What have I been up to, you ask?

Before Thursday this is what's been keeping me busy. I am getting to the point of being really sick of my mess of a room. This will be cleaned up pretty soon, I hope.

The last week has been lots of fun, starting with a trip to the fiber processing mill and shop in Victor , CO with Lisa. We heard about this place through a person we met at WWKIP day. So up we drove with 25 pounds of merlino fleece in the back of Lisa's car. We will keep you all posted on how we like the fleece when we get it back. The price for merino was slightly higher than we thought it would be, but compared to the prices we saw at Estes, it was very reasonable. And we didn't have to skirt it. That is a major plus, if you ask me.

After we dropped off the fleece, we stopped here and met a nice lady with a shop cat that was very happy to greet us. We saw this funny little store, but did not have enough time to stop. After a quick lunch in Cripple Creek, we did a little recon at the big shop at Academy and Constitution that has a ton, and I'm not kidding, a TON of vendor booths inside. We had heard that they had a knitting booth, and we were curious to see what they had. It turns out they have quite a large selection of yarn and notions. They had Lamb's Pride, Dale, and several other nice brands. I got a new pair of Addi's. The prices were not a bargin but, and here's the good part.....they are open on Sunday!

On Friday, I drove up to a cabin I rented in Estes Park. Ellen got there before me and we had a nice evening sitting around and knitting. It turns out I can't knit lace when talking to somebody else. Only about one half of a round got done on my Pi shawl. We went to bed reasonably early so that we could leave the cabin at 8am, go to Starbucks, and then head out to the Wool Festival. We thought there might be a line. There wasn't. So we got into the vendor barn before the crowds. It was so overwhelming! There were so many colors and textures all around, it was very difficult to focus. But you've got to love a place that has a sign like this:We wandered around and met a lot of friends. I saw a woman I used to have Girls Night Out with back when my twenty year old was a baby. It was so much fun catching up with her and the goings on of her family. We also saw some alpacas, goats, sheep,and llamas.I do not know why the "llama wash" fascinated me so much. It just tickled my funny bone.
I did spend time testing out a bunch of wheels, and absolutely fell in love with this one.I tried about 6-8 wheels, but this one just felt right. How else can I explain it? It spins like a dream. Here's a picture of the first yarn off of the wheel. It's the blue varigated Romney I got at the Ruxton Ave shop.
I did get more roving at the Festival, no big shock to any of you about that. I also picked up two skeins of yarn that I know I'll never be able to come close to. A beautiful skein of kid mohair from Brooks Farm, and a 100% silk from Manos. Ellen ended up with a drum carder. It's pretty bad when the vendors are so happy that they lend you a hand cart to haul away your goodies....I spent Saturday evening playing with my new wheel and went to bed early.
Sunday, it was back to the fairgrounds for more wandering around. I met up with Lisa and her husband, then headed home.
I took the longer, more scenic route along the St Vrain River. The sock and I took a little hike along here. We stopped for lunch when we found this perfect spot to sit and knit. The water was icy cold. It felt wonderful.There were some people a little ways downstream panning for gold. They were having a great time, and did manage to get some gold. There will be more pictures posted on the picture place. But not tonight.