RenFaire!

Well, we went to the RenFaire yesterday and it was wonderful! As usual!

The weather has been dry for a while, and the ground was not only dry, it was like a fine powder, about a quarter inch deep, and it quickly coated not only shoes, bottoms of pants and other things near the ground, but everything, even faces! In fact, there's a lot of evidence that I breathed a lot of it in and the inside of lungs are probably coated with it. I could barely breath to sleep last night, and my nose is running.

But let's get to the fun part: the photos!

I showed off my new camera, and almost everyone who looked at it took my photo with it. See, Lynn, you did good!

I like the first one better.

Here is a series of photos of the people who went:

That's Holly in the front with Robin behind her.

I think that's a really great photo of the two of them.

A close-up of Robin.

This is a really good one of Robin.

Robin is waiting to try a swing-a-mallet-and-ring-the-bell game.

And a view of swinging the mallet.

This is Everett sitting in the crab chair (more about that later).

Here's Jeff and Everett.

I tried to take some photos of Aston, but they all came out blurs. That's the problem of trying to photograph children: they never stand still. He wore the hood I knitted for him for christmas, and almost made me sorry I'd made it. I was afraid he was going to have heat stroke, but he refused to take it off! So, I guess I found something he liked. He brought along a sword that Jeff bought him a few years ago, but it's pretty bashed up. Ashton and his cousin have play sword fights all the time, and they've nearly destroyed this sword. So Jeff bought him a new one at the faire.

I also took some random photos of architectural details (the buildings are so neat) and other interesting things, and I think they'll all be self evident, so here are the photos.

Well, I have two more photos, but Blogger is refusing to load them, so they'll have to wait for tomorrow.

But we all had a fabulous time and came home tired but happy.

Instead of Holly driving me home last night, they gave me the use of the car while they're trying to sell it. So I drove home myself. I'd love to go somewhere today now that I can, but my breathing is bad from all the dust at the RenFaire, and my muscles are complaining about all they did yesterday! I'm going to have to walk more so I don't feel so bad from it.

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End of season finales that are on tonight include: Warehouse 13 (Syfy), White Collar (USA), and Covert Affairs (USA).

I hope your long Labor Day weekend was as much fun as mine! And I hope you're having a fun, short week!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!

I feel sorry for you because I had the best mom anybody ever had! But I hope yours is really superlative, and if you are a mom, I hope you have the best Mother's Day ever!

Holly and I went out together yesterday to celebrate Mother's Day, and had a fabulous time!

We started by going to the new yarn store in Old Town Alexandria. Holly is about to start a knit-along, and wants to see what colors, etc. the possible yarn comes in and check for availability. They haven't chosen a project yet, so she didn't want to buy the yarn yet.

Next stop was AC Moore. I can usually get four socks out of three balls of Knit Picks sock yarn, so I bought three balls of Red Heart Heart and Sole sock yarn in toasted almond. I knew it had just a little less yardage than the Knit Picks yarn, but I thought I could make it anyway. I finished knitting the second sock, and it's obvious that I won't make it, so I bought two more balls. I'll be able to get an even six socks out of that much. And, as if that wasn't enough, they had it for $1.50 less per ball than JoAnn Fabrics, where I bought the first three balls. And Holly had a 50% off one item coupon for me! Actually, the coupon went toward a fresnel lens bookmark, which I've wanted for a while.

Then we went to Borders, where Holly said to pick out a book and she would buy it for me for Mother's Day! I got the newest Sookie Stackhouse book, Dead in the Family.





I had been reading Forever Odd, but I was almost at the end and wanted to buy a book while I was there. I was thinking about buying this book even though it's only available in hardback now and cost more than I can normally afford to pay for books. So, I was delighted.

The Borders we went to is one of my favorites. It's the one at Bailey's Crossroads, and Holly and I met Stephanie Pearl McPhee there, and I demonstrated spinning in the children's section there, too (wearing a medieval cote and surcote).

Then, we went to La Madeleine, which is right next to Borders. This is a little Parisian restaurant that has some of the most delicious food. We both had the same thing: Their tomato basil soup, which is thick, rich and very tomato, with their Strawberries Romanoff (which is topped with their brandy sour cream sauce). The food was some of the best it's possible to get, and amazingly filling for the little we ate (although the strawberries come in an enormous helping)! We were both full when we left.

