Clown Prince part Duex is finally done.  The last few nights I’ve been plying the yarn with tv watching.  When we last met the fiber it was all spun up and waiting to be plyed. 

Over the last few days I got plying and these two spindles shrank as the  new one grew. Even if there were moments where I thought there were gnomes adding fiber to the spindle when I wasn’t looking.

One afternoon down and some progress made.

Two days down, and it was becoming clear that there was still more green than purple. But nothing nearly as bad as the first time I did this.

And the purple is done. This might be all the green that was left from the first time I had spun up this yarn and then some.  Putting all the yarn together I grabbed my 1.5 yard noddy, in hindsight I likely should have grabbed the two yarder, but I prevailed.

Over 250 wraps later I have  just under 400 yards of yarn, waiting to be washed  and set. My plot for a color affection with purple and green yarn as well as this seems to be an idea that should work. Now I just have to find matching yarn….er…

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Yesterday was all about the animals, and today is all about the stuff. I’d have to say there was concentrated awesome with the vendors. I had to refrain from buying things.

There is one corner of the vendors, outside the barn also full of a variety of vendors.  Let’s start with the swag from the Vogue knitting bag. Which came in the Vogue Knitting bag usually found at VKLive, which pleases me as the one I had developed a tear late Sunday at the last VKLive and is now my fiber stash bag.  Inside there were some coupons, a program and a couple free magazines.

One of the first places I stopped was the Vogue Knitting booth where I grabbed a book I had been pondering since I saw a couple reviews of it. Hopefully I will use it and use it well.

Knit notes, a handy designer project notebook. As I put together a design box last weekend, I feel like this was the last ingredient I didn’t know I was missing. Now on to the yarn and fiber. I only bought one skein of yarn. Really.

It was a skein of  Hampton Artistic Yarn in the Enchantment Colorway and their silver flicker base.  Seems my sparkle addiction is alive and well.

I also bought some emerald sparkle for future blending experiments and an ounce of Merino cashmere silk, that I think I will be spinning with the plans to make myself a really warm hat or a pair of gloves after plying it with something colorful. I’m sure something in the stash will jump out at me when I get to it.

Spindle and Fleece lived up to its name with the purchases I made there.  This is where I got my first support Spindle.

I started trying it out on the bus.  with the sample fiber that was included in my bag.  It will take some getting used to as I keep treating it like a drop spindle when not paying attention, but some tips from fellow bus riders seems to have me going in the right direction… when I remember to follow them.

And these are the different bags of fiber I grabbed. One is for a friend. I swear!  This is the point where I had seen everything I wanted to and the next sheering event wasn’t for an hour or so. As I wandered back towards the benches where there had been lunch. I noticed a lone table where some one was set up from Martha Clara Vineyards. I went over tasted all the wines, and after a few minutes of chatting crossed the road and did a wine tasting flight.

These are two of the five wines I tasted, and my favorites of the set. I tend to go towards lighter sweeter wines, though not too sweet. I usually only drink whites so this was a pleasant turn. I will have to find a reason to have a couple friends over and enjoy. I may wait until my birthday where I have been pondering a cocktail party, as in mixing fancy and interesting drinks, possibly post eating obscene amounts of  good shellfish which is surprisingly hard to do in NYC for some reason.

At this point it was nearing the end of the day for us as the return bus was scheduled for 4:30 and we were to gather by 4:15. After watching the alpaca who was wholly against this sheering business I headed to my last stop of the day.

The Long Island Livestock Company   I got a few supplies I had been tempted by and something I had been meaning to buy for ages for my boots and shoes, Leather Conditioner.  Along with some body butter that will likely see more use in winter and lanolin based lip balm.

And that was everything I grabbed at the Long Island Fleece and Fiber Festival and I think I will be going again next year, and tempt  more fellow knitter with a wine and cheese break.  Someone described it as a great town fair while Rhinebeck was Disney.  And I could see it, there was no rushing around, or huge crowds, and while there was a chance something would be gone if you didn’t buy it, it was a calmer event. And a fun start to my fiber season. I’ll see you next year LI F&FF!

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Saturday was the 4th annual LI Fleece and Fiber Festival. I grabbed the bus out of NYC hosted by Subway Knits  and Sponsored by Vogue Knitting.  It was great fun. And I spent a surprising amount of time watching demonstrations.

