Finally!

The last few weeks have been a blur. While I have been able to get some new fibers into the shop, I spent much of our spring break taking care of sick kids (sadly, both of my girls caught colds).

On the glass-half-full side of things, I did manage to finish up two of my sock knitting projects...

pattern: Child's First Sock pattern from Knitting Vintage Socks

needle: US1.5

yarn: Four Rivers Yarn & Fiber Hand Dyed Sock Yarn in a OOAK colorway that I call Lavender Farm.

pattern: 2x2 ribbed sock with a purl ridge every 12th row

needle: US 1

yarn: Some sw merino/alpaca handspun that sat in the shop for.ev.er. (After months of it sitting I felt I had to take the listing down and use this poor yarn. It was too lovely to be ignored.)

It feels good to have these two projects finished. In celebration I pulled the next ufo out of the knitting pile: a gorgeous handspun Swallowtail Shawl (rav link). I'm so excited to be working on a shawl again! They always seem to knit up so fast. :)

Today is my birthday and I plan to spend the rest of it cleaning my house, spinning, and baking a German Chocolate Cake. We're visiting with family this weekend (which generally means a lot of time spent in the car), hopefully by the end of it I'll have a new finished shawl. :)

Evolution

This week I've been taking a look around my house and I've been noticing a trend. There are several knitting projects, partially finished and lying around my home in various places. Every time I make progress with my knitting, I hear the siren call of new (or sometimes old) fiber and I can't resist. Before I know what's happening, I've all but abandoned the knitting project and I'm spinning more yarn.

exhibit A

exhibit B

exhibit C

While this isn't exactly a bad thing (I very much want to spin down my stash to a manageable size) I've realized that my knitting queue has grown to over a hundred projects that I'd really like to knit and I've gotten to the point now where I'm only finishing 4-6 knitting projects a year. Somewhere along the line, I must have evolved from a knitter who spins to a spinner who occasionally knits. Again, this isn't necessarily bad, but I have so much more that I'd like to accomplish with my wool.

I think it's time for me to once again lay out some rules for myself, in the hopes that it will produce some positive changes. At this moment I probably have enough fiber to last from now till judgement day and I'll never spin and knit through it unless these changes happen soon.

I've decided that February will be for finishing up what's on my wheel, and that I'll not be allowing myself to spin more fiber for myself (meaning fiber that's not intended for sale in the shop) until I finish knitting up every project I have lying around here on the needles right now. I have some excellent projects in mind for this year, but I know I'll never get around to them until I get everything else out of the way.

This will also help me to finish the spinning projects that have been in limbo on my Kromski, which would be excellent as I'm hoping to sell it this year. I'll keep things updated here as I make progress.

Finishing Bug

Today is a great day for getting cozy on the sofa, having an afternoon cup of coffee or tea and, of course, working with yarn. I have been doing exactly that. I've been getting some good spinning time in and this is the most recent yarn...

2 ply handspun merino

fingering weight

approx 400 yards

As soon as the wool order comes, I think I'm going to spin up 3-4 oz of plain white merino into a nice 2 ply to pair with this yarn for some colorwork mittens. I've always wanted some and this might just be the time to do it.

Yesterday I was bitten by the finishing bug. Before I knew what was happening, I started rummaging through the closet, digging out UFO's and deciding what could be finished the quickest and I ended up choosing 3 projects. One was Allie's baby blanket, which I managed to finish in about an hour.

The second project was this pair of socks, which I started back in September (I think). I'm really glad to have these done. The weather has been sooo cold and nasty lately.

pattern: Longjohn Socks by Anne Hanson

yarn: Mystery Fish SAL handspun

needles: US 1 dpns

I intend to finish project #3 (a pair of Knotty gloves knit with a lovely green sw merino/alpaca handspun) this week. I have a few other things in the works too, but for now these are the projects that I have time to share. More to come soon.

It's that time again.

Moving time!

