On The Road Again

Sorry, no pictures with this entry.

I've had a job change recently and am now traveling a good bit for work and I'm not at home. I'm in Indianapolis, Indiana and I don't have my camera with me. I love the new job. I've taken a position with a company that I worked for in the past. I always liked working for this company and saw a job posting on their website that I thought was a good fit. I applied and was hired. Last week was my first week back and I felt like I had gone "home" (even though I wasn't home, I was in Philadelphia).

On the knitting side. I've been working on my Christmas grab bag gift and it is going well. I really am happy with the way it is turning out. Sorry, I won't be able to post pictures of it until after Christmas, so you have a long wait to see it. I am working on another pair of Wendy's toe-up socks that I'm making out of Austerman Step. The colorway is shades of brown and off white and I'm making these socks for DH. I also started a pair of Bayerische socks and only have the ribbing done on one of them. I'll post pictures when there is something to look at. I'm making them out of Louet Gems in cream that I purchased from the Loopy Ewe. You should check out their site sometime. They have great sock yarn that I don't see in the yarn shops that I visit. Their prices are reasonable and their shipping service is very fast. They always personalize your order and put in a nice personal note and some little freebies.

I had a nice surprise waiting for me when I arrive home last weekend. DD ordered a pair of handmade glass circular knitting needles and had them sent to my house for me. They are really lovely! I can't wait to knit with them. I'm thinking that a lace project will need to be started this weekend so that I can try them out. We saw these needles at MDSW but I didn't purchase a pair, I just coveted them. Now I have a pair of my very own.

DD's birthday was Monday and she, her hubby and the girls stopped over to visit. We went to the mountains for Memorial Day weekend (a yearly occurrence) and I stopped at Reiland's Farm and Shop to pick up some fiber as an addition to DD's birthday gift (see my post from May 07 for the rest of the birthday present details). DS turned 21 years old yesterday (yep, their birthday's are 2 days apart). He also received his birthday present from Reiland's. He was with me when I went to the shop and picked out some nice llama yarn spun from the fiber of Penny and Danaka. I love the fact that you get to know the name of the llama that gave up their fiber for your knitting pleasure. He has enough off white llama to make a vest.

Happy Birthday DD and DS!!

It was a GREAT weekend!

This past weekend my sister, daughter and I went to Maryland Sheep and Wool. It was absolutely great! The weather was perfect, it got a bit cool in the afternoon but it was dry.

(Please feel free to click on any of the pictures for a closer look.)

My sister picked me up Friday and when she arrived she had a surprise gift for me. Nope, it wasn't my birthday or any other occasion for a gift, it was a totally impromptu gift (my favorite kind).

Here is what she brought me. I think he is absolutely adorable!

It's a wall plaque and was the perfect thing to start off the weekend. I decided that it needed to head to Maryland with us. We left my house and picked up my daughter then headed south. When we got into our hotel room we found a place of prominence for our mascot.

On Saturday morning we went over to West Friendship to the Howard County Fairground. We got to the festival sometime around 9:30. It's amazing how many people have a fondness for fiber. The parking lot was filling quickly when we arrived, but there seemed to be plenty of available parking. The people who run the festival certainly seem to have their act together when it comes to handling hordes of people.
There were plenty of vendors and we spent the day browsing all of the fabulous fiber, yarn and everything else. I picked up some fiber for spinning. I bought 4 ounces of a lovely sea foam colored wool, silk and angora blend. I'd love to spin this to a lace weight yarn and knit a shawl.

I bought 2 pounds of a wool/silk roving in a grape, blue, gray colorway that I am going to split with my dd; a pound for each of us. Oh, what is dd going to do with a pound of roving? I did my birthday shopping for her while we were at MDSW and she has a new Ashford Kiwi on which she can learn to spin. Happy Birthday DD!!! Her birthday is at the end of the month and I thought this would be a great way to usher in a new decade for her. I bought some sock yarn for the stash (I know, sock yarn doesn't count as stash) and 4 balls of Jameison Cob Web weight wool in and off white color. It was a great day for a bunch of fiber enthusiasts!! Next year we have to figure out how to get Em to come with us!

DH and I went to the mountains the weekend before MDSW and DD and her girls came up to join us on Saturday. I got a good bit of spinning done on Saturday. I plyed 620 yards of the Red Swirl Colonial roving that I picked up a while ago.

It looks like a fingering weight yarn. I still have another 1/2 a pound to spin. I think it might have to be used to make a vest.

DD and I got some knitting done in the evening. I finished knitting my Early Spring socks that I made out of Crystal Palace Panda Cotton in Periwinkle.

Pap-Pap took Anna outside to swing for a while. It was a bit chilly out on Saturday for Claire to play outside.

On Sunday it was warmer out, thee weather was gorgeous, and we went for a walk to a place where they are digging for fill. There were a lot of rocks to climb on!!

We all hung out for a while to enjoy the nice weather......

Then we packed up and left for home.

A good time was had by all!