Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Neglect

Okay....I have become very neglectful of my blog recently...It is difficult to write about doing nothing! Well, I did have a little excitement last weekend. Some ladies from my knitting group volunteered to do knitting/spinning demos at the Central Florida Fair. I took my wheel and all of my spindles. To my surprise, there was a lot of interest in the spinning. I never realized so many people had no idea about spinning at all!

When my fingers became numb from spinning, I took a walk around the building we were in. People were demoing stained glass, gemology, beading, polymer clay, weaving, kumihimo, etc. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on if you are me or DH), I have found another hobby I would like to explore a little more....WEAVING! I sat a loom and did a little weaving - I loved it!!! While I would love to have a table loom with a floor stand, we really can't afford that right now - money or space wise. I think I am going to have to go on a hobby diet for a little while. I have "yarned" myself right out of space! I visited the polymer clay booth and found a couple of items I could not live without - a polymer clay moose and a couple of little sheep that I intend to turn into stitch markers. The highlight of the day was one younger girl that came up, tried the spindle and really liked it. She took the information for our Saturday meetings so she could learn more! It was so gratifying to be the enabler, instead of the enablee for a change! Two of my good friends came by with another friend. The friend really like the spindle too! YEAH! Hopefully, I have been able to give them at least half of what I gained from learning to use the spindle. Well, there was another highlight of the day....I tried a fair food I had never tried (or heard of for that matter....a deep fried Oreo. It probably sounds to you about like what it tasted like to me. The pancake batter the Oreo was dipped in before it was fried made the cookie soft. YUCK! I like my Oreos a little more crunchy or made gooey by milk!

This Saturday, J & I are heading up to Jacksonville for a Fiber History Social...We are not quite sure what we are going to encounter there, but it will give us a good chance to socialize and meet other fiber minded people.

Check out my flickr page...I have loaded pictures of some of the yarn I bought on the trip to Maine and since....

Monday, April 16, 2007

Good News and Adventures

All is well with DH's brother now...it looks like things are looking up for him and his family! YEAH!

Up until yesterday nothing too terribly exciting has happened since I last posted...well, I have bought a little more yarn (some wonderful Noro Cash Iroha for less than $7.50/hank!!!). I finally finished the baby blanket I was knitting for my new niece (DH's youngest brother's - DH is the 3rd of 4 boys). What a feeling of accomplishment...Did I mention this was my FIRST knitting project? I have moved on to a cute little wrap in one of the Vogue Knitting to Go books...I am using Filatura di Crosa Amico (100% cotton) in a wonderful royal purple. This is some of the yarn I purchased for $1 a ball. I have also started a plain, garter stitch shawl with some Tilli Thomas silk DH bought for me while we were in York, ME. The colors of this silk are so glorious, that I did not want to overshadow them with lace patterns....

Yesterday, DH & I went with J to Epcot. The International Flower & Garden Festival is going on, so I got some great flower shots (see flickr). My two favorite parts of the day were the "orchid walk" (I think it was right outside of Mexico) and the butterfly tent. I have never seen so many orchids and so close up...Unfortunately, the wind was blowing like crazy, so I couldn't get very many good pictures of them, but I did manage to get a couple. The butterfly tent was soooo cool...lots of butterflies and the plants/flowers they like. This is a must see if you happen to be going to Epcot during this festival.

I am a wimp when it comes to rides, so I only ride things like "the land" and "spaceship earth". DH and J decided they wanted to do "Mission Space" - no, not the tamed down version...the whole spinning, G force thing. What did I do while they were being knocked about in space? I sat in the little kiddie area, watching all of the screaming little kids running around... :-)

DH and J did manage to talk me into riding "Soarin'". What was I thinking? Well, I was thinking it was going to be pretty tame (by my standards). Boy, was I wrong. You are strapped into this airplane like seat and lifted 30 feet into the air (yes, your feet are dangling!). There is a HUGE screen in front of you.....Basically, it is a simulation of hang gliding over different parts of California....complete with the smells (over a pine forest, you smell pine; over the ocean, you smell the ocean; over an orange grove, you smell oranges). I kept my eyes closed for most of the ride, but I did open my eyes long enough to see a guy on a golf course hit a tee shot and the ball was heading right for me! Okay Okay...I know it wasn't real, but it sure didn't feel good. If you are into things like that, it is a great ride.

The strangest part of the evening was as we were walking out...a rabbit (yes, a real rabbit) was hopping away from the "dynamic garden" display....I guess he had his supper there! :-) It was very odd to me to see a rabbit in the middle of Epcot.

I have a several events in the upcoming weeks, so I will be posting a little more frequently. This coming Saturday, several of us will be "demo-ing" (spinning, knitting, etc) at the Central Florida Fair. The following weekend J and I are heading to Jacksonville for a Fiber History Social. The weekend after that is either the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival or the Knit and Spin Because We Can event (more than likely it will be the Knit and Spin event)....