This and That

I really had a great weekend. I actually did not think about whether I would be getting that call to leave to go back to work somewhere. The dread is back today but the weekend was marvelous.

On Sunday, the Ravelry breakfast group met at Panera Bread. I wore my shrug since some of them had seen me knitting it and wanted to see the finished item. I was able to fix the rib. Would you believe that everyone loved it and felt that it should not be a hotel/bed jacket shrug but I should wear it out. I went to the grocery after the meeting and a couple of ladies came up to me to tell me how pretty it was. Maybe I will wear it out sometime. I know I want to make another one with different yarn. Probably my homespun and dyed.

While I was with everyone, the conversation went to a yarn shop in a nearby town that had a great selection and their own knitting patterns.
The burning question and conversation was who was going to the Homespun Party (indie dyers and spinners selling their wares). The Party was the next day from 2-6pm. It was an hour and a half from me so I was not sure that I would go. They were going to carpool if I wanted to come. I had been invited to go to the movies with a group of ladies, so I had another engagement and really did not need to go.

When I got home I decided that I would check out Y2Knit www.y2knit.com
in Funkstown, MD, owned by Susan Wolcott. They do have lots of their own knitting patterns and beautiful yarn. The problem is that they have samples of all their patterns hanging around which caused me to buy patterns that I do not need.

The only thing that I regretted was that there was no inviting place to just sit and knit like they have in Minneapolis. There is a front porch with comfortable furniture, it could be nice. I will have to check it out in the summer.

Before I went to bed, I emailed my movie friend and told her that I would not be able to meet her. I had decided to go to the Homespun Party. I missed the carpool and had to drive in my old rattle trap car to Takoma Park, MD.

When I got to the door of the room that they had for the yarn, all I could see was heads and bodies. I thought at first that it was a fire sale of some kind and I was in the wrong place. Someone moved and I saw yarn...I was in the right place. I am not familiar with the local yarn artist so this was a great introduction.

There was yarn by Yarn Love
Glitz spinning batts by Steph of Loop
Handpainted spinning fibers, patterns and yarn by Gryphon of Sanguine Gryhon
Yarns and fibers by Jennifer Heverty of Spirit Trail Fiberworks
Stitch markers and hand dyed yarn in bright and bold colorways with crazy names by Lindsey of Storm Moon Knits
Paula of Woolarina had hand painted yarn and wool roving
Amy O'Neill Houck of the Hook and I had her great original crochet patterns for sale
Yarn creator Terry Todesco of Crash into Eve had the most marvelous colors, I had to buy some handpainted roving and a skein of sport weight yarn that had silver sparkles. That is so unlike me since I do not normally like sparkly yarn. It had to have been the colors.
Arden Jewelry Designs shared a table with Terry were she displayed handmade jewelry and stitch markers.
NomNomNom provided the baked goods for sale with the proceeds going to Ravelry.
I did buy a DPN Wallet from Katie Fleck of Blue Kitty Designs. She also had circular needle rolls and knitting bags.
Erin aka Mama-E was there with her yarn and spinning fibers. C*Eye*Ber Fiber Warehouse is normally wholesale so this was a treat. She shared her table with Dawn Dornan from
Knitting Gnome were she had some marvelous stitch markers.
I purchased the book Knitspeak and had the author sign it. The books aim is to demystify pattern language. It is sized to fit in your knitting bag.
Dragonfly Fiber Designs offered hand dyed yarns and fiber.
I do hope that the artist will do this again. I am sure that there are others fiber junkies beside me and our Ravelry group that would love to buy from local artist. Word of mouth is going to make the next one even more of success than this one. The only thing is they need a bigger place. I may have brought more if I could have gotten to the tables to look.

After we left the yarn sale we went to Potbelly's for lunch to share our wealth. Ange was the winner. Almost everything in the pile was purchased by her. Maureen did not buy anything, not sure how she managed it.










Today I am going to work on my weaving loom trying to figure out what is wrong because I need to work on some gifts. It looks like there is a tie up problem. At least I hope that is all there is. I can weave the dishtowels on my Ashford or Norwood but I will not be able to make the throw.

As for my knitting, I am working on the Mr. Greenjean's sweater and a pair of socks called Nutkin's. This will keep me busy for awhile.

Until next time....