Weekend Update: Sheep and Wool!

Saturday I went to the MD Sheep and Wool Festival with Kelsey (thanks for driving!) and Sarah (thanks for coming with even though you don't really know me!).    This Festival is apparently the largest of its kind in America. 

It was awesome to be surrounded by people of all ages interested in something I often get teased for enjoying so much.  I could say things like "this is just my easy bar knitting" and everyone nods,  understanding that of course I would take knitting to the bar with me and of course I would want something easy enough to knit while drinking. 

I took a lace-knitting class with  this woman: Charlene Schurch.   I was not super impressed with the class itself (maybe I'm better at this whole knitting thing than I thought), but I did meet some awesome ladies.

At the fair I also saw lots, and lots of other stuff.

There were sheep.  Sheep are notoriously hard to photograph.

They wiggle around a lot.

Sheep did not want to get photographed with me either....

Some of them wear leotards.  This makes me giggle.

This sheep is getting a once over before going into the judging arena.  They get a little trim to even up the fleece and a little vacuum to get the dust off.  The metal harness they have her in is the same thing they would use to sheer her.

In the main exhibit hall there were all the fleeces people had brought to sell.  They were categorized by coarseness and breed.

There were all kinds of vendors selling everything you could possibly imagine related to sheep and wool: fiber, tools, shepherding materials, books, food, randomness.  This vendor sold sparkle.  You mix the sparkle in with your spinning.

I walked away from the vendor booths with WAY too much goodness.  Got a new spindle, lots of fiber (including this little Easter-egg-colored bump here), some lamb chops (I feel guilty about them, but the farmer convinced me to try them), and a funnel cake!

I'm glad I got the opportunity to go to the largest fiber festival in America!

On My Needles: Squirrel Update

Barking Squirrel

After my last squirrel rant, people were so kind as to send me more evidence of the evil of squirrels via the Onion.

The squirrels in my own world are less vicious, but way stranger.  They have been leaving plastic bags of bagels on the front porch.  Every time we throw one away, they bring another one.  They have been barking at me lately, too.  Anyone have any idea what this is about?

While I try to figure out this mystery, I've been working on my woolen squirrels.

I finished one.

I think it is pretty sexy

They are a little narrow....I should have used slightly bigger needles.

But I really do love them so...

Hope the squirrels in my front yard don't get jealous.

Knitting Inspiration: Art

I am going to be moving out of my current apartment in about a month.  I will have to find somewhere new to live and will have to decorate it to inspire me to study.  So today I offer a little bit of art.

First up, yarn collages from Sarah Applebaum from Honestly WTF

More from Sarah Applebaum...I want to do this so badly....I am a little obsessed with bright colors.

I could go a little less abstract and a little more traditional with something like this:

From the London Stitch and Craft Show.  More HERE

The Scream.  See how it looks like the original?  From HERE

This one I don't think I would put in my house:

A fiberglass knitted teddy bear.  On Flavorwire

However, I am leaning more towards photographs of my favorite movie star pirates.

Check these out: http://www.flickr.com/photos/totallee/

What do you all think?

MD Sheep and Wool Festival

I am going to my first ever sheep and wool festival this Saturday, May 7th.  I could not be more excited.

The festival opens at 9am.  There will be vendors, food,  etc.  The shearing demonstrations are at 11...thrilled!!!  And I am taking a class with this woman: Charlene Schurch.   Lace is not something I think of as needing a class to learn (it's just some yarn overs and some k2tog's, right?) but I am sure there is oodles that I don't even know that I don't know.

I am going to resist buying a whole fleece (because, honestly, what the heck am I going to do with it?  I really hated hand-carding.  And my friends will look at me like I've gone wacko-banunu if I bring a trash bag full of wool home).  Unless I find a nice processor who can explain what I am looking for and will do the processing for me (for a fee, obviously).  Still don't know that I can spin that much wool with my crappy spindle....oh, wait!  I will be going to the vendor booths where I am SURE someone would be willing to let me take a brand new spindle off their hands!  Luckily my class is at the same time as the spinning equipment auction, so I won't be tempted to buy a wheel....

Any requests from folks for things I should bring home to you?  Anyone want to come with me?

Weekend Update: Farmers Markets and Doulas

Last weekend was about birthdays (mine and the baby that I helped birth).  This weekend was more of a glimpse into how I could lead a low-stress, pleasant lifestyle if I wanted to (slash, wasn't so high-strung).

Friday night was a potluck for the doulas I work with at the DC Family Health and Birth Center.  We've been trying to build community among the doulas by sending weekly updates, providing training opportunities, and getting together for no-work fun.  There were three less-than-one-year-olds and a dog in attendance, all competing for Cutest Creature in the Room with the toddler with the shoes that squeek when he walks and the dog that flipped out over these squeeky shoes tying for first.  The doulas got into a discussion over how to be a full-time doula (is it possible?  can you make enough money to survive?) and it was heartening to know that people can (and do) work full-time doing what they love even if the on-call lifestyle can be hard.

Saturday, I finished a book, ate a lot, and visited a good friend and neighbor for tea.  Was a lazy bum.

Sunday, I worked for Chris' Marketplace at the Dupont Farmers Market.  I helped unload the truck and set up, sold empanadas and crab cakes for 4 1/2 hours and then packed it all up.  Best job ever: I got to talk to people all morning, contribute to a DC institution and get paid to do it. 

I ended my Sunday attending my birth education class in Eastern Market (this week was on 1st Stage Labor and comfort measures).  It is fascinating to get to sit in with a group of pregnant couples talking about their impending births and also thrilling to be able to lend some of my expertise to the conversation.

I'm rambling now, but all this goes to say that I think I would be happy living my life this way: interacting with the DC community, working with moms and other doulas, having an active day (instead of a sitting-at-my-desk day), and still having enough free time to hang with friends and knit and eat good food.  It would be difficult to make the "living wage" thing work, and I don't know how long before I would want to be doing something more activisty/policy-focused, but for at least this summer of not working my "real job," I think it will be a good time.

Happy May!  White Rabbit!!

100th Post!

One Hundred Yards of Yarn

One Hundred Buttons

On Hundred Cookie Cutters

One Hundred Blog Posts!

Have a wonderful 100th of something today!!!

White House Garden Tour

I had the opportunity to go on a tour of the White House gardens this spring (Thanks Ashley and Ben!!!).

Here's my hat again, sitting in a strangely jaunty way....why was it so cold a week ago and now in the 80s?  DC weather makes no sense...

The Cherry Trees were blossoming near the West Wing

From the West Wing you can see the playground that the Obamas installed for Sasha and Malia.

There were beautiful (if very cloudy) views of the Monuments

I got to see Michelle Obama's Kitchen Garden.  This is the most well-organized, weedless garden I have ever seen.  I suppose if you have armies of school children coming to help you out (under the supervision of a park ranger...), you garden is bound to look good.

Across from the garden is a beehive.  Apparently have make something like 140 pound of honey every year and use it to make the White House pastries.  The White House carpenter is the one that takes care of the bees. 

This is my favorite picture.  Hillary planting trees in heels and early 90's shoulder pads

Oh, Hillary.