Where are my manners?

Where are my manners? I forgot to introduce you to a new member of “Blogland” so let me delay no further…While we were in Florida I brought home a new mascot…I’m pleased to introduce ‘Lammi Ewejean’.

She will help me with modeling and introducing new purchases and finished projects. She has already aquainted herself with my stash; she’s been to one group meeting already and life in the Ferguson household. Lammi loves the backyard particularly the pond!
So…here’s the latest of the finished projects! Are you ready (Jennifer)? Miss Maggie gets another gift! There were a lot of projects in Vickie Howell’s “New Knits on the Block” but I chose the “Twirly Tank” for this one. Maggie has seen my son’s girlfriend wear “belly shirts” and so she’s getting out her old t-shirts that are way too small for her and wearing them saying she’s “Jecisa” (Jessica). So when I saw this pattern I knew it would be the one to make for her.

I used Moda-Dea’s Beadnik for the tank and the trims are various “fluffy” yarns I had in my stash. I’ve got to start making my own buttons…they cost me more than the yarn! When Maggie finishes growing she’ll get something made from more expensive yarns but for now I’ll stick with the cheaper stuff…so long as it looks and feels good—I hate crappy yarn!

Now…this past weekend was the Fort Frederick Market Fair…we went…we shopped but we didn’t dress out for the event. We took all our clothing but when I woke up on Saturday morning I had such a bad allergy attack there was no way I could have enjoyed myself. We didn’t even take our camera’s in…can you believe that! There were so many people…heck we didn’t even get past the first few tents till we had to make a run back to the truck to empty our arms!

I’m borrowing this birdseye view of the fort from the State Parks of Maryland site…there’s no real good way to take a picture of this fort so you can get a good idea of how immense it is! The walls from the outside are 23 feet tall and from the inside they are 17 feet tall and 3 feet thick!
There were hundreds of tents and two-three times as many people!

There were hundreds of tents and two-three times as many people! The Indians would make you “scream like a little girl” as one of our friends put it. I bought fabric (of course) and we found a beautiful 12 qt cast iron dutch oven…which I have been shopping antique stores for months now and found no cheaper than $65 bucks…for $35.00!!

Jack always knows when we go somewhere that at some point I’m going to bring up the “Yarn Shop” idea…and as it happens I did this time too! Now I didn’t get to Frog Eye Fiber Emporium like I wanted to because by the time we came through Winchester they were closed! I had my list of potential candidates with me and when we were finished at Fort Frederick I called them to see who was still open (this was about 4:00)
So here’s my very brief “Yarn Shop Review”.
I first called the “Knitting Cottage” in Hagerstown (well this was a little confusing because it’s located on Rt. 60 just past Leitersburg—but they have a Hagerstown address) the lady there was VERY nice on the phone and said she closed at 3:30 but if I would come on she’d be there for me. Now we did take one wrong turn and it took us about 30 minutes to find her…she was still there waiting on me! This nice little Mennonite lady, Susan Hostetter, stayed open for ME! She had a wonderful selection; the old farmhouse was turned into a really well stocked yarn shop. The main room carries all the yarns, there’s a local lady, Beth Skroban, who sells her yarn there--pretty much a generic yarn but would be good for sweaters, the colors were a little muted (for my taste). She has a great book and pattern selection. One room is devoted to machine knitting another room is the “social” room; it has a huge farm table where you and several friends could spread out and spend the day. On June 17th she’s having a KNIT IN on the lawn of the cottage from 9-4, bring your lunch, your chair and of course your knitting and spend the day! She offers knitting classes, workshops and group projects…the next project is the Einstein Coat.
I wanted to buy more but knowing that David Simpson is coming this Thursday night I needed to be reserved! So I bought some sock yarn and some baby yarn…

Boy Lammi seems a little surprised! I don’t know whether it’s the sock yarn or the fact there’s more going into the stash. It will be used…I’m buying up for Christmas projects!

The other shop I called “Y2Knit” in downtown Hagerstown was closing at 4:30…so I’ll save that one for later.
Well…that’s all for now! Happy Knitting/Spinning!