Aurora Colony Handspinners Guild Fiber Faire

This Saturday was not only the first day of the Blue Moon Fiber Arts scavenger hunt in preparation for the arrival of the Yarn Harlot on Tuesday. It was also the Aurora Colony Handspinners Guild's annual Fiber Faire. It was held at the Maplewood Grange Hall north of the historic town of Aurora and promised to have on hand all sorts of spinning fiber, yarns, tools, books, and other goodies for those who love fiber.

Warnings had been posted the day before that there was the possibility of snow, and there was some snow down in Salem early in the morning, but I saw none up in the banana belt where I live. It was unseasonably cold so the Sirdal was put to use. Gray skies blanketed the horizon with showers coming down in spots. None of the Knitbloggers could come so it was me and NPR the drive down from Portland.

When I arrived at the grange, I was pleased to see that they were busy and that fiberholics like me weren't undeterred by the weather. That's what plastic bags are for, aren't they? Upon entering I found myself wandering the tables looking at rovings, batts, yarns, and small tools. A few had spinning wheels for sale. At the back on the stage were boxes of skirted raw fleeces. This gave one the opportunity to see the fiber right off the animal and compare the different fibers.

To my delight I found that the maker of Sister Spinster handspindles was a vendor. I had read on one of the spinning shops that Lynne Marie Hoyt was no longer making spindles but that's not entirely true. She will be opening an Etsy shop soon instead of selling her spindles wholesale. She will also be at the fiber shows, including OFFF, so if you are interested in spindles I highly recommend looking for hers. I walked away with a purpleheart plying spindle I just could not pass up.

Boxes of raw fleece

Leicester Longwool

Border Leicester

Another Border Leicester. I was fascinated how this was curlier than the other

A Coopworth/Border Leicester cross. Curls, curls, curls!

A maple/black walnut niddynoddy for sample skeins and a maple nostepinne, both made by Carl Herndon.

Dyed Blue Faced Leicester in the colorway Rohan from Dicentra Designs. It was hard to choose as they had many many nummy colors, including some in great big balls.

Twelve ounces of picked and washed Columbia moorit.

Bits and pieces

For those of you who are interested in what my Kauni sweater will look like, take a look at Wendy Johnson's Lismore sweater. See why I fell in love with this yarn?

The Yarn Harlot is coming to Portland the 22nd and the PDX Knitbloggers plan to have a presence there. They were born from the Harlot's visit last year so there are several in the group who want to make the event a celebratory one. So if you see a bunch of crazy women wearing pins, that'll be us, though I won't be waving a pompom. Blue Moon Fiber Arts is having a scavenger hunt like the one done in Toronto. I don't know how many of the group will be doing the hunt -- I won't have time to do it -- but it does give a good slice of Portland for Stephanie to view. I may just do a few pics while I'm out and about for the Aurora Colony Handspinners Guild's annual Fiber Faire. If nothing else, my traveling sock will have breakfast at the Hollywood Burger Bar.

My projects lately have been working on the Raspberry Frappe fiber and knitting up face cloths for a gift basket we'll be auctioning off at Confluence Chorus's annual Cabaret on April 26th. We got a warm weekend of sunshine that gave everyone a boost. It was nice on Friday evening after a busy week to pull out the Louet and spin until dusk.

So ya wanna see my Kauni?

It's just the beginning, the neckline on down. Popular request demanded I post something. For now. I can tell ya though with so many stitches on small needles it's not going to be a quick knit.

Faerie spun

I received a very special treat tonight. And no it's not someone's pocket lint or a dust rhino.

It's a tiny tuft of qiviut blended with silk.

It's not enough to do anything with but I'm so warm blooded that qiviut would be way too warm for me. It's just enough to have a little bit to feel. Fairies would spin this stuff, it's so incredibly soft. Imagine the smoothest silkiest hand lotion you have ever had. This is smoother than that. Now I understand why this goes for $80 an ounce.

Views

As I was getting ready to post my weekly entry, I happened to look up. This is my view from my desk. Sometimes when I'm here I see my neighbors doing their things ranging from washing dishes at the sink to the eldest son practicing his guitar. Some days there's nothing showing but I hear the beating of drums or a sax playing. There's always some music and while sometimes it's a little off, there are times when it's very good. Some neighbors would complain, but I'd rather hear music than people shouting at each other. Or nothing at all. I've only had to call them once to turn it down, only because it was getting late and Dan was still playing quite loudly. But it's fun to share the love of music. I'm sure they hear me practicing my music or making my rehearsal tapes and I have my ugly notes.

