Since that first fateful day I saw Lexi Boeger's web site, pluckyfluff, and spent hours looking at outrageous handspun, I was completely sold on art yarns.  I was hooked like a crack addict, sometimes going back two or three times a day just to see if she had posted a new creation I could gawk at in wide-eyed-wonder.  She opened the door to my fiber obsession, which prompted me to finally try my simple drop spindle.  When I finished my first skein, I immediately moved on to my yard sale "find"-- a wheel--and hit the ground running.   At the time, I approached spinning sideways--I didn't knit.  I knew nothing of gauge or ply or wpi.  I could crochet the basics from what Grandma and Mom taught me as a child, but I really didn't care what to do with these yarns, I just knew I wanted to know how to make them, and had to learn some basics before jumping off the cliff into the relative oblivion.  While I stashed a few, I admit that most of my first creations were sold, and actually USING some of the yarns myself would come later...

It has been a few years since I attended that  first-ever camp pluckyfluff East in October 2005 in rural PA.  For two glorious days we socialized, spun, ate together, watched and learned new techniques from the yarn diva herself, as well as the rest of the great group of spinners, most of whom are still making the fun stuff.  At that time, there were probably under 25 people round the globe who were adventurous enough to make these crazy yarns.  Many traditional spinners frowned on the idea of yarn that wasn't consistent enough to follow a pattern with.  Of course, those people still exist, and I feel sad for them that they can't drop their patterns and just create. Today, one quick browse of Etsy will show you that art yarn has moved into the mainstream.  Scores of gorgeous handspun are just waiting to be turned into something playful and fun if you're willing to take a leap of faith!

All of which, in a roundabout way, brings me back to a great blog post by Bobbi of kittygrrlz and kittygrrlsknits, which inspired me to write this post.  Her yarn is gorgeous, spanning from shiny bamboo singles to fun and playful art yarns with jewel tones to inspire even the most unimaginative knitter.  I have had the joy of using some of her yarn and can only say "yummmmmy".  Her post shows several simple ideas for projects that use a single skein of yarn.  She also features two beautiful neckwarmers knit by the talented spinner, knitter and bead artist Naomi of knottynaomi fame.  So go take a look and drop your patterns already, and just start knitting.  There are plenty of beautiful yarns to be had!!

I'll leave you with a sample of my project--crochet without a pattern, of course--recently uploaded to Etsy, featuring a simple bamoo singles by Kittygrrlz with a matching commercial ribbon yarn carried along alternately:

It's only a week plus after the fact, but better late than never, right? I really wanted to share these photos of our annual trip to NY Sheep and Wool festival in Rhinebeck.  We had a great weekend.  The weather was brisk and cold, and we were glad to have a hotel room in Fishkill (a bit far, but worthwhile) as friends spent Saturday night camping nearby, and alternating between freezing to death and rude awakening by the train which apparently goes through the campgrounds honking more than once an hour, all night long.  Some of the sheep, freshly shorn from demonstrations,  actually looked cold to me, with an expression on their faces that seemed to say "Where did you put my sweater?  I need it today."

Despite how the cold affected the sheep or our chilly friends, I'm sure it was a good thing for the vendors--I can only imagine it did wonders for yarn and woollen accessory sales which I can say from craft show experience, do NOT sell in hot weather.  All the vendors I asked had no complaints about sales. There was some reporting of "record" attendance, though one vendor was telling us how the fairgrounds would not release the actual attendance numbers.  Early on Saturday morning I was wondering if the economic doom and gloom would affect attendance and sales, since it seemed very quiet and easy to negotiate the barns to me.  Then around lunch time, it was suddenly jammed with wool lovers and loads of casual attendees, looking for something to do on a beautiful fall weekend.

All my photos are from Sunday, as I didn't want to lug the camera around on Saturday, which was my prime shopping day and hanging out with wool loving friends who also make the pilgrimage every year.  So Sunday morning we started our day by heading north of Rhinebeck to Red Hook for some apple pickin (this is the same farm that sells apples at the fair, though I can't recall the name off hand).  Here's Golden Boy picking some Golden Delicious:

This ornery sheep was giving her handler a tough time at competition:

I didn't see who won because I ran off to the fleece show and sale to see if there was anything I couldn't resist. There is still some nice wool left here to buy, but bags and bags are gone by now.  On Saturday shortly after the sale opened, you could barely move in here, and the line to purchase fleece was about 30+ people deep.  I decided I could wait for things to empty out and see if there was anything left.  I actually managed to get a third prize Cotswold fleece, a pretty good catch for Sunday afternoon!

Now for the highlight of my day.  I brought a box of spinning wheel parts with me that I purchased at the Shelter Island Historical Society in the spring for $5.  I had arranged with David Paul of The Merlin Tree to take a look and see if it was salvageable.  Here's what I brought, scary huh?  I left the box with him for a few hours and returned when he had a chance to look things over.

On return, David said that he had just spoken with a gentleman about the wheel.  The man had a picture of nearly the exact same wheel, and they had looked it over together.  He called it a "parlour wheel" (upright and smaller design to take up less room) and said it was most likely of German or Austrian origin.  He was fairly excited because all the parts were there and none in terrible shape, including a rare metal dipping bowl for holding water to dip your fingers in for flax spinning.  In around a half hour, and adding only a few bits of string for drive band and to join the treadle to the footman temporarily, the wheel was turning.  Only one small piece of the flyer needs to be repaired, and the wheel needs an overall balancing, tightening of parts, leather pieces replaced and some TLC.  Who knew that what looked like a box of junk was actually an investment in a little piece of history?  It's amazing!  We left the wheel with him to restore, and will hopefully get it back in the spring.  Thanks Dave! 

Oh yeah, can't forget my stash accumulation (photo notes on my flickr):

And I'll leave you with a picture from the end of the festival.  Craig with our future farmers.  A fun time was had by all.

Ok, so this isn't the only reason I haven't posted in a while, but I lost the charger to my camera, and haven't been able to put anything on my flickr account or post new items that I've been working on for sale, or show off pics of my adorable kids for two weeks now.  It's the price of getting more megapixels, I guess.  Now I know why in the past our family agreed only to buy gadgets that take rechargeable AA batteries.  It cost me $70 and change to get myself a new charger from Canon (not a knock off, which I could have gotten much cheaper), and have it shipped two day so I'd have it before this weekend's annual pilgrimage to NY Sheep and Wool Festival. 

Now at least I know I'll definitely find the original charger in the next few days!

After many months of long hours and meetings and looking at Craig's eyes burning red from looking at computer screens too long and what seem (to me) like about a billion hours of phone and conference calls, Crowd Fusion has launched it's first web property, Obsessable.

Congratulations Craig and Brian, Judith, Steve, Ryan, Randall and everyone else on the team who have worked so hard to make it work.  I don't know you all, but I'm sure I've heard your (very professional sounding) voices echoing from our basement many times.  You guys are proof-positive that a team of independent, results-oriented, telecommuting people can create something great, and you should all be proud of yourselves.  The site looks great, functions beautifully, and I'm sure that it will only improve as the dream continues to evolve. 

Craig, can you quit obsessing for just a few hours this weekend and take me out to dinner?  I miss you!

XOXO