Yesterday morning my husband brought in the first load of empty boxes to be filled. While I'm very excited to be buying a home and moving someplace nicer than where we are now, I can still feel myself groan inwardly when it comes time to pack up the house. (I'm thinking the groaning is a little louder this time. After all, this is the second time we've moved this year.) I managed to get these boxes filled and several of our shelves emptied and now there's already a new carload of boxes waiting to be filled. Fun times.

In between packing up boxes, I managed to get the Freckle Face Fibers merino/silk plied. This morning I skeined and washed it. Pictures to come as soon as it's dry.

And although I didn't have any time to knit yesterday, I did have time to take a picture of my second sock progress. This afternoon, we're driving into town to sign papers at the escrow company. One of the things I don't mind about the 1 1/2 hour drive to town is the knitting time I gain when hubs is doing the driving. I plan on making this sock grow today.

Hopefully I'll also be able to sneak in some spinning time too. I'm into the last half of some gorgeous Pigeonroof Studios corriedale. I'm thanking my lucky stars that I bought two bumps. I know I'll be keeping one of them for sure.

Catching Up: Part II

As promised, here is my post of recent finished objects. Starting with the yarn, here is one of my finished spins from the Tour de Fleece.

This is a fingering weight, chain-plied yarn spun from WoolPig Crafts hand dyed Merino in the Fern Gully colorway. I'm guessing that Gladys takes a lot of care when dyeing her fibers because this roving was an absolute pleasure to spin. The colors in this one were a lot of fun too. It kept making me think of sandy beaches, palm trees and bananas.

The next spin is from a fiber buried deep in the stash. It's All Spun Up sw merino/alpaca from a SAL she had a while ago. Because the fiber is one of my all time favorite blends I bought a double dose and was saving this one for a special occasion, which ended up being this year's Tour de Fleece as well. For this one I chose to pre-draft the whole braid and spin it from end to end. It's also a chain-plied fingering weight yarn.

There are more on the wheel now, one of which I will have pictures of as soon as it is finished.

Now to the knitting. Pretty much all of the knitting I accomplished over the late spring and summer has been for Allie. The first is a sweater set knit from yummy Funky Carolina merino that was spun a long time ago. The yarn had been sitting in the stash waiting to become a shawl (so I thought), but as I went through the stash searching for baby sweater yarn I changed my mind, thinking that it was the precise amount of girl-y I was looking for.

The hat is my modified version of Simple Newborn Hat with a Touch of Lace by Ginny Foreman and the sweater is the Top Down Raglan Baby Sweater by Carole Barenys (both links go to their free patterns). I really enjoyed both of these patterns but I have to say that the sweater pattern is fast becoming my favorite for utilizing handspun in baby knits. It's a very easy knit and it showcases handspun yarns beautifully. So beautifully that I had to knit two...

This one was knit from Funky Carolina merino handspun by Laurs of Bee Mice Elf and gifted to me during the summer round of the Funky Junkies handspun swap. I fell so hard for this yarn when I opened the package that I wound it up immediately and began knitting. It worked out perfectly combined with this pattern.

Lastly, I just finished this hat last week. It's the Norwegian Sweet Baby Cap (pattern also free) and I knit it with leftover handspun sock yarn. It's a great pattern and it looks so cute on Allie. It's also great for using up those leftover scraps of yarn.

So, that's all I have finished for now. I'm still knitting and spinning as I get things cleaned, organized and packed for moving. I should have more to share soon.

Stash busting...

It doesn't feel like it's been so long since my last post. There's been so much going on, I don't even know where to begin -so I wont.

I have been spending a lot of time spinning, and I feel like I'm making pretty good progress. I don't have a lot to show for it yet (I've been really bad about taking pictures lately), but I have two lovely 4oz rovings spun and waiting to be plied, as well as the first half of a handspun swap project spun, that I will be finishing up in the next couple of days.



Both of the rovings that are waiting to be plied are All Spun Up rovings. One is the Ice Cave BFL/silk from the current spin-a-long and the other is a nice earthy-colored merino that I've had in the stash for a long time. I've been spending a little more time going through my stash and making an effort to use it. I think the stash has grown to the point where I get confused when I look at it because there's just too much pretty stuff to choose from. I was having such a hard time trying to decide what to spin the last time I picked, that I had to just close my eyes, plunge my hand into the bin and go with whatever it happened to get.

