FO alert: Brickless for Stash

St. Petersburg, FL recently got a new yarn shop Stash - A place for Yarn!  It's so very exciting because we haven't had an LYS for a while now.  The closest yarn shops were across bridges or at least a 30-45 min drive.  This new yarn store is only 10-15 mins from both my work and home...can't really beat that! 

Kristin, the shop owner, asked me to knit a sample for the shop as she was preparing to open.  I was more than eager to step up to the challenge.  She handed me this beautiful skein of Malabrigo Sock in the archangel colorway.  I had never used Malabrigo sock but have wanted to for sometime.  Picking the pattern was not hard as I have been wanting to knit a Martina Behm pattern and the sock yarn screamed that it needed to be a Brickless. So here it is all set up in the shop and looking so beautiful! 

Project details
Pattern: Brickless by Martina Behm
Yarn: Malabrigo Yarn Sock colorway Archangel
Cast on: July 1, 2014
Finished: July 14, 2014

Notes: The yarn knit up so nicely and the pattern is so well written.  I had several long drives when we went out of town for a weekend and some low key evening knitting time so this knit up very quickly.  Since it's a shop sample, I don't get to keep it so another one of these will be on my needles soon.

If you find yourself visiting St. Pete, FL anytime soon, check out our new LYS Stash - A place for yarn downtown and check this beauty out for yourself.  Let her know Barknknit sent you!

Happy Knitting!

What are you knitting?  What is your latest finished object?

Saturday Love: Yarn with Soup...

What a day!
As I have mentioned before, I love weekends!
Today was a great weekend day!

The day started out with my little girl being silly, especially when she feels the need to carry around my yarn bag like it's her purse.

I met up with my friend Tinyant for a yarnie adventure!  We started by stopping at our favorite bagel shop The St. Pete Bagel Company for bagels and some yummy coffee!  Then we headed over to Tampa for the 8th birthday party of Knit n Knibble yarn shop.  It's the most local yarn shop to me at 45 mins away and I rarely visit it but every time I do I think to myself how I should visit more often....just wish it was closer.

The shop was packed when we showed up and we were able to find our way to the person with the door prize tickets and grabbed a list for what the sales were and started our searches.  There were too many choices but I was finally able to pick something as close to what I wanted as possible. My final choice was Heritage silk in black.  I plan to knit the Spring Thaw Shawl and add crystal beads to add some sparkle to it.  The yarn is a 85/15 Wool/silk blend. I was sort of hoping for something with more silk in it but I didn't really like the other yarns as much as this one.  It's also a closer to a fingering weight but it's a nice round yarn.

Cascade Yarns was also there doing a yarn tasting. I've never been to one and it was pretty neat!  They had all their different yarns out for you to sample.  I'm pretty familiar with Cascade but there were some new ones that were pretty interesting.  When the shop gets them in and I get my hands on them, maybe I'll share more about them.

After we left the party, we picked up her husband and headed downtown to the Florida Craftsman, which had a coral reef project on display.  If you haven't been yet, you should go check it out!  It's amazing! We had both known about this project for months before it was set up but the holidays and this year have been so busy that it just slipped by and we never were able to enter anything. Let's just say we both kicked ourselves because it was so awesome!  Here are some pictures.

We ended our yarnie venture by stopping by the Craft fest at Art Poole and then grabbed some soup on this rainy day.

I got back home to a girl napping and her daddy resting as well.  She woke up shortly after I got back and we spent the afternoon much like we did the morning.  We played, cuddled, played chase, and had a great time.  As I said, I love weekends!  Hope you had a great Saturday too!

Happy Saturday!

What are you up to this weekend? Visit any yarn shops?

Stash Diving...a tale of survival.

I have sort of been in a knitting rut. I think it's because I didn't finish the two big projects before the end of last term of the HPKCHC. On one hand I know that in order for me to feel prepared and ready for next term which starts in May, I have to get these two projects close if not all the way done but for some reason the more I want to the less time I have found to knit. I will share some of those distractions shortly but mainly I just haven't done it. So tonight instead of knitting on the lace shawl for my SIL that I am SO close to finishing...I think...or knitting on the vanilla sock that I have had as a side project for months...I decided to dive into my stash to just see what's there and reorganize.

Here is a picture of what it was to what it is now!




I took it all out before I took pictures or you would have seen a closet full of mess!! Now to be completely open, this isn't all my stash as some of it lives in another closet and some of it lives in a bin along with tools of the trade but this is the majority of my stash.

It might not look like it but it's organized. :). I have it in different big bags organized by fiber, sock yarn, other project yarn, and then lots of my first handspun which I am not entirely sure what to do with. I have the handspun that will be knit along with the other project yarns.

