dillydallyknitter

Monday, June 08, 2009

Spinning at the Winery...2009

The problem with being a Bad Blogger is that you end up with stacked up things you want to blog about. First off, a week or so ago, Knitpsycho blogged about some Cotty socks she made out of Squoosh Fiber Arts Sportweight Merino/Cashmere/Nylon. Sadly they didn't fit her. But guess whose feet they did fit?

Mine! They're so comfy! I'm such a lucky girl!

On Saturday, I went to the annual Spinning at the Winery at Retlaff Winery in Livermore Valley. It was a lovely day spent hanging out with lovely people!

ceallach (holding a new treasure bought from Carolina Homespun, leftcoastknits and Josie

We sat, knit, spun, chatted and sipped delicious wine while being surrounded by vendors with tempting fiber goodness.

knitpsycho and josie share a laugh

The prize covered table with jars to put raffle tickets in. (I won 3 prizes!)

The weather was wonderful and there was a fantastic turn out. The man standing in the middle of the photograph is Will Taylor. Will, his wife, Kate and the members of the Treadles to Thread Guild host this event every year.

I brought my Liesl with me so I could sew on the buttons and have an official FO!

The vintage crystal buttons were purchased at the Antique fair a few weeks ago:

And, um, maybe this came home with me too.

Will Taylor is a talented craftsman, spinner and, once in awhile, sells used wheels.

Labels: FOs 2008, retzlaff, Spinning, spinning at the winery

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.

Labels: Spinning

Thursday, June 14, 2007

YPF au Naturale

Last Monday:
Cpurl to Colleague: Good morning!
Cpurl's Colleague: Did you have a good weekend?
Cpurl: Yes! I went to Berkeley and took a class on Natural Dying
A look of horror crosses colleague's face
Cpurl: Oh no, no, no, not DYING, Dy-ing.... like Easter eggs
Bubble over colleagues head: She's so weird

LCK gave me some undyed sock yarn so I brought it to the Natural Dying Intensive and dyed it in cochineal. So I present my very first (and maybe last) hank of naturally dyed sock yarn. I'll call it Raspberry Sorbet.

Labels: Natural Dyes, Spinning, YP Fridays

Saturday, June 02, 2007

Spinning at the Winery

Today I spent a lovely afternoon with LeftCoastKnitter and Ceallach spinning at a local winery. This is an annual event sponsored by Ceallach's Spinning Guild. It was a perfect day, not too hot, not too cold. We staked out a perfect shady spot under a large tree and enjoyed the pot luck, a nice Merlot and, of course, spinning.