The lovely skein pictured in the photos is one I finished about a week ago. It's BFL from All Spun Up. For this one I decided to split the roving in half down its length and then pre-draft it before spinning. I like the way the color progression turned out and it's very soft and fluffy. I didn't quite get the yardage I was hoping for (especially considering it was on the heavier side at 4.5oz to begin with) but I'm still pleased with the finished project.

The knitting has come to a stand still. I was busting out with the baby knitting, but then I took a break to knit a birthday shawl for one of my best friends. As much as I love my friend this may have been a poor choice on my part...

I recently bought some very lovely yarn and I decided to knit an Akimbo shawl. I love the way this shawl looks, and so far I think the pattern has been very well written (I sort of despise working from charts), but I'm so bored with this shawl right now that I struggle to stay awake while I'm working on it. I can handle about 4 rows a day and that is all I can tolerate. I've been asking myself why I've been having such a hard time with it (after all I did knit a Simple Yet Effective Shawl without getting this bored and that one has even less going on with it than the Akimbo) and I think I have my answer: it's the combination of pattern & yarn. The yarn I'm knitting with is lovely and soft and perfect... but it's not handspun. The Akimbo Shawl is largely garter stitch, and while I'm confident that it will be beautiful upon completion I have to admit that as boring as garter stitch is for me, handspun yarn with it's lovely, wonderfully unpredictable color changes makes garter stitch tolerable for me. At least I only have about 12 more rows to go at this point.



For now I'm allowing my attention to drift from the knitting and I'm enjoying my time at the spinning wheel. I've ordered a couple more bobbins for my woolee winder and I'm gearing up for the Tour de Fleece. My (considerably more reasonable) goal this year is to spin at least one pound of fiber from the stash. I may end up doing more, but I'd rather not be disappointed in myself if it doesn't happen.

Birthday

Yesterday I celebrated my 30th birthday. It turned out to be a very nice day. In the morning my husband took our daughter to school so I could have a relaxing morning for myself. Throughout the day I received several phone calls and messages from friends and family wishing me a good birthday. Then last night my husband took me out to dinner (just the two of us -which rarely ever happens).

And even though it didn't come by my birthday, my birthday present finally came in the mail today...

Mmmmmm.... Mama Blue. It's a rare and special treat for me. I'm really loving this order, too. I managed to finally get a hold of a skein of Kale (the rich green one at the top), a gorgeous skein of Palomino (the color is the most lovely, buttery shade of yellow) and... a beautiful and coveted skein of Corset (not exactly blue, not exactly purple, but something in between with possible hints of grey). They're all Smart Merino Sock and they're all very nice. I'm thinking that at least two of them will become baby sweaters, but only time will tell.

I'm excited that my birthday has passed. For me it usually signifies the beginning of warmer weather on the Olympic Peninsula. I miss blue skies, warm breezes and long summer days. Since we've moved I've felt lucky to see even 1 or 2 sunny days out of every week we've had. I'm even starting to daydream about getting in a short camping trip before my due date (and before it gets too hot).

Speaking of pregnancy and how it's been affecting life, I'm trying to get in both as much spinning and knitting as I can -while I still can.

The spinning has sort of hit a slow patch. While I have a few different spinning projects in the works right now, I've been working exclusively on one of them, pushing myself to get it done. It's approx. 20-24oz of baby llama. I agreed to spin it for a friend and at this point I've had it (still unspun) in my possession for way too long. It's taken me forever to get going on this project because the preparation of this llama is very rustic and to be honest I really just don't like working with it. Even so, I've been working on it whenever I feel up to spinning over the last week and I'm currently about halfway through it right now. I'm hoping that I'll have a very pro-spinning sort of weekend and that I'll manage to get through the rest of it by Monday. I really want to finish this project because I have such an exciting line-up of other things to spin when I'm done.