I'll be posting more photos from the Sheep and Wool Festival (Holly returned my camera) and photos of my swag (well, the balls of sock yarn and at least one finished sock) in a post real soon now.

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I would have put this up at the top of the page, but I don't think my brother is going to read this.

I want to wish him a happy birthday, anyway, though!

Happy Birthday, Jeff!

He's my baby brother, and I love him, even if he's been a adult for quite a while!

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Eureka is on SyFy all day today! That includes this evening, too! I know they're only reruns, but they're good!

Practical Magic is on cable TV sometime today. I think it's on ABC Family, but I couldn't swear to it.

I wish everyone as happy a Mother's Day as I had yesterday!

Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival!

I've been editing photos for what seems like hours, and here it is!

We noticed something new about the Sheep and Wool Festival even before we were really there.

Whoever has been directing traffic for the last 20 years has been doing an excellent job. It slows down a bit sometimes, but it generally keeps moving, even if slowly at times. But they obviously went on vacation or something this year and the job was given to a complete moron to organize. There is a village somewhere looking for it's idiot!

The road leading into the fairgrounds has three lanes. They always leave one free for people to exit, and two lanes for people going in. There are two entrances to the parking lot, so the people in the left lane turn left at the first entrance, and the people in the right lane turn left into the second entrance, and things keep moving.

But not this year.


This year, the person running things decided that just because they had three whole lanes, it didn't mean that they had to use them!

So, they blocked off one whole lane!

Which created a bottleneck that had traffic backed up for miles on Route 70, and probably added at least an hour driving time for everyone there (including people who live just down the street)! Not to mention blocking things up for innocent passers by!

We followed some bikers who were not amused!

Does the Friendship Police Department have anybody on it with even half a brain? You couldn't prove it by their traffic-directing expertise on Saturday!

As the sign says, Welcome to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival!

On the walk in, we saw some sheep (of course).

And the same sheep from the other direction (courtesy of Everett).

There was so much to see! Of course, there were spinning wheels (thanks for the photo, Everett).

And yarn! Lots and lots of yarn!

Photo by Everett

At Susan's Fiber Shop, Susan had brought along a lamb to the festival.

We saw the demonstration of the new Majacraft wheel, which I'm going to postpone for another post, but here are photos of Holly and Everett at the demo.

And, of course, there was lots of food!

Everett saw some stuff that I completely missed, including these felted dragons (the dragons are Everett's photos).

Not as great as the Rapunzel's tower from last year, but impressive, nonetheless!

And we posed for lots of group photos:

L to R: Everett, Holly and Me

L to R Everett, Me and Jeff

Holly and I

And when it was all over, we piled in the car and went to the Double T Diner, where we had a fabulous dinner! It is the place to go after the Sheep and Wool Festival! Just turn left on 441 out of the parking lot, and continue to Route 40 and turn left. There's a short ride, and it's on the right-hand side. They have the best food and so much of it that the waiter automatically brings something to put the leftovers in to take home. They have the best hot turkey sandwiches! And, as if all that weren't enough, this is what's across Route 40 from them:

And I'm totally tired of downloading photos, so I'm going to save all the rest for another post!

I will say that I got some great swag, but not as fabulous as what Holly bought. She bought a lot of Tillie Tomas yarn with beads, similar to the yarn I took so many photos of.

More later!

Have a great Friday, and a wonderful weekend!

Beverage Explosion!

Holly and I went out yesterday, and something happend to me that has never happened in my whole life (thank goodness).

Holly and I went to WalMart in Manassas, and I had a few things in my cart, and happened to go past a display of wine coolers. I grabbed a 4 pack of fuzzy navels, and there must've been a loose bottle on the shelf that wasn't where it could be easily seen. Anyway, as I lifted the  pack from the shelf, a bottle hit the floor with the sound of a gunshot, sending wine cooler and shattered glass shards in a spectacular explosion! 

First of all, I didn't get hit by any flying glass. But I got soaked instantly with 12 ounces of orange and peach liquid, followed by lots of Coca Cola! It took me a second to realize that although I got an initial drenching, that I was also standing in a continuing shower.

I had a 2 liter bottle of Coke in the basket, and it now had a knife-size shard of glass sticking out of it, witch was quickly expelled by the spray of pressurized soda from the bottle. The only thing I could think of to do was remove the bottle from the cart and set it down where the spray was hitting the shelf and creating a small puddle on the floor rather than soaking everything in sight.

