way. I don’t come to the mainland very often and this was my first fiber festival of any kind. The last time I was here was about 10 years ago, so this is a rare opportunity as I don’t know when I’ll be back again. I might as well get crazy while there’s crazy to be had.

Hopefully, I’ll get to post the rest of my purchases soon. I’m going to be helping my friend Carla move her yarn store next week so things might get a little hectic. Hanging out at her shop has been really hard. She’s got some really gorgeous stuff. Temptation is everywhere people. I’m trying to be good. Wish me luck, mmkay?

Happy Friday everyone! The weekend is here. Enjoy it!

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I went hog wild at the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival. I’m a little ashamed of all the shopping I did. Seeing it piled up all at one time might just bring on an anxiety attack of severe proportions. So I thought that if I cut it up into tiny little pieces it might be more manageable and that maybe I could deceive myself into thinking it’s not that bad. We’ll see how that works out for me, shall we?

First off, I haven’t touched a spindle in quite awhile. Veronica will attest to the fact that I prefer my beloved Suzie over the beautiful spindles I have at home any day. She will also attest to the fact that I already have a nice collection of spindles going as it is. So I went to MDSW saying I would not be buying spindles. I said, “I am not a spindler. I will not buy a single spindle.”

Famous. Last. Words.

Yes. Those are five spindles you see before you. Five!

It all started when BFF Shelly had to pick up a special order from the Golding booth. Since she and Other BFF Carole know Tom Golding she just had to socialize with him and linger over her purchase.

This left me with time to browse his booth and gaze at the candy pr0n spindles. I fell in love with this one.

Before I headed to the mainland, I had been having a grand ol’ time watching Season One of The Tudors. I don’t think I could ever get tired of seeing Jonathon Rhys Meyers half naked. So what attracted me to this spindle was how much it looked like it came right out off the set.

Check out the side shot.

It’s one of his smaller spindles, so that allowed me to rationalize the purchase a little better. It still had me dumbfounded and I kept muttering, “I bought a Golding. A Golding!” all the way back to the van.

My next purchase came about while I was waiting to meet up with Alison, so it’s all her fault really. ;-) She was running a little late so I had to find something to do with myself until I could meet up with her. I ended up wandering the Main Exhibition Hall and I stumbled upon this beauty. A dragonfly spindle from Bergschultz.

Can you see the dragonflies? A *cough*male*cough* non-spinner, non-knitter friend of mine just squinted at it and said all he could were wings and not dragonflies. Le sigh. I can see the dragonflies. That’s what counts. And I love the colors of the whorl. So there.

Moving along with the spindle saga, we find ourselves hearing that even though Hatchtown Spindles weren’t on the vendor list, they were able to bring some spindles to sell in kits with another vendor. A little background story is needed here.

Back when I first learned how to spin from Carole, I learned on a drop spindle. Carole is a spindle collector. We won’t even mention how many spindles in her collection we managed to count. My little spindle collection is a drop in the bucket compared to hers.

Anyway, she’s the one who turned me on to the Hatchtown Spindles and I have been in complete and utter love since. I had at least 3 of them before she moved back to the mainland. Unfortunately they got damaged in a move. I have been without a Hatchtown since then and I haven’t had any luck getting my hands on another. These spindles are really popular.

I came away with one this weekend. Isn’t she pretty?

Next up is the Bosworth. Without the Hatchtown spindles to use for so many years, the Bosworths quickly became my favorites. It was an extra treat to be actually meet Jonathon Bosworth, the maker of the spindles.

I just knew that any spindle I chose from him would be special. This one really is as it’s also a sister spindle to the one BFF Shelly got as she bought one in the same wood. It’s a featherweight in Zebrawood.

My final spindle was also my final extravagance. I had fallen in love with this one on Friday and I kept returning to the booth to see if anyone had bought it. On Sunday it was still there, so after not much urging from Shelly, I crumbled like stale bread and bought it.

All that prettiness is sterling silver, so she was a little pricey. I think it will be worth it though because I’m really in love with it and Alison has the brass version of it. So I have another sister spindle! Not to mention she’s really well made and she spins like a dream. Shelly calls Golding spindles the Lamborghinis of the spindle world.

When she’s right, she’s right.

How could I resist?

Now I usually have pictures of felines to share, but since I’m vacationing I thought I’d share a picture of another type.

Pixie girl Rochelle and the German Shepherd Cheyenne. Gotta love the hellhound look on that dog. Doggie love sure does ease the absence of my darling cats.

