.. I still can't show off my guild project. As it turns out, the person whom, by proxy, drew the number assigned to my project, was absent for guild this week. And until I receive word that she's retrieved her gift bag from Christina, and opened it.. well.. I'm not going to spoil her surprise. I did receive a lovely small purse, woven by Anna's son. Pictures of that item, along with all of the beautiful projects our creative guild members came up, as soon as Beth lets me know she got hers

And in other knitting.. nuthin' to show. Now that the guild project is done, its back to the grind with the contract item which is 50% done. If it kills me, I'm going to knock this out in the next week so that I can go back to enjoying my knitting needles again. Oh.. and sew that bagsket thing (no.. I never did get around to working on it last week.. I underestimated the remaining work on the guild project (as usual.)

I do have one itty bitty item that I've had on the needles for a bit now, and have knit on it a bit here and there in between mandatory knitting.. If I can muster up the energy to set up the lightbox and camera, I just may share. Otherwise, y'all will be waiting until its completed.

Ho hum. Its snowing. Sick kids home from school today. I'm getting sick. And to top it off, I pulled a muscle in my knee shoveling snow. Bleh! Its a good night to curl up with a cuppa and yarn.

See, I skip a few days, then return with lots of pictures..

Behold.. Momos. Mine aren't as pretty as the ones on the wiki link, but I bet they taste better! And you can be sure, I definitely ate more than three. I only put three in the bowl for the purpose of taking a picture!

Fellow fans of the Loopy Ewe will recognize what arrived in my mailbox on Saturday. See, once you place your sixth order, you become a "Loopy Groupie". I knew about the tote bag, but I wasn't expecting BONUS yarn! Whoa Sheri.. very nice surprise! And truth is.. I didn't even realize this was my sixth order, so my "Loopy Status" really was a surprise! If you are the type that cares about what I bought... I ordered the SKNITches Kettle Drum "Cherry Bark" bamboo/merino/nylon sock yarn there on the right. The surprise sock yarn is two skeins of Shibui superwash merino in the "Breeze" colorway. Squee!

I couldn't pass up the hand painted fiber sale at Spunky Ecclectic. Isn't this colorway amazing? See? My favorite colors! Three bundles of blue faced leicester (I swear this is my new favorite fiber!) Amy's colorways are beautiful.. and the selection of fiber, vast. More Squee!

I knit this hat for myself last week, using the Sublime merino silk cashmere dk that Byrony sent me over the summer. Well apparently my ability to pull off the hat look has expired. Good thing Cassidy can though! What a ham, huh? And thanks to Rosa for linking to bighugelabs where I made the mosaic. (What a find!)

Want to know which pattern? You can get the pattern here.

Lastly.. Talk me out of driving back over to Marshall's in Fairmount to buy these shoes. I tried them on yesterday. I almost bought them before I talked myself out of it with my usual mental argument : Shoe whore - You idiot, Christmas is coming - Heating season - Gas up to 3.31 a gallon - We really want to buy a new sofa - And the TV is on its last legs - But I waaaaant them - $110.00 retail, compared to the $38.99 price tag at Marshalls...

See the inner struggle at work here?

Wonder if I can sell off some yarn to buy the shoes because I.can't.stop.thinking.about.them!

I finished plying that little bit left on one bobbin from the spinning of 8oz of BFL.

Once plied I got 58 wraps on my niddy noddy.

58 x 60 inches (one wrap on my niddy noddy) = 3480 inches

3480 inches divided by 36 inches (one yard) = 96.66 yards.

Way more than the 60 yard deficit. Woo!

“Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony.” ~ Thomas Merton

I am one with my wheel. Ohmmm. (Its taken long enough, eh?)

Oh.. My.. How I loved spinning this, even though I was starting to get a tad bored towards the end of its 8oz. And the plying, took me several hours - ask me sometime about the ridiculous movie, Idiocracy, which I watched at 2AM while finishing this - or don't - I wouldn't recommend it.