The knitting isn't super exciting, but I have been making progress. Right now all non-baby projects have been put on hold and stashed away in the closet. I'm somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 of the way done with baby blanket #1. It's a pattern called Lullaby and I've already knit it twice before. I love it because it's girly, without being too lacy (which for me equals not being durable enough for daily baby wear and tear). I also like the pattern because it's very intuitive and simple to memorize. After that, I think I might take a break with a baby sweater before I jump into knitting baby blanket #2. My only hold-up is finding the right pattern. Mama Blue is to precious to waste on a plain, unremarkable pattern.

Still on Earth...

...And this is really the only fiber(y) sort of thing I've accomplished in a few weeks.

It's my Angel Lace Shawl. I knit it with some merino/silk handspun I received in the Funky Junkies Handspun Swap. The yarn was perfect for this and I had very little left over (there was no way I would have been able to squeeze in another pattern repeat so I'm glad I didn't try). I did finish my pumpkin pie merino (585 yards!!) but it took me over two weeks to finish it and I still haven't photographed it.

The very same night that I finished this shawl, I got a phone call sometime after 10:00 pm from my grandmother, because her house was on fire.

I went, taking her a coat and a sleeping bag (this was a bad time for me to realize that we actually don't have any extra blankets in our house) and a few woolly things as well, and stood with her and my granddad as they waited outside -in the rain- for the fire department to get things under control. After about an hour, the fire was out and the firemen had started chopping out large chunks of wall, ceiling, paneling and anything else that might have been dangerous left inside.

The house didn't burn to the ground, but it's currently uninhabitable. Even though the attic and the very center of the house is where most of the damage and fire was, most of their possessions were destroyed by the smoke. I wouldn't have thought that smoke (on its own) could be so destructive, but it really permeates everything. Not like plain wood smoke at all.

I'm very grateful that my grandparents were still awake. As it turns out, even though there was smoke billowing out from the ceiling, their smoke detectors, complete with new (and tested-out) batteries did not go off!!

This knowledge is leading me to search for the best smoke detectors that I can find and to test the batteries very, very often. I hope that this post will remind anyone who may have let this little important bit of home maintenance slip for a while, to go check their smoke detectors and replace anything that may need to be replaced.

Since the fire, I've been trying to help my grandmother whenever I have time, as she and my granddad get settled in their new rental. I have so much sympathy for her. Going through something so stressful would be a challenge at any age, and at her age it's very, very difficult. To add to her stress, my granddad suffers from senility/memory loss and he keeps getting confused. About every twenty minutes he forgets why they're staying somewhere else. He doesn't remember the fire at all, even though he was there when it happened. It's extremely frustrating for my grandmother. I'm glad, though, that he still remembers who all of us are. If he didn't, I can't even imagine how much harder all of this would be.

So, that's where I've been and what I've been doing. I just hope that things settle down soon. Today was the first day I've had available to be alone in my own house, and to be doing what I choose. I chose to spend time with my dye-pots. I'm not having an update any time soon (sorry) but I'd had a few more special requests for rovings that still needed to be taken care of, so that's what I've been doing today. If you've made a request for something on Etsy, you should be hearing from me soon.

Wish me better luck with December.

Today

Today is exactly the kind of day that makes you appreciate being wrapped up in warm wool.

The sky outside is an unrelenting grey and the hum of drizzling rain and rustling leaves can be heard from inside the house. I really enjoy this time of year. I like how the darkness comes early and leaves late. It's cozy.

This is the first of my two days off this week and I'm going to spend it doing laundry, knitting and spinning. I've been doing rather well on my monogamous knitting kick. I do have two projects on the needles at present. Though, it doesn't feel like cheating because one of them is my Angel Lace shawl and it's almost done. I'm not even going to bother with trying to photograph it until it's entirely finished and blocked. To me it's like photographing a woman with no make up (against her will). It's kind of insulting.

