Obsession du Jour

"Look Daddy, SHEEP! BAAAAAAAA!"

Happy Weather

Hey - we went to CT S&W this past weekend and look what we found! Sun! For reals. I got almost no pictures, despite hauling the big camera around, because it turns out that even with Dad around to help, it's almost impossible to focus on photos while chasing a toddler who is intent on throwing himself under the hooves of the oxen pulling the hayride, or trying to vault the retaining fence so that he can go "run with the doggies, woof, woof, woof", or any other brand of toddler hilarity.

We did get to see people that I haven't seen in ages, which is the thing I love best about these gatherings. It has always been about the people (oh, OK and a LITTLE bit about the stuff, sheesh), but it's become even more vital to me now that I (and often they) have less time for the other social outlets we used to share. I miss everyone, often a lot, and it's always so great to catch up however briefly.

Hooray for festival season!

Yum!

He luuuuuurrrrrves his apples, this guy does.  He began stealing them off the counter and noshing them whole a couple of weeks ago and is nigh unstoppable.

......but he still won't eat the peels on an apple that's been cut up for him.  WTF is that?

Zonk

Sheep & Wool festivals are fun, no?

Oh, and speaking of stuff....guess who came home from a festival with NOT A SINGLE PURCHASE?  Oh sorry, perhaps I should have told you to sit down first?

Kellebrate good times, c'mon.....

I know we've talked before about the perils of flaming out on re-entry, though I'm too lazy to go back and find those previous discussions right this second.  Know, however, that it is especially difficult to go back to one's work-a-day world after one's friends have traveled from far and wide, some even crossing state lines, and successfully spoiled one rotten and generally made one feel like queen for a day - and also maybe bestowed upon one a wide array of incredibly thoughtful gifts - ALL against the backdrop of one's favorite S&W festival -- not to play favorites or anything.  So it's taken me a while to process all of this and get back here to talk about it.  There may also have been some of this in between:

This was my 3rd year at New Hampshire S&W.  It was my first festival gathering, and still remains at the top of my list both because of it's place in my fibery history, AND because it's just a damned great festival.  It's big enough to feel worth the devotion of an entire weekend, and yet small enough not to overwhelm.  There's plenty of time to shop, socialize, pet all the cute animals, and STILL have time to actually learn something from the folks at the fleece judging.....assuming of course that one can stay out of purchasing trouble at said judging, right **COUGH**Cate**COUGH**?  It also says something for it that even last year, in the midst of the nearly Biblical monsoon rain and flooding, we all still had a remarkably great time despite our discomforts, and that was BEFORE we started drinking at Margarita's.  THIS year, we needed no such fortifications because it was quite beautiful.  Stunning really, in that way that I have only ever experienced here in New England, where it's warm enough to make you eager for summer, but still cool enough to remind you of the winter we've just barely left behind and yet somehow keep the dread of the summer's humidity at bay.  I love the times of year when it's almost too cool to sit in the shade and yet somehow also almost too warm to sit in the sun. 

But I digress.  We were talking about how effing cool my girls are.  Oh, sorry, you didn't realize that's what we were talking about did you?  Well, we were, and they are.  In addition to completely overwhelming me with the aforementioned Queen-for-a-day thing - complete with enlisting many of my favorite festival vendors (hello? predictible much? ) in a bit of a treasure/easter egg hunt - they also did something even more extraordinarily cool...something that makes a girl feel almost famous...something which will be a great sustaining energy in the coming months of being covered in poop and spit-up.  They went to Ms. Boogie, our favoritest pusher, and asked her to dye up some lovely, yummy merino-silk for me.  Not just in colors I'd like, mind you, but.....and here's where I get a little girlishly giddy and embarrassed......in my very own colorway.  Can you STAND it?  LOOK!!!!

Spunky Ecclectic Merino Silk in the colorway *giggle* 'Kellebration'.