I got to thinking about everyday views. What do you see when you look out a window where you live? If you didn't see it, would you miss it? If you took a picture of it, what would you think about when you looked at it somewhere else?

One time I was goofing around with my parents' Instamatic and took pictures of the neighborhood from my bedroom windows. I still have them. I think of the early mornings when I'd look out to see if it was snowing. I think of the one morning after an ice storm where there was so much ice that the power overloads were blowing up transformers and lighting up the sky. My bedroom window faced east so I could see the moon rise. There was a sunroom off of the living room and its roof was outside my bedroom, so when the rain was falling I could hear the water hitting the tar paper and running down the downspout.

Monday I'm seeing another orthopedic surgeon for a consultation on my knees. We've been having weird spring weather these days with very cold nights for the season (in the 30's Fahrenheit). It's been hard some mornings to figure whether the ache is from the cold or the previous day's activities. I'm looking forward to hearing what he has to say and hopefully I can convince him that a knee replacement, either partial or total, would be more beneficial now than later.

One of the things I have to bring to the appointment is a copy of the pictures they took of my knees, both the X-rays and the bone scan. Instead of films in a big envelope, I received a CD. Curious person that I am and entitled to know what's going on, I popped it into my computer and took a look. The software was easy to figure out and the pictures fascinating. I'm not a trained radiologist, but the size of the white spots on my knees from the scan looked ominous. See doc? See? See? Those aren't going to go away, even if you shave the scar tissue away. I want to do water exercise again. I want to ride a bicycle. I want to walk with my friends in fiber festivals. Gimme new knees!

This morning after breakfast I sat down with my taxes and after finishing realized I also needed to take the car in to have its registration renewed. That jaunt took me by IKEA. While the idea of finding a parking place in their lot and wandering around their showrooms seemed daunting, I figured it was an opportunity to get in some exercise combined with some fun. I was blessed with a parking spot close to the door (thank you Asphalta, goddess of parking!), snagged a yellow bag, and rode the escalator to the showroom floor.

Naturally it was a late Saturday morning so it was fairly crowded, but not hard to get around in. It was my first trip there, so there was the element of curiosity. I had heard of their scenarios (a living situation in 275 square feet). I tested chairs. I examined storage wall bins. I felt towels.

I came away with furry pads for the cats, a set of plastic dishes for taking to chorus retreats, a laundry hamper, and a wicker chair for the front porch, all but the chair and the hamper fitting in one of their huge blue reusable bags (I should have gotten two of those, come to think of it). I was there for only an hour but I could see spending a day in there. I also could see how easy it was to get lost, forever wandering the aisles past products with strange Swedish names like Torgven and Jurgen. My mind wandered to the story I had heard of the man who spent two weeks living in an IKEA while his house was uninhabitable. I could imagine him sleeping in a Malm bed with Bibbi Snurr sheets and Gosa Blasa pillows, waking to a Skarp alarm clock and padding across the Balk flooring samples.

Fibery stuff

StitchJones came to Wednesday night knit with her goody bag of yarns and roving she's been dyeing. The sight of the roving was too much to bear. I came home with this, dubbed Raspberry Cremosa:

Picture courtesy of StitchJones.com

I got home too late to play with it, but Thursday evening after a nap I took a bit and played with it on the Louet. It wanted to be spun fine. The sample was a good practice piece for fine spinning with a different wool (she didn't know which wool it was) so my yarn balance wasn't very good (underspun singles, overplied). But I did get a yarn.

And I was able to knit it up on Friday after having set the twist. This was done on size 3.75 mms. The color is off because by the time I got a pic I had to take it indoors, but you get the idea.

Makes me want to snuggle in my Bibbi Snurr.

