Grad School

I can officially say that grad school is a major time suck. That's all I've done for the last 2 weeks: grad work. Grad work and getting ready for SAFF. And going to SAFF set me back on really accomplishing anything. Not that I didn't enjoy going of course. Thus, I have declared this weekend to be a Do Nothing Weekend of Freedom. The only thing I have scheduled is a massage with my massage therapist on Saturday (at my house so I don't even have to leave) and church on Sunday. The rest of this weekend will be for accomplishing long neglected tasks such as laundry, washing dishes, logistical/business stuff for the Eastern European and Russian Orphanages Project, watching Interview With the Vampire, handing out candy to trick-or-treaters, designing a vest for a mystery KAL that starts Monday, making s'mores, reading blogs, knitting, making placinte, sorting yarn, and organizing my online finances. That all sounds like a terrible lot of stuff but it's all stuff I actually want to do, crazy as that seems. Well, maybe not the laundry or washing dishes so much but I do need some clean clothes and dishes (oh when am I going to find a man to help me with all these menial tasks....). I'm so glad this weekend is finally here. I may not be able to sleep tonight from all the excitement....

Including 2 of the whooping 5 pictures I took at SAFF.

 The full booth, which was TINY! 6ft by 8ft. But Steph and I made it work.

 Me in the booth. Get the full effect if it's tininess?

SAFF Confessional

So, I have to confess something...until yesterday I wasn't really looking forward to SAFF.

I know, I know...sacrilege! Before you string me up by my toes let me explain.

1. I'm going this year as a vendor. This means I won't have as much time for perusing wares. And everyone knows I love a good fiber festival. But me in a room full of yarn and I'm like an alcoholic in a brewery, I just have to have some.
2. I'm not a salesperson. This sorta hurts the whole vendor thing. It's not like I won't tell you everything you want to know about my yarn but you have to ask first. I'm not about to hard sell you as soon as you come within shouting distance of my booth.
3. I'm not competitive. At least not in the sense that I'm looking to be the next Sanguine Griffin or Holiday Yarns or Miss Babs or any of a dozen other indie dyers. I work an 8-4 job everyday. I'm starting a non-profit. I'm involved in my church. I go to knit nights. I'm a full time grad student. Oh, and one day I'd like to have a social life.
4. I'm a Knitter. With a capital K. Not a Dyer. Dyeing is my hobby. I just happen to dye a lot so I have extra to sell. Not as much as someone who spends hours a week dyeing, week in and week out. But more than a healthy hobby should accumulate. And I'm ok with that. But see #3 above.

So basically I was feeling all uninspired about going to sell my yarn and feeling like everything I dye is sub-par and just being super critical of myself. This, of course, did nothing to help my enthusiasm for heading to a major fiber festival.

And then I booked my room.

And I starting thinking about the North Carolina mountains in the fall.

See more breathtaking photos here.
And I remembered the alpacas.

And the llamas.

I love this picture so much.
And the bunnies.

And the market.

And then I remembered the best part of all...

the fair food.

Suddenly I'm ready to go.

Angoras and Alpacas and Llamas

Oh my!

On Friday I took a little "mental health" day from work and headed up to Fletcher, NC with my friend Stephanie for SAFF, the Southeastern Animal Fiber Festival. I'd never been before but we had a great time.

The vending floor
The fleece sale
Steph and I sat and watched people examining the fleeces while we ate lunch. I don't know a whole lot about fleece but I am learning more from reading other people's blogs (check out Sock PrØn for some really good information on fleeces).

The food
I think there is an unspoken rule that when you go to any fair type venue you have to eat the most nutritionally lacking food you can find. The chilli dog might have been so good that I ate a second one.

There were lots of animals:
Alpacas
I really liked this guy. He had this cute little quivering lip and the softest looking ear tufts.
Steph and I both got a handful of hay to try and feed them but they were more interested in eating out of the big feed bag.

Llamas
Say "cheese"!
This guy was really interested in me. He came up and stuck his nose right by my hand and inhaled for a good 20 seconds. He kind of scared me and I pulled away which made him a little put off. He retreated to a corner and sulked the rest of the time Steph and I were visiting him.

And angora bunnies
I loved the seeing the rabbits. When I was a little girl my parents got me a rabbit, a brown and white Holland Lop that I named Benjamin. He had this awesome run in our backyard that my grandfather had built and I used to feed him clover through the bars of his cage. One year we entered him in the state fair and he won second place. Unfortunately, one day when I was at school Benjamin kicked out one of the sides of his hutch and escaped (at least this is what I have always been told). Seeing these little puff balls made me want to get another bunny. I liked the orangy brown ones best because they look like Penelope, just in rabbit form. Plus, angora fur is the softest thing I've ever touched! I have a super sensitive neck but I think I might actually be able to make a scarf with angora yarn (which I just happened to pick up :) ) and wear it.

Speaking of yarn....
I did make a few purchases. Mostly sock yarn and all unique dyers. I didn't want to buy anything I could get at my LYS. I haven't taken pictures yet but I will soon and I promise to post.

Going to SAFF was a whole lot of fun and it also energized me to get working on my store more diligently. I have some new yarns to post and I need to get the next batch of yarn ready to dye (it's still in a great big box in my living room). This week I will hopefully get some of that tackled, all while getting ready for a Halloween party on Saturday night. Wish me luck!