Sheep Sheering 

I even got a short video (youtube) of the sheep being sheered if you want to take a look. But I didn’t stop there. Later I wandered back to a Llama sheering.

Llama Sheering

The llama was very calm throughout this. And had an attitude of its Tuesday, haircut time.

Sheering in Progress

Post Sheering Giving Kisses

So coming back for the alpaca sheering after a pretty calm llama was quite the change of pace. It took a few minutes to get the alpaca put on the the sheering table because it was putting up a fight.

Nooooooo I don’t wanna

Noooo I was so fluffy

The Indignity of it All

It was great fun watching all these demonstrations, and I will be posting about all the swag I made off with tomorrow. I may have made it to the vineyard across the street as well.  Whistle. And got a new toy.

More on that tomorrow.

In completly unrelated geekery go read about a friend and I running into Matt Smith last night over at pinkraygun.com  Because Brooklyn

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Here we are for May’s Update.  This time its, full of superheroes, gods, angels, wizards, and fairytale Characters. As usual everything can be found in the Etsy Shop.

Wonder Woman Stitch Markers 

I had a lot of fun making these Wonder Woman stitch markers but quickly wondered why I had not added a star to the markers. The answer becomes clear in the next item created.

Wonder Woman Earrings 

Stars are awesome aren’t they? You know who else has stars? Captain America.

 Captain America Stitch Markers 

These are the new Captain America Stitch markers  now with extra star power!

 Vincent and The Doctor Stitch Markers

Inspired by the exploding Tardis painting these Stitch Makers are the colors of the lost painting of Vincent Van Gogh.

Rumpelstiltskin Earrings

Spinning straw into gold might be asking a bit much, but yarn. I can do yarn. These earrings were inspired by the old fairytale and the gold beads represent the impossible feat. How about some alpaca?

Rowena Ravenclaw Earrings 

These Ravenclaw house earrings are full of house pride. Complete with Eagle Charms.

True Blood Stitch Markers 

Tru Blood let the vamps out of the closet, these stitch markers will help keep your knitting in place.

Castiel Stitch Markers

Our favorite angel of the lord is not just in earrings any more.

Poseidon Stitch Markers

I’ll be bringing the mythology back into the shop, starting with the god of the seas, horses, and earthquakes.

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This weekend is the Long Island Fleece and Fiber Festival and I shall be riding up in a bus there with a pile of other knitters.  So before that I should free up a spindle or three right?

There is my complete Poison Ivy ready and waiting to be plied with the loop cloud.

Don’t they look great together? I still am not positive what I shall be making from them but hey I have time to decide. Together they should be a fingering weight and I might have enough for a shawl. I suppose I will find out post plying.

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With a mostly done Allegheny, I have hit that odd place of no new project so I decided to pull out something I had been planning on making fro some time. Bloomery. After casting on with the wrong size needles (go me!) I have pulled out my oft neglected Addi Turbos and cast on again.  460 stitches cast on I very slowly made my way through row one while watching the Drag Race Finale.

Sixty stitch repeats are a pain. I think  now that I have it marked off I should be better at row three. And I mean there are only 113 rows. That’s easy right?  Eep. And on top of that I have the design bug gnawing at me. Something Steampunk inspired is poking past the accessory plan.

I also have thoughts on chronicling this and my next spinning project day by day in photos.

Bloomery Day 1

We’ll see how that works out. Also I plan to cast on the Bergen Street Cardigan in the next few days.

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Sorta. Ish.

I have a complete sweater dress.

One sleeve is longer than the other and has more ribbing.  This is the sleeve I want to rip out. I bound off the other sleeves and it is theoretically at the moment done and has been since about 11:42pm on April 28th. This is important because it was a dissertation for Nerd Wars and the 28th at 12am is the end of the tournament.

Look at me taking late night pictures with my phone for quick uploading.  But I still have to redo the bottom half of the sleeve. Mostly I want to decrease about 4 stitches around and match it the complete right sleeve.

I also have to decide if I want to make the belt. I had decided against it, then I got my last Steampunk club shipment from Gnome Acres and it came with some great wooden buttons that I think would look good as a belt button. And I of course still have to tack down the bottom of the skirt.

Ah, my nemesis, Finishing, we meet again.

