Michael

It was a shock to hear that Michael Jackson died. But now that the shock is wearing off, I don't know what to think. He did have an impact on the music world, but it's sad to think that this man with such strange ideas of how to behave in society never got a chance to prove to the world that he wasn't a freak. The image I have of him is of a man chasing an bubble holding the key to happiness. He never reached it. Now the media circus will have a field day and we'll be seeing the tabloids screaming about this, that, and the other fantastic things about Jacko. Ugh.

The question is now will Paul be able to get the Beatles catalogue back? I hope so.

BSG 2009

Saturday's jaunt to the annual Black Sheep Gathering was graced with perfect weather in my eyes: overcast but not rainy, warm but not too warm. The drive to Eugene went well and part of the way was reminiscent of road trips with my parents. Past Salem my public radio station, OPB, switches gradually from the FM station in Portland to the AM stations in Corvallis and Eugene, so the clear fidelity of KOPB 91.5 FM switched over to the fuzzy fidelity of KOAC 550 AM, complete with the buzzing when passing under high voltage power lines. So after a trip laced with the news and Car Talk, I arrived at the Lane County Fairgrounds.

The small brown sheep above are Babydolls. One farm brought one of their Jacob rams with the four horns. Interesting fleece, hey? The goats are Angoras and at the time I was there they were doing some judging. Two of the Angoras were tiny guys and their bleats were reminiscent of a cranky baby.

The marketplace was full of people looking for bargains and the unusual. I found all sorts of different fibers available including yak, bison, qiviut, casein, and maize. I came with a few items on my wishlist in addition to the task of picking up fleeces from Fantasy Fibers and talking with Nathan Lee of the WooLee Winder company about a winder for my Joy. It was tough not going through the bargain stacks of the vendors because the economic downturn has made vendors put discounts on items to bring in customers. By the time I reached StitchJones' tent to spend time spinning and drawing the curious to peruse her wares, I had found a number of goodies.

Snowy white angora bunny/Merino roving and Romeldale pindrafted roving.

Handdyed Corriedale roving

Handdyed Optim from Chameleon Colorworks

The Icelandic fleeces that I sent out to Fantasy Fibers.

The black Alpaca.

Merino top from StitchJones and the singles I spun while at her booth. The singles are tiny and drew a number of people to watch me spin on my Joy.

Hither and yon

Saturday was World Wide Knit in Public Day, an event that brings out knitters from their inner circles out into public areas to knit with fellow fiberistes. Over the course of the last week I heard about two other events besides the two I knew about: the Hollywood Farmer's Market (right around the corner!) and lunch at Casa Del Matador. The ones I knew of were at Pioneer Courthouse Square hosted by Teaknit Melissa and at the Glenn and Viola Walters Cultural Arts Center in Hillsboro hosted by Tami of pnwbookgirl. I had an appointment to meet with Melissa to drop off squares for a love blanket for Witt's partner Gary, then I was off to Hillsboro to meet up with my westside posse.

When I arrived in Hillsboro, I realized I didn't have the map I had printed out nor the address of the place. Having never been there before, I was clueless as to what to look for. I knew of it as the Hillsboro Cultural Arts Center but didn't realize until I finally arrived (thanks to my buddies' gentle coaching me through downtown Hillsboro traffic) that all my assumptions about its appearance and the name were all wrong. But it was worth it.

There were knitters.

And yarn.

And spinners.

And more yarn.

Did I mention knitters?

I came home with a book of baby knits and a lovely skein of peacock green sock yarn from Frog Creek Fibers well as finished bobbins of the Dicentra merino silk. I didn't get there in time to get a goody bag but it was fun to watch the door prizes go out to the knitters.

Thirty again?

Last Wednesday I went out for the evening with Dan and his friends to celebrate his birthday. I got to meet some of his friends and feast at La Buca. He got a lovely box of loot and many birthday wishes. It made him very happy, like a kid at Christmas. The gals at knit night missed me, but it was such a delight to see him with his goodies.

Monday was my birthday and the biggest surprise was the number of email messages from Facebook and the lists wishing me happy birthday. It was delightful and heart-tickling to see such affection from this community I've become a part of. Thank you! I ended the day with dinner with my pinochle buddies (except Reid who was busy recording a CD with the PGMC) and Dan. He went to Knit Purl and raided their ShiBui sock yarn, coming back with skeins in beautiful colors reminiscent of a beach by a deep blue lake. Combined with the bagful of chocolate from Linda and iTunes from Reid and Cristina it capped a lovely birthday.

Sockage

The Evil Sock Genius has begun his KAL on his Arch-Villain socks. I've jumped aboard but will be jumping back and forth between these and the Shaula sock from Anna Zilboorg's Socks for Sandals and Clogs (seen here on Tricofolk), a commission. I have toes so far for the AV's and am halfway through a toe on the Shaula.

As I say when faced with a challenge, it'll be interesting.

FO!

The man socks are done with a yard to spare. I have to say I was a little worried that I would run out on sock #2 but even though I didn't split the skein into two balls to make sure I had an even amount of yarn or knitted two at the same time I managed to knit both socks. You're probably wondering why. Honey, they're for size 12 man feet.

Gentleman Socks Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock Mediumweight Colorway Raven Haida Garter Rib toe up flap heel

Speaking of socks . . .

Yarmando, the Evil Sock Genius, is hard at work in his laboratory coming up with The Perfect Sock. He's looking for a few minions to join the knitalong he's hosting for testing some instructions. Now that I have the man socks completed I can join him in his pursuit. Who knows what improvements I may discover for my vanilla sock pattern.