Maia Spins

Stitches West 2008 Report

I am still floating on a cloud.  Stitches West was a great event for me and for Tactile.  Add that to the great time we had at Madrona and you've got a woman who feels like she is on top of the world!  Our booth with Kristine of A Verb for Keeping Warm was busy and we thoroughly enjoyed the customers and each other.  Happy, happy, happy!!!  Look for more collaborative efforts between Tactile and Verb.

Not only did we have fun during the day, but we partied pretty hard at night.  While Brooke and I worked each evening to get more product ready for sale, we managed to socialize.  Kristine was smarter and had time to go hot tubbing and hold court.  I am still shocked that we didn't get a knock on the door admonishing us.  We did have excellent neighbors, Liz & Erin of Designated Knitters.  Those two are a hoot!  We saw so many people that I dare not try to list them all for fear I'll forget someone.  We really did appreciate seeing so many of our friends.  A big thank you to all who came out to see us!

Want to see my loot? 

There was the Ravelry goods.  The t-shirt is so soft and comfy.  The bag is roomy with an outside pocket (so handy!).  Not shown is my Bob pin (see Mike's here).  I have to say that having Casey, Jess, Mary-Heather, and the rest of the Ravelry crew at Stitches really added fun and friendliness to the entire event.

Speaking of Ravelry, I found my avatar on the big poster.  It seemed appropriate that I am wearing the same blouse as my avatar.

The Ravelry passport game (a Kristine inspiration by the way!) gave us the opportunity to meet a lot of people.  This is the Tactile page.  At the bottom (click for bigitudeness), it lists the Ravelry members to look for at our booth, listing our real and Ravelry names.  For me it says "Maia aka "Maia"".  I am so easy to amuse; that is still cracking me up.  If you are on Ravelry, please friend me.  I love seeing what folks are up to; it is so inspiring.

But Maia (I hear you saying), you were showing us the loot!  I continued in my Madrona habit of buying naturally colored yarn and fiber.

More loveliness from Toots LeBlanc, this time it is the lace weight version of their BFL/Pygora blend.  I thought I was getting another skein of the same weight as the one I got in Madrona (which is fingering weight).  Totally my own mix-up.  I guess I'll have to order one more skein of each weight (poor me!).

Two skeins of a Yak/Fine Wool (reported to be Cormo) yarn from Bijou Basin Ranch in Colorado.  This is a 50/50 blend and the yarn is soft and bouncy (love that Cormo smooshiness!).

Lastly, I succumbed to the absolutely luscious cashmere from California Cashmere Company.  This stuff makes me weak in the knees every time I touch it.  I got one skein of 100% cashmere yarn and an ounce of ready to spin fiber in a soft natural brown. 

All of my purchases fit nicely with the lace bug that has bit me.  Now I just need a few extra hours each day to knit it all!

Did I mention that I had a fabulous time at Stitches?

Madrona Report

Brooke and I left for the Madrona Fiber Arts Winter Retreat on Tuesday morning with a cargo van full of Tactile fibery goodness.  It is approximately an 800 mile drive up to the Puget Sound area.

A few shots from the road:
Black Butte from just south of Weed, California.

Mount Shasta in all her glory.

It is a beautiful drive.  Long and tiring, but beautiful.  Wednesday we took a quick field trip to Earthues in Ballard (neighborhood in Seattle).  Earthues  is an amazing place.  I wish we had had more time to spend there.  (pictures of Earthues soon)

We set up in the marketplace on Wednesday afternoon.  I don't have pictures at the moment, they are in Brooke's camera.  More on that later.  For now, imagine a booth full to the brim with naturally dyed goodness.

The marketplace only had 34 venders, but there were some great ones.  You want to see what I got, right?

On the left is Sock Hop yarn from Crown Mountain Farms in the Ebony & Ivory colorway (now discontinued).  On the right is 8 oz of natural grey Gotland roving from Butternut Woolens.  Gotland is a mid-grade longwool that is great for socks.  I can't wait to spin it up!

Here are two yarns from Toots LeBlanc.  The large grey hank is 1200 yards of fingering weight lace yarn made from Jacob wool, Alpaca, and Mohair.  I am itching to make a big rectangular shawl out of it.  The white hank is 250 yards of fingering weight yarn from Blue Faced Leicester and Pygora.  Just enough for a little lace scarf.  Toots LeBlanc will be at Stitches west this weekend and I may come home with more of their fibery goodness.  It is always a favorite Stitches destination.

