I get around.

I've been all over the place the past week or so, and for once I am not talking about my mental state. Happily, all of it was fun and sometimes fiber-y stuff, no boring bits like dentist visits, etc. So, to round it all up:

Last weekend we went to the Family Fun Fest at Slater Mill. There wasn't as much there as last year, but we did get to hear storytelling by Mark Binder. He did a nice job; the boys thought he was really funny. I must admit I was a tad distracted because it was held on the second floor of the old mill and there was all this equipment for spinning? weaving? in the back of the room. I pulled out my camera to get a picture of it only to find the memory card was in the computer at home. Booger.

Thursday while the boys were at school Old Friend and I drove out to a yarn shop in Middleboro, MA that her grandmother had recommended. It's called the Wool Patch and the owner, Miriam Hobart, officially has the sweetest deal ever. Her yarn store is cute and cozy and separated from her house by a little gravel parking lot. There's also a shed and a paddock with a llama named Omi. Hi, Omi!

Omi was not particularly interested in us.

The yarn in the store was lovely; she had a very good selection for a small shop. I really liked the sock display:

I was pretty well behaved - I bought a couple of skeins of Cascade 220 for Christmas gift-knitting, and a, um, cough skein of kettle-dyed sock yarn cough cough.

We also got to go to knitting group the same night, which is always a good time.

And on to this past weekend, which was just ridiculously packed. First there was the Arts Festival at Slater Park, with all sorts of local artists displaying and selling their wares. Much of it was really beautiful - photography, jewelry, woodworking. Unfortunately, I didn't get pictures of this event either. This time I forgot not the memory card but the entire camera. Yeah, I rock.

One of the vendors at the park was Jonne of Manmade by Jonne, who was totally not helping my growing desire to take up spinning by sitting there with his spinning wheel and drop spindle kits and colorful roving. My inner voice is telling me I don't really have time for another hobby, but it's a bit rusty, perhaps from lack of use. Don't worry - I didn't buy a spinning wheel. Yet.

On Sunday, J ran in the CVS Downtown 5K in Providence. He came in #1107 - sounds kind of pathetic, but there were over 7000 runners. Way to go, babe! I foolishly took the advice of the race's website instead of my own common sense and found the highway exit I took completely blocked off. So the kids and I watched mainly from the car. Still, the sheer volume of people running through the streets of downtown Providence was pretty impressive. And I didn't mind sitting in the car; I had my knitting.



Not surprisingly, J was a bit tired for accompanying the kids and I to our last outing of the past week: back to Slater Park to see a performance of the RI Philharmonic. I go to this park at least a couple of times a week and I have never seen so many people there:


Oh, did you notice the sweater on the lady sitting in front of me? Yeah, me too.

Pretty. The orchestra was pretty good, too. :)

I thought it was thrilling to hear such full and lovely music in an outdoor familiar setting. The kids thought it was thrilling that they performed the theme from Star Wars. Something for everybody.

The next few weeks don't really show any signs of slowing down. I've got a family birthday, a baby shower, and another event coming up. The event, for anybody local and interested, is a celebration of National Spinning and Weaving week at Slater Mill on October 7. There will be a lot of people (duh) spinning and weaving, but also activities for kids such as felting and using a drop spindle. Although I have tried a drop spindle myself and I think that may result in some pissed-off kids and broken drop spindles. Maybe that's just me. Anyway, it should be fun. Maybe I should rest up first!