And now I’m home.
And tired.

This is what the booth looked like.

And because I know you all like to drool over new toys and fibers, and because I’m not capable of doing more than the sipliest of tasks at the moment, I’ll show you what I bought.

Friends Folly Farm Roving and 2 Hatchtown spindles.

And a pretty Border Leicester Fleece from Ruit Farm North.

Today I need to try to catch up on emails. Get some shipping done and work on putting the shop together. It looks like a tornado whipped through there. Hopefully I’ll have an update for you at the end of the week.

First I want to thank everyone that came out, said hi, stopped in ntroduced themselves, chatted with me and bought goodies. You all are awesome and the reason I keep doing these shows. It’s always great to meet all the people that I “meet” online. It’s great to put a face to the name on the order or to the Ravelry name. Thanks for making my weekend special.

I didn’t get much chance to get out of the booth. But I did manage to come away with a little bit of loot.
I picked up a couple more Bosworth spindles.
Sheila held out a Tulipwood for me. I’m a sucker for tulipwood and pretty burls.

It came in a little heavy at 24 grams. I had hoped that it would be the pair for the Amboyna I got a couple weekends ago. I guess that just means I’ll have to get more.

This is Tasmanian Rose Myrtle Midi to match the other two 22 gram spindles I have. I decided I wanted to do a three ply so I had to have a 3rd. It’s great that they all match so well. They’re all in the rose range yet all slightly different. I love them.

And I of course had to have new fiber projects.
From Enchanted Knoll I had to go to Massachusetts to buy fiber from another Mainer. How silly am I? Irresistable stuff is what it is.

2 Vardo Batts

3 Chasing Rainbow Batts

Right next to me was the Gurdy Woolen Mill I got to play with some of the fibers on Saturday as the show was winding down (had to test the new spindles) so I knew I had to go home with some.

It’s a tweedy blend. It will be an obnoxious orange squishy sweater.

All day Saturday I kept seeing bags, BIG bags, from Spinner’s Hill. I just had to have some.

I’m thinking shawl.

I can’t wait to get playing with some of my new goodies. After catching up on some swatching today, I think I’m going to play.

Fiber, friends, laughter…what could be better? It really was a fantastic weekend. I want to thank everyone for making it a great weekend for me. I thought I’d feel silly staying there since I lived only 20 minutes away but I enjoyed spending time with my friends. I don’t get to see my friends from out of state that often so it worked out well that I got to stay there and chat it up with all of them.

I didn’t bring my camera but plenty of other people did. I need to steal some pictures somewhere. Julia got a particularly lovely one of me though she did say it was only going into her “personal” collection.

I am not without any photos.
I turned in 28 hats from the contest. You guys rock.
13 from Suzanne

and 10 from Jessica

and 5 from Amy

Sorry about the lack of linkage ladies. For some reason my brain isn’t working right and remembering which blog is yours. Anyone else notice that sometimes it’s hard to place the right “real” name with a blog name? I need to get organized and then the prizes will be distributed.

I also have in new products. I have Tracy Eichem spindles.

I got in a new stock of Merlin tree spindles.

I think I have 6 left and will get them on the website as soon as I can.

Dave tried to get me to take home a Great wheel. I resisted though I fear I soon may buckle under the weight and end up with a pendulum wheel this year. Still, I did take home a couple of new Hitchikers for the shop. I particularly like this one:

It has oak, black walnut, pine, tulip wood, paduk, and cherry woods. I think it’s a charming and very original wheel. I don’t imagine Dave will make many if any more like it.

I picked up some pretty orifice hooks made by Judy of Ball and Skein:

This week I need to get out club but I’ll also be working on getting all the new goodies online. There are even more goodies than I showed here.

With all of that, I didn’t leave without a few goodies for myself.

It’s a small stack but still lovely and especially lovelier thanks to my fantastic roomies / friends.
I have a Forrester spindle, a Hello yarn mitten kit, a Split Yarn needle bag, a bit of fiber from Kim at the Woolen Rabbit, a pretty ball of Merino/angora/silk from The Spinning Bunny, a cool glass that Dagny gave me and a little Merino Alpaca bump from White Barn Meadows. It’s a nice modest size haul. Not as big as it usually is but it’s usually the fleeces that make the pile look excessive and there won’t be new fleeces for me until Cummington.

I also picked up a little order from The Irish Ewe.

I got a quill for the old Ashford Traddy. I was disappointed that I lost an Ebay auction for an antique treadled quill wheel. Then playing around I realized I could buy a quill for the Traddy I own. It took a little of the sting out of the loss. I’ll surely report back as to how I like the new attachment to the wheel.

Last but not least my new favorite pub glass which held beer on Friday and a smoothie this morning:

This is it folks. If you’re buying for Christmas, you are in the home stretch. Ordering online is fast becoming a non-option. I still have a few links for you though. Some gifts of pretty Knitting Needles:
Beautiful initials in your needles
Funky needles

Gifts of Notebooks and Journals:
Knit Buddies
Giftt tags
Knitter’s cards
Cards and Stationary
Knitting in the wind

If you are going to buy online (and I’m speaking for myself mostly here), let us know you need it for the holidays. I advertise that it takes me 24-72 hours to ship. I have to call ahead for postal pick up so I can’t always ship the same day I receive an order. But I can try and I can also quote you Express shipping.

