Fitting In

Wednesday we met Josh and Missy downtown for the Veterans Day parade.  Grandson Logan was playing in the combined high school marching band and Josh just walked the couple blocks over from work.  Ian and I walked over to Le Margi for breakfast afterwards.  It has a reputation and a price tag to go with it.

Then on Thursday night we all met at Pacific Pizza and Brew to celebrate Evan's 12th birthday (click for big to see the birthday boy).  The tradition is that the birthday person gets to pick the dinner place so the next one will be Josh's on December 1st.  At this point Ian and I have just been in our house three weeks and we already feel at home.

I got my studio sorted out and put a towel warp on to get started.  I haven't woven in two months and cannot believe how many sleying and threading errors I managed to create.  It's just nice to be able to sit down at the loom again.  I know I'm going to love this space.

The fiber arts community here is vibrant and I attended my first meeting today of the NWRSA (Northwest Regional Spinners Association).  Cindie Kitchens send me the email of Molly, a contact person whom she has worked with in NWRSA but never met.  I drove up to Redmond today which is 20 miles from here, allowing an hour because I'm still conditioned to long drive times.  I was 25 minutes early.  The meeting felt chaotic but I also felt right at home.

I randomly sat next to Cindy Wasner (on the right), a Norwegian knitwear designer.  And yes, she speaks the language.  It was like we had been friends for years.  She asked me to take a picture of her with Molly who has modeled so many of her knitted garments that she gave her this cap, a mate to the one she is wearing.

Another of the ladies showed the sweater that she has almost finished - she is one of Cindy's students and used one of her patterns.  This group is for spinners and knitters.  The weavers have yet a different guild and I'm planning to attend that meeting next Wednesday.  Reno had the same division of guilds.  I had hoped for one guild like Foothill Fiber Guild in Nevada City that encompasses all the fiber arts but today I was just glad to be with my kind of people - fiber folk.

The plastic bags are leftovers.  Someone brought a bale, yes a true bale of Dorset fleece and these are the residuals.  I hope I am disciplined enough to never say yes to another fleece.  I said no.  No thank you.

This is the brand new wheel the previous knitter just bought.  She's a seasoned knitter and a brand new spinner.  I had forgotten how white the Lendrum wheels are when they're new.  I left the meeting today, reaffirmed that we made the right decision when five months ago we spontaneously decided to move here.  If I didn't miss my daughter so much it would be perfect.