A few weeks ago I went to Scapoose (I LOVE saying that name), Oregon, for the Blue Moon Fiber Arts annual dye day and barn sale.
I haven't seen Tina in ages so the first order of business was a huge, long hug. Next it was selecting yarn and fiber to dye. There big bins along the wall so you can see everything that is available. You fill out an order form and the Blue Moon folks pull the yarn and fiber and get it soaking for you.
While it soaks, you can shop.
Then you dye. It's all about hand-painting.
Here is Tina giving Trish a little guidance.
I dyed two skeins of De-Vine. The color is much richer and deeper than I managed to capture.
I also dyed a skein of Tigger Targhee. Unfortunately on this one the dye hadn't set completely so it lightened a lot when I went to rinse it.
This yak/silk fiber is my favorite though.
And I had to pick up a few skeins dyed by the master herself.
We had another great trip to Port Townsend this weekend. There is a comforting ritual to the weekend that we follow that starts with catching the ferry to Kingston and then visiting The Artful Ewe in Port Gamble. Every year I take the same photo of Grace, the shop dog, warming herself by the fire.
We eat, we tell stories, we knit, we stroll, we shop, we laugh.
This year I was not sure what projects to take with me. Simple projects are always best for such a boisterous time. I dithered too long so at the last minute I threw a few things in my bag.
I made Rough Diamond Mitts with every last inch of the 3-Ply Polwarth I spun last month. This was like the veggie stir fry of yarns. I just threw together all my leftover bits and somehow ended up with a really nice yarn.
I also worked a bit on my Luna2 that has been sitting untouched since last year. But before that I spun up this roving I dyed last month. I was trying to copy some Spincycle yarn I saw at Bazaar Girls. It was incredibly fast to make and I absolutely love how it turned out.
I also found a set of these narwhal stacking mugs that I saw last year and didn't buy. I hoped to see them again.
I'm off to Madrona. I'm a bit anxious since I'll be encountering a lot of people I haven't seen since I was laid off. I fear I'll have to explain over and over again what happened and, no, I haven't found a new job yet. On the plus side I don't have to work or worry about work. That should leave a lot more hanging out and relaxing time.
I just got home from the Fiber Gallery's first-ever retreat to celebrate our 10th anniversary. We were lucky enough to go to Maupin, Oregon to have a day of instruction with Bonne Marie Burns and a day at the Imperial Stock Ranch. It was amazing. But, since I was running the whole thing, it was also exhausting. Which is why I'm very happy to heading to my usual November retreat to Fort Worden first thing Wednesday morning!
I'm back from Weaving Camp. It's not a real camp. It's a small gathering of weavers that get together with Judith Mackenzie every summer for some dedicated weaving time. I was lucky enough to be invited to join them this summer.
To refresh your memory, I am a failed weaver. I've tried my hand at here and there and other than a few nice scarves off my Cricket rigid heddle loom I've never had success. I brought a big bag of yarn with me, my Rasmussen table loom and a shred of hope.
First attempt: I wanted to make a simple scarf with this Kauni. I discussed it with Judith. We tested the yarn to see if it was strong enough for warp. I measured my warp and got it on the loom with lots of guidance. A warp thread broke before I started weaving. I learned to fix it. Another broke. Then two more. At this point I still haven't done any weaving! We look again at the yarn and see that it has many bad joins in it that are too weak to stand the pressure of the tightened loom. I cut it off my loom and throw it in the trash.
Second attempt: I have two skeins of lace-weight alpaca in two colors that have been in my stash for about ten years. I wound them for a striped warp. Then I didn't like the way they looked. They were blah. So I overdyed the whole warp. (Photo from yesterday's post.) I love the new color but I couldn't weave it at the retreat because it had to dry. I also don't know what I want to use for the weft now.
