I had very good intentions to flit around the Fiber-In and take lots of fabulous pictures with my new camera. This did not happen. I got there and I went to take some pictures and found that the light in the conference room was just awful. And I am just not experienced enough with my camera yet to work around that kind of low lighting. So I put my camera away. It was either that and spend the whole Fiber-In with my camera manual trying to figure out the lighting. And that’s no fun. But this is how our booth was set up.

The traffic seemed a lot less this year. I met some nice folks, but I only sold a handful of patterns sadly. But look at all the pretty spinning wheels!

I have one of these batts. Specifically made in beautiful purple tones for me. I want to spin it, navajo ply it, and make it into a new design.

But first I have to practice. So practice I did. And practice I will!

Christmas was nothing less than fabulous. We went to a Christmas Eve party and had an amazing time. Good friends, Santa came for the little ones, and a fun gift exchange (complete with lots of fancy bottles of hooch!) for the big ones. Christmas morning we woke up and had presents with the family. The boys are old enough that they don’t wake us at the buttcrack of dawn, which is just fine and dandy by me. We settled in, opened stockings, and I spiffed up a simple breakfast with cinnamon rolls, sausage, and hash browns. Then we opened presents. My husband totally spoiled me and the boys.

I got the camera I’ve been wanting, some new casual pearl jewelry from the boys, some new Fiesta Ware and some beautiful mixing bowls for the kitchen. Plus I got the HP6 DVD. The boys’ big presents were Rock Band (and the lego version of it) and cell phones. We were trying to wait until they were 12, but the man wanted a fancy phone for his b-day, so we went in a whole family plan. I’ve never seen those boys so excited in my life.

Later in the day we headed over to SugarbeeStudios house and had Christmas dinner with the families of three other of my dearest friends. The boys got more gifts and then the ladies exchanged their gifts. I will just tell you right now I do not deserve my friends. They spoiled me rotten as well. All kinds of fabulousness and thoughtful stuff that I really adore. You should be so lucky as to have friends like this. Oh and yeah. My best friend. Made me do the ugly cry, because her present was that great. Which was totally her goal. And if I didn’t love her so much, I would be very upset that she chose a present for me that she knew would make me weep.

We have a small group, a Fiber Mafia if you will, of amazingly talented and artsy ladies. All of us knit. And then we all have other things we do – artsy/fibery business ventures. All of us spin. Well the rest of the ladies spin on their wheels. I spin on my drop spindle. A wheel was not in the anywhere near future budget for me. You see where I’m going with this, yes? Last night I learned to spin on a wheel. My wheel.

Yeah. You would have cried too. Thank you Chris.

Visit my etsy shop to take a better look!

This is a thank you gift from the Nude Ewe – a very cool non-profit that’s all about the sheep. And you know how we love the sheep. This is dk weight, natural color, and just plum beautiful. I see lace in it’s future. Something Shetland-ish. Something inspired by the old, but with a twist. It’s been sitting on my shelf whispering to me. When it decides what it wants to say out loud, I will cast on. I mean look at that beautiful hand-spun twist. Honestly!

And on Saturday we had another Jax Ravelers gathering. Julie made the drive down with her adorable son (the boys had a blast btw) and a huge bin full of beautiful fibers. I tried to resist. But people were making squealing noises. C’mon!

It’s Flawful Fibers and the colorway is Passion. You can almost reach out and feel how squishy and soft that is, can’t you? Well back off! It’s mine. I had to fight for that one and it’s mine, all mine.

I need to figure out this photograph nonsense. When I get pictures that I’m happy with, it’s really kind of a happy accident. I need to be able to take more reliable photos. With or without the sun.

In other news, I’m looking at purchasing Knit Visualizer. If you own it and would care to give me your honest review, I’d love it! You can leave a comment or e-mail me. It’s a big investment, but I’m kind of in love with it. Let me know what you think!

That’s my finished Squirmy Wormy sock and Tricia. I really should have taken more pictures. So many wonderful people there, and so much bacon. Yes, I said bacon. Sugarbee’s mama (aka Mimi) makes these little chicken-bacon-brown sugar morsels of heaven. And she made lumpia, and some sort of wonderful banana strawberry egg roll, and yeah. Dude, I might not need to eat for week. But here are pictures of the things I brought home with me, starting with my Third Date sock yarn.

Next we have my new love, my drop spindle and my starter fiber.

A lovely pink-orange batt for when I get better.

Doesn’t this look like fiber sushi?

You know I’ve talked about the colors on this cheap date yarn. But I think this picture speaks for itself. I mean in the sunlight the yarn positively glows with color. Yeah.