SAFF loot! Loads of pictures!!!

First I just wanted to say, SAFF was a blast!!! We drove up on Thursday and arrived to a nice dinner with my friends Judi and Caroline from my weavers guild. We then went out for a beer at this brewery that has a small bar in it with live music. We missed the music but the beer was YUMMY!! The brewery was called Pisgah Brewery. (if I'm wrong I'll correct later)

Friday we woke up and after some yummy breakfast headed down to the Fair. We shopped a bit, then volunteered at the Fleece Show and Sale, where I purchased half a gorgeous black Corriedale fleece. Pictures to come of that. Then after we got some lunch we shopped some more! Friday night was the Fiber in at the Holiday Inn near Asheville and it was so much fun to meet loads of ravelry people! I also won a prize. You can check out a quick video of it on my youtube.
Saturday, was the Barknknit meet n greet where I met lots of lovely fiber people that listen to the podcast or read the blog! That was FUN! It was so great meeting everyone and handing out the goodie bags. :) Hope you enjoyed them. We then shopped some more and headed home for a lovely evening of wine, knitting, and spinning. I managed to finish my Corona sweater that night too! I love it! What do you think?
I got to wear it on Sunday and I got lots of compliments of how great it turned out! You can see my barknknit shirt peaking out. :)

Sunday was another day full of shopping! We started the day by going to brunch downtown Asheville and ended the day at dinner downtown at an indian restraunt. It was yummy food.

So...I've talked about shopping but now the pictures and details of it. :) Ok...here we start with a picture that makes me very happy. :) It's a group picture but it is missing some things like the fleece, gifts, and other fiber. But it's this pretty!

Not really sure where to start but this first one is from Shelby B's Designs and it's the Lilly Potter colorway in her sock yarn base that is Superwash Merino, Cashmere, nylon blend. (There will be an interview with Shelby posted in the next podcast)
Next up a Unique Sheep's Verve sock yarn in their Gradience series. This yarn series is awesome and all their colorways are great Can't remember the color way but I'll update when I have the yarn near me. (You will be hearing more about them in the podcast as they are one of our new sponsors and I got an interview with Laura!)
Next, we have my Knit witch purchases...no I didn't spring for a yarn bowl but it was REALLY hard not to get one! ;) First we have her Celestial Sock series in Sagitarious. I'm a Gemina/Taurus but I loved this colorway.
Then we have I think this is Michealangelo colorway fiber. Yummy!
Next we have my Miss Babs purchases. First here is some Superwash Merino/Nylon pencil roving....love these colors.
And some yummy sock yarn in Falling Leaves colorway. This is totally the represenation of the weekend! The leaves were this color!
Then I had to pick up some Gale's Art in her new BFL twist series. It's a black and white roving that is overdyed. It's awesome! I can't wait to spin this up!
Then I met this lovely lady from Ozark Carding Mill, LLC from Oklahoma and I got some GREAT video that I'm going to post the podcast soon! But I want to send her some fleece to process but figured I should try out some of their fiber to see how I like it! This is some pin drafted Romaldale. Very soft and pretty!I also met some lovely people at this Cormo booth...will have to post their info later as I dont' have it on hand. I also confinced them to enter some fleeces in the Fleece Show!
On sunday I met the owner of The Soap Shed who was so nice and informative...this one in the picture is the Dirty Dawg Shampoo Bar! It smells great!! I got an interview with him that should be in the podcast next week! Also on Sunday, when shopping with H3dakota, I found the buttons! I could have bought so many but I settled on these...which was really funny because it totally matched the fabric of the chair I had loved sitting in at Judi's place. :)
The owner of the Clay Cat also graciously gave me this shawl pin as a thank you for mentioning her on the podcast. If you want buttons or shawl pins made I will post her email soon but she will custom make buttons for you if you want. Well...i hoped you enjoyed the run down of most my purchases. Some are missing as I said because they have already been gifted. :) I'll post pictures of my fleece soon too. I'll also update the missing information tomorrow when I get a chance to pull out the loot again.

Also...if you contact any of these wonderful stores or people please let me know I sent you their way.

Happy Spinning, and Knitting!

PS...I missed my hubby and puppies so much! They were all So happy to see me when I got home!

Heading to SAFF on Thursday!!

Sorry for the lack of posts but I have been preparing for my SAFF (Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair) trip this weekend. Monica, Angela, and I are leaving as early as we can on Thursday...let's just say I plan to leave my house at 6am. :) We are all very excited! I can't wait to inhale all those fibery fumes and meet new people!

Friday I will be wandering around all day looking at fun stuff. I am volunteering at the Fleece Show and Sale for a couple hours around lunch but otherwise my plan is to check out all the vendors! Friday night there is a Fiber In at the Holiday Inn across from the airport from 8pm-10pm...there are door prizes including some donated by me. I am donating a set of Barknknit stitch markers and a Dog Tag.

Saturday, Barknknit Podcast will be having a meet n greet. It will be held at 11am near the Sheep to Shawl event. Please come by and say Hi! I'd love to meet you all! There will also be goodie bags! Check out this video for a preview of the fun stuff.

Sunday, my goal is to pick up anything that I had not been able to purchase yet and see more vendors. Please feel free at anytime to stop me and say hello! I will have either my Barknknit T-shirt on or if I finish my red Corona! :)

I will be taking video and recording while at SAFF so go subscribe to the podcast to hear and see fun stuff!