Third attempt: I try my hand at a "miracle warp." The idea is you throw a bunch of yarns together into a warp that is twice as long and half as wide as you want your finished piece to be. Then you thread both ends making a mirrored warp. I missed the part of the instructions that said the warp should have a cross at both ends. I made my warp with one cross like one would normally. When I was ready to take it off the warping board someone said, "You have to tie your second cross." I stood and blinked. Second cross? What second cross? A great deal of time was then spent trying to fake our way through a second cross. This made the warp a tangled mess. I got it sorted out and through the reed and heddles but not before realizing that I had miscounted and it was too wide for my reed. I pulled threads out. Then I broke a few threads. Fixed those. Then my edge threads started fraying and breaking. Pulled those out. Tension problems came up. Basically every problem a warp could have came up at least twice.
Then I started weaving. Judith wanted me to try a boat shuttle but it would not work with the mixed warp. It kept falling through when it would hit the stretchier yarns. So I'm using a stick shuttle and it's very slow going.
It's not really my colors, is it? No, it's definitely not. I'm planning on overdyeing the whole piece with black to make murky, autumn-y greens when I'm done. But who knows how long that will take.
I also did a lot of dyeing. I dyed some old handspun, some newer handspun, commercial yarns I never liked the look of.
So I learned a ton, dyed a ton and got not weaving completed at all. But it was great and I hope I'm invited back next year.
Today I worked my eighth straight day in a row. Vogue Knitting Live came to "Seattle*" again this weekend. I worked all three days. I can't really tell you much about the event since I spent my whole time in our booth in the market. I did get to see a lot of people I love to see but rarely do. There was lots of hugging but not a lot of time to visit with people. I'm beyond exhausted. I'm finally taking a day off tomorrow.
I've barely had time to knit at all. My Linney is growing very slowly. But I'm already fantasizing about my next sweater. I dove into my stash a few weeks ago and picked out yarns for a 3-in-1. I'm pretty sure this won't be terribly flattering on me but it just looks like such a fun knit. And so long as I'm going to knit one sock yarn sweater I might as well pick out another. There were several great samples of Monomania at the show. What a stashbuster. You know I love a stashbuster. I'm going to look around this weekend and maybe do a little coloring on these great worksheets to see if I can come up with a good combo.
Now I'm going to sleep.
*It takes place in Bellevue, 10 miles from Seattle.
I'm heading to Port Townsend for my annual knitting retreat first thing tomorrow. There won't be a Thursday post this week so sorry for that. I've finished up a few more charity knits plus a really cute little something. I'll share photos and updates when I get home. Have a great weekend!
I'm off to Fort Worden first thing tomorrow. If you're there, come by and say hi. I'll be the lady cursing while frantically trying to finish a Bohus tam.
After tearing the house apart for an hour I have located my TNNA namebadge. I am now ready to go to Columbus (on a 5:53 AM flight but OHMYGOD I can't even talk about that right now). See you all next week!
I'm running behind on everything! I spent last Wednesday through Sunday at the Madrona Fiber Arts Retreat. I didn't take a single photo. What a negligent blogger!
I finished my Stripe Study shawl but haven't had time to block it or even weave in the ends. Did I even tell you I started it? I also finished my socks. I think I told you about those. Then I launched into a Color Affection shawl with stash yarn from Sock Summit 2011 (there may still be some SS2009 stash still lingering).
Now I'm trying to catch up at work, at home and online. Please stand by.
I can't believe I've been home for almost a week now. The Weezer Cruise was amazing. We all had a great time. We paid a huge sum of money to leave a day early and we are so glad that we did. Seattle got socked with snow then an ice storm. We took a red eye Tuesday night and arrived in Miami early on Wednesday. We got to our hotel around 7:30, I think, to drop off our bags. Check in time was 3 pm but by some miracle our room was ready. We went up and all fell asleep for a few hours then spent the day exploring a tiny bit and grabbing things we forgot or didn't have time to buy at home. We even snuck in dinner at Joe's Stone Crab which was a favorite of my family when I was little.
