Rendezvous 2008--or "As My Wallet Gently Weeps"

Saturday was Rendezvous 2008, held this year for the first time at the American Legion Hall in Edmond:


A grand time was had by all. We had demos and classes, local vendors and a yummy potluck lunch, and best of all--air conditioning! Unfortunately, since we were indoors, we had no animals, but I'm hoping that will change next year--maybe we can have them outside in the park next to the building. I miss seeing the babies. I was so busy goofing off that I only took one picture, and that was when everyone was leaving at the end of the day:


There was a "sheep to shawl" demonstration, and everyone did an incredible job. The resultant shawl that Wanda produced was amazing, and of course that makes me want a loom even more. There be monsters . . . .

Of course, because this is a once-a-year thing, you have to grab your chance for the good fiber buys while you can, and grab I did. Yikes. I've convinced myself I bought so much because I wanted to support our local fiber folks, but there was definite stash enhancement going on. As you will see below, I am easily led astray.

There was a wool rug hooking demonstration, and my friend Susan twisted my arm to buy a kit and try it (no photo because there wasn't one included in the kit--when I get it from the vendor, I'll post it.)

I bought alpaca and an alpaca/silk blend--yummy.


Six hundred yarns of fingering-weight wool and mohair:


There was this incredible Wensleydale fiber from a sheep named Madonna:


A friend told me Wensleydale has an incredible amount of lanolin in it and is hard to spin when it's humid--and when is it NOT humid in Oklahoma? But I didn't care--I had to have it. Look at that curl--yum.

These were my two best purchases of the day--


a great big yummy batt of dyed goodness, bought thanks to Katie telling me "you need this" (enabler, much? On top of that, she had a gorgeous turkish spindle that I must have, maybe for my birthday.) Isn't it awesome? I can't wait to get into it and see how it spins up.

And then there was this:


I had no plans to buy anything other than fiber--I was going to be good. But Aubrey had several of these, and I got to playing with one and couldn't put it down. It spins better than any other spindle I have, so of course I had to have it. Its story was even more enticing--Aubrey has a friend who does stuff with wood. He saw one of these and told her he thought he could make some. She didn't think anything more about it, but Friday night he showed up at her house with six or seven of these, and they were all winners--perfectly balanced and beautiful to boot. Aubrey sold all of them except for one, and she decided to keep it for herself. This one is a two-ounce spindle, with a whorl of birdseye maple and the spindle of cocobollo. It is just gorgeous, and I love spinning with it. I hope this gentleman continues to make these--he definitely has the touch.

My other favorite thing was something I didn't have to buy:


My friend Noel, who is a coworker of mine, did this while we sat on the floor in a corner of the room. This was freehand and the second one she had ever done--the first one was a few minutes before for her daughter. I love it. I love mehndi, especially the fact that it's not permanent, and this was so much fun. It's my own personal, somewhat private rebellion. We sat in the corner and laughed at what our bosses would say if they ever saw these. I say what they don't know won't hurt them--and get over it, as well.

Anyway, it was a great day, getting to see friends and step outside the box and do something fun. I was so wound up that night that I couldn't sleep and ended staying up until almost 3 am Sunday morning doing this:


This tatted heart pattern can be found here. My grandmother taught me to tat, but she wasn't very proficient at it, so I never really "got it" until I was an adult. I haven't done this in years, but I found my shuttles the other day and thought what the heck. I think this turned out pretty darned well. Now I have two people at work who want to learn to tat.

Fiber art--it's contagious. Who knew? :<)

Sadly (not really), tomorrow morning there will be more stash enhancement--sock yarn and two bundles of fiber from Loopy Ewe. Missy will be handing it off to me before work in the parking lot of a local Mexican restaurant--I hope no one thinks we're dealing drugs. Or maybe we are . . . .

And now, I'm off--I finally finished spinning the red silk I've been working on for ages, and now I'm plying. Ugh. I love spinning, but plying just seems to take so long. But I'm excited to see what I come up with.