The Fiber Side of Village Books

Monday, July 26, 2010

New Stuff!

So it was time for the Knitting Guild of America Conference in Manchester, NH and I was READY.  Here we see a tiny bomb (knitted by my sister Kathlene) in place at a McDonald's in Augusta, Maine.

Later that same day -
A railing outside the Radisson Hotel, Manchester, NH, was hit!

Then the KNITTING OUT LOUD team got to work!  We had a great weekend!



In other news -
I'm working very hard at my spinning.  Here's my first attempt at plying two of my handspun yarns together!  The grey is hand-picked, hand-carded & hand-spun Romney, and the gold is hand-spun from merino roving I bought in NH.  Very excited about the way the gold gleams through the grey.  We see this colour range a lot in late fall in Maine.

I'm also trying to hone my designing skills.  Here's a little sample I came up with, holding two yarns together & working in stockinette.  (one commercial yarn, one my Romney). I love the way it appears to form a pattern, just because the mohair I used and the Romney both have beautiful fuzzy bloom.

Washing & drying more Romney now in the cool, fresh wind that we're being treated to here today.

More soon!

Sunday, July 25, 2010

OPEN FARM DAY IN MAINE

A glorious summer's day here in Maine, and farms throughout the state were open to visitors.  We managed Brae Maple, Agricola, Hawes and Guinni Ridge farms in Union, before visiting Sweet Season Farm Cafe here in Washington for lobster rolls and ginger ice cream. 

At Brae Maple I met a bunch of spinners who graciously invited me to sit and knit (I didn't bring a wheel), then I went down to Agricola and bought some lovely black alpaca yarn.  At Guinni Ridge we looked at the Katahdin & Suffolk sheep, and I bought some white roving (Corriedale & Romney blend).  Definitely would like to carry roving at Village Books and talked it up a bit with the spinners.

At Hawes Farm we bought some beautiful French green beans and small red potatoes (which we were going to have for dinner until I got the lobster roll/ice cream idea).

All in all, very satisfying day.  And now to my spinning wheel! Do you think spinning will burn off those calories?