Fat Cat Crochet

October 24, 2011

Southeastern Animal Fiber Fest 2011

Filed under: Good Friends, SAFF, Southeastern Animal Fiber Fest, Spinning — Linda @ 6:03 am

Three of my Knit Night buddies and I headed up to the WNC Agricultural Center in Fletcher, NC Saturday morning for what is becoming an annual trip for me. It was a beautiful, Fall day. Quite crisp when we first arrived.  I was very happy to have worn my beautiful Traveling Woman Shawl knitted for me by a dear friend. It was perfect and I received many, many compliments on it:)  One day I will knit well enough to attempt something like this.

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SAFF this year was amazing as usual.  Almost 140 vendors. Almost all cottage industry.  Out at one of the barns they were showing alpaca, sheep, goats, llama, and rabbits and awarding ribbons for the quality fiber. Classes were held in spinning, dying, weaving and knitting technics.  One year I’ll have to take a class in…something:)

We arrived about 10am and went to checked out the alpaca & llama barn.  We set up a time and place to meet up for lunch and headed in different directions.  I went down to the show barn and watched some judging before heading up the hill to the outdoor Sales Arena.  So many pretties!!  I wasn’t halfway through before I snagged and entire pound of natural (undyed) alpaca / gold dyed wool from ZWool.

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No, I have no clue what I’ll make out of it but I loved the colors and it was a great price.  Also in the outdoor arena I found this sweet  shawl pin from Clay Cat

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She has some beautiful and colorful and unique pins but this one in a neutral color caught my eye.

Last year I had purchased some amazing fiber from Rivers Edge Fiber Arts and knew I wanted more.  She didn’t disappoint.

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Can you believe these braids were dyed with one color?  The different fibers absorb dye differently but thats only of a 5 step process.

Later in the day I was completely mesmerized by this beautiful Garnet colored Merino from Delly’s Delights Farm. I couldn’t pass it up.  It is so soft!  And the color is just…sigh. What’s that it’s sitting in you ask?  That my friends is a Yarn Bowl hand thrown by Kelsey Schissel at Plays in Mud.  Kelsey is not only a very talented potter but an artist who decorates her pieces with stamped decorations as well.

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With all these beautiful fibers it was hard to decide which one to start spinning first.  I just had to start at the begining.

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October 3, 2011

The Big Five O

Filed under: Family, Life, Random — Linda @ 6:32 am

In September I joined the 50 Club.  Some of my family were able to share in the Milestone Day which made it all the more special for me.


There were gifts and cake…

50th Collage

and amazing family…

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(E)special(ly) Family.

Thank you everyone who sent me Birthday Wishes!  It was a great day:)

September 7, 2011

Well Looky Here…

It’s a Blog Post. Huh.  Sorry it’s been a while. I’ve been posting a few things here and there on Facebook and Ravelry but nothing here because well, most of you are my FB Friends or Ravelry mates. And I guess I didn’t figure I had enough to make a whole post. Whatever that means.

Anyway we had a nice quiet Labor Day weekend here. With all the weekend wack jobs out on the lake and Tropical Storm Lee (which was supposed to dump 6 to 10 inches of rain on us, we got one) we didn’t make any big plans besides relaxing. We did a little cleaning and a little laundry and watched a whole lot of vintage Law & Order. 

The kitten & the dog shared a pillow.

Tina n Sparkie Labor Day 2011

 

Monday Night Knit Night was canceled due to the holiday and the LYS, Piddlin’ Patch was closed.  I decided to do some spinning. 

I’ve had this 8oz of green/orange Zombie Slaying,  Briar Rose Bluefaced Leicester Fiber (http://www.briarrosefibers.net/) for a little while now.

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It spun up very smooth.  I’m not sure if I’m going to ply them together or find a complimentry color and ply it with that.

Briar Rose BFL

I have to do something with it and the other 4 bobbins of fiber I have sitting around.  I’m down to one bobbin:)  I’m going to SAFF http://www.saffsite.org/ next month and I know I’ll be buying more spinning fiber!  I’ll need empty bobbins! LOL!

August 4, 2011

I Won!

Filed under: Lake Keowee, Life, Skinny Dog — Tags: , — Linda @ 6:03 am

OK. a year ago!  I won a Gift Card over at Gizzards & Calf Fries (check out her awesome photos and if you’re on FB check out the  4 Paws Project. She does great work/photography for her local humane society) for an online store called CSN Stores.  Honestly I had never heard of them so I perused the site to see what I could find.  I had a few things in mind but couldn’t find just what I was looking for.

Living on the Lake like we do we spend a lot of time in the water.  After work and on weekends we can usually be found in our Sling/Noodle chairs with the neighbors floating, chatting and drinking.

Which is great until the dog joins us.  See, she really likes to be with her People.

Sparkie Collage

O.K. She really likes to be with ME.  Which is only a problem when she wants to be in my lap!  She’s only 35 pounds but those nails are sharp and her feet leave bruises. And then it hit me.  Sparkie needs her own float!  Something that keeps her out of the water (mostly) and won’t puncture.  That’s when I found this…

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(the float, not the girl) (although I wish I could say that was me but um, no) on the CSN.com website.  It’s perfect for Sparkie and she loves it!  She walks right off the dock onto it,

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Sparkies new float

stands or lays down and just enjoys being part of the gang.

