First Knitting Retreat Jitters and a Bit About the Dam Anniversary

This weekend I get to try something completely different. I’m going to my first retreat, which will be the Knitting Pipeline Retreat. I was going to just go as a casual observer, but then ended up agreeing to vend on Saturday afternoon, so at least part of my trip may be paid for by the end. Mr. Yarn Geek is staying at home, so this will be the first time I manage everything by myself.

I was stressing a little bit about it but Paula (of Knitting Pipeline fame) has assured me the vendor market is a completely casual affair and if I dump all my stuff in the middle of the table it will be just fine. I'll still probably use the bins somewhat, but dragging in the grid wall is out of the question. Maybe I should just bring a tarp, pile all the fiber in the middle and fulfill that dragon sleeping on its stash fantasy I have. (Of course, I'm just kidding... or am I?)

The past few months have been a whirlwind of dyeing and packaging spinning fiber with a little bit of personal spinning sprinkled in. I really haven’t done much spinning of yarn for sale because most of you seem to want to spin your own yarn. I’m totally OK with that because I’d like to have the time to use some of my own hand spun yarn myself. If someone asks for custom spinning, that would still be fine though.

A few nights ago a neighbor told me about a local show in June promoting the 100th Anniversary of the Keokuk, IA Lock & Dam #19 Power Plant. It was the largest Lock and Dam on the Mississippi, and second longest in the World, for a while. Hugh L. Cooper, who built the Niagara Falls power plant came to Keokuk directly after that and then moved on the build the Hoover Dam. I didn’t know any of this, so that’s cool. All I know is in the winter it freezes above the Dam. Stories tell of a man who accidentally drove his truck off the Ft. Madison Bridge in Winter a while back and walked across to the other side for help. You can click the pictures and it will take you to more about Lock and Dam #19.

Anyway, I guess they are having a vendor market that weekend in the riverfront park next to the power plant and are expecting around 20,000 people to come through during that time. I need to get by the local bookstore to talk to the owner lady about more details, so we may be adding a date to our calendar in mid June.

Whelp, that’s about it for now. What’s going on in your world?

Nine At One Time!

I'm feeling rather "Brave Little Tailor" about myself after this Saturday at the All MO Spin In because I taught my first class en masse, which for me was 9 people at a time. *No eating of jam or killing of giants was involved and I didn't end up marrying a princess, which is great news for Mr. Yarn Geek.*

I taught the class 3 times in a row. By the last time I was getting into a rhythm and thing started progressing nicely. This is a picture of the last class where all the "maybes" on the class form decided to show up at once and our little circle expanded.

The class was all about spinning what some call "Bubble Yarn". I just call it thick and thin, but the thick sections are extremely thick and the thin sections are pretty thin. We spent a goodly amount of the allotted thirty minutes going over the actual spinning technique and a few minutes at the end playing with the possibilities for mixing colors together while drafting.

It really was an intermediate spinning class, but it didn't stop a few really new spinners from signing up, and for the most part, they did well. I think the class was a success, but if I ever teach it again it would be nice to have an hour to teach it in. It would also have been great to have a less noisy area, but we all did the best we could and a lovely time was had by all.

YarnCon 2013 - A Modern Fairytale

Once upon a time, there was a girl. She lived in a nice little old house with a good boy and two OK dogs. There is a legend having to do with that little old house. Tales are whispered in hushed tones about a mythical "table" which, according to some, sits in the center of the kitchen. Some say this table was, in olden times, used in some sort of culinary ritual.

The girl (whom we shall call...ME) doesn't belive the stories. When she looks at the center of the kitchen, all she sees is this.

But, legend has it that when YarnCon comes, the table will appear once more. It is foretold that some really tired girl with dye-stained hands will have a big part in the fulfillment of this, and there will be much rejoicing. Yay!

All I know is, that big pile o' wool and silk needs to be labled and stuffed into boxes before tomorrow evening, because we are heading to Chicago, IL for YarnCon this weekend. (April 6-7, 2013) If a table does appear, I'm going to wrestle it into submission and have a dinner party.

End of story.

Fiberpalooza and Finger Puppets

Mr Yarn Geek decided to have a little fun with some finger puppets I purchased only moments before.

That Mr. Yarn Geek is so silly.

I present to you, an alpaca eye view of our booth at Heartland Fiberpalooza 2013

Heartland Fiberpalooza Saturday 23, 2013

How is it Fiberpalooza time again? Time flies when we are having fun, and fun we have been having. It's the time of year when we revisit the show that kicked us off as vendors. (Sometimes we joke that Fiberpalooza deflowered us, we were Vendor Virgins before then.) Click the link for directions to the event. We look forward to seeing you all there tomorrow.

Let's take a look back at that first show shall we?

Aw, don't I look cute there, hiding behind all the fiber? Quite a bit has changed since then, in fact, little is the same. It might be a shorter list the state what is still original. We ditched the stands the fiber is hanging on because people kept tripping over the bases. We have our own table now, which we may, or may not use. We have tableclothes that fit. We have gone to gridwall and twirly racks. (I'm sure that's the official name for them) We decided to start using wrap bands to keep the fiber nice for longer. The famous, or infamous, "Fiber Candy" has mostly gone. (For the last time people, it's not edible!) I can't help but notice how clean my Fricke wheel looks here. It was just a baby, but has done well with all the travel these past few years. It has a name now too, Wheel Wheaton.

OK, now let's flash forward to last weekend.

Oh, yes, I forgot about the banner. We are still trying to work out how to hang it effectively inside, but we'll get it right. It worked better in Chicago last year. I'm pretty happy with this, but this weekend I think the fiber will be on the grids and the yarn will be on the twirly thingys.

I'm still slowly learning to count back change correctly, so be patient with me. Someday it will come as easily to me as dyeing fiber does.

See the table cloth hiding the boxes? That was on my mother's kitchen table when I was growing up. We had curtains to match, and light green walls. That fabric is one of my favorite fabrics and it explains some of my color choices now doesn't it?