Knot Knecessarily Known Knitting

The weekend at Southeast Fiber Forum was a wonderful experience! I drove up on Thursday afternoon. It was overcast and/or raining during the entire drive. Fortunately, about an hour of the four-hour drive was through Great Smoky Mountains National Park . Plants were just waking up from their winter slumber and turning green. The creeks were running fast and high and small feeder streams formed little veil waterfalls as they flowed down the rocks on the mountainsides. I had only driven through the park once before, and that was more than twenty years ago and in the autumn. Although it would be a long day trip, I must remember it would be a great location for a photo shoot, especially on an overcast weekend when the park wouldn't be crowded. Fiber Forum was at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, which is on the main street in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. I had not been to Gatlinburg before. It is a quintessential American tourist trap -- lots of  things to see and a main street of b...

I foolishly forgot to mention that in conjunction with Southeast Fiber Forum, I have work on exhibit at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in the Geoffrey A. Wolpert Gallery. If you happen to find yourself near Gatlinburg, Tennessee this weekend, please drop in to see a full array of fiber arts in the gallery. A better peek is on their website here .

The spinning wheel had been idling for about a month. I decided to go to spin night at The Whole Nine Yarns, so I just grabbed some fiber as I scurried out the door. I purposely grabbed something I didn't want to think much about. Well, I started to spin and wondered why I had even purchased this fiber. I bought it in Maryland. It was locally grown. The fiber is 70% Dorset and 30% angora. It is soft. It was undyed, so the color of dirty dishwater. And the batt was, well, not something that's going to win any awards. It had a lot of neps. What the batt most reminded me of was the galactic dust clouds from which new stars form. The price was good. I do recall chatting with the owner. I must have bought this thing just to be nice, possibly thinking that $15 for 30% angora would surely be worth it. Obviously, this was not going to be a worsted yarn. So, I spun it woolen. I just accepted that this was going to be a textured, slubby yarn. I spun it onto three different bobbins, t...