Dude. Amy is my hero, and yes, the colors really do glow like that.  I can't even STAND the beauty of this, or the perfection.  Someday soon I should round up the past and present Boogie fibers just to prove how bad the obsession has really been.  It's no wonder that about half of my stash used to live in her house before it came to live in mine, nor that I am powerless in the face of her fibery-dying mastery.

And my girls?  I won't even pretend to have the ability to express the all the love, joy, and admiration I carry in my heart for these women, or how thankful I am to have them in my life.  Each of them is amazing, unique, and awe-inspiring, each in her own way and each with her own special place in the equation.  It's not because they're famous or anything - though they might be a little infamous, some of them - but that they are inspirational in that they just keep rocking along in their lives, taking care of each other along with the rest of their lives and families, never too busy for each other, and never too busy stop and celebrate....well, anything, really.....whether it be a new spinning wheel, or a new venture into motherhood, or just surviving a day at work without succumbing to the desire to kill one's boss.....these girls always have each other's backs, no matter how far away that back might be.  This was probably our last chance to all come together with relative ease because of some fairly momentous changes - many involving moving trucks and the cossing of state lines - and I love that we were able to do it at such a great place and have such a fantastic time.    But then, we always do.

I love you guys.

Still flashing back.

Hey - remember SPA?    Remember how I promised pictures of the haul?  Don't you just love how we drag crap out here at Chez Obsession?

So......you should know before we start that I, like many others, fell down in the Spunky Eclectic booth (Check out the new SHOP!!!!).  Not as hard as some, but definitely harder than I should have.   

First up - One pound of this:

It was part of a two pound bag that Ms. Blues and I split.  I know.  Can you believe I let her live to walk away with any of this at all, let alone another whole pound?  It was a near thing, let me tell you, and a testament to what a lovely woman she is that she wasn't pounced upon and beaten until she cried uncle and handed over the whole bag..

Then it was mostly just bits-o-this and bits-o-that:

Thrummed mitten kit in 'Nova Scotia' for the husband.  I have finally concluded that the only way to keep the him from dying of exposure is to protect his vulnerable extremeties, and it just doesn't get any better than thrummed mittens to keep out the chill.  Except maybe for this, which may well be my ace-in-the-hole in the great annual 'battle of the thermostat' in our house.  Now, there are those of you out there that have JUST made an indecent jump in your minds about other items that could be thrummed to protect extremities, aren't there?   You know who you are.

Ah.....Sangria. I may not be able to drink it right now, but I can spin it.  Merino\silk blend.  Heart-stoppingly beautiful, especially on the requisite new member of the family:

Kundert spindle in Walnut, Bird's Eye Maple, and Ironwood.  Me likee.  A lot.  It's my new spindle boyfriend.  Joined in this shot, BTW, with one of Judy's new wrist distaffs, er..distaves?  How does that work? Anyway, I got all 'Dear-in-the-headlights' in the beauty that was the booth shared by Judy and Kim, and everytime I walked over there to buy anything, I kept getting all frustrated about what I should get, so I compromised and got a distaff to save myself the trauma of trying to choose between a booth full of yarns that ALL needed to go home with me.  If you don't yet know about either Judy or Kim's astonishingly gorgeous hand-dyed yarns, go now.  Quickly.  Before I change my mind and take down the links.

And then there's Grafton Fibers.  I'm sure I don't even have to talk about the amazing stuff that comes out of her studio, but know that I'm such a sucker for it that I am restricted to ONE batt per event.  ONE.  It is a strictly controlled thing that is allowed no exceptions, lest it get out of hand.  So which one batt did I get at SPA? 

Yeah.  That's right.  There are, or WERE, two of them.   I did, I got TWO batts.   I'm sorry S., I was weak.  And it DID almost lead to disaster, because at one point there were SIX of them in my arms.  Yet another close call in the world of stash management and self-discipline.

Venimus, Vidimus, Vicimus

So.  Rhinebeck.  Wow. 