Thursday we had breakfast and got ourselves checked in for the cruise right at noon. Rooms were not ready yet so we explored the ship. The stage on the Lido deck was already set up and people were staking out spots for the Weezer show that was set to begin at 5 pm just after we cast off. Then they announced that we would all have to leave anyway for the safety drill so we relinquished our spot and explored more.
The cruise was set up like a music festival. There were four stages, the Lido deck which was open-air, the Criterion Lounge, the Palladium Theater and a very small stage next to the casino. Weezer played a great opening night concert on the Lido with lots of favorites and the Blue Album in its entirety. They did a midnight screening of Young Frankenstein on the Lido hosted by Brian Bell of Weezer, but we were all too tired.
Friday we were at sea so there were shows going on on multiple stages all day plus activities with a rock show twist. Yoga was hosted by Star of Ozma. Bands hosted bingo, a flip cup tournament, taught people how to make a martini, etc. We just floated around all day catching performances. This was the day we found Wes's favorite band, Yacht Rock Revue. It does them a disservice to say they are a 70s/80s cover band. They are more like reenactors. They performed pitch perfect renditions of the most delightfully terrible music. Pina Colada song, Hall and Oates, Billy Joel. Great stuff.
Friday was the Ugly Sweater theme night. The sweater I posted for Thursday was created for this event. There was no contest or anything but let me tell you, I totally won. People stopped me and complimented me on how hideous my sweater was all night. At 10 pm we and half the guests on the cruise got our second Weezer show. This one was inside in the Palladium Theater. We had seats in the first balcony RIGHT NEXT TO THE STAGE. Truly, the best seats in the house except for the few lucky fans who got to stand right next to the stage. The did B sides, favorites then the Pinkerton album in its entirety. Weezer frequently performs covers of other bands songs. I've heard them do Nirvana, MGMT, Lady Gaga and Radiohead before but this night they made my whole year by performing Wheatus's Teenage Dirtbag. It's my go-to at karaoke and they were so great with it. I can't find any video of it but a search on Youtube shows they have performed it several times in the past year.
Saturday we spent the day in Cozumel. We did a little snorkling and swimming and got lunch at a cheesy restaurant. Then Dinosaur Jr. took the stage as we cast off.
Older son and I looked on as J Mascis rocked the hell out.
Saturday was also 80s Prom Night.
Those shades I'm sporting are vintage 80s purchased in Greenwich Village when I was in junior high school.
Sunday we saw the Doug Loves Movies podcast record. It was a very funny show and a really good time but I don't know if I would have taken the children if I knew there were going to veer so off color. The kids loved it. You can hear our show via iTunes (1/24/12 episode).
Wes and I also got to renew our vows in a ceremony presided over by Scott Shriner, Weezer's bassist. Younger Son grudgingly filmed us and stopped the camera the moment he felt the ceremony had ended. It's a bit shaky but I think it's pretty sweet.
Sunday's theme was mustache night. At the last minute I asked the kids if I should knit them mustaches. Fortunately I had some brown yarn with me. I made two seed stitch trapezoids and sewed them to chop sticks. Use what you have, right? This shot is before they were entirely done.
Then it was over. We had so much fun and rocked so hard. All while rubbing elbows with great rock stars. We got to have a family photo taken with Weezer. I wore my ugly sweater. The children were horrified. Wes got to chat with Josh Freese while getting a glass of water about how great it was that he sat in with Yacht Rock Revue for a rendition of Steely Dan's Peg. It was so cool seeing all these artists coming to check out each other's shows. I saw the bassist of Ozma taking pictures of Dinosaur Jr. I saw Dinosaur Jr. shooting video of Yacht Rock Revue. Hell, J Mascis saw Wes sing a Spandau Ballet song at 80s karaoke! It was a big, squishy lovefest of rock and I'm so glad we went. Others may have partied harder but we all had a blast.
There are many more great videos from the cruise on Youtube if you're interested. There's also a great photoset from Weezer.
This isn't my video. I was too busy screaming and jumping up and down to film anything. This was the first number of the first show just after we sailed from Miami. More on the cruise soon.
