Day Three of Fiber Fest

The raffle on Sunday is one of the highlights of DFW Fiber Fest.

We had some great prizes again. This year, Brooks Farm donated the cute flower pot with yarn blooms.

My friend Jerry, the happy winner, is a former Fiber Fest board member.



If you didn't come to Fiber Fest this year, you missed out. It would be a good idea to put it on the calendar for next year...April 9-11, 2009.

MK out.

Day Two of Fiber Fest

bonny beads is a first-time FF vendor. She makes the cutest beads, buttons, button covers, shawl pins and stitch markers.











Brooks Farm Yarns is always popular at FF.












Edie Eckman in action teaching a class about intarsia.











I did a little shopping at Fiber Fest. I bought a sock pyramid from the Shabby Sheep booth to carry my sock project around while I am visiting and checking on the vendors. I also bought some MadelineTosh worsted in two colors to make a striped shawl and already cast on and have been knitting away on it. I bought some sterling stitch markers and glass shawl pins from bonny beads - and she makes the cutest buttons. I am trying to buy some yarn from Brooks Farm, but I don't really have a project in mind, and it is too hard to make a decision because there's so much lusciousness and I am overwhelmed.

It is nice to see the Knitting Fairy in her booth, too. She wasn't up to teaching her classes, and the lovely Lise has taken over for her, but it would not be a Fiber Fest without being able to see Alissa's sweet face. She's been such a supporter from the very beginning.

Jenny King is a hoot. I love listening to her talk with her Australian accent. She is so creative. And Edie Eckman is also our kind of girl. I think both could be our BFF. I sat in Edie's class for a few minutes today to watch her in the act of teaching, and she is good.

Y'all come join the party!

MK out.

Day One of Fiber Fest

I am so lame...I did not take any pictures. If anybody went to the DFW Fiber Fest today and took pictures, please let me know and maybe you can e-mail some to me to post.

First of all, another board member and I were in charge of the fashion show tonight, and we spent most of the day getting things in order for it. Of course, we also each have other duties for the weekend, and had to carry them out too. I am in charge of vendors, and tried to check in with them periodically throughout the day to see if anyone needed anything. I booth sat for a vendor if he or she (usually she) had to take a potty break, or needed to walk around a bit to see what the other vendors were offering. Michelle had to check in with the teachers, and would get them water or whatever they needed. Anyway, in between those duties, we had to organize the door prizes and the garments for the Fashion Show. Michelle has much experience in putting on fashion shows; so, she took that part over, and she did a wonderful job. I did the door prizes, and I had fun fondling all the donations as I ordered them to be given away.

The fashion show seemed to be well received. We had designs from a two local artists, Lee Begelfer of Yarnover Lounge and Tricia Toole; a designer from Australia, Jenny King, who is one of our teachers this year, the Woolie Ewe loaned us some shop models, and Anthropologie loaned us some of their garments. Lee helped us find three models. (Tricia was one of them,) and I had my friend and her teenaged daughter lined up to model also. Unfortunately, the daughter broke her finger yesterday in a high school powder puff football game, and she had surgery today; so, they couldn't participate, and both were looking forward to it. We had to recruit some people today - and we found two good ones who thought they were volunteering to help set up for the fashion show, but little did they know. Our star model was 5-year old Laurel, who really warmed up to her duties on her third and final time on the stage. She was precious.

I'm glad this night is behind me. I was able to enjoy the fashion show, even though there was the stress of putting it together, but I am happy that my only pressing duty tomorrow is to keep the vendors happy...

...and to take some pictures for the blog.

I'm bushed...going to bed.

MK out.

Christos Anesti

Yesterday was Eastern Orthodox Easter.












Chicking eggs is a tradition. The goal is to chick your point with another's and crack their egg, and repeat with the other ends.

So far, my egg is the champion!









MK out.

Shiny Happy People

A brave dude came with his wife.















Lauren and I look happy to be there.











Diana is taking a picture of me taking a picture of her.













A mini knitter among us.











The BFFs came out in full force.













It was an intimate group, but we had fun. I really appreciate those who came and donated some really cool baby items for the cause.


The beautiful baby afghan in the previous post was crocheted by my friend Pam, who left before the picture taking.

We each received a knitting magazine, a ball of yarn, and there were three raffle prizes. Our sponsors this year, besides our hosts the Dallas STARS, were Interweave Press, The Shabby Sheep and Yarns Ewenique.

MK out.

Newborns in Need

Sticks N Stitches was the other night, and this year, we decided to collect knitted and crocheted baby items for Newborns in Need.

Pics of the participants coming soon.









MK out.

Monday, Monday....

I made this square and sent it off to be incorporated with other squares from knitters across the country into a baby blanket for a special person. I will not reveal the name of that person yet.








