Attended Sheep in the City 2011!

This past weekend I attended the Sheep in the City Getaway 2011!

Friday:  I took the Beginner’s Drop Spindle class which was taught by a wonderful instructor named:  Lindsay O’Neill.  She was great!  I bought some BFL from a vendor and an Ashford spindle in the class and made a cute little skein. She walked us through making a single.  Next we took it off the spindle using an empty toilet paper roll to make a center pull ball.  Then we plied it using the spindle which I haven't done before.

The reddish fiber is in the School House colorway by Happy Hands Hand Dyed Fibers (BFL) and the like grey, purple'ish fiber is in the Dusk colorway fiber by Fluffington Farms (bamboo, soy silk, black bamboo, perendale wool, yearling mohair, firestar, & angelina).

I'm really liking the School House colorway - really pretty.  :)

The close up of the little skein is next to a tealight candle in a glass holder to show the size. 

Saturday:  I went back to walk through the vendors and see the two symposiums they had.

While walking around the vendors, the Village Spinners guild were taking the fiber from combing or carding, to spinning, to a knitted scarf.  I asked if someone could show me how to comb the fiber and then I to experience the combing myself.  When I was done combing I used a Diz to take the fiber off the comb and ready for spinning.  It was a great experience.  Never done that before.  So much fun!

I did a little shopping and got the following:

From Samantha in Stitches I got some pretty sock yarn she dyed, a wooden shawl pin, and some of the most wonderful hand lotion!  I love this stuff!

From Sun Valley Fiber Farm I got a really nice looking shawl (one of my goals this year is to make my first lace shawl) called Gingko Shawl and some of her hand dyed yarn to make it with.  This yarn is Merino Cashmere Nylon and feels wonderfully soft.  Can’t wait to start this, hopefully this week.

Antique Sock Machines from the Smithsonian – The speaker, John Loeffelholz, had done research for a book him and a coauthor wrote about the history of the Sock Knitting Machines.  He went to Smithsonian and was able to look at all the different types of models they have recorded and collected over the many years.  Unfortunately he didn’t bring in one to actually see, but the discussion was very interesting!

Nordic knitting in Estonia Symposium – Two women, Mary Germain and Sandy DeMaster, where inspired by a Latvian friend to work jointly on an article and pattern on Latvian knitting that was published in Piecework magazine.  Together, they traveled to Latvia in 2001 on a knitting trip.  Again on 2005 they traveled together to Estonia, another Baltic country, located directly north of Latvia, where they attended the Nordic Knitting Symposium along with 80 other knitters mostly from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland.  They brought in some examples of this type of knitting and showed a slideshow of their travels.  It was a wonderful discussion to attend.  Makes me want to travel there too!

Well, that was my weekend.  Whew!  Time to rest now.