Have your cake and eat it too
Marital strife avoided. I read Harry Potter Saturday (I'm a fast reader when it comes to fiction like that, and the Fool graciously obliged by taking a nap and leaving me alone for a bit), and now that I am finished, he is engrossed. He stayed up until 3:30 a.m. Sunday and 2:30 a.m. Monday and was a bit lethargic when he woke up to go to work.
So we sat companionably on the couch, him with his nose in the book and me with a variety of entertaining knitting. I worked on my sockapalooza sock, which I finished yesterday, and I tinked four rows of the mohair-blend Flower Basket shawl, which I put on time out because I didn't want to deal with fixing my mistake. But I did, and now I'm even further along than when I left off last time. I'm not sure how big I'll make it, because I want to use up every possible inch of this yarn - it's pretty, but boy, is it a pain to work with.
Saturday morning, we set off on an adventure, to the first Illinois Fiber and Folk Festival in Crystal Lake, which is about an hour-and-a-quarter drive from our house.
It was a great fiber festival. Four vendor tents - not just things for knitters and spinners and weavers, but some quilting fabric, some beads, some fancy sewing trim and buttons and some none-of-the-above.
They had classes, too, but we weren't quite organized enough to pick out ones to take. Next year, though, we want to. They had delicious festival food sold from booths. The Fool ate a plate of Polish delicacies (pierogies, a blintz and a potato pancake) and I had a kebab sandwich, followed by dessert, which was buttered roasted sweet corn.
We got stopped by some blog readers, including a woman and her little daughter. The woman said, "Are you that guy knitting the amazing sweater?" The Fool said he was, and whipped the sweater out of his bag to show her. They talked a bit about Fair Isle and I had a nice talk with a woman about Aran sweaters.
We also stopped to visit our favorite Marengo fiber purveyor, Toni, of The Fold, who had to travel something like a whopping 12 miles to make it to this festival.
Maybe it was because this was a local crowd, maybe it was because it was the festival's first year, but we noticed something strange about her booth.
It had stock.
If you've ever seen her at Rhinebeck or MS&W, one of the ways to pick out her booth is that it's either got a two-mile line in front of it, or it's been picked clean of all the Socks That Rock. But here, she had maybe 15 or 20 skeins left. I bought one.
The Fool has the camera with him in Texas and I know you don't actually believe me about The Fold and no line and STR spotted in the wild, so I'll post a picture later.
Meanwhile, Angus is chasing a daddy longlegs, there are fresh peaches and Edy's ice cream in the freezer, and I've got the second literary treat of the summer in my bag.
Harry Potter was great ... but Jasper Fforde's latest Thursday Next novel is out.
So we sat companionably on the couch, him with his nose in the book and me with a variety of entertaining knitting. I worked on my sockapalooza sock, which I finished yesterday, and I tinked four rows of the mohair-blend Flower Basket shawl, which I put on time out because I didn't want to deal with fixing my mistake. But I did, and now I'm even further along than when I left off last time. I'm not sure how big I'll make it, because I want to use up every possible inch of this yarn - it's pretty, but boy, is it a pain to work with.
Saturday morning, we set off on an adventure, to the first Illinois Fiber and Folk Festival in Crystal Lake, which is about an hour-and-a-quarter drive from our house.
It was a great fiber festival. Four vendor tents - not just things for knitters and spinners and weavers, but some quilting fabric, some beads, some fancy sewing trim and buttons and some none-of-the-above.
They had classes, too, but we weren't quite organized enough to pick out ones to take. Next year, though, we want to. They had delicious festival food sold from booths. The Fool ate a plate of Polish delicacies (pierogies, a blintz and a potato pancake) and I had a kebab sandwich, followed by dessert, which was buttered roasted sweet corn.
We got stopped by some blog readers, including a woman and her little daughter. The woman said, "Are you that guy knitting the amazing sweater?" The Fool said he was, and whipped the sweater out of his bag to show her. They talked a bit about Fair Isle and I had a nice talk with a woman about Aran sweaters.
We also stopped to visit our favorite Marengo fiber purveyor, Toni, of The Fold, who had to travel something like a whopping 12 miles to make it to this festival.
Maybe it was because this was a local crowd, maybe it was because it was the festival's first year, but we noticed something strange about her booth.
It had stock.
If you've ever seen her at Rhinebeck or MS&W, one of the ways to pick out her booth is that it's either got a two-mile line in front of it, or it's been picked clean of all the Socks That Rock. But here, she had maybe 15 or 20 skeins left. I bought one.
The Fool has the camera with him in Texas and I know you don't actually believe me about The Fold and no line and STR spotted in the wild, so I'll post a picture later.
Meanwhile, Angus is chasing a daddy longlegs, there are fresh peaches and Edy's ice cream in the freezer, and I've got the second literary treat of the summer in my bag.
Harry Potter was great ... but Jasper Fforde's latest Thursday Next novel is out.
Comments
And the Fool is in Texas again? At least we are not having our usual 100 degree weather this year. Of course it is ickily humid due to the months of rain.
Sounds like a great festival experience - a manageable size.