I've been knitting a lot lately. Going to The Kid's baseball games, a few hockey games, and Mavericks game every now and then affords me with much knitting time. I only have to do the finish work on the sweater I've been making for The Kid for the last year. Gracious! I am ready to be done with it, and the season for wearing it is just about over. That's the way I roll, though. Always a season behind. I also have to complete the sleeves and the finish work on my Gathered Pullover sweater, and I will be done, done and done with it. I have several other little things OTN and will complete everything...all in good time.

Speaking of sports, the Mavs and the Stars are struggling lately. The Stars seem to get further from playoff contention with each game that they play. Oh well. They started off on the wrong foot with the Sean Avery situation. Key players with injuries just added to the struggle. It will be interesting which restricted free agents will return next season. The Mavs are doing somewhat better. The real story is The Kid's baseball team. They won their fifth district game tonight - more than the two prior seasons combined. They are 5-0 in district play, and 15-1 overall. Go team!

My guilty pleasures television shows are building up to their season finales. In the case of ER, it's the series finale to which we will be treated this Thursday night. I started watching that show with episode one, and have been a faithful viewer throughout its run. Grey's Anatomy had an interesting story line last week where a little old lady was on the brink of dying once a month, and her family members wanted her to die already! The interesting, yet unrealistic, thing about that scenario is that the woman was a full code; so, every time she arrested, they would shock her back to life. I kept telling the television set, "That would sooo not happen! That woman would be a DNR, and no one would be torturing her with compressions and 300 joules of electrical current." The television was not listening. Oh well. Private Practice - train wreck. And I cannot turn my eyes away from it! The real guilty pleasure, though, is The Real Housewives of New York City. Last season was the first, and we met Jill, Alex, Lu Ann, Ramona and Betheny (who is not married, and by definition, not a housewife, but it does not disqualify her from the show). So, Lu Ann is married to a French Count - Alex de Lesseps. That makes her a Countess, and she's mighty proud of that fact, too. I used to think that Lu Ann was the least pretentious, but I've changed my mind this season. The big question of the show last season was whether or not Alex's husband, Simon, is gay. Who cares? What we do know is that Alex and Simon are joined at the hip, and have two rather ill-behaved young sons. Simon has rubbed Ramona the wrong way, and that acrimony has carried over into this season. In fact, just last week, she told Simon that "he has no depth" right before a fashion show was going to start at Fashion Week. Ramona can be very intense, but I think she has a good heart deep down. I have to admire the fact that she is not hypocritical. She doesn't like Alex and Simon, and she doesn't pretend that she does. Jill and Ramona have had their share of spats. I think Betheny and Jill are my favorites this season. Then, there's a new girl this time around, Kelly. She is a single-mother of two girls. I have not decided how I feel about her yet. I have to say that I have never watched The Real Housewives of Orange County. I have watched a couple of episodes of The Real Housewives of Atlanta and I didn't much like it. The NYC show, despite its occasional train wreck and mean girl qualities, is far more entertaining in my estimation.

Finally - I've seen some movies and I want to tell y'all about them:
Russian Dolls is the sequel to the movie L'Augerge Espagnole. It is five years later, and Xavier, an aspiring writer, has yet to sell his first novel, and finds himself writing for a French soap opera. His love life has much to be desired, yet not for lack of trying. The first film was much better. This one left me bored in spots. Several of the actors from the previous movie return, including the most famous of the bunch, Audrey Tautou. Meh.

Jamie Lee Curtis and the voice of Drew Barrymore (among others) star in Beverly Hills Chihuahua, about a dog who is whisked off to Mexico and gets lost. Chloe, the dog who sounds like Drew Barrymore, is a pampered pooch, who wears adorable little outfits, courtesy of her owner, Curtis. (Hi Barbara W.) Curtis has to go out of town, and enlists her niece to watch the pooch. The niece and friends decide to head on down to Me-hee-co. They take the dog, and they lose track of her. The search for the dog/the dog's journey to get back home - It's the crux of the movie. It was cute.

The Kite Runner is hard to watch in some scenes, but it is a gut-wretchingly good film about two boyhood friends in Afghanistan. Amir and Hassan are inseparable since birth, but an act of betrayal and geographic distance ultimately separates the boys. Amir and his father move to the US to escape the brewing political and military problems. Many years later, Amir returns to his, now Taliban-run, homeland to attempt to write a wrong. I really liked it.

Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman star in Last Chance Harvey, about Harvey, a struggling jingle writer, who travels to London for his daughter's wedding. There, he meets Kate, a civil servant whose job it is to conduct a survey of plane passengers as they arrive at Heathrow and are heading off to pick up their baggage. It is a charming story of adult love. Kathy Baker and James Brolin also star. It was pretty good.

You must go see Sunshine Cleaning. Amy Adams and Emily Blunt play two down-and-out sisters who start cleaning crime scenes. Alan Arkin plays their dad. It was not as light and funny as the trailers lead one to believe, but it was really good. I loved it.

Whew! Are your heads spinning now?

MK out.