Hope you have a great weekend...and please say a prayer and think good thoughts for a safe drive and fun weekend!

Yay Purls n Paws!

My Dish Rag Tag team Purls n Paws' box made it to Emily at yarnmiracle.com! We came in 7th but I think that is a respectable finish! We did have to get a bigger box along the way but Emily got lots of lovely gifts. We sent magnets and post cards. You can read more about what she got in the box and see pictures over here.

Just keep Kntting...just keep knitting...

So, lately my knitting mojo has been very strong. I've been knitting whenever and where ever I can. I cast on my Corona sweater on Friday as I had said in the last post and I'm already pretty far on it.
I'm at the part where I'm starting the cable panels and it's not longer a mindless, during call knit. I have to pay attention and focus so the progress will slow a bit. I'm thinking of casting on the sleeves so I can still work on it during calls.

I'm using my favorite stitch markers, which are my doggie stitch markers from Lapdogcreations.com! These are my special project stitch markers....because I cherish them so.
Since I can't knit on my Corona sweater during calls, I cast on a baby sweater for O-dog, aka my sister's baby who is due to join the world outside my sister's belly in Nov. I had some left over dream in color classy from my February Lady sweater so I'm using this and Jasmin is sending me some of her leftover DIC in Butter Peeps for the sleeves...works out perfect! I cast on today during a call and I've already got a good portion of the body done. This seems to be a fast knit. I guess this is kind of a test to see if this particular sister reads my blog. I haven't mentioned I was knitting this for her when I talked to her last. :) It's not the only things she's getting knit from me...so I don't really care if she finds out about this one.

I seem to be on a huge roll with knitting...I'm addicted to it even more right now. I am always knitting but this past week...I've been knitting even more. :) I think because I'm really enjoying the Malabrigo and the other projects I'm working on. Hopefully this keeps up because I hope to finish these projects soon. :)

Since tomorrow is Dogs on Thursday I figured I'd add some cute doggie pictures too! :) Happy DOT and please go over and check out the post tomorrow! Here is Jackjack in his chair. This started out as my knitting chair and I still love it but when I see how happy he is in this chair I know it was meant to be his. Since he hasn't really wanted to get up on the bed much lately with his legs hurting a bit, I decided to move this chair in the bedroom so he had a good place to sleep...because we know that his other beds are just not the same. :) Can you say SPOILED!!

and my girl is spoiled too because she can't just have one bone. She is just so cute!
Ok...well...I'm off to knit...go figure! I want to get a couple rows of the cable panels done tonight before I head to bed. I'm going to continued to work on the baby sweater and then maybe cast on the sleeves tomorrow so they are started.

Happy Knitting and Dogs on Thursday!!

I love boxes at my door!

Can I say that one of my favorite things is to come home to this...
The first box was soap samples from Dawn for the SAFF goodie bags! They are so adorable!
The 2nd box was my Eat.Sleep.Knit order that I ordered on Tuesday I believe. It's my first order from them and I'm already a fan! First off I started their yarn marathon or yarnathon, which they track every yard of yarn that you purchase from them and you get prizes along your yarnathon! They also have Power and Sweater Boosts to help you reach mile markers. I got a sweater boost because I purchase 6 skeins of yarn. Look at this cute badge!
I hit my first mile marker with my purchase so I got my 1M badge and a Marathon Welcome Packet.
The packet contained 2 patterns, sample of yarns they carry and more!
I also got a pen, a button, and a Yarn Lotto where I won a $5 credit!My purchase was some LOVELY malabrigo in Burgundy for my Corona Sweater! I will admit I spent part of my lunch break winding a ball up so I could cast on during a training call! So, this is already cast on but I decided after consulting with Jasmin from the Knitmoregirls podcast that I probably should knit the ribbing on smaller needles so waited until I got home to start the ribbing. So, I have a little bit more time and then I'm heading to the Rays game tonight with Monica. We plan to knit, eat and watch some baseball!

Tomorrow, I have a spinning meet up for my guild and then plan to spend the afternoon recording a podcast, hanging with the pups, and catching up on shows!

Hope you have a great weekend!! Happy Knitting!!

Happy Birthday Abigail!!

Today is the day that I say is Abby's Birthday. :) I got her from a person who didn't know so I picked a day in the month I knew was her birthday month. So, Happy Birthday Abigail! For her birthday post, I figured I would share Abby's loves with you in pictures.

She LOVES stuffed toys....especially these long dog ones...She loves loves loves balls...she also love when people throw them for her!She loves Kongs filled with peanut butter!She loves napping on people...
or pillows...
She loves people who will pet her or let her lay on them too.
She loves her brother Jackjack.
She loves the Steelers. :)She loves loves loves the water!! and i mean any water. :)
and most of all...she loves her daddy! :) He comforts her when she has to get shots at the vet.
and he helps her find squirrels when hiking near a stream.
and I guess she loves me...I feed her, give her love and take her swimming and for walks.
Well...I hope you enjoyed her birthday post! She is a wonderful sweet and loving dog and I'm so glad she found us and joined my pack. Happy Birthday sweet girl!

Today is also Dogs on Thursday and I posted today!