Leap Year Celebrity ~

My mum is a leap year baby, and this year she really gets a day all to herself. Typically we celebrate all February, and part of March, but this year she gets a lot of celebrations, plus her very own day!Happy Birthday mum!!!! I'll show you tomorrow what special knitting I did for mum.

Island Dancing ~

With all the knitting and quilting and laughing and relaxing, plus the ocean right outside our cozy little cabin, we certainly made time for dancing. It seems dancing is the way to celebrate good music, great friends and lots of relaxing time. So we did some dancing in the sunny cabin on the ocean.. Just couldn't resist posting this pictures as we are having such fun!!! (but no videos...)

Island Quilting ~

Another great tradition of our Island weekend is lots of fabric to make lovely quilt tops! There are several friends on our weekend that have amazing eyes for color and color organization. This year was no exception as my sister shows her lovely quilt top for 2012 weekend! Lots of great colors and inspiration, and all sewn by the time we had to leave on Monday morning! Way to go!!!

New Spinners ~

This holiday weekend we had our annual girlfriends' Island weekend. We have been having our vacation weekend for at least 6 years, and we look forward to our time together all year. The four days we spend together is filled with laughing, relaxing, knitting, some quilting, some beading, some spinning and always singing and dancing, plus chocolate, great food and great wine. Yes, the weekend is packed full of all things fun! This year was my first one to bring my Pocket Wheel, although I've brought my spindles before. This year two friends continued their spinning journey, and both are getting better and better. Both of them are naturals with the fiber, and I think they will be spinning experts soon!

Island fun ~

We wish this weekend could go on longer. Friendship mixed with water front beach property, lots of yarn and several days of relaxing....what is not to love about this?! Here we are being silly by the water. Wondering if we will be able to photo shop all of us into one picture, and laughing the more we think about how it would look...that is why the person on the end has their arm out...for the photo shop "other person" to fit in....crazy thoughts, eh?!! Such great times!!!

Madrona ~

We were so lucky to be able to visit Madrona Fiber Arts again this year, for our second year in a row - that's how lucky we are! So excited to see all the creatively knitted shawls, scarves, sweaters, cowls, and just about any outer wear you can imagine was being worn by the fellow Madrona participants, including us! We also saw a few celebrities, most notable Stephanie, as she is our very favorite inspiration and a hoot. I also stood in line with Wonder Mike as I recognized his lovely voice, and told him that I loved his voice... and scared him, perhaps, and added that I listened to his podcast The Fiber Beat...and he appeared to be not so scared...I bought these lovely balls of fiber while standing next to Mike, in the same booth with the creator of my beloved Pocket Wheel.
I love these crazy colors and the price was the best deal for roving at the show! At last year's Madrona, I was still waiting for my own Pocket Wheel to be made and still seven months away from picking it up. Now I'm having such fun spinning and plying with it! Last year I was also captivated by the pattern Crow Prints shawl that I saw on a sweet lady while I was looking at yarn. She said it was an easy knit, but I'm stuck on mine... I wish I would have found her again!!

Spinning Rainbows ~

Thank heavens for the weekend! I have not been able to do much knitting or any spinning all week, but I dreamed about it ALL week!!! Since the rain has started again this week, I was dreaming most about spinning the Lorna's Laces roving in the Rainbow colorway. These colors are stunning! Just what we need on these rainy days. You may remember that Jitteryknitter found this for me on one of her adventures last year, and knew I would love these colors. I spun a little of it with my drop spindle because it was so beautiful, don't you agree?! It also spins beautifully on my Pocket Wheel, and I'm excited to Navajo Ply it soon.

Spinning success ~

Hurrah for spinning class this Sunday! I brought many bobbins of singles so I could practice practice and more practice on Navajo plying. Sam, my amazing teacher, was as amazing as always and I was Navajo plying like a champ as soon as I could watch what her fingers were doing. Although I had practiced quite a bit since my last lesson, I felt like my hands were awkward and not how I learned...As soon as I watched Sam, I remembered that it is a smooth movement of hands and fingers. I plyed a bobbin of Ms Gusset at class, and then plyed two more bobbins when I came home. Another wonderful class!

Beloved Jitterbug ~

With all this talk about the twist on my beloved Jitterbug yarn, I thought I should be knitting more with this lovely yarn, since I have a pair of socks in the works. Yes, it is lovely, and the twist is the best - ever, and this yarn has such energy and bounce. I love love love Jitterbug yarn, especially the "old" colors that are so bright and cheery. Thankfully my youngest daughter loves the wild colors as well, so these Jitterbug socks are for her. I'm not very far in the knitting, but I will enjoy all of it. Ahhhh, knitting with my beloved Jitterbug....very good, indeed!