I love my stash. I know that sounds weird but I do. I wish I had more sweater worths of yarn but some day I hope to get there. I also wish I had a safe place to put it where I could see if more. There are some pretty yarn and fiber in there but I don't get to see it unless I dive in. Diving into the stash isn't something I do often as its just not reasonable. But I have it mostly listed on ravelry so I know what I have when thinking about a new project.

Speaking of new projects, I knit differently now than when I first started building my stash. So a lot of it reflects where I was as a knitter than where I am now. Hence the lack of sweater worths of yarn because I have just started knitting bigger projects like cardigans regularly. I do try to stick to knitting from the stash at every opportunity though.

And for the record I am a string believer that sock yarn and fiver do not count towards stash! :)

What are my distractions you ask? Well...work as usually prevents me from knitting during those hours. Then we have this little miss...she's just too cute to not spend every waking moment of hers being with her.




And then we have visitors. It started with CGR's grandma and grant who were pictured in the last post to now we have Grandpa!! My dad is here for a full month but he lives in panama and we don't get to see him often so we have to take full advantage!!




Other than that...the pups, house, and my family are big distractions but as you can probably tell all of these are good distractions so this gal is a happy camper! Might not be a productive crafter but a happy camper is good in my book!!

Happy Stashing!!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

FO: Calligraphy Cardigan

My Calligraphy cardigan has been completed...and worn practically every day possible since!!  And I do not exaggerate that I can't stop wearing this!  It's super comfortable and I feel goes with EVERYTHING...even though it really doesn't but who cares I LOVE IT!   If you are friends with me on most social network sites, you will have already seen these pictures but I wanted to post to my blog as well. 

Pattern: Calligraphy Cardigan by Hannah Fettig
Yarn: Hand spun and hand dyed by me from wool that I purchased from Warren in WI and sent to be processed.

Yes, me and my girl are very silly!! :)

The hand spun yarn was a bit thicker than the called for gauge so with the help of Jasmin from the Knitmore Girls Podcast, I was able to change the numbers proportionally to fit what my gauge was and the fit I feel is perfect!!  I'm not sure I can explain exactly what we did but if anyone wants to know I can do a post about it. Thank you Jasmin for all your help and Congrats again to your family on your beautiful addition G!!

Happy Knitting!!!

My OWL is complete!!!

My Transfiguration OWL is complete!  I spun 1516 yards of DK weight and dyed it all up in 3 months! YAY! I'm so proud of myself!  This is the most yarn I have spun in one go and most I've dyed up.  The spinning isn't perfect and neither is the dyeing but I did it and I can't be more happy with how it came out!  I can't WAIT to cast on the cardigan and wear my handspun, hand dyed, hand knit cardi!

started out as fiber in a box

Turned into lots of yarn

Lots of yarn!

cooling after heat setting the dye

And here it all is!  All pretty and dyed up!

LOVE IT!

I'm so happy with it and I now don't feel so intimidated by spinning for big projects that I might just have to start another project like this because I have other cardigans that need handspun yarn! :)

It has been turned in to the House Cup group and just waiting for it to dry so I can cast on!  However, probably won't cast on until after I finish these socks I'm working on for Carmen and maybe one more gift but it's going to be very hard to resist!!!

Happy Spinning and House Cup!!

Matching FOs...and happy baby

As I mentioned in a previous post, I finished my BROOM which was the Spectra scarf by Stephen West.  I can't turn it in until tomorrow but I figured I'd post pictures today.  I knit it using the only skein of Wollmeise I had and some Miss Babs in Falling Leaves that I purchased at SAFF.   When I first started knitting it, I was just following the pattern and I didn't like how the wrap and turns were working up.  I fretted over re-starting as it had taken me over a week or so to get 10 repeats done.  Yes, I had been working on other things as well but I never know how much time I'll get to craft so I cherish the time I do get.  In the end, I knew if I didn't like it now then I wouldn't like it later.  So, my shawl went from this...

to this....

I went to youtube and I found this video from Cat Bordhi about concealing the wrap & turns and cast on again.  This time it went faster as I had already memorized the pattern.  It still took me a great deal of time to get the 87 repeats of the pattern complete but I'm very happy with how it turned out!

After finishing it, I realized I still needed to cast on something for the last Yule Ball dance and the prompt says "Mini costume items are allowed as long as they use at least 25 yards."   I couldn't resist using some of the left over yarn from my Spectra to knit a mini Spectra!  I did some math in my head and cast on...since it was mini it went super fast!  I turned it in last night!  What do you think?  Cute huh?

