Too much yarn!

After spending several hours over the weekend trying to organize and cleanup up my sewing/craft room, I've discovered something. I have too much yarn!

I've sorted out 2 huge bags full and a box of cone yarn that have to go. Some I may keep back for the next swap with my fiber arts group. Others of it will be sold on Ebay or through some of the Yahoo lists. The extra cash will come in handy for purchasing more spinning fiber at the Fiber Event in early April. I've boxed up some acrylic yarn too that hubby says must go. I understand, the bins of acrylic yarn have been sitting in our family room for months. I was going to have a yarn garage sale last fall. That was before both of our moms decided to have major health problems that left me with no time to do much of anything.

I've been forcing myself to work on the Mystery Pi shawl. I even calculated how many more repeats I can get out of the ball of yarn I'm working with. When it's gone, this shawl will be done no matter what size it is. I am so tired of working on it and ready to move on to a new lace project. I'm close to getting it done so I'm trying to hang in there. I only have 2 more pattern repeats to work. That's 24 rows x 576 stitches. Each row takes me about a half hour to knit. Yikes, that means I have about 13,824 stitches to knit plus the bind off row or about 12 more hours of knitting. :-( I don't think I will ever knit a Pi shawl again. All I have to say, is this sucker better be freaking beautiful to be worth all this time!

After working several hours on the never ending shawl, I decided to take a break and do some spinning. I'm spinning up some variegated darker blue merino I found when I cleaned out my craft room. (See, you can find all kinds of goodies you forgot about when you straighten up.) I spun several ounces of it up into a fairly thick single. I'm contemplating a lace project knit from singles. Several of my friends have done this and the results are beautiful. At this point, I'm all for a project that takes less than half the time it usually does. I won't have to spin and ply two singles.

I have been working on the knitting basket pattern. I'd like to knit some small prototypes for a rectangular basket and a round one that the sides flare out like a real basket. I could test knit them in plain old acrylic, but...Joann Fabrics has Patons Classic Wool yarn on sale through March 10 for only $4 bucks a skein. I don't have any of this in my stash and I used up the 3 balls of it I bought last week. Maybe tomorrow...

Today, I delivered the Mystery Stole I knitted last year to Pet Refuge. It will be auctioned off at their annual benefit auction on March 17th. Melanie of Pink Lemon Twist, and designer of the Scheherazade Stole, gave me permission to auction it off. I asked because I didn't want to infringe on any copyrights. I hope the stole will bring lots of $$$ for Pet Refuge and their mission to help pets without homes. I won't be at the auction because I can't afford the $35.00 for an admission ticket to the event. Oh well, I do what I can for them.

Felted bag obsession

Have you ever felt so obsessed with a knitting pattern that you absolutely had to make it now? It started with a pattern for a felted knitting basket I found online. I don't understand it; I'm not a felter. I've only felted one knit thing on purpose. So why did this particular pattern intrigue me so much? Two days later, I don't have an answer. I do, however, have two new felted bags. :-)

Since I didn't have any worsted weight wool in my stash, I had to buy some Patons Classic Wool merino. I didn't like any of the colors the store had enough to knit an entire bag in it. But that's ok, I bought 3 colors---royal purple, natural mix, and too teal. I love color and I knew I could make it work. I cast on several hours later. I couldn't resist. Started knitting the bottom and didn't care for the way the directions were written. It starts out flat instead of using dpns so there is a seam to sew up. Blah! The bag bottom has a peak in it instead of laying flat because of too few stitches in the cast on. Of well, keep knitting. Start the increase section. What? You have to count for every increase? It's so much easier to use markers. What's this direction mean, keep increasing until you have 20 stitches between increases? Does that mean 20 stitches in each section x 6 sections? Or does it mean 21? Guess it doesn't matter, keep knitting. Starting up the sides and it's smooth sailing. I'm adding a striping pattern to work in the 3 colors. Get to the handle and bind off 1/4 of the stitches. Isn't that too many to bind off? All you need is a hole big enough for your hand. On the next row get to the handle section where you have to cast on stitches. The pattern doesn't say what kind of cast on to use. I go for an E-wrap and cast on half the number of stitches I need because E-wraps can be loose. Pick up the remaining stitches I need on the next row in the slack from the E-wraps. Hey, you could cast on more stitches here if you want a longer handle. Cool! The pattern says to knit 1 inch worth of stitches and then bind off. Wouldn't it be better to work a couple of rows of garter stitch at the top edge to keep if from rolling? Bind off, felt it, and let it dry. I love it!

