tuesday

Maryland Sheep & Wool was excellent. It didn’t go quite as I’d hoped, because nothing’s perfect (perfect wouldn’t’ve included the rain or the mosquito bites, for example), but it was still a great weekend away from Philly and surrounded by yarn and fiber and fiber animals and knitter-types. It was also, however, exhausting, and going out last night to see Eddie Izzard did not help. (Note to self: do not schedule evening activities for the night after a sheep-and-wool. You will be too tired to fully appreciate them.)

Here, then, are a few pictures of animals at the festival, plus a link to an essay about media interactivity and mental surplus. (I don’t remember who posted about it, but it’s definitely worth reading.

Looking for the Mouse

pygora kid

I also have to add that I spent much of the weekend exclaiming about how much I love my new camera.  I still haven’t gotten used to having a point-and-shoot with so many capabilities (it’s actually worth changing the ISO setting!), but learning is going to be fun.

 

more odds and ends

I finally finished this felted bowl. It didn’t turn out the way I’d hoped–the brim/rim curled over instead of fanning out, and it looks a little wonkier than I’d wanted. Still, it’ll work as a bowl, even if it’s not nice enough to be a gift, and it only took me a little more than an afternoon of knitting and maybe half a ball of Manos.

I spent a bunch of time this weekend spinning the blue-green-yellow on grey and the green-and-yellow rovings I dyed over the summer. I also picked up the green blanket for the first time since it got too hot to work on it last summer. And I knit a couple of rows on the purple alpaca Lady Hat.

I’ve been feeling a bit antsy in terms of my knitting over the last week. I’m past the deadlines, I have more than enough time to finish the green Fetchings… I’d kind of like to find a good scarf or shawl pattern (probably lacy) for the ROY BFL that I finished spinning last week, but I also rather like the idea of actually finishing things I’ve already started. (Ravelry is quite the motivator in that respect–I find I want to keep the number of WIPs under 10.) Oh, the decisions.

Also, Michelle posted an excellent, excellent sign.

 

sheep cairn

This notepad is adorable.

(In other news, I finished that Fetching last night, but I’m not sure I want to do much on its mate until I’ve washed it–it’s just slightly scratchy enough that I’m concerned about its suitability as a gift.)

 

sheep!

10,000 sheep.

(via Margot)

 

comfort spinning

As I said last week, I’ve been doing some comfort spinning to try to deal with some of the unpleasantness of life.  Here’s the wool I dyed with onion skins, all spun up:

Some of it is wound into a ball because I didn’t secure the skein very well before finishing.  I’d like to think I’ve learned my lesson…but we’ll see.  It’s not especially even, but I don’t really care.  It was fun to spin, and it’ll still be great for the project I have in mind.

And here’s a fellow spinner whom I found in my kitchen the other day. 

On a semi-related note, I think a bunch of people I know will appreciate this felted insect pattern booklet.  I found it through Ravelry.  (Such a dangerous time-suck, but such fun!)

 

because I like furthering research

Mama Cate and BitchPhD linked to this guy who’s trying to track the progress of memes through the blogosphere.  (See a better explanation here.)  He’s planning to use it for a panel at the (apparently upcoming) MLA conference.  So let’s see how well this works, shall we?  To participate, write a post explaining the study, link to his post, try to get other people to do the same, and ping technorati via the original post. 

 

fyi

To Kirsten and any of the rest of you who like pirates and argyle:

If you haven’t seen it yet, go check out Julia’s latest post.

 

knitters in comics

I’m still unpacking, and this week’s knitting has been for a secret project, but I found this link for you:

today’s Six Chix

I can’t see myself in quite that situation for a while, though.

 

not for me, but…

There are now such things as light-up knitting needles. (My reasons for not wanting them? First, they’re straights. Second, they’re way too bulky for their suggested purpose of theater-knitting. I’ll stick to socks, or a scarf on a short circ, for the occasions when I knit in a theater.)

 

crocheted hyperbolic planes

Go look at these crocheted models of hyperbolic planes, designed for a geometry class.