Well, Little Miss CGR spent the day with her cousin and she had a great day!  We think the sickness is teething.  She went from snotitng all over the place to drooling all over the place.  She's still a bit snotty but not as bad as yesterday.  She is fast asleep but after a day full of this...

you would be tired too!

Happy Knitting!

Travel, Yarn Store, Hospital, and clean fleece.

Last weekend went by so fast!  Most weekends do...Friday night we flew up to Ohio to visit Special K's family.  The weekend was great but went by so fast.  Here is a quick recap of the weekend.  Saturday, we went to the Festival of Arts in the town that Special K grew up. It was so cute and lots of good food, craftiness and fun.  We walked around and I got to meet one of Special K's friends he grew up with that is a knitter.  I'm working on getting her to spin. 

Favors from the baby shower

Sunday, I thought we were going to go back to the Festival but turns out that my MIL had different plans such as throwing me a fantastic surprise baby shower!!  I had no idea they had been planning this or that it was actually the reason why we flew up there in the first place!  The baby shower was awesome and again lots of yummy food and family time!! 

Guests at the baby shower

The rest of the weekend was spent with family.  We stayed with SK's grandparents and it was really nice spending time with them especially since Papa has been sick. 

Standing outside Natural Stitches

Our last day was Tuesday and since SK got to go golfing on Monday I insisted that we stop at a yarn store on the way to the airport.  I had called around and asked for references and the one that I picked was Natural Stitches.  The store had a lot of room and lots of inventory!!  They had this wall of cascade with every color you could imagine!!  They also had some awesome steeler yarn but Sk didn't want me to buy it.  I did buy two things:

Tosh sock in Tart

Malabrigo Worsted in Polar Morn

We managed to get to the airport on time even though we got a little lots in Pittsburgh.  This was the first visit we actually drove into Pittsburgh so it was awesome to be able to see the city!  Love all the bridges.

Tuesday when we got back, we went out to dinner for SK's dad and by the time we got home it was after 10pm.  I was pretty tired and went to bed as soon as I could.  Since then, I managed to get a head cold which is now taking residence in my chest.  This is actually the first time since I've been pregnant to really be sick so I guess I should say I've been lucky.

Yesterday, we had our Tea and Tour of the Baby hospital we are delivering at.  It was great to see the area and to know what we are supposed to do.  The rooms are nice too!

Today while Special K was off golfing with his dad, I finished scouring the black corriedale fleece I bought at SAFF last year.  I'm still planning on making it a Cardigan...right now there are two patterns in the running.  I'm going to spin it up from the locks and then decide which to knit.  I had this fiber drying outside but then it started raining so I moved it in before SK got home. :)  He normally doesn't like wet fiber in the house but we are both stuffy and this fleece is nice and clean so that house doesn't smell that bad.

Fleece drying on table.

Well...hope everyone has had a great week.  I'm postponing recording the podcast until my throat gets better.  Hoping that is before next weekend....which is Florida Fiber In weekend!  YAY!!

Happy Knitting, Spinning, and Weekends!!!

Swatch, Swatch, Swatch and Swatch again. :)

Most people hate swatching!  If you don't know what swatching is, it's knitting or spinning a small sample of your yarn or fiber and make sure that it's the correct gauge or thickness for your project.  Gauge for those non-knitters is stitches knit per inch.  Depending on the size needle and the thickness of your yarn, your gauge changes.  Most if not all patterns have a gauge for you to get with the needles and yarn you pick for your project.  Sometimes even though you knit with the same needle size and yarn as someone else, you may knit tighter or looser and your gauge will be different.  In these cases you would have to go up a size in needle or down a size.   OK...enough education for today.  It's early for me.

I've been planning out a sweater project with some of my hand spun.  Now, I could just spin up all the fiber and then see what thickness my yarn ends up being and find a pattern that matches but instead I'm trying to spin for a certain yarn weight.  My first attempt at a spinning swatch didn't go well.  First off, I spun up too much of a swatch...I tend to do that because I get so into spinning that I forgot that I'm just doing a swatch.  Second, my singles were way too thick for what I was hoping would be a three ply.  The sweater calls for a worsted weight yarn.  This is a standard medium weight yarn.  You can read more about yarn weight standards here.  The end result of my three ply swatch was more of a Bulky weight which wouldn't work for the sweater pattern I choose.

3 ply. 2 plies of brown merino, 1 of some other fiber.  Bulky weight

So, back to the drawing board I went.  This time I sat down with my fiber and worked on spinning up the fiber the way it wanted to be spun.  I then realized that I was forcing it to be thick and it really wanted to be a lot thinner.  Now I had to decide what to do.  I did end up spinning up a lot more single of the brown merino I was working on before I said...time to swatch! 

