Spinning on Conesus Lake

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What a wonderful weekend! Our spinning guild sponsored a retreat on Conesus Lake this past weekend. The weather was fabulous, the facility was great, food was wonderful and I'm not sure there is a much better way to spend time with friends.


Friday night, we spun, or knit, or drank, or showed off recent goodies, like Michelle's beaded rocks. Each bead was individually stitched around the rock. As an interesting coincidence, Joan was spinning Wensleydale that she had dyed the very same colors.

Saturday afternoon was spent on the porch, spinning in the sun and watching the lake. Anne Marie organized spinning games (spin with a book on your head, spin blindfolded, most even spinning in 5 minutes and the 50-yard or so dash). My partner, Rebecca, and I came in first on the 50-yard or so dash. The dash (as we played it) consists of one person treadling while the other drafts backwards across the room (and it was a big room), when you reach the far end, you call out to reel it in, repeat three times.

There were also many impromptu workshops as well as some planned activities. There were workshops on knitting socks with magic loop method, felting beads for jewelry, needlefelting shapes using cookie cutters, dying, steam-setting skeins and how to make a really good Cosmo (thanks Steph).

Many of us planned to try to finish up some UFO's. I finished spinning/plying the laceweight Brown Sugar and a pair of socks made from my souvenir of Toronto Trekking XXL.

This was definitely an event that we'll have to do again.

Random Wednesday

I really like the idea of Random Wednesday's that other bloggers are using, so I'm going to shamelessly borrow it (and other stuff) on occasion.

I love this button that Mamacate begged her friend Colleen to make. It just says it all as far as why many of us carry around a sock-in-progress. Now I just need to figure out a how to get this nifty little graphic onto my sidebar.

Mouse has come up with some graphics for those of us who aren't (sigh) making the trek to Maryland this year. I'm really not feeling that hostile (no, bitter) (well, maybe a bit sad) about not going this year as I'm getting a new spinning wheel shortly. I will definitely have a future post on that.

And now for more cat stuff. It appears that I should put a much better latch on the closet where we keep our "supplies". I keep telling my daughter that they just get into stuff and run amok when she's not around and she just doesn't seem to believe me.

Dishcloths

I knitted some dishcloths from Mason-Dixon Knitting recently. I'm really not sure why, perhaps I was sucked into the friendliness of their book. They are quite easy and fast to do. I'm thinking I'll make the official Mason-Dixon Dishcloth to match some towels we got recently. Of course, the store did not have the matching washcloths, but now I know how to fix that!

The pets are in charge.

This is just the kind of thing we, as staff to our pets, have always suspected.

The stuff dreams are made of...

This yarn just jumped into my hands the other day and said "Pet me!" It's sinfully soft, hand-painted, 100% alpaca. The colors are even better in person. I had to bring it home, didn't I? I haven't put it away with the rest of the stash because I'm still admiring it.

And then there is this project...spinning a laceweight yarn. Like this blog, that's another thing that I thought I could admire other people doing with no plan to actually do myself. This fibery goodness is a blend of Cotswold lamb and alpaca called "Brown Sugar" from Nistock Farms.

What is to become of these two wonders? Well, we'll just have to wait and see, won't we?

Doesn't everyone have a sock-in-progress?

This is one of my current socks-in-progress. They travel along with me to work and where ever else I go. It's a jaywalker using Silja yarn. You say you noticed that I said socks-in-progress, well you're right. The other socks are at home and are suffering from SSS.

I dumped them (OK, set aside) to start the nightie from Mason-Dixon Knitting, a very fun book that is worth adding to your collection.

There are also two felted totes that need some attention before they can be considered FOs. Let's not even mention what's currently on the spinning wheel (or even next up to be spun). I'm thinking that the Yarn Harlot could be an influence in the growing number of works-in progress.

So, what do I do now?

Isn't it interesting how, for the longest time, I didn't think that there was any reason to have my own blog? After some thought and encouragement from fellow bloggers, I'll give it a try.

The name gives a hint: I knit a lot, spin yarn, felt a bit and would much rather be playing with fiber than most anything else. My family and I live in western New York state (far, far away from NYC) where winters are long and summers are too short.


DH is a fabulous woodworker, DD is at college and the critters include Gypsy (a crazy Airedale), Bubba & Trouble (daughter's cats) and four bunnies (one giant angora and 3 jersey woolies).