A Gift and Some Fun
It's been a very busy June here, Chez A :-) I've been going every weekend with fun stuff - last weekend was the Highland Games, and this weekend, it was the Midwest Fiber & Folk Art Fair.
A Gift
But first, I want to show you the little box of awesomeness that my friend, Michelle from Boulderneigh sent me a few weeks ago. I've been remiss in not posting about it sooner.
I tossed my name in the hat for a drawing on her blog, and this box of treats arrived in early May! There is some green tea hard candy, some of Michelle's note cards (she's a fabulous photographer!), two mini raglan sweaters that she knit that are going to look pretty cute on my Christmas tree, a bump of wool fiber for me to spin, and TWO jars of her jam and butter. I finished the jam (strawberry/rhubarb/pineapple - YUM!!) in pretty short order, and the apple butter will be adorning my toast in the mornings going forward :-)
Michelle, thank you so much!!!! :-)
Some Fun
On Friday, I made my way up to the Lake County Fairgrounds for the Midwest Fiber & Folk Art Fair. I'm very proud to tell you that I was the very first Founding Charter Member of the Fair. :-) This year, I finally got to meet fair organizer, Carol Cassidy-Fayer in person!
Linda the Chicken Lady, and my friend M and I met up at the Fair on Friday for a day of shopping and fun. The Fair seemed smaller to me this year, but no less fabulous. I love that there are vendors of all kinds there - it's not just yarn and fiber (although I could have done with a little more fiber :-D), other fiber arts such as weaving and rug hooking are represented, as well as other "work of our hands," which is what the Fair focuses on.
I want you to know that I didn't buy any yarn . . . this is not to say that I didn't come home with yarn, but I didn't buy any :-D
The only things missing from this photo are some blue ceramic buttons I bought. They are worth knitting a sweater around :-D
Yes, there's yarn in that photo - I was gifted a hat kit on my way out the door (thank you Carol :-) ) and I think it's going to make a pretty cute winter hat. There are four bumps of fiber - two from Kimber at Fiber Optics. I was very disappointed to only be able to get one in her pencil roving in the 80/20 superwash merino/nylon blend (the yellows). The red/black is 80/20 merino/silk. I also picked up Miram Felton's Twist & Knit from her shop. Up top, is a sort of a batt from Hands and Notions - my colors but not my usual fiber choices or preferred prep (merino/bamboo/kid mohair/BFL/baby alpaca/soysilk/sparkle. I'm challenging myself :-) ) Below that, is a braid of 100% mixed BFL from Tucker Woods Yarns.
There is an amazing bar of Lavender Buds soap from Lost City Knits. OMG it is REALLY fragrant and I can't wait to jump in the shower and try it out :-D I don't know that the soap is on their website, but Denise (who I believe is a member of the Year of Stash Socks Group (YOSS) on Ravelry) has some stunning designs and beautiful yarns (Linda got a gorgeous skein of silk lace from her).
The rest is bits of fabric and silk ribbon - you'll remember I learned to do Silk Ribbon Embroidery at Fiber Retreat this year - I've been looking for supplies and although they were a bit spendy, I loved the colors I could get; and, since it's been hard to find, I decided I was "in for a penny, in for a pound."
I did come home with other yarn, though. Linda brought me a shopping bag full of cotton for weaving. I have no idea what I'm going to do with it - do I keep it and weave with it? Do I donate it? Whatever I decide, it all has to be accounted for and go into my stash, because this month is an accounting month for the Slash & Smash Your Stash Challenge in the YOSS group. Poor me - my totals are going to go WAY up . . .
Friday I spent the night at M's and had a fab Greek dinner and got to watch one of my favorite Bollywood films, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, on her big movie screen in the basement! What fun!!
Then, Saturday, I headed back to the Fair for a class in Beaded Embroidery - taught by Marianne Biagi. If you have any interest in this art, look for any class that Marianne teaches. She is amazing and I learned SO much. I have done some bead embroidery in the past, but nothing like this - and it's been something I really wanted to take up again. Here's my messy space :-D
There were four students (I love a small class like that!) And it's so amazing to see how each of us interpreted Marianne's instructions:
Here is a close up of my day's work:
Obviously not done yet - but I like how it's progressing so far. I love doing this work - it's certainly time-consuming, but the results are really expressive. I see a LOT more of this in my future.
And now, today - I'm looking at the mess of my bags exploding all over my kitchen . . . and thinking I had better get cracking here :-) There is laundry to do, and a variety of things to accomplish to get ready for the week to come.
p.s. I lost 5.0 pounds this past week. Yay Me! I know it's unrealistic to think that I could do that every week, but I shoot for the stars and take what I can get :-) Things are going well this week, too, so - barring any unforeseen weirdness - I hope to show another good loss on the scale on Thursday.
