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Learning to Spin

Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival, Amongst Other Things

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Drop Spindle

Complete with fugly "yarn"!

I had a great time at the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival last weekend. Sadly I don’t really have any pictures of my time there because I was an idiot and deleted the pictures off my phone thinking I had pulled them all over, and alas, I didn’t!  I only had a few of the animals, anyway.

I went along with Sam, Efrain, and Josh (whose house I invaded for the weekend), and we met up with Rachyl (the Knitting Pirate), who gleefully and patiently helped Sam and I traverse the wares and seek out our first drop spindles.  We poked about at a few different stalls and eventually settled with Turnstyles. I also got a really nice ballpoint pen for Todd there, but I don’t see it about to take a picture of so he must have brought it to work already!

Besides that and the obligatory fibers, I also picked up a bar of Clovebud soap from Maggie’s Farm, Simmy’s Favorite Organic cat treats (I can’t remember the place selling this), and a button for the top of my newsboy cap. And that’s just the beginning of my loot for the weekend, heehee!

I know y’all wanna see my new fibers!  I’ll just stick pictures of them all in a row for you.  I only bought from places I’ve never bought form before, but frankly that wasn’t very difficult.

A Touch of Twist Little Breeze

A Touch of Twist. 600 yds. Silk & Merino. Color: Sable

Silk Lace "Teleri"

The Flock Bransonas. 600 yds. 100% silk lace. Color: Teleri

Frabjous Fibers - Redwood

Frabjous Fibers. 4oz. 50% merino, 50% angora. Color: Redwood Forest.

Bullen's Wullens Roving

Bullen's Wullen. 4 oz. BFL. Color: N/A (I call it "Hufflepuff").


Learning to Spin

All in a row; ripe for a photo.

After spending lots of money on fibers and wood and yummy yummy lamb burgers, we all trooped back to Josh’s where Rachyl taught Sam, Efrain, and I how to spin. She seemed quite pleased with how well we all did, considering it was our first time. Efrain, having not purchased a spindle, made one out of a cd and a chopstick (is pot REALLY a gateway to carpentry?). I ganked a picture of hers from her blog because it’s just so awesome.

As it turns out, Josh had been hoarding away a huge stash of wool and alpaca roving from Frankenmuth Woolen Mill (I believe the receipts said 1994), for a friend who just couldn’t take it all with her when she moved, and gave it to us to split.  Good thing we got drop spindles, am I right?  Except for one ball (not shown below, but it’s the one I used on my spindle already), they all need to be washed. I might try spinning it without washing to see if I like the oil on my hands.

Wool Roving

Lots of effing wool!

Alpaca Roving

Lots of effing alpaca!


Come Monday, the Knit Picks order I placed before the festival arrived!  Knit Picks has just released a nice cheap yarn scale, and since previously I had no yarn scale and they all seemed to be pretty expensive, I jumped at the chance.  I also picked up a skein of Stroll sock yarn in “Soot” for an eventual attempt at making Todd a pair of socks, Charmed Knits, Circular Baby Afghans, and….

time Traveler sock yarn

ZOMGWTFBBQ!!!!1!1eleventy

Oh man!  How awesome is Knit Picks for putting out Doctor Who yarn?  I knew I HAD to have it as soon as I saw it, and I’m not the only one: Knitting Pirate and Knitting Ninja both picked it up right away, too. They’re planning on knitting some Jaywalkers together, but, you know me – I’ve gotta pick something that will be way above my skill level and cause me to curse to the high heavens. So for my “wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey” socks, I think I’ll be going with Diversion by Kirsten Hall.  Wish me luck!

4 Comments

  1. Hoooly chao, the Time Traveler yarn looks awesome. I can’t wait for mine to arrive – though I should probably finish the current sock in progress before starting a new one.

    I like the stitched-leather blog layout, btw. Looks really good!

    • Thanks! It was the only one I found that I really liked. I have an idea for a logo to put at the top, but it’s going to take some doing since I want to crochet it first. :)

  2. Oh man! I’m jealous that you have yours already – mine will be here in a week or two! I have no socks on the needles right now, because I haven’t been able to decide what to make. This will be PERFECT as a break from knitting The Scarf. I think I’m insane.

    Also, I’m adding you to my “knitterly friends” linklist on my blog! <3

    • Wow, that has to be the most fabulous icon I’ve ever seen for a knitting blog. :) Once I get mine done I’ll add a new email address for RiG purposes.

      My scarf has been on hold for two years, haha!

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