August 3, 2011

Wordless Wednesday

Filed under: Life, Random, WTH?, Wordless Wednesday — Tags: , , — Linda @ 12:58 pm

Toe JamYou know you want some:)

July 18, 2011

Family

Filed under: Family, Life, Travel — Tags: — Linda @ 2:37 pm

I took a quick trip to Chicago this past weekend for an impromptu mini family reunion. One of my cousins was going to be in town on business and wanted to see everyone but just couldn’t get to everyone.  So my sister Phyllis put out the word “Party at my Place!” and well, we all came:)

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Most of these incredibly beautiful (and modest) people still live in the Chicago area but like most of you we just don’t get around to making the time to visit.  It takes an ‘event’ to get together.  And we are not above inventing an event to do it:)

Don’t you want to look a good as my Aunt Dorothy when you’re 80?!   Yes, she’s beautiful!  (And she’ll probably kill me for posting her picture AND telling her age.  Worth it.)

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Some of us had not seen each other in so long we were asking for name tags.  Now that’s just pathetic.

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But we have vowed not to wait that long again and my sister is already planning next years reunion.

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July 13, 2011

Wordless Wednesday

Filed under: Uncategorized — Linda @ 9:13 am

Sparkies new float

July 12, 2011

Tour de Fleece

Filed under: Actual Spinning, Tour de Fleece — Linda @ 6:24 am

Day 7 and 8

TdF2011 Day 7

Now THIS is what I call a fun spin!  This is an amazing fiber blend of  Hand Dyed 70% SW Merino, 15% Seacell and 15% Banana (Yea. Banana!). I saw this at S.A.F.F. last Fall and kept coming back to the booth. The colors really grabbed me but the price ($25/4 oz braid) really didn’t.  But once I committed to purchasing Fanty (my wheel:) I just had to try some.  When I found out it was called Screaming Wild Monkeys (available exclusively from River’s Edge Fiber Arts) oh Hell, I had to have two!   It’s a dream to spin!  The staple is at least 4 inches long and so smooth!  It makes spinning fun and easy!

Here’s some info on the fiber blend:

SW Merino – From the Lion Brand website “Superwash wool is a wool yarn that is machine washable and, therefore, will not felt.  Each hair of wool is made up of scales. Felting occurs when these scales bind together. The superwash process prevents the scales from binding in one of two ways. Some superwash wools are given an acid bath that removes its scales. Alternatively, the yarn can be coated with a polymer or resin; this is essentially a protective coating for the yarn to prevent felting. A yarn can be treated with either or both methods to become superwash. It’s important to remember that excessive heat (such as with a hot setting on a washing machine or dryer) can damage a superwash coating, which may lead to felting.”    To me the SW process makes the wool less ’sticky’, more slippery which makes it easier for me to draft and therefore spin.

Seacell - is a fabric made out of Lyocell (a 100% wood pulp fiber) and seaweed. The theory is that your skin will absorb nutrients from the seaweed, which is quite mineral- and vitamin-rich. It is said  that the porous, open structure of the Seacell fibers “breath” well and absorb what your skin expels.

Banana – Textiles from banana fiber is pretty rare here in the states, but in India and Japan it’s widely available. Commercial banana fiber is produced in the same way rayon is – the stems and leaves are made into a pulp and extruded into long strands.  Banana trees are more renewable than the wood used for rayon, and of course it’s multi-functional (mmm, bananas), so the fiber itself is already pretty eco-friendly.

July 11, 2011

Tour de Fleece

Filed under: Actual Spinning, Tour de Fleece — Linda @ 6:27 am

Days 5 and 6

Day 5 and 6

(Sparkie finds the soft sound of the wheel very soothing:)

This is the fiber I received with the purchase of my wheel.  I’m a new spinner and don’t yet know the differences between Coopworth or any other kind of wool.  Or the different processes that are used to prep the fleece for spinning.  All I know is I don’t like this fiber.  It’s got lots of  ’veggie matter’  in it  (meaning there are lots of hay bits mixed in) and it’s lumpy, bumpy, nubby.  It’s almost as if it missed a step in the cleaning/prepping process.  I checked the forum boards over on http://www.ravelry.com/ and found some people with the same issues from this manufacturer and some who have had beautiful fiber from them.  I don’t think I’ll be buying any more of it soon.   I still have 4 more ounces of it but I think I’ll switch to something fun!

Maybe this?!

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July 6, 2011

Tour de Fleece

Filed under: Actual Spinning — Linda @ 10:00 am

Day 4

I ‘rested’ on the Fourth of July, meaning I did not spin.  I did prep this half pound of Dark Coopworth wool.

Day 4 Coopworth]

It’s not my favorite fiber so far.  I had initially thought I was being ambitious in my spinning goals.  I thought it would be a challenge to spin all this up before the end of the Tour de France.

TdF2011 Stash

I will neither confirm nor deny that I have already purchased more Alpaca:D 

Sparkie likes the sound my wheel makes when I spin:)Sparkie likes Fanty

She usually lays on the sofa with me in the evenings but when I spin she lays on the floor close by.

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