The Wool Market

(Which seems like ancient history)

On my own, I drove up early.  I will say that on most June mornings, a drive up the mountain is a glorious thing.  And so it was the Saturday of the Estes Park Wool Market.

I got there a shade before opening, which of course meant the vendor barn was OPEN! For business! Also not nearly as crowded that time of day as later. I win!

I think the EPWM is of a good size.  One vendor barn, lots of variety, and not terrible overwhelming.  Just right!  I managed to support the economy without breaking the personal bank.

And I added to the stash, and paid no attention to my goal of not adding to the stash (unless it is a killer bargain or souvenir yarn) (unless I consider the Wool Market a vacation, and ALL of it souvenir yarn) (but that is Extreme Rationalizing…even for me):

Prepared roving: 50/50 camel/silk; 50/50 bamboo/merino (dyed) (I had a gift cert!); some blue-faced Leicester; and some suri (a thank you gift) (see below)

Raw fleece: 2.6 lbs of Australian Bond, and 2.3 lbs of Romeldale

Yarn: 1 oz of 15% qiviut.  Oh yes I did!  And just for about a minute?  I thought seriously of the 100% qiviut….at $90/oz.

(Yeah….no.)  But as I write this…I am doing the math.  15% for $30….or 100% for $90.  I think the 100% is a better deal!  More qiviut for the buck!!! D-oh!

Accessories: Hand-turned Wraps Per Inch gauge

Wonderful Guy rode the Bandit up and met me for a lunch, picking me up at the fairgrounds. After lunch, I found the alpaca tent, and within the alpaca tent, the suri association booth.  I had seen a message in the EPWM forum on Ravelry that they were looking for some spinners to demo mad spinning skilz, and well, it worked out that I could do that.

And I did.  Now it is important to understand that this is scary stuff for me...people I don’t know, out in the public, doing stuff where others might be all judgey judgey.  Three strikes and I could bow out very easily. (Oh…I couldn’t find the door to the tent… I was going to be 5 minutes late so I figured you wouldn’t want me to come… the wind was blowing…any excuse will do!)

But I went, and I spun for strangers, on a wheel that wasn’t Molly the Marvelous Matchless, and it was fun and awesome, and people were friendly and there were two neighborly alpacas that kept looking over their pen at me wondering what I was doing.  AND! they gave me free suri roving to boot.  Win again!

After two hours, someone else came to spin, and I was done. I gathered my swag, and headed down the mountain.

Blue skies, snow capped mountains, a bit of a breeze, yarny goodness, wool bearing critters, good spinning, and a bit of a ride on the Bandit.

Life is good indeed.

Incidentals

(because I have been just overwhelmed and so busy of late)
Biking this year: 130+ miles (just June, got a late start)

Knitted on the flight to Mexico, packed bamboo needles for knitting on the way home, hearing how Mexican security is about knitting needles, but ended up packing them. I was past thinking that hard. I haven’t knit a stitch in 12 days and counting.

4 blocks left on Grandgirl #3’s quilt.

One raw fleece (of 4 requiring it) scoured. It’s a CVM/Romeldale from a local farm, a covered, skirted fleece that was so clean, I might just be in love.

I gained 2 pounds on vacation. We are going to visit the Guy’s dad and step-mom over the 4th…she who usually has home-made cookies for the snacking. I am doomed.

3 posts written but requiring photo editing. They are good, exciting posts. Sort of.

Today’s high…100 (or close enough).

RIP

Rest in peace, Sheba, under the lilac.

Your peeps are wating to greet you in Kitty Heaven, where everything is wild catnip and free range rodents.

You were a good cat, and I will miss you.

Why Don't She Write?

Well, it's like this.  I have been on the go.  And for a week, without internet.  Well, I could have paid for it, but see the new header?

Well...I didn't need the internet with that view a minute's walk from our room.

Since I last wrote, I went to the Estes Park Wool Market, and bought wonderful stuff, which I shall tell about. Later.

After the wool market weekend, which was wonderful, I picked up our passports from the safety deposit box at the bank, and gathering all necessary and appropriate documentation, I packed.  I even anticipated Mexican security prohibiting metal knitting needles on the flight back, and planned appropriately.

Armed with camera and laptop (for downloading all the photos I was going to take), knitting and reading, shorts, tanks, swimsuits, dress and shawl for the wedding, we flew south of the border.

Where right off the bat, the fancy smancy camera lenses fogged up! And continued to do so everytime it emerged from inside to outside. One cooler evening, I was able to take several photos, and thought I had 'the trick'. Booyah! However the next morning...camera wouldn't even turn on!! Seems condensate formed on some little contact somewhere.  It was torture as I was not the only one with a camera that was not functioning properly.  Fortunately, I, as well as others, had taken our little cameras that worked very well.