I always come back from these events with grand plans for big, sweeping entries about who all we met and how fantastic it all is and how the energy just about knocks one senseless and how there is just so much stuff to play with and so many amazing people to see and meet and chat with.... I always have these plans while I'm still there, and then when I come home all I can even conceive of is this:

Napping on a sheepskin.  Sigh.

On Saturday, though (and mother-of-zeus-people, where the hell did you all come from?) what I really felt like doing was this:

Wool?  What wool?  I don't have any wool.  You must be mistaken.  Oh, THIS wool?  It's nothing.  Completely unimportant. This is not the wool which you are seeking (I always knew those Jedi mind tricks would come in handy one day.).  Step away from the wool, people, it's mine......all mine I tell you!

I'm not fooling you at all am I?  I can post these cats all day long, and you won't be distracted from your purpose.  OK, fine.  Here's the deal.  There aren't any pictures yet.  I took a regular camera with me to Rhinebeck this year.  Yes, the kind with film.  So retro-fabulous, eh?  However, as mentioned, it means no pictures except for the highlights of the haul, which happens to be fairly small this year.  For those of you who have seen the VAST quantities of fiber/yarn in my house, you will know why I was not as much in the market for the fibery things as I have been in the past.  Tools and accessories, though - THAT I'm all over.  I am of the firm and unwavering opinion that a girl simply can not have too much good wood in her life.

Left to right: Will Taylor 6-ply lazy kate in cherry and walnut from Carolina Homespun (I've mentioned how I kind of have a bit of a crush on Morgaine, right? Lovely, lovely woman.), an ebony Turkish spindle, also from CH, and finally, an absolutely stunning zebrawood spindle from the Goldings along with one of their carrying cases.  I'm especially jazzed about the Golding because I'm headed out of town for a week (again) in just a few hours and for the first time will be able to take spinning along without living in fear of beating up my spindle.

Wish us good travel mojo, OK?  We need our luggage to arrive along with us or I'm going to be VERY cranky, and we all know how annoying that can be.

Rhinebeck bound!

Isn't there a rule about how if you miss school you can't go on the field trips?  If I have a note from my mom, can I still go?  Please? Pretty Please?

I'm a square and everything.

And for anyone who happens to be lookin':

I'm 2nd from the right, in the red pants.  (Thanks for the pic, Julia.)

--------------------------------

**ETA - Psssst -- I haven't actually been sick (well, I was, but only for a couple of days) and I didn't actually have Mono, it's just an 'excuse', get it?  Kissing, though, I have done some kissing.  Oh come off it...why else would I have married him if not for the On Demand kissing?

When is it OK to hate your friends?

When they make you stand up in front of people and do this:

Behold!  Stitchy McYarnpants, in the wild.....along with the 'MOKS Traveling Trunk Show'.  See the books back there?  On the wall?  How fun is that?!?  She kept making all these crazy protests all the way there, but all I can say is that it sure LOOKS like she's having fun, doesn't it?   And she sure as heck brought the funny, so it was obviously all just an act.

There are other photos, oh yes there are, but the MOKS lawyer has already been hassling me about not getting releases signed and such and bother, so I guess you'll just have to go see the trunk show in person.  It would be so much easier to take that guy seriously if he weren't wearing that ugly-assed tie.

Heads up Brooklyn, you've got next.

Saturday! Saturday! Saturday!

Fun!  Fun!  Fun!

Stitchy!  Stitchy!  Stitchy!

Who else is coming out to the Hadley  Barnes&Noble tommorrow for the first stop on the big book tour?   How can you not?  My god - The Museum of Kitchy Stitches Travelling Trunk Show.  Could it get any more fun than that?   No. 

Don't forget your Sharpies.

Also, Is anyone interested in a late lunch/early dinner after?  I'm figuring 3pm-ish?  Somewhere nearby?  Any ideas from those of you way out there in Western Mass?  I believe I heard one vote for a place called Butternuts, which looks fun.  Are there any other suggestions?  Remember, we're knitters and we're raucous, um.......and sometimes we drink a little bit, so a liquor license is a must.