I made so many changes to the pattern, I rewrote it. Of course I had to test knit it. LOL! I had to do something with the 4 ounces of yarn left from the first bag (plus a small ball of black from some slippers I knitted). Hum, about 250 yards. Should be enough for a smaller bag. Did some figuring to determine how big I could make it. Cast on with the black at the bottom where it won't be seen. Work the striping pattern up the side and 4 hours later I'm done with only a few yards of yarn left. Here is bag #2 shown from the side so you can see the handles.

I'll share the pattern for this bag soon. The original bag is round but I'm working on options for both a square and rectangular one.

Do I really need to start another project?

I really do try to limit the number of projects I'm working on. They have a much better chance of getting done if there are only 2 or 3. UFOs that languish too long do not normally get finished. It's beginning to get out of hand. Currently on the needles, are cat toys, socks, and the Mystery Pi shawl. That should be enough but...the handspun I posted about yesterday is looking for a pattern and I found the coolest felted knitting basket pattern by Lucia Tedesco.

So did I work on any of my current projects yesterday? I did finish a sock last night. LOL!

What I did do yesterday was make myself a circular knitting needle holder (which I have wanted forever but was too cheap to buy). No more kinky cables on my circs! My sewing frenzy was inspired by finding this pattern on the web for making a holder out of old blue jeans. However, mine was made with a scrap of home dec fabric, a length of bulky yarn, and an aluminum afghan hook. The sewing didn't take long. What did take awhile was gathering up all my circular knitting needles, checking the sizes with a needle gauge, giving the cables a hot water bath to straighten them out, making an inventory list of what I have, and sorting out which ones to keep. Even after filling the new holder, I have 27 circulars that need to find a new home. Yikes, how did I get so many! LOL! And I'm not telling how many are in the holder or even hinting that there are a few sizes I still don't have. (Don't even suggest I buy one of those Knit Picks Interchangeable sets. I had a similar Boye set for many years. No matter how tightly I screwed them together, they always fell apart at the most inconvenient times. :-( And I really dislike nickel needles. My favorites for lace knitting are the old Susan Bates Quicksilver gray nylon needles and Clover bamboo for anything else.)

In my search for circular needles, I unearthed an intriguing leaf lace stitch pattern. Of course, that had to be knitted into a swatch as a possible scarf pattern for the blueberry handspun. It looks fabulous if I do say so myself. Click on the picture for a closeup.

Today, I was off to Michael's with a 40% off coupon in my hot little hand in search of some Paton's Classic Merino yarn. Yes, I caved and bought 3 skeins of yarn to make the felted knitting basket. No, I did not have any worsted weight wool in my stash to make this project. I'll wager this one will be on the needles by nightfall. So much for good intentions.

Blueberry loveliness + a new way to draft silk hankies

My wheel was spinning like crazy yesterday while I spun the rest of the silk. In doing so, I stumbled upon a new way of drafting hankies that is a whole lot easier on the hands. The way I was shown is to poke a hole in the center of one silk hanky and draft it out into a circle. My hands get sore doing this.

Here's my new method. With your right hand, grab the center of a hanky. With your left hand, grab the corner points. Then start pulling your hands away from each other. It will quickly and easily pull into a roving. It doesn't take as much effort and doesn't cut your hands. Plus you can continue to draft it as you spin. Once I figured this out, I flew through that pile of hankies!

One negative observation about spinning silk hankies is all the little neps and lumps you get in your singles. Some of them you can pull off and others you can flatten with your fingers. It really doesn't matter though, when it's plyed, you won't even notice them.

With the silk spun up, I plyed it with the Fleece Artist merino single. I was a couple of yards short of the silk. I don't like waste so here's what I did. I unreeled what was on the bobbin, found the end, hooked it to the silk single end, and plyed the merino on itself. Skeined, washed, and dried, I have a 2 oz skein/378 yards of beautiful blueberry and silk!

Now to find a pattern that will do it justice. Something suitably lacy and probably a scarf. I went through my pattern binder and a few books last night and only found one possibility for the amount of yardage I have. If anyone has a suggestion for a pattern (free, purchased, or in a book or magazine), post a comment to let me know where I can find it.

