OFFF my rocker, again!

Last weekend was OFFF, again; and as usual, I went nuts!

ToolMan and I got up early, hustled around getting Andy Rooney his breakfast and insulin shot, loading up the last bits of paraphernalia, and hit the road early; we had to be in Canby at 7:00 a.m. on Saturday morning to meet Cindy and set up for the PDX Knit Bloggers. Cindy had the awning (of which we'll need 2 next year!), a swift and ball winder, and all her personal stuff to haul down; we had the banner, more stuff for teaching, a cooler, and our personal stuff. Fortunately, we were early enough that we could drive onto the grounds and unload, leaving our cars inside for the pack up at the end of the day.

But, we certainly weren't the only ones up and around early that day! Take a look at who came visiting about 7:30:



Isn't he gorgeous? When he saw me take the camera out, he made a special point of stopping to pose and give me a profile shot!

We went back to setting up the awning and arranging the area, hauled over a picnic table, strung up the banner, and generally setting up shop.



Before long, the PDX Knit Bloggers began showing up, in force. Duffy had some knitted wrist distaffs to sell; Kathleen had some hand spun to sell; ToolMan had some shawl pins and a lazy kate for sale; and I put out the Country Craftsman with a "For Sale" sign. I grabbed one of the wrist distaffs and used it all weekend; very nice not to have to drafted fiber flying all over the place! I know Kathleen sold at least a couple of skeins; I think both were StitchJones colorways, so I'm not surprised they went quickly! ToolMan sold the lazy kate to Susan, and he only brought home 2 shawl pins.

Mid-morning, ToolMan and I took a stroll around the barns to see the animals. There were little alpacas:



Some big llamas:



Some Shetland sheep:



And some dread locked dudes:



Actually, those are angora goats.

Some people became obsessed by bunnies. Deb took four of the little fiber-makers home to the mountain with her.



And "Henry, the Barn Boy" went to live in Tina's studio.



I'm wondering what color Henry's hair will be next time we see him?

Meanwhile, back at the ranch:



People were stopping by to ask for help learning to spin, asking about wheels in general, learning techniques, and asking about our blogs. Lots of people (OK, mostly the guys) were interested in Barbara's Journey Wheel.



Barbara worked out a great spiel for little boys about the "Transformer Spinning Wheel" where a little wooden box turned into a spinning wheel.



As the little guy in this picture was walking away with his dad, I heard him say, "That was the coolest thing I saw all day!"

We all take advantage of Barbara's knowledge while she's here; Duffy got a lesson in combing.



I got to fondle her samples and notebook from a class she had recently taken Judith McKenzie McCuin. And I learned how to make a yarn similar to Kid Silk Haze, the crack of the yarn world.



The crowds were big this year. Although there were some vendors missing that we always look for, there was plenty to choose from. So much in fact, that the ATM ran out of cash twice on Saturday!



On Sunday afternoon was the team spinning competition; one person drafts and treadles, the other one pulls the single; break your yarn and you loose, first one to the Main Building wins.



This young lady and her dad won (I'm not sure what the prize was, except maybe bragging rights). That's her dad way in the back there, in the shorts and green t-shirt; and she spun that in about 30 seconds! I think she might have been a "ringer"!

Then at the end of the day on Sunday, as we were all wearing down, this lady strolled into our area and asked who the PDX Knit Bloggers were. That's Naomi, the brilliant mind behind the Knit a Condom Amulet Project! As Humphrey Bogart would say, "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in the world, she walks into mine."



She and her husband were visiting Oregon to see the newest grandchild and had come to OFFF because she's a knitter and, get this, he's a spinner! Theywere perfectly adorable, and we made them promise to let us know next time they visit and we'll hook them into some of our regular knitting and spinning get-togethers around town.

The best part of OFFF for me isn't really seeing the animals, or touching and buying the fiber and tools, learning new techniques or methods, teaching people about spinning, or eating the lamb kabobs, although I dearly love all those things and I wouldn't miss them for the world. But for me, OFFF is all about the people. The very best parts are getting to see the friends who can only be with us once a year, seeing the friends we only get to see occasionally, spending chunks of time with gals from my regular knit group, having two whole days with knitsibs from near and far, and meeting people I never thought I'd meet.

A Whole Lot of Nothing

Knitting? Sure, I've been doing some. But since what I've been knitting is either black or a Christmas present, I can't talk about them or show them to you.

Spinning? Sure, I've been doing some; in fact, I passed the 3-mile mark last week. But I didn't take pictures and now it's too dark. I have 3 more bobbins spun but since those are singles, there doesn't seem to be much point of talking about it or showing it to you.

