Fiber Revival and Twist Collective

Momma and baby alpacas
Can I get an "Alpaca, Amen!"?


Jill/Tink and Carolyn/Wink in their floofy skirts
I had a fantastic time at Fiber Revival yesterday down in Newbury, Massachusetts. Such a good time that I only took a few pictures. But I got to see deardear Tink and Wink with their traveling version of the best little yarn shop in Massachusetts, along with Knit Night pals Joanne and Suzanne who were doing their best stash management by buying fluff instead of finished yarn - takes longer to use it up if you have to spin it first!


The beginning of my two-handed fair isle hat in Malabrigo Merino Worsted - though my little Isobel has already claimed it for herself
I took a two-handed fair isle class from Isobel Abelson (yes, spelled like my daughter Isobel), who was great. And now I get it! Weaving as you go is so much better than wrestling with floats. All sorts of new ideas are bubbling around in my brain. It was fun to talk Knitting with someone so knowledgeable. And we had a little two-person Joan Schrouder fan club. To top it off, Isobel had a great idea to fix something elegantly on a design project, rather than having to rip out the neckline and reknit it. In the small world files: Isobel and her husband lived one block away from our apartment when he was at Columbia Law School ... with Ruth Bader Ginsburg, whom she said was a mensch, which I heartily agree with even though I've never had the good fortune to meet the lady. To make the class more fun, it was held in "Screen House B", which was one of those mesh screen tents. Ours was set up around back of the house near the chicken coop, which was also home to a big, white tom turkey who stalked around our tent with his tailfeathers unfurled.


The chicken coop by Screen House B

Tom Turkey

There was only a tiny bit of stash enhancement, but it was so pretty it had to come home with me: Sereknity Ayre Laceweight in Blue Lagoon (4 oz./1250 yards of 50% merino wool, 50% tussah silk). I'm mulling over ideas of just what to do with my new pretty...



And I got to meet Julia. I was having such a good time talking to her (and then had to dash to drive the two hours home) that I didn't get to look at the binder she casually mentioned. The binder with pictures of all the new Twist Collective projects. [facepalm] What?! Seriously? I felt like such a doofus last night. Thank goodness the new issue launched today, so I only had to kick myself for twelve hours or so.

So, have you seen the anniversary issue? Go! I'll wait... Really lovely, eh? Very nice patterns and a great mix.

I thought Cher Underwood Forsberg's men's sweater Urbanite was really handsome. Loved the Rococo gloves by Julia Mueller (I knit her Knotty Gloves for my grandmother last year). And I am adding the Cottage Garden pullover by Cheryl Burke to my queue right away - perhaps just for the adorable double-picot hems, though I'm itching to try my two-handed colorwork skillz. And let's not forget Mari Muinonen's Luminen - my problem is I have a white, wool, long jacket, but it doesn't have a hood, or those amazing cabled pockets, or those snowflakes on the back, nor is it out of Mountain Mohair. What's a knitter to do?

But the sweater I really want to knit isn't a pattern in there - the sweater Elizabeth Zimmermann knit for her goddaughter. Jared Flood's photographs are lovely, aren't they? I'm crazy about the sleeves. I've already sent an email off to Schoolhouse Press asking about it (see the article). You should, too!