Wednesday, May 07, 2014

MDSW 2014

It was a great weekend. The weather was great - no rain, enough sun to warm and dry things (from the rain earlier in the week) but not so much that you couldn't stand being in the barns and buildings. It was very crowded on Saturday - there was traffic and a wait to get in at 8:30 in the morning - but there were lots of goodies left on Sunday.

On Saturday Angela and I drove together. She wanted a Jenny the Potter mug so we went to the main building first and waited on that line. Success! We each bought a Spanish Peacock spindle. Mine is a low whorl, hers is a support spindle and we are both trying to learn to use them properly this week.

I bought some sock knitting circulars (Chiaogoo red cable size 1.5) and a skein of Marigold Jen BFL sock weight yarn in a beautiful brick red color. I can't wear that color near my face but for socks, why not! We made it a short day because Angela had homework to do and I have not yet built my stamina to the point of being able to go thee for 2 full days. We headed home by 2:30.

On Sunday I went back with Angela, Melanie and her 4 year old daughter. We met up with several friends through out the day (both days, in fact) and had a great time shopping and being entertained by Melanie's daughter. ;-)
I came home with a skein of Miss Babbs in the Fearsome colorway, a skein of Wollmeise! in Campari piccolo (a beautiful deep orange), a wood darning egg (yes, I have been darning my hand knit socks) and 2 skeins of STR. One is Woobu. 60% merino/40% bamboo in Manly, Yes, but I Like it Too and 1 skein of BFL sport in Smoke on the Water. There are over 600 yards in each of these STR skeins. I purchased them originally to knit the Axis shawl with Melanie. I have had second thoughts, though about knitting another shawl. I really don't need another shawl and love knitting sweaters. I went searching and found that I could knit the On the Beach sweater with the yarn. That might be a better use for me. We'll see. I plan to wind them up and swatch to see which pattern I like more with the yarn.

Nancy gave me a mug for my birthday that she purchased at the festival. It is made with beautiful blues and grays and have a picture with two sheep knitting with opposite ends of the same ball of yarn. Said ball of yarn has 2 eyes peeking out from the middle. It's very cute and I can't wait to sip some hot chocolate or soup from it.

I wanted to avoid buying fiber and I was successful. I wanted to get sock yarn in solids and/or tonals for the Tour de Sock competition and I was successful. I wanted needles for sock knitting - partially successful. I was hoping to find hiya hiya steel needles but didn't see any in the sizes I was looking for. I did get the Chiaogoo circs. Over all it was a great weekend.