Knerdy Knitting
where spelling isn't as important as awesome

I am back from the wonderful trip of excitement! And what’s more, I am over jet lag enough to put two sentences together. There were so many cool things that we saw and did, but as this is a knitting blog I’m going to limit myself to the fiber related stuff.

I landed first in Barcelona, to spend a couple days in Spain while Pirate Boyfriend’s work wrapped up.  1in; margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } –>Barcelona made its money in the middle ages through the wool trade.  Near the center of town is an area of tiny winding roads known as the medieval textile district.  What better place for a yarn shop?  So right in the middle of it is Persones Llanas, a tiny LYS tucked away in one of the old buildings.I believe the store is run by an American (at least she has an American accent.)  Mostly they carry the serviceable stuff you’ve seen elsewhere, but they also have some lovely Spainish wool that I’ve never seen before.  And they had a wall of little balls of roving.  So I got about four ounces in blues and greens.  My goal was to make a “Picasso’s blue period” inspired hat (after the wonderful Picasso museum in Barcelona), but I can’t seem to find the roving even after I’ve unpacked all my bags.  Poo.

Most of our trip was in London.  Not only did I pose with my sock in front of big ben (see above), but I also went to I Knit (an LYS) and a Stitch n Bitch.  I don’t have pictures of either one.  The Stitch n Bitch was awesome, just to have a chance to talk to people in a context other than confused tourist seeking help.   It was held in the Maple Leaf, a Canadian themed pub.  Everyone was really friendly, and if was great to hang out with knitters of all abilities and ages while drinking.  I got tipsy on Strongbow and purchased a tiny SnB London pin.  It is one of my most prized possessions from our trip.

I Knit is a fabulous LYS near the Waterloo tube station.  When I went there was another SnB going on, and the place was crowded past capacity with knitters.  Since it was a damp night, it made the room downright steamy.  Or maybe that was just me, getting all hot and bothered by the beautiful yarn.  Because they had some really nice stuff.  Here are some photos:

From left to right, that’s a sweater’s worth of Wensleydale Longwool (spun in England) in an olive green, two balls of Kidsilk Haze in a yummy mix of yellows, oranges, and greens, and a pair of socks worth of Indie Dyer sock yarn in the colorway Olive Grove.  I think I made out like a bandit.

So that’s my trip.  Hopefully I’m back to human now and can blog regularly again.  I know I have a lot of stuff to talk about, including the Happiest Socks Ever, Dr Horrible’s Sing a Long Wristers, and an update on the 20’s style purple hat!

The Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival was a blast!  It was also three weeks ago. But there was so much to say about it that I hardly knew where to begin. When this is the case, I usually say nothing at all. To guide me, I’m going to make this a photo essay, just talking about some of the pictures I took on Sunday. This has the advantage of allowing me to actually, you know, write about OFFF. It has the disadvantage of ignoring Saturday, as I forgot my camera that day. Also, the beautiful loot acquired at OFFF will be discussed in a forthcoming post. On to OFFF!

We arrived early in the morning. Ok, so it wasn’t early when we got there. But Canby is an hour and a half away, so we had to leave Corvallis at 7:30. Which is early. This way WildThingsRun could make it to her all day class on natural dyeing.

There was some mix up about when my class was to start. We assembled, but through a mix-up the instructor wasn’t there. This is us all waiting in a circle with our spinning wheels. The instructor, Laura Cunningham, offered the class in the afternoon to compensate. It was increadible! I learned how to spin with a long draw, and from the fold, and how to use the different ratios of my wheel to make really fine worsted yarn. Before I could only make loosely spun aran weight doubles. Now the possibilities are endless! And I know how to adjust my spinning to the kind of fiber and to the kind of fabric I want to create. It’s awesome.

You know what else is awesome? The PDX Knit Bloggers! They had chairs and a canopy, and were very warm and welcoming. While waiting for my class they let me leave things there (like Cynthia the Spinning Wheel), and I even got to spin some with them. I’ve joined their yahoo group, which is also awesome.

No fiber festival would be complete without fiber animals. There were all kinds of sheep, all kinds of goats, rabbits, and alpaca. They were all beautiful and soft and fluffy. And you could buy their fleece, if you so chose. I did not so choose, through enormous strength of will.

All in all, it was a wonderful time. I got to sit in the sun and in the grass, spinning and carding and knitting. They even had a stage where people sang folk songs about fiber. How happy does that make me? Answer: pretty dang happy.