nipperknits

Maryland Recap...

Well, sort of. The problem with recovering before you do the recap is that you forget all the stuff. I guess next time I should just do the post first and then go to bed. Also, next time I'm taking Monday off for recovery time. This has been a rough week. :)

From my Exhausted post on Sunday:

"Freaked out some guy at LaGuardia Airport. Norma and I became closer relations than we ever dreamed of." Norma covers both of these here with numbers 1 and 2. But I'd like to add my own little bit of horror to number 2. Remember this, "Lots of comments on the hair, compliments and fake-compliments"? Well, that's how this whole thing got started. I think he was the worst of the fake-complimenters. I mean, what does, "Well, that's... creative." mean anyway? Add on to that the "maybe I shouldn't say that in front of your mom" thing and I'm really confused. Why wouldn't you say that in front of my mom? If you're complimenting me, why wouldn't my mom want to hear you compliment me? And if you're insulting me, why would you not insult me in front of my mom, but you insult me to my face? Ugh. Weird.

But I had a lot of fun! I don't want to sound like it wasn't a great time, because it was. The drive home was a bit stressful and sometimes people are weird, but for the most part I had an amazing time. I drove down and roomed with Norma and commenter-at-large, Rachel H. There was a little impromtu party at the hotel Friday night with Juno, Cassie, Laurie, Claudia, Silvia, Julie, and Theresa. There was wine. There was spinning. There was knitting. There was me passing out in a chair in the corner (knitting in hand.) It was fun!

We got up early Saturday so that we could get in the swag line and so I could make a run on The Fold. You've already seen one of the Socks that Rock that I bought, but here's the second, Hot Flash. Can you tell I was in a pink mood that morning? I bought a pink t-shirt as well. I wish I had bought more StR, but that just gives me another reason to go to Chicago. (You know you're the first, Carolyn. MWAH!)

I was a silly girl and wore Slippery Nipper to the festival. Not doing that again. Mohair = really fucking warm. Halfway through the morning, I had to make a trip to the car and gave those boy scouts quite the show by changing into my new t-shirt in the parking lot. Luckily, no pictures there. :)

I met a *lot* of people on Saturday. People I'd never met before and people I was very excited to see again. If I miss you, I'm so sorry. Linkfests are hard work. Let me know and I'll rectify that. *Deep Breath* Rock Chick, Julia (of the Vesper Yarns *covet!*), Cara, Jodi Green, Hockey Mom, Mouse, the Village Knitiot and Mr. Knitiot, Nanc, Chris, Lolly and Jenna. *wipes sweat from brow* Seems like there were a lot more people than just that, but that's all I can come up with at the moment. It was all a little overwhelming.

Speaking of overwhelming, did you know there was fiber to be had? Everyone else got really burned on Saturday, but I got hardly any sun at all. I was shopping! In darkened barns! Who has time for sun?

I bought a sweater's worth of yarn from Tintagel Farm. It's a gorgeous, soft and silky fine wool/mohair blend single in the Olives colorway. The designer said that she created the colorway from all the colors of the olive bar. If you know my eating habits, you know it's pretty damn funny that I like this colorway so much. I *hate* olives! But this is lovely yarn. I can't wait to make something with it.

After Sarah bought her gorgeous Licorice Twist last year at Rhinebeck, I've been dreaming of some for myself. So, of course, Spinner's Hill was one of my first stops. And, of course, they had a perfect Nipper colorway. But I don't want to only buy nipper colors! So I put the skein back down and walked away... only to come back to it again and again and again. It was lovely! It was perfect! It sang a siren song of bell-sleeved shrug. I needed it. So first thing Sunday morning, I went running back to claim my treasure. It was meant to be, because it was still there waiting for me. Yeay!

And then we have roving... I haven't done a whole lot of spinning since Rhinebeck. Did I need roving? No. Could I go to a festival full of spinning supplies and not buy roving? No. I've decided I need a wheel. Mmm... wheel.

This is Corriedale dyed with cochneal with sparkles by Stephania. How can you pass up roving dyed with bugs and with sparkles!?! That's so cool!

This is some more of the silk/wool blend that I bought last year at Rhinebeck. I've only spun up a little of it, but with 4 more oz I'm hoping I can spin up enough yarn for... something. Scarf? Shawl-ette? What do you do with 7 oz of a silk/wool blend handspun?

I think this is my favorite purchase. 4oz of silky mohair locks in bright, fantastic colors. Seems like an odd purchase for me, right? Well, I saw this amazing yarn at this booth that was made of locks. It was this fat single that every now and then had little curls sticking out of it. It was beautiful! But, for some reason, I didn't want to buy it. It inspired me. I couldn't stop thinking about it. But really, I couldn't stop thinking about trying to figure out how to spin it. I need to learn how to spin singles. I need to buy combs and learn how to comb out locks. I need to learn how to spin locks. I *love* this experiment I've taken on. And the thought of those colors, the lime, purple, teal, and blue, all spun up together with random curls sticking out makes me very, very happy.

So, yeah. In conclusion, Maryland = overwhelming. Me = still tired out, but excited about possibilities to come. Also, um, yeah, I need a wheel.

Science + Knitting

Those of you in Toronto need to go see this. It's a lecture dealing with "the similarities between knitting and building proteins." That sounds *so* amazingly cool. Go and report back so that I may live vicariously through you.

Please. Science is cool.

(edit: Link was incorrect. It has been fixed. Go! Find out stuff!)

Maryland Lessons Learned

* It's too hot for a mohair sweater. Don't even put it in your suitcase.

* If you want Socks that Rock, get there really, really early or go to Chicago. (They were sold out by 10:15 Saturday morning.)

* Don't get so caught up in shopping that you forget you own a camera. (I took 2 damn pictures this weekend.)

I don't much for you yet... But here's one of the Socks that Rock that I got. It's called Hard Rock.

More Maryland coverage to come. What lessons did you learn this weekend?

Exhausted.

Exhausted. Possibly dead and I don't even know it yet.

Home from Maryland. Had lots of fun. Bought lots. Met lots of people. Freaked out some guy at LaGuardia Airport. Norma and I became closer relations than we ever dreamed of. Slept on possibly the worst bed ever. Lots of comments on the hair, compliments and fake-compliments. So happy to be home, I could kiss my crazy roommate and her evil cats.

Going to bed. Might be late to work tomorrow. Pictures... at some point.