A day in a yarn shop, flying fingers, and serious color

WELL, it has been a very eventful weekend. I had the pleasure of spending Saturday with my dear friend Joanne (sadly, blogless) at her shop, A Knitter's Garden for her very first sale. What a great bit of fun! I got to sit, surrounded by lovely yarn, of which she has some FABULOUS new products, and talk knitting with fellow enthusiasts. Oh, yeah, and I helped out a bit too. hehehe. A few highlights of the day were the visits of Gina and Erica and knitting-fiance Chris from the Manchvegas crew. (I just love those people. You know how some people just make you smile because they are there? Yeah, they do that for me.) The sale ended at 3pm, and sure enough hubby with munchkins in tow to hunt me down! I swear I was just packing up! Just had to finish the row! I swear! Hey, at least they got to go meet the chickens. (Sorry -- no pics, but I'll get some when Joanne's new SHEEP move in -- yes! SHEEP. I am so psyched. I am living vicariously through her...for now.)
So, since I had been so horribly fiber deprived all day, I HAD to spin when I got home. Seriously, I hadn't spun in at least a month and sitting staring at fiber and Joanne's wheel all day was really just too much. So, 3 full bobbins of singles later, I then plied and had 2 full skeins of yarn (I had one bobbin previously spun) -- one border leicester/angora mix in a periwinkle-blue heathery color, and the other a Border Leicester/mohair mix in yellow and white I have promised to make the Boy mittens from. The blue will join the spindle-spun skein of the same colorway in making a hat and mittens for either myself or some deserving soul (who will NOT felt it in the wash) for Christmas. I think I will keep this for myself tho, as it was my very first handspun. Tough call -- I have someone in mind for it. We'll see.

Sunday was spent in the company of my father out on the ocean for a fantastic whale watch. The kids were delighted -- time w/ Grampy and WHALES. Rachel had the whole upper deck in stitches when we saw the first whale of the day -- you haven't truly heard enthusiasm until you have heard my girl -- "A WHALE! LOOK, MOMMY, A WHALE! Oh my gosh! WOOHOO! YEAH, BABY!" Yup, cheering on the whale -- I was waiting for a good ol' Arsenio dog-pound yell, but we were thankfully spared. The kids were fabulously behaved, suitably awed, and the boat turned back to port just as they began to get antsy. Oh yeah, and the whales? All humpbacks (my fave). A bit lazy -- lots of "logging", which is when the sleep side-by-side near the surface, and quite a bit of feeding going on, but no breaching or fin-flapping. They are such amazing creatures, tho -- so gentle and graceful, despite their size, which alone is enough to make anyone take pause. We did see 13 in all, and as the captain is a friend of Grampy's each kid got to take a brief turn at the wheel. Pretty cool stuff. (Rachel and Jaocb are pictured below, back to -- her in pink and Jacob in his green Wallaby.)


Oh! And the flying fingers thing? Yeah, you know Gina? Ok, so she comes to Joanne's shop on Saturday, picks up a skein of "what else?...Watermelon" and the Smocked Gauntlets pattern, retreats to her home and Sunday I have THIS in my e-mail box!
AND she was 1/2 done w/ mitt #2! Crazy woman! How can we mere mortals ever compare???
Today, it was back to the dye pots. Yes folks, I'll be here all week -- literally. LOTS of fiber to dye, ideas to bring to life, and orders to fill. Here's a little preview of some store yarns, as well as some special orders.

The rest of the week will be spent working on self-striping yarns, and I do hope to FINALLY get my Zig-zag rib sock pattern finished. I just need to check the gauge for the Sport weight Sock Options Yarn. I'll have to use my remaining Gothic Rose, as I don't have the yarn to spare. I think it will still leave me enough for my second gauntlet. We'll see! Of to dinner ... hubby made stir-fry. YAY FOR HUBBY!!!!