On a mission

I may be on an uphill quest but at this point I've reached the conclusion that some sort of surgery beyond scraping the scar tissue from my knees is called for. My goal is total knee replacement. I took a good look at what exercise options I would have available for each and I would have more with artificial knees. I talked with my regular physician and with the physical therapist I'm working with currently and both agree with me that I would have a better chance of being able to pursue an effective weight loss program if I have artificial knees installed now instead of later. It will be a case of convincing an orthopedic surgeon that this needs to be done. I am willing to take the risk if it means controlling my diabetes, controlling my asthma, and taking the strain off my cardiovascular system. I want to be able to do water exercise. I want to keep up my house. I want to be able to stand for a concert performance.

Fiber content

The spinning part of a secret spinning project has been completed so I can devote the Louet to spinning my own stash of fiber. This is Potluck Roving in the color Vine Maple from Ferndale Fiber. It's a wool blend with a little bit of mohair and so far it's spinning up nice and fine. This will be more of a practice yarn to improve my consistency. The secret spinning varied between fingering and heavy worsted and while it balanced nicely was limited in how it could be used. A more consistent yarn will be more versatile.

Friends came over this week and tackled my kitchen (it's a trade for teaching C how to knit a sweater). Between cleaning sessions, I took my Goody Baynes wheel and gave her a good scrub and polish. I took her apart and cleaned out the axle hubs where the axle meets with the mother of all, lubricated her joints, wiped her down with Howard's Feed and Wax, and let her sit overnight to keep her at least one day cat hair free. She's a happy ole broad.

A quiet Easter

Thank you everyone who wrote in on my knee. I appreciate the support. I don't want to sound like a whiner with my occasional health woes but the world isn't all joy and bubbles. The meds have been helping but yesterday I happened to torque my knee so that the ligaments snapped (kind of like trigger finger). I spent the day on my back with ice on my knee after checking to make sure that I hadn't had a ligament separation. I tried doing some spinning later in the day but I was still sore so I worked on some knitting for Gardiner Yarns.

Good news from the work front. After years of applications and classes, I'm now transitioning from working with insurance claims to working with computer applications. The best part of it is I haven't left the office I've been working in, so I'm reaping the benefits of both worlds. Yay, I'm a geek!

Update

I had my visit with the surgeon. I was expecting to walk out with a date for surgery and planning how I was going to get the right support. Instead I walked out with another cortisone shot in my knee, a handful of drug samples, and a prescription for physical therapy. It's arthritis and if it's not better in a month THEN I can have arthroscopic surgery to clean out the joint. I kind of freaked out my doc when during the shot I burst into tears from all the frustration. He was clutching my folder and nearly scurried out of the exam room. But I think it was because he didn't know how to handle this woman who was having a meltdown. He is a good surgeon, well-liked in the medical community (nurses have their likes and dislikes -- they're the best judges of docs), and is well-versed in knee injuries (he treated the local high school football team). While I was feeling like I was not getting what I wanted I also understood that if it can be treated without surgery, then the least I could do was try it and if it didn't work then get the surgery.

Thursday morning I woke up pain free for the first time in nearly a month. Hallelujah! By the end of the day all the day's activity had caught up with me and I was in bed before seven pm. No spinning, no knitting, no nuffin.

This morning I was thinking that it was going to be good that I had nothing going on this weekend so I can get some things done. Earlier in the week I had plied some singles I had spun up a few weeks before. It was a test to see if I could treadle with my left leg so I was paying more attention to how evenly I was treadling as opposed to focusing on how I was plying. When I finished and skeined it I was expecting it to torque a bit but to my lovely surprise it just hung as balanced as one could be. I have more to spin up this weekend.

I may have some knitting time

The concert last night went okay. There were a few glitches but they were handled with aplomb. Those I talked to enjoyed the concert and it was a great turnout for Portland, which means the chorus will come back next year. If the turnout had been poor, we would have seriously considered not performing in Portland again, so I'm glad.

This weekend I opted to perform Friday only. The injury to my knee is not improving with all the moving around so I'm home giving it a rest and knitting. I went to my primary care doc Thursday and he thinks I have a torn meniscus. I have meds now to deal with the pain and have a feeling this will end up with my having some sort of surgery to repair my knee. I've done this before so I know what to expect. Whatever happens I'm going to perform in Miami in July. It would be great to be able to do it standing.