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4kcbwday7 Looking Forward One year from now, when the 5th Knitting & Crochet Blog Week rolls around, where do you hope your crafting will have taken you to? What new skills, projects and experiences do you hope you might have conquered or tried?

The skill that comes to mind is tied to the post from yesterday about tools. It goes back to spinning. I have been planning to look at spinning wheels in the fall, likely at Rhinebeck. I have not decided if I will also make a purchase then. But I have been slowly gathering information while thinking about what space and room I have.

Like this knitting thing, its clear spinning is not something that is a quick fad for me. It is something that I want to learn more of and embrace. I also want to learn moe techniques in spinning. I haven’t Navajo, chain, or mad three ply yarn. All things I want to try and hopefully get a hold of.  I bought a sampler of Puni style rolags to give long draw a spinning a try. I want to get a support spindle and give that a try.

So one of my major goals over the next year is to expand my spinning. Something I can hopefully do, as the months go on. It’s not a if I will be running out of fiber anytime soon.

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4KCBWDAY6 - A Tool To Covet Write about your favourite knitting or crochet (or spinning, etc) tool. It can either be a tool directly involved in your craft (knitting needles or crochet hook) or something that makes your craft more pleasurable – be it a special lamp, or stitch markers.

As I thought about today’s post there were a lot of tools that came to mind. My interchangeable needle set. Something I bought when I was still not positive about how many more needles I would be using. At the time I think I still hadn’t used anything smaller than a US9 and that was rare.

Then I thought about stitch markers, something I like so much I made my own. And while important they still weren’t quite the right tool for this post. And then it came to me. The newest tool that has joined my crafting family. The one, I have been on a slow hunt for “some pretty ones”.

The tool that even as I contemplate replacing with a wheel I know will get plenty of use. My drop spindles. I started spinning in January of 2012, and quickly was drawn into it. I easily incorporated it into my life, found spinning groups, and fiber sellers. All of which was made possible by the drop spindle. I had thought about spinning long before this, but the idea of getting a wheel stopped me. It seemed much too much of an investment, in a new craft that I might only do sometimes.

But spinning on a spindle. I could handle that, while there were expensive spindles, I could get some reasonable functional unadorned ones for nothing at all. And now I have a fiber stash, I want to get hand carders, I will be trying to work with puni rolags soon, the drop spindle opened a lot of doors for me, and it makes, pictures like the one below regular additions to my life.

Why just buy yarn when you can make it?

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4KCBWDAY5 Something A Bit Different It’s the annual challenge to blog in a way different to how you normally blog. You may choose to create a podcast, or vlog, create a wordless post or write in verse. You’ve already stretched your wings with an infographic, now it’s time to freestyle. You can post on any topic you like, but be sure to post in a style different from your usual blog presentation.

Possibly two and a half years ago, two friends I had repeatedly complimented on their footwear took me to my shoe heaven Fluevog. There were so many options and choices, and since then I have come home with quite a few pairs. I spent most of winter in a pair of purple boots, that went great with my read wool coat, and as the weather warms I look forward to putting my summer shoes to good use. I always joke that I don’t have much of a style, I just left the Village* one day and fell into the Gap for more office appropriate. Now  I try to balance the part of me that wants everything in black and red, with an occasional Sailor Jerry or Hell Bunny Dress and make everyday mine with fun shoes.

Also  I noticed as I pulled out pictures of the shoes there were projects or six that went perfectly with each pair.

First my newest pair of boots.  I’ve worn them most of the winter, and yes even with three inch heels, they were something I wore Monday – Friday in my mostly business semi-casual office. Unless it was snowing or raining, then they were replaced by my Doc Marten boots which have been moved to the place of rain/snow boots.

What seems to have become the wedding sandals. I’ve worn them to three weddings, some parties, and with the four inch heels, they are going to stay in the realm of special occasion shoes.

My first pair of boots from Fluevog. I always tend to wear them with red, and with my closet that isn’t really a challenge.

I’m noticing a knit item trend. I’m starting to understand why I kept all the shawls from my infographic right about now.

And really one of my favorite pairs of shoes. Baroque Rubens.  Great with a skirt, or slacks.  They have hexagon heels. Hexagon Heels!

Well these are the shoes slowly taking over my wardrobe and they make me quite happy. What’s something other than yarn, taking over your home?

*My old Wardrobe staples (I feel the volume of converse (~7) I owned was likely a sign of my future):

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