Shepherd's Harvest Wool Festival

Wow! What a great weekend. After I got over the idea that I had to rent a car to be able to get there it was really wonderful. It's true that I did have about $70.00 less to spend on yarn, but hey, that's how it goes. Petting the yarn was really nice, but I was focussed mostly on the fleece. I bought 4 ounces of a nice purple/blue/teal roving with sparkly angelina fiber in it. Very soft and nifty. I also bought 5 ounces of a striking purple/blue/lavender/black romney roving. Romney is one of my favorite breeds to spin. The cat really likes to spin it too. See?

I picked up a nice two-toned spindle. It doesn't have as nice a balance as I would like, but it was only $12.50, so I can't really complain. I looked longlingly at the fancy $50.00 ones but decided that I couldn't afford one of those.The most expensive thing I got was a new niddy noddy, in lovely maple wood, which was needed, since I have only a home made PVC one. probably the thing I'm most excited about is the half pound of the cleanest most gorgeous cormo fleece I've ever petted. It's so clean you would think it has already been washed. The crimp is nice and the color is a nice creamy white. I can't wait to spin it. But first I have to spin the the stuff in the pic so I can have yarn to give my secret sister in my local knitting group.

I had a really wonderful time visiting with friends. Me, Giulia, Sete and Giovanna spent most of Saturday either shopping for yarn or knitting. It was a great weekend. I hated to have to miss the event, especially since friends I don't see very often were there, but I had never actually been to a Fiber Fest before. Boy, was it great!

I'm in!

I am so proud and happy to be able to anounce tht i have been accepted to Hogwarts and sorted into House Ravenclaw! This is going to be a WONDERFUL swap!! To find out more, go to Main HSKS Site.

Hogwarts Sock Kit Swap 5

I've signed up to be part of this swap again. I took part in it the first time it was held. That time was a bit confusing. It was the very first swap I had ever taken part in and tho I got my package off in time my partner had been delayed in getting things together and sending my package due to her pregnancy. So at that point I had decided that swaps were not for me. Then a couple months ago I joined the Hogwarts Sock Swap 3, and I got hooked again. I saw that the Sock Kit Swap was still going strong and that now the headmistress was encouraging swap pals to contact each other on a regular basis to prevent anyone not getting a package.

I hope there are spots left. i registered as a new student, since it had been a year since I took part in this swap. Crossing my fingers!

Hogwarts Sock Swap package arrived!

Look at all the great stuff I got as part of the Hogwarts Sock Swap! Not all the stuff is even in the picture, like the strips of film that have images from the movies of Mad Eye Moody and Dumbledore, and the bag of hard candies made from maple syrup. My swap pal is from Canada so I got nummy Canadian candy. I got Soak, the wool wash, and a bar of heavenly scented soap (mango, from the Bosy Shop) and a Hufflepuff lapel pin, a 40" Addi circular needle, a pendant yarn cutter and stitch markers. I am SO looking forward to using all this good stuff.

The socks themselves are marvelous. Bright and bold stripes of yellow and black for Hufflepuff. They are the Back to Basic socks from Knitty.com found here http://knitty.com/ISSUEfall07/PATTbacktobasics.html. It is a Cat Bordhi type architectural sock pattern, where the shaping is at the top of the foot and along the top of the ankle. Have you seen the new Cat Bordhi book called New Pathways for Sock Knitters? The socks are so cool. I've been wanting to try a pattern like that but I'm just plain too intimidated. So now I get to have a pair of these without the work!

Hogwarts Sock Swap Package Mailed!

It's done! I had a goal of Sunday April 13th for the socks to be done, and Wednesday the 15th for the little gifties to be finished and I made it. Between getting settled in the new place, making stitch markers and the Harry Potter box, and getting ready for Coronation this weekend I was really pressed for time. But it's done, and done well, if I do say so myself. I mailed the package on Thursday on the way home from work. I put in a skein of hand painted merino wool sock yarn, a 40" circular addi turbo needle, a pattern I downloaded from the internet and some stitch markers I had made. I'm so glad to be done with it because now I can knit for me!! On The Needles: a camisole tank top in Knitpicks Shine Sport. Yay!

Hogwarts Socks Swap 3

OK, I'm excited. A little nervous, but excited, about taking part in the Hogwarts Sock Swap 3. I did a sock kit swap last year, but this time I'm going to make a pair of socks in my pals House colors. i took the quiz three times at two different sites, but I'm ALWAYS a Hufflepuff. Sigh. I know there's nothing wrong with that, but honestly, they sound so BORING! The only redeeming thing is that the House colors are Black and Gold, the same as Northshield. At least my assigned name is kinda fun. Chrysta the Cursed. Has a nice ring, doesn't it?

What I Got For Christmas

In my family we've given up giving big gifts. This year we reduced it even further, to only stocking stuffers. Still, I got some very nice things.

My brother and Carla gave me a tea kettle with apples painted on it. I think that was probably a little bit more than a stocking stuffer, but maybe they were figuring that if each of them had given a $6.00 item it would have made up to that. Anyway, I really like it, since apples are the motif in my kitchen. They also gave me a bottle of their home made wine.

My brother Ross gave me a set of very nice salad spoons from Ikea.

My brother Robb gave me a really good quality can opener. He was over for Thanksgiving and had had to use my crappy can opener. Next time he can use this good one! He also added a few nifty $1.00 sewing toys.

My mom gave me an insulated lunch bag. And a box of flavored herbal tea. And a pair of socks. And $30.00 to buy something I wanted.

I took that money and bought a cute Christmas tea pot (on sale 75% off) and everything I needed to make myself a rag rug for my livingroom.

That's a list of things I got. Material things. The real gifts were the hours I spent with Ross wandering around downtown Fargo looking at the cute shops that have started down there. It's the relief that all the family members got along for 6 hours. It's being sad that Gina, Bill and Abbey, and our nephew Joshua couldn't come because of bad roads in the Cities, but happiness that they were able to get back home safely after nearly going in the ditch several times. It's watching the old home movies from thje 50s and 60s and hearing my mom say "Oh, that's your Cousin Sophie" and "Do you remember your dad's Uncle Joe?" Stange, look how young and attractive my parents were before they had 6 kids. It's the look of interest and appreciation on Carla's face when the kitchen cordial book was unwrapped. Why is it that the least expensive gift is always the favorite? I had debated whether or not to give that little book, since I had picked it up for 99 cents in Canada. Same thing happened a couple years ago when I gave Ross a 25 cent cup with a goat on it. It just goes to show that it's not how much money was spent that makes a gift special. It's how well it matches the recipient.