Sheep and Wool report

No, I am not confused. I am aware that this is my husband with his fish, not a sheep or wool. ; )
This was my DH on my birthday with his 36.5 inch, 20 lb. Chesapeake Bay striped bass (or, as they say around here, rock fish). It tasted very good. He deserved to be first in this post.

Now on to the sheep and wool report.

This wonderful fiber is a Grafton Fiber Batt. I have number 502. It is so soft and has such deep wonderful colors, that I couldn't resist. To be honest, I've seen other blog about these batts and was happy to see some for myself. Once I touched and saw, there was no leaving it behind. I bought 2. ; )
Spindle - the whorl was made with dalmata and the shaft with cocobolo wood. I have the receipt but it doesn't give the name of the vendor. Looking at the list of vendors, I think it might be Turnstyles. He had spindles, niddynoddies, shawl pins, pens, bowls, and other things, all made with beautiful wood. His booth was in the main building. My spindle spins very nicely.

I could not get a photo that showed this color accurately, but this is the best of them. It is a beautiful soft green called Pine. The yarn is Shelridge Farm's wool cotton blend. I purchased this and the lighter color below (called seafoam) (that color is not represented correctly, either) for a cardigan sweater. The label says DK weight, but I think it's a little heavier than that. I have 7 skeins of the Pine and 2 of Seafoam. I have not yet chosen a pattern, but I have a basic picture in mind.





This is Creatively Dyed Yarn Beaches in the Orinda colorway. I have (2) 500 yard skeins. I will swatch for the Coin Lace version of Clapotis. I think the color changes might distract too much, so it may be used for another regular Clapotis or for something else. I am not sure, but I am sure that I really like the colors in this yarn.



This is Creatively Dyed yarn Calypso in the Blue Mac colorway. It is a sock yarn, but comes in a 500 yard skein also, so I will obviously have enough for mitts or something else along with the socks. I just love the colors .




This is 360 yards of a superwash merino dyed naturally by a fellow spinning guild member.


That same person makes jewelry - these are the two pieces I purchased this year. This one is for me.


This piece (if I can part with it) will be for my mother for some gift or another.

I think it was less busy this year compared to last year, but the booths were still very full and busy on Sat. There were long lines for the Fold to buy STR, and long lines for fair merchandise, (as usual) and a lot of other booths were full enough that we didn't enter until Sunday. Thanks to the rain, Sunday was much less busy than last year. The weather was really disgusting, but most of the people that were there were good sports about it all. It was just about impossible to spot people you might be looking for since most people had hoods or hats or some other head covering on due to rain. On Saturday we were able to admire the many hand knit garments that were worn. No such luck on Sunday.

On Saturday we listened to a talk by Judith McKenzie McCuin on sheep and the history of same. I don't know how she makes ancient history sound interesting, but she does. Funny, too. Saturday night we went to the spinning gathering as usual. I always enjoy that. There are very experienced spinners, some brand new (bought their first spindle or wheel that day) spinners and lots in between. They have spinning contests that are fun to watch. I really like to just look at what everyone else is doing, check out fibers and wheels or spindles I haven't seen before.

On Sunday we listened to a talk about Peruvian weaving and how the association helps to preserve the history and pattern of ancient weavers. We saw a demonstration of such a weaving, and I was amazed! Such tiny, detailed work - lovely, but how tedious it must be to sit there for hours and make only a few inches of progress. Remind me the next time I whine about ribbing boredom or sleeve island to smack myself. We also heard the story of Frog Tree Yarns - that was an unexpected bonus. I loved working with their sport weight alpaca (that's what my son's Christmas vest was knitted with) and that was before I heard their story.

I purchased 2 S & W sweatshirts and a T shirt that is so big I will use it for a sleep shirt. It is size XXL and two of me can fit in it. LOL. Karen and I both bought the Stix Fix kit - a little kit to fix minor nicks on wood needles - and I bought another package of the small Chibi needles and a square circular needle. I needed a size 3 for my boatneck project (my other size 3 of sufficient length was in use and not likely to be free for a while) so I decided to try the square ones. I like knitting with the needles, which surprises me since I didn't like them last year when I tried them, but the cable is a little too soft and pliable. It sometimes takes work to get the stitches up on the needle from the cable because the cable droops pretty significantly right at the end of the needle. I am working with hempathy, not a heavy cotton, and I don't have much on the needle so I am surprised that this is happening. The jury is still out on these needles. I love the color of them, though. ; )

That's it. I can't wait for the next fiber event!