Summer revisited: Fiber, friends, frivolity

Yes,  I have been AWOL for, I guess, three months steeped in the joy of a glorious summer in Northern Michigan enjoying old friends and making special new ones.  Before I left Dallas in May, I connected on the internet with some special women on a Michigan spinners group on Ravelry, an on-line community of fiber nuts.
I trooped over to meet them the first Weds. night I was in town at Knit Night at the Dutch Oven, a yarn shop that is adjacent to a bakery.  That was all it took.  Meta and I hit it off as we confessed our spinning addiction and it's necessity for a fleet of wheels.  Dot was one of the first contact and is a steady, lovely, talented person.

Here are Meta and I in her studio getting ready to get wild with some artsy batts.  That place is amazing; customized dye kitchen and large work surfaces for carding, blocking and painting fiber.

Sandy was at Dutch Oven very soon after that first night.  She spins, knits and keeps us laughing.  Heck, she invited Meta and I to stay in her condo down in Holland, MI, when we attended the Michigan Fiber Festival.  She had met us maybe twice!!! That was a blast.

 I saw the Mimi Shawl by at Cynthia Too's shop in Petoskey.  I felt like it would be perfect for some of my hand spun yarn.  One of my summer goals was to use up quantities of my mounding hand spun yarns.  Here it is on the blocking boards.  It's soft and cozy when not stretched and pinned to death.

 The lace pattern kept my attention for sure.

 Does it look like hawk-wings-in-aqua here?

 Then I got tripped up on Madeline Tosh yarns that Cynthia started adding to her shop. 

Meta brought her finished Stephen West Spectra scarf and I HAD  to do one.

Here is the start of mine.  I am almost done with it now and have a second one planned.

I have knit prolifically this summer and done some spinning.  More posts on that and on a Knit-A-Long I am doing with a group from Cynthia Too.
I have goodies for the shop in the way of luscious Leceister Long Wool lamb locks and Wensleydale lamb locks that I have found from a local Northern Michigan farm.  Look for that in late October, I hope.
I think I'm glad to be back to the blog.  So much to share.