High Fiber: Fun With Fiber, Friends and Fur!

Of course, I have been spinning away! It's a wonder I'm not dizzier than I am!

Another dark chocolate Corriedale is finished, along with more of the dyed Corriedale in aqua on my KP Turkish drop spindle, and the Ashford merino and silk on my Golding.

Rocky and Sunny met the new neighbor, a golden retriever puppy temporarily named "Puppy."

Progress is happening on DH's Fair Isle Sleeveless cardi, although I had the buttonholes in and had gone two rows past them, when I discovered that I had put them on the wrong side! From now on, I'm going to do them the way Elizabeth Zimmerman says to do then for the Baby Surprise Jacket: make them on both sides. You sew buttons over one set anyway, and they make a good placement guide for the buttons. Well, this stuff is hard to frog, because it clings to itself, so I just dropped back the four sts involved with the buttonholes and knit back up and did the opposite where the buttonholes were supposed to be, putting them in. It only took two hours! Still on track to finish in time for cold weather!

Vintage Stitchers met on Thursday, and I have some quilting projects to show off. Here's Ellen's pineapple quilt, ready for the border.

Here are a couple of appliqué projects from the group:

Linda brought some of her hand-dyed alpaca from her herd. Her Etsy shop is at www.etsy.com/shop/freespiritfiberarts

One highlight of the week was a visit from Buffy Joseph, a friend from the Knitting Community Sock KAL. She was in the area for about a day, and so we met at the Denny's close to the SLC airport.

She's a quilter, too, so I brought Ellen along. (Ellen and I hit Elaine's Quilt Block in SLC first and did some damage!) I have plans for my first Turning Twenty quilt, having spent years making fairly complicated quilts. It's a present for a wedding in September. (Eek!)

I will soon be the proud owner of half of a Patrick Green drum carder! Photo next week! My spinning/knitting buddy and neighbor Lynda and I are going in halves on spinning/ knitting/quilting buddy Linda's used one.

What's on my needles? My lime-green food-coloring-dyed socks, and the DH's
sleeveless cardi.
What's on my wheel? Nothing, but more dark chocolate Corriedale soon!
What's on my drop spindles? The aforesaid aqua Corriedale on the Turkish spindle
and the aforesaid Ashford merino and silk on my Golding.
What's on my iPad? From Audible, The Passage by Justin Cronin.
What's on my iPod? A new podcast "Fiber Beat" available at http://
fiberbeat.libsyn.com/
My app of the week: FirePlace. It keeps me toasty warm, if in spirit only!

High Fiber: A New Spin on Singles

This has been an exciting week for me! My new KP Turkish drop spindle arrived with a selection of fiber. Of course, I had to try it out right away:

I sampled the Peruvian Highland Wool, the Superwash merino and nylon, the dyed Corriedale and the merino and silk. I was pleased with all of them. Of course, I got DH to stain my spindle first. I think it's pretty.
We went to a party and I took my Golding Tsunami drop spindle. See how much I got done during the party:

It's the Ashford merino and silk in "Mulberry" I've been working on for a while. I need to go to more parties!

I'm making progress with the natural dark chocolate Corriedale I've been spinning on my wheel. I'm planning on making a sweater with a patterned yoke. I just need to finish enough of the chocolate to go with these colors:

I've been spending a lot of time at the Spin Along here on the Knit Picks Community. After a little over a week, we have more than 50 members already! We have a lot of new spinners, too! I can't believe that with only 18 months of spinning experience, I'm one of the more experienced ones. I still have a lot to learn, though, and we have some "old timers" with years of experience, who jump in with tips, jewels of wisdom and good advice.
In other news, Miss Daphne hit three months and has given up the 3:00 AM parties and is sleeping instead...for now, anyway! Here she helps Daddy make some sense out of James Joyce:

The expression says it all! If a baby can't make sense out of James Joyce, then who can?
The hike DH and I took with the pups yesterday yielded some interesting insect friends who seem to get along while feeding at the same place:

The bee might be harder to see...like "Where's Waldo?"
I've been working on the wedding quilt for DD and her new husband:

It will take a while, though!
I'm off tomorrow for a few days in the Uinta Mountains with the trailer, DH and the pups. I will have photos to share. I'm taking my knitting and spinning with me. It should be interesting! Happy knitting, spinning and quilting!

High Fiber, Happy Memories, Part Deux...the Sequel....

When we left our happy couple, they were walking down the aisle to the tune of "Great Balls of Fire!"

