Wow-a-palooza!

We started our day without much of a plan,
loading up knitters in cars, SUVs and a mini-van -

Then we drove and we drove, and we parked in the grass;
and walked over a bridge, into Wool-a-palooza, at last!

We always start the day with a little pit stop,
then we gather the troops and our families to shop!

Fiber and yarn, and Pollywogs! Here we come!
Lamb's Pride and Cotton Fleece were the first yarny fun!

There were spindles from Turtle Made, and gradients from Wolle's...

We shopped and we shopped, 'til our shopping bags were full!

Then we grabbed ourselves some lunch, after waiting in line,

and we went out to the parking lawn to knit in the sunshine -

where we laid out our yarns, our fibers, our spindles,
we "oooh!"-ed, and we "ahhh!"-ed, as the afternoon dwindled.

Then we headed back into the fairgrounds once more.
Did we forget anything? Let's check, just to be sure...

Apparently we did! There was sock yarn from New York -
It was parked in a truck we hadn't seen before!

Then one more pass through the barns and the vendors,
Turns out that we all were pretty big spenders!

And one of us, it seems, was pretty well known...
Her picture's in this pattern book...away we were all blown!

When we returned to the mini, it was the last on the lawn,
So we piled back inside and headed for home.

But before we got too far, we decided to stop,
for a little frozen treat, with whipped cream on top!

Then back into that van, and off we went,
What a fun day, and we were all spent! (So was our money!)

When I finally got home, to my little stoop,
I laid out my finds* before my eyes started to droop...

Sweetie was impressed when he saw it all,
and when he asked what I'd spent, he didn't protest at all. (Yayyy!)

I've already marked the calendar for Wool-a-palooza next May,
and I almost can't wait for the coming of that day!

I haven't slowed down much after all of the fun,
and since last Saturday I've even bought another skein of Color Run.

Now, since I've so much to knit, and the day is half through,

It's time to stop rhyming, and decide what to work on next. (Because I've stopped rhyming...get it?)

This weekend has proven to be slightly more subdued, which is good. There's only so much excitement one Pretty (and Mr. Pretty) can take! lol! Of course, there has been knitting, and there will be more. For now, I think I'll have a little sit down and admire all my new yarn! 

I hope that you have a great Saturday! Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

*Last Saturday's purchases were 9 balls of Cotton Fleece from Pollywogs, 6 skeins of SW wool from Heirlooms, one skein from Knit Buffalo (the mobile yarn shop!), and two, teeny spindles from Jenn at Turtle Made!

Palette cleanser...

I know, you want to hear about the holiday weekend, and all the fiber. Saturday will be the day for that, because I have simply run out of time (again). Still, there's something to talk about here, because I recently finished this:

Oooh! Aaah! Prettyyyyy! 

For a moment, I ran a pretty good game of yarn chicken, and I did end up losing...but it's just knitting, and there's always a solution, right? Right! Now, I know the dyer of Destination Yarn, and I was pretty sure that I could get a few more yards to finish, but I was just so impatient that I simply pulled out the bind-off and the last row of Chart B (a lace row), then re-knit that last, lace row, binding off along the way. I was a little worried that it might look funny, but...

It's just downright beautiful! And I will knit this pattern again, and I will try to get my hands on every single colorway of Destination Yarn, because that gal is a genius with color! I wish I were a genius at blocking, but I do alright...

Which is good, because I was itching to have this one off my size 6 needles. I have a feeling there will be a summer sweater on those needles soon, but until then, I had been working on a sock in Opal's Vincent Van Gogh Starry Night...

But I wasn't loving it, and although I started transforming it into a fingerless glove, eventually I just frogged the thing. Knit what you love, is my motto, and I wasn't lovin' it...so I went back to the tried, the true, the I-still-need-about-250-more-of-these hexipuffs.

Perfect, between-projects palette cleanser! 

Now, it's back to work for me today, and I'll work on that Woolapalooza 2015 post for the weekend! Everybody's workin' for the weekend, right?!? Right!!!

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

Oh where, oh where can she be?

We were just sitting there in the window, like we do on any average Saturday morning...

when we heard the door open.

We looked, 

and we looked, 

but we never saw her again. 

White cat is despondent, depressed, disturbed...

She let me put a dishcloth on her head, and she didn't even move. 

I may only have memories of her left leg, which I love so dearly...

At least she left us her slippers.

Of course...her slippers won't feed us...can you help a kitty out?

Oh where, oh where has Pretty Knitty gone? 

Oh where, oh where can she be? (meow!)

With her knitting, her needles, and all of that yarn,

Oh where, oh where can she beeeeeee?!? (meowwww!)

Sincerely, 

Black Cat (who will surely starve to death)

*Pretty Knitty is off to Wool-a-palooza today, but don't let these cats fool you, she left them plenty of food AND a caretaker with opposable thumbs who will feed and water them when necessary. Please don't worry too much about the drama kitties...Pretty (and her lap, and her needles and yarn) will be back before sunset. Silly kitties!

Setting Myself Up...

Because I am going to a fiber event on Saturday, and because there will be knitting at that event, I'm setting myself up by starting a simple lace shawl to knit in beautiful Destination Yarn!

