OFFF 2011

Last weekend was OFFF.  This year, I had demonstrations to do and a workshop to attend, so I handed the cameras over to ToolMan.  This is how he sees OFFF.

Judy Becker taught her Magic Cast On.

Old friends were greeted.

People watching was done.

Hello Kitty pants for cute toddlers were knitted.

Lots of pictures were taken.

Trtlgrl had a trtlbirthday, complete with trtlcake.

The warm weather and shade were enjoyed.

Little girls were reluctant to leave the festivities.

Drum carding demonstrations were done.

Lessons on cabling without a needle were taught.

New babies were carried and adored by many aunties.

Serious knitting was done.

Laughs were shared.

Some people got a little over excited by all the pretty fiber.

Another OFFF is done and gone.

I can hardly wait until next year!

OFFF 2010

Last weekend was OFFF and as usual, the PDX Knit Bloggers and Spinnerati were on the lawn to give lessons and encouragement.  Barbara arrived from HELL (Phoenix) on Friday and stayed with us for the event.  Here are some pictures of the tents:

Saturday was beautiful; warm, sunny, a slight breeze, and that electric blue sky that we get in the fall.  I sat in the tent and spun all day, and taught a couple of spindlers how to park and draft, and ply and finish their yarn.  There was music:

although it was mostly Celtic and a bit morose.  I kept hoping for some lively Highland flings or at least a drinking song, but if they played one, I must have missed it.

Kathleen came by and picked up the shawl pin she had purchased from our Art Fire site.  She and Sivia Harding nearly arm wrestled over this mahogany ginko leaf, but Kathleen was just a bit quicker on the mouse.  ToolMan made a similar one in cherry for Sivia, but somehow we never got a picture of her.

The Delites showed up, en masse:

And what outing would be complete without cake?  For OFFF, a sheep cake, of course!

Rachel's birthday was earlier in the week, but she wanted to celebrate at OFFF so she and Owen whipped this up for Saturday afternoon.

Sunday wasn't nearly as nice; it started raining early and didn't let up until noon.  ToolMan had his hands full showing his shawl pins; Kathleen, Sivia, Judy, and Katherine had done a excellent job of pimping him out showing off their shawl pins, that people were hunting him down to look at what he had made.  I'll do my best to get more things up on the website tonight.
 
In other news:  Mom's socks are done, they've had a soak, and are on the blockers to dry.  I'll put them in the mail this week.  Thank goodness for flat rate mailing!
 



 

The cleaning team has scrubbed every thing in the house; we're still trying to find what was put in the wrong places.  The curtains and drapes are still at the cleaners, but the painters were here this week putting the new color on the kitchen, halls and stairways.  And the carpet cleaner will be here next week.

 

I did get the coral yarn finished in Saturday at OFFF; it's on the bobbins, waiting to be reeled off and finished.  I'll see how much I have and decide from there what to make.

 

Last but not least, here are pictures of the OFFF loot I brought home. 

 

  

Much less than previous years; I've had to buy more of the 60 quart plastic bins to store stash and now don't have shelves to stack them on.  No room in there for more shelves, so buying needs to slow down until some of what's in there gets used.  Uh huh, like THAT'S going to happen!

Out With The Old? In With The New?

First, Out With The Old. Here's a recap of last year:

What I Knitted:

ToolMan’s Driving Cap
Barbie Clothes
Queen Anne’s Lace Shawl
Dryer Balls
White Mohair Cowl
LaLa’s Simple Shawl in Sea Wool
Storm Cloud shawlette
Hot water bottle cozy from handspun
LaLa’s Simple Shawl in StitchJones (gifted)
Readers Wrap in Twinkletoes (may be frogged)
Baby Surprise Jacket for trtlbby
Clapotis in BMFA handspun
Socks for me
Bamboo & Ewe socks for ToolMan
Wool socks for ToolMan
Transitions short sleeve cardigan for me
Sample sock for StitchJones
LaLa’s Simple Shawl in Glam Sock Yarn
Swallowtail for me
Yak Hat for ToolMan
Fingerless Mitt (6 pair) for coworkers
Hat for Nic
Scarves (4) for coworkers
Coffee Cup Cozies (12 or 13, I lost count) for coworkers
Felted Bowl for Jane
Elf Hat
Fulled Bags (gifted)