Dyelot dilemma

The good news is that extra skein of yarn I ordered for my Mystery Pi shawl arrived yesterday. The bad news is that the dyelot is way off from the 2 skeins I have. I don't think I can use it even if I alternate knitting 2 rows from each ball. Here are scans of the new skein with the old ball and the new skein with the shawl to give you an idea of the color difference. I'm guessing that the dye "split" on the two original skeins I bought, causing the lighter color variations in it of pinks and lavender. In retrospect, I should have told Lisa about this or sent her a picture of my yarn to see if she could have adjusted the dye on the new skein. Oh well...

The final clue came out yesterday. It's just instructions on how to bind off the edge. No edging to knit! Since clue #4 makes a wavy edge, Renee decided a simple bind off is all it needs. This may work to my benefit.

I finished nearly one repeat of clue #4 before I had to join the second ball of yarn. I'm hoping I have enough yarn to make the shawl big enough without having to use the new skein. With no edging to knit, I just might make it.

6 Weird Things About Me

Jess and Sara both blog tagged me with this. Now, I know I'm weird since everyone has told me that my whole life, but I'm having a hard time coming up with anything. That may be because I feel that my "weirdness" is normal. Anyway, here's what I came up with after much thought:

1. I'm allergic to chocolate.
I don't think this is weird though others probably do. I don't live for chocolate. I haven't had any in over 12 years. Everytime I ate it I would itch all over for 2 days and smaller and smaller amounts set it off. Some well-meaning people have told me to pop an antihistamine and eat it anyway. My doctor says avoidance is the best policy and I believe her. Allergic reactions can kill. That said, I do miss chocolate chip cookies and brownies. What irritates me is everyone else's obsession with chocolate. Food TV had a marathon this week of cooking with chocolate. It almost broke me out in hives. LOL! Seriously, do you know how hard it is to find non-chocolate desserts at restaurants? Or go to a birthday party and all that is served is chocolate cake? Everyone, please remember that there are lots of desserts that do not contain chocolate.

2. I'm not a joiner or a follower.
I don't follow the crowd or do what everyone else does. In fact, I'm more apt to buck the trend and go in the opposite direction. I think for myself and don't believe anything without questioning it or applying a little common sense to it. Not everything you read or hear is true. I don't care what authority figure or celebrity says it's so. In the third grade I joined Camp Fire Girls (that's where I learned to knit) but I never joined another club or organization in high school or college. People who know me now may laugh at this, but I was very shy growing up. In fact, to try to get me to hold my head up and smile for my kindergarden picture (not this pic), they put my brother on the principal's shoulders. Didn't work. I was not comfortable with or talking to strangers. This doesn't make it easy to join groups. Regardless, or in spite of all that, I've helped start two knitting (and spinning) groups in the last 3 years. I have overcome my shyness to an extent or at least learned to cope with it.

3. I'm a bug magnet.
Yep, bugs like the taste of me. Trust me, if there is a bug around, it will find me. Outside in the summer time, mosquitoes almost carry me away. My doctor tells me that I've been bitten by bugs that aren't supposed to bite people. Bees buzz my head and ears. I'm not a flower for them to pollinate! Inside, I'm not even safe. Spiders have bit me when I'm sleeping. If the cats bring fleas into the house, I'm the one who gets bit. The welts I get from their bites are worse and itcher than mosquito bites. It is a real trial to me.

4. I can't tell lies.
I'm so honest and frank, that I have a hard time telling even social lies. This can be quite awkward. I've been known to blurt out my true feelings a few times and hurt people's feelings. I mean people don't like hearing "That's the ugliest thing I've ever seen!" Even if it is true. LOL! I don't like to hurt anyone's feelings. If I can't honestly answer that I love something, I either try to avoid making a comment or just make like I agree with them. (My husband's method is to change the subject.) One of my aunts was well-known for saying hurtful things to me. She was skinny and I, as a shy, pudgy teenager, was a target she couldn't miss with comments about my appearance, my weight, and my "thunder thighs." One Christmas, I felt so insulted when she gave me a beautiful vanity set (golden hand mirror, comb, and brush) that I almost threw them back at her! My mom was not happy with my reaction to that gift. She didn't understand that this gift represented to me another thinly veiled, personal dig/insult from her sister.

5. I don't win prizes.
Well, hardly ever. Once I attended a staff party at work where they gave out over 90 prizes, almost enough for everyone who was there. Guess who didn't get anything? LOL! I don't usually pay attention when prizes are handed out because I know I won't win anything.

6. I don't do chain letters and such.
Must have something to do with item #2 above. So I won't tag anyone else with this task.