On the right is three hanks of wonderous Alpaca-Bison from Judith MacKenzie McCuin.  As soon as I touched it, I KNEW I had to have it.  I can't begin to describe how delicious it is.  It is wow with a capital WOW.  There is no way a picture can do it justice.

The next picture is all from one booth.  It is all Kakishibu.  Never heard of it?  Me too.  It is traditional natural dyeing from Japan using persimmons.  Chris Conrad studied the art in Japan and is now doing it in Washington state.  The book is a self-published by Chris and is full of history and methodology.  I really hope to take an extensive workshop with her soon.

The dark hank is overdyed organic green cotton.  The other hank is 50/50 cotton/hemp.  Under everything is a fabulous cotton hankie.  I love this stuff!

Last, but certainly not least, is some homemade jam from Denise.  Not only do I love homemade jam, I adore raspberries.  The jam won't last long.  If there was toast to be had in the house, you would be looking at an empty jar. 

It was wonderful to meet her (and get a sneak peek at her new cards!).  Thank you Denise!

ETA: See Denise's new cards here.  They are beautiful!

Next time I will tell you about the class I took with Judith MacKenzie McCuin and more about our booth.

Out of Shape

I am so out of blogging shape.  It feels like a muscle that hasn't been exercised in a while.  Why yes, it is a muscle that hasn't been used in a while!  What's my excuse?  Busy.  I know, it is a rather flabby excuse (but thematic!).

I have been so bad that I never told you about my NYC trip in *cough, cough* October.  I went to six NYC yarn stores!  Would it be too late?  For those of you who are Lyle Lovett fans, it is not too late, I can make it a cheeseburger.  For the rest of you, please pardon my free association brain.

While I have been slacking, Lilli in Finland has been busy!  She came across my Toe-up Gusseted Heel Tutorial and used it liberally in her holiday knitting.  Just look at all those lovely socks!  She has even done a Finnish translation of my tutorial!  Check it out even if you don't speak Finnish; she made a great chart of the heel turn that is very handy.  Thank you Lilli! 

I have been doing a bit of knitting.  There are several sock patterns waiting in the wings including a pair I made for my grandmother.  Sweet little cables in a fingering weight yarn that I indigo dyed.  More details soon when I post the pattern.

It is a good thing I have been making new socks.  Half of my socks have turned up with holes in them lately.  Here is my big ole stack of sadness.  One of my all time favorites, my BFL handspun socks are in there.  They have just one hole on the ball of my foot where most of my socks fail first.  Anyone have a brilliant idea for recycling old socks or sock darning resources?  I want to try to salvage some of them.  I'd hate to use Stephanie's method of standing over the garbage can and loudly exclaiming "darn socks!".

Speaking of asking for advice, I have decided what I will do with my 2-ply Morehouse Merino yarn.  Thank you for the votes and great ideas.  As some of you suggested, I am playing with modular patterns.  I think I know what I want to do; I just need the right size double pointed needles.  I like the cheap metal ones available at chain craft stores.  Unfortunately, my local chain craft store doesn't believe in maintaining stock.  Grrr!  More on that project soon.

In recent news regarding knitting and social events, I went to Becca's New Year, New Project Knit-in.  We were required to bring and start a new project.  I learned that I am not good at starting new projects in public.  I wanted to start a new pair of socks based on a sock pattern I'd already knit (called Hudson Line, it is one of my new patterns coming soon).  This pair was in a different yarn at a slightly different gauge.  I spent time fiddling with formatting the pattern stitch for the new yarn, plinking around in my laptop (my master spreadsheet of socky goodness), and swatching.  Finally, a toe was created.  It is a great to except that the gauge is too loose.  I need a needle size that I didn't have on me.  Sad.  That is the downfall of liking cheap needles, you have no qualms about leaving sets in abandoned WIPs indefinitely.  It is easier to go buy more.  Maybe. 

Bad blogger that I am, I didn't take any pictures to blog.  (Recall the flabby blog muscle syndrome mentioned aove.)  Hopefully our lovely host will fill in the details soon.  I did get to see the Knit Picks metal sock needle set in person.  Celia had one and I had to use all my restraint to not steal it.  It has US sizes 0-3 in both metric versions of size 1 & 2.  Huh?  Yup, that means 2.25mm AND 2.5mm, both referred to as size 1 and 2.75mm AND 3mm, both referred to as size 2!  Best of all, they have nice pointy points.  Love that!  My set is already in the mail.

