The secret is out, and Patti (aka SnowLeopard) of Pasticcio is my Best Better Pal. That's right, you heard me. The BEST. The last package I received from that Pattigirl contained so many goodies that I couldn't get them all into one photo. There were fun Japanese goodies (Pocky Sticks RULE!!!), wacky toys for Joey, chicken stickers, dragon tattoos, and cool, colorful report covers. Sweet little rubber duckies, a bright blue tape measure (maybe I won't lose this one, huh?) and a hairy black spider toy (for Joey), that JUMPS when you squeeze the little rubber ball attached to it. (He's going to give me a heart attack with that thing---ha!)

This wonderful package also included some beads. Not just any beads, mind you. They're very special, because they were made by Natasha, Patti's friend that I met at Madrona. It blows my mind....Natasha made these beads. There's something about a gal who wields a blowtorch, isn't there? Very, very cool.

But wait, there's more. There's fiber. Ooohhh and HOW there is fiber. Amazing, exotic spinning fiber. Corn, merino/silk, soy silk, and bamboo top. BAMBOO? You can spin Corn and Bamboo? I'm blown away and amazed, and am going to need to take some time off work to play with all this fun stuff.

Something else that I've learned about Patti-Snow is she has a talent for hand-painting sock yarns. And I am one lucky, lucky gal, because I received a whole big ball of her beautiful yarn in autumnal colors. Aren't the colors so rich? Patti sells some beautiful colorways on her site--go take a look!

Patti, you have truly spoiled me these past months. Thank you so much for your wonderful generosity, and for your friendship. Natasha is right--you're a very special lady.

I was honking right along on a fingerless mitt, enjoying the beautiful handspun from RainShadow Farms that I had bought at the Madrona Fiber Arts Retreat last weekend. When I tried the mitt on to test for length, and took a good close look at my work, I noticed a little wonkiness in a few of the stitches about 4 inches back. Oooohh man. No. Say it ain't so.


Yep, that's right. I'd dropped a stitch quite aways back. I'm telling myself this was fate---since I wasn't that thrilled about the stripe I had inserted right after the thumb opening, anyway. But geez, now that I've got this gaping hole, now I kind of LIKE the striping. Figures.

SO....I'll rip back, redo without the stripe, and maybe place some faggoted fringe on the bottom edge of the mitt. I've got the fringe pattern from Barbara Walker's Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns, in the Edgings chapter. Page 357, to be exact. Wait, let me check that page number again, since I'm having more than a little difficulty being exact. Yep. Page 357.

Here's to long weekends---enjoy! You know what I'll be working on....

The plan for Madrona was to fly to Seattle and rent a car, drive down to Tacoma and attend the festival. We expected rain, and for $25.00 a day, a tiny box of a car. What we got was two glorious days of bright sunshine, and a cute blue PT Cruiser! When I travelled East to go to Rhinebeck in October of 2004, the rental agency had a PT Crusier waiting for me. This was a sign. Clear as a bell. Off to Tacoma we went, trunk full of near-empty suitcases, being drawn like magnets to the lure of the wool festival.

Okay, I'll admit it. Of the four of us, I was the only one drawn to the wool festival. My three co-horts, they were itching to get to Ikea. So they dropped me off at the Sheraton Tacoma, and off they went, speeding North towards Seattle and Ikea Heaven. Me, I wandered around the Yarn Marketplace at the Festival, in awe of all the colorful fiber.

Okay, enough of the stalling. I know why you're here. Let's see the booty, baby.

A gorgeous skein of handcarded, dyed and spun Coopworth wool from Rainshadow Farm in Kingston, Washington. I've already wound this puppy up, and am working on a pair of fingerless mitts. The yarn is made with one ply of natural brown and one of subtle color that ranges from pink to blue to soft yellow to green. The woman at the Rainshadow Farm booth was so nice, telling me about her sheep, and her adventures as a master shearer.

After wandering around a bit I came across the Crown Mountain Farms booth. Oooooohh. These people are a bad, bad influence. I loved every minute of it. I bought four gorgeous ounces of a 50-50 merino/silk blend for spinning, and two big bunches of pencil roving to spin on the Turkish spindle I bought from them. (Yes, Claudia and Leigh--another spindle, can you believe it?)

Klaus and Teyani of Crown Mountain Farms were so gracious, and Teyani gave me a lesson on the spindle before I bought it. I spent the rest of the day in the lobby of the hotel, practicing spinning with the help of Norma, a really nice woman from Preston, Washington, and I'll be damned if I didn't get the drift of it (more or less) by the time my traveling co-horts showed up.

On Saturday afternoon there was a book signing, and I had the opportunity to have Stephanie Pearl-McPhee sign my copy of At Knit's End. She was so sweet and funny, and I found myself pretty damned tongue-tied. And that doesn't happen very often, trust me. It was great to see her again.

On Sunday we drove up to Seattle and spent the day wandering around Pike Place Market. When we left to come home on Sunday night our bags were bursting with purchases, both fiber and non. It was a great weekend. Next year the festival will be held from January 25th though the 28th. Mark it on your calendars, and make plans to be there if you can!