Ravelry? Been doing that, too. I spent some time this weekend in the forums and browsing through patterns. I saw a post in the Beginning Spinners forum from Abby, in Sudbury, Massachusetts, who was having trouble with her spinning wheel, which turned out to be a Country Craftsman, similar to mine. Abby and I exchanged a bunch of posts, eventually moved to email, and carried on a detailed conversation for a good deal of Saturday. She and her husband were more than a little frustrated with her wheel, but after exchanging pictures and information, we got her wheel working. Tonight Abby reports that she and her husband each spun a first bobbin of single. Her next questions were about finishing the yarn. Congratulations to Abby, who today became a spinner!

I did get a chance to get another spinner started this week. I met Jan Islay through Ravelry. Jan and her husband moved here recently from San Luis Obispo and brought their alpaca herd. She was looking for someone to help her learn to spin, so I invited her to our Westside Wednesday for a starter lesson. I told her it would be such a shame to have all that lovely fiber available and not make use of it! We got her off to a pretty good start, although alpaca isn't the easiest fiber to start with.

I've also been "talking" via Ravelry with Tami. I met Tami last summer when she helped organize the World Wide Knit In Public event in Tanasbourne. Turns out Tami got bitten by the spinning bug, too, and needed some help moving from a drop spindle to a wheel. She's borrowed a Louet and has 2 bobbins of singles, so next Wednesday, we'll do a plying lesson.

It is so amazing that people who would probably have never meet "in real life" could find each other and spend time "talking" about a common interest! It's easy to forget how much technology has changed our everyday lives. Without Ravelry, I never would have met Abby, or Jan, or Tami. Not too many years ago, the only way to learn spinning (or knitting, or lots of other things) was to find someone (often just by word of mouth) who could give you lessons or struggle alone with books from a library. But today, I got a chance to share knowledge and experience with someone 3,000 miles away. I wonder what those spinners of the past would think of that?

Speaking of sharing knowledge, next weekend is the Oregon Flock and Fiber Fest. The PDX Knit Bloggers will be there in force. We'll have an "official" presence this year, with a tent on the lawn. The members will be offering drop-in demos and help with knitting, crocheting, spinning, weaving, or just about any other fiber-related subject. I plan on spending at least all day Saturday at OFFF; if my energy level holds up, I'll be there Sunday as well. So next week, I'll have LOTS of pretty pictures to show you and lots to talk about.

Today was a bad day.

Everybody has bad days at work. I've certainly had my share. Today was another one. Today, we lost a client.

On August 13, he went in for a routine checkup. He told the doctors he’d had some slight digestion problems, probably stress related, and expected to get medication for an ulcer. He got a diagnosis. Pancreatic cancer. Stage IV.

Today, just 36 days later, the world lost a good man, this country lost a career soldier, a woman lost her husband, and three children lost their dad.

The Knitting Guild Association Conference

I was up bright and early Saturday morning. And not just so Andy Rooney could get his breakfast and morning shot, either! ToolMan and I went out to our usual Saturday morning breakfast and I got a much needed haircut. Believe me, I needed that haircut; I was having many more "bad hair days" than good ones. I started to feel like these guys look.

Afterward, Toolman dropped me off at the MAX station so I could head off to Portland Convention Center for The Knitting Guild Association Conference on Saturday. I hopped on the train, stuck my PDX KB and Ravelry buttons on my shirt, pulled out my knitting and settled in for the ride. I did overhear some ladies talking about the show, but didn't see another single knitter along the way.

After checking in at the registration desk to get my name tag and goodie bag, I went into the Marketplace so I could case the vendors until classes let out at noon.



While there were a lot of great vendors, it wasn't as large as I expected. All the "usual suspects" were there: Knit Purl, Northwest Wools, Ernst Glass, Village Knitting and Spinning, Crown Mountain Farms, etc.



And some of our very own PDX Knit Bloggers had their booths open. I found Gail holding down the fort for Abstract Fibers. Susan has been holding out on the Wednesday night group; she had fibers and colorways in there that I'd never seen before. Go over to her website and check the "Asia" colorway; it's beautiful!



And directly across from her was Portland's most unique LYS, Yarnia. It must have been hard to explain how Yarnia works; but they did have a video playing on the television showing how you pick out the plies and their machine winds them together for you to make your very own custom, one-of-a=kind, no more like it anywhere yarn.



I tried to keep track of time, but before I knew it, I heard Duffy calling my name! Her class had let out and she tracked me down so we could do lunch together. She had a classmate with her, Sarah, and we hopped on MAX for the short ride back across the river to Old Town/China Town for a dim sum lunch.

We must have been hungry because we practically devoured everything on our table! Fat and happy, we headed back to the Convention Center. They had tables in the concourse reserved for knitters and crocheters and who do I find sitting there when I return? None other than the famous, Magic Judy! I grabbed a glass of iced tea and sat down with her a bit. Cat Bordhi stopped by to say hello (to Judy, not me!) and Chrissy Gardiner came to sit with us while wolfing down her lunch. All too soon, it was time for classes to start again so everyone headed out. My tootsies needed a rest, so Karen kept me company and eventually Kathleen showed up and we hit the vendor floor again.