Both swatches.

 This time I decided that I'd spin up a small and I meant small sample of the two white fibers I now am going to ply the brown up with and see if this will need to be a 3 ply or 4 ply and which I can get gauge with.  Last night, I pulled out two different white rovings I have.  I have about 3/4ths of a lb of some pretty white Corriedale and less than 1/2 a lb of Cormo.  I'm thinking of doing a single of each of these fibers with two singles of the brown merino which I have probably now a little more than 3/4s of a lb.  I'm hoping by mixing the three different fibers in my stash I will have enough fiber to yarn for a sweater.

After spinning the other singles up, I wound some of the brown onto another bobbin and did a very tiny sample of three ply.  Two brown and one of the corriedale.  I then checked it with my yarn gauge and realized it would be way too thin.  So, I did two plies of the brown, one of the corriedale, and one of the cormo.  I checked and it seemed generally to be about right.  I'm still working on getting my singles a consistent thickness so it's not really perfect but I"m ok with that.  I plied up a little more of this 4 ply and then I set the twist last night. What do you think of how it's coming out?  It's a barber pole effect. 

4 ply worsted weight. 2 plies of brown merino, 1 of corriedale, 1 of cormo.

When I got up early this morning, I pulled out my small sample and knit up a gauge swatch to see if I had reached my goal.  Surprise, Surprise to me of all people, I have!!  It's not perfect and the gauge isn't consistent through the whole swatch but on average it's 18sts/4 inch which is what the pattern calls for!  

I also pulled off a yard of my spinning swatch so I can weight it and determine if I'll have enough lbs of fiber for the yardage I need.  That is for another day because I might have Special K take it to work and use the scale at his work, a machine shop! :)  For now I feel comfortable that I can keep spinning the way I have and just work on getting my singles as consistent as I can.

Hope you guys enjoyed this sort of lesson in swatching.  I know it's a lot of babble really but I didn't sleep well last night because of a leg cramp and I'm up early on a Saturday trying not to wake up Special K who is still sleeping.  When he finally gets up, we are heading to brunch and then to Babys R Us for some registering.

Happy Spinning and Don't forget it's a good idea to always Swatch! :)

PS. I know the pictures are crappy as I'm still using my cellphone to take pictures. :)  Some day I'll get a better camera. 

Baby Knitting!

Since we have a new baby in the family, everyone should have known that would mean BABY KNITTING!! My first comment about this is that baby knitting is so fast and everything is so cute!! I mean anything that is baby size is always cuter! Second comment is that my nephew is SO adorable that he just makes things look even cuter!!

I, of course am bad with deadlines and instead of having these items knit when little Owen was born back in Nov....they were sent to him in January! At least I made them about 3 month old size so they fit him now! I used the Child's Placket-Neck Pullover that was published in Last Minute knitting Gifts. Originally I had wanted to make the body one color and the sleeves the yellow but once I got to thinking and realized I'd have to sew together, I came up with doing the upper body the second color. I'm really glad I made this choice. I think it came out perfect!! I used some Dream in Color Classy in Midnight Derby that I had left over from my FLS and the DIC Butter Peps was sent to me by Jasmin from the Knitmore girls and it was left over from her Ariann.

Can we say ADORABLE??

He looks so much like pictures of my dad when he was a baby. He's like a little Vicente! :) I love it! I can't wait to meet him!
After I finished the sweater, I decided that he had to have a matching hat!! So, I sort of just made up a pattern for it. I cast on, knit seed stitch for a bit, knit for a little bit, switched colors, kept knitting, decreased and did the top. It fit him perfectly too!

All in all, I think my first official baby knitting was a huge success!! Before this I only had knit bibs...so I'm pretty proud of myself. I already have some baby knits planned for my best friend from high school who is due this summer and another sweater for Owen for his first birthday.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Knitting!

Technical issues.

So, technology has won and I have been defeated....I was trying to make things easier for me and move some of my domains over to a new host...well...what happened? It's taking longer than I thought and also a bunch of stuff on my blog is now busted! UGH! I work on websites all day...I know this stuff...and I mess up my own. I still can't believe that I didn't pay attention to my own advice at work. What can I do now....not much. Stay tuned and when I get some time it will all get worked out. I also busted my computer...what is wrong with me? I tried re-formatting and I lost my drivers disks and well...the ethernet card and my audio card don't work!! GREAT!! I tried downloading them from Dell and they still don't work! I used to be the tech person and now I'm breaking all technology that comes near me. At least my ipod touch works great!

