Lake Champlain's Quadricentennial

To celebrate the 400th anniversary of Champlain's "discovery" of Lake Champlain, Green Mountain Fibers in Rutland, VT is hosting a "Four Hundred Years of Green Mountain Fibers" event this weekend. I was able to sneak in this weekend and it was lovely to see so many people turn out for the many activities going on. My main interest was the dying workshop, and as I was waiting for the yarn to prep, I was treated to a one-on-one spinning wheel demonstration! Fun, but definitely still frustrating. I haven't taken out my drop spindle in months. One of my options for Christmas is a wheel, and it was nice to get the opportunity to see if it would even be worth it for me. Not sure ... at least it still looked like yarn most of the time!

Once the sock yarn was ready, a couple of us commenced the "class", which mostly consisted of "go at it!" My "lab partner" was a lot more relaxed about it. I like to follow directions, but it was taking forever so I just started splashing dye on and hoping it wouldn't suck. We used dyes from the Ewe Dye It kit from My Favorite Thimble, which GMF is now carrying. It was a fun low-immersion method that wasn't complicated at all. Considering I have never dyed yarn before, I'm pretty happy with how it came out!



Actually, that doesn't really do it justice. This is my favorite shot of all the ones I took:



Isn't that fun? It's sock-weight. I have no idea what I'm going to do with it. Maybe I'll actually try socks!

Since I already had the camera out, I decided to take some shots of the Crapghan, which is much farther along than the last time I showed it.



See that greenish strip towards the top? That's the Bernat Glow in the Dark yarn. I think it's seasonal; I found it around Halloween at Michaels. It really does glow, too! Sorry, no night shots.

And, since I'm in a sharing mood, here's a sneak peek at my latest Noro Striped Scarf. So neutral ... so unlike that sock yarn I dyed!



It's been a fun fiber-filled weekend. Have a good one!