Boas, Ribbons, & Fluff

Well guys, I had a weird fall and winter. A string of sadnesses, including the loss of a dear friend from a long-fought battle with thyroid cancer, blindsided me. It was a difficult time. I'm generally an optimist, but man was it hard to stay cheery in the face of everything.

There is so much to be grateful for, though. I did get to see my family both at Christmas and in October, when we celebrated my grandmother's 90th birthday. Honestly, my Mimi is the cutest. Evidence:Figure 3.1. Cute, definition of.

Also, I did very well at the Boulder County Fair in August, winning four champion ribbons (including grand champ, whoo hoo!), 5 blue ribbons, 1 second-place, and 1 third-place, all for seven skeins of handspun I entered on kind of a whim. I was pretty proud!
Then I managed to get out of Dodge with my friend Stephanie and two of her friends, taking off in October for Taos, NM for the annual Taos Wool Festival. I'd never gone before, and can I just say, it was a fantastic festival. Even the drive there was spectacular.Might have fallen down and purchased a fleece. Whoops. Good thing there was Ron the Rickshaw Guy ready and waiting to rescue us. Carrying an entire fleece blocks back to the hotel would have been rough.
The whole thing is held outside (a novelty for this Estes Park Wool Market girl), and the weather was perfect, the grass was green, the air was crisp, and everything in every booth seemed like it wanted to go home with me. I showed a little restraint, I s'pose, purchasing some yummy roving of breeds I hadn't tried often, plus a few skeins of Plain and Fancy yarn. This was weird...I never purchase wool yarn (aside from sock yarn), since I should spin down my stash and yada yada. Well, this was pretty special yarn, perfectly spun singles, dyed an array of gorgeous colors. So I bought a bit. :)

Also a pair of soft and lovely gloves. :)

The most exciting thing to happen fiber-wise recently, though, has been getting handed the keys to my first fiber studio. EEEeeeee! I am beyond excited. Up until now, I've been working out of my teeny apartment, which works to a degree, but it might be nice to have a kitchen table in the breakfast nook instead of a loom. Also, handpainting roving and combed top has always been problematic, as I have to haul all the equipment and fiber outside (and downstairs) to paint on the picnic table. There's just not enough room in our apartment. So on March 2nd I spied an ad on Craigslist for an artist studio sublet. I emailed the lister, she showed me the property that afternoon, and one signed lease later, I'm the proud renter (for at least 9 months) of a sweet 187 sq. ft. studio! It's a little empty at the moment, but that will soon be remedied.It's in an "artsy" complex of similar studios in North Boulder, so there's a little community to get to know, but what I'm really looking forward to is spreading out. Having everything consolidated in one spot, but having elbow room. And the dyeing, oh, the dyeing! I'll definitely be posting more pics when I have things mostly settled. Until then...