Very frustrating. At least the camera is working now.  Now that I am...you know....HOME!!!!

We saw Eldest married successfully. I snorkeled for the first time. We were allowed back into the country.

The following day, Lovely Step-Daughter arrived from Desert Crazy Town for a friend's bridal shower, and we saw her....for lunch!

Then I took a nap.  For 2 hours.  Or maybe more.  I didn't count.

More details will be forthcoming. I just felt the need to re-surface.

Lettuce Salad

Oh yes…

My very own produce,

and it is ta-ast-ty (mostly because I grew it myself!)

Exchanges

(2 types)

1^st – the material

While meeting up in the old hometown recently, my sisters and I took advantage to save some postage and exchange some belated and early (depending on who you were) birthday gifts, and other miscellany.

I handed over a ‘for real and honest’ wool quilt batt for Dearest Sister, and some handspun, handdyed Jacob for Wisest Sister.

From Dearest, I received a cutie pie Longaberger basket filled with shortbread cookies. What? No photo? No shortbreads?  Whatever…I have already eaten them in my efforts to not gain poundage before Cancun.

From Wisest, I received a stack of these vintage knitting magazines.

(You will want to clicky for biggy, as these models are stylin'...)

All for some wool!

2^nd – the verbal

Dearest’s Sister Hubster leaves the 90^th birthday party to watch one of two car races that afternoon, the Indy and some Coca Cola NASCAR (fill in the blank with mileage).

Me: I don’t know why…all it is, is driving fast in left-handed circles…

Him: (shaking his head as he leaves) I know…

Later that day…

Him: I thought about it and I decided you are right.  NASCAR is boring.  Nothing but going round in circles that same way.  I have decided to take up a new hobby…
…spinning!

Me:  (crickets)

We shared much good laughter, because he scored with that one!

Finished!

(And with 10 days before she heads to Mexico!)

For Eldest…

For the beach at Cancun…

(I know...it's not her, and it's not with a swim suit...work with me here...)

For her wedding stay…

From Vogue Knitting (Summer 2011), out of Filatura Di Crosa Brilla.  Thanks to Ravelry, I found extra yarn in Canada and a fellow raveler who felt she could trade for some handspun.  I made it longer than the pattern suggested.  I edged the slits for the belt.  I added a selvedge stitch to each side of the front and the back.

I think it turned out okay. I hope she does, too.

That Time of Year Again

The iris...they are a-bloomin'!

Los Coyotes

Celebration Song

Bewilderbeest

Liger

Pinkness

An unknown two-toned...

and one of the new ones I planted last year...the list and names of which I have misplaced and forgot.  My mother is spinning in her...urn, I know.  But I can still appreciate why I chose it!  I think it's lovely.

More are opening up daily! It's an exciting time for me.

And yet, as I walk around the yard, clicking my photos, I am noticing it is going to be a big year for splitting the rhizomes.

(All photos will biggity on clickity.)

Where The Wind Blows

Over the Memorial Day holiday, I took my second trip in May.  Youngest and I loaded up the two grand-girls and traveled back to my hometown to celebrate Favorite Aunt’s 90^th birthday.

My siblings came in from all their respective places…Kansas, California, Nevada…and we had a few days of eating and visiting and keeping each other humble.

The Grand-girls had a fine time at the parade, on which day I left my fancy smancy camera back where we were staying….30 miles away.  (Seriously…I did….but better the camera than one of the grandbebes, I say.) The Memorial Day/Class Reunion parade is a typical (very) small town parade consisting of flags, horseriders, a few farm implements, old firetrucks, some motorcycles, and a few little ‘clown cars’.  It lasted maybe 20 minutes…maybe.  But there was candy!  Woot!

We received a personal tour of the new hospital from my BFF, and it really is a pretty spiffy concept.  All green and full of energy saving and other good ideas.  Like free child care and free something else…maybe meals for the employees?

Main Street has been rebuilt and there are several (7-8, maybe 9) business now.  There is a new city hall, a commons building, and the new Kiowa County school that looks very nice.  I am thinking all the churches are back, too.  It’s a church-y town.

There are still lots of empty lots.  Many homes were not rebuilt.  There are new trees planted, but I missed the big towering trees that were topped by the tornado.

The day of the parade was overcast, but the next day dawned cloudless.  Then the wind picked up, and by 10:30, I was thinking the sun felt good, but my! It’s a bit warm.  On the way back to the room, Youngest said the outside air temp read 102.  Yes.  A bit warm.

And the wind was crazy blowing.  Blew all day.  Strongly, and didn’t let up in the evening.

And that is why the powers that be figured out these are a good idea for this part of the country.  There are now several in town, bigger ones supplying a business (like the hospital), and smaller ones providing for residentials, and then this line outside of town, which I think either the town or the county own.

