The Long Thread

I can't believe the weekend is almost over -- it's been such a wonderful one! Of course, it's been a bit bittersweet because under normal circumstances, this weekend would have been Maryland Sheep and Wool weekend. MDSW will always have a special place in my heart because it was the first fiber festival I ever attended and, until the last one I went to when I was helping out in a booth, it was always one of my few weekends away without the rest of my family. For a number of years, it was a trip to go on with a group of girlfriends, and we'd created a really fun tradition of it. I hope next year we'll be able to do it again.

Fortunately, although we couldn't be with thousands of other knitters, Rainbow and I did get a chance to hang out with some knitters. A friend organized a little get-together in a local park with some others I know from my former LYS, which closed several years ago. It was still a bit chilly (I was wearing my new sweater!), but the sun was warm -- and of course the company made it worth it.

Everyone there (other than Rainbow) had been vaccinated, and we were also spaced out and outside, but it was still wonderful to be with other knitters for the first time in a very long time. I am hoping to repeat that experience soon.

In the meantime, I am still working on spinning the dark Polwarth, but I can see the end of the fiber:

I'm fairly certain that I will finish this skein this week, though certainly a lot depends on how busy the week is at work. At the very least, I'll have some time off to look forward to on Friday. Usually staff gets the Friday of spring break week off at the university where I work, but because they decided to condense the schedule due to COVID, there was no spring break, so we're getting this Friday off as a replacement. I might do a Costco run so I can avoid having to go there on a weekend, but I fully plan to take advantage of having a day to myself.

Because MDSW was on the brain this week, I pulled out my very oldest spinning project, which I remembered I had started on a previous MDSW trip:

This delicious-looking stuff is 70% chocolate alpaca (so naturally brown)/30% silk from Gale's Art. It's undyed -- "naked," she called it -- and is probably the best deal ever because 4 oz. of it was only $13. Also, it just so happens that this project is turning six today. That's right, I started it on May 2, 2015. I tend to get it out once or twice a year, determined to finally finish it, and it always gets put away again. Maybe this is finally the year? Stay tuned!