Cutie Patootie

Here's a current photo of our littlest girl. Her mom took her to a music festival where she was one of the star attractions. Looking at that little face makes me understand why my parents were so crazy about my own children. It's a good thing.

Upper Valley Fiber Festival

While in Ohio, I drove to Troy, about 20 minutes north of Dayton to attend the Upper Valley Fiber Festival being held on the same weekend. While the show was a small one--about 40 vendors--but I found the quality of the vendors to be excellent. There were a number of wool felting artists present--more than I think I see around my local shows--and I especially enjoyed the work of Morning View Farms. Their wool "paintings" were extraordinary.




I also visited the Paper Alice booth where Alison (aka. Paper Alice) demonstrated the art of papermaking, using a blender, a mold, and a handful of shredded junk mail. In just a few minutes, we watched as she created beautiful papers--the kind I've often purchased in art stores--using a McDonald's bag, a pinch of grass, some parsley, and a fresh dandelion. Her stall was filled with wonderful handmade books, notes and cards that she'd constructed using exactly what she was making there in front of us. It left me anxious to go home and try it out myself, especially since I just happened to have an unused paper mold at home with my rubber stamp collection!


The very best part of the show was that I got the chance to spend the day with one of my favorite people, Robin H., whom I originally met when I attended her rug hooking camps in Virginia. She and her husband recently relocated to Ohio and, when I discovered this fact, we immediately made plans to get together. Robin is one of those people who make you feel comfortable the minute you meet her and, even though we haven't seen each other for 4 or 5 years, it was like we'd been together last week. Robin brought along a new friend, Sue, a beginning spinner and the two of us had a terrific time "enabling" her.

To Dayton and Back

Every year, amateur radio operators from all over the world converge on Dayton, Ohio, for the Hamvention. The weekend is filled with seminars, a massive trade show and flea market, and other gatherings, all dedicated to ham radio. Paul has attended several times in the past and this year, I decided to accompany him. We stayed in Fairborn, with the QRP Association, a group hams whose special interest is low power radio operations.

Since amateur radio is primarily a male dominated activity, the wives--or XYL's, in ham lingo--in QRP took over one of the conference rooms in the hotel and, while the guys attended seminars and traveled to Dayton for the show, we did our own thing. Several ladies brought sewing machines and worked on quilt projects, others did needlework, knitted, and crocheted. I took my little spinning wheel and spent most of my time spinning yarn for a baby sweater.


Throughout, the hotel took good care of us by providing plenty of coffee, tea, and cookies. On the second day, the president of the organization sent the ladies a platter of chocolate covered strawberries from Shari's Berries. The berries were the size of a golf ball and each one was covered with a different kind of chocolate--one was coated in white chocolate with coconut, another was dark chocolate with mini chips, others sported both bittersweet and milk chocolate or nuts. It was a feast for the eyes and the tastebuds. I took a picture of them but unfortunately, they weren't as photogenic as they were delicious. There are plenty of good photos on the website.

Truthfully, if I'd have known I'd have such a good time at the world's largest hamfest, it wouldn't have taken me so long to get there! Now I can't wait til next May.

Suzie Gets a New Friend

The spinning obsession shows no sign of fading. Last year, I became interested in a little wheel made in Washington by a man named Doug Dodd. Mrs. Dodd was an active member of a local spinning group but found it difficult to transport her spinning wheel to meetings, due to health problems, so her husband offered to make her a lighter, more portable wheel. He produced a little wheel that he named, "The Pocket Wheel" and its introduction to the spinning group caused such excitement that he found himself with numerous orders.

I continued to do research on the little wheel and it seemed that people who owned them loved them. For me, the wheel was interesting for a number of reasons, but primarily because the elevated treadles seemed ideal for a vertically challenged person such as I. It was also an elegantly simple design that I found very appealing. Then, in the spring of 2009, Mrs. Dodd died and her husband posted a statement on his website that he would fulfill the present orders but take no more. Disappointed, but undaunted, I set about finding a used PW but to no avail.

Interest in the Pocket Wheel continued to grow and the news on Ravelry filled my heart with new cause to hope--a new woodworker (married to a spinner) stepped in to take up the lathe.
He announced that he would work with Mr. Dodd to finish the backlog of orders and take new ones in 2010, commencing April 1, 2010.

On March 31, midnight, a host of PW groupies staked out the new website and, by noon the next day, Jon McCoy, the new PW maker had at least 15 orders for new wheels. I was #4 on the list and hoped to receive my wheel this fall. In the meantime, however, I came across a notice on Ravelry from someone who had one of Doug Dodd's last wheels, purchased at a fiber festival and still in its box, never assembled. I pounced and now it belongs to me!

Since the new little wheel is less than half the weight of my Majacraft Suzie and takes up no more space than a large tote bag, I'm looking forward to taking it out and about with me this summer, including a trip with Paul to the Dayton "Hamvention." I plan to hold my own Lambvention.