We stopped by Chrissy's booth; that's Kathleen showing off some Little Feet kits from StitchJones; Kathleen wrote the patterns! Behind Kathleen, in the bins, are some of StitchJones rovings, too. Chrissy has some beautiful, well written patterns on her site; that orange stole is simply gorgeous, it's a shame the picture doesn't show how beautiful the lace pattern is.



As we wandered around, we found more StitchJones yarn! Here's a display full at Naked Sheep's booth.



Then we found our own Dawn Seymour's booth. Dawn had this booth with her sister, who is a weaver. Sis wasn't there, so we fondled her woven bamboo scarves; they are simply luscious! And we laughed over how Dawn can take Silk City Fiber's Bambu 7 and turn it into that simply gorgeous Stormy Sky sweater on the mannequin, while all I got out of it was the Bamboo Sweater From Hell. That's why SHE has a Master Knitter Certificate and I do not.



I loved this brown shawl/ruana that was on the mannequin in front. Right now, the pattern is only written for knitting machine, but Dawn says they are converting it to hand-knitting; I hope it's soon, because I have just the yarn for it in my stash.

I know I said I wasn't going to buy anything at TKGA, that I was saving my money for OFFF. And I meant to do that; really, I did! The last booth we visited was Newton's. Unfortunately, they had a big sign saying, "All Yarns $5, All Cashmere $9, All Happy Feet $10, All Cones 1/2 price." It was a bad sign. (Pun intended.) Also unfortunately, they also had a shill working the tables. Kathleen and I dubbed him "Evil Yarn Boy", to which he responded will just a little too much glee! He was ever so helpful in suggesting combinations of yarns that could be knitted together. Not!

In my weakened state, having my immunity worn down by all the yarn and fiber fumes, I bought three skeins to use for scarves for myself. I never knit for myself, but doggone these are mine! All mine, I say! Really, I wouldn't have bought these if Kathleen had been able to resist; but once she gave it, it was no use. So, I'm blaming this purchase on her.



That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

*tink* *tink* Is this thing on?

No, I didn't fall off the face of the earth; I just don't know where the time went!

The second weekend of the State Fair was pretty much same as the first, except we rallied the troops and had fiber, yarn, rugs, other things to fill up the booth. Lots more folks stopped by over the Labor Day weekend; people were taking advantage of the long weekend and cool weather (and staying close to home thanks to gas prices). The only bad part of the weekend was the occasional deluge of rain, but the temps were perfect. I even had a couple friends and a former co-worker stop by to visit!

I did get lots of the Incredible Hulk spun at the Fair, but there's still a lot left, too. My only prerequisite for buying fiber from now is that it NOT be green. I'm determined to make it through this stuff, if for no other reason than I'm sick of looking at it. So sick of looking at it that I think I might have StitchJones over dye it for me; maybe add some browns and blues to kill the green.

And now that the Fair is over, I'm going to put the Country Craftsman up for sale. It was a great wheel to learn on and it spins wonderfully and it certainly is beautiful, but the old girl just can't compete with the Lendrum and it's multiple ratios and it's portability. Time for it to move on to another spinner, or want-to-be spinner.

And I have been knitting but I have absolutely nothing to show for it. I had several scarves knit to go in the Christmas present box; a lovely pink mohair, a bright multi-colored bamboo, a lovely navy merino/silk blend, and a wispy teal in Shibui sock yarn. All of which went home with darling daughter-in-law when they came over for dinner on Labor Day. Come December, I'll remind her that she already got her fair share of the hand knits!

Oh, and I did get a hat knitted out of some bulky multi-blue merino; which was tried on, declared it to be perfect for wearing in the garage this winter, and promptly appropriated by ToolMan. And I mean promptly; it was tried on, and stashed in his coat closet within minutes of the ends being woven in!

And The Blob is still being knit on; actually, the end is in sight on that one. I only have 14 rows left (but they're BIG rows) so I only get about 3 rows a night done. I'm trying to get it knit up so I can do the sewing up and blocking next weekend.

Speaking of next weekend, that's the TKGA Conference here in Portland. WHOO HOO! My tickets came in the mail this week, along with my name tag, raffle ticket for a doorprize, and a ticket to turn in for my goodie bag from Coats & Clark (I'm hoping for some of their new yarns to try out). I'm not taking any classes; I'm saving money for OFFF, but I will be taking my camera so my next post should be much prettier to look at!

Oops, it's past my bedtime, and the dog needs to go out before we hit the hay. See you next week!