I finished (read: finally wove the ends in) two projects this weekend - Curly-Q scarf #3 at Melanie’s Saturday morning and Fetching at mom’s house that night. much progress was made on Eli’s sweater (more on that during the Harlot sement). and I’ve got yarn for two more gifts - Amelia’s birthday socks and the girls’ xmas mittens (more on that in the sheep fest segment). and I have hand tracings for mitten making. but I forgot to get foot sizing for the socks. (Melanie, what size shoes does she wear? and is she about to grow out of them?)

ok, so to the good stuff…
I took the girls to the Sheep Fest. They were quite helpful in picking out yarn. anything orange was for me to make socks for my sister (their mom). they did pick out yarn for their mittens (a thin curly boucle. why did I say yes to that? I’m going to see how it knits up doubled. maybe it won’t be as bad as I think). Amelia also kept picking out yarn for her socks. I finally caved and decided I’d make some for her birthday.

Sunday I went back to the sheep fest with my sister. she ended up being drawn to a lot of the same booths as the girls. was kinda funny. I ended up buying some angora/wool fingering weight yarn for myself before leaving.

then came the fun part … driving. no not really. MapQuest gave me stupid directions and I got lost trying to find downtown Eau Claire. finally sorted myself out and made it to Yellow Dog Knitting. I poked around the shop a bit and then joined some other knitters knitting in the back room while we waited. I knit til my fingers hurt (which really wasn’t that long. I must be out of practice.) then we wandered over to the Masonic building where the talking was going to happen. it was pretty eventful before Stephanie got there. when asked at the beginning how many Minnesotans were there, I think close to 2/3 of the audience’s hands went up. it was a great time. (and I continued to knit on the sweater til my fingers hurt even more. I think I have about 1/2″ of the body to go before I start the ribbing. good thing I didn’t get to that point last night, cuz my ribbing needles got left at home. doh!)

it was great seeing all the Twin Cities knitters I met at the picnic there.

the internet is not cooperating, I can’t find the pics (I think they’re buried under knitting in my bag) and I need to catch the bus home, so we’ll add pics tomorrow.

so much for updating the blog. I see a new knitty button in my sidebar.

will ramble on about the WI Sheep fest and holding the stash weasel later

ok, let’s recap.
last Wednesday, I finished the thumbs on Fetching. I attempted to get the ends woven in, but that turned out to be rather difficult do to the rather large gent sitting next to/on top of me on the bus. (dude, I understand the bus seats are a little small, but is it at all possible you can not rest your arm on me while you nap? and to the guy who sat with me on the ride home yesterday - you’re my size. you don’t need to sit on me. have you ever heard of a personal bubble? and staying out of mine?)

Friday I started a 3rd curly-q scarf. this time from 2 balls of Bernat Envy - which is a ladder and eyelash combo. I finished it Monday night, I think. well, it still needs the ends woven in (as do the mittens and Fetching), so not completely finished, but close enough. the eyelash yarn gives it an interesting look - would work as a substitute feather boa, potentially.

I hate driving thru Iowa. It is the most boring state I’ve driven thru so far. It did have some fun exits though - Swaledale (which made me think of Dale’s Svale yarn), and another exit had a town with Sheep or Wool in the name. I was also thouroughly amused (is that the right word?) by one of their gas station chains. (seriously, who came up with that?)

Kansas City was fun. The Westin is a wonderful hotel. The feis went well (I placed 4th in one of my dances. now, if the other dances would get in line and start placing, things would be wonderful). and I broke down and bought a tiara to wear instead of my crown. After the competition, my friend, her KC friend, and I went to the Irish Fest to see Gaelic Storm. I think the lead singer recognized me out in the audience. odd. (though I’m not 100% sure on that.) After the fest, we headed down to The Plaza. Rumor has it there’s a yarn store in the area, but we didn’t see it. We had dinner at TomFooleries, which was quite good. and I was amused that they put a pink umbrella on my Hawaiian pizza (Gaelic Storm’s song Pina Colada in a Pint Glass mentions a pink umbrella, so it added to the oddness of the day). Sunday I dragged my friend (who wants to knit - I tried teaching her last year on our KC trip) to Urban Arts & Crafts. They’re moving, so lots on sale (which I managed to resist). Also very helpful and friendly staff.

so now I’m home, and back to working on Eli’s sweater. and making plans for this weekend.