Not.Discussing.Webs.  Or, for that matter, Valley Fabrics.   You can't make me.  La, la, la, la, la, la...I can't hear you.

Rabbit holes

Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming, in which I continue to go on and on and on about yet another thing that is neither knitting nor spinning. 

It IS crafty though.  That has to count for something, right?

We went for this, but then we stumbled into this:

Valley Fabrics in Northhampton, MA

Imagine for a moment  (all you fabric-heads) that you took all the stock from all the other fabric superstores all over the country, and you stripped out all the 90% of filler that you would probably never use anyway, and then picked just ONE store to carry the 10% that was left.  The stuff that you really want to use.  Got that image?  Good.  You're in Valley Fabrics.  Seriously, there's not a single fabric in here that you wouldn't use to make SOMETHING.  It might not be for YOU, and it might not be YOUR colors, but you or someone you know loves every bolt of fabric in this store.  The piece de resistance?  Helpful, friendly, experienced, understanding, patient staff.

I said this to someone recently (so forgive me for repeating myself) that the best way to explain my reaction to this store is this:  If, upon dying, I were to find that heaven was a fabric store (Which it's not.  We all know it's a yarn store.) it would be this store.   

Go there.  Go there soon.  As a matter of fact, go there now, virtually: http://www.valleyfabrics.com/catalog/

Now, as you might have heard, some of us were hooked (ahem, at least it wasn't entirely me) and some of us weren't, and truthfully, I think that's for the best because if we had ALL fallen down this rabbit hole, my own trip would have been far more damaging.  As it was, having the constant knowledge that we were leaving our friends abandoned on the street waiting for us moderated both the time and dollars spent. This is a Good Thing, because the house isn't renovating itself. However, lest you fear that I wandered away empty-handed:

Voila.  Bag-fixin's.....I think.

Fun

Funner

Funnest

and a close up up the background fabrics in this shot:

Hee hee hee hee hee....it's linoleum!  It's just like my Grandma's old kitchen table.  If I were the *squeee*ing type, I'd totally be doing that right this second.  How can anyone be sad or grumpy or have a bad day in the face of bright orange linoleum FABRIC fer crissakes?

Oh yeah?  YOU can?  Well then, I double dog dare you to stay grumpy now, Snippy McFussypants:

Dude.  Japanese bunnies.  Where's your sour face now?

And now the van overfloweth.

Much as Cheryl loves how this picture:

"makes it look like Julia only ended up with one lonely skein of yarn", I love how this picture:

makes it look like Laurie ended up with all the yarn in the store.   Look how happy she is. Go ask her about her Noro revelation this weekend.  It was a beautiful thing.

It is, however, the only photo I have of the entire day.  The hole darned perfect day.  There's a word for that, right?  Camnesia or something?  I'd like claim camnesia, but I suspect that it had more to do with full hands than anything else.  Lucky for me, there were better bloggers along as well, and some of them even have pictures.  All I'm sayin' is that what happens in Noho, stays in Noho.

There are also no photos of the yarn yet because it is all in the deep freeze.  There was a brief but excruciating dilemma when I realized that new yarn (which MUST be kept quarantined until post-deep-freeze) would have to be in the very same room with fiber fresh out of the big Q. that had not quite made it upstairs to the stash room.  There was indecision and a deer-in-the-headlights moment while calculating in my head the speed at which a moth larvae might wriggle out of it's wrapping/bag/yarn and scurry the 12 or so feet across the floor to the fresh-from-the-freezer fiber, which would naturally be more desirable and tasty.  Then there was the lambasting of the self for so irresponsibly leaving the lovely fiber open to such indignities.  Then exhaustion won, and people, I broke my own rule. No, it's true. The (allegedly) filthy, disgusting, parasite-ridden, impure fiber was alone in the same room with the chaste, purified, knitters'-herpes-free fiber. 

For at LEAST 5 minutes.