But this my pretties, is true happiness. Because as far as spinning goes, when you combine it with my abilities thus far, it just doesn't get more perfect than this. For the interested, its blue faced leicester that I purchased at Rhinebeck from a bargain basket for a whopping seven dollars. It spun like a dream - its incredibly soft - its balanced. The only downer, is that I was hoping to squeak out 800 yards of dk for the lace wrap pattern, also purchased at Rhinebeck. By my measurement I have 740ish yards in a dk/fingering weight. I do have a little bit left on one bobbin still needing to be plied. However I'm certain it won't make up the 60 yards needed. No worries, I have 5 skeins of Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool in my stash, crying to be knit into that wrap.

Have a great weekend y'all.

Fiber enthusiasts will recognize this right away. They'll cringe and shudder. Heart palpitations will commence immediately as they scan their memory, trying to recall the last time they inspected their own wool stash for such unwanted house guests. They'll sigh, and say aloud with a frown, "awwww." Then they'll think to themselves, "better you than me sister."

If you, dear reader, are not a fiber enthusiast, this is what you call "Carla's Stupidity" or in layman's terms, "Moth Damage". This incident, is my own damn fault. I've let these awesome mittens, which Liz made for me last year, sit out in the open, near my knitting basket for far too long. I know, I was just asking for it. In all honesty, I don't think moths are the offending creature here, but rather carpet beetles, which are just as destructive in my opinion. I have yet to see a moth in this house, or evidence of the flighty disgusting, bad-for-my-stash varmints. But I have seen at least 3 carpet beetles since we moved into this home 20 months ago. We have hardwood floors, and no carpet.. go figure.

Since finding the remains of their gluttonous meal, I've inspected the stash. All of it. And I've found no other evidence of snacking. Somehow though, I'm not feeling any less assaulted.

In a few days, on Sunday to be exact, I will celebrate my first annual 39th birthday. This is a big milestone, no? Well, maybe it isn't since I plan to celebrate the same birthday every year from here on out.

So I'd like to entertain a little reversal here, and have a little contest. No answering questions, no donations to charities, just leave a comment telling me about a favorite birthday present you've received. I'll pick one at random on Sunday, November 4th and put together a little surprise package for the winner. See, as much as I love receiving surprises.. I adore putting together surprises for others. If the winner is a knitter or spinner, perhaps you'll get a nice fibery surprise in the mail. If you're not, maybe an Amazon or iTunes gift certificate... I have lots of ideas!

And here, I'll get you started. What is my favorite birthday present? Cassidy! She was born just a few months shy of my 30th birthday, and I had always wanted a baby before I turned 30 (weird.. I know!) But besides all of that, Richard and I were both surprised, since we had always thought our path to parenthood would be a difficult one. We were looking at facing lengthy and heartbreaking fertility cycles.. then there it was.. a positive pregnancy test, all on our own. And after a rocky first trimester, when we were expecting the worst to happen every day, despite bed rest and progesterone supplements, we were truly blessed... just in time to fulfill my 30th birthday wish.

Now, go, and tell me all about your favorite birthday present! As you can tell, it doesn't have to be a "thing", it can be "the perfect day", a great meal... anything.

P.S. Scorpios Rule!

What the hell is it? The cloud of germs hovering over Chez Martin, just.won't.go.away.

I swear its one virus after another. Back to back. No break. So bad that we had to cancel our trip south to spend the weekend with Kris, Roger and Owen (to celebrate O's birthday!) Poor Connor has fared the worst of everyone in the family, but the older three have missed 9 days of school combined in the last 2 weeks. To say nothing of the list of make up therapy sessions Connor has racked up.

Bleh!

So just in case you haven't figured it out yet.. this is the reasoning behind my blogging absence. Well, a majority of it anyway. I haven't been feeling great either.. but you get the idea, right?

Anyway.. I finished up the "Shimmer" Merino/Bombyx roving that I purchased from Jessie at A Piece Of Vermont. A delightful experience, though by the time I got to plying I swore my left index finger was frozen in the spinning position. This stuff was slick! That and I was experiencing some tension difficulties with my wheel. Not enough pull and take up, or waaay too much. But some advice from the Spin Tech forum on Ravelry resulted in a very surprising (to me) and well working fix. I swapped out my scotch tension spring, and replaced it with a rubber band. Instantaneous, and perfect tension. Wee!