What I Spun:

Lots and lots of yarn in lots and lots of different fibers


New Things I Learned:

Went to a sheep shearing and processed the fleece
Drumcarded batts for the first time
Went to alpaca shearing
Processed and spun the exploded clown fiber


Other Stuff I Did:

Unraveling Sweaters Tutorial
Dryer Balls Tutorial
World Wide Knit In Public Day
World Wide Spin In Public Day
Demonstrated at Multnomah Days
Assisted at Sock Summit


Of course, there's the other stuff that happened last year: Although there were some really great things that happened last year, like Sock Summit, the basket of hearts from Knit Sibs, there were also the really not-so-great things that happened last year. Like ToolMan's heart attack and colon cancer, got a new job in The Big Company and changed offices, Andy Rooney became diabetic, my brothers faced health issues, and I continued battling sarcoidosis. I wasn't sad to see the end of 2009. As far as I'm concerned, it went on way too long.


Now, In With the New. Here's what I've got planned, so far:

Pattern Writing:

There are a couple patterns rolling around in my head that I'd like to get published this year. I signed a contract for one to be in a book, so one of them will be released into the world this year. As for the others, we shall see what develops.


Knitting:

I've cast on a new project: a pair of socks for myself in Bamboo and Ewe. I loved the way it felt when I knitted that pair for ToolMan and decided to make myself a fancy pair in red to wear with my black mary janes. I must have been suffering from temporary insanity because I picked a pattern with . . . are you ready? A 72 row repeat. That's right, A SEVENTY-TWO ROW REPEAT. I started it three times before I quit arsing it up. I thought for a moment, and only a short moment, about knitting them the way I usually do: two at once on separate sets of dpns. Except that in this pattern, the socks are MIRROR IMAGES of each other. So you knit one sock reading the chart from left to right and the other from right to left. Even thinking about doing them at the same time seemed like a big ole' piece of crazy pie that would surely come back to bite me in the ass. So, one at a time it is. Gotta say though, I'm almost to the heel on the first one and it is seriously beautiful.


Spinning:

I'd like to get through a lot of the stash. There are some really luxurious fibers in there that I've been holding onto until I felt I was good enough to spin them. I think I'm ready now.


Blogging:

I've thought about giving up the blog. Not shutting it down or anything, just not being as regular about posting as I have been in the past. Oftentimes it seems that this blog is a lot of self-centered navel-gazing for me. I mean, really, I don't get all that many comments, although when I do, they're great. Usually, when I get to thinking like that, I get some great comment like the last one from Anonymous. Or my Google Analytics Report comes in and shows a bunch of hits from all over the world. Estonia? Really? Do you know how flattered I am that an Estonian knitter (you are a knitter, right?) come to read this? And Iceland? And China? And Japan? And New Zealand? And Brazil? So then I decide that I'll keep it up for awhile more. But really, see that button on the side bar that says "Would it kill you to comment?" I meant that.

My Gall Bladder:

OK, so this is new to the blog but it really should be up there in the Out With The Old. For at least 3 or 4 years, I've had near constant heartburn and reflux. About 3 months ago, nearly everything I ate made me nauseated. We finally figured out it's the dang gall bladder. So, next Thursday morning, out it comes. We'll have to see how that 72-row repeat sock gets along on pain killers.

Just checking in

Just a few lines to let everyone know we're doing fine. ToolMan is recovering slowly but surely. He's taking it easy, especially during the heatwave ("Sunami 2009") we recently had, but is already back to puttering in his garage and working on sock blockers and shawl pins for OFFF.

I'm busy getting ready for Sock Summit next week; lots of fun stuff to talk about there! I'll try to get at least a short post up every night of the Summit, with pictures, so you can see the goings on.