It must be time for a nap after this blog work-out.  Or maybe a strong cup of tea. 

More Rhinebeck

Can you stand it?  I know everyone is going on and on and on about Rhinebeck.  But hey, it is so worthy.

Sunday we were back at the fiber fest.  It felt much more relaxed.  I had been through all of the barns and I had gotten most of what I wanted.  It was a day for socializing and checking out the rest of the fun.

The day started with a quick trip to the authors tent to get Stephanie to sign my bag.  I also bought two books (I already own all of the Harlot books, they are sitting at home in California).  The Secret Language of Knitters by Mary Beth Temple.  I have talked with her a bit on Ravelry and she is very nice.  It is good to support nice knitting authors, especially when they are funny.  With that in mind, I also got the The Mason-Dixon Knitting Book with the impossibly long name by Ann & Kay.  Yes, I am rather late to the party on that one, but I did get their faces stamped on the bag!

Speaking of my bag, you may have seen it as I am not the first person to blog it.  I had a flash (or was it a flashback?) a couple of weeks ago about summer camp in the seventies.  It was the rage to embroider denim work shirts and I was in the thick of the trend.  At the end of camp, everyone signed the shirt.  It was a keepsake I've never forgotten (obviously!). 

Enter the Rhinebeck Blogger Bingo bag.  I had everyone I met sign it and it was tremendous fun.

Eating Artichokes from Artichoke French was also a must (please note that I stayed clear of fried pickles and roasted garlic, they are the Brylcreem of fair food; a little dab'll do ya and I'd had more than a dab on Saturday).  I had the ones that are fried on olive oil and garlic with mozzarella and parmesan cheeses.  Yum!  In line I met Claudia and Silvia.  You never know who you'll bump into at Rhinebeck.

I spent a couple of hours bewitched by the animals again and watched the mid-grade and long wool judging.  I have a serious love of luster wool.  It isn't soft like Merino or squishy like Cormo; it is long and curly and shiny.  Love me some Wensleydale, Lincoln, and Cotswald!  Then there is the lovely Bluefaced Leicester.  Oh how I love thee.  BFL was the featured breed this year.  It was wonderful to see so many of those patrician Roman noses. 

Gotta love a sheep that can snooze in a crowd.  It looks like a good life to me.  There are more pictures of fiber animal cuteness on my Flickr.

The day ended with a gathering at the picnic tables.  Aside from Brooke and Rachael, there was Alison, Veronik, Michelle, Sarah, Dr. Steph, (blog free) Keri and more people who I am failing to link to.  I really must upgrade my memory chip.  We went on to have a lovely dinner with the Dr. Steph and Keri in the town of Red Hook (not to be confused with the Brooklyn neighborhood). 

There were many drive-by meetings and folks I didn't get to meet.   I am very grateful for the time I did get to spend getting to know new fiber friends.

The Loot!  You want to see the loot dontcha?

A big sheet of felt from A Twist of Fate Spinnery.  I love the colors and textures.  It is one pound of fiber about 4 feet tall by 3 feet wide.  I don't know what I'll do with it.  Yet.  Meanwhile, I love it!

White Cormo roving (4 oz) from FoxFire.  It is insanely soft and delicious.  The yellow bump is corriedale dyed with osage.  The green is Coopworth dyed with osage and logwood.  Both are from Handspun by Stefania.

Luscious Wensleydale locks from Delly's Delights Farm.  Mostly it is an unusually soft medium gray.  I got a bit of white and a bit of charcoal for color variety.  I will probably spin from the lock as it is wonderfully processed and make a 3-ply sock yarn.

Gorgeous Lincoln locks from Four Directions Weaving.  It is silver locks naturally dyed with madder and cochineal.  The true color is warmer and deeper than the picture shows.  I'll probably spin this from the lock into a 3-ply sock yarn too.  Look at that squiggly lock goodness!

Oh look!  Sock yarn!  What a surprise!  The green is a DK weight superwash merino and silk yarn from Ancient Threads Farm.  They naturally dyed it with henna, black walnut, tesu, and wattle.  It is gorgeous.

The red yarn is from Green Mountain Spinnery.  I love these folks so much.  They have been a great company for a long time.  I really respect their efforts to source locally, raise and process organic wool, and run their business in an environmentally friendly way.  This yarn is not organic, but it is locally (to them) sourced and green spun.

