Saturday, several of the Knitters Review folks from Virginia converged in lovely Amissville, VA to wallow in
a) the cuteness of new lambs and other livestock
b) knitterly chatter
c) fantastic yarn and spinning fibers
d) dreams of owning bigger better looms, spinning wheels, and/or whole yarn shops
e) lovely cookies
f) the majesty that is Jordan (edited–thanks Lissa) the Newfoundland
g) all of the above

We met at Misty Mountain Farm, the home of the livestock and of our first lovely hostess. The shop itself held more temptations than I can handle, and the livestock, well, it was enough to be a danger to both my marriage and to my legal standing in suburban VA. But I refrained from actually consorting with the four-leggers and got out without any legal infractions or new pets. It was hard. But really, Kayo is not a shepherd, Scott is not convinced that we are destined to own flocks of anything, and our vet bills are high enough as is. I did buy a lovely spindle and some Finn roving for one lucky recipient and some needles and roving for myself.

And then we went to Spirit Trail Fiberworks, aka Jen’s house in lovely Sperryville. And she brought out the trunks of yarn. Is it rude to actually swim in someone’s stock bins? I hope not. I got away with most of my mortgage money in place and with four skeins of the green yarn here. Oh, how I love this yarn. And I fell in love with Jordan, Jen’s fantastically placid, friendly Newfoundland.

I’ve passed the mid-point on my ruana, and it’s shaping up nicely. I’m looking forward to knitting in the neck shaping. But I need to start something–anything–new to work on. The green yarn is either going to grow up to be a lace shawl, which would show off its sheen and color beautifully but wouldn’t be terribly practical–or some sort of shell or short-sleeved sweater. Pattern searching must commence. And I’m going to buy Lissa’s knitting machine, which means I can make felted bags much more quickly sometime in the near future. Which means I can sell them at a more affordable price and make other things without falling short on stock when Sheep and Wool rolls around. Good good.

Sunday, I wallowed in kidlets. We all gathered at Mom’s to eat and watch the cute-lympics. Max and Talia are getting along famously, though Talia isn’t so sure about sharing her Grandfather with her cousins. She wasn’t consulted, and she may need to speak to her lawyer and negotiate some sort of settlement. Perhaps increased chocolate cake rations would lessen the pain of the transition.

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