Maine Fiber Frolic 2011

It's been two years since my last visit to Fiber Frolic. I've been spinning for nearly two years! I fell for needlefelting! Both of which open my Fiber Frolicking world!

While there were tons of beautiful yarns I didn't pick any up this year (though it was all I could do not to buy this Sweet Bunting Cardigan kit on display at Dirty Water Dyeworks, but since I don't know any babies or soon to arrive babies to knit for I held off).

similarly, I think it was all Aimee could do to not walk off with this 4 week old lamb.

After having been to a number of fiber festivals, it was nice to see some great stuff from vendors I hadn't seen before,like this roving from Purple Fleece, which I didn't pick up and this menrino/tencel braid from  Highland Handmades that I did.

I must have been in a whimsical mood on Saturday, because my other two purchases where these charming needlefelting kits Off the Beaded Path (I've already started one) and the frog and bead stitch markers from Enchanted Knoll Farms

Fortunately I still  had some funds left over for the superb fair food (gyros and sweet potatoes fries - yes please!!)

After lunch there were more friends and fleeces to snorgle

And look who we found in the rabbit barns!!

Can I say for the record, these fleeces were lovely and make me want to move up to a wheel so I could justify the poundage?? Fiber frolic is such an enabling event, for reals. Good thing I have Tour de Fleece coming up soon, so I can get back into some serious spinning!!

(PS -for another take on this trip, in which my right shoulder makes a cameo- visit Aimee at 52 weeks, 52 hats)

Introducing: Knoll Rib Cowl

As anyone who knows me knows, when it comes to yarn, I have one of the world's smallest stashes. So it is perhaps surprising that this pattern came from the need to knit a yarn that sat in my stash for exactly two years.

Back before I did any spinning myself, I picked up a skein of handpsun from the booth for Enchanted Knoll Farms at the 2008 Common Ground Fair, weeks after I moved back to Maine.

I was in love with this yarn and called it my Rumpelstiltskin yarn, since it looked like straw spun into gold. (It's true name is Gold Dust Woman). I admired the yarn and petted the yarn and could come up with nothing worthy of this yarn.

Fast forward to September 2010. Faced with the need for a simple knit and feeling as if I had neglected this prize yarn for too long. I picked up my needles and tried to find a good stitch pattern for a scarf. My first attempt resulted in something that looked overwhelming 1980s in style, so I frogged, did a garter stitch sample, thought that was too boring and went back to the books.

I flipped through my stitch dictionaries and came across a squishy-looking rib stitch, which I promptly memorized incorrectly, and thus, came up with my own stitch pattern. I'm sure that this was not the first time something like that had happened.

As I neared the end of my then-scarf, I decided that the short length (about four feet long) would work better as a cowl, so I seamed it up, blocked it out, and there you have it.

I think this worked out as a perfect way to display a limited amount of a lovely handspun yarn. I used pretty much every inch of the 200 yards in my skein, but the cowl stretched a lot both ways when blocking, so it could take less if need be.

In case anyone else finds themselves in my predicament (lovely handspun, limited amount, no clue what to do.) I whipped up the pattern last night. You can grab it as a free download, using the link below.

download now

Tour de Fleece: The Finish Line

After checking in with the Tour de Fleece police tonight, it was ruled that yesterday was my last day of le Tour - so here's a round up of everything I worked on since the 3rd.

Rust-Colored Llama from Botanical Shades

• purchased at Common Ground Fair 2009
• during the Tour I.... plied it
• 1.5 oz
• 120 yds
• 2-ply

Purple Llama from Botanical Shades

• purchased at Common Ground Fair 2009
• during the Tour I.... spun (about half of the total fiber) and plied
• 2.1 oz
• 190 yds
• 2-ply

Natural Turquoise from Enchanted Knoll Farms

• purchased at Common Ground Fair 2009
• during the Tour I... spun
• Currently at 1.4oz

I probably won't spin everyday, but I'm in a good grove and I'm loving the turquoise fiber, so I'll try to keep this roll going. And at the rate I'm going, I'll have used up all my fiber by Rhinebeck, so I can pick up a bunch more guilt-free!

