Fiber Nest

I took over part of the unfinished basement this weekend and made it into a "Fiber Nest." I plan on getting a couch and once it's there, I might just move in. :)

No more stacks of knitting totes. (Do not count them Jessi!) lol

Let's see...there's Nana Sadie Rose, Della Q, Vera Bradley, Jessilu, Ellen Tracy

(at 80% off - - gotta love Ross), Lorenz-Cannon Gallery, Sedalia and others.

I unrolled the carpets we purchased overseas and pulled the woven Turkish pillows to the basement too. The LeClerc warping board will be hung (once I figure out how to drive a nail into cement) and the Dorothy is warped is waiting.

I brought down a cat bed in the hopes that Libby will use it instead of napping on my shoulders

as I sit at the computer (though it is kind cute - - or was when she was a kitten).

It's not fancy, but I do like my getaway. :)

WIPs 'n Chains

Well, just WIPs ("Works in Progress" for the muggle reader/relative).

Shore Parkway Wrap. It's huge and it'll be warm.
Herringbone Neckwarmer. I'm making a bunch of these for Andie's Color Guard team in their school colors.

Reversible Fingerless Gloves. One down, one to go. I'm knitting the gloves with
The Hill yarn in "Cherry Red." The photograph doesn't do the yarn justice.

And I've got a dozen other things lined up! :)

So much fun it was probably illegal in several states!

Sedalia Spring Fiber Festival 5 took place on May 15th, 2010. It was a sight to see and I had an absolute ball that weekend. For starters, Dianne, aka Dynaknit,'s husband rented the "guest house" at Hurricane Hill for us and for the weekend. Then, Julie, aka "Noolie," and Marianne, aka "Ms. Knotminding," arrived from Maine and Oklahoma. Marianne arrived on time and her travel was a breeze. Julie, on the other hand, was delayed at the outset, missed her connecting flight and arrived in Roanoke at 4:00 a.m.

Hurricane Hill view

We spent Friday morning and afternoon setting up for the festival. Friday night was spent trying out Havala's masterpiece, the "Purltini." Ingredients: One bottle of Pearl Pomegranate vodka, pineapple juice, cranberry juice and lime zest. End Result:

Ripped and reaching for chocolate.
Strangely enough, I woke up feeling great (or had to much to do to admit feeling badly) and we trekked on to the festival.

Julie & Marianne at Greenberry House (Dianne is on the microphone in the background).

49 vendors, a warm, sunny day, amazing raffles and the best of friends made the day completely fun, thrilling, amazing and wonderful. It really was "too good to be true." Marianne and Julie, on top of traveling to assorted U.S. cities to get to Sedalia, helping to set up and all of their other hard work on festival day, also gave these lovely souvenirs. Their company was the best gift of all, it truly was, but these were nice surprises.

The light blue yarn is from Sereknity in Maine; Julie brought that with her. The Zauberball was bought at the festival and Marianne gave me the beautiful lavender and sage colorway yarn. Needless to say, I'm "jones-ing" to make socks now.

Dianne gave each of us an autographed copy of Ann McCauley's books, The Pleasures of Knitting and Together or Separate, and Julie brought each of us a copy of "Dreamscape," by her friend and author, Gina House, aka Sleepy Eyes Knitting.

A BEAUTIFUL Nantucket Bagg. I love these colors - - I look at the tote and I think of apple pie. Even the cat admires the bag and has, in fact, tried to 1. ) get in it and 2.) sleep on it.

I treated myself to Woven Gems and David Simpson's Green Dragon yarn. The fiber on the left is 100% alpaca and I'm going to make several pairs of fingerless gloves with it. The Green Dragon colorway is "Ruby Tuesday" and I haven't decided what I want to do with it yet. For now, I'm content to pet it and admire the colorwork.

And finally, Briana will be getting a little embroidered alpaca hat for winter.

Dianne, Marianne, Julie & Linda - - THANK YOU for the greatest weekend of all! XOXOXO

Julie - - I pirated some of your pictures; I hope you don't mind. :)

We're with the band....

The 12th Annual Celtic Festival is finished! Dianne and I can now turn our attention exclusively to the upcoming fiber festival. I wish all of you could've seen Dianne in action! She kept it all flowing, MC'ed the event, greeted vendors and when she learned the concessions staff was short a few people, she dove in and served hot dogs and hamburgers to the crowd. Linda and her grandson, Logan, were our raffle volunteers and they were excellent. It was soooo good to sit down with Linda and just relax here and there. Logan kept me laughing the whole time. :)

During the last set of Enter the Haggis' performance, Dianne pulled me onto the dance floor and it was a ball. Everyone was dancing and carrying on. When ETH finished, Dianne went onstage and led the "Encore!" shouts. ETH agreed and the last song was great.

Afterwards, I took these photos....

Doesn't Dianne look awesome?!?!? (A new Haggis Head is born). :) In the left corner is Jennifer, another knitter and Haggis lover.

