Whirlwind Weekend #1 (and some socks!)

Sunday night was the conclusion of Whirlwind Weekend #1 (the first in a 3-part series). Friday night I flew up to Baltimore and the wonderful Eunny picked me up. We spent the weekend running, eating (me more than her, as noted in Monday's post on her blog!), getting lost, and enjoying the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival. I bought some glorious merino/mohair at the Brooks Farm booth, a kit for a really intricate shawl at the Morehouse booth, a drop spindle, and some roving. Eunny showed me how to use the spindle Saturday night, but I still suck at it. Fortunately she gave me some roving to practice on so that I wouldn't waste the Bunny Balls or the pretty silvery grey wool top that I got. I need a LOT of practice before I can produce something worthy of being called yarn. Since others have already posted pictures, I won't bore you with many, but here are some of my favorites:


He looks like a punk rocker to me. Maybe he's got an iPod underneath all that hair and he's listening to the Sex Pistols or the Cramps.


So cute! Such a funny face!


Pixie Purls, Eunny and me enjoying the sun and the company during the knitbloggers meetup.

This weekend will be Whirlwind Weekend #2 - we're leaving on Thursday after Hayden gets out of school for Panama City Beach, Florida, where I will be competing in the Gulf Coast Triathlon on Saturday. It's a half Ironman distance race - 1.2 mile ocean swim, 56 mile bike ride, and 13.1 mile run. Hopefully I won't melt in that Florida sun!

And before I forget, the next part of this post should've happened last week. Bad blogger! Wednesday I got home and found my Sockapaloooza package in the mailbox! Sandra sent me some great socks:

Simply Lovely Lack Socks from the Spring 2006 IK. She used some Brooklyn Handspun in gorgeous purples, greens, and pinks. They fit me like a dream, and they're sooo soft. I just love them! Also in the package were some other goodies:

Pocky, roasted wasabi peas, a postcard from New York, and some cosmetic bags for holding my notions. (The bags are not in this picture b/c they're being put to use and have found their spot in one of my current project bags.) The Pocky and the peas are so so yummy, and the bags were much needed - I had been storing all of my notions in an old Ziploc bag. Anyway, thank you Sandra! She was at the Sheep & Wool Festival also, but unfortunately, we didn't get to meet.

And did I finish my Somewhat Cowl by last Friday, you ask? Nope. I was really close on Thursday night, but then I tried it on and decided that I may need to do some frogging. I had measured the body of the sweater last week before doing the ribbing on the bottom, but somehow the measurement was different when I tried it on and I need to add length. So I have to rip out the ribbing, do about 2 more inches of stockinette, then redo the ribbing. And I'm not quite sure the neckline is going to look exactly the way I'm hoping it will, so that may require some fiddling with. I'm doing just what the pattern says to do, but for some reason it's not turning out quite as sexy as I want it to. Of course, it doesn't help when you're trying it on with your unsexy pajamas, no makeup and helmet hair from the bike ride you took earlier in the day.