Where Were You . . .

on a swelteringly hot Saturday in July 28 years ago today???  I know EXACTLY where I was, what I was wearing and who I was with.  (I am pretty sure whom is correct there, but it looked dumb).

  Happy Anniversary 

 nice glasses dude and hold the comments about the goofy hat.

To be . . . .

The Tours de France and de Fleece are off to an exciting start.  Lance is ahead of Contador, Cadel Evans lost teammates in a wreck and Tyler Farrar got caught up in a crash which ruined his chance at a sprint stage win . . . things have been less somewhat less exciting on the spinning front as I haven't fallen off my stool, but have been productive none-the-less.  

My spinning from the TdF prologue will eventually become a pair of socks.  The more red-ish bit will be the toes and heels.   

The spinning from Stage 1 (day 2)  will eventually be knit into the Eiffel Tower Shawl you see peeking out from under the other photos.  

So, I seem to be getting stuff done without actually accomplishing anything because one project (spinning) begets another (knitting), and so it goes. 

Tour de Fleece 2010

It is July and that means the Tour de Fleece is about to begin.  The Tour de Fleece is a yarn spinning event that coincides with everyone's favorite annual sporting event, the Tour de France.  The idea is to spin every day the Tour rides and to challenge yourself to accomplish something that you have not done before. 

This year I'm spinning with team Fleece Bottom Girls.  

And my personal challenge is to spin sock yarn which is quite a bit finer than the thick-ish stuff I usually spin.  For that purpose I have three 4-ounce bouts of roving to spin and ply together.  I need only a little more than 4 ounces, but  . . . anything worth doing . . . . you know the rest . . . ok, I'll help:

Anything worth doing is worth overdoing!!

I case I succeed in meeting that goal, I also have a bucket of Mountain Colors Targee in the Peppergrass colorway to spin.  I am particularly excited about spinning the Mountain Colors.  It is dyed in the small western Montana town of Corvallis, just miles from where I was born and where my parents graduated from high school and where my grandparents lived.  I just might be headed there for a reunion sometime soon.  Anyway, here is a collage of my Tour de Fleece before supplies.  

Just in case I don't have enough to keep me busy during the Tour, or maybe to have something fun to knit in the car on the way to Montana, I'm planning on starting the Eiffel Tower Shawl,  which I think is pretty darned spectacular.   

AND, since this is my blog and I just feel the need to say so . . . Floyd Landis--SHUT UP, I believed and defended you -- I had my photo taken with you -- you cheated and lied-- and now you just need to take your asterisk-laden life and fade into obscurity, right now.  

These socks say it all:

Assault on Lawrence

This last weekend Lawrence, Kansas experienced the Invasion of the Fiber Snatchers, or something like that.  This team of 10 weavers and spinners attacked Lawrence with a vengeance to wreak economic and gastronomic havoc (of the good kind).  

The ladies are:  Marilyn, Gina, Katherine, Gwen, Donna, Lynn, Karin, Janette, and Margaret--my presence in the photo is implied as I wielded the camera.  

Late Friday afternoon three car loads (departed, one each, from OKC, Tulsa, and Owasso) converged on the Halcyon House Bed & Breakfast  which was commandeered for our base of operations since we had rented the entire place. 

In short order the luggage was hauled, rooms were sorted, spinning wheels were arranged, and pizza was ordered.  Whereupon we set about to drink wine, visit, laugh, and spin into the night.  

Saturday we were up and breakfasted early to make our date at Traci Bunkers' studio, home of Bonkers Handmade Fibers .  The 400 square foot studio was a delight.  We were wall to wall in ohhhs and ahhhs with all the fiber, Traci, her dog, and the 10 of us.  I exercised no personal restraint and left with a bag of glorious color, which resident color guru Janette has assured me can be plied together for lovely effect. The sample skein I made bears this out.  

Then  *     *     *   drum roll  *    *    * we were off to  . . .

The Yarn Barn

For those unfortunate uninitiated, the Yarn Barn is a knitting, weaving, spinning shop that serves as a Mecca for those interested in these crafts. There are at least 5 floor looms set up and warped, 10 different spinning wheels ready to spin, bins and bins of plain and exotic fibers for spinning and every kind and color of thread you could want for weaving.  And, there are knitting and weaving project samples displayed throughout the store.  A vest pattern caught our collective eye so we bought all they had, asked them to order more, and we all plan to make of our handspun before next years' trip.  

After lunch and more economic havoc (my own) at the the shoe store, and necessary side trips to replenish the wine supply, we found ourselves back at Halcyon House.

I love this photo because we are all pretty much doing our own thing but together.  To me, that pretty much represents the essence of these fiber friends.  Anyway, Janette sketched

Lynn and Gwen studied something, Margaret, Donna, Karin, Katherine, and Gina spun, Marilyn napped, and I took photos.

Dinner was Italian and delicious, as was our waiter-not pictured anywhere in this post.  Jeannine, one of our number, had an ailing husband and couldn't make the trip but she sent money for wine.  Jeannine was often toasted throughout the evening.  


Sunday morning the cars were loaded with military efficiency and we trooped a few miles out of town to Maggies Farm where we were indeed greeted by Maggie, the namesake dog, and her friends--  the uber friendly sheep. 


Garlic had just been harvested and was drying in the barn loft. 

  
Again we ogled the wool--on the hoof and off.  Then it was on to Free State Brewery for lunch and samples of tasty ales.  One more stop at the yarn barn for last minute gotta-haves and it was time to travel home.  


The deposit for next year has been made and the date is set in March for next years invasion--forewarned is forearmed.  Me?   I'm saving my money already.