And then there is the pile o' Morehouse Merino lace yarn.  I have some fun ideas for this yarn.  More on that later.  I can't spoil all the surprises!

This is the best cap EVAH!  I may have snagged the only one.

I still need to tell you about my NYC adventures.  I leave for home today and it is a good thing.  I am exhausted!  I'll have a night's sleep and then prepare for our Thursday Spin & Knit group (I didn't plan this very well did I?). 

This weekend is a two-day silk spinning workshop with Celia Quinn.  Rest and recovery may not happen until November.  Life is tough!

Rhinebeck!

Whew!  It has been a crazy week!  I have lots to say about New York City and my adventures here (I have two more days left), but first up is Rhinebeck!

Brooke, Rachael, and I took the train north from Grand Central Station on Friday.  The plan was to be rested and ready on Saturday morning. We arrived mid-afternoon, had a late lunch, and got to see a bit of the countryside before it started raining.  I'm not talking drizzle; this was torrential downpour rain.  No problem, we were planning a quiet night in our rooms and going to bed early.  We had some local micro-brew beer and knitting to occupy us. 

Little did we know that we were across the hall from Jess & Casey of Ravelry fame.  With our beer, we crashed their party and had a great time.

Saturday morning we hit the festival early.  Brooke & I walked through every barn.  I admit I bought a couple of things.  I only got things that I can't buy at home, mostly spinning fiber and naturally dyed items.  The pictures of my loot will come tomorrow as I forgot to take pictures before the sun set.

I did get carried away taking pictures of animals.  They are so cute!  As always click for bigitudenesss.

So fluffy!

So happy!

So much chocolatey brown goodness!

So surprising (a note on the pen stated the sheep is naturally colored).

So regal!  I love the nose of a Leicester sheep.

I staggered through the day.  This is a very overwhelming fiber festival.  It goes on forEVAH!  Barn after barn after barn.  A few highlights (that I have pictures of):

A vintage Indian spindle wheel.  It was amazing and functional.

The lovely women of Green Mountain Spinnery with Brooke.  I love this company and their yarn.

Always a good idea!

After closing we headed up to Morehouse Merino's yarn buying frenzy after party.  I got a bunch of the broken lace singles for a pittance.  Seriously, it was $2 a skein!  I have plans, fabulous plans (insert maniacal laugh and hand wringing here).  It was a surgical blow, we were in and out in a flash.  Dinner was calling us.  Did I mention that I started the day with a basket of fried pickles?  Why, yes, I did.  I also had most of a basket of roasted garlic.  (Photographic evidence is forthcoming, pinky swear.)  Both were yummy, but made me more than a bit queasy.

We had a wonderful group for dinner.  Alison, Sarah, Joanna, Brooke, Rachael, and I set out in search of something edible.  Every where we went there was a wait.  The third spot turned out to be a gem.  The Downtown Cafe was awesome!  Homemade pasta and cloud-like gnocchi.  Just what the doctor ordered.  We also had a great waitress.  She recognized our lovely lime green bracelets (proof of a 2-day ticket) and confessed to being fiberish.  Check out the creativity that is Jill Draper.

One might think that was a complete day.  And, one would be right.  And wrong.  There was the Ravelry party.  It was held at a bar that is tucked away in a residential neighborhood.  When we got there, it was already crammed full of fibery fiends.  I don't think the locals knew what to make of a us.  Why do mobs of knitters keep having to prove that we are a real force?  The raffle numbers went from 001 to about 200.  This photo shows a small portion of the mob waiting for free loot prizes.

There was much revelry and merriment.  We ducked out at 11:00.  It party was going strong but we weren't.  Had to save something for Sunday.  More tomorrow.

Leaving On A Jet Plane

I leave in the morning for New York.  I can't wait!  I have been dreaming of this day for six months!  I will meet up with my fiber partners in crime, Brooke and Rachael, for a few days in NYC and then we head up to Rhinebeck!  Are you sick of hearing about it yet?

Today we had our spinning group (without Brooke who is at SOAR, I am so jealous!)  I found a foot that is perfectly sized for the cable socks.  Thank you Marlowe for modeling.  The lighting wasn't right so the sock looks much bluer than in real life. 

I've started the next one in my quest for avoiding knitting my sweater.  You know, the one I intend to wear at Rhinebeck.  Sigh.  I will take it with me and try to force myself to knit it.