Happy Wednesday you all! Thanks for reading. There’s more to come! :)

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With all the frenzied spinning that I’ve been getting done, I thought I’d treat myself to some new roving to play with. I think I went a little overboard.

First up is more roving from the Yarn Wench in Mahogany Peacock. Oh how I love the Yarn Wench.

Next up are some sparklies from Copperpot Woolies in Suger Plum Fairies*. You can’t see it but there are lovely sparkly angelina fibers in it. You would think the glitter would be harsh, but they’re very soft.

Continuing on with my sparkly fixation, we have some batts from Enchanted Knolls in the gorgeous color Lady of the Lake. I heard such good things about this vendor on Ravelry, I just had to check her shop out. Once I was there it was all over. Oh Ravely, how I hate thee.

Finally, I was able to grab some elusive alpaca roving from Pigeonroof Studios in the color Poison.

I haven’t spun alpaca yet and I’m really excited! I want to throw it on the wheel right this second. Except for one problem. I’ve been spinning like a dervish and I have managed to get all this done.

I still have all this to do.

Maybe what I need to do is to take a break from it. Yeah. That’s what I need. Just a tiny mini-break from the thrums. Stop laughing!

*My pictures just don’t do these pretty fibers justice. If you click on the links you can see them in all their glory on Etsy.

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Yesterday I had to shop for some new clothes for a trip I’m making to Maryland this year. I’ll be seeing an old friend (Ravelry link) and going to a certain festival some of you might have heard about it.

On the way to the outlet stores, I stopped by my favorite yarn store, Isle Knits. I needed to pick up some yarn to make some gifts for Carole’s five children. (That’s right. Count’em. Five children. She’s an amazing woman.)

I picked up a couple of Galway colors to make hats for her two boys. The grey is Colornep and the green is Highland Heather.

I particularly like the green. It’s a heather and I think it will make a beautiful cabled hat.

I also picked up some Noro Kureyon for a scarf. I’m not sure which of her three girls the scarf will go to, but I’m sure one of the girls will love the colors.

Hopefully, I’ll be able to shop the stash for the other two gifts I’ll need to make. If not, I don’t think it will be a terrible hardship for me to shop for more yarn for the presents. ;-)

Still, I’m going to try and put myself on a yarn diet until I go to Maryland. I’d like to save my pennies so I can go absolutely hog wild when I get there.

That being said, I didn’t just get yarn at the store yesterday. I also picked up a couple of other goodies.

I got a set of Hiyahiya double-point needles and a pair of Rosewood straights, because these are *tools*. We all need good tools for our craft. Without proper tools, our craft suffers. What should be an enjoyable experience can turn into frustration. So I think we owe it to ourselves to invest in tools we find pleasure in using.

*stepping off the soap box.*

Ahem.

I didn’t just treat myself to knitting goodies either. At the Nine West outlet store, I found a pair of the most delightful shoes. With the sale they were having, I couldn’t resist taking these home. They make me feel like Cinderella.

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend! Have a good one. :)

(As for the camera saga, since I can’t exchange it, I have threatened it into submission. We’ll see how long that lasts. Thanks to everyone with advice on how to subdue it.)

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Mondays are never fun, but it helps to have yarn. Lots of yarn.

My chief enabler is Christine of Three Dog Knits, who held a destashing sale for an extremely good cause. (I do believe she still has yarn left, if you’re interested in helping.)

I couldn’t resist getting some sock yarn. (Always with the sock yarn!) This is Sunshine Yarn’s Heather TD. This is a really lovely yarn. I love the tight twist and the color is just gorgeous. Unfortunately I couldn’t get an accurate rendering of it’s true color. It’s blue, not purple. My camera sucks.

My mother immediately requested socks for herself. She rarely gets excited about such things, so even though I adore this yarn I’ll be knitting her socks.

Luckily I also got some Louet Gems in Teal. These are all mine.

And I couldn’t resist buying a skein of Noro Kureyon in color no. 92 for another fish.

Despite the riches you see before you, I just had to check out this sale on Cascade 220 at Ben Franklin. It was 2 for $10, except that I missed the sale by one or two days. My disappointment was a mighty thing of great proportions.

Since I was there, I wasn’t going to leave empty handed. I just scaled down my shopping list. So I bought a couple of colors for the Bar Harbor Shell Bag.

I’m not sure if these are the exact colors I’m going to use for the bag yet, but they sure are pretty.

Finally, one last skein of a lovely charcoal color.

This skein is destined to be a hat. Not for me, but for a gift. I’m not sure for who or what kind of hat yet, but it will be a hat.

Oh yes, Mondays are definitely better with yarn. :)

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