Connecticut Sheep & Wool Festival 2009

The 2010 Connecticut Sheep and Wool Festival is coming up on Saturday, April 24th. We had a great time at the 2009 Connecticut Sheep & Wool Festival, and just realized that we never published our photos on the blog! So here they are, sort of a preview...

In 2009 there were men in kilts, delicious lamb burgers and gorgeous yarns. The lucky sheep pictured above had already been sheared, it was a gorgeously warm (read HOT) sunny day.

Here is my neighbor (yes! I live across the street from a yarn shop!) Debbie Bergman, owner of Purple Fleece, (and my neighbor, am I lucky or what) did a brisk business in weaving, spinning and knitting supplies.

These ladies were giving a lace demonstration. I had never seen this done before. The bobbins alone are a work of art.


And here are the Connecticut Sheep Sisters, spinning and weaving. It was a lovely day. Food for the soul. And I can hardly wait for April 24th!!!
- Kathy

knitting for friends

This is a throw, or lap blanket I am knitting for a friend. She is having a difficult year, and I wanted to knit her something. Aside from calling and emailing, it was all I could think to do.
This has been a hard year for us and a hard year for many people I know. There are health problems, family problems, money problems, job problems. This year (and I am thinking academic year here) seems to be more difficult than most.
Knitting helps. Spring flowers help. Birdsong in the morning helps. The love of family and friends helps.
Every small joyful thing we do, say, think, feel makes a difference.
Now, my timing is a little off here, giving someone a blanket in spring just as our need for warmth is waning. I started several other projects this winter, none of which seemed quite right, until this throw.
But even in summer there is often, at least in the Northeast, a chilly night or two.
-Kathy

Knitting Links!

From Katherine Jane:

Hey guys--Kathy has been on a roll with finding great knitting links recently. Here's some of the best:

We love the strange, otherworldly knits on artist Daniela Edburg's website: http://www.danielaedburg.net/#/content/pictures1/PARTYGIRL.jpg/

The ultimate geeky knit:

http://www.switched.com/2010/01/22/knitted-pixel-sweaters-by-artist-jim-drain-appear-at-top-nyc-bou/

Proof that sportiness and elegant knitwear aren't mutually exclusive: http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/03/warm-and-fuzzy-dept-rodartes-flying-colors/

And news that the Naked Chef is getting into the yarn business: http://www.tonic.com/article/naked-chef-wants-woolies/

And speaking of news, here's a couple that I found:

Covering up frigid chickens:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1254021/Knit-cluck-Somerset-craft-club-keeps-bald-rescue-hens-warm-knitting-woolly-jumpers.html

and a discussion of the knitwear-inspired Olympics outfit worn by the Peru Alpine Skiing team:
http://blog.oregonlive.com/knitting/2010/02/update_on_perus_olympic_unifor.html

Not to mention these two amazing outfits, one via Digg: http://www.flickr.com/photos/45033009@N07/4412526754/sizes/o/ and one at Cute Overload: http://cuteoverload.com/2010/03/09/when-yarn-isnt-cats-best-friend/

Happy procrastinating!

-----

Katherine Jane Arathoon lives in New York City and occasionally guest blogs for Knitting Out Loud. She also blogs at Between Ewe And Me.

pysanky

It is time to make pysanky again. I was taught this ancient craft by a Ukranian friend many years ago. It is an amazingly compelling activity. You concentrate on drawing on eggs for several hours with bees wax heated by candles.

These eggs are dyed with a wax-resist technique. Bees wax is heated in a stylus over a candle. You cover the area in wax which you want to remain that color, then put the egg in a dye.

I try to use free range eggs, as their shells are harder. Geese and duck eggs are good too. The eggs in the basket above were made over the last thirty years, some by my daughter and her cousins when they were little. The brown and yellow egg in the upper right corner was made by my Ukrainian friend's mother. She was born and raised in a small Ukrainian village, spent WWII in a DP camp, and lived for many years in a Ukrainian community in Baltimore.

-Kathy

In bloom! Outside and In

I live in Maine, and we have had a blessedly mild winter (sorry D.C.!). Usually March is still winter here, often very snowy. My snowdrops are always up in March, and they are a cheering sight (in bad weather or good!).
Crocus and daffodils are coming up too. I can't tell you how amazing this is, just as amazing, I suppose, as all the snow was this winter to my mid-Atlantic friends.
These are small species crocus.

And here's the witch hazel! I cut some for the house, it has a wonderful lemony scent.


More daffodils poking up through the leaves.
And lastly, an Oriental poppy.
And below, the orchids are blooming nicely indoors:




A delicious spring!
- Kathy