Of course, the danger here is that I am already to the part where I start the lace, so there is a real possibility that I could finish this before Saturday. I'm not even sure that's a real problem, I mean I have knitting that love so much that I can not stop...is that really a problem???

::crickets::

Yep. Nope. Not a problem! lol!

But, there is a problem if I don't have something to knit at Wool-a-palooza...so off I go to figure out what I should cast on, if I happen to finish the shawl before Saturday! 

Ummmmm, I mean...off I go to get my work done...because it is 9:30am, and I am sitting at my desk...at work...because I am at work...rii-iiight. Off I go to get my work done...(and maybe to peek at Ravelry for just a teensy-weensy second...or two.) ;o)

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health! 

(And make sure you have something to knit on at all of the summer fiber events!)

Wool-a-pa-what-a?

Wow! Next week is Memorial Day weekend! You know what that means?!?

Wool-A-Palooza, Bay-beeeee!!!

As I look forward to a whole day of yarn and fiber and friends next Saturday, I thought I'd give you a look back at why I love this event so very much! For me, it started in 2009...my first year...the year I went in with a plan. I had a list of things I wanted to knit, and the amount and kind of yarn I'd wanted for each, and I walked away with so. much. yarn!!! And a spindle! And some Eucalan soak! I even pilferred some yarn from somebody else's stash, after the festival was over, and it is possible that I have actually knit all of this yarn! lol!

I settled down a little bit in 2010...

Yeah, in my dreams! 2010 was the year that Calla Lily (now out of business, sadly) had a half-off sale just a couple miles down the road from the fairground festivities, and my plan was a little looser than the year before, leading to this stash enhancement...pretty impressive! Still, I have managed to knit much of this up into something...

Then came 2011, the year with NO plan...no plan at all. There were a lot of moments like this in 2011...

and this...

and there was still an impressive haul, and I've mostly knit up this stash. 

2012 was the first year that a baby came with us to Wool-a-palooza, and it was fun to see even the youngest member of CKW drooling on yarn...like, literally!

More goofy photos, and photos of photos being taken!

and not quite as big a haul...but there was definitely yarn in my bag when I got home, and some fun jewelry, too! 

That white cotton there is supposed to be a light, summer-weight top...but it's not yet. I don't think I've spun that red fiber either...no plan at all apparently leads to much stash!

In 2013, I went nuts buying fiber to spin...I bought like 2 pounds! It was a little crazy, but I don't seem to have a photo of it all together, so here's a picture of my friend Debbie, in front of some of the softest, prettiest fibers...I bought a purple one! 

There was more sock knitting in the sun, too. (I'm actually knitting a sock from 2011 yarn!)

Just before we went last year, I remembered that I had set a goal to take a lotta selfies, so I totally did! You can check THIS LINK if you want to see all of them, but for now, here's a photo of four fiber friends, basking in the funtimes... 

and the final stash, which has been largely untouched for the last 51 weeks...

Aren't those neon, light-up needles fun!?! One of my favorite finds last year! Finally, bringing this post full circle, here's Pretty at Pollywogs in 2014, wearing a sweater knit in 2013 from yarn bought in 2011 and jewelry from 2012's wool-a-palooza, carrying a bag knit from 2010 yarn, holding yarn that may not be knit until sometime in the next decade.

Boy, oh boy! I can barely wait until next Saturday! I'll bet you have lots of questions...

"What will you buy, Pretty? Yarn? Fiber? Jewelry? Livestock?"

Hahahahaha! Well, I probably will not buy any livestock...this year anyway! 

"Will you have a plan? Will you knit the new yarn? Or the old?"

Right now, my biggest decisions involve casting on a project to knit in the sun after the shopping next Saturday, and whether I will travel to Wooster with or without a plan...hmmmmm...I suppose I still have time to figure all of that out, right?!? Right! For now, I'm going to go knit some dishcloths...I'm up to 15! lol!

If you're a knitter, I hope to see you at the Great Lakes Fiber Show (aka WOOL-A-PALOOZA, bay-beeee!) next Saturday. If not there, then maybe I'll see you around Blog-land, where I'll update you on all the fun in '15 at Wool-a-palooza!

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health! (Knit...and buy yarn...and fiber...and learn to spin...with friends...in the sunshine!)

Layers of Knitting

Sometimes it takes a fresh eye...

to inspire the simple knits! This little cutie came over while his parents were moving into a new house. He walked into the "yarn room," and he said (eyes open wide in wonder), "Is this all YOURS???" It was a beautiful moment, and even though this guy isn't even a blood relation, he is clearly the smartest little boy I've met in a long time! He then said, matter of factly, "My favorite color is yellow."

Naturally, I immediately located a ball of yellow yarn, and we sat down with needles and yellow yarn. I asked if I should start his knitting for him, and he said, "Nooo. You needle YOUR yarn. I needle dis." A-do-ra-ble! So, I found something simple, a pile of cloths I have been working on for a few days, 

and we "needled" together instead of napping. Well, I may have napped a little...but I'm pretty sure he did not give in. lol!

Oh, to have the energy of a three-year-old...what I wouldn't give!!! Well, I probably wouldn't give up my yarn stash...or these new cloths!

I was tired at the end of our visit, but I sure had fun, and so did my little friend. What have you been doing for fun lately? Whatever it is, thanks for taking a break to stop by, and Knit in Good Health this week!