The second project is a new pair of socks for my husband. I like taking socks to work with me. It's good, small knitting and seeing as I haven't knit anything for my husband in a while and in this time I've stockpiled 4 different skeins of yarn to make socks for him, I thought I'd better get moving on it. Besides, as much as my husband gives me a hard time about my knitting, he redeemed himself yesterday when he surprised me by wearing one of the hats I knit for him. Willingly. He put it on in the morning before we left the house and he wore it all day. He finally took it off at bed time. He must have really liked it.

I'm using the Gentleman's Fancy Sock pattern from Knitting Vintage Socks and some KnitPick's Bare Merino/Nylon yarn that I kettle dyed into a rich, dark brown. I'm modifying the pattern for a shorter leg, as I don't have the yardage required for the pattern and my husband has an eleven inch foot. I weighed out the yarn ahead of time and I have 103 grams. I figure I'll stop to knit the heel after the first 16-18 grams. I suppose if I was really worried about it I could modify them to be knit from the toe up, but after knitting several socks toe up and then knitting them from the cuff down again, I've decided that I much prefer knitting from the cuff down. Toe up socks are great. I'm sure I'll knit many more in the future, but today I'm going to indulge my cuff-down craving.

Now, I'm going to go drink my Earl Grey, listen to A Perfect Circle: Mer de Noms (it's been in my stereo for weeks -I can't seem to get tired of it) and spin some Pigeonroof Studious South African Fine in the Lazy Daisy colorway. It going to be a great Friday.

Time lapse...

It amazes me how fast life changes. We get very busy. Life throws us a curve ball every now and then, and it just takes a while to work with it and make adjustments.

We managed to get through the first partial week of the school year and then, sadly, that weekend my husband's grandmother passed away. It really came as a shock because she had just (seemingly) recovered from some major health issues with her heart that she experienced back in April. We almost lost her back then. Somehow, against very bad odds, she made it through the recovery. It's sad to lose her after all of the hardships she endured, but then again, she was able to do a few last things that she wouldn't have been able to do otherwise. Mainly, she got to see two more of her great-grandchildren come into the world. That has to count for something...

In this time I've had to work several extra hours (it was my MIL's mom that passed on, and as I work part-time for my MIL it meant that there were some extra days that needed to be covered at work), so I haven't had a whole lot of time to work on dyeing fiber for the shop, and I definitely haven't had a lot of time to spin, but I have managed to finish a number of things in the time I haven't been blogging. Here are a few of the UFO's which are now done...

Socks for my SIL knit from the handspun in this post...

The Waffles sweater for Paige -knit from kettle-dyed Knit Picks Bare Merino sock yarn (Paige was very pleased with me for finally getting this one done)...

And most recently this Ishbel for my grandmother's birthday. I was really proud of this one, not just because it's a shawl, but because (for once) I knitted this one on time (actually, I had a whole week to spare before gifting it) and that is a very rare occurrence.

Now that things are finally calming down a bit, I've been relishing the few minutes here and there when I get to sit down at my wheel. I'm slowly working my way towards finishing my Angel Lace Shawl, though there's no hurry for that one. It's coming along beautifully, and I'm looking forward to finishing it (so I can wear it -it'll be getting cold soon), but for now I'm just enjoying being able to take my time with it, savoring every stitch.

So that's what has been going on. I'm hoping that this weekend things around here will fall into place (at least mostly), and I'm hoping to get some fiber dyed and more spinning done once the household cleaning is all caught-up.

P.S. Lately I've had some wonderful messages from people sharing pictures of the yarns they've spun from my fibers & knitting projects with (which have all been lovely) and I've been considering starting a Flickr group so that they can share them with everyone. Is there any interest for this? Please feel free to voice your opinion in the comments. =)

A powerful thing...

This week has been spent doing even more finishing. I finished a very old sock in progress (it's been so long since I started these it's just sad), but forgot to save the photos to my computer, so here's a link to the flickr photo. I'm very glad they're finally out of my WIP pile.

