A Little Reality, But Mostly Yarn

I don't think I can bear to go into The Whole Thing With the Nazis right now (Nazis, marching in American streets, I just can't even); my brain is still struggling to process it. In the shower this morning, I realized I was humming People Are People, the lyrics to which did not seem quite so loaded when I first heard it in 1985.

However, before I get to the fluffy topic of the day (fiber! and knitting!), I will share this image here, as I did when I saw it on Facebook. You've heard the expression, "Be the change you want to see in the world"? Well then.

(It turns out the photo was taken in 1985, in Sweden.)

Now, back to Saturday, and the Fiber Revival! Since Mary Ellen and I have gone for a few years now, I finally made a Fiber Revival tag here, so if you click on that label at the bottom, you should be taken to all the posts about it, if you want to revisit past years.

This year, I was afraid that my post would have to start with my disappointment about the weather, since earlier in the week some rain was forecast (in the afternoon! no, in the morning!), but in fact it was dry, and although mostly cloudy, was still so much better than I was expecting that I was quite pleased. I mean, look at it.

Gorgeous weather, no, but surprisingly decent. As always, the key to happiness is low expectations.

As to the near view, well. I mean, really.

It wasn't what I was expecting to get, but it was definitely a can't-put-it-down purchase. And yeah, I know. Blue. You've heard it all from me before. I do buy other colors ... but not as much as blue.

When we arrived, we put our chairs down under a tree and walked along the booths, seeing everything there was, and then each making that one key purchase. Got lunch, and sat down to eat, knit, commune with nature surrounded by knitters and fiber folk, all that good stuff. (You may think you don't see a lot of people knitting in public, but I guarantee you, you see more of them than you do spinners. Lots of people at their spinning wheels is not something I'm used to, either, but I like it.)

At one point, I looked up to see a line at the beer truck; apparently, one of the baseball teams all chose to spend their break the same way.

See?

There weren't any alpacas there this year, sadly, but we did wander along saying hi to the horse, donkey, and other animals near and far.

And a tree that was rather dramatic about a lost limb.

And, that's it for Saturday!

I got a lot of knitting done last week; it helped that I spent the majority of the work week on a task that mostly involved looking at a document, reading through it and not having to do a lot of typing, which goes very well with simple knitting.

For a friend who has a friend having a baby*, I made some hats.
*The list of people for whom I will do this is very limited ... but she's on it!

One like this:

And two like this: they look very similar, but one is slightly larger, and so stretches out more.

And I started a blanket, with yarn I picked up on super-sale some years ago. Stashing for the win!

Details about these will have to wait; I'm out of time!

Fiber Revival Time

One again, today was the annual Fiber Revival in Newbury MA. (I went last year, and in 2014.) For some reason, although the temperature yesterday was close to 100 (and the "feels like" temp I'm sure was over), and tomorrow is supposed to be the same, today was mostly overcast and about 75. Weather, man, I will never understand. But it did mean that being outside was bearable for longer than it would otherwise have been. We had a very pleasant time, shopping and then sitting and knitting.

Most of my pictures are of the animals on the farm, though I don't remember seeing a cat there before.

The horse, yes.

And donkey, and one of several sheep.

This goat felt strongly that the grass was greener on the other side of the fence. Can you argue?

Then the sheep...

...was approached by the goat...

...who did an amazing hop into the air, just before I got my camera up. Then they went back to eating as though nothing had happened. Okay!

Two giant pigs, snoozing.

Goat, chilling.

The Pinestar Studio booth had some weaving, as well as yarn and fiber. Pretty cool!

I got a skein there, this lovely multicolored skein of Linda's Car Socks, which is merino with cashmere and nylon.

And at Mad Color Fiber Arts, I got a skein of self-striping yarn, Whim, in Bruins colors.

The colorway is named Helga, after Helga Hufflepuff.

If you're thinking that it looks a lot like the socks I'm currently knitting, you're not far wrong, and you have been paying attention, haven't you?

But this one is supposed to knit into wider stripes, and I couldn't resist.

I also couldn't resist this greeting card (which I will probably frame, rather than send to anyone), from Mulberry Marsh Designs. She said his name is Machu, and she takes more pictures of him than of Pichu, who is black and harder to get good photos of.

You can see that the card got a little curved in my bag; it's currently under a book, getting all nice and flat again.

On Fiber Revival-ing

Today's weather has been less pleasant than yesterday's; it isn't actually that much cooler, but with little to no sun and a continuous breeze, it feels much cooler, and I'm glad that the beautiful day came yesterday, in time for the Fiber Revival. It was a good time! Perfect for some time spent sitting outside, knitting and people-watching. We brought chairs and snacks, bought lunch there, browsed the booths, and looked at the animals.

First, though, this bumper sticker, which has nothing to do with fiber but I loved all the same.

Next, lots of animals. Humming alpaca, recently shorn:

Other alpaca likes his head scritched:

Really, really likes it.

"Don't think about it. No touchy."

The horse, of course.

I seem not to have gotten pictures of the donkey, or the pig who was far from the fence. A few goats, hamming around. I mean, don't you always perch on a giant spool?

Or sleep in a feeding trough?

And this one was just posing. With crazy eyes.

Also sheep, here:

There: 

And everywhere. With all that green, this one was digging in the dirt.

This guy, meanwhile, was tired of stooping, and ate on his knees instead, even moved around that way!

Laziness as art form.

They had a display that we first noticed from a distance for the size of the wheel.

It turned out to be on spinning flax, which is what this is:

Pretty neat.

There as also a demonstration that we made sure to check out, given the description "devices of questionable origin" ("rodents of unusual size", anyone?). It turns out that the woman who was there to teach a few classes, Abby Franquemont (on the right), had been having some health issues that interfered with her spinning, so her husband (on the left) came up with an alternative to all the pedaling that spinning wheels involve. He's up to the 8th iteration, hence the label (click photo to enlarge).

Even for a non-spinner, it was pretty cool.

There was a beautiful shawl on display at one of the booths.

But although there are only a few projects of it listed in Ravelry, more than one notes it isn't well-written, so I will probably pass. Too bad, it's pretty!
Finally, the yarn. I held myself to one new skein, from Spunky Eclectic, in a rainbow of sherbet colors:

It's lace-weight, which probably means a shawl, but who knows. It sure is pretty.

And while I was at it, better pictures of Friday's Webs purchases. The bland-looking but amazing-feeling llama:

And the depths of the sea:

Considering the temptations around me, not too much damage done!