And see what Jennifer did....

It's a Jayne Cobb hat for all of you Firefly/Serenity lovers. Modeling it is Brian, the lead singer of Enter the Haggis.

I bought a couple of goodies too. This is a Faerieworks plaque that I liked.

And a couple of bookmarks also done by Jennifer of Faerieworks.

And this is the sign that Jennifer made for me! I love it and thank you again Jen!

And finally, Andie won this is in the raffle. Andie's room is faery-themed, so this

Faerieworks print was a welcome addition!

Andie got to spend a large part of the day with ETH. There was a pickup game of soccer and just quiet time spent talking. She enjoyed herself enormously and ETH was as delightful as they could be! Great music and equally great guys.

I Knit, I Do,

...but there's been precious little time for it lately. One thing that was finished not too long ago is Wyatt's jester hat. Brianna tried it on for fun last weekend (and munched on my toothbrush for good measure too).

Mmmm...goodies!

This is the Schacht Cricket in its original state.

Here's the Cricket after its first coat of Tung oil. The wood looks much prettier finished.



Meet Aiobhe (pronounced "Eva", which is Irish for "beauty"). She's a LeClerc Dorothy table loom. I drove up to Richmond on Saturday and picked her up from Cherri Hankins, an amazing fiber artist who has a to-dye-for studio filled with wet felted tapestries, woven goodies, looms et cetera. Cherri spins, weaves, knits, sews and is a force of nature. She also [bless her] sells very nice used equipment at fair prices!


Ahem. My little hobby is beginning to take over the living room. In addition to Aiobhe, I also picked up a LeClerc warping board.



Now, here's the kicker. How do I know that I'm fiber-obsessed? I like a clean house and I'm a fastidious housekeeper. My car, by contrast, is the "Ebola-mobile." I normally couldn't care less what the interior looks like...


...until it was time to pack up the girls.

Yes, I cleaned the car for the fiber equipment, not the kids or myself. :D

My Sorry-Assed Sampler

It's looks awful, but I love it and had a blast doing it! lol

Note to Self: No more Peaches 'n Cream warping - - use something finer.

Knit Night Fun

Here's some highlights from our recent knit night. Jessi is knitting furiously on her round blanket.

Stephanie's mom, Sharon, came & visited from Michigan.

Kathy, Mauna & Kathy's wheel. Kathy - - you ought to name the wheel; like ships & boats, it's bad luck to be unnamed. We could call it the "S.S. Stillwaters". ;)

Here's the latest...

This is Briana's "Pick me up!" face. We were at the National Zoo
in Washington and she wanted to be held rather than riding in her
stroller. I totally spoiled her and enjoyed every minute of it. By
the end of the weekend, she picked me over her daddy. =)

I am "So Big."

Easter at Pentagon City Mall

And the latest arrival at my house, a Schacht Cricket. :)

I have been knitting and pictures will follow. Have a wonderful week everyone!

Raffle Prizes are Arriving!

I had a couple of packages waiting for me last night when I got home. Ahhhh, if only they were for me....

Conjoined Creations, creators of the Flat Feet Sock Yarn, sent this raffle donation and


Brittany Needles hooked us up too!

The sun was shining this weekend...

...and I took advantage of it and finally got some stuff done! :)




I cleaned & decorated the "dumpster mobile."

Linda gave me the license plate cover at Christmas and

Dianne brought back the NSK sticker from the Sock Summit.

I bathed and air dryed a new baby blanket for my cousin's first child. It's an 8 Hour Encore, "Simple Texture," blanket.




And did two more pairs of felted clogs for friends.



Well, I best get to work. Have a great day and Bella says, "Good morning. Stay away from my rawhide."

Festivals & FOs'

I've been working a lot on both knitting and the upcoming festivals. There's this terrific Celtic vendor who makes the cutest of fairy-related items, http://www.faerieworks.biz/ and she and I have been corresponding on how we could incorporate her wares into the fiber festival. I recently asked her if she would considering making fiber-related wine bottle stoppers, e.g. sheep, balls of yarn or alpaca as toppers for the cork. She also makes these adorable signs and I was describing some knitting catchphrases that would be fun on signs, e.g. "Sheep Happens," "Yarn Pirate," "KnitWit" et cetera. And then, it occurred to me. I like Jerry Lee Lewis. Thirteen year old wives aside, he is an amazing musician and his songs have always moved me. Like a lightening bolt, my new blog sub-title was born, "Goodness! Gracious! Great Balls of Fiber."

I explained to Jen at Faerieworks that if she made me a sign like that, I'd buy it in an
instant, so here's hoping.... LOL

The finished blue-based Baby Butterfly Wrap using my Noro look-alike, Universal Classic Shades, along with a dusty blue skein of Vanna White.

A beret for my four year old second cousin, Hannah.

And my first Jester hat (for Wyatt, another second cousin & a total clown of a boy).