a dillydallyknitter: May 2008

Saturday, May 31, 2008

"We Were Castrating Bulls the Other Day...


...and we saved the sacs to make purses" overheard at Spinning at the Winery.

Today was my second year spinning with LeftCoastKnits at the Retzlaff Winery, this year called "Fleeces, Food & Fun" and, well, there was lots of fantastic fleeces, delicious food and lots of fun.


Of course, one needs a glass of Retzlaff wine

I don't know why I forgot to take photos but I ran into a lot of familiar faces! The lovely Kristine, from a Verb from Keeping Warm was there and this time she was there to enjoy the day with her partner & friends and not working hard at a booth!

Kristine is going to teach a drop spindle class at Article Pract and got to meet Julie from my knitting group, who has signed up for the class.

Ceallach was there with her family and she's working hard on her book and planning all kinds of cool solar dyed projects so stay tuned. (hope your foot feels better Cellach!)

I met Jasmin, who was on the Seasocks cruise and has a podcast that I'm downloading as I type this called "The Knitmore Girls"

Some of the sights of the day:


Weavings and knits for sale

Little fleece sheep (one came home with me)


And Mr. Chicken who amused LCK and I (suburban girls don't run into live chickens very often)

I also won 2 prizes in the raffle draw! One was a pretty dish cloth and tea towel set woven by a guild member and are way too nice to use! (but perfect for a bread basket liner).

And the other was a lovely large woven piece that's big enough for a table covering or a cozy car/lap blanket.


I was sooooooooo tempted by the Schacht Ladybug spinning wheels but I restrained myself and just came home with an ash wood Nostepinde. I can now sit on the sofa and wind perfect balls of yarn and it also doubles as a magic wand.

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posted by cpurl17 @ 8:58 PM   13 comments

Friday, May 23, 2008

YPF, Canadian Style

While in the Seasocks visit to the Beehive Yarns Feeding frenzy, I I picked up 3 skeins of the Hand Maiden Seasilk in the Moss colorway. I think I'm entering my "green" phase because it was the second time this trip that I bought yarn in this colorway. It's so wonderful to fondle and the color is delicious and slated to become a shawl from More Big Girl Knits (the name eludes me right now--it's not the Goddess shawl but the one made from Seasilk).

Photographed outside the Empress Hotel, Victoria, BC.



Sea Silk: 70% Silk, 30% Seacell®; 3mm/US 2; 27 stitches/4"; 400m/437.4yds; 100g/3.53oz.

More Post Cruise stories:

At the Empress, we had a fabulous Tea service

Here we are being well behaved ladies...


But not always...


I love this photo of LCK. I just sums up how I felt the entire trip--having fun and enjoying life.


Have a great weekend!!

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posted by cpurl17 @ 10:55 AM   15 comments

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

I'm Back!

I'm Back! I'm tired and broke but I had a great time!! This was my first ever cruise and it much more fun than I ever imagined it would be. Add yarn and a bunch of knitters and it was over the top on the fabulous scale!

I'm still getting my photos organized but here are a few highlights from the trip!


First night with my travel buddies: MamaC, LeftCoastKnits, TassleQueen and SunBny!







I got to meet everyone's favorite Lung Doc!




Brenda Dayne admires LCK's Kerry Cardigan during the "Today's Sweater" show and tell night.


Getting ready for our helicopter flight!



Aerial view of Juneau from a helicoptor tour. Our ship is on the far left.


Alaska sockbags reunited at the Pajama party! I finally got to meet the adorable Trillian 42!




The Sea Socks crew cleaned out Bee Hive Wools in Victoria!

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posted by cpurl17 @ 8:36 AM   16 comments

Thursday, May 08, 2008

Ready to Cruise!




Do these come in my size?

I've been a bad blogger this week. I can't believe that the Seasocks Cruise is finally here!! My bags are packed. My yarn is wound. My black shawl.....is still...not done. But I brought blocking pins just in case I manage to eek it out. The thing about knitting is that hope always spring eternal.

See you in a week!

And yes, Casey, I have my passport.

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posted by cpurl17 @ 9:56 PM   18 comments

Monday, May 05, 2008

Catching up and I have a Winner!

I'm so behind on my blogging. I booked this Cruise a zillion weeks ago and yet, as usual, I find myself in a last minute time crunch to get things done before my plane leaves on Friday!

So, to catch up let me show you some fabulous things that have shown up in the mail last week:

First, I received a fabulous package from my Ravelry Coffee Swap Pal, LeaMV.



There's a pound of Sumatra (my favorite type of coffee), a very pretty mug, a divinely scented handmade soap she found that has coffee in it and 2 skeins of gorgeous yarn. The one on the left that looks black (bad lighting!) is actually a deep aubergine color from Knitting Notions. The other is from Briar Rose Fibers and is a sport weight yarn called "Grandma's Blessing"in the "Anne's color for Dolomite". And she was kind enough to include the pattern for the Dolomite socks. A perfect take with project for the Sea Socks cruise!


Since I missed YPF last week, here are some close up shots of the lovely Briar Rose:



I also received a package from the other Coast containing these lovelies:






The prettiest knitting bag in my collection! Along with travel needle case and a bonus key ring because Zknitter loves me, ordered from Janez Place!! I LOVE them so.

And last but not least, I want to thank you for all the wonderful comments you left on my "Wish Me Luck" post about the 3-Day walk. I entered every comment and blog post and used a randon number generator and Elise won the skein of Wollemeise. Elise, you didn't leave an email and your blog link appears to be empty so please email me at cpurl17[at]gmail[dot]com or on ravelry and let me know where I can send your prize!

Before I leave on Friday, I'll post a new prize to give away when I draw again on June 2.

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posted by cpurl17 @ 7:05 PM   12 comments

Saturday, May 03, 2008

Fun and Pink at the Maker Faire

Today the Maker Fair came to the Bay Area and, seemingly at the last minute, the Yarn Harlot was scheduled to appear so Team Unraveled got together for an outing. We wore our pink shirts to promote our walk in the 3-Day:

We became known as the "pink ladies" as in (overheard in a cell phone conversation), "Honey? Yeah, I'm standing in line behind the Pink Ladies." There were people dressed like this:

And we were the novelty!? Or maybe it was our stunning good looks. No matter, if it means we managed to raise some funds or interest in the walk. We scored second row seats:



Stephanie, as you probably know, was hilarious in her presentation ...
...and gracious and accommodating during the book signing.

Kristin aka Leftcoastknits, ME, Stephanie, Alysse aka Knitted Daughter, Jo aka Josie and Manda aka Knitting Psycho (missing but not forgotten is Betts aka Sunbny)


We ran into the most amazing people at the Faire!

Carrie of We Do Not Have a Knittng Problem and I saying "Hi ZKnitter!"


Look! It's Nicole of Stash and Burn & Manda taste testing chocolate


Ceallach Dyes set up a great display of her solar dying process
(see her "ovens" behind the stall?)

Alysse rockin' the 3-Day bandanna

This was my first time to the Maker Faire and we had a great time. It's a fabulous place for kids and geeks alike.



The bizarre bazaar was packed with hand made crafts and I may have bought a skein of yarn from and Indie dyer.


This is the logo & business card that Kristin, designer extraordinaire made for our 3-Day team:

Better get to bed...we have a 7 mile walk tomorrow!

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posted by cpurl17 @ 7:01 PM   15 comments