Showing posts with label spinning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spinning. Show all posts

Saturday, April 16, 2011

A Girl's Night Out…

Friday finally came around.
This girl's ready to paint the town.
Tonight ain't nothin' gonna slow me down!

The car is packed and I’m ready to go. I’ll swing by the airport and pick up my sister and we’ll eat. Then we’ll head towards Dallas, Grapevine really. We’re going to the DFW Fiber Festival. I know that probably doesn’t sound exciting to most people. I’ve had plenty of jokes from the people I bothered to tell. But it’s exciting for us. Judi’s main interest is bead work. She can knit, but doesn’t. She does crochet occasionally so that made it legit. And she appreciates the aesthetics of the fiber fest. Besides, why pass up a good reason for a girl’s weekend?

We took our time getting there which turned out to be a good thing. There is a lot of construction along the way with lanes unexpectedly merging down to one in many places. I found out Cheree needs a map update since she couldn’t find the hotel. Luckily my phone has a GPS feature too, so we got here. Because it was late we grabbed a bite to eat in the lobby restaurant. It was one of the best lobbies ever! There were comfortable seating areas and little alcoves everywhere. If you looked around you could find people spinning or knitting or crocheting, even at the bar!


We settled in and decided we’d sleep in the next morning. The hotel provided a shuttle to the convention center, so we made arrangements. We decided to take it the first time, just to see where everything was. We bought the weekend ticket for the show in case there was something either of us happened to forget on a visit through. Could that happen? Probably. Did it? Definitely!
When we walked into the convention center the first thing we had to do was to make a plan as to how we were going to look at all of this stuff! Both Judi and I like to look through to see what all is there then go back through again to pick up anything we can’t live without. My pal MK posted some great pictures of the vendors on her blog. She was one of the first people I saw and I was glad to run into her.
Picture by Always Alice
There was so much to look at and touch. We found yarn made out of buffalo, musk-ox, silk sari’s and of course wool. The colors were amazing. There were people spinning, weaving, crocheting and knitting. We found a lady who had crocheted flowers from cassette tapes and a bag from dry cleaner bags. There was a ‘knitting lounge’ where friends could gather to rest or visit and work on a project. We made a few purchases and we headed back to the hotel.
Quite a haul!
Several of my knitting friends came to the fiber fest. Shama, Marilyn and Kim came from the Houston area. Teri B and Marcia were there. Nikki and Alice came in and Mary Kay was there too. Susie, Dawn, Deena, Gina, Joy, Ruby, Sabina and Lora dropped in. I missed Elizabeth but I know she was around. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned each one there or not but I was glad to see everybody! We got to visit, knit and just enjoy being with people who have a common interest.
It was a great time. And it seemed like it we’d just arrived when it was time to leave. I guess, like I’ve always heard, all good things must come to an end. We made one last stop by the convention center, made one last purchase and said one last goodbye. Then we started home.
We talked about the weekend. We talked about what we were going to do with the yarn we had each bought. We talked about the fun time we had with all of the other knitters, the old friends and some new ones we made. We talked about how we should get together more often. And we know it won’t happen as much as we’d like. Then we were home.

I did my time workin' all week.
Tonight's all mine, tomorrow I'll sleep.
I've been workin' my fingers to the bone.

Well , it's a girl's night out
Honey, there ain't no doubt…

Sunday, November 21, 2010

You’ve Got A Friend...

You just call out my name,
And you know wherever I am,
I'll come running. To see you again…

  
Hello?
Yes.
Yes, you do.
You’ve got a friend.
You can say it.
It’s okay.
Guess what?
I do too.
What?
No, it’s not you.


All you have to do is call,
And I'll be there.
You've got a friend...

I’m making a military gator or gaiter, depending on the pattern you look at, for my poor baby boy who is freezing in Utah. He wanted green and of course, there’s no green wool yarn to be found. So I ordered green yarn and it’s not here yet. Maybe tomorrow? But in the meantime I found some as well. I’ll be heavy on green wool now! For now he’s getting gray. I hope it’s what he wants. Knitayear is also still in progress. Day 230 is November 16, and I’m sick. Sick enough to call in. I just don’t feel good and haven’t for a while. Old age I guess. I chose rust, green and blue eyelash for no particular reason except I thought it was kind of ugly today and it reminded me of sick! Day 231, November 17, I’m feeling like a slacker. I really did work but it was cleaning off the desk, putting things away, that kind of stuff. I really haven’t gotten to do anything like that since I moved offices. I picked a pale green suede yarn. It seemed like a steady yarn to me. November 18, day 232, I’ve regained my ambitious attitude! I’m planning for an upcoming workshop, fixing a booboo that happened and just working on things that need to be done. The yarn I picked is alpaca from one of the WHIBSIB weekends. It’s blue, green, yellow and red. It’ busy like I was! Day 233, November 19, I’m enlightened even more, but not in a good way. I’m driving to Austin for work. I’m glad to be going. I picked yarn that is black, white and red. Day 234, November 20, and I’m working on a Saturday. But it’s a fun work environment. I’m industrious and we stay busy until after 4:00. Then I’m on my own. I explore a bit but I’m so tired I can’t even take advantage of being in Austin, which I love. I choose teal Noro. And finally, day 235, November 21. I’m feeling self indulgent, sleeping in, taking my time, getting a Starbucks. I picked a pale blue ribbon for this day. 
I’m making a side trip before going home. I’m going somewhere called Paige, Texas, to a wonderful yarn store called Yarnorama. It’s the opposite way I need to go but it’s a needed break. .

"A Playground for the Fiber Obsessed"
The drive is pretty too. There are tall trees in some parts of Texas! The owner is very nice, just letting me look. I wander around and touch yarn and look at things for an hour or more. 

She has a lot of beautiful things to look at and choose from. She’s also a spinner and weaver and she dyes her own yarn as well. All those things I want to do someday when I have the extra time. Ha ha…I’m not holding my breath waiting for extra time!
 
I did want to thank my friend SinĂ©ad, for the inspiration of her beautiful yarn store pictures. http://knitinc.blogspot.com/2010/11/yarn-stores-galore.html  Otherwise, I might have never thought to ask!
My haul!
I managed to pick up a few things to bring back to West Texas with me. The trip was 806 miles in all. Thank goodness for satellite radio. But it went well and I’m back to reality where having a friend might not be all that it’s cut out to be.

You've got a friend...