Meeting and Eating.

This weekend I attended two of the local fiber groups.  I've tried to join, but with one thing and another (including travel and the online cinemas courses I keep taking, plus work which often doesn't end until well into an evening) it's not easy.

One group meets on Saturdays, plus the occasional Thursday evening.  It's Twisted Threads NC so mostly spinners, but other fiber arts as well.  This was the Annual Meeting, Potluck, and Swap and you had to be a paid-up member to bring things to swap.  I paid and decided to see what happens.  I took the duffel of yarns I'd sorted for a tag sale, that didn't sell, and I thought about putting on eBay but hadn't done so yet.

For my potluck contribution, I decided to make stuffed baked buns.  I've wanted to make bread, but was finishing some loaves I'd put into my freezer.  One of my bread books has instructions for stuffed buns, and I thought that would be a good finger food to take.

Saturday morning, between my yoga class and Torah study, I made the dough, using a mix, with oil for the fat and oat milk instead of water.  I was a bit worried about the timing to fill and bake them, allowing for a second rise, because my mother and I planned to go to the local farmstand.  She was running a bit late, so I used the time to do the filling and shaping:

For the filling, I scrambled two eggs in butter, adding a large spoonful of my garlic scapes pesto.  I let this mixture cool for a few minutes, then added about an ounce and a half of finely shredded cheese.  I divided the dough into fifteen pieces, rolled each one out, and put on a spoonful of the filling.  

   

I had very little filling left by the time I reached the last one, so I added a slice of the cheese.  Then I pinched the dough around the filling and rolled it into a ballish shape; the final one was more of a fat log:

Resting on the baking tray, with parchment paper.

  

No glaze before baking. Oats in the dough
remained very chewy - to remember for next time.

They came out quite yummy, and a few returned home with me, to become a breakfast one day and lunch another, after a brief warming.  With the breakfast one I had some fruit from the farmstand; with the lunch I ate a chopped tomato and cucumber salad seasoned with a splash of vinegar and a decent amount of Salsa & Pico.

For the swap, they had three long tables set up.  By the windows went all the spinning fiber.  Middle table for books and equipment.  Third table for yarn:

After business meeting and elections (really, approval of the slate of officers and since I didn't know people, I was fine with the volunteers) the president passed out numbers.  We had eighteen persons and I drew number ten.  First person got to choose an item, then you would call out the next number, that person chose, and so on.  After a couple rounds you could take two items, and some skeins of yarn went in groups or packages.  I was surprised that the books didn't go quickly, and I was able to get three of the four I had eyemarked.  I also got a bunch of yarn, and at the end everything left was being collected for a 4-H group, but I took home two of the skeins I had taken because I like them too much to donate, and one is from a long-retired indie dyer.  Most of the yarn I took went to people in various rounds, or the free-for-all at the end.  This is what I brought home:

The bag is thirty balls of aran weight wool from the UK, so I have plenty for various projects and will likely dye some.  Top row is a skein of handspun; one of the ladies brought a number of skeins she'd made, and somebody grabbed an armload of them, but was willing to let me have one.  It's a gorgeous combination of deep blues, teals, and purple.  Next is something that looks like taupe angora, which I will burn-test and may or may not dye.  The unlabeled taupe ball next to it was in a bag with the grey, which is really what I wanted, and likely will end up in a charity something.  Next row is a ball of Taos for a charity hat; a hank of Alice Starmore Scottish Campion that I was surprised nobody had snagged; two hanks of sock yarn in "Strawberry Fields"; and the grey yarn which is designed for an easy pattern.  Mine is mostly white and grey, not grey and pink as the website shows, and I may do something else with it.

Below that, the books:

• Knitting Lace: A Workshop with Patterns and Projects
• Alice Starmore's Glamourie - I have most of her books but didn't know about this one, and took it as my first round pick
• Twisted-Stitch Knitting: Traditional Patterns & Garments from the Styrian Enns Valley
• A pair of Elsebeth Lavold books that were together, Designer's Choice Book One and Book Eight

My duffel bag was not as full going home about which I am happy.  I need to find a Miami Dolphins fan for the car magnet.

Then on Monday evening, I went to the Triangle Fiber Guild meeting.  I'd attended one a few months ago but work nights can be difficult for me and this was no different.  I arrived late, and luckily they didn't turn me away.  Part of being late was getting rerouted by construction and a traffic jam, but part is just the difficulty of leaving work early enough.

No photos from this one; people worked on projects, discussed all kinds of things, and generally it was a casual event.  At some others they have presentations and they do charity work; when I arrived people were suggesting new projects for the fall and winter.  I suggested Knit Your Bit, Warm Up, America!, and the Morganton Blue Elves.  Another person mentioned the Red Scarf Project and somebody suggested a group that makes Disney-inspired hats for children undergoing chemotherapy.  The leader is going to set up a poll for voting.