Abandonitis bestows freedom for startitis.
I started Pamuya. Adirondack Sireno (merino 50%/silk 50%) colorway Nantucket Blue concluded with color runs too short. The pattern looked confused rather than swooping, and I had not even passed the stockinette phase. Frogpond.
I went to the stash. Who has over 600 yards of fingering weight yarn? Not me, apparently. Lots of laceweight. Lots of 350-450 yard skeins of 'sock' yarn. Then I remembered recent yarn I had not yet entered into the stash database. (There is lots of THAT hanging around in my wool house.) My second trial (Plucky Knitter Primo fingering, an MCN variant, Nordic colorway) is perfect. I am trusting that it will soften on washing. The tight twist makes for a less sybaritic knitting experience.
Mr. Etherknitter's family plans a Grand Tour for us. They needed to see that he was intact and chipper after surgical insult.
La de da de da, says the Etherknitter. How about if we go to this thing called the Midwest Fiber and Folk Art Fair? Do you think the niece and the nephew might like seeing knitting and spinning stuff? Maybe there will be animals....
We pile into two cars, and head to Grayslake, IL on a Sunday afternoon. It was wonderful. Everyone got something different from it. The usual suspects were in attendance. The MIL found a new venue, and she didn't have to plan it or make reservations. The FIL loved seeing everyone have fun. Mr. Etherknitter bought me a new swift. (Handmade, the wood was something you just don't leave behind, he argued.) KnittingNotions sells them in cherry, walnut, and oak.
I found a new-to-me vendor who has batts in colorways that leave one fanning oneself in a swoon. Opulent Fibers will have the website up soon.
The niece was mesmerized by weaving. A demonstration at the front of the building had a Kessenich table loom on a stand, and a Schacht floor loom. Niecelet tried the floor loom, then could not be pried away. She counted the pattern, stayed true, could barely reach the pedals, and brought home a small weavet-style contraption. The girl was nothing short of amazing. She is eight years old.
Lynn is teaching me to warp next weekend. She keeps making muttering noises about aweaverating. We'll see.
Ravinia, 6/25/11, Prairie Home Companion set, Garrison Keillor
If an eight-year-old can do it....
Posted by: Lynn | Monday, July 04, 2011 at 11:53 AM
Niecelet reminded me of The Middle Moffatt's aptitude for basketball in Eleanor Estes' book, oh, way long ago. I hope she keeps up with it.
The PHC set! Neat. It looks like they have music stands in their front yard where other people have old cars.
Glad Mr. E seems to be on the mend.
Posted by: Angie | Monday, July 04, 2011 at 02:05 PM
You are a sly one to get the whole family involved in that fiber thing we love.
Posted by: Carole | Monday, July 04, 2011 at 05:42 PM
I KNEW it! It was only a matter of time! You're gonna be a weaver, you're gonna be a weaver.......heh, heh, heh! (I still haven't warped the floor loom we drove to Wis-flipping-consin for last summer, sigh.) I'll have to get you up to Vavstuga in Shelburne Falls one of these days!
Posted by: Marcia | Monday, July 04, 2011 at 09:34 PM
Umm, he's right. That swift is gorgeous.
Posted by: Melissa G | Monday, July 04, 2011 at 10:23 PM
You can do a lot of things when you are eight and don't have a fear of failure.You just jump straight in and off you go.
Things we can learn from children - volume XX
(My floor loom is very like that one btw, small and not intimidating)
Posted by: Caroline M | Tuesday, July 05, 2011 at 02:27 AM
Love the swift!
If your niece becomes a weaver, it'll be even harder for you to resist, eh?
Posted by: gayle | Tuesday, July 05, 2011 at 07:27 AM
It sounds fun! I wish I could learn anything/something as quickly and easily as when I was 8.
Posted by: Anne | Tuesday, July 05, 2011 at 08:39 AM
boom, boom, boom "another one bites the dust"
The unintended fiber festival was full of surprise and delight. Serendipity at it's finest.
Posted by: margene | Tuesday, July 05, 2011 at 08:46 AM
So serendipitous! Lol.
Posted by: Manise | Tuesday, July 05, 2011 at 08:50 AM
I was there Saturday and saw those swifts--very nice! It is very pleasant festival with a lot of great vendors and, surprisingly, many musicians. The Polish food was delicious, I hope you were able to sample it.
Posted by: Angie | Tuesday, July 05, 2011 at 07:31 PM
What a great outing! We are going to be in Michigan next week to visit family and need to plan an outing for a great-grandmother, 2 grandparents, two of our children and respective spouses, and 4 grandchildren, ages 6,5,3 & 3! I wonder if there are any great fiber fests handy?
Lovely swift, indeed.... and so lucky to have a husband who understands and appreciates the need for the right tools. Mine is happy to let me buy them, but cannot quite really see the need. (He's the same with jewelry.) But technology: if my computer dies, he orders me a new one before I have a chance to think about it. THAT he understands and appreciates!
Posted by: Barbara M. | Wednesday, July 06, 2011 at 09:01 AM
The new swift is pretty. How do you like's its functionality?
Have fun with the warping!
Posted by: Chris | Thursday, July 07, 2011 at 10:56 AM
What fun! You were in my former neck of the woods! I've never been to the Midwest fiber show, though - I moved out of the area (grew up in the 'burbs of Chicago) long before I learned to knit or spin.
Posted by: June | Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 11:47 PM
Better you than me! I am staying strong in my resolve not to take up weaving. Strong!
Posted by: elizabeth | Wednesday, July 13, 2011 at 12:23 PM
I can SO see you weaving! Very technical and brain challenging. Yay for you!!
Posted by: Kim | Thursday, July 14, 2011 at 09:54 AM
We may need to introduce the niecelets. Mine is also a weaver. As soon as the boxes are out of the studio, a loom might move in.
Posted by: Rosemary | Sunday, July 17, 2011 at 02:44 PM