What a whirl wind...

...weekend we had! The Festival was a great success and so much fun! It was so wonderful to see all of my hard work pay off and especially to see everyone's reactions to my yarn in person. It was so great to meet all of you who visited me and get to know some of you a little more. I met some people that I've been talking with via email and ravelry for the past few months and that was so much fun. Thank you for making this festival a great success!

My dear Mom, known as Mama Lu since my daughter could talk, was with me at the festival to help me in whatever I needed. My son David was with us, so she was basically in charge of him. She was a great help so that I could talk with all of you who visited and not worry about taking money and writing receipts. I think she's going to get an extra special gift this Christmas! Thank you Mom!

 The not so much fun part was the flat tire we had on the way home! I was just thankful that it didn't happen on the way to the festival in the morning; God is watching out for us and there must have been some reason that we needed to be delayed in getting home. My Mom would have changed the tire, but we couldn't get the darn spare tire out from underneath the van. Daylight was vanishing quite quickly and while Mom was loosening the lug nuts she made me crawl under the van to see if I could get the spare tire off. Do you think anyone stopped? No! It takes my husband 15 -30 minutes to get it off, extremely poor design on minivans he says. As we waited for my husband to arrive from 45 minutes away at my parents home she told me of the time when she was at a park in the days of no cell phones and no one around with 4 or 5 kids (I'm the first of 6) in tow, and a Suburban. She had a flat and she changed it, there was no choice, she just had to do it. Me, I was like, I have a phone and a husband who is able to come, or our insurance would cover the cost if we had no one to call.  She was quite determined to change it herself, but again the spare tire ordeal...

My husband got there and then 2 cars decide to stop and see if we need help, that would have been nice when I was laying under the van with my skirt on.

We made it home (to my parents) an hour later than expected. Katya was having a grand time getting into Mama Lu's lipstick when Boompa (Grandpa, also named by Katya) wasn't looking and she had her Aunt Hannah's clothes on. She didn't seem to excited to see me that's for sure, I think I was interrupting her fun!

We live 1 hour away from my parents home so I was stuck until Monday when I could get the flat tire fixed. We had planned on getting all new tires anyway so it worked out. I left the kids with Mama Lu and their Aunties and I headed to get the new tires and I actually enjoyed my time there spinning while I waited for the tires to be put on the van. I bought a new spindle at the festival, and couldn't wait to use it. I grabbed some fiber that didn't sell and had an hour all to myself to spin! I love new tires, especially before winter, they are worth every cent I paid.

I made it home Monday late afternoon and finally got the car unloaded this morning, actually my husband did it for me. He is such a wonderful man, what would I do without him I ask myself sometimes. I am a very blessed woman indeed!

I have the shop updated for now with more things coming a little at a time. I have to get an order ready for Kristin's Knit's in Rochester, Minnesota and then I hope to get some serious knitting done! I have a mental list of what I want to get done here pretty quickly. We are enjoying these last few days of nice weather first we spent the morning at the park, I think they are predicting snow come this weekend.

As promised to all of you at the festival I will have photos of my shawls and socks with links to the patterns on Ravelry very soon. I'll do that next if the kids stay sleeping! You can find it in the All Knitted Up! section in the right hand column.

Thank you again to all of you who made this fiber festival a great success for me. 
~ Angela

Tea Cake Knitters...

...had a great time last night knitting, talking and learning how to cable! By request I taught everyone how to incorporate cables into their knitting. I got a few free patterns on Ravelry and they are making 2 different headbands. It will be fun to see the progress next month! I remember teaching myself to cable; I always thought it was so difficult, until my Uncle told me just the opposite and explained it to me without showing me, it then seemed to so easy, and really it is. I was so excited I went ahead and made my son ( not knowing he was a boy -- but I had a really good feeling) this sweater before he was born. I love cables!

I made delicious carrot cake, with toasted walnut cream cheese frosting, courtesy of Emeril Lagasse, mm-mm, so good, we ate what was left for breakfast this morning! It reminded me of when I worked in surgery; if someone brought treats, we always ate them on our morning break, or they would be gone by the time we went to lunch. Carrot cake was a favorite, a special lady whom I worked with for a while would often bring her carrot cake in, among other goodies she is "famous" for. That was a fun little trip down memory lane for me this morning...

I made peach tea to go with it, about all I had left in the cupboard to tell the truth. It was delightful with the cake I thought.
All the knitters in action, working on those cables...

Check out those pointy sticks! I've never been able to maneuver those myself, especially pregnant, I'm sure I would have poked myself a lot!
Remember those pots and buckets a few posts back? Oh, and they were hanging so pretty in the tree, too. Well here are a few all skeined up. Some may make it to my shop, but most are going to the festival with me. (Unless you beg me : ~)

Fall Fiber Festival

I will be a vendor at the Upper Midwest Alpaca Fiber Festival on Saturday, November 6th, in Hopkins, Minnesota. I'm excited to be doing this show, and hope to see you, my fellow Minnesotans and my neighbors in Wisconsin, Iowa, and the Dakota's there!
If you are unable to attend and you have your eye on some yarn or fiber in my shop, it might not be there when I get back!

Beanie hat...

...is finished and it didn't take me as long as I thought it would. Well, that's because I haven't been at the dye pot lately. I've been kind of lazy this summer; but I'm looking forward to fall and winter, yes even winter. I can't believe I'm really saying that. I am excited because I'll be preparing for two fiber shows, so I'll need to get busy pretty soon. The first show is The Upper Midwest Alpacas Fiber Fest on November 6th in Hopkins, Minnesota. It will be my second show, but first show to do alone, the first was this past May, Shepherd's Harvest and I shared a booth with a friend. Needless to say I'm excited! In April, the 30th to be exact is the next show, I'm not certain that I'll get in, I will find out in January, so I'm praying that it all works out!  It is Yarnover held in the Twin Cities and I hear it's a grand event not to be missed!

I got a little side tracked didn't I...back to the little hat I made. It was such a nice easy knit and very portable, since also on the needles is a sweater; I'm working on the sleeves and it's just too big to stick in my purse anymore. I also tend to get kind of antsy when knitting a long project (I've been working on this sweater since last July), so in the mean time I've knitted a pair of socks and this beanie hat. I like to finish something once in a while, it gives me some satisfaction anyway. I will have the sweater done soon, in time for the cooler weather; I can't wait to wear it, my very first sweater for myself! I'll post about it and show photos when it's done.

Here's more info about my hat and the pattern.