Monthly Archives: August 2009

Monterey Wool Auction

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Please imagine wonderful pictures of the fun time that was had at the Monterey Wool Auction throughout this post.  Someone… *cough*… okay, I forgot the camera at home inthe rush to get out the door.

Got down to Monterey, picked up my mom, and the 2 of us were dropped off at the fairgrounds by The Husband, who then went off to do non-fiber activities.  Got signed in and got my auction number.  Had to wait a little bit ot get a listing sheet as they had run out.  Unfortunately, there were also some problems with the sheet in that several weights and prices listed were incorrect.  Thankfully, they announced them as each fleece came up and I made sure to double check on those fleeces I was interested in.

I decided this year’s strategy was going to be pick out a couple of really nice fleeces and concentrate on them.  One of the fleeces I picked out was also wanted by 2 of my friends, so we decided to split it because it was 10.5 lbs.  Sadly, we were outbid.

The next fleece I was super interested in was one of the champion fleeces.  I figured that I would be willing to pay up to $25/lb for it.  It came up and turned into a bidding war between me and someone sitting up front.  $25/lb came very quickly and I made a quick assessment — we hadn’t won the earlier, larger fleece for spliting, so I hadn’t spent any money yet, and I could go higher, but this would be it.  I kept bidding.  The price hit $30/lb, which I determined to be too rich for my blood.  The audience actually seemed to collectively let out their breath when the auctioneer said, “Sold!”

There was really only one more fleece I really wanted.  Thankfully, my friends who had also been interested in it, said it was okay for me to go after on my own.  It was only a 6.25 lb fleece, which is a little hard to split 3 ways if you lose a lot to processing.  I decided on my maximum bid and was quite happy when I won the fleece at a much lower price.  It’s a very pretty variegated grey fleece from Hobbit Hollow Farm.  I think it was a 1/4 blood.  It’s been turned over to Shari at Morro Fleece Works for processing, and I can’t wait to see how it turns out.  I think it’ll be a very nice sweater for me.

Sock Museum

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Kathy in San Jose graciously sent me photos of my Rivendell socks that she took at Sock Summit.  If you click on the photo it will take you to the larger photo at Flickr so you can see the sock information (if you can’t please let me know and I will see what I have to do to make that happen).  I will clarify here that the yarn information was listed incorrectly.  It should be Dream in Color Starry in the Grey Tabby colorway.

I’m really hoping they’ll find some way to get all the socks from the Sock Museum photographed and the information logged so that those of us who were unable to get to Sock Summit can get a good view of it, too.

Another Thursday

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Did anyone who went to Sock Summit 2009 go to the Sock Museum?  Did you see my Rivendell socks?  Did they look like they were having a good time?  I thought it was pretty cool to find my Rivendells amongst the photos The Oregonian took of the event (the slideshow is halfway through the article).

I’m liking the Monkey socks I’m knitting for my sister.  The pattern was super easy to memorize, and the colors are working really well with the simple lace.  It’s also knitting up very quickly.  The Laminaria shawl is slightly on-hold, meaning I just haven’t felt up to knitting it while watching TV the last few nights.

My 30 days of exercise project is almost over — tomorrow is day 30!  The Monterey Wool Auction is on Sunday and I’m looking forward to see what fleeces are there this year.  I think I will probably be continuing the exercise going forward.  I have finally gotten to a point that while I still feel hot and sweaty afterwards, I also feel refreshed.  And let me tell you, the biggest bonus is my clothes are fitting looser.

In preparation

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We’re taking a trip to Japan in a couple of months and my sister is graciously letting us stay with her.  She’s also been great with suggestions of things to do.  The best part is we’ll get to partake of her sushi equity and the sushi chef has even offered to take us with him to his fish market.

So, because she liked the other 2 pairs of socks I’ve knit for her, I thought another pair would serve as a good thank you gift.  The last 2 pairs were just plain vanilla socks.  This time I wanted to do something a little more exciting, and I settled on Cookie A.’s Monkey pattern.  The yarn I’m using is ShubuiKnits Sock in the Rappongi colorway.  I couldn’t pass up the opportunity when I found out they had a colorway called Rappongi as both my sister and the Husband have told me of drinking trips to the Rappongi district.  I remember something about heading home on the trains as business people are heading into work.  The colors are eye-searing pink and orange, and my sister told me she loves it.

I’m just glad that I’ve started well enough in advance that I shouldn’t be rushing to finish them before our trip.

End of the week

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After I finished the Rivendell socks, I was a bit listless over what to knit next.  I had bought some Mountain Lace in a nice navy blue that I want to make Aeolian out of, but the idea just wasn’t getting me excited.  I kept thinking I wanted to knit something out of some of my handspun.  I hadn’t done that in some time.  There’s something really nice about knitting with yarn that you’ve spun yourself.

I had managed to get my hands of some Spunky Ecelectic Corripaca before Amy ran out of it several months ago.  The colorway I chose was Estuary, which was a pretty mix of green, brown, and natural.  I spun it up as a 2-ply lacewight getting approximately 509 yds out of the 4 oz.

I thought with the brown and greens the perfect pattern would be Laminaria.  So, I cast it on last Thursday.  I’ve gotten through the star chart and have completed the first repeat of the blossom chart.  So far, I love the way the colors are stripping up.  I think with the edging it will really look seaweedy.

I should also say thanks to BigAlice and Sandy for their comments on my last post.  Since they’ve given me permission to whinge, here it is, in all its silly glory….

First off, I’m an introvert; being around people can be tiring, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t like to be social.  Things in my life got a lot better when I accepted the fact that I am an introvert, that I’ll never be an extrovert, and I learned what I needed to do for myself.  However, knowing and accepting don’t always help when I go through periods of profound loneliness.  I lament that I don’t have many close friends; I pity myself for not being invited out to do things.  It leaves me feeling like there’s a hole in my gut for a few days, then it passes.  I have to remember that I probably don’t present myself as someone who is interested in going out and doing things, and frankly, I’m not sure how to even give that impression.  I don’t know how to make instant friends with people, and I have only a slim number of lasting friendships.

I’m not looking for a pity party, but just explaining where my head was earlier this week.  I’m hoping maybe by putting some of it into words I’ll get a better grasp on what it is that bothers me.

Now, on a lighter note… YARN!