Spinning projects November 2018

 One of my treasures from Black Sheep Gatherings past.  This is called Paper Roses. 

That little bit of Glitter really makes it sparkle

 

One of the first projects on my new e-spinner.  I'm also working on some roving from our sheep for another sweater for The Shepherd. 

I think this would make a pretty capelet, don't you? 

Spinning

I have been making up for lost time on my new electric spinning wheel.  Since I'm working on yarn for a new vest for The Shepherd, I have decided to do one bobbin for him, one bobbin for me. (I get easily bored spinning plain white yarn) This green is some merino and fire-star that I got from Paradise Fibers in Spokane.  I finally had to unsubscribe from their newsletter because I kept buying stuff and god only knows I don't need to add to my already abundant stash. (You think I'm kidding don't you...)

This is also the last project on my Ashford Traveller wheel, so it is for sale. Contact me if you are interested.

Golly, I almost forgot - We hosted a Spin-In

 Back in October - Holy cow - almost a month ago! - my spinner guild "Spindrifters" hosted the NW Regional Spinners Assoc. Board Meeting and Spin-In.  I was on the planning committee - we had been working on this since early in the summer.

Although our attendance was not as high as we would have liked, we had about 60 people turn out, and I think everyone had a great time. 

I was in charge of getting our vendors - for what good is a Spin-In without great Vendors?

Niki K. from JNK Llama Farm in Bellingham
was there with her lovely llama fiber.  

Of course, The Shepherd was there with our award winning Shetland Fiber. 

My friend Janet was there with Dorset fiber and some lovely shawl pins that her daughter makes. 

Allen Berry, woodcarver, was one of the first vendors I contacted.  His hand carved wooden items are  beautiful! 

Our guild put together 5 or 6 gorgeous and highly anticipated raffle baskets.  

Doug & Yvonne Madsen from Spinner's Eden Farms were there with their prized CVM fiber.  They host the Wonderful Woollies spring fiber sale that we take part in.  

There was lotsa spinning going on -

Lotsa laughing, and lotsa hugging.  It was a great day.  

And there was lotsa buying going on too, and since I was the one who got all these vendors out, of course, I had to buy a few things.  Like this adorable fabric bag that is just the right size for my crochet hooks and accouterments.  



Just look at this adorable fabric with the little Japanese kitties. 

And I was very excited that Scarlet from Huckleberry Knits was willing to be a vendor. She lives here in Bellingham, but sells all over the US through retailers and her ETSY Store 
Of course I had to support her booth!  (Of Course!) 

All in all, it was a great day. 





.

Yes, LOOT!

 (Thanks Michelle for reminding me that I hadn't put a title on this post!!) 

Well, as you surmised from the last post, last week was the Black Sheep Gathering down in Eugene.  Our annual vacation.

Some changes this year - all the vendors were in the concert pavilion - Air conditioned comfort
and lots of room - but more on that soon -








The thing is, to get to Eugene, first you have to go through Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, Chehalis/Centralia - and then there is Portland.

 

 The land of bridges & tail lights -

Portland is called "The Rose City" and they have bush roses planted all along the freeways there.








It is so dry this year, they look kind of stressed already and all the brown grass in the medians - somebody throws out a cigarette and everything is going to burn to the ground!

But we MADE IT through Portland, with only a few delays - Generally Thursday early afternoons are not too bad (and actually coming home on Sunday morning we breezed right through!) 

 The Lane County Fairgrounds is comprised of this big pavilion, then barns that the animals are in - because they had moved the MarketPlace into the pavilion, they also included alpacas this year. 









 As you can see, lots of wide aisles
and lots and lots of vendors!

 With room left over for three spinning circles!  (no, my wheel stays home - I bring my crochet projects on the road)

 This was one of my favorite booths - she has such pretty colors! 

 How could you pass this up?????

















 So, while The Shepherd shopped for sheep,



I shopped for spinning goods

One lady said she figured that her stash had now exceeded her life expectancy.....  


















Gracie says: "I think mom has EASILY exceeded that mark - she brought home TWO BIG BAGS of spinning stuff!"

 

New "stash" from Black Sheep -

 I'm finally getting around to showing you all the goodies that I brought back from this years Black Sheep Gathering.

I went shopping with the intent of buying fiber to spin for the 2012 Squalicum Valley Artisans Faire in September.  I'm hoping to have at least a dozen skeins of yarn for sale and hopefully some crocheted items too.

BSG is such a feast for the senses!  You can find yarn, fiber, and what ever else in just about every color of the rainbow. 

This picture, taken a couple of years ago, illustrates the magnitude of the decisions that you have to make - what to buy, what to buy? 

I knew for sure that I wanted to go to Crown Mountain Farm  booth to get some grey baby alpaca and baby camel roving to match what I got last year so I'd have enough to finish my project.  But look what I found - mullberry silk sliver, in a 2 ounce package, dyed in the most beautimus colors! (honestly, I could have gotten one of each color, and there were 13 or 14 shades!)








And they had some Blue Faced Leicester dyed in the same color way!  How could I not get this big bundle of deliciousness? ? ?  

And then there was this blue green "lake colors" that are my very favorite colors in the whole world (get the feeling that this one might not make it to the sales table???)

Write it up, Mr. Crown Mountain - I gotta get out of your booth before I spend any more money! 

Then down the way at Carolina Homespun (where their motto seems to be "Spin for Peace and Equality") I found this pretty Mountain Colors BFL .  It JUST MATCHED the silk, don't you think - good fiber karma, I thought...

I also bought a couple of new crochet hooks - you can never have too many crochet hooks, you know.

Other things I got was this 1# bump of blue variegated potluck roving - It is probably corriedale or another fine, soft wool.  I have a couple of projects in mind for it.  







Another place that is a favorite to shop is Dawn's Custom Carding -

This Romney roving will spin up like a dream. 

She always has something to feed my mohair locks addiction...

More Romney in some nice fallish colors - it will be a pretty variegated yarn, that,  hopefully will sell well. 

And of course, I needed a new bar of Fogwash Soap.  Couldn't leave BSG with out that~

Let me know what you think of all my new treasures, OK?