There's something really restorative about spending a weekend with women friends. It's hard to explain, because there really isn't anything particularly special that we do on these weekends except go to the beach. It's not like we're going to bars or partying all night long or doing anything specific except enjoying our time together and our time away from everyday life. But that's enough.
I expected two of my friends to have knitting projects with them this time, but I was pleasantly surprised when another pulled out her WIPs and still another bought pattern, yarn, and needles at the LYS to start a project of her own. Love that!This is Lisa with her first Fair Isle project. She's a very brave knitter, indeed, because her first project is a vest from a Rowan book. Quite the undertaking and she's doing a beautiful job of it, too.
Lisa celebrated her birthday earlier in the week, so she got showered with gifts and we took her to a great dinner at the Wayfarer in Cannon Beach on Saturday night. Happy birthday, Lisa!
And here's Alyson with her first sock! She had it all done except for closing the toe and I showed her how to do the Kitchener stitch graft. She did a beautiful job! The second sock is almost complete with just the toe decreases left to finish. And she's already got yarn and a size smaller needles to do another pair. Go Alyson! I didn't get a picture of the lovely scarves or the pretty hat she had made, but trust me, they're really nice. Although she says making a sweater isn't in her future, only time will tell!
And here's Suzanne and Alyson working on their projects. Suzanne can't wear wool unless she wants to turn bright red, so she bought some pretty silk/bamboo blend and a nice hat pattern and got to work. We're still trying to get her to relax with it, but that will come in time! Alyson was working on one of her scarves, but you can't really see that in the picture.
The other knitters in the bunch were Margie and Mary who both were elusive when the camera was out. Margie went on the Sea Socks cruise with me earlier this year as a non-knitter and now. . . well, now she's hooked. She has almost finished her first pair of socks. I told her that might happen! LOL Mary was working on a poncho that first needed to visit the frog pond as it was a bit larger than expected and she'd run out of yarn if she kept going at that size. I'm sure it will be lovely when she finishes it!
In between helping with the various knitting projects, I mostly spent my time spinning. I am so addicted to spinning now! Such a relaxing thing to do now that I've gotten the hang of it.
First up was this merino/tencel blend purchased at OFFF from Abstract Fiber. It's Susan's Caribbean colorway and it's scrumptious. I probably could have fit it all on one bobbin, but since I was getting a bit of a thick/thin result, I wasn't sure it would all fit. So the 4 ounces of fiber got spun onto two bobbins and is still resting there. I'm not sure how I'll ply it yet.
Next was 4 ounces of BFL purchased at OFFF from Knitted Wit in her Third Grade colorway. The experience of spinning this fiber was quite different from the merino/tencel. Without the slickness the tencel brings, I was able to get a much more consistent, fine single and completely filled one bobbin -- and I do mean completely! :) I'm extremely happy with the consistency of this single. I think it shows I'm actually making progress in my drafting technique. Again, I'm not sure how I'll ply it.
In between all these fiber pursuits, we watched movies, ate great food -- including chocolate fondue -- drank wine, chatted a lot, and just relaxed. I confess that I never set foot in the sand, which is really a shame since it was such a nice weekend, but I just couldn't break myself away from the spinning wheel.
On Sunday morning, as we were packing up the cars, we noticed a plume of smoke a couple of streets away. No sirens, though, which seemed odd, so we went to investigate. Turns out there was a controlled burn going on of an old, condemned house. We stayed for a while and watched. Fire is fascinating stuff! It was something of a family affair, with neighbors out on the lawn in chairs and other onlookers (like us) standing around or sitting on the curb watching the flames, which were pretty impressive.
Some of the firefighters must have been from the "junior" brigade or maybe the kids of the regular crew. They were much too young to be the "real deal."
There are more pictures over on my Flickr page, if the pyromaniac in you wants to see more. :)
And I was finally able to upload some video of the fire to YouTube. Here goes:
3 comments:
Glad you had a fun weekend. You're spinning like a champ!
Wow, your spinning looks great! It's very exciting to see 3rd grade all done up! Are you going to ply or leave as is and knit something with it? I never know what to do after I've spun up wool.
It's great to spend time with fellow knitters. I did that early this year & really enjoyed every minute of it.
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