We had a great weekend and we hope all of you did too. Here are some of the highlights from our end of the room.

That’s right! We’re gearing up for 2012 Fiber-in. We’ll be at the I-Drive Radison Hotel September 21 & 22. Come see what was freed from these ties.

The gator in our logo is cute and fuzzy, but a couple of days ago we noticed some new buddies in our backyard. They totally explain the strange croaking we’ve heard for the past week. It almost sounded like an engine revving, but it was just mom talking to her new congregation. They’re very cute with their little stripes, but mama gators are no joke. I wish I wasn’t chicken or had a bigger telephoto lens. We think we’ve seen around six of these babies.

It’s been a wonderful spring in Lake Wo Florida. One bad thing about Florida is that we don’t really have season changes, but that’s also a great thing because when the sky is clear and the temperature is right, it’s time to be outside. As previously mentioned I took a mini vacation to see some buddies in Miami and took some great pictures. Here are just a few:

They’ve inspired some of the newly dyed yarn we delivered today to Sip and Knit: Biscayne Bay, Life Jacket, Turtle Kiss, and Traveler’s Palm. Some of these color combinations are in our last roving update. You’ll also notice when you stop in the store that they’re on a new yummy base and have extra yardage. Please come and pet Long and Strong Sampson Sock 125 grams and 480 yards of 90% superwash merino with 10% nylon.

After a little respite in Miami, I thought some new Florida inspired colors were due.
Enjoy! They can be found at our Etsy shop.

I’m a lucky girl this year! My husband hunted down a foot for me for my birthday. Don’t worry he didn’t go all Big Lebowski on me (“A toe! I can get you a toe”) it’s a mannequin foot, but he did admit that it was strange calling up stores asking for a foot. She’s a women’s 8 and I think I’ll name her Lola.

My friend Joscelyn is the first recipient of socks for the year. She has little feet like I do, so Lola’s fit is snug. The pattern is Kwalla from Alice Yu’s Socktopus. I was one of her test knitters for the new book.

Lola showing off a red zauberball sock from Socktopus

Joscelyn also got a V Junkie made of Unisono

and Oni got the test knit of Flori di Zucca made with Fresh from the Cauldron

A personal first for me is that I finished a shawl! It’s just the Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark. It’s made of S. Charles Collezione Luna and I replaced the nupps with beads. I was smart enough to do a miniature test of them and while they’re an impressive looking stitch, they’re not pleasant to create.

We had another fantastic day at UCF today. I’m glad to see the attendance increase each year. I was so into the moment I forgot to take very many pictures, so anybody out there who has some, please let us know.

I thought Laurel was really sweet sharing her new batt.

We’re pleased to announce that we left some of our favorite skeins of yarn for you to come see and pet in person Four Purls Yarn Shop in Winter Haven. It’s an adorable shop filled with beautiful yarn and some happy knitters. We look forward to sending them more.

I started spinning again after a hiatus. I’ve just been so excited about all the new batts that I just had to try some for myself! I’m always curious if I’ve got a good blend. Do I have enough angelina or too much? did I distribute it well? What happens when I put recycled fabric strands in? I’ve been making a couple of my spinning friends be guinea pigs, but really I want to spin them! So I guess it’s been long enough that Denby and Kiara just had to know what I was doing. If I’m sitting in a chair, Denby likes to come up behind me and put his paws on my shoulders just to say hi. I scares me every time.

We’re adding new things to etsy all the time!