The latest Knitty is up and there are a few patterns in there that interest me. I'm particularly interested in doing Laminaria in the Malabrigo Baby Merino Lace in colorway Loro Barranquero. This may end up being my Miami shawl. We'll see. I also liked Spirogyra but I want to use the patterning for making a pair of socks instead of fingerless mitts. That will take some mathwork to figure out. Lace Ribbon , Brighton, and Yosemite are also nice ones that I'd knit up (On Brighton I'd make sure that I had a really secure foundation for the handles so that they don't prematurely rip out). Some of the other patterns are too funky for this broad to be wearing. I'll do my Kauni sweater instead.

She's doing wheelies in the hall!

First off, I want to thank everyone with their messages of condolences regarding Joe. They are greatly appreciated. I won't be able to attend the memorial service, but I was able to leave a message on the online memorial book for him. There are good things on the Net.

Friday is the first concert day of the weekend (Confluence will have 3: Portland, Salem, and Corvallis). At the performance, I'll be radiating more than the usual charm. I'm scheduled for a bone scan of my legs (especially my right) to see what's going on. Since a misstep I took in December that jammed my leg, the knee has been getting steadily worse and indicating that it's not the usual arthritis. I'll have the bone scan, then go to the surgeon Wednesday (it was the best they could do on short notice). In the meantime, I'm using a wheelchair at the office and getting plenty of exercise pumping my upper body to push me as fast as I can on carpeted floors. It probably was a good idea of their not giving me an electric scooter.

In knitting news, the socks are finished. The camera was cooperative and represented the colors more accurately this time around. The ribbing was more enjoyable thanks to the color changes. I think if these were in a solid I'd be doing anything to avoid having to do that much ribbing. So Witt, good pick of yarn!

So what's next on the needles? I do have a few WIPs I need to finish up as well as some sock yarn from StitchJones. I think for the concert weekend some time spent with something nice will be good, like the Rose of England cloth languishing in the UFO basket, with a Kureyon striped brioche scarf for those mindless moments.

The sorrow never quite goes away

You never quite realize the impact of someone's life on you until that life is suddenly taken away. You see a face in the hall, say hi, have a little conversation. Then one day that face is not seen in the hall. You think, oh he moved on to another job. He went to another department, he left to work for another company, he moved to another town.

Then someone comes up to you and tells you that this person has committed suicide.

I got the news about Joe on Friday. At first there was some confusion about which Joe it was, then there was confirmation. I remember a guy who was by all appearances easygoing and unruffled. He was a musician who loved jazz and played professionally. He worked because the music didn't pay enough. We talked music occasionally -- I talked about my gigs and he talked about his.

It didn't really register with me when he disappeared from the hallways. The company was moving departments out of the building so it was not unusual for familiar faces to suddenly not appear. I was caught up in my world at the same time so I didn't even ask about Joe. It turned out he had left to go to another job but was trying to come back.

All potential employees go through a drug test as part of the hiring process. Joe was back when he got word that he had failed the drug test. Apparently he had been using for some time and it was a problem in his marriage for when his wife found out she threw him out of the house and said she was going to sue him for divorce.

Friday was a quiet day. Those that knew Joe were shocked. I grieved for him but thought that would be the end of it and I would move on. But while I spent Saturday going out and being with people, that night in my dreams I was with Mom and talking about what was happening in my life and woke up grieving for Joe. I will miss him and his easy laugh.

Back to knitting.

It's this kind of silliness that drives the sorrow away. ToolMan was looking at Karen's felted Kureyon bag and thought it worked well as a French Canadian settler's hat. He has a good point, don't you think?

The Witt socks are coming along. I had a bit of Second Sock Syndrome, but once I hit the heel flap I flew around the heel. I'm now on the gusset decreases and will be up to the ribbing.

Saturday was supposed to be rainy, soggy, icky -- perfect knitting weather if one wanted to stay indoors. I didn't want to wallow in the dark so planned to go out to work on Witt's socks and look for particular green yarn for making socks for myself. The weather turned out much better than expected. In addition, I learned of a new test knitting opportunity Friday evening so I added an additional stop to my yarn jaunt.

