Pittsburgh Recap

Hi!  I'm back.  Thank you, Nora, for covering the blog for me last time.

As Nora mentioned, I was out of town a few weeks back.  I went to the Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival with my crafting buddy, Cindy.  We drove out Friday morning and came back Saturday evening.  This was our first time to this festival, and we're not sure we'd go back.  The market was good, but the classes left a bit to be desired.  The only class I took that I really enjoyed was the Tunisian crochet class.  Nora showed you my class samples last time, so I won't bore you with those.  I will show you what I got at the market, though.

First up is a skein of Jewel sock yarn from Oink Pigments in the colorway Redrum.  It is a reddish salmon color.  I hear salmon is the color for 2019 so I guess this is close.  The reason I bought this particular skein is because it is close to the color I want for a sweater I plan to knit once I finish one of the two I have in my active knitting WIP queue.  Someday I'll make Hamilton in a color close to this.  This sock yarn is to remind me of the color I have in mind.

I also bought a skein from Dusty Tree Dyeworks in their exclusive colorway for the festival.  This color is named Polar Vortex.  It is a very pretty hand dyed in blues and greys.

As I've mentioned in the past, I am currently knitting Joji Locatelli's Odyssey shawl.  Once that is off the needles I am going to make her Slow Curves shawl.  Yarn Culture had kits made up and I couldn't resist the colors.

Four skeins of their Spun Right Round Classic Sock in a fade from deep green to cream.  I loved how the sample looked.  Green is my favorite color and can't wait to wear this. 

Also at Yarn Culture's booth I bought a Jul shawl clasp.  I have a wooden stick that I've been using but it tends to come loose.  This one holds great so I won't lose my pin or my shawl.

I also bought a set of Addi FlexiFlips in size 1.  These may become my go-to needles for socks.

The last vendor at the market that I purchased from was Stunning String Studio.  Last year at Stitches Midwest, I bought their Oktoberfest shawl kit.  It came with the cutest beer stitch markers.  At Pittsburgh I bought some other stitch markers from them.  The set  on the top are plastic disks that you can write on.  Great for keeping track of stitch patterns.  The bottom left set are wine themed and the bottom right are digits 0-9.  Both sets are super cute.

Friday evening after dinner, Cindy and I visited the "Block Party".  It consisted of different vendors and crafts people showing their wares.  There was a man who had Polish crafts: palm weaving, Pisanki Easter eggs and carved, blown eggs.  I've always been fasinated with Pisanki eggs.  I bought a kit from him to try this year at Easter.  He taught classes, but unfortunately those classes are in the Pittsburgh area.  Not convenient to go to. 

Other vendors/demonstrators at the Block Party included someone spinning raw angora bunny fur, people doing henna hand tattoos, someone selling essential oils and a lady showing stretches that crafters should do.  Cindy and I participated in the stretching demo, which relaxed us quite a bit.  The wine we had in our "coffee" to-go cups didn't hurt either.

When I came home from my trip I discovered Nora had developed an eye infection.  I was able to get an ointment from the rescue center but that didn't seem to clear it up.  Last Thursday I took her to the vet for her first checkup.  The vet gave me a couple other things to try.  Hopefully it clears soon.  I'm not a fan of the squinty kitty eye.  It makes her look angry.

Well, that's about all I have to share for now.  We are going to dinner with some friends tonight and then doing an escape room.  We've never done one before so this should be interesting.  I just wonder what happens if you don't solve all the clues in the allotted hour.