I also finished the crocheted baby blanket I've been working on for baby Sage.

pattern: Granny Square by Purl Bee

yarn: assorted odds & ends (leftover) sock yarns -both handspun and commercial

hook: 4mm

I'm very happy about how this one turned out and I plan on making more in the future. I can't think of a better way to dispose of leftover sock yarn scraps. I wish I'd been able to get better pictures of it, the colors are pretty, subtle and earthy all at the same time. I hope this blanket will give lots of warmth to it's wonderful little recipient and maybe even get some love in return.

Baby blankets really are something special. When I was nearing my due date with my own little girl, a very wonderful customer from my work gave me a hand-knitted baby blanket that, in time, became one of my daughter's most beloved possessions. Seeing that love inspired me to get into knitting. The bond between a child and a blanket can be a powerful thing...

Now that the blanket and sweater are ready to be shipped out I'm looking at the rest of my WIP pile and sorting through what to finish next. I'm very tired of all the WIPs and think I'm at least ready to consider dabbling in monogamous knitting for awhile. The last time I had startitis it got very out of hand. Right now I'm fed up with finishing things I can hardly remember starting. Time for change, no?

Welcoming Sage...

I first started kniting this sweater back in January. Sadly, it was quickly pushed to the back of my WIP pile in favor of other projects. When I picked it back up in May, I ripped it out and I started it again, getting about half way through it before setting it aside a second time.

pattern: Baby Sweater on Two Needles -by E.Z.

yarn: Mama Blue Knitting Goods Sea Merino in Palomino

About a week ago my husband's cousin gave birth to Sage, a beautiful, healthy baby girl. Since this sweater was intended for her, I thought I'd better get it finished.

I spent a lot of time yesterday working on the body of the sweater and finished knitting it last night while my husband and I watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. This morning I wove in the last end and sewed on the buttons. Last night I was having doubts about it, but this morning after giving it a soak and blocking it out on the towel I'd say that all in all it turned out pretty good.

Today I'm working on the crocheted blanket (also meant for baby Sage) and hope to have it finished by tomorrow evening. All of this finishing feels good. =)

Handspun Socks

Finally, after poking along on these for several weeks I've finished a pair of handspun socks. It frustrates me when I drag a project out like this, especially when it was such a simple one.

These sock were knit from the handspun I finished back in May. I had cast on for socks with it as soon as the yarn was dry and knocked out the first sock in a matter of a few days. The second sock sat around (needing only a couple of inches on the foot and a toe) for the last month or so until I picked it up the other day and finished it so I could start on something new:

Approx. 4oz and 400yds

chain-plied fingering weight

SW merino from All Spun Up

This yarn turned out very pretty and is currently becoming socks for my sister-in-law (if she wants them -lucky for me, we have the same size foot if she doesn't). I really can't wait to post about these when they're all done. They are knitting up so beautifully and this is some of the nicest (of my own) handspun that I've ever knitted with. The weight of the yarn is just right. My favorite commercial sock yarn is Lorna's Laces Sheperd Sock, and that's usually about the thickness I aim for when I'm spinning a 3-ply sock yarn (not that I usually meet that goal, it's just what I try for). This yarn has probably been the closest I've come so far to meeting my goal.

Beyond being happy with the spinning job, the colors in this one make me weak in the knees. There is a lot of pink and yellow, but there are also some beautifully deep reds, golds and greens and the way they're all coming together is lovely. Handspun socks are the best.

This last week was my first week back at work and today was the first of 3 days off. Over the weekend I'm going to try to get the last pound of fiber I have in my closet dyed up. Then maybe I'll be able to proceed with my plans to do a weekend update the following weekend. I think I might be able to make this new schedule work afterall.

For any of those lucky enough to be going to Sock Summit, I hope you'll have a chance to drop by the Sweet Sheep booth where you can find Michelle's awesome goods and snuggle some of my handspun! =)

Knitting and Crochet

I've been taking a few days off to work on some woolen goodies for the newest member of our extended family (the first baby for one of my husband's cousins) who is due to arrive soon.