Hi.  OCD much?  I have worked all day to just.let.it.go. because I know with absolute certainty that this is insane and that it's FINE. Really it is. I KNOW this to be true.  So now I'm sharing it with y'all in the hope that maybe I can then forget it. Or maybe it just helps to include you in the petty made-up drama of a crazy-assed hoarder with nothing better to worry about.  Like, say...world peace, or starving children, or the myriad assaults against basic civil rights in our very own country....

There.  Now I feel better.  How 'bout you?  Oh shit...did you see that?  Was that a moth? Was it?

Summertiiiiime, and the livin' is....

...well, if not 'easy', it's at least good.  Very good. 

Case in point #1 - Today I am wearing these:

Jaywalkers.  Finito.  These have served me fantastically as backup\subway knitting and I've enjoyed them immensely. The pattern is fun, the yarn is yummy, what more could a knitter ask? I have actually knit three of these socks in that I made a couple of modifications for for sizing on the 2nd sock that ended up making a DRAMATIC differences in both the fit and the striping (go here to see the old look).  Differences that, frankly, I loved so much I was willing to knit the 1st sock over again to get them into both socks.  I believe that the knitting goddess approved of the changes.  Wanna know how I know this?  Behold:

Note the almost perfect matchy-matchiness of the big, juicy, zig-zaggy leg stripes? Absolutely.Positively.Unplanned.Matchiness.  Eerie but kewl.

Pattern: Jaywalker socks (I KNOW you don't need a link by now)
Yarn: Socks That Rock (old skool, pre-weight changes) in colorway 'Moss Agate' from the Great Rhinebeck '06 stash explosion extravaganza.
Needles: Addi Turbos (2 circs, as always) sz #2
Mods:
1. Reduced the total stitches to make 6 stitches between each set of inc/dec, ie: 8 less than original small size in the pattern.
2. Gusset reductions every round rather than every other round.  I pretty much always have to do this. Perhaps it's the uber high arches inherited along with the fair skin & freckles?
3. Stopped the chevron patterning at the heel/ankle.  I did it all the way down on the first sock, but it was uncomfortable once it was stuffed in a shoe for any period of time, so I skipped for the final socks.

Case in point #2:  A fantastic weekend populated by wonderful friends, shoe shopping (which I have always thought I hated), garage sales, baby cuddling, pub food, and a sincere and concerted effort to convince two friends to move into the house next door to the Boston metro area.  Seriously ladies, Boston rocks.  You should live here, and not just because I covet your spinning wheels.  Did I mention all the great yarn shops?

Case in point #3: I got to cook actual food for actual people. I recognize that this is not a big deal for most, but as much as we love to entertain and as much as I love to cook, it has been a real trial this living in a glorified campground, er, I mean renovation zone for so long.  Friday night I really got to do some honest-to-goodness from-scratch cooking, and while I definitely felt rusty (and also cramped, what with the 6 sq inches of counter space in the not-yet-renovated-kitchen), and there were also maybe some timing issues on the hot vs. cold items, in general it felt fantastic & I was pretty happy with the results.  Wish I'd thought to get a picture.  MUST do kitchen remodel next/soon.  Sigh.

Case in point #4: The weekly farmer's market is back for the season!  Wheeeeeee!  Last night my dinner looked like this:

Al fresco pattern trolling dining including fresh tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, onions, and homemade pesto & hummus courtesy of the local market stands and accompanied by a Prosecco 'pop' (why yes, that IS a pink plastic bendy straw. what of it?) courtesy of Ms. Moth Heaven. Seriously folks, how can you not love someone who brings you little individual sparkling wines and straws to go with them?   Dinner tonight will be pan-seared tuna accompanied by (farm stand) beets and broccolini and served with a lucious white wine plucked from the magical cellar of Ms Etherknitter.  See what I mean?  Life - she is very, very good.

Tomorrow, more FO's and a pattern question.  Get out your lace shawl ideas folks.