I ran away from home

Last week was such a hard week, I decided on Friday to run away from home.  I had friends who were vending at the Midwest Fiber and Folk Festival and this weekend was the monthly meeting of the LACE group in Chicago.  So I decided to go up for the meeting and then head further north for the festival.  There's no better therapy after a really hard week than being among my people - the people of the fiber.

Unfortunately my weekend started at 7am with me at the ATM discovering I didn't have my checkbook with me.  I'd had it out the night before balancing it and hadn't been out of the house since so I knew it was in the house.  I went home to grab it and after tearing the house apart for an hour and a half, decided to go on without it.I never did find it and had to report a lost card to the bank this morning but the most important thing was that it made me late for the LACE meeting.  They were having a program on the crocheted "crocodile" stitch which sounded really interesting, even though I'm not that crazy about crocheting with yarn.  I got to the meeting as people were leaving but the lovely teacher (whose name I didn't even get) stayed and walked me through the beginnings and gave me a copy of the pattern.  See what you think:

It's really easy (once you get the hang of which side of the work you're working on) and there are a lot of possibilities.  There's even a whole Annie's Attic book with projects using this stitch.  I haven't been able to track it down yet but I'll definitely have to find it.

At the festival, I ended up getting the most beautifuly hand-thrown teapot (sorry, I don't have a photo handy) and fiber.  Lots of fiber.  19micron Merino.  Merino and silk.  Merino and kid mohair.  All in white.  I'll probably dye the merino/silk and maybe the merino but the merino/kid mohair is going to stay in the lovely natural white.

I also got the most beautiful Driftwood Spindles spindle.  I don't remember the wood used for the whorl and can't find my card but the shaft, which is also beautifully detailed, is Mesquite wood.  Anyone from Texas would understand why finding that out confirmed my purchase.  It's extremely light and spins like the wind.  I've started on the merino/kid mohair with this spindle and the outcome is going to be breathtaking.  Yet another candidate for the white on white project.

I can testify to the fact that if you get your butt kicked at work, what you need is fiber and people of the fiber.  That makes everything better!