My friend Linda brought her Mystery Sock!  I didn't even know she was knitting it.  She is knitting it in yarn I dyed too.  You may recognize it as the same colorway I'm using for my Charlie Socks.  She got it at the last Sunday Spin & Knit group.  It was very cool to see my dyeing on my sock design, knit by someone else.

There are other Mystery Sock sitings.  I will post them soon.

Speaking of hand-dyed sock yarn, our friend Kristine, of A Verb For Keeping Warm, came with her beautiful yarns and spinning fibers.  She has Bluefaced Leicester sock yarn.  You know I couldn't pass that up!

Yummy, soft, and smooshy!  I took this picture in the fading light, but the colors are pretty close.  I've already wound it to pack for my trip to Rhinebeck.  What to make?

On a doggie note, we discovered something new about our little Sam.  I don't want to disparage my sweet boy, but he isn't exactly bright.  I was doing laundry the other day.  We have a front loader and I usually sit on a small plastic stool to load the machine.  The washing machine is in the kitchen next to the back door which has a doggie door.  Apparently, I left the stool and laundry basket so they blocked access to the door.   Roger had let Sam out of a different door.  Sam came around to the doggie door and came into the kitchen trapping himself.  An hour passed before we realized that Sam was not just hanging out in the kitchen.  He had remained in the "trap". 

Yes, he could have gone back out the doggie door and come to the other door.  Yes, he could have stepped onto the stool or jumped over it.  Did he?  Nope.  Sweet, cute boy.

Makes it a lot easier to keep him and his dirty paw prints off of a wet kitchen floor!

Whew!

I have been insanely busy helping Brooke dye yarn and fiber for the California Wool & Fiber Festival  this weekend in beautiful Booneville.  It is part of the Mendocino County Fair.

I will be helping out in the Sincere Sheep booth.  Please come visit us, we will have oodles of naturally dyed fiber and yarn.  It will be very similar to the fiber and yarn offered at Lambtown.

This is what indigo dyeing 20 pounds of fiber will do:
I call them my Undead Feet.  Thankfully it is non-toxic and won't stain (for too long).

My apologies for not responding to comments lately.  I haven't had a free moment.  I love hearing from all of you and feel terrible when I can't be a responsible blogger.  I will try to catch up when I return.

The second part of the mystery socks will be posted tomorrow before we head up to Booneville.  Hope to see you there!

Portland Yarn Crawl

Last weekend Roger & I went to Portland, Oregon for a long weekend.  On Friday we went on a walking tour with most of Roger's office; more on that in another post.  It is the yarn crawl on Saturday that matters!

First the back story.  Through Ravelry I met Sara, a Portland knitter.  I asked her if she was interested in a yarn crawl since I was going to be in town.  Not only did she organize a great five shop crawl, but she recruited a bunch of other Portland knitters!  We were a force!

Our first stop was Abundant Yarn & Dyeworks.  The shop is large, light, and full of yummy yarn including some which is dyed by them.  Somehow I managed to not get any decent pictures of the store.  Maybe I was distracted by the cafe.  The food looked great and the caffeine was quite satisfying. 

A fellow knitter, Rodger was working at Abundant that day so we only got to visit for a short while.  I did get a picture of him.  Pictures of people taking pictures of you seemed to be the theme.

The next stop was a delightful pastry shop, Pix Patisserie.  It happens that it was Judy's birthday!  What great timing.   The pastries were fabulous. I especially like the little lemon tart; I would probably eat anything with lemon curd on it (no that is NOT a dare!).

Our second yarn store, Yarn Garden, is a large store made up of several store fronts.  It seems to go on forever.  Why is that that some yarn stores apparently have everything and I can't find anything I want?  Yarn Garden is one of those stores (for me at least).  No purchase and no pictures.
 

Twisted was my favorite stop.  It is fresh, fun, and has a wall of sock yarn.  They have many of the usual yarns, lots of indie dyers including several from Portland.  The space is large, the furniture is comfortable, and the staff couldn't be nicer.  High marks all around.

We managed to get one organized group shot in front of the store.  Back row from left to right: Cindy, Sarah, me, and Judy.  Front row from left to right: our fabulous organizer Sara, Stephania, and Chrispy.   

Knit Purl was a favorite of mine too.  Could it be the plate of cookies and the welcome sign?  Not just any cookies either; they put out macaroons for us.  Yumm!  Macaroons, lemon curd, yarn, and knitters in one day.  You know that is good.