A woman who works at WalMart assured me that it happens all the time, and that I shouldn't worry about it. Well, it may happen all the time, but I've never done anything like this before! I was thoroughly embarrassed, and soaked!

And I was sticky for the rest of our trip, until I got home. My clothes were wet, my hair was wet, and everything in the cart got at least a light spray.

After I had a chance to calm down, I realized that I was really lucky that none of the shrapnel hit me in the face, and especially that it spared my eyes.

Usually, I enjoy excitement, but not this kind!

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Holly stopped off at the Textile Museum on her way over to meet my friend, Betsy, and pick up the fleece I bought. I couldn't wait to see it because the only description I had of it was that it was grey, and that the sheep's name was Daisy. The color of a fleece is hard to judge until it's washed, but it appears to have a white undercoat (that's very crimpy and fine) with a black outer coat. Which means that I can make something that's fulled, and warm, with what will look like a black mohair haze. If I want, I should be able to dye it to whatever light color I want.

First things first. I have to wash it. Which will be smelly and messy. But ultimately worth it.

I'm thinking about what I can make with it, but any concrete plans will have to wait until it's washed. Then I'll see the real weight, once the lanolin and dirt are washed out.

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Next Saturday is the Potomac Celtic Festival! It looks like Holly and I will be going together. 

Everett has to be out of his old house on Saturday, and into the new one. So, it looks like he and Jeff won't be going with us. Holly asked him anyway, and I don't think she's gotten a reply, but I've moved before, and it's not fun! Or quick. Or easy. Three years ago, I was the one that missed the Celtic Festival because I was moving. It was awful!

I hope you've been having a great weekend!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope everyone who has born a child had a very happy day today!

I have had an absolutely wonderful day today!

Holly arrived at 10:30 today, just as she said she would. Unfortunately, I woke up about two minutes before she arrived. But it was all OK.

She took me out to get all the stuff from WalMart that I would've gotten last Sunday if I had had the forethought to be prepared for it, thus saving me a lot of discomfort and dampness (this was the first day for two weeks that it hasn't been raining, plus it's supposed to rain Monday, too). My back is a lot better, but still wouldn't have been happy with having to walk to the bus, and come back on the bus carrying a bunch of heavy stuff. 

We went to an early dinner at Ruby Tuesday and had fun (as usual) just being with each other.

This was followed by the new Star Trek movie!

I have to say it was excellent! I loved it to pieces. I will mention some overall impressions, and I don't think I'm giving too much away here, but if you absolutely don't want to know anything about it, skip the rest of this paragraph. It starts back at the beginning, and tells a story about how the Enterprise crew got together. The wonderful part is that they've gone back to the beginning with a whole new group of actors to play the old characters from the beginning. This story involves time travel, and it changes things so that all the stuff that happened originally may be completely changed. So we have the characters young again, and a chance to tell all new stories from the beginning should they choose to do so. And why wouldn't they?

OK, no more spoilers from here on in. J.J. Abrams did a fabulous movie, with a great story. The story had all the old characters, who were acting so much in character that there was a lot of the movie where I knew exactly what a particular character would do, and, in fact, I was able to say some lines along with the characters on the first run-through. At the same time, the situation had so much in it that was unexpected, and so many actions and reactions that were unexpected that it was exciting, non-stop action/excitement/fun all the way through!

I've had a wonderful day!

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I also want to wish a belated happy birthday to my brother, Jeff!

Happy Birthday, Jeff!

I kind of took yesterday off to let my back get in better shape for today. I don't think he'll see it here on the internet anyway, but I still want to wish him a happy birthday, which was yesterday.

I have to get back to being nice to my back instead of sitting here making it hurt more.

All the photos I promised will be up real soon now.

Oh, I nearly forgot: I watched Doctor Who and Torchwood on BBC in America yesterday, and they were full of trailers for the new season of Primeval, which starts next Saturday, and also (and this is the part I'm really excited about) trailers for Children of Earth, the next Torchwood story, which will be on in July (they're not pinning down exactly when). They didn't say anything about the new Doctor Who Season, though, and I'm disappointed about that.

I hope you've been having as good a weekend as I've had!

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Wow! I just started to type "Happy Cinco de Mayo!" and blogger filled it in for me. So, I've had this blog for a whole year, now!