My stop at Knit/Purl yielded not only the Camelspin yarn I needed for the test knit but also enough Kauni yarn to make a sweater. During a knitting gathering I attended on Super Bowl Sunday, one of the knitters was working on a sweater in Kauni yarn in the rainbow colorway (EQ). It was a Greek key pattern that utilized the two colors in relatively equal amounts so that the color changes. I was so enamored of the way the sweater was coming out I tossed the idea into the back of my mind for a future project. Knit/Purl is the only source in Portland so while I was there picking up the test knit yarn and hunting for green sock yarn, I checked out their Kauni shelf. There was just the right amount for a sweater. Last night I couldn't resist testing out a chart I had done for a felted bag with the Kauni and made a coffee cup cuff to swatch it up on size 3's.

Can we say FO?

I told myself I wouldn't get all housecrafty weird with my knitting. No knitted toilet roll dolls or kleenex box covers. No knitted afghans in Red Heart. The things I would make would either be classy or arty.

That was before Judy showed off her steering wheel cover.

Judy's one of the most down to earth people I know. She is as far from that kitschy 60's craft crap as you can imagine. I never thought she'd do a steering wheel cover. But she did. And it's pretty classy in my opinion. So I asked her where she got the pattern. "Debbie Stoller's Son of Stitch n Bitch," she says. So off I go.

It turned out the pattern was very simple, a sort of mindless knit. The yarn, Berroco Suede, was nice to work with and has a very pleasant feel to the hand. My biggest concern was how much would it stretch and would it stretch over time. We'll have to see. As you can see I have it now on the wheel and is marvelous under the hands for driving. It will make driving with knitted gloves a lot safer because now I have a surface to grip.

One down

Witt's socks are coming along nicely. I finished sock number one Sunday morning and started number two after finishing the steering wheel cover. Witt wanted the colors to start in different places, so not only am I starting with a different color but I'm also going a different direction.

These will definitely be fraternal socks. My camera didn't know what to do with the colors so I took photos indoors and out on a slightly overcast day. The indoor one is a bit more blue than actual color. The outdoor is a bit more washed out. Whatever they come out as though, he will be a blue heeler.

Happy Valentine's Day!

May you and yours have a special day today.

Sock progress

Witt's sock is coming along steadily. The heel is turned and I'm now working on the gusset. The color changes make it fun to knit. As you can see I rewound the skein into a ball so I could see what color was coming up next. The pattern is my basic sock recipe of patch toe with heel flap instructions from Charlene Schurch's Sensational Knitted Socks.

The socks went with me to class this morning. For three days I'm taking a course through work on MS Access, mostly as a refresher from the class I took back in 2001. It's part of some changes that are happening for me at the office. I have to rise earlier to make the commute, but I'm getting to do something different. The teacher recognized me even though it had been a couple of years since I last took a class from her. She recognized the knitting.

Off to do a chores before settling down to watch the Westminster dog show. Root for the corgis!

Yarn(ia) crawl

A group of the PDX Knitbloggers gathered yesterday at Yarnia, the latest shop opening in Portland. Unlike other shops, Yarnia's concept is for a person to come in and make a yarn from the selections of yarns they have available. The resulting yarn would be in a sense unique.

The proprietress, Lindsay Ross, took the concept from a yarn shop in Montreal, La Bobineuse de Laine, and set up shop. The yarn is sold by the pound. At first you think, why should I get a yarn that I have to have made when there are already so many out there? Well, suppose you want to make a tank top out of cotton and silk. There are several yarns out there that are cotton and silk blends, but they're on the spendy side. At Yarnia, you can make a cotton/silk blend yarn in the colors you want for less. You're not paying for a name or a cachet. It's a more affordable means of obtaining yarn for projects.

I had gone in with no intention of coming out with yarn. Stop laughing. I did. I was going to check it out to see what I could find there and what yarns Lindsay had. For starting up, she had a fair selection to choose from of different fibers and types. I ended up hovering over the silk/rayon blends and boucles, taking a multicolored silk/rayon blend and matching it up with different yarns. I was sucked into the magic and had two cones picked out for winding together: the multi in warm tones and a rust fine boucle. In several minutes, Lindsay had the yarn wound for me. I had enough to make a wrap for taking with me to Miami in July. When I got it home, I swatched it up and am very pleased with the effects.

