The Middle Tennessee Sheep, Wool, and Fiber Festival

let's just say...it is not the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. not even close! but it was fun! a friend of mine called last week to let me know that the cost of one of the classes we were both looking at had been reduced from $60 to $45 plus the materials fee. so we decided to do it! so saturday morning she, i, and another friend of mine took the Dyeing Varigated Yarns class with Gail White. we had done some dyeing before with koolaid and wilton's cake dyes but never with the acid dyes. this was a great class. we each dyed 6 skeins. one thing that i really liked was that you dye the yarn in the wound cakes instead of skeins. that was new to me. so you put the wet skien down in one color...

then when that has all been absorbed you flip it into another color.

she had a little dye leftover and an extra few minutes so we were allowed to dye some of our own yarn if we brought it. i had 2 skeins of knitpicks bare in a sock weight. i did one skein in a vat of blue dye. one of the girls said it looked like smurk sphegetti. fa la lalalala la lala la...
the other skein i dyed this vibrany pink! it is to pretty. so those are the two that you will see in the pciture that are not varigated.

aren't they pretty! here are some snap shots of us during the class:

this is Learning from Chavah. she overdyed one of the varigateds. gail says anytime you don't like something overdye it blue! it turned out kinda pretty.

here i am with the smurf spaghetti yarn!
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this is my friend veronica who went with me. she is skeining yarn with a knitty knotty!

after the class we did a little shopping in the vendors' booths. we got in the most trouble at Gail's booth (whom we took the class from). learning from chavah fell deeply in love with a merino yarn that was in it's natural color. you can see here that it is talking to her telling her that it wants to go home with her which it did minus the 6 skeins that i bought!


veronica fell in love with another of Gail's undyed wool. this time a bulky weight in the natural shade of cream. it is really pretty. she couldnt' figure out what to do with it exactly so she just bought all of it. here they are counting:


i bought a few skeins of the one that learning from chavah loved so much and i also bought this:


this is a superwash wool, bamboo, nylon blend that i am just itching to make the Diamond Fantasty Shawl out of. it is a brilliantly wonderful blue color! for now i am resistin starting it. too much stuff to get done with first!

ok here are the three of us as we are leaving our fun day at the Dickson Fiber Fest 2008:


FO next time...promise!

New Knitting Novel

(ok so i wrote this post earlier today and blogger erased it, so here it is again...the first one was better, though...sorry!)

last week while i was going through my junk email i found an email from one of our local bookstores, Davis Kidd. these are monthly emails that i almost never read, but this day i opened it. upon reading the email i saw that there was going to be a book signing by a new knitting novelist. there was to be a reading of the book followed by a book signing. sounds like fun! the new book is called The Sweetgum Knit Lit Society, by Beth Pattillo.

i called up a friend of mine and we decided to go. it turns out that she is a local pastor here in town who ironically knows my pastor as they were in a group together of female pastors! the book is roughly based on a group of knitters at a local church (the church i went to preschool at) and also roughly based on a little tennessee town. it is really neat to have a local knitting novelist! there is to be a sequel due out in january 2009! here is a pic of her signing my book:

it was a lovely evening!

Sock!

only one exciting thing to report from the knitting front: one sock is complete!



but the bigger news is that it doesn't fit me. i mean it fits..i can get it on but it is stretched too much, but it fits mom! she loves it! who wouldn't? it is made from a beautiful skein of colinette jitterbug! yum! oh well. she will enjoy them although she said that she didn't think she wanted to walk on them! silly mom! i still have the other one to complete. i am decreasing on the gussett right now so i only have that, the foot, and the toe to complete. since the disappointment of the first one not fitting i am not in a huge hurry to finish that second one. this puts me in a bad place because i feel like i should be finishing that sock, so i feel gulity working on anything else. because of this i haven't worked on anything at all in 2 days. i have to finish that sock...it is making me nuts! hopefully next time...a finished PAIR of socks!