That is Judy and Cindy checking out the huge selection of Koigu.  I don't think I have ever seen that much Koigu in one spot.  If only I liked Koigu (am I the only knitter that doesn't own any?)  Not shown is the lovely Shibui Knits yarn, made just for them.  I might have snagged a bit of their sock yarn.

Farmhouse Knit Shop was our last stop.  It is a cozy house re-purposed for our fibery satisfaction.  Three front rooms are packed with yarn of all sorts.  The back room is all about the sock yarn including a bunch of Blue Moon seconds.

Lia met up with us there.  It was great to meet her and hand over her prize.  She was one of the winners in my recent contest.  I made her some fluffy spinning batts.  Unfortunately, I was pretty tired by the time we got there and I feel like I didn't get to visit very much with her.

My purchases from the left: Bearfoot by Mountain colors in their Steelhead colorway (bought at Abundant Yarn & Dyeworks), Socks That Rock lightweight in 24 Karat (bought at Farmhouse Knit Shop), Knitted Wit fingering weight in the Going To The Mall Splatter colorway (bought at Twisted), and Shibui sock in Honey and Seaweed colors (bought at Knit Purl).  At the back is a great scarf pattern called Japanese Vines by Michelle Molis (also a Twisted purchase).

To cap the evening Roger and I had dinner with Judy at a lovely Thai restaurant.  I loved meeting Judy.  As you may know, I am a huge fan of her Magic Cast-on and her blog. 

A successful crawl!  Thank you Sara for all the work you did setting it up.

Spinning Group

On Sunday, we had our first spinning group at my house.  Oh what a good time!  I met a few new people, saw some friends, and got to spin with the pack.  Good times.

From left to right:  Brooke, Janine, Lala, and Rachael.

Lea, Marlowe, and Renee.  All blogless (please correct me if I'm wrong).

Kimberly and Liz of the pointy sticks contingent.

Sammie getting some lovin' from Jennie. 

That dog loves a party!  I think he volunteered himself into everyone's lap at some point during the day.

There were more people that I neglected to get photos of.  My apologies for omitting them.  At some point I forgot about the camera.  I think we had about 15 folks. 

We had a lot of fun and ate some great food.  Thank you ladies for making our first Spin-In great.

There will be two Spin-Ins a month here (Richmond, California), second Sundays for a potluck brunch and fourth Thursdays in the evening.  We've started a Google group, let me know if you want an invite.  That is the best way to stay apprised of the schedule.  We would love to have you join us!

I'm thinking we should try fiber samplings or themes or something else fun (have I said fun enough yet?).

In other news
Congratulations to Barry Bonds!!!  It was amazing to see him hit 756.  I am a big fan of Mr. Bonds.  For those of you who have no clue what I'm talking about, he is now the all-time home run champion having just passed Hammerin' Hank Aaron's total of 755.  Big happenings for baseball fans in the Bay Area.

 

Hello Charlene

I have not fallen into the abyss.  Thanks for asking.  ;-)

I have been very busy hemming Roger's dress pants, cleaning the house, doing laundry, walking the dog, and spinning and knitting up a storm.

Oh, wait.  I haven't done any of that.  That is my To Do list.  Drat!

What have I done?  (drums fingers)

I made an iphone cozy for Roger.  That was exciting.  Not!  (how badly did I just date myself?)  Just a bit of fleece stitched together to make a pocket.  I don't even have a photo of it.

Okay, the truth is that I've been helping my friend Brooke get ready for the fiber festival season.  Her business, Sincere Sheep, was at Lambtown.  I helped her pull together the product and then sell it on Saturday.

Sincere Sheep sources and processes all of its wool in Northern California.  It is then dyed using natural dyes.  The goal is to be local and as environmentally friendly as possible. Green and beautiful, how can you beat that?

Tactile is naturally dyed roving and yarn.  Unfortunately, it is not sourced locally.  We don't have enough fine fiber in California (yet!).  A grrl can dream.

More photos from Lambtown on my Flickr stream.

We had a good time despite the heat.  Lambtown is in Dixon and very hot.  The reported temperature on Saturday was 96.  My fog-belt-grrl self is designed for 76, not 96.  Fortunately, we were placed under a tree and had shade and a breeze all day.

I met lots of new people, including a couple of Ravelers, and saw some old friends from spinning groups gone by.  It was wonderful. 

Check out Adrienne, she is growing natural dye plants!  And, Kristine, who has lots of fibery goodness of her own. 

Oh yeah, and Sally Fox.   Sustainable, innovative, organic, and she farms with biodiesel.  Be still my heart.