Anyway, on to the braggy pictures..

With the flash, just so you can see the shine of the bombyx silk.

And here, without flash, so you can see the softness. I'm not sure of yardage, but there is more than enough here for a nice drapey scarf. You can be sure this skein won't sit and fester in the stash.. I really can't wait to cast it on.

Also worth noting, although it is typical of my skill level in spinning, meaning it has numerous slubby sections, this yarn is perfectly balanced. So balanced I nearly cried with joy.

Color me happy. Sick. But happy.

It was a rough drive down on Friday night in the pouring rain. But we soldiered on.. Diana, Becky, Liz and myself.. trying to get to the hotel in Saugerties to settle in for the night, knit, drink wine, and pray for a dry Saturday.

And dry it was. Look at that sky! This picture is from Saturday morning after our first sweep through building 29 (right next to the gate where we parked and entered.) See, no real crowds.. yet.

Diana and I sat for lunch at this spot while people watching until it was time to venture over to the spot between the food building and building A for the massive knitter meet.

I loved the striped sheep. S/he (?) even had a sign on the gate of the stall stating "this is a naturally colored sheep". And the baby doll sheep were interesting . They reminded me of Shetland ponies.

The meet outside the food building was overwhelming. So many people. If not for the Ravelry buttons, I might not have recognized some folks. I did recognize Susan immediately. And saw Carole from a distance, but never made it over to say "hi". Talked with Knitspot Anne briefly, but mostly stood and talked with Paul (who can be seen here in the last two pictures next to Diana.) Funny thing about me and Paul.. we went to high school together.. well sort of actually. He was a senior when I was in seventh grade. Anyway, Paul kept us laughing (oh my gaaawd did he make us laugh!)
I also talked with Vicki very briefly at the Seaport Yarn booth early that morning while watching the massive crowd fight over Socks That Rock at the Fold booth. I was hoping to run into Vicki again at the meet, but never did. I also met Kathy a little later while picking out lincoln cross batts.

Also at the meet.. I don't know her. But I was watching her spin with a drop spindle. Something I can't do very well, much less on the move.

This is Anne. She was my downstream pal for Sockapalooza 3. I was excited to hear that she had worn the socks I knit for her on her way to NY.. and they were even commented on by the TSA official during the security check. Cool.

Really awesome was meeting Nancy. Not only is Nance a frequent commenter here, but a person whom I consider a friend. The bonus was meeting Maribel and Nancy's son Avery as well. The bummer, not being able to spend more time with them.. or meet Rinaldo and Ian who were off having fun in the children's area.

Um, no. I didn't buy this. I wish. If I can ever afford a Golding wheel.. it will have hand carved dancing bears.

And lastly from Rhinebeck.. my modest haul. I'm still shocked at how little I came home with considering I planned on spending twice as much. The three solid colored batts are lincoln cross and oh my goodness, fluffy soft. They were purchased with the Fiber Trends felting starter kit at the Barneswallow Farm booth. A Grafton Fibers batt there in the middle. Eight ounces of Blue Faced Leicester roving in a deep shade of green (this was my steal of the day. SEVEN dollars for EIGHT ounces. It was tucked at the bottom of a bargain basket and I'm not sure WHY!) One skein of Aussi sock yarn in Faded Valentine from Seaport (who can't resist those colors for 13.00?) A beaded orifice hook, snagged for $3.50, but unfortunately too short for my Baynes (no worries, it will work on my next wheel!) And a pattern, Moon Garden Wrap from NatureSpeak Knits. I didn't realize until on the way home in the van that this pattern is written only, and not charted. Drat! I'll have to chart it out myself before starting.

We got home around 7ish on Saturday evening, exhausted. I even woke up on Sunday morning, feeling hungover, which Richard insists is the sign of a great weekend! I trudged through the morning however, sucking down coffee, so that the family could make its way to the state fairgrounds for the Alpaca Extravaganza.

And after looking at all the adorable fluffy sweet alpaca, we finished Halloween shopping..

Dylan and Connor in their chosen costumes. I'll rant some other time about how Spirit Of Halloween's prices are seriously marked up. Its Monday. Its over 80 degrees. And I'm still exhausted. Whew!