Garden State Sheep & Fiber

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Sep 072014
 
Garden State Sheep & Fiber

This weekend was New Jersey’s 20th annual fiber fest, and although it’s small, I like to think of it as powerful. There are four barns full of animals, fleece, spinning, shows and vendors – just enough for a good half day, with the added bonus of being local for me. Almost everything is under cover, which worked out nicely this year in the feels-like 100 degree heat, followed in the afternoon by drenching thunderstorms. I left before the actual rains came, but felt like I had been soaked anyway by that time from the humidity. The shade helped them, but the animals were hot too; the sheep that were getting sheared seemed pleased to lose the extra insulation. This guy was a blue ribbon winner, and he looked totally over it. The angora bunnies were alert, but keeping motion to a minimum. There were kids leading sheep around the show ring, the local spinners’ guild doing their thing, lots of fibery crafts (SO many felted things!) and a super array of booths from indie dyers. . . .

Oct 212013
 
Mission: Rhinebeck

I usually go to fairs, and even stores, with the “look around and see what I find” sort of mentality. Several things are at play there; I design around stash that I have (those yarns I’ve “found”), I like the thrill of discovery, and if I really NEED something I go straight to sourcing it online and ordering. But this year at Rhinebeck it was different, because I was hunting the Tiger. Tigers . . . quick, what do you think of? Orange and black, and fierce. I have a concept, and it requires orange and black yarn – which is alarming. Especially the orange part. Fortunately, I had my best orange-loving peeps with me. If anyone knows orange, it’s Amy and Jenny.     They know when it’s too rusty, not golden enough, or just plain pumpkin overload. We must’ve looked at every orange yarn at the festival, plus taken in the foliage inspiration, and visited the wool sources themselves.     And as if orange weren’t enough of a challenge, black is NOT a . . .

Sep 102013
 
20 Years

Not of knitting; that’s a relatively new thing – the real longevity is 20 years of married bliss with my lovely husband Gary, fondly referred to by me as DH on the interwebz. We were white label even back then, not the types who wanted chicken & green beans amandine in the ballroom at the local fancy venue. We had our ceremony on the deck at the old Shanghai Red’s in Weehawkin, New Jersey (now the Chart House), with the amazing view of the NYC skyline. It rained all day, then cleared up in the late afternoon, perfectly timed for our evening event. We had an awesome party on the deck, then moved inside for dancing, snacks and of course the toast. People were freaked out at first, because there weren’t assigned tables; but they all sorted it out and ended up mingling with the perfect mix just like we envisioned. DH always says “I loved your wedding!” and I have to agree. So 20 years later, here we are, going out for a nice . . .

A Very Special FO

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Jun 212013
 
A Very Special FO

Nine years of education in the making, and we now have a new elementary graduate in the house. My lovely daughter, whom I’ve been training up as my knitwear model, received her diploma at the ceremony last night. All the girls were beautiful, the boys I didn’t recognize at all, and now there’s a whirlwind weekend of parties, dinners and merriment. Congratulations!

Oct 232012
 
Stashin' at Rhinebeck

. . . and Stitches East, too, of course. October is a busy month for yarn acquisition in the northeast; the weather is just getting right for all that fall sweater knitting, and there are yarn events. Stitches East, the regional yarn expo put on by Knitting Universe, and the Dutchess County Sheep and Wool Festival, aka Rhinebeck, are always a week or two apart during cider season. This year my cronies and I were focusing on Rhinebeck, and we had a beautiful, wonderful time there. You cant beat this: I only went to Rhinebeck for the first time last year, and that was a quick one day trip by myself. This time I was with friends and stayed over, and we had time to visit every booth, rock the Ravelry meetup with friends old and new, and eat the Artichokes French as well as the Apple Crisp. About those snacks – all I know is that my weekly grocery run is tomorrow, and artichoke hearts are on the list, along with apples. But enough . . .

Tuesday Shoes Day – Elliana

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Jul 312012
 
Tuesday Shoes Day - Elliana

You’ve gotta love Target; they have makeup, electronics, paper products – and cute shoes. These are Elliana by Merona, the house brand. A  chic cork wedge, comfy padded platform, and metallic cruelty-free straps – what’s not to love? They go with all those light, summery dresses AND look great with skinny or straight jeans too. Plus I could walk a mile in them since they feel so great, which is of high level importance; you never know when you might have to walk a mile, so better safe than sorry.

Malabrigo Blog Interview

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May 252012
 
Malabrigo Blog Interview

The Malabrigo Yarn Blog presents a designer interview every now and again, and I was just the featured designer. I do love Malabrigo yarns, and I have bins and bins of stash to prove it. FOs too; last October Amy asked me to whip up a banner for the Malabrigo Junkies on Ravelry during the October Stockpile event. No problem; pile of sweaters on the deck – check.   The banner pretty much said it all.     Anyway, thanks to Alex for letting me talk about my favorite yarn and my designs. And now you know what that new headshot was all about!

May 172012
 
Headshot

I’ve been thinking for a while that I really need a decent head shot for published things and various avatars. My other half has recently been linking himself in and got all motivated to take a new self portrait – which lead to the discussion in which he expressed the opinion that my previous default picture was a hair shot, not a head shot.  He has a point. So in a synergistic moment, the spousal ridicule, acknowledgement that I need to stop changing my Ravelry ravatar all the time, and my continuing exploration of Lightroom all came together in this. Maybe the hair’s not as good, but the overall is nice PLUS I got to practice my photo editing mad skillz with my new Lightroom software. Ever since Picnik announced they would be shutting down, I’ve been stressing out about how to do my editing; not that I do tons of it, but a little bit of tone curving for lights and darks, some airbrush and color correction can make a huge difference. One of . . .