Spinning silk

My advice: Lotion your hands well if you're going to spin silk. This still may not keep the silk from catching on every little bit of dry skin. I drafted and spun silk until my hands got a little tender. This fiber is so strong. When you pull to draft it, it digs into your fingers. I'm not sure how many silk hankies I spun before I had to quit. When I get enough of it, I'm going to ply it with the blueberry merino singles. See how much silk I spun! Plus see the bobbin of merino singles (on the left), and the silk hankies. The hankies are a mix of gray to shades of lavender. The color of the silk singles should blend well with the merino. I don't know how long it will take me to spin the whole package. And I dare not even look at lace patterns until I know how much yardage I will have in the plyed skein of yarn.

Afterwards, I picked up the sock and almost finished the gusset before I went to bed. The Mystery Pi is looking at me accusingly. Why won't I work on it? Answer: I'm waiting for the other ball of yarn. Lisa emailed me Monday that it's been mailed. I hope it makes it soon. Who knows when it will arrive what with our weather. The snowplow knocked our mailbox down the other day. And take a peek at what greeted my eyes this morning. Yup, the lake effect got us last night. All the trees are painted with white and several more inches cover the ground. It's been snowing heavily ever since I got up this morning. And didn't the weather man last night say something about another system coming through and dumping more snow on us? Sheesh! I really shouldn't complain. We haven't gotten 10 feet of lake effect snow like some areas in upstate New York. Still, I can't wait for warmer weather to arrive.

Happy Valentines Day!

I hope you're staying warm wherever you are. Here's a pic to show you what it looks like here. Winter slammed us again yesterday, dumping about 8 more inches of snow on us. Coupled with a falling temperature and gusty winds, it was not a pleasant day. Schools, offices, and businesses began closing about noon yesterday and are still closed today. Right now, it's sunny, cloudless, and so bright you need sunglasses outside. By tonight, they're predicting more lake effect snow. Even though I grew up in this area and am used to snow, I have had enough!

Our Frog Pond Fiber Arts meeting scheduled for last night was cancelled. Major bummer! The library we meet at closed at 5 pm last night and is still closed today. I'll call tomorrow to see if we can reschedule our meeting to later in the month.

I knit a few rows on the Mystery Pi shawl. I'm not really in the mood to work on it. Probably because I keep making mistakes with the Clue #4 pattern and having to correct it. It's not that hard so I don't understand why I'm not getting it. Clue #5 was supposed to come out last Friday. It still hasn't been posted. Hope everything is ok with the designer, Renee.

I started another pair of socks with some Regia sock yarn from my stash. These are my February socks. I have a goal to knit one pair of socks every month. So far I've made December and January. It's been so cold I really could use more pairs of wool socks. By next winter, I should have a drawerful.

Shetland handspun

The green Shetland is finished! The color is the color of grass in the springtime. I was surprised how much blue came out of the yarn when I washed it. Finished product: 414 yards/4.0 ounces. I'm getting pretty consistent at producing a 400 yard skein of 2 ply from 4.0 ounces of fiber. Next on my wheel may be the Fleece Artist merino that Jess brought me from Nova Scotia. I'm thinking that to make this 1.5 ounce braid of merino go further I might ply it with some silk. I've got some silk hankies that would go beautifully with it. If I get enough yardage, I'll knit a lace scarf for me.

The Smoke Ring tube scarf is done and blocked. It turned out beautifully. If I can get someone to take a picture of me wearing it, I'll post it on my blog soon.

The Fish Cat Toy Pattern is Here!

After being test-knitted by four people, the fish cat toy pattern is ready to be turned loose. If you can knit, purl, increase, and decrease, you can knit this simple pattern. All you need is about 12 yards of worsted weight yarn and U.S. size 7 knitting needles.

I've included instructions to knit both the smaller goldfish version and the larger fish.

Sorry, this one isn't free. Each pattern sold will help pay for the supplies I use to make cat toys, beds, and such for Pet Refuge. (That is, what's left after Paypal deducts their fees.)

The pattern is available in my Ravelry pattern store.  

All money raised by sales of this pattern will be donated to Pet Refuge. 

For more information, visit my Ravelry pattern store to see all my available designs, current pricing information, and purchase pattern downloads.

Too Many Lace Patterns

There are too many new lace knitting patterns on the market! This is not really a complaint. It's great having this problem, but...I don't have enough money to buy everything. LOL! It makes it very hard to decide which one I want to knit next.

