Vermont Sheep and Wool

Last month, I went to the Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival. It was fab-u-lous!

I saw these fine creatures:



And this one:

And finally...



...this cutie pie! This shetland was sooo cute and small and friendly that I immediately had visions of sheep fairies leaving little flocks on my doorstep.

At some point, I may post a picture of the measly two skeins of yarn I purchased. However, the big haul for this adventure was...



This is a hitchhiker wheel from The Merlin Tree. It's my very first spinning wheel. YAY! I chose this wheel for several reasons: it's affordable; it's small; it's portable; it's cute, and finally, the proprietors of this small, VT company are good people. The designers of this wheel (who also happen to be the founders of the company) are both middle school teachers, like me. Check 'em out.

Of course, once I got the wheel, I went shopping for some roving. Here's what I got:



The first photo is of my confetti roving and the second two photos are of a colorway called ruby twist. I also bought a natural blend called #1 BFL that the sales person suggested would be a good choice with which to start spinning. All of the roving is from Copper Moose.

Do you spin? Drop me a comment and let me know your fiber/wheel/spindle of choice. I'd also love to know about your favorite fiber source.

Miss(knit)ing in Action

Well....it certainly has been a while. Fall is always a busy time of year for me and I have to admit, I've been spending so much time knitting and shopping and reading all of your blogs that I haven't been keeping up with mine. So, dear readers (all two of you), please forgive me. Now: on to the show!

I've been a busy little bee toward the end of the summer and into fall. I've been working on socks for brother, made out of this:










It's Mountain Colors Bearfoot Sock Yarn in the colorway Sierra. I just love it! I got it here. I also purchased some Fleece Artist 3 ply kid silk merino from these ladies and I used it to make my clapotis. If you live in the New Jersey area, I highly recommend this shop; despite the seeming randomness of the way the website is organized, the shop is amazing and carries boatloads of luscious, hard-to-find yarn.

The socks were off to a rough start after I was too impatient to wait for my brother's actual foot measurement and started them early. You see, I over-estimated just a bit; I used the yarn harlot's formula from her latest book, but didn't take into consideration that although my brother is a tall, big-footed man, his feet are very very narrow. Hence, the sock guts:















Not to worry though...the patient survived surgery and made a full recovery. I have one completed sock and after a brief interlude (more about this in another post), am working on completing the second sock. The pair should be done very very soon.

These socks were my first attempt at several new techniques: magic loop (love it!), toe-up socks, and short-row heels (I think I prefer heel flaps). Drop me a comment and tell me about your favorite (or least favorite) sock techniques.