The Knitbloggers afterwards went out to lunch at the Berlin Inn. This is a small German restaurant with excellent food. There were 8 of us and I was afraid we would overwhelm the place, but they had a niche for our party. There were some concerns, especially for Kerin who can't have dairy of any kind, but all of us found items that were very satisfying. Kerin was pleased to find a chicken schnitzel club with no dairy. Not only did it have no dairy, but it had bacon.

Not piddlin' strips but slabs of bacon.

I think this says it all.

Your comments

I'm a bad blogger. Two people have said I've made their day and given me an award for it, and I haven't acknowledged them. So I want to thank Sharon and Shelly for their generosity. I also want to thank Joan S. for your kind comments yesterday. It's good to know that even though I get few comments I do have readers. Thank you everyone who has commented.

Emerald, thanks for trying out the patch toe. I'm glad you like it. Yes, you're welcome to link to it. May you and yours stay out of harm's way as you do your duty.

For those of you curious about how I'm doing with the tablet mouse, it's working out very well. I haven't yet used it for drawing purposes, but for working with Knit Visualizer it was so much less taxing than using a standard mouse. Working out the chart for the Norwegian sweater for the Ethnic Knitting KAL was a piece of cake.

My good friend Witt asked me if I would knit a pair of socks for him as his hands won't knit tiny gauge. He has a new pair of clogs and wants socks to show off. For him I'd knit him a Kaffe Fassett sweater, he's such a sweetheart. So I'm knitting a pair in Noro Sock yarn colorway 150. It's a little stiff but it's softening as I'm working it. The color changings make up for the stiffness of the yarn. OOOhhh! Blue!

For those of you wondering if I've been affected by the snow, I haven't but some of my siblings have. Spokane had their 4th snowiest January on record (up to 28 inches on the ground) and Klamath Falls needs shovels. The little kid in me wants snow but the adult in me is thankful that we don't have ice. And hearing from other places in the country we're pretty much in the banana belt this winter. So no complaints here.

Crawling for yarn

Yesterday a flock of knitters from the rainy north descended to Portland to partake of the riches our yarn shops contain. A number of us from the PDX Knitbloggers acted as guides for the group who arrived by Amtrak and visited Knit/Purl, Knit Knot Studio, and Dublin Bay. Bobbie, Melissa, Judy, and others met them at Union Station and maps in hand the Seattle knitters spread out over the Pearl District with visions of yarn and Powell's Books in their heads. Unfortunately I forgot my camera so I have no pictures. The others haven't posted yet but trust me there are some great shots.

I didn't intend on purchasing any yarn as I have more than enough. But one never knows what you'll find when you just poke around. I certainly didn't expect to find this.

It made my day. So happy!

New necessities

A milestone has been passed. I got my first bifocals. I'm glad I was able to find lenses large enough to make them stylish. So far I'm getting used to them but then I just got them in the mail a couple of hours ago. We'll see how I fare tonight while I watch the idiot box and work on a project.

Another tool has been acquired to try to outwit the tendonitis troll. This is a tablet mouse that I now use at home instead of a regular mouse. The stylus has a point that acts as the left click button. The side button is the right click button. It's been very easy to use and recommend it to my fellow knitters who do a lot of computer or similar work with their hands. Since getting it I have not had any issues with my hands falling asleep while I'm sleeping or tingling in my arms. My thumb and forefinger on my right hand for a while were getting numb but that has gone away. Whee!

This weekend, a group of knitters is descending from the murk of Seattle to do a yarn crawl through some of the shops in downtown Portland. Members of the PDX Knitbloggers will be accompanying them, guiding them to sights and good eats. So if you're in the Pearl District and see a gaggle of chatting women with purpose in their faces, it's best you move aside. We want to see yarn! (I for one will be stationed at Dublin Bay).

Monday Monday

After a weekend of encouraging a newbie knitter and enjoying the company of my fellow singers, I didn't relish returning to work. Fortunately I had other things to keep my mind busy, such as what was I going to do with the time between starting up on the Ethnic Knitting Norwegian Sweater KAL and now?

I have a pair of gloves in Louet Gems that are nearly completed.

I have a steering wheel cover on the needles. Yes, a steering wheel cover. In Berroco Suede. The gold of the cover goes with my leather seats. You can find it in Debbie Stoller's "Son of Stitch n Bitch"

I have Mystery Roving on the Louet.