I feel like I should have some kind of contest or something, but I can't think of what at the moment.

Oh well, happy Cinco de Mayo anyway!

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To continue information about the Sheep and Wool Festival: brace yourself for the fun part!

Yesterday was just about stuff. Today is about the people and the fun.

Lynn got down here on Friday around six, and we went out for dinner, did a couple of errands, and came back to watch Ghost Whisperer, Dollhouse, and Moonlight.

We got out the door just a little after ten the following morning, and headed North to the fairgrounds. The weather report called for rain all weekend, and we got some showers on the way up and just a bit more than a shower at one point. We phoned the rest of the party, and they were already there, and Holly walked down to the entrance to meet us. Then we tracked down Everett, Jeff, and Ashton. After that, some really heavy shopping ensued. I tried to stay with the group, but, as usual, got way too distracted by all the great stuff for sale.

I made it through one of the barns that lead toward the back, one of the barns all the way in the back, and the big barn before I got to the point that I really needed to sit down and find some food.

Everybody got together back in front of the big barn, where all the food is.

We sat and nibbled on various stuff and had some great conversation. 

I suspect that Ashton completely misunderstood me at one point, though. He was standing there with an ice cream cone in his hand, and ice cream smeared all over his face. I asked him if he was totally bored yet, and he shook his head yes (mouth was full of ice cream) in an energetic way with a big smile on his face.

Not only did we have fun talking, but we wound up including a batch of other festival-goers in the conversation. I got compliments on the poncho I was wearing, and I pulled out my current knitting project, and a woman on the bench next to me said how much she loved the color. I held my project up to the project she was knitting, making it obvious that they were exactly the same color and shade, and said something like "Gee, really? I never would have expected that." Everybody giggled.

We stopped another woman who was passing to compliment her on her string bag and ask her about the pattern. If you're on Ravelry, you can see the bag here. From that link, you can also find the instructions through Ravelry. Since then, I've bought the instructions and am making an Earth Day bag. I hate to say this, but I'm finding a lot of improvements that could be made in the pattern. The construction is absolutely ingenious, but I don't like the eight-row stitch pattern that it uses. I feel it's needlessly complicated, even though the center of each right side row is either (YO, K2 tog), or (K2 tog, YO), and the WS rows are all purl across. The beginning and end of each RS row is different, and the stitch pattern biases. Once the borders and handles are on, the bias won't matter, but I think there must be an easier-to-memorize stitch that would look even better. I will be searching for it. I may have already found it, but I want to finish the first bag before I start changing it around.

Back to the festival. We did some more walking through the barns that go from the front to the back of the grounds, and managed to get separated again. For the second time since I've gone to the festival, I went to look at the poster, skein and garment, etc, competitions. All I can say is WOW! I plan to spend most of the next post telling you about one of the winning projects. It's totally amazing!

While I was going through all the winning entries, I got a call from everyone else saying they wanted to leave and that I should go to the front gate. I persuaded them all to come back and look at this one project, and then they finally dragged me off to dinner.

We stopped at the Double TT Diner on Route 40, and all had a fabulous dinner, and lots of good conversation.

There was some more rain on the way home, but not a drop fell while we were actually at the festival (unless a couple of drops fell while I was in the big barn). We couldn't have asked for better weather. It was overcast, sure, but the temperature was pretty close to perfect. At a couple of points I wanted to wear my poncho, but a lot of the time, I didn't. So it was right around most comfortable temperature, with just a tiny bit that was either too warm or cool. Oh, and you did NOT want to step off the paved areas! I suspect that if it hadn't been paved it would have been as bad as the mud fest that was the Fall Fiber Fest one year. All-in-all, a perfect day as far as weather was concerned. When Lynn and I got back, we noticed that the ground was all wet, but it wasn't raining when we went in.

Lynn and I watched a little TV and sat and talked (or tried to) and both fell asleep. Eventually we turned off the lights and went to sleep deliberately.

On Sunday, Lynn, Holly and I went and did some errands, including walking around the new JoAnn Fabrics near here, and had dinner at Ruby Tuesday, and then we all went home. Lynn had an uneventful ride back to New Jersey, and the whole weekend was wonderful.

Well, I did way too much walking, and my back is still letting me know how unhappy it is about all that walking. Oddly enough, it doesn't usually bother my back, and I don't know why it did this time. I am otherwise recovered from all that walking, but I've been having a lot of lower back pain from it.

