Sheep Thrills

It's not that I need any more fleece in my fiber stash. (I'm a spinner - yarn variety, just to clarify). But today, at my Spindrifters group, I came across the most lovely fleeces from a local shepherd. Lorelei brought four fleeces from her sheep. "Poppy" is a Border Leicester/Romney cross, with lustrous white ringlets which proved to be irresistable. Poppy, Lorelei tells me, is the smartest of her sheep, responsive & friendly, not that it makes any difference to the quality of the fiber, but it's nice to know. The other fleece comes from a gray Jacob whose name escapes me at the moment. I'm thinking "Ellie" or "Lizzie", neither of which I think is quite right. In any case, the gray fleece is soft & luscious, and since I'm a true sucker for natural gray fleeces I bought it. Shortly thereafter, a couple of other Spindrifters decided they'd love to have a bit of it, too, so (as you already know, I'm a sucker for natural gray fleece & already have at least one in my stash) I parted with half of it, which Joy and Joanne shared. "Ellie", "Lizzie" or whatever her name is. . . which will come to me later. . . likes to jump, from what Lorelei says. She's a slender sheep, not as round of body as was Poppy, but an active & busy girl. Lorelei takes very good care of her sheep, and the fleeces are truly pristine, lacking the usual bits of chaff & nasty pieces that nearly always need to be removed before washing. At the moment, part of Poppy is in the washing machine. No skirting necessary. Thank you, Lorelei! Oh, and before I forget, Lorelei generously donated a truly gorgeous fleece to Spindrifters for our upcoming Sheep-to-Shawl demonstration at the Highland Games in Mount Vernon, WA, July 9-10, 2005.

San Francisco Adventures

Hubby & I just returned from San Francisco CA, where he attended a conference for several days. Left to my own devices during the daytime (Mwahahahaha), I had way too much fun visiting one of my favorite fabric stores, Britex (Mecca for sewing enthusiasts). On the fourth floor, I found an enticing selection of silk remnants and went back to the hotel with several pieces. I also found Artfibers, a small knitting shop located on the second floor of a building near Union Square. Their yarns are mill spun & dyed to their specifications, & absolutely gorgeous doesn't begin to describe them. This shop has a "yarn tasting room" - comfortable space in which to pull up a chair, get out some needles, and sample their yarns before buying. They were very welcoming & I would love to have just moved in. . . thank goodness they're online, too (artfibers.com if you're a fellow yarn junkie). NAYY just in case you were wondering.

At the conference, Hubby ran into some old colleagues, and we had a wonderful time re-connecting with people from his residency (can you believe) 20 years ago. Great fun was had at the first night's reception, where Hubby & his friend chatted like little school girls, & I watched little kids, adults & a few rhythmically challenged folks dance to a seriously great band (The Fundamentals). Even the waiters were surreptitiously boogying down as they came from the kitchen to replenish the buffet. As for the formal dinner/dance a couple of nights later. . . well, I'll just say the band was not the best choice, if you can imagine the group just mentioned dancing to rap & ODB. . . but the food was great.

San Francisco is a great place to eat. I can heartily recommend the Waterfront Restaurant, Le Colonial (Vietnamese), & The Boulevard (pricey but great food).

What's more fun than a bunch of monkeys?

At Knit Night last night, it was Joy & Robin's birthday. We had cake & presents. . . well, one cake. . .and lots of presents for both of our friends. Robin arrived late, just as we were about to close up, but didn't seem to mind that we'd already sung to her & eaten the cake. She was truly happy & surprised, especially when she received two copies of the same book (of all the knitting books on the planet, this was amazing - but I guess Joy & I both had the same idea of what she would find helpful at this point in her knitting experience). Joy was also pleased with the group's celebration for her. What special friends! We love these gals.

The sad part of the evening was that Penny was not with us. We miss her so much, but she is on an adventure now which is taking her to other places, and hopefully to the happiness that she so deserves. But we really miss her. . .

Yvonne