New Yarn

Sorry I've been gone. Two weeks ago I was done in the dumps and didn't feel like writing. This past week I've been on vacation from work and didn't feel like writing. So I took the time off. After all, I don't want this to feel like a job. So I apologize but I'm back and feeling better.

Today I met some of the ladies of my knitting group and a couple husbands and we had breakfast and then headed out to Heartland Fiberpalooza, a fiber convention in Winterset, Iowa. Imagine a room filled with yarn, rovings, and knitters. It was loud and colorful and a lot of fun. I'm not ashamed to say I loved every minute of it.

Breakfast was at a local restaurant that mixes Lexus drivers and farmers and hunters. It's out in the country but the area is surrounded by half a million dollar homes. Overalls mix with prada bags. It's a great environment and even better food. It's also right on the way to Winterset (yes where the covered bridges are). The convention was down at the fairgrounds and was really only one building. There were less than a dozen exhibitors but it didn't matter. The focus of the show was on spinning and dyeing but there was plenty of hand-dyed yarn. I wandered the show and then started the spending spree. Jeff and I had set aside some mad money and I managed to spend all of it.

After the convention, we all went to a local Mexican place for one of the best mexican lunches I've had in a while. Mi Pueblito offered a ton of vegetarian fare and the potato burrito and cheese enchielada were some of the best I've ever had. Add in some good salsa and a great cheese dip and I was in heaven. I'll be heading back. After lunch we hit the local yarn store, the one that had sponsored the festival. I bought more yarn (I might have a problem). After the money was gone and we were tired, we each headed home where I sat and knit for hours. It was wonderful. I walked away with five total skeins of yarn and no money leftover. It was well worth it though. A great day with yarn and friends.

Sorry this one is so washed out. I loved the mix of brown and blues. I just couldn't capture how beautiful it is with the camera. Here is a better picture. 

Yarn Harlot

This next statement may seem like an oxymoron but I swear to you that it is true. Last night I was reading a knitting book and laughing so hard I was crying. Over the weekend I picked up a copy of Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's Yarn Harlot: The Secret Life of a Knitter and breezed through it. I literally sat down on the couch at about seven and was almost finished by midnight. I devoured this book and with good reason...it's hilarious and oh so true.

I had picked up McPhee's At Knits End a couple years ago and had been reading periodically through it. That book is mostly little snippets (less than a page) about one aspect of knitting along with some great quotes. Yarn Harlot is a series of personal essays about projects McPhee has worked, letters to fictitous designers, and yarn stash related stories. One letter to a designer was so hilarious that I had tears rolling down my cheeks. When finished with the letter, I handed the book over to Jeff who laughed as well (non-knitter that he is). It was a fake apology to the designer for all the names she had called her the previous night while trying to knit a sock. Things like "colossal waste of time," "out of your everloving mind", and my favorite "a few jalapenos short of a zippy salsa". The whole letter was hilarious and I could easily see myself cursing a bad design in far less hilarious, but more colorful words.

Any knitters in the group will know the pull of a good yarn store and the practically standard purchasing of yarn you don't need. I myself own an entire cabinet full of yarn, some of which I freely admit will never be knit into anything. And remember I've only been knitting for a little over three years. McPhee talks about all of this, telling us with humor and a bit of horror the stories of her knitting life. One of my favorite essays is one on how to properly stash your yarn when it fills you closets. She suggests freezers (mothfree even), rarely used baking pans, sleeves of coats and suits, and tucked into the couch cushions. She talks about her family's response to her obsessive knitting and yarn collecting. Then again, this is a woman who buys yarn with cash so she won't leave a paper trail.

I loved the stories in the book and I still have two or three essays that I couldn't finish last night. I pushed until midnight to finish but finally had to go to bed. I would have been done sooner but when I was about half way through the book I had to set it down (hilarious as it is) and pick up my needles. I suddenly just wanted to knit. I consider a book about a hobby successful when I can't even get through it and already want to be working on that hobby. I did the same thing with Writing Down the Bones. I was writing even before the middle of the book. Yarn Harlot just made me laugh, made me appreciate the beautiful (and sometimes frustrating) hobby that is knitting, and more importantly it made me want to knit. A must have book for any knitter in your life.

Crafty

Tuesdays have become my knitting nights recently. When my sister and I first started getting together to knit it was almost always on Mondays. I knew that each week I would be busy on Monday nights. But that was back when there was only two of us. Slowly over the last year and a half our knitting group has grown. Tonight we had six people who came out, and there were three others that couldn't make it. We've gotten big. 

With the leaves starting to fall and the weather turning colder I've been in the mood to knit. I'm working on a scarf for a friend and think I'm almost finished. I'm a terribly slow knitter and this is a long scarf and it will eventually have tassles on the end. I'll try to post a picture when I'm done. I think it's the best one I have done so far. Next I plan to either make myself a hat or some socks. 

After I went home I decided that I would look at one of my sister's friends websites. She spins and dyes her own yarns, along with making all sorts of sewn items. And I ended up buying some yarn. Actually I drooled over a lot of yarn and then was disciplined enough to only buy one. But people like my sister's friend make me wish that I was more crafty. She is constantly making things. www.sewspun.com. I am constantly amazed at how she finds the time to create all of these things with two small children and a house to mind. I don't even have children and I don't make things like this. 

Here is just a sample of the yarn that she has made and some rather pretty pumpkins that she's sewn. Thank goodness she has finally opened a store. Check it out. (Mandy, I hope you don't mind that I "borrowed" some of your pictures. It was done with love.) 

I am always fascinated by crafts. One of my other favorite sites Roadside Scholar is predominately an art site but occasionally has crafts. Everything that is feature is interesting or incredible or both. I promised my sister I would find and post a picture of this cashmere elf house from meekssandygirl. (etsy name) I had seen it on the site many months ago and had been just amazed. What sort of pattern do you use for something like this? 

And lastly if you are interested in homemade gifts you need to check out Etsy. www.etsy.com. There are a number of very crafty people out there selling pretty much everything under the sun. It is well worth a look. Here is a screenshot with just some of the things available.