Right, I went to them. Like um… ages ago. I’ve been a very VERY bad blogger.

So lets see…

First was NH Sheep and Wool, where I was very glad for my woven scarf. It was cold! And then the second day it was RAINY. Like torrential downpours, people not in buildings were making moats around their tents!

Didn’t do well at photos though.

As usual I was with the fabulous Jennifer in her Holiday Yarns booth.

Gnomestuff…

Then I joined her again at the ever-sunny MA Sheep and Wool festival, at Cummington. A very fun, smaller festival. Holiday Yarns had a double sized booth in the barns this time, which was different, and neat! Lots of cool people came by.

And here’s more Gnomestuff!

Theeeen came the biggie. Due to circumstances and stuff, Jennifer wasn’t going to be able to make it to the Maine Fiber Frolic to use her booth space. So, she loaned me some gridwall and some pegs, packed me some of her lovely yarn and fiber, and off I went…

To Maine.

Alone.

To vend.

EEP!

So I packed up all my stuff to go.

And theeeeen the tornado hit a mile away tore the every loving heck out of everything and killed our power for a while. I’ll make a post about that later (though by now most of you have probably seen all the photos).

Anyway, I ended up pulling everything back OUT of the car so I could drive down to CT and fill up gas cans to run the generator on.

Weekend came, I packed everything BACK in:

Huh, fits real well.

And started driving. Theeeen I realized why it fit with so much space. I hadn’t packed the wall pegs, the stuff from Holiday Yarns, or the stuff from Jesh and Jellyfishknits. Oh crappity. Turn around, drive home, throw it in the car, set out again.

So I drove the umpteen hours to Maine. Yay! No disaster. Find the space

Unpack the stuff… wow it looks bare.

After a couple false starts…

…and moving things around as I picked how I wanted to organize… (read several hours later), I had a Gnomespun booth!

Still looks emptier than I’d like but a lot of that’s because I was cramming everything very deep on the gridwall. If I do this more I need more gridwall/shelves/etc.

Very tired by this point, I went to the (somewhat) nearby State Forest campground and set up camp.

Slept like a rock, got up early, and hiked up Battie Mountain, which is right at the edge of the campground. Good lord it’s a beautiful view!

And here’s a beautiful panoramic, made a link so it doesn’t explode the page.

Beautiful View

Then it was off to the Fiber Frolic. Where I put up my makeshift signs, and was off! You can’t see them, but they’re my gnomes, my slogan, and my business name. I was pleased how well received they all were.

Met a TON of people and spun a bunch of samples and even sold some stuff.

But then it was time to go home, sad but the necessary part of amazing events. So I packed up again, plus the 3lbs of alpaca I bought, and the tunis fleece I was given. This time I got everything into the car on the first try!

So time to go home! Except… partway home, but still in Maine, my check engine light started to flash. Oh boy. I drove home, very carefully, as things got worse…

Turns out I had completely torched one of my engine’s pistons, and busted two other valves. So by the time I got it in for fixing, it was basically a one piston engine! Whee!

She’s ok again now, which is very good.

And now, your gratuitous puppies. Aren’t we so good? Don’t you want to give us your cookie?

~The Gnome

Sandy Southern Psychopomp

~The Gnome

Southern Psychopomp

~The Gnome

Psychopomp.

::nods sagely::

~The Gnome

So, other projects I’ve been working on…

Those of you who’ve wandered over to the shop and checked out the yarn may have noticed some “demonstration” photos in the “flashing” yarns I’ve posted there. Those photos are from a flashing yarn I did called “Pocket Change” (inspired by a beautiful piece of weaving I saw on Ravelry).

A wonderful and generous friend of mine offered to knit socks from my yarn so I could show what the flashing yarns do when knit.

So… SOCKS!

You’ll notice they’re different. This was purposeful to show the yarn in multiple knitting “environments,” if you will. These are “Labyrinth” and “Tamino” socks, both patterns available on Ravelry. You can see what the very short runs of one color do among the much longer runs of another in plain stockinette…

And how they interact with fine and wider cables.

So, this is how the “flashing” effect I do on some yarns works in actual knitted fabric. Also, they’re really comfy.

Next, an answer to Jeanne/Lilpixiestix question, “What kind of yarn do you recommend for us “non-dyeing” people? I’m drawing a blank.”

Answer: Well… the cheeky answer is “my yarn.” I can even make you a double-strand skein if you want.

The actual answer is that you want a yarn that’s durable. Military washing is hot and rough, a perfect recipe for felting and shrinking. The reason I ended up using the Phouka myself is that sock yarn is made specifically to be durable and to stand up to a heavy beating. The most common complaint I’ve heard/read about non-sock superwash yarns is that they pill.

One thing to remember is that no matter the yarn, nothing will stand up forever to that kind of abuse. Even ACUs fade in military washing. So make anything for that kind of abuse with the knowledge that it will be used and eventually used up.

So, in short, I’d say that my cheeky answer is half a real answer. Doubled or tripled sock yarn is a great option. If you’re really industrious, you can take each of the strands and add twist on a wheel and ply them together for a chain-plied super-yarn. I was not nearly that ambitious. Oh, one more thing, make sure your ends are long and REALLY well woven in.

And now your gratuitous puppy of the day. Sometimes Gobo doesn’t lie on his back, sometimes he curls up like a doormouse. Too cute.

~The Gnome