Don't call social services on me...I didn't mean to be neglectful...

So...I have been rather neglectful of my blog of late...but I have a really good excuse...
Here's one of them
I have been playing with my Harris Wheel...this lovely yarn is 1.5-2 wpi! My husband thinks it looks like climbing rope...I absolutely love the end result! I don't love using the actual wheel...it's clunky but light and wobbly. You really have to work at it to make the wheel go, and the hooks catch on the yarn all the time...luckily spinning this stuff is relatively fast, so even when I get annoyed with the glitches, it's not like I will be doing it for another 5 hours...
The other great thing about this wheel is that it's great for destashing! The first skein I did was 300gms and the second skein I did was a whopping 450 gms!! 1 pound of fat yarny goodness.
I also spung this "vegan" yarnIt is hemp plyed with china grass ramie. The hemp is pretty stiff, I am hoping to be able to find some that is finer or find a way to process the stuff I have.
I have been working on adding stuff to my etsy store. I haven't had any sales yet, but I have had several views of my items so I am pretty happy with that!

The Carnival came to town this weekend so I took the "kids" to check out the rides. My favourite part is the "Carnies" I always like to check out the travelling folk. Usually I am extremely dissapointed, I keep hoping to see a whole bunch of people that look like they are part of a travelling freakshow...
Aside from that the carnival was most excellent. I took Mackenzie, Stephanie and her boyfriend Ray-Tiny stayed home with the grandbaby. This was the first year that Mackenzie was tall enough to ride the big kid rides. She was pretty uncertain about whether or not she would do it but I told her that I would make sure that she was between two "adults" for all the rides and then she was game. It was absolute blast. At one point Stephanie got sick in a garbage can, which quite honestly made me laugh until I cried. We all got pretty nauseous and at the end of it all, after our stomachs had settled I bought mini-donuts. Apparently Ray's stomach wasn't as settled as he thought because he couldn't keep the one donut he at down and he also got sick in a garbage can. I asked Stephanie if they always did everything as a couple.
I pointed out to Mackenzie that she and I were the only ones who didn't get sick and she jumped up, point at Ray and said "HA! You got SERVED!" I have no idea where she gets her attitude from...
Easter Dinner was AWESOME!! Tiny baked Lemon Meringue Pies and there were delicious (note to self, go eat pie after writing blog post) and I had mashed potatoes, ham and cheese sauce for breakfast this morning.
I started a new knitting project but it's a secret so I can't give out any details. I can tell you that today involved some knitting, some purling, a few yarn overs, and some K2tog-I don't want to say much more than that because I don't want to give it away...

Billions of Blistering Blue Barnacles

Dudes...I have so much to post it's not even funny...I have been putting it off and now it's kicking me in the ass and I have to take a large chunk of time away from spinning and knitting...I hope you have a few minutes, I think this is my longest post yet!

First things first...today in the mail I got my first ever etsy order. If you don't know what etsy is your life is horribly empty and superficial. Etsy is ebay for crafters. It is heaven. Check it out here. But be warned, it can seriously suck away hours and dollars.

The awesome part of my etsy order is that while it was my first, it was the 100th sale for the person I bought from. So she sent me goodies in addition to my order. I was super impressed with this since my order was not a high priced order. The fibre she sent me is beautiful.
I bought this in the colourway called Sunrise
Which I plan on blending with this 50/50 wool/silk (got it at Fibres West, more on that later...)
I also bought this beautiful Natural French Angora that was seriously discounted because of moulting/shearing issues, but it is still very beautiful and eminently suited for blending.
And because I was her 100th customer (which was SO cool because it was my 1st ever Etsy purchase) she gave me some wonderful bath salts and THIS
Good GOD look at the staple on this AMAZING Angora!! She doesn't share it with anyone, but because I was her 100th customer (or perhaps because of my incredible psychic persuasive abilities) she felt compelled to share it with me. Jordan you ROCK! Seriously, her stuff is lovely, check her out on Etsy under the seller name punkjordane and if you love angora you will love her stuff! She sells seeds too, but I can't buy those because she is in the States and terrorists grow out of seeds so they don't allow them to cross the border...

OK Next on the docket...FIBRES WEST!! I went there and I didn't want to come home. A whole weekend of fibrey knitty people hanging out together in perfect, blissful, crafting, harmony. I was there with my friends store Twist of Fate. We had TONNES of product, and we sold a lot. But most importantly I got to meet a whoel bunch of truly wonderufl people (or maybe I just assumed they were wonderful because of their spinny knitterliness) I saw so many amazing fibres and I wanted to buy them ALL. I did get a few nifty things, such as the aforementioned. Handmaiden 50/50 wool/silk. I also got this:
It is is hemp fibre that is fairly fine-a whole 227 grams of it! Half a pound of hippy goodness. I am going to use it for blending. Some is slated for sock yarn and the rest is going to sit in my stash being all potential and stuff.

Also bought 117 grams of merino/tencel from Knitopia, it is so beautiful and is this fantastic black/purple with white tencel. I am spinning it to a laceweight or slightly heavier and plan to knit a shawl with it. The weird thing is I HATE wearing shawls. I like the way they look on other people but you would have to hogtie me and then drape it over my struggling body to get me to wear one...and then I saw the merino/tencel...and I started imagining myself wearing really gothic lacey shawl looking all mysterious and stuff...so ashawlknitting I will go!

I bought this China Grass Ramie...I don't really know what it is...which I think may have been the deciding factor in my choice to purchase it...
I also knit this during the slow times at the festival-it's that sweater in ridiculously chunky wool for my stepdaughter-I think it may have taken all of 5 hours to knit.I started knitting thisIt's the Assymetrical Cardi. The yarn is lovely and from Custom Woolen Mills, I got the yarn from Twist of Fate.

My Aunt came to Fibres West and that was so cool!! She brought muffins, and I have to admit I was a little leery of them at first because she told me they had tofu in them...but I will eat anything so I gave them a whirl and they were SO good!! Yummy banana tofu muffins, which is perfect for me with my insanely high protein requirement (I think it's because I am an ogre). I MUST remember to ask for the recipe! I like it when healthy food tastes good. It makes me think "Thank God I can't eat well and not want to sand off my tastebuds."
I also saw 2 other people I that I know there which was neat because I thought I would not know anyone. Sharon from Armstong taught me Bobbin Lace and she is such a cool lady so it was nice to see her again. I also saw Cheryl from Saltspring. Every year I volunteer at the Fall Fair on Saltspring and Cheryl does the fleece judging. 2 years ago I was her Judging assistant and I learned at TONNE from her. It was really neat to see her there, she was there with Jane Stafford Textiles.

One last thing about Fibres West that I thought was SO cool: I was wandering around looking at booths and I got a compliment on my sweater from one lady in a spinning circle and one of the other ladies said "Is that the Wrenna?" I just about died. It was so cool that someone recognized it and asked about it by name!
I know the pic is terrible, but don't you think my shower curtain is cool?