Smithsonian Folklife Festival

Hi everyone - it's been a while! Sorry I dropped off the blog for a while. I have no excuses!

Let me try to catch up!

Last week Coleen and I hit DC to take in the Smithsonian Follklife Festival.

The themes were Bhutan, Texas and NASA. Yeah - not sure how NASA is considered folk... aren't they the exact opposite of folk? I mean they use computers and space ships and stuff!!! As for Texas - I was also a bit thrown off by their displays. There was a wine making display (don't really think of wine when I think of Texas), and music and that's about it. So needless to say we spent most of the time in Bhutan. Oh and in case you don't know - Bhutan is situated in the eastern Himalayas and bordered by China and India. (I had to look too)

I could see a great deal of both Chinese and Indian influences in their art.

Bhutan's displays were beautifully ornate and rich with history.

The first thing you see when you step out of the metro and onto the Mall is an amazing recreation of a traditional Bhutanese Buddhist Lhakhang (temple).





After getting some of their delicious rice and chicken with chilli and cheese - we sat down to eat and watch some dancing.



Next it was on to the textile arts. Wow! Just wow. The details and colors were spectacular! We immediately honed in on some luscious silk yarn:



There was weaving and spinning and embroidery and every other textile art you can imagine.














There was also painting in progress. Just look at the details!



This was one of my favorite things. I'm not 100% sure what it is - but it looks like a temple or shrine of some sort.



The details and colors were just amazing.



After walking around the festival - we enjoyed some other beautiful things on the Mall. More on that later!

Happy Tuesday everyone!

Virginia is for lovers

Yarn lovers that is!

I spent last week in Virginia attending a training course. I was surprisingly very busy with studying and work for the class - but I did find some time to sneak away to Alexandria one night.

I paid a visit to two yarn shops - Knit Happens and Springwater Fiber.

First stop was Knit Happens...

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The shop is lovely and so are the employees. I remembered meeting Holly at Stitch and Pitch. I was also hoping to run into Rossana - but alas she wasn't working that day.

Maybe I was a bit biased - but I think my favorite employee was Ms Lola:



It could also be that I was missing my pups! I ended up buying a skein of Neighborhood Fiber Co in a lovely shade of green (surprise, surprise).

After getting my fill of puppy love - I headed out and over to Springwater Fiber Workshop.



What an awesome place! They have everything a fiber lover could want - yarn of course and spinning, weaving, and felting supplies to please anyone. I admired the lovely looms and cones of yarn - telling myself I really do not need another obsession! I managed to tear myself away and focus on the yarn. I got some lace weight hand dyed in the shop and some sock yarn by Happy Feet.

Can't wait to knit something with all this new yarn!

Stitch and Pitch!

Better late than never for this post!

Last Friday - I went to the Stitch and Pitch game at the Nationals stadium in DC. It my was first time at that stadium and I have to say I had a blast!

Hollyanne and her son joined me at the game.




The boy and I had fun mimicking the announcer's voice as he called the names of the Nat's players.... Looooooooooopez! Guuuuuuuuuuuuuuzman! Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuukes! He was also trying to get a photo of each player hitting the ball. It was very challenging actually because his camera took about 2 seconds from the time you push the button to the time his camera actually took the photo. So I was helping him out. I must have said "ready... set... take it!" about 500 times!! I got really good at analyzing the pitcher's wind up! ha!

He did get some good shots though and that's all that matters!

The game went into extra innings and would you believe it took 14 innings for the Nats to finally win!? But win they did! Here they are celebrating their LOOONG awaited victory.



The "official" mascot of the team is Screech the bald eagle - but my personal favorites were the Presidents!



Here they are on the big screen racing around the stadium. Lincoln won both times :)

There was of course - lots of knitting!


And knitters! I didn't know who would be there - but I hit the knitter jackpot - I saw all my DC and VA friends! (MD friends too!)

Before we even sat down - we saw Ms Bonnie!



And the awesome sisters Cici and Chelette.


It was so great to see my pal Amy O!



Boo hoo - she is leaving for Alaska soon!


I managed to spy Ann in the front row when she got up for the 7th inning stretch and then imagine my surprise when I sit down next to Erin! It was so great to run into you ladies!


And I also finally got to meet the fabulous Karida of Neighborhood Fibers. We had communicated through email when I was helping out with the Cloverhill Booth at MD Sheep and Wool. She is just as nice in person as she is online.



This girl is way talented too. She dyes up the most gorgeous yarn! I was lucky enough to snag two mini skeins of Neighborhood fibers in my Stitch and Pitch goodie bag! Woohoo!

I later heard Isel was waving at me all night and I never even saw her! Sorry! I told her she has to throw some yarn at me next time :)

It was a fun night! Can't wait for the next Stich and Pitches - first at the Bowie Baysocks and then the Orioles!

WIP Wednesday

I have quite a few WIPS at the moment - but only got a pic of one.

Here's the back of my Printed Silk Cardi (AKA Summer Cardigan).