Roadtrip: Common Ground Fair

It's fall in Maine, which means Fair Season and for the even slightly crunchy granola of us, it means the Common Ground Fair hosted by the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association. When I went last year, I was unemployed and recently arrived from Chicago. I went because I was told there'd be yarn.

This year I went up as part of a group of seven from my Tuesday night knitting group. We left Portland at 7:30 and even getting slightly lost, managed to avoid the long line of traffic that you get after about 10 am. It was cool when we left, but the weather couldn't have been more perfect. We wandered around the fair for about 6 hours seeing all the sights.

And yes, we bought yarn and fiber. I bought lots of fiber because this is my first fair trip as a spinner. The haul, as displayed below is as follows: Llama fiber from Botanical Shades (Orange on spindle and purple), "fudge sundae" wool-bamboo-silk blend from Pleasant Valley Farm (dark multicolor ball), and wool and sparkle blend from Enchanted Knoll. The sheep sculpture is from Maple Lane Pottery.

I spin now, did I mention that yet?

Mr. Cleaver got me a drop spindle for my birthday and I've be happily leaving tufts of wool all over the sofa since July. But really, we all knew it was just a matter of time, right? I look forward to sharing more bits of fibery/handspun goodness here in the coming months.

My first (grey) and second (white) spinning samples, apx 1.1oz each, wool fiber from the Portland Fiber Gallery and Studio.

Roadtrip: Maine Fiber Frolic

This past Saturday, six of us from Portland Knitters on the Town took a field trip up to Windsor Maine for the Maine Fiber Frolic. There were over 200 locally-based fiber vendors and dozens of adorable animals.

 

The highlight of my day was holding a pair of 6-day-old cashmere goats - one who feel asleep in my arms!

The Fair is largely geared toward spinners, and my spinning friends made quite the haul (not pictured, the four raw fleeces they also took home), but there was plenty of lovely hand-dyed and hand-spun yarn to be purchased as well. Being on the poor end of my pay cycle, I only came home with one skein of yarn. A lovely hand-dyed lace weight from Pine Star Studios that will be soon made into an Ishbel shawl. The entire Pine Star booth had beautiful items, including the orange and green roving seen above.

Hopefully both Pine Star and my other local favorite, Enchanted Knoll will be at the Common Ground Fair and the fall and  regardless of whether I spin yet or not (because we all know I eventually will) I'm planning on picking up some roving. I'm hoping to pick up drop spindling in the fall. I was really entranced by it at the Frolic and really, who wouldn't want to be as cool as this guy?

Tonight: my second night of weaving!

Fair Weather: Part I

I have to admit that growing up I hated fair season.  

To me it meant nothing more than dancing on hot concrete stages that were every form of uncomfortable and I never got to do any of the fun stuff, like rides or games - except for once. Of course the piece de resistance of bad fair experiences was in high school when I volunteered to do a "Say No to Drugs" Puppet show, only to arrive at the booth to discover that I'd have to spend all afternoon sitting under a table next to the Vote No on 9 people. Not cool.

Nevertheless, when Maine fair season kicked off last week, I was thrilled and have now gone to not one, but two fairs. Since I took hundreds of photos, I'ma gonna break this up into two posts.

First, Marjorie, the woman who essentially taught me to knit, called and asked if I'd like to go with her to the Common Ground Fair. Run by the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardens, this is meant one thing to us knitters: fiber, yarn, and the creatures that wrought it.

We had beautiful warm weather and a fantastic time.

There were pie cones:

Lots of fiber:

 

Spinning (which I really really want to learn, weaving too):

Llamas:

Sheep:

Sheep Herding:

And it wasn't all about knitting-related things, we also saw Native american dancers and drummer, chair makers, basket weavers, and boat builders.

But we did both some some lovely golden yarn from Enchanted Knoll Farms. Because really, it's all about the yarn, right?