Otter Fun
Short post today because we're expecting company and we need to finish the tidying of the apartment. This happy otter put on quite a show for us at the Monterey Bay Aquarium during our visit in July. D and I love aquariums so we love to visit them when we travel. A little tip for this one--you can buy your tickets in advance, online and print them. This means you can bypass lines getting in and spend more time looking at the critters!
Bay Area Part the First: The Fiber
This is a picture heavy one.
A big part of the reason for the timing of my trip south was to be able to attend Stitches West. I have been purchasing much less than normal in terms of fiber for the past few months to prepare for this. Armed with some saved monies, and a vague plan, I set out. I didn't really plan to hit any shops, instead saving my funds for Stitches, but on Thursday my doppleganger suggested that we hit Article Pract in Oakland. On our way there we had a run-in with a loud-mouthed idiot, because it takes time to remove one's crutches from the back seat in order to get out of the car. Apparently, this woman felt that TheAmpuT should be magical and just hop out instantaneously. Luckily, her nine year old son didn't really catch the string of expletives that was exchanged and we were able to go on our merry way without too much pause.
Article Pract was nice enough although the customer service was not the greatest. Mostly the folks working seemed to have a bored disinterest in the folks in the store, which doesn't bother me while browsing, but it did mean that I spent a lot of time standing at the counter waiting to be checked out. At any rate, I walked out of there with this:
Two ounces of 50/50 tussah/cashmere blend hand-dyed by Chasing Rainbows Dyeworks in Peacock Plume.
Later that day, at Paper Source, I picked up these:
Clips in the shape of sheeps! I'm going to make photo holders with them, I believe.
Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair
I am officially in the San Francisco Bay Area. After a 15 hour train ride I have taken a nap, taken a shower, had good German food for dinner [mmmm schnitzel!] and gone to two knitting group meetings. And now, now I will pass out for my two hours of sleep last night and two hour nap have run out. Also, my battery is nearly dead in my laptop. Photos to appear soon, I promise.
A Week Late and a Dollar Short.
Or something like that. I'm feeling better now [although the cold is still hanging on a bit.] This means it's past due for my Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival Report. I drove up with Fyberduck and Emily to Canby. After a short mishap finding the place, we arrived early enough that parking spaces were still aplenty. We immediately hit the barns and although we didn't get to see all the animals, we did see several sheep and this beautiful white llama:
We also saw some great Jacob Sheep including this one with 5 horns:
Just like a starfish...Sort of.
We then met up with another girl from here in Eugene and hit the vendors. I may have come home with a large bag full of fibers:
The top layer is a Grafton Fibers Poof, some silk caps, a second poof, and then a mystery batt which is a merino/silk/angora/flash blend. The middle layer [the reds and pink] are all from Crown Mountain Farms, corridale pencil roving to the left and two superwash merino rovings. Then we have some various bits, including a chibi, some short double pointed needles [size 2] a sheepy tape measure and a back issue of Interweave Knits. The last bit is some grey angora/merino blend.
On our way out of town we saw this place:
We stopped to inquire after their spinning wheel and got nothing but dirty looks for our trouble.
We also saw a bomber on sticks:
and a statue of liberty:
The random things you see on Oregon Highway 99!
See the rest of my OFFF photos here!
D-Lister
While in the Atlanta airport [terminal C] TheBoy and I were sitting and waiting patiently for our slightly delayed flight to Maine. I watched as a teenage girl got very excited as she approached a young black man with spiky hair to ask for a photograph. I looked at him more closely and realized it was Orlando Brown from Disney's That's So Raven [I admit to watching it late at night when I was working during undergrad, although I'm not proud of it.] He was with 3 or 4 other people and seemed quite pleasant, posing while the girl's mother took their photo. I'm not sure where he was headed and our flight was boarded before I could see which gate he was headed for, so I can't fill in that information, but even a d-list celebrity sighting is a little fun. It's nice to see that he's not too uppity to stop and enjoy a little time with his Disney lovin' fans.