All Quiet on the Blogging Front

...because, I GRADUATED!!! Friday was the official Vanderbilt graduation. This famed event only occurs once a year, which means that even though i finished (and recieved my diploma) in August of 2007 this was the first actual graudation ceremony. i really had not planned on going but mom graduated with me so she thought it would be fun for us to walk together. i have to say we had a good time. first thing that happens is the big, entire school ceremony in which they confer the degrees, then they send the graduate and doctoral schools off to their own hooding cermonies. ours was very nice and there was a reception afterwards. i cannot believe how few people came. out of 5 of us in my speciality there were only 2 of us there. it was fun, but i am so glad it is over! here are a few pics.


Mom and I before the cermony! aren't we cute in our little outfits!


at the big university-wide graduation


my master's hood! (look how curly my hair is!)

there has been some knitting but not much noticible progress. my aunt that is here for graduation is a knitter and working on her first baby sweater. she and i went to knit at the downtown library with a group yesterday then hit 2 of the LYS. we had a great time! i think we may hit one more store tomorrow. we'll see. i want to show you all her baby sweater progress pics next time! so fun!

On the Needles

well i have startitis again! i have too many projects on the needles right now and the urge to start just one more shawl! somebody stop me! ok so here is the list:


first up are the Sock Class Socks which are coming along slower than i had hoped. our next class isn't until the 15th but i haven't even touched my second sock! why is it that the first part of the sock seemed to go so fast and this part has felt like forever?!? i don't understand!



next up is a yellow scarf. there is one of my happening kids that has been begging me for a yellow scarf so i finally started it. it is Mirasol Cotanani ( 60% Pima Cotton, 40% Merino Wool ) and feels wonderful! i am just doing a simple 3x3 rib. i really like how it is coming out!



this is a pink prayer shawl for a friend of mine from college. we were very close friends and roomed together for a year which was the downfall of our friendship. we had a falling out and stopped talking. she and i have been sending snail mail letters recently trying to piece back our friendship. in this process i found out that she lost her mother to colorectal cancer in december of 2007. they were very close so i know this is hard on her. i know how much she loves pink so i am making this for her. i can't begin to know what she has gone through these last few months.


last is another prayer shawl that i don't actaully have on the needles yet. all the yarn has been wound and is ready to go. this one i am doing with some friends. we will pass it amongst us and each knit on it a bit! lots of fun that way and i don't have to do the whole thing!

unfortunantely these are not the only things on the needles right now it is just my most recent additions. i also have 2 blankets and a shawl on the needles. urg! it kinda makes me mad at myself but i think i have knitting add because i love to switch between multiple projects! oh well! we'll see what i get finished first! i'll keep you all posted!

Life's To Do List

ok so i totally copied this from this blog! it looked like fun. i love these things!

Basically, the idea is to put all the things that you have done in bold.
Life's To Do List
01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula (OMG NEVER!)
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said ‘I love you’ and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg (seems like I should have done this in Alaska but I have no recollection of doing this)
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 10 provinces
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk (usually my role)
42. Had amazing friends (had? still have!)
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe (I had a backpack.. does that count?)
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer then you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your cds
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Posed nude in front of strangers (NEVER!! Too scary for all involved!)
61. Gone scuba diving (does snorkeling count?)
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark (I kind of think I have done this…can’t confirm it)
88. Had a one-night stand
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror.
96. Raised children. (do cats count?)
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Created and named your own constellation of stars
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an illness that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Petted a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth (I have helped a human give birth, does that count?)
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Petted a cockroach(um..no!)
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (do fish count?)
137. Skipped all your school reunions (I haven’t had one yet but I am planning on skipping them all!)
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146: Dyed your hair
147: Been a DJ
148: Shaved your head
149: Caused a car accident
150: Saved someone’s life

not much new on the knitting front. i finshed the chicken yellow prayer shawl and the socks are coming along. this weeks class was the gusset and the foot. i am just now finished with one gusset and am working on the foot. not much progess to show off. hopefully soon!