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John got all the masters over to the factory for the second volume of the Steve Canyon DVDs. He expects to get the proofs back at any moment, check them, and give the go-ahead!

I'm excited!

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My back hurts and I'm going to lay down flat on it and finish reading Breaking Dawn.

Have a great evening, and if I don't post tomorrow, It'll be because I'm giving my back a break.

It was a Happy Thanksgiving

I watched Stargate (the movie) and Timeline yesterday, and then Holly picked me up and we went to her apartment.

Robin, the ultimate chef made a wonderful dinner, and he, Holly, Everett, Jeff and Michele were there in addition to some other new friends. A good time was had by all.

We discussed science fiction, TV, cameras and photography, and lots more. 

After it was all over, Holly gave me the keys to her car and let me loose. 

So I got to drive again for a bit, and go to WalMart before taking the car back today.

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Tonight, Fellowship of the Ring will be on TNT, followed by The Two Towers tomorrow night, and The Return of the King on Sunday. On Saturday and Sunday, the episodes will be preceded by the previously shown ones. Consult your local listings.

Don't forget the Eloise movies tomorrow: Eloise at the Plaza, and Eloise at Christmastime.

I hope you're having a great Thanksgiving weekend!

Renfair Tomorrow!

Friday the Thirteenth is on the daytime rotation at SciFi today.

Tonight, they'll be having a new episode of Sanctuary, plus a new episode of Stargate Atlantis, preceeded by last week's episode, which was continued to this week, so if you missed it last week, you might want to watch it tonight.

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Renfair is tomorrow! Holly, Malaia and I will be going, and I assume that John, Everett, Jeff and Ashton will go, too. You can expect no post tomorrow.

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I have a lot of work to do on the bedroom today if I want to have any hope of being ready for inspection on Tuesday, so you may notice that this is a very short, quick post. So, here's another photo John sent me for your entertainment.

Have a great Friday and weekend!

The Maryland Renaissance Festival!

The Maryland Renaissance Festival was wonderful yesterday.

It was also way beyond warm and into danger-to-life-and-limb territory.

A lot of walking can be a problem for me, but yesterday I didn't do much walking because of the heat.

It was so good to see Malaia and John again! They are both so much fun! They showed up in Renaissance garb, and Holly was determined to do the same, even though she arrived wearing shorts.

Everett, Jeff and Ashton were welcome additions to the group, too.

After looking around a bit, she found and bought this outfit. Very Pirate. She later bought a tri-corn hat to complete the look.

I was afraid that I would be having so much fun that I would forget to take any photos. Well, I remembered, but I didn't take many photos, and that's always a mistake. One of the major secrets of really great photography is to take lots and lots of photos. Some of them will be exceptional just out of shear happenstance.

I didn't take enough photos of Malaia and John, and this is the poor result:


Well, we'll be going back to the Renfair again before the end of the season. I know. Holly bought me a two day ticket, so I still have it left for the next trip.

I bought a few pieces of really beautiful rocks (amethyst and fluorite) and a cup from the Dancing Pig.

This has a rounded bottom on the inside, and that means it's useful for scooping out small items stored in it. Oh, and it has a star on it. I love stars.

I finished the mittens (which only required blocking--I'll do some garter stitch at the cuff next time instead of going right into stockinet stitch) and the boot toppers witch also required a bit of steam in spite of having a garter stitch border.

Here's a photo of two of the mittens. Since they're ambidextrous, I always make three so that when you lose one, you still have a pair.

I haven't gotten around to taking a photo of the boot toppers yet. When I finish the scarf, I plan to take a photo of them all together.

On Monday evening, (early), the SciFi Channel will start rerunning the entire Lost series. I know so many people who love that series, and who swear it's science fiction, so here's my chance to find out.

I watched two or three episodes from somewhere in the middle, and didn't get it, and didn't see anything to suggest that it was SF. So now I can find out if I was wrong. They'll be showing the two hour pilot, and two more episodes, so I can get a good, big dose of it.

You may notice that they'll also be showing Charlie Jade later (early Tuesday morning). I had heard a few good things about it, but it's very muddled. The plot seems to mill around in a circle most of the time.

John Ellis is bugging me to finish this post and get it out so he can see the photos.

I hope you all got the chance to see the big announcement on his blog yesterday. If not, check it out here.

I hope your weekend was as much fun as mine!