I just can't get enough

Today I finally registered to attend a couple classes at Knitter's Connection in Columbus in June. I ought to have registered a week or two ago to get the early bird discount, but I just couldn't decide which class to take on Friday. I settled for a design class with Ruth Lantz in the afternoon. I have only drawn sketches of ideas, but I've never designed my own garment. I did design a couple non-garment items, but that's different, isn't it?

The whole point of going was to take a Cat Bordhi class, and I'm signed up for her Saturday class with my cool new fiber friend, Janis. The class should be interesting, and meeting Janis will be a blast. We've already established that we must have been separated at birth. I am also signed up to attend the lecture by Casey and Jess of Ravelry fame on Thursday night. I want to think of a nice present to bring them for the incredible gift they have given to all of us. Hey, I wouldn't have met Janis if it weren't for Ravelry! I think every knitter/spinner/crocheter and her mother is already on this site, but if you're not, and you like playing with fiber even a little bit, run, don't walk to sign up. It's a vast database of all things knitting/crochet-- patterns, yarns, people-- and just an incredibly well-designed site with tons of useful and fun features. Trust me, it's not just another internet time suck, although it is very addictive.

But wait, there's more. At the end of this month, I'll be hitting the Original Sewing & Quilting Expo, Cleveland Edition. I've been to this show 3 years running, maybe 4, I can't recall, but every time I go I have a great time. I've only had a friend go with me once, which was the best, but it's worth going alone, so that's what I do. I am a devout groupie of Cynthia Guffey, and I've signed up for all her classes again this year. The most exciting one will be the day-long class making pants. I might actually come home with a finished (or nearly) pair of pants and the confidence to make another. I can only hope.

And I'm still waiting to hear from another friend about whether or not we are definitely on to meet up at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival in early May. I want to try out a bunch of different spinning wheels to see what kind I like, so in case I ever get around to buying one, I'll know which kind I want to buy. Meanwhile, the rented wheel sits untouched in the corner in the living room, so I don't know how soon I'll buy a wheel, because clearly the spinning bug hasn't got its teeth sunk too deep into me yet.

Movie: Batman Begins

It occurs to me that some people might be wondering to themselves, Why is this woman posting about movies that are so old and out of date? Good question. This section of the blog posts grew out of the profile I had on the alumnae forum for my alma mater, where it asks you to describe books and movies that you like, in order for others to judge whether they might form an affinity with you, I suppose. I consume too many books and movies to keep a little profile thingy like that up to date in any meaningful way, so I started using the journal function of that profile to track movies and books, and when I started the blog I moved that over here. I also figure that I'm not the only one who doesn't get to the theaters to see every new movie and is often casting about for what to bring home from the library/video store. So, for anyone scratching their heads over this mystery, there you go.

Saturday night I had tried to gather some people together to try out contra dancing (I have an acquaintance who goes and it sounds like fun), but alas, I was unsuccessful. I must confess that I didn't try that hard, just sent a mass email the day before. Next time I'll have to get on the horn and do a better job selling the idea. The one taker wound up with a headache, so we just gave it a miss, stayed home, ate delicious homemade bread with delicious homemade soup and watched a video. The Professor is finally making an effort to check out shows from the library that he is interested in watching (having had it up to here with British murder mysteries, no doubt), hence Batman Begins. I was prepared to mock it and really just focus on getting some knitting done while hanging out with The Professor, but I really enjoyed it. I loved some of Morgan Freeman's lines, and the way they wove in all the gizmos Batman has and why he has them. Katie Holmes I could have done without. Sorry, but her character was just a little too reminiscent of her Dawson's Creek character. I thought she was decent in Thank You for Smoking, but if she just dropped out of movie-making, I would feel no great loss. Anyhow, Batman Begins was a fun movie. Made me wish we had some other Batman movies on hand to do a little marathon.

And good news, I did get a bunch of knitting done. Finished the first sleeve for my Fair Isle Yoke sweater, which is possibly morphing into a cardigan instead of a pullover. On Sunday I got the second sleeve going, and I made bread again and got some more spinning done while The Professor practiced piano (finally! I love when he plays, and I'm hoping he'll do it more often). The whole wheat version of the bread was even more delicious, and as I am writing this right now more bread, a double batch of the whole wheat variation, is rising in the oven. Man, I feel so cool. I am making bread. I didn't think I had it in me. I need to go do some more spinning to make my morning of homemaking activities really feel complete.

Fiber fun updates

Here's the progress so far (end of yesterday, aka Day 6) on my sweater:


This photo taken at the end of Day 2 shows the color a little better (even though it also highlights my less than incredible ribbing):


I love the subtle changes in the hand dyed yarn. It's from Shelridge Farms, their Soft Touch DK. Yum. I'm using a size US#3 needle, and I'm surprised how fast it's going. It is just a stockinette tube for the moment, so I shouldn't be too shocked, but I still am a little.

Here are the promised shots of the Two-Tone Shrug:



And a shot of my addition to the pattern, an armpit gusset to make it a little less fitted (this shot does the best job of showing the true colors out of any of these photos):


I have also been using this baby:



to produce this:


which is my 4th go at the wheel. A definite improvement over my first few tries as you can see.

#1 on a drop spindle, at which point I decided not to pursue spinning at all:



#2 on a very nice two-treadle wheel sort of like this one, I think.




And my 2nd go at a wheel, first time on the one-treadle Ashford pictured above:



The disastrous results of my 3rd attempt at the wheel are fortunately hidden by the stuff I spun on the 4th try.

Phew, that's a lot of pictures! Thank you to my awesome friend Geno for the Flickr photo uploading tips.