Wow. I really haven't updated in a while.

Well, let's see.

We took a family trip to northern Vermont. Dad's fishing buddy up there is also a carpenter/machine knitter/weaver. While I'm pretty sure I could have done without the astounding levels of testosterone involved in putting two vastly intelligent, talented (if somewhat arrogant and pigheaded) men in the same house for more than 5 minutes, my yarn and fiber stash definitely benefitted.

It took some creative stuffing and an extra bag (an army issue duffle, in fact) to get it all on the plane. How's that for luck? The aforementioned fishing buddy gifted me with a cone of Debbie Bliss Aran Tweed in dark purple, the equivalent of a 1/3-1/4 a cone of a fingering weight merino/camel down blend in charcoal, and about a half a cone in forest green. He also sent a few balls of cotton boucle home with my mother, which have since been passed on to me.

On the purchased goods side, we stopped by Wooly Buggah Farm one very snowy afternoon and I picked up 2 ounces of white Cormo pencil roving, a pound of 70% Columbia/30% mohair roving, and three skeins of natural, daaark chocolate brown, worsted Columbia (from a ewe I happened to meet! She was quite a... character... but her lamb was very sweet.) Actually, in retrospect, I snagged the last she had of all three of those. Much sheepy discussion was had. I even got offered a lamb, but I figured that may not go over too well on the flight.

Of course, I had the foresight to take a spindle with me. I started spinning as soon as we got back to our host's abode. There is nothing like sitting inside a cozy house as the snow falls, with a lap dog curled up at your side, a cat on the stairs, and spinning while someone else measures out warp for a new project.

On an amusing note, the two of us got into a bit of a debate as I went to ply a bit of Cormo over two-ply yarn and singles. I favor two-ply, myself. As a weaver, he prefers singles. (I won the debate, I believe, since he called a few days ago to ask me about good wheels for... you guessed it, plying singles.)

I have since gotten a Strauch drumcarder. For my 22nd birthday, at that. I've carded more wool in the past 4 days than any sane person should. Batts of BFL and silk noil, Columbia and mohair, Gotland cross and mohair, superwash and silk, merino and alpaca... Yes, I am a carding fool. Pictures, I'm sure, will follow later, along with the results of tonight's dyeing experiment.