It took a weekend at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival to rediscover my muse. I have returned all fired up and ready to knit great things. My mojo is back.
Each year I look forward to the cover art on the catalog. This year's winner did not disappoint.
I drove down on Friday afternoon to get an early start for the gate on Saturday morning. I was there before opening and headed straight for the Koigu booth. It wasn't there! Koigu did not attend this year. I couldn't believe it! I had such great plans for all the half price Koigu mill ends I was going to score. It was my main reason for attending. The second main reason was to demonstrate the antique circular sock knitting machine with a few others from our MidAtlantic group.
But back to Koigu. I have no idea why they were not there and only hope that it was nothing that will keep them away in the future. Oh how I missed the fun of making up 100 gram groups of matching, similar, blending or contrasting colors and dye lots out of less than 50 gram hanks. That was always my Saturday night pastime as I wound down from the day of shopping. I've been told it's called "owning your stuff."
Not to be outdone, I found another place to spend my money. Philosopher's Wool was my first stop. My original purpose was to show the owners, Ann and Eugene Bourgeois, my sock knitting using Ann's two-handed fair isle technique that she showed me last year.
I was struck by the sweater Eugene was wearing and the next thing I knew I was picking out buttons for my kit which I will make into a cardigan.
When this one is completed I will truly be a star. Eugene told me today, when I went back with many questions after reading the directions last night, that I should begin the sweater right away. Just what I needed, an excuse for a modification to my modifications to my mentor's Rule of Three. Did you get that? In other words, I am going to start the new sweater today, after having put SFSS back into the UFO container, probably for another year.
Another of my purchases was "Cotton and EcoSpun" yarn from Little Barn of AL in a neutral gray/beige variegation which might become a ruana from Sally's Knit Stitch. At 99 cents a skein, it was an offer I couldn't refuse.
Another purchase I'm quite proud of is a shawl pin. After looking at every shawl pin at every vendor that had them--wooden, ceramic, pewter--I found just the right metal (bronze) in the right size (2") and weight by accident at a vendor I almost overlooked. Thank goodness for perseverance. This craftsman, a blacksmith, was in the barn where the Festival merchandise was located. There was a line out the door and down the road! I remembered that you could get in past the line to visit the vendors. And there was THE pin!
Even with the absence of Koigu, I was quite happy with a couple of good deals I got on sock yarn, three little skeins--enough for one pair to be hand knit for me--and two cones to run through the sock machine and produce a few pairs for others.
Speaking of the sock machine, I did the demo in the afternoon. It was fun, exhausting and rewarding. More information on that can be found at The Sock Lady's blog tomorrow.
I left the Festival at noon today and drove home. It is now time to 'own my stuff.' There will more the weekend in the days to come, as I think of it. Right now I have to go wind some Philosopher's Wool into balls.
Bona Fide Knitter
3 comments:
Yay! She's back! And she's brought her Muse AND her Mojo with her. Love the report. Love the socks. Love the Philosopher's Wool sweater kit.
SO great to read your post! I thought about you all weekend, knowing you were at MDS&W. Looking forward to more, more, more! Karen
I enjoyed your post. Made me feel like I was there with you. The catalog covers are great. I've never seen a shawl pin somehow. The one you wound up with is really neat looking. I was big into shawls in the seventies. My mom had a pattern for a sort of triangular one with crochet chained fringe that caught on everything. I didn't care. I wore it everywhere with long flowing skirts.
Post a Comment