I managed to get a podcast out last weekend thanks to my LOVELY niece Samantha and I'm hoping to sisternap her mother this weekend and get her to be my co-host. We will see how that goes. I think it will be lots of fun!

I got an iPod touch from my wonderful husband for Christmas and I'm addicted to it. Not only can I now catch up on all the podcast I listen to but I also have become addicted to apps! My favorite right now is Words with Friends! If you have one download and start a game with me. My username is barknknit...go figure!

Well..I have been geting some spinning done and knitting. I cast on another paid of Spring Forward socks for NHKnittingmama.com's Lace KAL. I'm 2 repeats in and I tried them on last night and it's too small! I'm going to recast on with larger needles and see how that goes. It is a lovely color! It's the Darcie colorway in her Franconia line which is a cashemere, superwash merino, and nylon blend.
My pups have also been getting lots of walks because work has been crazy and I've needed to clear my head. Walking them is a great way to do that. They have also been really lazy...check this out.
So, I hope you guys have forgiven me for giving up the blog365 but it's not working for me...and work isn't making it easier to keep up with. I'll try to post once or twice a week along with podcasting but please bare with me as the links and so on get fixed. I might scrap them all and start from scratch. We'll see how it goes. I'm mostly bummed about my progress bars not working..ugh!

Ok..enough complaining about technology! Hope everyone is having a great day! Happy DOT!!

Spinning....

So, tonight I pulled out my spinning wheel, dusted it off, and started spinning. :) Not really...it wasn't that dusty but I did pull off some yarn from a couple bobbins, which need their twist to be set. I started working on some yarn for my Aunt Rita. She'll be here on Friday for the holidays and she is a knitter. I want to get some yarn done for her and a pattern for her to knit with it. I figured that would be a great gift for her. She learned to knit from my Grandma I think so i think that is so awesome! I'll definitely be getting her to record an interview for my podcast!!

Well...no pictures but I'll take some of the yarn when it's done! Have a Happy Tuesday!!

Tomorrow might either be a really early or really late post. My sisters, Abby, and I are doing the Jingle Bell run downtown St. Pete! Should be a fun time!!

Padfoot socks sneak peak.

Soon...I'll be publishing my first pattern. I decided to try designing a pattern when Shelby from Shelby B's Designs sent me this beautiful colorway. It's called "Sirius" after Sirius Black from Harry Potter. Shelby dyes beautiful Harry Potter colorways and I actually got to meet her and interview her at SAFF. When I first met her she asked me what my favorite Harry Potter character was and naturally it's Sirius Black because umm...he turns into a dog and he's named after the Dog star. So, she came up with a colorway and send me this...I then started searching for a pattern for this lovely sock yarn and I just couldn't find one. So, I came up with one. The first sock is completed and the 2nd is in the works. I don't have any pictures of it but I'll get them and you'll get to see them soon. My friend Courtney is test knitting my pattern for me so as soon as she's complete and makes sure there are no major errors...then the pattern will be published on Ravelry! I'm so excited!!!

Well...there is my sneak peak...you'll just have to come back for the pictures and the pattern!

Happy Monday!!!

Natalie

Not forgotten!

Ok...I swear this blog has not been forgotten! I think I need to start posting more often! It's not like I don't have plenty to share with you guys!

First off we'll start with a cute video of the pups. :) Just because well...they are so CUTE!!



This is part of our routine to go outside. Can you tell Jackjack is feeling GREAT?

Well...there has been lots of knitting....and a little spinning but mostly knitting. First off here is a gift I've been knitting for someone. They are these awesome mitts! You can either use them as finger less mitts or fold over the top and use as mittens! The pattern is the iphone mitts by Julie Ridl. This first pair was done using some NH Knitting Mama Franconia yarn in that Auntie Colorway. This is a Superwash Merino, Cashmere, Nylon base and I love it! These are so comfy and warm.

The color is really a bit more lilac in real life but I'm not a photography genius...I only wish I was. :)

The 2nd pair I'm working on for myself is using some Shelby B's Designs yarn in the Lilly Potter colorway. I'm actually using a similar yarn base called Supreme Sock from Shelby's that is the SW Merino, Cashmere, Nylon. Love these colors and it's knitting up very nicely!

I don't have any spinning pictures but I'll get some soon. I spun up some lovely merino but next up on my wheel is the cormo roving I bought at SAFF! I can't wait!

I'm still considering the Blog365 starting on Dec 1st. :) So...you may get to see and read a lot more from me soon.

Happy Tuesday!!

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!