One down two to go

I finished the Lavender Garden Shawl by Sharon Miller. It took two balls of Kidsilk Haze. I have done this one before but was a new lace knitter then. This time I was able to memorize it which made it go much faster and more enjoyable. I need to do two more. They are for my three cousins.

I think I should probably finish Karis now. It's been marinating for quite a while on only the edging.

Michigan Fiber Fest

I had such a wonderful time at the fiber festival. I got to meet an online knitting freind in person. Vicki of Fibertraditions and her friend Roberta was a great knitter and person(not in that order).
We took two classes with Galina Khmeleva. We learned(ahem0 to spin and ply with handcarved Russian spindles in the Orenburg tradtion. it was chalenging but very fun. I definitely need to practice. We were given to try cormo, cashgora, pygora ,casmere,camel and silk,and yak and silk. I tried the cashmere and the cashgora. I have yet to try the others. We also plyed the Orenburg way, using a handspun single and a silk thread. I love this idea because a)I only have to spin half the yardage I would if I did a two ply
b)the silk adds sheen and stregnth
c) 4 oz of casmere is a lot less expensive than 8 oz
The use of these promted me to buy 8 oz of grey cormo and 4 oz of cream cashmere which are in the picture and a cone of silk thread. I also bought my russian spindles and bowl in birch for practicing. I didn't want to wait until I get good at it so I also bought two spindles for spinning lace, very light weight. One is a Bosworth featherweight in canarywood and the other a Meilke in lacewood(how appropriate:-)
The second class was a two day class on actually making an orenburg shawl. We made a mini shawl and went over blocking.
Galina is a great teacher I would HIGHLY recommend if you love lace knitting to take a class from her. She is witty, a great explainer and gives great visuals. She must have brought more than twenty examples of Orenburgs good and poor quality and showed us the differences.
I could go on and on. The festival itself is a trove of treasure for those of us out in the wasteland. I could get nothing like this where I live. It was great to be around others who share my passions.

all spun up and plied

I spun that merino up and plied it. Ain't she purty! It's Lisa Souza's merino fiber in Birds of Paradise colorway. Next up Sky Drama by Miz Souza.
I probably won't blog much this week. I go to the Michigan Fiber Fest classes I signed up for. I can't wait from spinning to designing Orenburg shawls with Galina Khmeleva. I probably butchered the spelling of her last name I promise to blog afterwards about it and my acquisitions at the fest.

spinning

I finished spinning the kool aid dyed roving last week because my yummy merino roving from Lisa Souza came. I was able to get a little bird of paradise in today! That is what is on the bobbin.I love the orange and really deep teal in this. It is so gorgeous. After this I will do the sky drama which is equally gorgeous. That is the picture of the gorgeous ball of roving. I plan to do the Annie Modisett cardi from the Fall VK # 2 I think. I have a small collection of handspun that I haven't used because it wasn't enough for a garment and too thick for socks. I think this cardi will fit the bill. The picture is a little dark but I have green, purple, pink, and blue at about a worsted weight.

Fun weekend

We had a fun weekend at my family's cottage. It has been in the family for more than 60 years. I spent 17 summers there. I comes out to more than a few years of my life:-) This is the place that is always home to me. Wherever I roam the cottage is still there. Hopefully my generation will not let it go. It is hard most of my cousins work and we live to far away now to be able to go often.
On the knitting front I want to do everything yesterday. I started an (gasp) afghan for the first time since I was thirteen. I hate afghans but my dear little girl has been pestering me for a panda afghan. Thankfully she's tiny because it won't be very big. I have no patience for afghans. I also started a Lavender Garden Shawl by Sharon Miller. I have made one before and everyone who saw it loved it. This one is for my cousin,in lavender. Amazing I actually am making it in the color called for. The last one was a robin's egg blue. Pics of beautiful roving to come later.

The windy city.

The windy city was fun. I had never been to the Field Museum. It was very cool but we pooped out much too quickly(the adults I mean). The kids focus was Egypt andDinosaurs. There was plenty of both. My focus was the gem room and the Asian boxes. Little tiny boxes carved, painted, inlaid, laquered. So intricate and beautiful. The gems speak for themselves.
Now that the shawl is finished I'm itching to start something. My mom has talked me into shoulder shawls for my cousins. I'm thinking about which patterns to use. I'd like to use two balls of kidsilk haze for each-which I have in stash as we speak. We'll see!

Woo Hoo

I finished my Flower basket shawl. It came to a whopping 72" x 32". I just kept knitting until I had no yarn. I stayed up until 12:30 last night(unheard of). It is out of Lisa Souza's pony, a fingering weight, in wild things. I wish the camera could pick up the subtle color changes. You are a genious Lisa!
We are taking the kids to the Field Museum and the Rainforest Cafe in Chicago. I enjoy stuff like this as much as they do. They shine on vacations or outings. They never poop out and they think everything is interesting. It should be a very fun day!