We were supposed to leave on a red eye flight on Wednesday night to head to Miami for our Weezer cruise. We have snow in the forecast. Lots of snow. And Seattle doesn't do snow very well. We were starting to freak out so we are leaving a day early. I won't have a Thursday post this week but I promise I will have a really amazing and truly unique one for you next week. Have a great week and I'll see you when I get back!
I have a child with a sloppy cold at home from school today which means I am home for the day which means I finally got to take some photos despite the gray, gray, GRAY sky here in Seattle. I have to admit the two things holding up my blogging lately are not having photos and sheer laziness. Like today I took a bunch of photos of things but you won't see my progress on my Cornflower Shawl or my latest pair of socks because they are upstairs and I am downstairs. You do the math.
I can show you a few things though. Last week I went to my retreat at Fort Worden*. This is a retreat where there are no classes or scheduled anything other than meals. You can spend your time as you choose. Many participants go shopping in Port Townsend, walk along the beach, walk to town for coffee. I sit on my butt and knit. The whole time. I also usually spin but this year despite bringing my Hansen Mini-Spinner and my current spinning project I never brought any of it out of my room. I knit on Cornflower. I knit a few Hexapuffs. And I--gasp--crocheted! Allow me to explain.
Many cruises have theme nights. This cruise will have an 80s Prom night (which will be less funny for those of us who were old enough to attend a prom in the 80s). It will also have an Ugly Sweater night. Weezer sings The Sweater Song. Get it?
I am taking this challenge seriously. I intend to make the ugliest sweater the world has ever known. Given that I have been studying ugly sweaters for nearly seven years I need to turn it out. So I gathered every strange, ugly, fluffy, furry yarn that lurked deep in my stash and I began to crochet. Why crochet? Because using a giant hook it goes faster than knitting. When I got to the retreat I was offered my pick from an entire box of novelty yarns. Then I let my friends pick which yarns I should add next. It's really coming along but I don't want to spoil the surprise. So here's just a tease of what's in store.
Just before the retreat I decided I really wanted to knit the Carnaby skirt and that I wanted a tweedy yarn. The very first thing I found in the stash sale (one of the best parts of the retreat) was a bag of about 6-7 skeins of Tahki Designer Homespun Tweeds in a great shade of purple. Sold! I would have cast on on the spot but I didn't have any needles. I did start it right away when I got home and it's an addicting knit. So easy and fun to watch all those little wedges of skirt grow.
I bought several other great yarns like this bag of Koigu.
This stunning handspun by Sandi Soreng.
Color changing yarns like this cotton.
And this surprisingly matching shade of Kauni.
Oh yeah, and some Fleece Artist.
So I left for the retreat with a giant shopping back to sell or give away and I came home with two shopping bags full of yarn! Okay, I better get back to work.
* This retreat has been a super secret, you need to know the secret handshake type of affair for years. After 20-something years they have realized that some new blood will be a good thing. If you would like to get on the mailing list for the it please email me with your name and address and I can pass it on to the retreat coordinator.
Yes, it's that time of year when I run away from home and spend five days knitting, spinning and relaxing. I think my phone knows what's up because I was playing Words with Friends last night and got this "bingo."
I'm back from five days in Chicago. Wes and I lived there before moving to Seattle 16 years ago. We haven't been back in 15 years so we had lots we wanted to see and do. The city has changed so much. We were completely astonished and we found relief in finding (good) things that had stayed the same.
I think I love the architecture in Chicago most of all. I took a lot of photos of little details like this from the University of Chicago campus.
Lincoln Park.
We took the kids to many, many museums. I found a sheep grazing at the Art Institute.
And found this strange human figure made of bubble wrap and packing tape dangling in a tree in our old neighborhood.
I got back from Sock Summit on Sunday night with an ENORMOUS bag of yarn in tow. Yeah, went a little crazy. But now I've got a really busy week ahead of me. I need to get some photos taken of the yarn, my newly finished Knit, Swirl sweater and the new sweater I'm working on. Soon, I hope.
