Happy Birthday, Stephen

First, please accept my apologies for the tardiness of this update. Life happens, and I have been busy doing other things, so the blog just kept getting put on the back burner until today. Then, to add injury to insult, I am having major issues putting photos up, so there are several pictures of people that just aren't showing. I'll try to make it up to you by taking more pictures of you in the future.

We celebrated Stephen's birthday, when he turned 39 (again). And we also had a bit of a Christmas party at the same time. The weather was a bit dicey, so not everyone that we expected made it. But a good time was had by all those who did. We were happy to see Dan D. who had not been around for quite a while. Unfortunately the photo that he is in (to actually prove that he was here) is one of those that I could not upload.

Elizabeth won MPK this month and wore her February Lady sweater. I am not sure what she was knitting on now, but the cat was having a great nap and keeping parts of Elizabeth warm and toasty.Char, Steve, and Sharon in the dining room. They all look so serious...Pat, Elizabeth and Maggie in the living room.
Pat brought this crocheted Nativity. It was very adorable. She gets the award for MPC (Most Prolific Crocheter).
Pat also made the cutest ever Santa and Reindeer.
I tried to stick them in my pocket to bring them home with me, but she caught me. Better luck next year.
Linda brought this adorable snowman all decked out in hat, scarf and mittens.
Char, Steve, and Sharon are still at the table. Is it because the food was there???
And Troy made a nice place for the cat to sit. I can't tell the difference - this is either Callie or Bumpy.Next spin and grin is January 17 at Steve's. Then mark your calendar's - the February spin and grin will be on Saturday, February 13, at Char's. That is also shearing day. More details will follow. Then on Sunday, February 28, we will be shearing at Steve's. Hope to see you all there!

November-2009

We had a wonderful turn out for the November spin and grin. As always, lots of laughs and fun was had by all.

Sharon wins the MPK award (Most Prolific Knitter). She brought the sweater below (yarn spun by Char) - the sweater is for her significant other.

And what a great modeling job she did also!
Then this is her cormo henley sweater - what a lovely job she did and it feels lovely too!
Madeline and Emmy getting a lesson from Pat. Pat also brought her card loom and for those of us who hadn't a clue, it was really interesting to see her working at it.
Emmy is getting a slipper making lesson from Linda - Linda is also in contention for the MPK award every month.
Who left the bathroom door open????
Char cooked up a storm - chili and lamb stroganoff - which was enjoyed by all. I believe this photo was taken during the discussion about units of measure. We had a very profound time trying to determine how many pieces of poo are there in a poo-load. It apparently does not take much to amuse us.
And then Elizabeth and Dan were missing from the main group - I found them in the room off the dining room knitting and crocheting away. Did we offend one or both of them? Or were they just being antisocial? Will we ever know??
Madeline, Maggie, and Karen - it appears that Karen is the only one accomplishing something.
The group seems to collect in the dining room where the food is. I wonder why... Also, this is the only photo with Stephen in it. That is a very unusual occurrence. He is usually such a ham. Of course, Stephen's quote of the day was "It makes me crazy." Many of us did not know what he was talking about - come to find out he was referring to the prescription drug Xanax. This says so much about him.
Our next spin will be December 13 - we will be celebrating Stephen's birthday - well, okay, maybe celebrating is not exactly the best word, but you get the idea. Hope to see you there.

Happy Birthday, Jim!!

Jim's birthday was the day of our spin, so we celebrated with a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting (yuck). There are three candles on his cake - one for the past, one for the present, and one for the future. I couldn't afford to buy as many as needed for his cake. We also started with a bottle of St. Julian's Solera and that was rather tasty! Unfortunately it was long gone before most Back Row folks arrived. To all of you who missed out, sorry about that!

The errant slippers were found by Amy, so now Madeline will no longer have cold feet! After almost two years gone, we figured that they were gone for good. It was definitely a cause for celebration!
Lori brought a friend, Cheree, visiting from Melbourne, Australia! We were almost as excited to meet her as we were that Lori brought the ordered bottle of dandelion wine. A matter of priorities! Anyway, it was very nice to have Cheree visit our group and I think we were on our good behavior (but after the Solera was gone, who knows??).
Pat and Madeline working on their projects. Also congratulations to Pat on her new job. We were sorry that she and James had to leave earlier than normal, but happy for her! Back Row After Hours was just not the same.
Linda brought the absolute cutest baby booties ever! Hope they will sell in Ann Arbor. Almost makes a person wants to have a baby!
Sharon modeled one of her hats that will be for sale in Ann Arbor, with one of Steve's flower creations. I take back what I said last year when Steve made a brown flower. On this hat, it looked perfect!
I don't think Steve did much at the spin - there he is holding Abby, while Pat and Melinda work on their projects.

