St. Distaff's Day

Hello:
Today was the annual St. Distaff's Day Spin in in Lake Stevens with the Northwest Regional Spinners Association.

We arrived at 10 am sharp to set up our spinning circle.

The market opened at 10:30 and I broke my yarn/fiber diet to buy three braids of fiber from Huckleberry Knits.  I absolutely love her colorways, and have knit many pairs of socks with her yarn.  Two of these braids are Polworth/Silk blends, and the other is Merino/Silk.  I have never knit with a silk blend before, so I am excited to try it.

By noon the place was full and, well, spinning.

BlueBerryMary joined us for her first time at St. Distaff's Day.  She was wearing her newly finished Barley.

I also won one of the door prizes, a skein of naturally brown alpaca yarn.  It is super squishy!
I managed to get quite a bit of spinning done, in spite of all the visiting with friends.  Some of the people I saw were Wajio and BlueWolfWalking (we carpooled), ReadnitDream and Anuwizard, JessicaRose, WireKnitter, and Jenniluigi.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with new braids of gorgeous fiber!

The Market packing up at the end of the day

St. Distaff's Day, Lake Stevens, WA

Hello:
Today the sun was rising at about 7 am.  There is nothing more beautiful than the sun rising over the Cascades.  Although I can't wait for longer days and more sunshine, I love that I don't have to wake up early to see these beautiful vistas.

I was up and running early today because I went to spin and chat at St. Distaff's day.  This was the NWRSA's (Northwest Regional Spiners' Association) 31st Annual celebration of the Patron Saint of Spinners with a Spin In.  It was up in Lake Stevens at a local high school. 

I looked up Saint Distaff's Day in Wikipedia, and there is no Saint.  The day is named after a tool, the distaff, women used in spinning.  I was wondering who in the heck Saint Distaff was.  The day was the when women went back to work after celebrating Christmas.  So it is kind of a celebration of women who work and traditional womens' work which was mostly fiber related.

I went to Wajio's house early with my wheel.  She helped me oil it, then we loaded up her van with my wheel and 2 wheels from her spinning guild that she was bringing to sell on the Used Goods table.  ReadnitDream joined us for the drive.  We got there at about 9 am and grabbed some chairs in a "Spinning Circle."

By the time we got to spinning, it was pretty full.  We were joined by JitteryKnitter, truespark and Puzan.  Some had come to knit and some to spin.  One of my goals this year is to spin one skein of yarn every month and actually knit/crochet something from my own yarn.

It's only $3 donation for admission and you get a raffle ticket.  You can buy other raffle tickets and put these in buckets for specific prize baskets.

Some of these were full of fiber and some had a mix of fiber and yarn.  I was determined not to buy anything as I am really really trying to use up my stash.  For a very occasional spinner, I have way too much fiber.

I was able to spin about 1/2 - 2/3 of a spool of corriedale that I bought from Paradise Fibers last year.  I was happy to see that I mostly remembered what I was doing, and it felt great to get back to spinning.

I was sitting next to a friend of Wajio's, named Jenniluigi, and the most fun thing happened.  I can't remember exactly what we were talking about, but she stopped and looked at me and asked, "Wait, are you f1bercat?"   When I said yes that's my Rav name, she said, "I read your blog!"  ha ha ha ha ha I almost felt famous! 

We talked a bit about Knitted Knockers.  The Eastside Knitters Guild is going to make these for our Guild Charity of 2015.  The group had a booth at the Spin In, and Jenni bought me a ball of the cotton yarn needed to make my first knocker.  I hope to cast on tonight.

Anyway, I didn't win any of the Raffles, and of course I felt like a 5 year old cheated out of a present.  I always want to win.  Even though I don't need any yarn or fiber.

I did buy myself a new niddy noddy.  That is my Christmas Gift to myself (other than a hot shower).

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with a niddy noddy.

First Friday and Spin In

Hello:
It was cold today, but crisp and clear and just gorgeous.  I think about the people in the Mid-West and back East struggling with all of that snow, and I am again grateful that I live in paradise.

Moogie and Pookie have gone back to college, already.  They have such short breaks.  I was a bit worried that their flights would be cancelled as they flew towards all the bad weather.  But, they seemed to travel after the first big snowstorm that hit the East Coast, and before the second big snowstorm that has hit the Mid-West.  Whew.  We still have Himes for one more week.  Things have calmed down quite a bit in the house, now, and I am once again crafting like crazy.

On Friday, I made it to Crossroads to stitch with the Eastside Stitchers Fiber Friday group.  The big news is that JulieMustKnit has finished her gorgeous Katherine Pullover by Michele Rose Orne.  This is a deceptively simple looking sweater.  But it has just the right amount of detail and shaping.

I didn't get a photo of the whole sweater, and I'm kicking myself for that.  It fits beautifully.

Since the sweater is finished, Julie has started a pair of socks.  I'm not sure if she is using a pattern.  They might be plain ribbed socks.

Winterpromise31 also brought a Finished Project!  She has finished the lace scarf and hat.  The scarf blocked out perfectly.  You can really see how the lace bloomed.

She brought her Sweet Phoebe baby blanket  by Sandra D. Carter.

Alphabetadell brought the baby set she is knitting.  She is working on the pants of the outfit.

and has already finished most of the top.

Wireknitter brought a pair of multicolored socks she is finishing (and I might say, a really cute needle case!

Saturday morning, after I drove Moogie to the airport, I headed over to Wajio's house.  She was the designated driver to the NWRSA (Northwest Regional Spinners Association) St. Distaff's Day Spin In in Lake Stevens.

 We arrived relatively early.  All of the different groups set up their wheels in "spinning circles."

There were donated baskets of fiber goodies for a raffle.

People brought snacks for a pot luck table.

There was lots of fun conversation, and spinning,

and spinning,

and spinning,

 

and even more spinning!

There was a wonderful market, but I held fast to my destash resolution, and stayed away. 

It was a wonderful day.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with spinners.