Fiona Ellis was inspiring. Her talk gave me lots of ideas for designing, and some encouragement. It was also just a fun time, as she was quite humorous and entertaining. And I finished the knitting for one of the designs I'm submitting to a book. You didn't know I was working on book designs, did you? Wish me luck! When I spoke with Fiona Ellis, she was quite encouraging of my design endeavors as well.

On Saturday, I went shopping at the market and had a couple books signed by their authors; Leigh Radford, Fiona Ellis, Kristin Spurkland and Stephanie Pearl-McPhee were signing books on Saturday. Rich and I brought all the kids, and had a great time showing them the yarn and fibers and tools. We also enjoyed watching the astonishment on people's faces when they found out that all five children were mine, and enjoyed hearing their compliments on how polite, well behaved, interested, focused and cute our children were. This is the same reason I like taking them all to Trader Joe's, it's fun watching the disdain from the zero-population, aging hippie types while also seeing their shock at how calm and orderly the kids are, and how well received by the staff they are. Anyway, this is what I bought:



From left to right, Fly-Dyed Monarch sock yarn from Angora Valley Fibers, in Raspberry Creme, Socks that Rock Lightweight from Blue Moon Fiber Arts, in Velvet Moon, Fancy Image Hand Dyed Merino Tencel in shades from the palest sky blue to periwinkle, Fancy Image Hand Dyed Merino DK in blues and aquas. I always choose the yarn of which there is the least or the last skein when I shop at Myra's, but I love her yarns and she is one of the most generous people out there. When a lady at the yarn shop was looking for a color yarn she didn't have in at that moment, she immediately offered to dye it for her. I only see her once a year at Madrona and she remembers me by name and is always so helpful to me.



I think this is a better shot of the Monarch. The colors range from a deep reddish brown to a bright raspberry pink.

edited:
I forgot to mention how nice and informative the fellow at their booth was. Alexander wanted to know how the circular sock machine worked (and, by the way, I'd love a circular sock machine, should anyone be wondering), and we got a mini-lesson right there. We also found out it took about 10 minutes for someone who knows how to use the machine well to make a basic pair of women's socks. 10 minutes, folks! Think of how many pairs of socks I could have!



I was hoping this would show the colors better in the Merino Tencel, but I'm not sure it does.

The photo I took of the Socks that Rock yarn didn't come out as well as I'd like. I've never bought their yarn before, though I've seen it and admired it at shows and fiber festivals for the last four or five years. This year, I bought it in solidarity with them, since they were treated so shabbily by the credit card person at their bank. You have probably already heard about it elsewhere. Rich and I think they have a great case for a lawsuit, though we don't know what their plans are. I was disappointed to see people jumping to conclusions about the bank employee in posts and comments around the blogosphere. This person whose sex nobody knows was not more likely to be male, just stupid, though I know some people seem to think the two the same. Sara has it just right, I think. The assumption that it's those men out to get us women sickens me, especially when it is based on exactly zero evidence. I don't think men are more likely than women to make idiotic business decisions, or to be ignorant of the draw and success of sock yarn, how many people really get the whole knitting thing anyway? But, of course, it's because they are big bad evil men out to destroy a couple women's business that this happened. Exactly. I figure at the least that person was fired, or at least I hope so.

Back to nicer things. I'll leave you with a parting shot of Jerome waiting with excitement to go shop for yarn.

Labels: Design, Family, Madrona, Yarn