Bad Blogger

That would be me. My parents were visiting for the week, I spun and plied a whole bobbin of beautiful corriedale from Knitted Wit (bringing my total to 4.19 miles for the year, by the way), I finished up two more premie caps for Aunties in Stitches, got a new washer and dryer installed and a ton of laundry washed and dried, we laid out one heck of a Thanksgiving feast, had the kids and a friend for Thanksgiving day, I cranked out a lace scarf from a skein of hand spun for Mom to take home with her, and I added 40 more rows to the Queen Anne's Lace shawl. And I didn't take any pictures. Not one.

But we had a great visit with my parents; we caught up on what's going on back home, what's been going on here, ate some good food, watched some good movies, and enjoyed being together again.

Mom is planning to come back next fall with some friends from home to attend Oregon Flock and Fiber. Maybe I'll remember to take pictures.

Great S.E.X.!

No, not THAT kind of S.E.X.! Last weekend was OFFF, was a Stash Enhancement Xpedition, silly! Anyway, here's the fiber p0rn:

First, from Barbara, who always brings assorted goodies in that Mary Poppins bag of hers, four mystery batts straight from her drum carder:



Last winter she sent me four batts in exchange for a pair of ToolMan's cedar sock blockers. I didn't think anything could be prettier than those batts, but these are!

I decided that this year at OFFF, I was going to buy from vendors that I hadn't purchased form before and fibers that I had not spun before. And not green. Green, the color, was off the list completely; "green", as in ecologically sound, is OK. As long as it wasn't green, the color.

So, my first stop was at Crown Mountain Farms for exotic fibers. The first thing I picked up was a 50/50 blend of Baby Camel and Merino.



This stuff is sheer heaven! I bought 8 ounces (there were only 4 of these on the shelf when Klaus opened on Saturday. SCORE!), which is so light and fluffy that this hank is almost a foot across.

Next, a 50/50 blend of Yak and Merino.



This is possibly even softer than the Baby Camel. It's combed into streaks of greys and a tiny bit of white. It's 8 ounces and should spin up beautifully.

And the last thing from Crown Mountain, purely on instinct because of the colors, was a 1 ounce of silk hankies, hand-dyed in the "Aztec" colorway.



It's hard to see in the picture, but the shine of the silk makes these look almost metallic. But after fondling them a few times, I know I need to REALLY moisturize my hands before I start on these. The silk is so fine that it catches on every little rough spot.

Having acquired the "new to me" fibers, I went in search of "new to me" vendors. I found Lisa Souza's bouth and dove in head first. I surfaced with this:



Another 50/50 blend, Silk and Merino this time. I know it really doesn't show up in the picture, but this really is NOT white. The colorway is called "Mother of Pearl", and with good reason; the colors are subtle and varied, just like the inside of an oyster shell. And the silk gives it a beautiful shine. There's 8 ounces, and I want to stretch this stuff out into laceweight; it'll make a gorgeous shawl!

I was on my way to find a new indie dyer, recently discovered through Ravelry (Where else?), when I stumbled into a booth of another "new to me" vendor, Puffy Mondaes. I swear this jumped right off the shelf into my arms!



Another 8 ounces! (I sense a theme here. Apparently, I am no longer capable of buying anything in less than 1/2 pound increments. This could be bad. Very bad.) This time it's Louet Black Diamond; Carbonized Bamboo.

Then, right across the way was that new indie dyer I'd been stalking! Recently, all the indie dyers have been doing dark, intense, deeply saturated colors. Walking into Lorajean's booth was like landing Somewhere Over the Rainbow!



This is a nice, soft Corriedale in lovely soft colors. All her colors were soft and inviting. Must be the influence of that new baby (who was asleep, or I would have nuzzled him).

Last, but not least, a bag of Young Adult Mohair Locks from Barbara. I don't know if they wouldn't fit in her bag, or if she was just tired of packing. And she knows that I fall down at the syllable "mo".



A lovely jumble of raspberry, china jade, wild iris, and pine green from Frene Creek Farm. I have to confess, I've already been playing with this stuff and it is fabulous!

Next time, some results of the spinning with new fibers. We now return to our regularly scheduled programming.

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.