We returned home on Memorial Day, after a trip to the cemetery, wind still blowing.

It blew All. The. Way. Home.

But.  The weird thing?  I fought it as a crosswind across Kansas south to north….and when I headed north out of Denver?  I fought a crosswind all the way home, west to east!

No breaks for me.

Yoga

Eldest thought that I might enjoy a good yoga class.  A good yoga class…and she spent some time researching and contacting potential yoga people in my town to determine what would be a suitable environ for her mother to be introduced to the healing, strengthening, and soothing properties of the ancient art.

And also hopefully to help her mother quit whining about her aching back, I am sure.

To whit, for my birthday/mother’s day and general health maintenance, she has purchased for me a mat, and introductory classes at a couple of different places around town.

So far, so good. And by good, I mean I have not embarrassed myself nor my family by falling ungracefully splat on my face in the middle of class.

There have been some interesting experiences, but on the whole, I think I am not too bad at this.  The day following the first class, I was mighty stiff, but that went away, and I have not been too bad off since.

Of course that was before spending 20 hours over 4 days in a car, hauling bebes in and out of carseats, hefting and lifting, loading and unloading, all the up and down…

I am enjoying it all to this point, and see myself continuing in some fashion.  I am glad she decided I should do this.  Sometimes my girls are bossy, but what the hey?!  Sometimes they have good ideas!

Also, I have a pattern picked out for a knitted yoga mat carrier.

Don’t judge me!!

Dead

My Kindle kicked the bucket.  The screensaver won’t go away.  The customer service people asked me if my Kindle has been subjected to:

- Undue pressure... (I did read the four published books of ‘The Song of Fire and Ice’, each over 700 pages, in…what? Four weeks??)

- and/or heat... (102 in SW Kansas over the weekend…)

- or being dropped... (No. But if so, I wouldn’t admit it to the customer service people.)

I really don’t know what happened.  Perhaps carrying it around everywhere with me in only my felted cover isn’t the best practice.  Perhaps I need to invest in a ‘real’ cover.

However and whatever and anyway, the Kindle customer service people were as nice and kind and friendly and helpful as the counter person at a small town grocery store back in the day.  A new kindle is winging its way to me, free of charge, all bright and shiny and ready to read, by the end of the week.

Still…they are really and truly fortunate that…

1)      I had finished the currently published books of ‘The Song of Fire and Ice’.

2)      I am in between books on the Kindle.

3)      I have real life books to read.

4)      I was not in the middle of one of those crazy addictive Fire and Ice books.

5)      Because seriously?  I might have been murderous.

6)      Seriously.

ETA: The new one arrived last night!  I had forgotten what it takes to set it up, but all my books are transfered and I am good to go once again.

And Again!

I have inadvertently taken another hiatus. But much has been keeping me so busy that the writing has fallen by the wayside.

One might be curious as to what has kept me so busy?

The yard has been righted for the growing season, with the exception of planting the 13 pumpkins seedlings that sprouted. That is correct. 13. No peppers. One zuchinni. 7 yellow squash. Some sunflowers that are long and leggy and probably not going to survive transplanting…and 13 pumpkins seedling that are THRIVING!

A trip to the nursery provided the annual annuals, which were all planted the same day. Boo-yah! Tomatoes are in the ground, pots are arranged around the patio in an ascetically pleasing manner, and all is right with my outside world. Including the first of the tall bearded iris blooming.

That same day, Wonderful Guy and I got the bikes out, blew the cobwebs off, put some air in the tires, and took them for a spin. While there has been no commuting, and it is the first of June, I am ready when 1) the weather is right, and 2) I am not getting ready to leave town, 3) nor recovering from a trip.

I played bunko this week. It was my last time as a substitute. A couple of women are moving, and I have been asked to become a regular regular, rather than a regular substitute. Gosh. I don’t know if I want all that responsibility and commitment, but I am taking it all. No more flying along on the coattails (and the housecleaning and the feeding of the snacks) of others.

I decided for the dresses I intend to wear for the Eldest’s wedding hoe-downs, as the garments were lined, and I was not going to be wearing hosiery, that some sort of ‘foundation garment’ was required. A bit of shopping found just the thing for the right price at one of our local outlet stores. Trying the foundation garment on, I wondered if the dress that I really wanted to wear to the wedding…the one I really needed to lose 5 pounds for...but for the life of me….even with my increased exercise regimen and efforts at decreasing intake (even as all those around me may lay claim to my occasional lapses with shortbread cookies, I cannot deny!)…would work.

Well. It does. So I took the newly purchased dress back for a refund, and now? I only need not gain anymore.

Sounds easy enough, doesn’t it?