A Gift
But first, I want to show you the little box of awesomeness that my friend, Michelle from Boulderneigh sent me a few weeks ago. I've been remiss in not posting about it sooner.
I tossed my name in the hat for a drawing on her blog, and this box of treats arrived in early May! There is some green tea hard candy, some of Michelle's note cards (she's a fabulous photographer!), two mini raglan sweaters that she knit that are going to look pretty cute on my Christmas tree, a bump of wool fiber for me to spin, and TWO jars of her jam and butter. I finished the jam (strawberry/rhubarb/pineapple - YUM!!) in pretty short order, and the apple butter will be adorning my toast in the mornings going forward :-)
Michelle, thank you so much!!!! :-)
Some Fun
On Friday, I made my way up to the Lake County Fairgrounds for the Midwest Fiber & Folk Art Fair. I'm very proud to tell you that I was the very first Founding Charter Member of the Fair. :-) This year, I finally got to meet fair organizer, Carol Cassidy-Fayer in person!
Linda the Chicken Lady, and my friend M and I met up at the Fair on Friday for a day of shopping and fun. The Fair seemed smaller to me this year, but no less fabulous. I love that there are vendors of all kinds there - it's not just yarn and fiber (although I could have done with a little more fiber :-D), other fiber arts such as weaving and rug hooking are represented, as well as other "work of our hands," which is what the Fair focuses on.
I want you to know that I didn't buy any yarn . . . this is not to say that I didn't come home with yarn, but I didn't buy any :-D
The only things missing from this photo are some blue ceramic buttons I bought. They are worth knitting a sweater around :-D
Yes, there's yarn in that photo - I was gifted a hat kit on my way out the door (thank you Carol :-) ) and I think it's going to make a pretty cute winter hat. There are four bumps of fiber - two from Kimber at Fiber Optics. I was very disappointed to only be able to get one in her pencil roving in the 80/20 superwash merino/nylon blend (the yellows). The red/black is 80/20 merino/silk. I also picked up Miram Felton's Twist & Knit from her shop. Up top, is a sort of a batt from Hands and Notions - my colors but not my usual fiber choices or preferred prep (merino/bamboo/kid mohair/BFL/baby alpaca/soysilk/sparkle. I'm challenging myself :-) ) Below that, is a braid of 100% mixed BFL from Tucker Woods Yarns.
There is an amazing bar of Lavender Buds soap from Lost City Knits. OMG it is REALLY fragrant and I can't wait to jump in the shower and try it out :-D I don't know that the soap is on their website, but Denise (who I believe is a member of the Year of Stash Socks Group (YOSS) on Ravelry) has some stunning designs and beautiful yarns (Linda got a gorgeous skein of silk lace from her).
The rest is bits of fabric and silk ribbon - you'll remember I learned to do Silk Ribbon Embroidery at Fiber Retreat this year - I've been looking for supplies and although they were a bit spendy, I loved the colors I could get; and, since it's been hard to find, I decided I was "in for a penny, in for a pound."
I did come home with other yarn, though. Linda brought me a shopping bag full of cotton for weaving. I have no idea what I'm going to do with it - do I keep it and weave with it? Do I donate it? Whatever I decide, it all has to be accounted for and go into my stash, because this month is an accounting month for the Slash & Smash Your Stash Challenge in the YOSS group. Poor me - my totals are going to go WAY up . . .
Friday I spent the night at M's and had a fab Greek dinner and got to watch one of my favorite Bollywood films, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, on her big movie screen in the basement! What fun!!
Then, Saturday, I headed back to the Fair for a class in Beaded Embroidery - taught by Marianne Biagi. If you have any interest in this art, look for any class that Marianne teaches. She is amazing and I learned SO much. I have done some bead embroidery in the past, but nothing like this - and it's been something I really wanted to take up again. Here's my messy space :-D
There were four students (I love a small class like that!) And it's so amazing to see how each of us interpreted Marianne's instructions:
Here is a close up of my day's work:
Obviously not done yet - but I like how it's progressing so far. I love doing this work - it's certainly time-consuming, but the results are really expressive. I see a LOT more of this in my future.
And now, today - I'm looking at the mess of my bags exploding all over my kitchen . . . and thinking I had better get cracking here :-) There is laundry to do, and a variety of things to accomplish to get ready for the week to come.
p.s. I lost 5.0 pounds this past week. Yay Me! I know it's unrealistic to think that I could do that every week, but I shoot for the stars and take what I can get :-) Things are going well this week, too, so - barring any unforeseen weirdness - I hope to show another good loss on the scale on Thursday.
Comments
I had fun at Black Sheep Gathering on Friday; guess it was the weekend for fiber fun and friends.