Just Go Sit and Spin...

Honestly. I really have no idea where the time goes. Lets move on.

Where to begin. So much to get caught up on, craft wise. I think a large part of the blog silence was in waiting to gift the projects I was working on, so as to not spoil the surprise. Lets start at the beginning, shall we?



For my nephew's second birthday, I made a pair of skull shorties Ravelry details here. I think I made them more for my SIL, who has a great love and passion for wool shorties, longies and soakers. Anyhoo, the orginal pattern called for an owl cable which was adorable in itself, but then I saw the girl do the skull chart and just had to mimic. They turned out super cute and, well, I'm quite partial to the model as well ;)



Then for my BFF who is expecting her second bundle of joy in May, I'd been working on this. Too much fun. I found a bag of Bernat Jr. Jacquards that needed a home and well, went a little nuts. The little pink sweater was a pattern picked by her and knit by me, a wee Helena. But the show stealer is the little wee baby cloche. Can you say Oh Emm Gee??? I cannot wait to see that modelled. It'll just be too much.



This past weekend I attended the Martime Fibre Arts Retreat at the Atlantica resort just outside of Mahone Bay. This is the third year of the retreat and I finally made it. What a blast :) My photos are crappy because I didn't bring my camera (my bad) so these were taken with my phone. Now, I think anyone outside of the fibre arts community would look at going and sitting in a room full of other crafters as perhaps not a fun filled way to spend a weekend, but for me, it was awesome. I think a large part of the appeal was having such large chunks of time to sit and do whatever I wanted. And to be able to do it in a room, a large room, full of other people doing the same thing...well, it was just pretty damn cool.



I went with another crafty friend of mine (who's blog post should be up soon...right Heddy?) who didn't forget to bring a camera, and we arrived promptly at 3 on Friday afternoon, staked out our piece of real estate for the weekend, plunked ourselves down and commenced intense crafting. I brought some knitting to finish and my spinning wheel as well. I was a little shy to break out the wheel the first day, as the huge circle of spinners was a bit intimidating to a newbie like me. So I finished some socks while I took in the room. I'd never seen so many hookers in one place before...rug hookers that is. I had the wrong idea about rug hooking. When I thought of it before, I pictured latch hooking, which isn't quite the same thing. These ladies are quite the artists. They do some amazing things with bits of wool.

There were also quilters and felters, knitters, spinners and weavers. It really was very cool. I think I was so excited by the prospect of having so much time to sit and work on my projects that I didn't spend much time cruising the room chatting with other people. I did a little, but I think next year (oh yes, I'm already planning) I'd like to do more of that. Particularly the spinners. By the time I decided to sit down at my wheel on Saturday, the spinners circle was jam packed and wanted to continue to visit with my friends, so I was this one lone spinner on the other side of the room. There was so much I wanted to chat to them about and learn.

There were some amazing projects on the go too. Beautiful rugs, stunning quilts, squishy fibre and hand knits that you just wanted to run up to people and say 'Did you knit that? It's beautiful.' Like self striping socks for example. Sitting next to Heddy, working on my intricately cabled sock, I was made to endure endless reams of people who oogled and oooohed and ahhhhed over her three by one rib self striping sock. Of course I kid, but it did become quite the ongoing joke the whole retreat. Ladies would sail by, admire the sock, then bring their friends from across the room to have a look. All the while, I sat there baby cabling away, getting no love. Not that care. I don't hold a grudge. But I will have my revenge. Plans are hatching for next year.

On our way out, we did a little yarn bombing but you'll have to wait for Heddy's post for that. It was amusing. Plans are afoot for more bombing next year as well. I'm thinking extensive MochiMochi bombing. Can't you just picture the resort staff wondering what in the hell is going on with all of these little snails etc. all over the place? Too much fun.

Anyhow, here's what I managed to accomplish over the weekend;



BFF socks by Cookie A for my BFF. She knows they're on their way, so this isn't really spoiling anything.



I plied the last two skeins in the picture here to add to the others already spun, for a total of around 750 yards. I'm not sure of the content, this fibre was a gift, but it's so soft and squishy and awesome. I want to knit something really awesome out of it...for me.



I spun about one and a half bobbins worth of singles of this, a hand painted merino wool top that Heddy gifted to me as part of a little arrangement we have. I finished it just yesterday. Really an amazing turnaround time from fibre to yarn. I don't know if the colours really show up very well, but it has what we decided were deserty colours...muted oranges, greens and blues.

And that should should pretty much get everyone caught up. If you're thinking that hey, I'd like check out this retreat thing too, just head on over to the MFAR (Maritime Fibre Arts Retreat) group on Ravelry as the dates are now posted for next year. At first I thought the idea of no workshops or speakers or vendors would be a bit boring, but it was so the opposite of that. It was relaxing, inspiring and best of all, productive and a heck of a lot of fun.

Remind me to post next time about miss A's second birthday. Yep, she's 2 now. Craziness. There was some crafting related to that as well. For now, we need breakfast.

Until later...