I think Sharon was building to a headache while Amy's hair was straight out. And Char was looking very serious. Please everyone! Lighten up!
Special thanks to host Steve, who volunteered his camera when I got there without a battery in mine. I would have been happy to bring his home with me, but he kept it and e-mail these photos to me promptly. However, since I have been elsewise occupied this week, it has taken me this long to update our blog.

Next spin is November 15 which coincides with the opening day of firearm deer season. I just add this as a point of interest. Anyway, hope to see everyone there and maybe even a couple new someones too!

Michigan Fiber Festival - 2009 AND September Spin and Grin

We were back to our regular spin and grin after missing August because of the Festival. How I missed everyone!!

Here are Char and Linda showing Linda's afghan. What a gorgeous job she did on it!
Then here is Linda with her Christmas garland of Santa's laundry. It is the cutest thing you ever saw!

Here are Lori, Pat, Elizabeth with her new toy - a Jensen Gossip wheel newly purchased last month - and Christina with her arms in the air. I'm not sure what that is all about. I think Elizabeth likes her new spinning wheel.

Elizabeth, Madeline, Steve and Christina - lots of spinning done! Except for Steve who is talking more and spinning less.

Char is giving Maggie a quick how-to on Maggie's newly purchased used Pat Green carder. What a good deal Maggie got on the like-new carder! Hope it lasts until I get the check cashed.

Elizabeth, Madeline, Jackie, Christina, and Lori - busy busy busy.

Char - are you napping or does it just look like that? Also, Emmy knitting and Linda taking a break from all the knitting that she does. I think she wins the award for the most prolific knitter in our group! (See the photos above!)

Melinda and Dinah working on their projects.

Jackie, Christina and Lori concentrating on their spinning.

Artistic photography. Included here for your enjoyment.

Char, Steve, Sharon, Dan and Maggie fraternizing near the food table.

Char couldn't quite make it through the day with her bra pinching her, so she threw it away and Sharon decided to make a fashion statement with it. Kind of looks like and aviator hat in light blue with a bit of satin...

And a french nail doo for Christina. Who ever heard of that? Well, obviously someone because there it is. Apparently I don't get out of the woods much. I did have my toenails painted by master nail designer Steve, but I have no photo of it. He did a marvelous job - I can see a second career in his future.

Abby-dabby was just begging for a new hair-do so she got a piece of yarn and then hammed it up for the photographer.

All that posing was just so tiring for her, so she was napping. Notice: no shots of Duncan - he is as camera-shy as ever.

And to end the day, Steve finished another hat and, taking after Abby, decided to ham it up for the camera. Turquoise is really your color, Stephen!!

Our next regular spin is October 18. Hope to see everyone there!

MICHIGAN FIBER FESTIVAL - 2009

Michigan Fiber Festival started early for us - some earlier than others. It was a great time. Here is part of the Friday night at Sam's Joint group.

Here is the rest of that group.

Here is Garrett flexing his muscles. I can't really remember why...

After we got kicked out of Sam's Joint, er, I mean finished at Sam's Joint, we went next door to the 747 to try to get served there.

Here is a self-photo of me, plus of course, part of the rest of the group.

And here is Elizabeth trying to get us kicked out of the 747.

Here is part of the group while the staff at the 747 is trying to decide whether to serve us or not.

The next day was the real Festival. I know that many of us snuck in on Friday for free, I mean, also attended on Friday. But the Festival began in earnest on Saturday.

Sharon, Kat, and I participated in the skein contest. Here is the judging.

Kat was not available for the photo of the Back Row Spinners with their winning skeins. (Actually we didn't want her in the photo because she had a blue ribbon...it would have clashed with all our red ribbons, don't you think?)
Anyway, Sharon won three red ribbons and I won one.

The thing was that there were only two entries in several classes including ours. It was a sad thing to get second place with only two entries. The only sadder thing was that the other entries in our classes got a white ribbon...

But then Sharon made up for it by taking a first place blue ribbon for her photo - and she actually won money too! Most of us had voted on her photos at the last Spin and Grin - I obviously don't know much about photography because I had picked the one with the two lambs!

It was a great Festival and I am already looking forward to next year! Hope you all had fun too!