I just got a new design from JoLene Treace called Three Flowers. It has three different lace scarf patterns named after flowers. I like Violet the best. JoLene posted information about this new pattern on a list I read. Once I looked at it, I was a gonner. Trouble is, I also saw a picture of her Charlotte Stole. I bought that too. Check JoLene's blog for pictures of both. The ironic thing this is JoLene and I both live in Indiana but I had to order the patterns from a shop in Oregon!

My friend, Elizabeth, isn't helping. Wednesday night she showed me a copy of the Winter 2007 Wild Fibers magazine with a new Evelyn A. Clark shawl pattern in it. Evelyn won the Buffalo Gold design contest with her Heartland Lace Shawl. The design looks like buffalo hoof prints and she even knitted it with buffalo yarn. I love her patterns! No chart in the magazine though Evelyn says there is one available. Buffalo Gold's website says they will be posting the chart. I emailed to find out when and will it be free or for sale. I find it easier to knit lace from charts, not lengthy written instructions. Elizabeth, being the enabler she is, also gave me an extra copy of the new Rowan (#41) that has a new Sharon Miller design called Anice Shawl on page 11. I am spoiled for choice!

The Smoke Ring is 95% finished. Just a few rows yet to knit so I can wash, block, and wear it. It's still really cold here and continues to snow a little more almost every day. It hit 20 degrees today for the first time in days. It feels like a heat wave! How cold it feels is relative. When it's warm and the temp falls to freezing, it feels really cold. When temps have been below zero and hovering in the single digits for days, freezing (32 degrees F) feels warm.

I've given up waiting for the extra skein of yarn for the Mystery Pi. I'll wind up the other ball I have so I can resume knitting on Clue #4. I'm glad Renee is not releasing Clue #5 until Monday. It should give me time to catch up. I'm working on a 36" circular and the shawl looks like a bag.

The Fish Cat Toy pattern has been successfully test knitted by Marti, Vanessa, and Betty. Thanks, everyone, for doing this and catching a few errors that I missed. I'll post when the pattern is available.

Smoke Ring and a Surprise

To add insult to injury (as if 13" of snow wasn't enough), for the last few days both our temps and windchills have been below zero. Brr! A hat just doesn't cut it in this type of weather. It's been in the back of mind for some time to knit a tube type scarf---one that completely covers your head and neck. I went websearching for a free pattern yesterday. I started at Knitting Pattern Central, my favorite free pattern site that lists links for free patterns with pictures. (Forget patterns without pics. Don't you hate it when someone posts a free pattern without a picture? Who wants to knit something they can't see?) Trouble is, this is one of those items that masquerades under a number of names: cowl, hood, tube scarf, smoke ring... If I've missed any, let me know. LOL! Many times on the web, you have to know what something is called before you can search for it.

Here's what I found---a wonderful lace Smoke Ring pattern by Kathy Hinckley at Spindlicity. I cast it on the needles last night with some of Liz's hand dyed merino sock yarn. Isn't it pretty? The colors will go well with my down filled winter coat. I finished the bottom edge and one pattern repeat. It's knitting up quickly.
[11/3/09 This link no longer works. Spindlicity is no longer online. I don't know if it is temporary or permanent.]

Progress report: I finished spinning half of the green Shetland yesterday. It's a fast spin! I'm hoping to get the rest of it spun soon. Ideally, I'd like to get it plyed so I can show it off tomorrow night. If not, I'll take a bobbinful along to show. The Mystery Pi shawl is stalled. I finished clue #3 and started on clue #4 and 576 stitches per round. The first ball of yarn is almost gone. Two balls of yarn will clearly not be enough to complete this shawl. I'm waiting patiently (or trying to) for the yarn I ordered last week to arrive. If the dyelot is off, I'll be able to blend it in with the second ball of yarn I have. If it doesn't arrive by the end of the week, I'll probably join the second ball, cross my fingers, and hope for the best. Clue #5, the edging, comes out on Friday.

Surprise! Here's a teaser pic of the fish cat toy I've been working on. What do you think? Does it say "essence of fish"? Or does it need more work? I have a couple of ideas for making the fish longer or knitting a striped one too. I'd like to find a few knitters to test the pattern before I turn it loose on the blog. Stay warm!

More info on spinning silk hankies

Several people have asked me for more information on spinning silk hankies. I'm new at this and have given some basic directions in my last post. For those who'd like more information with pictures, click here on Knitty and Spin-Off to go to these articles.