For all you folks that are really this late I’m going to suggest that you go to (or call) your giftee’s LYS - that’s Local Yarn store. You’ve heard your giftee talking about this place. Think hard, you know the name. If your giftee is there alot then they know them. They might even be able to suggest a gift. If not, they have gift certificates. I know lots of people think gift certificates are cop outs, but most knitters I know think a gift certificate to their LYS is like a winning lottery ticket.

There is one source online that is still offering to get you stuff in time for the holidays. That’s Amazon.com. First check to see if your giftee has a wish list. Seriously, buying from the list is a good thing. If there is no wish list, let me suggest a few books.
New Spinner - Get Hands on Spinning or Spinner’s Companion
Experienced Spinner - Get Spinning Designer Yarns or Alden Amos’s Big Book of Spinning
Spinner/Knitter - Get Spin to Knit, or either of the Twisted sister books (or get both books)

New Knitter - Knitting Little Luxuries or One Skein wonders. Actually both of those books are good for spinners as they are a way to use up small bits of yarn. Another good book is “The Knitter’s companion”.

Experienced knitter - They NEEEEEEEED Armenian Knitting. I have much much more to say about this book but I’m going to save that for another day instead of going on and on here. Or you could be really generous and get a copy of the much coveted Magnificent Mittens or any of the Starmore books they may not already have.
All Around good Knitting books: The Knitter’s Book of Yarn where you will find a couple of designs done by myself, Adrian, and Shelia, Clara (Who also wrote it) and many other great designers. If you have little ones or the giftee does then I recommend Soft+Simple Knits for Little Ones My vest from this book is almost done.

Someone that’s into color in their projects might like Hands on Dyeing or a Dyers Garden. If they spin as well then I’d go for Color in Spinning.

Another option is a gift magazine Subscription. There are magazines for everyone. The subscription is the gift that gives all year long.

As for my fiber pursuits…
I finished that mitten last night.

Yes, the thumb is a bit pointy. It’s a sign that I was over this mitten before I was done with it. I knew from the start that I wasn’t going to like the cuff yet I continued.

The second I finished the Mitones Ivenos I started the ones in Handspun Shetland

The cuff isn’t crazy tight but it’s going to be way more snug.

One last thing and then I promise I’ll stop blabbing.  The physical shop is having a sale on Saturday.  20% off selected handapinted fibers and yarns and the shop store models of wheels and looms will have a 10% discount.  I promise I won’t be forgetting the online store. I can’t do the discount on floor models but I will discount a few of the boxed wheels in stock and there will be the same fiber and yarn sale.  The online sale will take place after the holidays.

Can you believe it - only 13 days for you Christmas folks. Most people celebrating Hanukah hit their deadline last week. Not that anyone doesn’t appreciate a gift no matter when it arrives….

Today lets talk about the stuff made from cloth.

Mom has her Etsy shop up finally and she has a few sheepy things in there - A Pillow and a Quilt among other things.

There is a Secret Keeper in sheep that is quite cute

Of course there are stuffed Lambs, and Lamb blankets and other just adorable Lamb Lovies

And of course there are the ever popular… Bags. Much of what I found was on Etsy because I was looking for something unique but there are a few that are pretty darn cool that were main stream finds.

Cubes!
Sail Bags Made from Sails, you know, from ships.
Robot Pouch - He’s just cute.
The Purl Pod
Petal Scrunchie Bag
Fitter Knitter Bags
Beautiful Bags
Unique Satchel
And there’s The Baggler to carry it all. Miss Sheepish Annie herself recommends these and they’re made here in Maine. Think of how many bags you can carry at the next sheep and wool festival.

But wait! There are a few more finds.
Holders and Bags at Lauging Hens.
Needle Holders

If you want to make your own cutie stuff with cloth or you know someone you can wrap up cloth and call it a gift (raises hand)…
Cutie pie sheep, Some realistic Sheep and some with their Sheep dogs. If you want to get away from sheep, there are Knitting words. And then there is this stuff HERE I might have a couple yards of it in each color.

And so it’s not all just about gifts - I have finished some spinning.

Glaciers wool blend that I got from Amy at Electric Sheep. I spun it as a thick and thin that came out about 300 yards for 8 ounces. The bummer though is that I spun it on the Schacht Matchless and it’s in 4 hanks. If I had chosen to spin on the Louet, it would have been in 2 hanks. I really was disappointed to find the Matchless didn’t hold more yarn.

I finished the spinning for my shawl too:

The multi colored stuff is from Hello Yarn’s Fiber club - it’s 4 ounces of Baked Alaska in Romney. The other stuff is 10 ounces that I dyed to match. All together I have almost 2000 yards. I’m shooting for a giant shawl with this one. Adrian had dyed more so I have another 8 ounces of Baked Alaska coming. I don’t think I’ll need it all for this project but I like this colorway so I’ll surely find a good use for it. Maybe I’ll make matching hats and mittens then I could be all matchy.

Yesterday Margene blogged about her winter outfit. I often dress in a similar fashion. At night I don the big pea coat but days I often wear more comfy outfits so I can shovel or hustle kids along. Except I don’t think I pull it off as well as Margene. I have not got a spot of wintery clothing that matches. I think after my holiday knitting is done, I’ll be making a more matchy set of hat and mittens at least.