I am loving this! I am almost done with the left front. Hopefully I will be able to focus on it enough to finish soon!

Dig the stitch pattern - I love it!

Flickr Fun!

This is so cool!

It creates a design using your most frequently used tags.

Want to make one? Go here.

Mannings weekend and Adamas modeled!

I finally got some shots of Adamas! I really love the simplicity and beauty of this pattern. It worked very well as a single skein knit!



Stats:
Pattern: Adamas by Miriam L. Felton
Yarn: Colinette Jitterbug
Needles: Size 9 Addi Lace
Mods: Since I knit this with only about 320 yards - I only did 9 repeats of the middle chart instead of 14 and then only had enough yarn for the last row of the third chart.





I wore it this weekend to the Mannings too! It was their 40th annual Spinning Seminar and Coleen, Jen and I went up for a visit!

It's so beautiful there. Don't you just want to go running through this field!



The Mannings is a magical place. If you've never gone - I highly recommend a day trip! They have everything a knitter, spinner or weaver could ever want! You can easily get lost in their store amid the spinning wheels, looms and row after row of yarn.

This weekend was especially fun because of all the things to do! There were of course sheep and other animals around - The little guy in the picture below actually got a piece of my finger!



1. The Mannings, 2. This guy bit me!, 3. Ouch!!, 4. Bah!

In addition to the sheep, goats and rabbits, there were many demonstrations to watch.

Norm Hall was there with his gorgeous wheels, there was a needle felting demonstration, a mushroom dyeing demonstration and a flax prep and spinning demonstration.



1. Norm Hall, 2. Needle Felting, 3. Mushroom dying, 4. Spinning Flax...

My favorite thing though was making my own batt! Here I am on the drum carder turning and turning the handle as I feed in wool, sparkles and other bits!



We all made a batt and each of ours was very different!



1. Jen's batt, 2. My batt, 3. My batt spun up, 4. Coleen's batt

It was so much fun to play with the colors! Now I know why Stephanie loves it :)
After we made out batts - we all immediately spun them up. Coleen did an awesome job - it was her first time on a spinning wheel and she did great!!



The setting couldn't be better - there's a river on one side - fields on the other and this gorgeous barn in the middle.

I love this old barn! It's a beautiful shade of red (and inside - the church ladies were selling yummy pie and home made rootbeer!)



Did you ever notice - that the support columns are just kind of sitting atop some bricks!!



Yikes!

Next to the barn is a glorious magnolia tree with huge dinner plate sized blossoms. The colors are perfect for Project Spectrum!




There was one point where we were all just sitting and knitting quietly and I looked up and saw Jen in the perfect light. Isn't she a beauty!



Thanks girls for an awesome day!

Double Happy day for Dad!

Today is a special day for my dad - it's Father's day of course - but it's also his birthay!!


My family is big on cards. My dad is notorius for winning too. Hurley is giving my dad some tips here...maybe this is the secret of his success?



My dad's a Wisconsin boy - born and raised. Here he is at U of Wisconsin last summer.



I think my brother is a mirror image of my dad - what do you think?



And here Dad is a clock! We are at the Domes in Milwaukee WI and you can be a human sun dial and it actually tells you the correct time!



Don't forget to give your dad a call today!!

Happy Father's Day and Happy Birthday Dad!! I love you!!

Adamas!

I tried - I really did. I tried to keep away from the lace for a while... but it called me back!

I started knitting the Adamas Shawl last Sunday and I finished it last night. 5 days people! I think I have some kind of problem.

Hi my name is Jody and I'm a lace addict.

I blocked it last night...





and I'm wearing it now. No one at work appreciates the knitting - but I don't care.

I knit this one with single ball of Colinette Jitterbug. I just love these quick single skein knits. Here's what I had left....



Yeah - I do like to cut it close!!

Hopefully I'll get some proper shots of it tomorrow. Coleen and I are going to the Mannings! Our yearly journey to the land of yarn has come again. Maybe I'll see you there!

June is for drawing!

Brie's memorial service was yesterday and it was a wonderful celebration of her life. I can't imagine a better way to remember her. Of course there were many tears, but there were also many many smiles. It was great to see her mom smiling too.

I am so glad I was a part of her life.

In other news...

This month a friend of mine, and an awesome artist, challenged me to fill an entire sketchbook in the month of June.

One of the first sketches I did was a daisey - one of Brie's favorite flowers.



I used to draw all the time, but other things like life! kind of got in the way. I'm so glad I am going back to it! I have been bringing my notebook everywhere with me - because you never know when you will get a chance to sketch!

Here are some of my other drawings.



1. Hurley Sleeps, 2. A Bird in the grass is worth two in the hand?, 3. Gnarley, 4. Bird on a branch, 5. Night Tree, 6. Peacocks Strut, 7. Butteflies on the Brain, 8. Crappy sketch of a wheel, 9. Coffee Talk

You should join us! There's a flickr group that will tell you about it!