photos

On my flickr account are a bunch of photos i took tuesday evening at Northwest Wools when we had the twisted sister book signing/get together/preview of the new book. there are just too many to transfer to the blog, so if you want to see them, click on the link to flickr on the right. The sweaters you see displayed are all from the new book... tho it's hard to really see them in these photos. guess you'll just have to get the book.......

sorry that i don't have the names of the 2 young women who are new spinners and showed us their truly outstanding yarn... so, if you are reading this... email me so i can put your names on the photo!!

*** and the mystery has been revealed! the new spinners are Helen (on the left) and Lorajean (on the right). thanks, Helen!

sock yarn

here's the sock yarn i got from Lynne. I have 2 skeins of the darker one and plan to do some kind of color patterns with the lighter one. and, as always, they look much much better in person! The handpainted/dyed sock yarn we had in the booth (from Lori and Lynne) were very popular and sold like hotcakes. In fact, Northwest Wools now carries both these sock yarns. (and i am affiliated with all three of these entities, so does that make this a commercial??) (well, since i get nothing from it, i'm just passing along some information for friends... ok?)

new fiber!

here's some of my stash acquisition from BSG. the top one is Merino/silk/angora from Lori and the other is BFL and was dyed by Lynne. I got them to ply together... and here's what i got:

the yarn is soft and heavenly, and will probably become a scarf. I have a couple more of Lori's blends which will show up here another day.

And here's some sock yarn i got from Lynne... it's merino/bamboo and will be the first socks i've
knitted with this blend. and for some reason, the photo won't upload, so will come later!

back home in my queendom...

It's no surprise, it was an awesome 3-day extravaganza at Black Sheep Gathering in Eugene, OR

We were so sad that Lynne was not able to be there and we missed her hugely!! So, Lori and I had the booth with handdyed fibers and yarn done by all 3 of us. we also had an advance copy of the new Twisted Sisters Knit Sweaters, and the actual Zylie sweater which Kate brought with her. Too bad Zylie couldn't be there to model it! We were able to russle up some excellent booth help from Linda (NW Wools) with whom i had a booth at BSG for many years, and from Rachael, who has helped us in the booth many times, and from Kate, my very dear DIL, who was there for the first time and caught on really quickly! don't know how i could have survived without them... they made it possible for me to be out of the booth a lot for shopping and catching up with lots of friends! the shopping was actually not terribly expensive this year as i was able to be quite restrained in stash enhancement. i think i spent a lot of that energy on enabling anyone who would stand still long enough. I think Pam took the prize in our group for stash enhancement (3 fleeces, a spinning wheel + a few other items) Kate was the focus of quite a bit of my enabling efforts and seemed to enjoy it. she has enough new stuff to last for awhile. Over the years, it seems the characters change some, but the twisted element goes on in grand style!! the past few years we have stayed in a motel which has way more room for gathering in the evening for spinning, show and tell, lots of laughter and the telling of wild and crazy stories.

and when i got home, Jim had my birthday gift waiting for me (he is quite early this year... it's still a month away). But he really outdid himself this time, with a tribute to twisted sisters! he was at an event at a local plant nursery and they were selling very special "garden art". he says he just could not resist the one named "Twisted Sister"... a tall and twisted ceramic planter with the focal plant being a cotoneaster with kind of twisty branches. it is SO tres cool and i totally love it...

color and beauty abounds

Today i was walking about in my queendom with my little bitty camera in my pocket, just admiring the variety of flowers and color around me. any time i feel icky, this is what turns the tide for me... tho i was feeling fine and dandy and peaceful and happy today... no ickiness! i am so fortunate to live in a (mostly) quiet rural place where i can go outside in the morning and hear only the birds, and sometimes the far-off drone of a tractor... it is very meditative. at this point in my life, i would not do well living in a neighborhood!! so, anyway, i took some flower photos today. here's one that i'm so happy i was able to get:

and this white peony, is still lovely as it is close to expiration:

The Twisted Sisters Knit Sweaters: A Knit-to-Fit Workshop

This is the new twisted sister book by Lynne Vogel and it will be released in August. Lynne just got an advance copy and you can read what she says about it on her blog www.handspuncentral.blogspot.com She let me see the galley, and i've gone through it and looked at every page and will now go back and really read it. I have to say that i do have a bias because Lynne is my dear dear friend and we have been working/playing with fiber together for years. Also, i know how much of her life and energy has gone into the creation of this beautiful
book. Lynne is really gifted in being able to explain and describe knitting in a way that makes me smack my forehead and say.... "ok, now i get it!" This book (like the Sock book) has gorgeous photos, the color is stunning, the layout beautiful, and the content will be so valuable to knitters that they'll wonder how they got along without it!! but you don't have to rely on my word on this... get your hands on a copy as soon as you can. you won't be sorry!! trust me on that.