So in the span of less than 24 hours I get two emails that will add a couple of projects. They're paid projects so the other stuff goes on hold when the projects arrive. In the meantime I have to decide which will I finish first: the gloves or the cover? I like the gloves but they slide on the steering wheel. I like the cover but it doesn't keep my hands warm.

Dang.

The Band Meme

Cindy of Knit For Joy tagged me for this one. I found it a lot of fun. I've played with imaginary band names and drawn album covers for them so doing this one was going back to old pleasures.

You are about to have your own band's CD cover. Follow these directions to the letter. It's fun and requires no thought at all. Go to......

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random The first article title on the page is the name of your band.

2. http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3 The last four words of the very last quote is the title of your album.

3. http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/ The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover. if it will allow you to copy and paste it

Use your graphics program of choice to throw them together, and post the result as a comment in this post. Also, pass it along on your own blog, because it’s more amusing that way.

I think my band is a college band into a different groove from the usual genres. Think REM or early Elvis Costello. I for one would love a band named War Kittens, derived from the current CapitalOne campaign that features evil scientists creating vast armies for conquering the world and the last thing they need to do is design their card. Watch for the guy in the bright red padded suit with the cyborg minion beside him. Makes me giggle every time.

Spun fiber

For those of you waiting for Mystery roving results: A bit uneven, but after watching Buster bury his head in the bags of batt it will most likely turn into a cat bed. It's good for practice though. It's slick and requires a lot more twist than I expected. Great practice for me.

A jaunt in the valley

I received an email from a friend who asked if I had done business with Fantasy Fibers. He was interested in their mystery batts. I had seen Fantasy Fibers at OFFF (it's in their back yard practically) but had not investigated their mystery batts. Further investigation indicated that the shop was not open on Saturdays but if an appointment was made someone would be there. I arranged to be there this Saturday to check them out.

A fiber jaunt is fun but it's more fun with a buddy. I emailed Bobbie to see if she would be interested and sure enough she was. There was an alternative reason to meet up with Bobbie: her Toolman was done making a floor lazy kate for me and at the time I learned about it I wasn't sure if I was going to meet up with her at Wednesday night knitting. It turned out well. I met her downtown then we headed for Canby.

Fantasy Fibers is a processing mill. Their main business is processing fiber for people to specification; even spinning it if desired. The drive out to Canby was wet and cold with some of the raindrops looking like melted snowflakes. I had no idea what to expect when we got there but it would be mounds and mounds of fiber.

We did find mystery batts and at first glance they look like a blended carded mess of fibers. Wool, alpaca, mohair, bits of tencel and angelina, you name it. There were faint streaks of dyed fiber in the batts with some more than others. It would make one wary but Bobbie was enthusiastic about the adventure of what may come out of one of these things. At $1.35 an ounce it wasn't like we were spending a fortune on what may end up being cat bed lining. I took home a couple of pounds. We opened Bobbie's batts at her house and there's quite a bit of variety of color in them so they promise to be an interesting spin.

The same batt turned over

Her second batt

We made a side trip to Woodland Woolworks via the Canby Ferry, one of the few river ferries still operating in Oregon. I had never been on it so it was a bit of touristy fun. The storm waters that were filling the creeks and rivers made the Willamette high and full. We could feel its power as we crossed but we were safe in a matter of minutes. As we drove past farms and fields we saw downed trees and limbs from the recent storms. There's still a bit of a mess out there that is being cleaned up and the winter storms are far from over.

It's hard to walk away from Woodland Woolworks emptyhanded. Even more so when you want to get something from them and can't pull yourself away from other goodies. I did find a treasure of Dale of Norway sweater patterns with traditional motifs that I couldn't walk away from. Some Mountain Colors targhee also ended up in my basket. And all I wanted was a set of ultra short dpns for working the fingers of the gloves I'm making. I'm such a pushover.

The rest of the afternoon was spent at Bobbie's and Toolman's home. Toolman had made up a scrumptious batch of pasta with Italian sausage, bell pepper, and other goodies. He unveiled the lazy kate which is just the way I wanted it (see pic above). Bobbie and I knitted while Toolman puttered with his tools before I headed back to the barn with my load. Tomorrow when the light is better I'll investigate my batts and see what I came home with.