Back from vacation

[firecat]

I took a trip to the Mendocino Coast and Mendocino County Fair / Wool and Fiber Festival over the weekend.

I had no net access, which means I'm no doubt woefully behind on my LJ friends list. I also have a lot of work to do today, so I won't be able to spend the time to catch up.

But if there are entries, conversations, invitations, and so forth that you especially want me to see, let me know by leaving a comment here.

Trip writeup and peectures of the coast and the sheepdog trials forthcoming!

Comments

[syzygy.livejournal.com]

Yay for wool-fiber-county fairs! I'm going to one in October and I'm already excited about it--I would squeal if I were that kind of person. Which I almost am.

[mittelbar.livejournal.com]

I look forward to pics. All I've posted lately are summaries of my vacation. *shrug* Let's just say I had a good time in both places (VA and CO). :-)

oooh, fuzzy!

[kyubi.livejournal.com]

Did they have a Sheep-to-Shawl competition? Those always sounded like they'd be cool to watch, although I harbor doubts about the wearability of the shawl produced.

Re: oooh, fuzzy!

[firecat]

I don't think they had a full-blown sheep-to-shawl competition, but I think they had a competition for how much yarn could be spun how quickly from a fleece. I didn't stay for that, though.

Re: oooh, fuzzy!

[annaoj.livejournal.com]

well, the spinning group I'm in, when we do a sheep to shawl demo, we spin wool from the previous demo's shearing (which has been washed, etc), and not the just-sheared one.

Re: oooh, fuzzy!

[kyubi.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a much more sensible approach. No weed bits/dirt/wads o' lanolin, and it's gotta be a lot faster and easier to card!

[kightp.livejournal.com]

Did you score any wonderful yarn?

[firecat]

Yes - I am in experimental mode, so I bought one skein of a bunch of different kinds of silk, wool, and angora rabbit (alone and in blends).

[kightp.livejournal.com]

Oooooh - sounds soft!

I'm finishing up my fifth pair of Fuzzyfeet (http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter02/PATTfuzzyfeet.html) slippers (wintergifts for my siblings) and while they've been fun to knit, I'm starting to get a hankering to play with something other than good ol' Cascade 220 worsted...

[firecat]

Eee! Those are cute! But I can see how you might want to do something different.

Hmm, I need a fiber-arts icon

[wordweaverlynn.livejournal.com]

I kept running into your OH over the weekend. If I'd known about the Mendocino County Fair, though, I would have been running into you instead.

Re: Hmm, I need a fiber-arts icon

[firecat]

Then don't miss Stitches West 2005 (Feb-10-13 2005 in Santa Clara)

Selfish?

[snippy]

I would appreciate it if you did not miss my entry here:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/snippy/160475.html?nc=8

although there's no need to respond unless *you* feel the need. (And if you had already seen it, thanks.)

Re: Selfish?

[firecat]

I saw it and appreciated it. Thanks for making sure. (I don't think you're being selfish, FWIW.)

[pyrzqxgl.livejournal.com]

Cool! I took Arthur to the Santa Cruz County Fair Thursday -- while it doesn't have any particular fiber-arts emphasis, at the same time you do see a fair amount of knitted/woven/quilted/etc. work there. When I saw the braided rugs I thought that maybe I should just try to make a new kitchen door mat/rug to replace the current disintegrating one, instead of looking through catalogs that never seem to have the right kind of thing anymore.

[firecat]

Yeah, there was a lot of knitted/woven/quilted art displayed at this fair too (although not as much as at the San Mateo County Fair.

I have a book called Simple Crochet that describes how to crochet rugs out of strips of cotton recycled from old clothing. I've even seen instrux on how to make them out of plastic grocery bags, but I don't know how much I'd like that...

[kyubi.livejournal.com]

I once purchased a rug/mat crocheted from bread bags from eBay (out of morbid curiousity; I think it may have shown up on "Who Would Buy That?" or a similar venue). I was distinctly underwhelmed by it -- it fell apart fairly quickly under very light usage (outdoors, where the furry plasticovores couldn't gnaw on it). Given how much lighter plastic grocery bags are (and the fact that some of them are designed to photodegrade), I'm not all that optimistic about their viability as a crochet material.

[cha.livejournal.com]

oooooh I'm jealous!

[firecat]

But I'm more jealous that you went to Alaska...