Monterey Wool Auction

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.

Done at last, Done at last…

I finished the shawl on Thursday night at about 1 am… so Friday really. I then had to wash it, rinse it, and condition it. I finally finished blocking it at 2:30 am. But, I did indeed get it done in time. I was wrapped Friday afternoon and unwrapped this morning. There was true amazement over how light and airy it looked.

The shawl


Close up of the main pattern


Close up of the edging


We also gave my sister and future brother-in-law a couple of Riedel champagne flutes as Christmas gifts. A little later we decided to give them their wedding gift early… a bottle of 1996 Dom Perignon. The look on my sister’s face was priceless… wish I had had a camera.

Mmmm… vegetarian chili time.

Happy Holidays!

The fast and the furious

I have been trying to knit fast and furious on the Sister Shawl… I have to have it done and blocked by the 24th, which is when we’ll be driving down to Monterey. Unfortunately, with people staying at my parents’ house and the dog I can’t block the shawl there… of course, I’m not entirely sure how I’m going to block it at my place. The last lace shawl I dressed I pinned out on a full size bed. I have a queen in the guest room… hopefully, it will be big enough. I’m thinking of using fishing line as I have not had enough time to get dressing wires… okay, so I didn’t remember I needed dressing wires until too late. But, fishing line and T pins should do the trick. Although this raises the question of where one goes to find fishing line… huh. I’ll have to figure that one out. Anyways, the shawl… I’m up to only 116 rows cause I didn’t get half as much knitting done last weekend as I wanted to. I looking forward to tomorrow… I have nothing else I am required to do until 8:30 pm when I’ll be whisked off to a company Christmas party.

My sister emailed out a schedule for the 27th and 28th (D-day)… boy, am I glad that Josh and I did the simple yet sweet wedding*. This is insane. I must admit that I thought it was pretty funny that she reminds all the guys going to the store to pick up their tuxedos the day before to check for both the left and right shoe. *hehe*

Thankfully, I picked up my dress on Sunday… very pretty… of course, now my mother hates me. *sigh* She showed me a dress in a catalog by Spencer Alexis… the dresses are mostly flowy things using different types of fabrics in all the same color or nicely contrasting ones. Then, I found out a place in Carmel sells them, went in and tried one on, ordered one in what I believed to be my size, and picked it up a week later. Now, my mother is moaning over the fact that she wanted to get a dress by Spencer Alexis, but now she can’t cause we’d look like twins** even if she got a different style and color (her words, not mine), and what is she going to wear. *sigh* But, with my dress safely in my hands, all I have to worry about is the shawl and if the pins I bought on eBay are going to arrive in time. (I picked out a couple of sparkly pins, both of which are kind of art deco in design, so that I can give one to my sister to help hold the shawl on without needing to worry about holding it or tying it, etc.) I should get at least one before next Friday since it’s already shipped out.

Wheee… I am so glad this is not my wedding.


*We did the 20 people in the redwoods with a fancy dinner afterward… no dancing… no cake cutting… simple.

**People usually think I’m either my mother’s clone or her younger sister we look that much alike. Clone I don’t mind… but sister? Granted my mom is only 20 years older than me… I should just be happy that no one believes what age she is and that I got those genes.

The week of blah

Yesterday, I typed up this wonderful entry that described quite clearly how my week was going… and Blogger ate it… Blogger glupped it down, and unlike the previous entry Blogger ate, this one will not come back. Why? Because I tried to post yesterday’s entry 2 minutes after they began updating their servers…. who the hell updates their public servers at 3 pm?! *groan*

A prime example of my week.

Most of the blahs were work related. I was rushing to get things done as I was taking off today for school purposes and taking off the part of next week that I do not already get off for Thanksgiving… because I need a break.

Unfortunately, part of my week off will be spent with the family… the husband and I are driving down to Monterey to have dinner with my parents, my sister, and my future brother-in-law. Fun fun. The other unfortunate part of my week off is the looming paper… 15-20 pages due on Dec. 4th. My topic is digitization as preservation… geez, is it thick… what was I thinking? I think the lack of knitting a couple weeks back affected my thinking. But I’m committed now.

I am planning to take the shawl with me… hours of waiting for a turkey to be cooked should provide for hours of knitting undisturbed. I’m not sure about giving my sister a chance to see the shawl, especially since it will be her Christmas gift from me (just in time for her wedding… isn’t that a cunning plan?). But the unoccupied time won’t be available for studying since my family likes to gab when amongst themselves.

New projects include a beaded lace bookmark that I need to finish off, block and get into the mail so that it can be whisked off to my bookmark exchange partner. A picture will certainly be taken before said whisking… and I say this knowing I’ve never taken a photo of any of my other bookmarks. *sigh*

Another project is super secretive… I decided to knit up a little something for the husband to augment his Christmas gifts. Sadly, the super secretive project may be running into a road block. I knit a gauge swatch (and even did it in the round since that’s how the item is knitted) and now I may be getting a whole extra stitch to the inch… I won’t be able to tell if it is truly a bad thing till I have enough to try it on… if it fits me well, it’s too small, and I will either have to relax a little or try another needle size… don’t know if I’d need to go to a 10.5 or an 11 (part of me hopes, if I do need to change needles, that an 11 will work because I already have one along with a set of double points*).


*Boy, that gives it away doesn’t it? Good thing the husband doesn’t read my blog. Haha!