It was rainy! And windy! And fun.
My class was great. Thanks to the intrepid students who made it out to the fairgrounds. They all went home with little swatches of cast ons and bind offs. And now they have many to choose from when they start and end their next projects. Me? I’m kind of in love with the Chinese Waitress cast on. It makes a lovely chained edging on both right and wrong sides of the fabric. I want to use it to edge some fingerless gloves…
After class, I went upstairs in the main pavilion to find my peeps. In normal years, we knit and spin on the lawn. This year, groups moved inside.
I didn’t bring my Turkish Delight spindle because I knew I couldn’t linger. But I should have brought it for a photo op! OFFF is the time the Turkish Delights get together. Leila, who tempted me into buying *my* spindle, has a tinker toy spindle here. And Rachel, whom I tempted into buying *her* spindle, has hers here.
At OFFF 2009, we were spinning on the lawn with our new spindles. Time flies!
Duffy had this awesome shirt:
I chatted a bit with Ed and Wanda Jenkins. Ed makes these beautiful Turkish spindles. He remembered me and asked if I was spinning. Not much these days, unfortunately! Knitting away.
I spent a little time in the barn.
Alpacas always make me grin.
Is it weird that I was munching a lamb sandwich while walking through? The lamb is from SuDan Farm. They raise sheep for both food and fiber.
(Sorry about your bro, guys…gals? It was delicious.)
I spent some time chatting with Susie from SuDan Farm about her hats. I want to make one! So I bought some green and yellow dyed locks to play with. I can’t quite capture the awesome kelly greenness, sorry. (Go Ducks!)
I did a little shopping. I picked up a skein of Socks that Rock mediumweight from Tina at Blue Moon. This is her last year at OFFF (going to concentrate on wholesaling rather than shows), so she dyed this gorgeous commemorative colorway.
I also bought a shawl pin from Michael and Sheila Ernst. They make glass pens, knitting needles, crochet hooks, buttons. I have admired their work at many shows over the years. Isn’t this lovely?
How was your weekend?
PDXKnitterati 
I bought two skeins of beautifully hand-painted tencel yarn from Teresa Ruch. She had a shawl/scarf up in the gallery that was simply gorgeous – and I couldn’t resist. She’s a weaver and suggested two different color ways for warp and weft. anxious to start! Your class was awesome Michele – I learned so much. I wouldn’t mind learning how to spin on that little thing you talk about – any chance of a class in that? You are my favorite teacher – so encouraging.
Thanks for taking my class! I am not experienced enough with the drop spindle to teach a class, but if you want to sit down and play with a spindle one day, that would be fun. Looking forward to seeing your new yarn!
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After swearing I was only going to buy 2 skeins of neutral yarn I needed to make Monomania, I gave into desire and came home with a HansenCrafts minispinner…and nice timing as our power kept going out! As yucky as the weather was, OFFF was still fabulous!
It takes more than a little wind and rain to stop fiber people! Congrats on the minispinner; those are very cool. Enjoy!
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OFFF – next year!
Oh how I wanted to be there this year! I am drooling over your fiber. I have just gotten into spinning and am fortunate to have a kromski. Oh, and your sock yarn from Blue Moon… Love love!
You have a wheel? Lucky you! You should have come; there was more fiber there than I remember from past years. Still lots of yarn, though!
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What a fabulous weekend you had! Love the shawl pin! I’ve never heard of Chinese Waitress Cast on!? 🙂
Chinese Waitress cast on! http://youtu.be/yCN0aNQOoiE A little tricky getting started, but it makes such a pretty edge…
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That looks SO fun!
The shawl pin is gorgeous!
You won’t believe what I saw about four miles from my house —– SHEEP. Over on Slavia Road there is a flock of SHEEP! But, I have always been too much in a hurry to pull over and see exactly what kind. As far as I can tell….the WHITE kind. LOL
White and fuzzy! I don’t think of sheep when I think of Florida. And you’re not exactly out in the country. Cool!
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I really wanted to be there, but my whole family was sick as dogs… appropriate I guess, since it was also raining cats and dogs! But I’m sure I would have spent way too much money and I would have been tempted to bring home a cashmere goat. To console myself, I just ordered my first spindle…I’ve had a craving to learn to spin ever since OFFF last year and I’m finally going to give it a go! I need one of those awesome t-shirts!
It was very fun, even if it was very soggy. What kind of spindle did you get? Have you tried it yet? I’m going to order a t-shirt, even though I’m not spinning much. It’s just too cute!
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I got a Schacht Hi-Lo spindle. I’m trying it out this week, and I just started last night. So far it seems pretty fun, and not too difficult, but I’m a little confused about how much twist to add. I’m going to do some more research about it, but in the meantime… any quick tips?
Brinyon Conboy of Flair Designs designed the Portland Spinnerati t-shirt. She did an awesome job!
Love that BMFA colorway. They always have the best colors! Looks like a great time.