A while back I started knitting this February Baby Sweater, but never got past the garter stitch yoke. So yesterday evening I pulled it out, ripped it back (I had run into a few technical difficulties the first time around anyhow) and started fresh.

Pattern: February Baby Sweater on two needles by E. Zimmerman

Needles: US 4

Yarn: Mama Blue Knitting Goods Sea Merino in Palomino

I really like this pattern, except for having an idea that I would cheat a little and knit the sleeves in the round with some dpns, only to have my plan spoiled by not owning dpns of the correct size. I know I could go buy some, but don't feel like giving money up for new needles right now. I'll probably splurge on dpns the next time I use this pattern (assuming the stitch pattern would work well in the round at all -some don't). So, I'm working the sleeves on straights, while I hold the rest of it on a circular needle. I'm hoping to finish up with this by Wednesday.

In addition to the baby sweater I've been doing something out of character: crocheting a baby afghan.

Pattern: Granny Square by Purl Bee

Crochet hook: 4mm

Yarn: handspun and commercial sock yarn leftovers

Long before I ever started knitting I began my journey into the fiber arts world with crochet. I had learned the basics of crochet from a great aunt when I was a little girl and it seemed much, much less complicated than knitting (now, as a knitter, I don't entirely agree with this line of thought). To make a long-winded story short, crochet didn't really agree with me. I kept looking at knitted projects and patterns with longing, and eventually it got to me enough that I made the switch. I haven't ever looked back... until a couple of days ago.

I was clearing my stash out of the spare bedroom (it's going to be painted this week) and trying to decide what to keep readily available, what to pack up and what might need to be tossed, when I came to a big grocery sack full of sock yarn remnants. There was nearly every color imaginable in there. I save these to use for knitting barbie clothes, toys, etc. but even after knitting the occasional finger-puppet or outfit for barbie, there was still an overwhelming amount of yarn in that bag.

I was chewing on whether or not I should toss it when I remembered reading this post on Cosmicpluto Knits. I also remembered reading that crochet uses up 3 times the amount of yarn that knitting does. I had a flash-back of how fast I used to whip out a scarf with crochet and suddenly, I felt inspired to make a throw.

To my delight, the pattern was free, and I even managed to dig up the right size of crochet hook. It's coming along very nicely. When I think of the years it would take me to knit a throw from those sock yarn bits, I smile smugly to myself, feeling like a genius.

It's only been a couple of days and I'm almost done. I have spent no money and I have more room in my house. Crochet may not be my passion, but I do love that it serves a purpose.

Yarn like sunshine...

I think by this point it's no secret that I seriously fell off the fiber diet wagon, so it probably can't hurt to share a new aquisition. This is a bump of hand dyed merino combed top from All Spun Up. I loved it, and was trying to be good and not buy more fiber, but eventually it became evident that it was time for me to adopt it (it had been in her Etsy shop for quite a while, all lonely and neglected and sitting there waiting for me). So I did buy it (as well as another one, but that's another blog post).

What made me want this one so bad was actually a pair of socks that Kristin knit herself from her own handspun yarn, a pair that I fell in love with. I've been trying to keep my eyes peeled at her shop for a blue/yellow/orange number for socks to imitate hers and this roving finally caught my eye. 

I knew right off hand that I wanted longer, more solid color repeats. So, I split the roving in four (lengthwise, and not all that evenly either) and predrafted out the thicker strips. It will be exciting to see how the finished socks come out, even if they're not all that much like hers. The experience was a good learning one for me and even though I don't like spinning pre-drafted fiber (for me it was a giant pain) I'm pretty happy with the end results. This is some of the brightest, happiest-looking yarn I've ever held in my hands. 

This yarn makes me want to cast on right now but I have way too many fiber things going on right now. I am clearly not over my start-itis. I have two (about to become 3) pairs of socks on the needles, a couple of sweaters for my daughter, a few baby sweaters, 2 scarves and 2 cowls (you don't even want to know about the pile of half-spun fiber and half-filled bobbins laying around my wheel -it's sad that my new kate is becoming a place to store my less-exciting spinning projects). About the only thing I'm really focused on right now is my May/June All Spun Up spin-a-long fiber. It's lovely sw merino in a gorgeous dark green/blue combo. It's already on the wheel and destined to become sock yarn.