Now we find them, wedding photos finished and ready to entertain their guests...and party!

The dinner was wonderful. The food was great, and Miss Daphne made the rounds of her adoring fans, while her Daddy serenaded his new bride with his guitar.

It was wonderful to see all our family together.
DS1 (far right) and his DW (middle) barely made it in time. Here they enjoy the dinner with DS2.

Their flight was delayed in Detroit because of a mechanical problem and finally
canceled after it was too late to get another flight to Austin that night. The next flight from Detroit to Austin would get them there too late for the wedding. They took a flight to Dallas instead and rented a car one-way ($$$$). Their luggage, unfortunately, went to Atlanta! It arrived in Austin the next day, but the airline refused to send it to the hotel in Temple, so they had no clean clothes and DDIL didn't have her medication. DS1 met them at the hotel and took them to Walmart to get emergency clothing and got them back to the hotel just in time for them to walk in right before the bride! Whew! The sad part was the day we lost that we might have spent with them. However, we were together for this great event, and that makes me very happy!

The cake was wonderful! Beautiful and tasty!

The toss of the garter and of the bouquet were really interesting! DS2 and his
lovely partner, Lex, caught the garter and the bouquet, respectively. Hmmmm!

DGD1 arranged with her new cousins-in-law to back off when the bouquet was
thrown. They were the only other single ladies and just teenagers, so it was only right!

The couple looked so cute with little Daphne! Maybe they're next!

DGD1 looked cute, too, with her new cousin-in-law and the Bubby of all her cousins!

She landed a photo shoot while we were in Texas! The two photographers talked
photography all the next day. It was good to see them together! They are both very talented photographers, although they have different styles. Just like my fellow knitters!

The baby photo shoot was out at the ranch the next day. Grandma got a few photos in, but the two photographers took zillions. That baby is getting very used to having a camera shoved in her face! She was a good sport about it!

OK, I can't resist! Just one more gratuitous, heartbreakingly cute baby photo:

My niece Amanda has more photos at http://www.amandahowseblog.com/
If you go to look, please leave a comment! If you live in Western Washington, Northern Nevada or the Lake Tahoe area, she is available for photo shoots! Unless you live in the Riverside County, CA, area, you will have to wait a bit for
the other photographer, but I suspect that in a few years my family will have the entire west coast covered!
I spent today getting caught up on posts. What a lot y'all had to talk about while I was in Texas! (Oops, guess I brought some Texas home with me! It must be the grits!) Most of the posts were in the new Spin Along, http://community.knitpicks.com/group/spin

I just unloaded my Golding drop spindle. I plan to use the singles as singles. It will be about lace weight, and I think all the colors will show up better without plying. I didn't have my spindle lazy kate with me, so I had to improvise with this.

Here's what I ended up with:

I still have lots more to spin. This is Ashford's "Mulberry" merino and silk. Yum! Today I ordered some spinning supplies from KP. I don't know what I'll do with the spun yarn, but I think that the Superwash merino and nylon will be great for baby and toddler things, and I know it washes well.

That's it for now. Things are getting back to normal...sort of!

High Fiber, Happy Memories!

We got back from Texas last night, after a wonderful week.



The wedding went great, and it was fun to meet the new relatives and spend time with both of our granddaughters.
Our daughter looked beautiful and happy. Her new husband looked pretty cute, too!




DH wore his tux. That's twice this year. A record!





Not to be outdone in all this cuteness was little Daphne. Not so little anymore, at 11 lbs.



We were a little concerned about fitting her into the slip to the Avery Christening Gown (from Vintage Baby Knits by Kristen Rengren), which was rated for up to 10 lbs, but it was just right. She's long and lean, so the extra pound didn't matter.

Of course, nothing ever goes completely the way you expect. The rabbi who officiated spilled the wine, and I was so busy holding Miss Daphne, I didn't notice that I had lost the paper copy of the poem I was supposed to read! ("Marriage," from The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran.) Fortunately, I had it on my iPad, which was in the stroller, so DH brought it to me just as DD's new MIL was finishing hers.

Miss Daphne was a perfect angel throughout the ceremony, watching her parents make an honest baby out of her! She remained calm for her naming ceremony, too, which was immediately after the wedding.





Then she returned to my arms and watched as her parents marched down the aisle to the strains of "Great Balls of Fire!"

The dinner following was also wonderful. The food was great, and Miss Daphne made the rounds of her adoring fans, while her Daddy serenaded his new bride with his guitar.