Wednesday, May 15, 2013

WiP Wednesday

It was a busy day, but it’s still Wednesday, so you get a WiP post!

Last Friday, I needed a knitting project to take with me to my Friday night group. The “last in first out” policy was suggested, and since the last yarn I bought in Maryland was this…

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I decided that Shawl That Jazz would be a good next project. I was off to the races! Most of my Sunday was spent knitting and watching sports, so I got a really good chunk of knitting done. And, believe it or not, I finished the entire 540-yard first skein last night.

One thing I learned the last time I knit this is that there’s no good way to get a good WiP shot of this shawl. So you get a picture of a big blob.

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I’ll join the second skein as soon as I’m done typing at you (and posting), and I’ll be back off to the races.

Because of the high yardage of these skeins, I’ve been using my Strauch winder. It makes a more vertical cake, and I loved how the core looked on the Twisted. So I threw it in the light box and took a few pictures.

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See? Very cool!

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Wednesday, May 08, 2013

Maryland Sheep & Wool 2013

Well, hello there.

My epic gauntlet of travel has been completed, and I have no reason to leave Allegheny County again until I go to Oklahoma City at the end of the month. It’s WiP Wednesday, but I actually do not have any WiPs to show you, since I finished my Love Actually cowl last night!

So, in order to feed the blog for the first time in way too long, I shall show you my Maryland Sheep and Wool purchases from last weekend.

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From left to right, this photo includes: Three flavors of honey from The Bee Folks (Queen Anne, Bamboo and Radish), my 40th Anniversary Festival mug, a Melissa Jean hair pin, a pair of US 5/stiletto/33” Signature circs, a 2014 Sheep Incognito calendar, a new drive band for my Schacht ball winder hanging off the calendar, two skeins of Blue Moon Fiber Arts Twisted in Pussy Broadway, three necklaces and two small beads from my latest addiction: Kris Schaible Glass Studio, a Miss Babs Color Affection kit, two skeins of Into the Whirled sock yarn, a new belt, and a Lion Potter mug.

 Not much yarn, but I do feel like I got a lot of stuff. Now for show-and-tell with the non-fiber stuff.

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In the last couple months, I’ve gotten to know the wonderful and talented Melissa Jean thanks to my work with SpaceCadet and a pair of shows. I was intrigued by this cool hair pin, and it came home with me.

And now, for the largest rabbit-hole of the entire weekend. One of my running buddies, CelticQueen, was headed for the Noni tent to get a zipper for an upcoming project. I wandered around the upper tent farm in the opposite direction and stumbled upon a completely dangerous vendor. To the tune of three purchases in two days.

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Kris Schaible makes some amazing beads. Throw them on a cable or a cord, and you have a beautiful necklace.

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This purple bead was my first purchase. Then I dragged CQ and my friend Dianne to the booth later in the afternoon. And this one caught my eye.

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I felt like this one looked best with a ribbon instead of a cable.

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And then we stopped by again on Sunday and this happened.

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Oops.

Of course Kris’ husband had discovered her “junk drawer” overnight and threw a bunch of those beads into a bowl. And I found two that Kris turned into pendants for me. (for scale, they’re propped up against the Twisted in the top picture. They’re pretty small, but very pretty)

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Yeah. I love her stuff. A lot.

The other stuff is pretty self-explanatory. I adore the two Lion Potter mugs I already had, so getting the green mug (far right in top picture) was a no-brainer. It’s so hard to find good belts that buying one from the vendor at MDSW was also a simple decision. Drive bands and calendars are boring but helpful. I also got two Festival t-shirts, but I didn’t throw them into the picture. Oops.

It was a great weekend with good friends, and I’m already looking forward to next year!