Sheep, and Fiber, and YARN - oh my!

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!  I've got lots of fibery goodness to share with you today, so let's get started...

The NH Sheep & Wool festival was last weekend and the cute furry critters did not disappoint.  This is my absolute favorite shot.  I've titled it "Hey Lady, Come Here Often?"

I met a lot of sheep...

 

Saw some adorable babies...

 

Pet some uber soft alpaca...

 

And saw some amazing yarn and fiber, although I only managed to snap these two shots of my friend Heather's Mad Color Fiber Arts booth.  (If you haven't checked out Mad Color yet, be sure to click through to her site and have a looksie for yourself)

 

Now for the haul... the itty, bitty haul.  Seriously, who goes to a sheep and wool festival and walks away with one hank of yarn?  That would be me... on a budget.

I was hoping to have a skein of yarn jump out at me, just screaming to become my vacation knitting socks in July.  It really wasn't hard to find several colorways talking to me at the Mad Color booth, and with the help of my ever so patient honey, I chose this hank of Wicked (100% SW Blue Faced Leicester Wool) in the colorway Canyon.  What do you think - does this look like Alaska to you?

Now, being on a budget means I have zero right to step inside a yarn shop, correct?  Did you answer no?  I hope you said no, because you see, I had to drive  over to Nashua and sign some paperwork for the graphic / web design training program I will be starting next week and there's a new yarn shop over there I've been wanting to check out... and I needed size 6, 36" circulars, so...

I stopped at Twill Fabric & Yarn and not only did I find lots of pretty fabrics (sometimes I wish I sewed), prettier yarns, and tuns of coziness, I also met the two wonderful owners.

The owners are very welcoming and the shop is quite lovely.  There are several inviting places to sit and knit, lots of sewing machines set up for classes (someday I just might), and their displays are just delightful.  I think that was one of my favorite things about the shop - the displays using unexpected pieces of furniture and shabby chic-ish looking shelves.  Even the plain 'ole bamboo needles looked cool, displayed in glass jars instead of on a rack.

I found the circular Cubics I needed, and while still keeping my extreme budget in mind, I also took home this cute little project bag and a skein of Madelinetosh DK in the sweet Teddy Bear colorway.  I wasn't going to buy any yarn, but I kept returning to this skein.  Normally I go for the purples and blues, but something about this simple brown/taupe colorway kept calling to me.  Now to find the perfect one-skein cowl for it - any ideas?  As for the project bag, it was a steal at just $5!  The construction is very simple, but I love the fabric and the drawstring handle allows it to hang from my wrist while working on socks.

Now, guess what? I even have a finished object to share this week!  It's just a simple rolled brim hat, but it is something off the needles!

I hope to get some baby blanket knitting time in this weekend.  How about you - weekend knitting plans? 

Smile, it's Friday!

TGIF!  Smile... the weekend is about to start!

Yes, that's yet another shot from the NH Sheep & Wool Festival... I guess two posts this week weren't enough. 

Time for a little Friday Fill-Ins...

1. On vacation, I like to explore and see as much as possible.

2. I don't swim in the ocean, but I sure love to walk on the beach and dunk my feet in.

3. One of my favorite vacation spots is Charlotte, NC.

4. You can always tell when it's a full moon, the crazies will be out in full force!

5. Up, up and away with the ridiculousness.

6. Bananas - do not try to feed them to Zeus... the big guy actually cried the last time I put some in his food bowl.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to dinner with family, tomorrow my plans include NHMS and Sunday, I want to see Smoke or Ryan win at NHMS!

And, just because... I'll share one more!  Enjoy your weekend!

Wednesday for Ewe

Happy Wordless Wednesday!  I'll share some more shots from the NH Sheep & Wool Festival (plenty more in yesterday's post).

 

 

Alpaca and Goats and Sheep... Oh My!

I'm certainly late in posting my photos from the NH Sheep & Wool Festival, but hope you'll forgive me while you enjoy this picture heavy post...

Everywhere you looked, it was cuteness, handsomeness, and loveliness... 

There were adorable babies...

 

There were perpetual looking babies, aka Angora Goats...

If there was an award for festival flirt, this guy won hoofs down!

There were even friends and fiber and yarn!  The fabulous Heather of Sereknity was on hand with a beauteous booth, bursting of color...

Matt even made a friend or two...

Are you bored yet?  If not, come back tomorrow for a little Part 2 just in time for Wordless Wednesday.....

Sheep and Yarn and Alpaca and SNOW?

I spent Mother's Day at the NH Sheep & Wool fesitval with Joanne and a couple of blogless girls, Cheryl & Marlene. What an excellent day for fiber frolicing - the weather was perfect, not too hot, not too cold!

While none of us were looking for spinning related items, we did happen upon some beautiful wheels, including this beauty (click for a 2nd view)...

Look at that wood work... and the matching chair too boot! The pictures hardly do it justice.

Of course there was a lot of other stuff to buy... including yarn! I had gone with the attitude that if it wasn't something I really loved or unusual, I wasn't going to buy it... I'm at the point where my credit card company could see a $1000 yarn store purchase in Hong Kong and never question if the charge was legit or not in my stash where I don't need to just buy yarn for the sake of buying yarn. So I ended up walking away with just 3 skeins...

From left to right, that is a 3.5 ounce skein of hand painted alapca from Sallie's Fen Alpacas... a skein of Seacoast Handpainted Llama/Wool in the colorway Colorado and... a skein of Seacoast Handpainted Mohair/Wool in the colorway Pink Patch. Both of the Seacoast yarns were marked down to a steal and the alpaca was just one of those that I couldn't leave behind! I'm not totally sure what they are destined for just yet... possibly mitts for me, maybe a baby something with the pink patch... maybe a Calorimetry, although I just received my Spring Coffee Swap package and my awesome pal Criquette made one for me .... its gorgeous, but after a quick try on in the office bathroom, sadly its too large... BUT, that got me to searching on Ravelry for input on the sizing (seems its too wide for most everyone - you'd think by now they'd have publised a revision!) and it looks like less stitches, less repeats and maybe even smaller needles are the way to go...

My only other purchases for the day were a delicious buffalo cheese steak and some apple crisp... and this sweater pattern...

Both Joanne & I were ooohing and ahhing over the sample and then realized the vendor was wearing another version. Its gorgeous... and the only sewing in the entire thing are the buttons!

Now I'll leave you with a montage of cutesy animal photos because you know there were plenty...

This is the sheep impression of my Lola & Sophie...

There were lots of cute sheep...

There were sleeping sheep... and smiling sheep...

There were fluffy alpaca...

And alpaca with cute hair cuts...

Curious alpaca...

and the cutest little angora goats!

There was even this...

Yes, you non-New Englanders... that is left over snow!!!!!!!!

Oh and as for the coffee swap package, I picked it up on my way to work and did bring it inside for fear of meltable goodies inside (I was right!) and snapped a quick camera phone pick before tearing in to the beautifully wrapped goodies... I'll post more about the package & real pics tomorrow!