I bought dyed Mawata silk hankies from Elizabeth Shreeves of Lone Tree Wools at her booth at Michigan Fiber Fest last August. She had laundry baskets full of bags of hand dyed silk hankies. It was very hard to choose just a few to buy. LOL! I don't have a webaddress or email addy for her, only a mailing address in Iowa and a long distance phone number. I won't post either online without her permission. If you'd like her contact information, email me at junkyarn AT yahoo DOT com and I'll send it to you.

Fiber Frolic and spinning silk hankies

I've been busy the last few days getting ready for a Fiber Frolic (aka knit and spin in) held at Jessica's house yesterday. I went early to help get ready for the crowd. I took my spinning wheel, lots of spinning fiber to sell/trade, things for the swap table, a donation for the door prize basket, and a huge pot of vegetarian chili. I'm so glad I went early! The roads were fairly clear, the sun was trying to shine, and it was only 10 degrees. After I was safely at Jess's, the wind began howling, banging against the house, and we had white out conditions for a while. (Must have been the cold front that was supposed to come through. Later, my husband told me our winter weather warning had been changed to a BLIZZARD warning! Yikes!) We were afraid the weather would keep people away. Not so, it wasn't long before they began to arrive. In all, eleven people braved the brutal weather conditions to attend. Peggy Coffey and her friend, Svenja, drove the farthest from LaPorte. That must have been a long, cold drive. You'll find pictures of the event on my friend Liz's blog. Jess will no doubt post some on her blog when she recovers from having us all over. LOL!

There were 7 spinning wheels whirring away, 1 drop spindler, and a number of knitters. I spun some lime green Shetland on my Majacraft Little Gem wheel (see picture above). We showed off our handspun, spinning fibers, completed knitting projects, etc. Jess hung a string across her patio door to display her completed Cameron Shawl, Elizabeth's Hap Shawl, and Liz's Flower Basket Shawl (knit from her hand dyed, handspun singles). All of them are gorgeous!

I did a short demo on spinning silk hankies on a drop spindle using silk hankies I purchased last year at Michigan Fiber Fest. The lady at the booth showed me how to pull one thin layer from the hankie and pull it into a roving. It's easy. (Before you start, make sure you lotion your hands thoroughly. The silk will catch on any dry skin.) After you pull off one hankie, put your fingers through the center to make a hole, and start pulling your hands apart to extend the fiber. You'll have to pull hard as this stuff is strong! Keep drafting until you get it as thin as you like. WARNING: Once you pull your roving, do not try to move the pile or you will have a knotty mess! (Ask me how I know? LOL!) Break the circle of roving, attach one end to a small, lightweight, drop spindle and start spinning. Silk is so long and strong that it won't break as you're spinning it as other fibers can. It's also "grabby" enough that it's easy to join a new piece. One hankie will spin a lot of very thin singles. If you don't spin, you can even knit from unspun silk roving. I sent the remaining silk hankies home with Aubrey and Liz to spin. They're both hooked on silk! I won't miss it as I bought more than one package in Allegan. Liz called me later to let me know that she had spun 3 hankies on the Bosworth featherweight spindle she got last week. I am such a fiber enabler!

I cleaned out my fiber bins and took a huge bag of roving to swap/sell. A lot of it found new homes but was replaced with 4 new ones! 1) The blue/white roving on the left is 9 oz of Columbia/Merino (80/20) blend from the door prize basket. 2) The center one is of 4 oz of a frosty looking Shetland/black llama mix, a trade from Peggy Coffey. 3) The colorful roving on the right is Liz's (Chocolate Princess) hand dyed BFL top from the swap table. 4) The blue braid in the front is 1.5 ounces of Fleece Artist merino sliver in Blueberry Mist. This was a gift from Jess. She was in Nova Scotia recently and found a yarn shop that stocks Fleece Artist products from nearby Halifax. This shop carries some colorways that are dyed specially for their shop. The blueberry colorway is one of them! This will be the next fiber on my wheel! I'll knit it up into something special just for me. I also snagged the Yarn Harlot's book, At Knit's End from the swap table. I have an autographed copy of her first book. I am so looking forward to reading this one.

No one went home without at least one new knitting or spinning goodie. In fact, we had such a good time that no one wanted to leave. LOL! Break up time was 3 pm but a number of us stayed later. We're already planning another Fiber Frolic for sometime in March. The drive home was even colder than my morning drive and snow was drifting across the road in many places. I made it safely home, warmed by thoughts of the wonderful day I had with some of the best friends a person could ever ask for!