Still, hope is not lost. I am close to finishing at least a couple of projects. =)

Koolhaas #2

In the last several months I haven't managed to get much knitting done and as a result I think I've grown hungrier for it than usual. I'm not usually a hat sort of person, but lately I've been indulging myself with hat knitting because of the instant gratification they offer. Here is the latest hat, my second finished Koolhaas.

  

I really like this pattern. It's not difficult to memorize (it's very intuitive), and well, I can't help but think they just look sharp as far as knitted hats go. I don't know if my husband is going to actually wear this (sadly, he has a grudge against hand knits which I suspect is because he's jealous of the time I spend with wool). He'd probably never admit it himself, but he looks pretty sharp in this hat, too. Hopefully, next winter when the days get very cold he'll come to appreciate it...

Here is a picture of the Bacchus SW BFL in progress.  

Up till now I've always balked at the idea of buying SW BFL from other sellers because A: It usually is more expensive and B: In photos it usually looks a little rough around the edges -like it's full of neps. But after my last SAL experience with All Spun Up BFL and the gorgeous, fine 3 ply sock yarn I was able to spin with it, I decided to give it a chance. I like how BFL spins, but I've knit socks with it before, and I don't want to knit socks with non-superwash BFL again. They turn out gorgeous, but I'm too hard on my socks and I tend to felt them when I wear them.

So anyhow, I'm loving this spin. For me, a good BFL/SW BFL roving can spin up into a lovely 3-ply in roughly half the time it takes me to spin merino. I'm hoping I can finish getting through this roving by tomorrow and ply in a few days. Maybe I'll be able to get a new pair of socks on the needles by late next week!

Oh, and here's a picture of the new kate. I just love the look of Kromski stuff. I know there are people out there who are a little prejudiced against Kromkski wheels for one reason or another, but (in my opinion) not many wheels out there have the aesthetic appeal of a Kromski. Especially the mahogany-stained (but obviously I'm biased). Also, compared to my last wheel, an Ashford Joy DT, I just love the way this wheel spins. It's much for comfortable for me to use, even if there have been days when it wanted to squawk like a murder of crows (white lithium grease does the trick, BTW).

 

Finally, in answer to the question in the comments from my last post, yes, I am really moving to Forks. Which is kind of sad, as Forks is not in truth a very exciting or wonderful place to be. Though I am intruiged by the idea of Forks-related colorways. I'm assuming these are supposed to be Twilight related? If anyone has any suggestions feel free to throw some ideas to me in the comments and maybe I could come up with something fun. I'm thinking along the lines of characters and places, etc. (though I'd be interested in hearing other ideas, too). 

Now, I'm off for a date with SW BFL...

eta: Notice the pretty new carpet in the first and last photos?

WIP: Koolhaas

Most weekend mornings when I get up, I pour myself a cup of coffee, sit down at my wheel and spin until I'm good and ready to get into the shower. This morning, however, I'm enjoying a little change of pace.



It's a Koolhaas in progress and I'm really enjoying this knit. The yarn is Pigeonroof Studios Siren 2 Worsted in Oxblood, which is a much springier yarn than I thought it would be (the twist in this yarn is insanely tight) but it's proving to be a great choice for this pattern on account of it's excellent stitch definition.



Up to now I haven't really been the hat-knitting sort of person, but as I don't get to knit as much as I'd like to these days, I'm growing fonder of patterns that require a little less yarn and can be completed in just a few days.

Another thing I like about this hat is the stitch pattern, which has kept me interested but is still easy to memorize (a perfect combination for me as I lose interest quickly with too-simple patterns and don't have time to work on anything more involved at the moment). This hat has been just the ticket.

I do have one spinning project currently underway, which is a merino roving I've been spinning for the Funky Junkies handspun swap on Ravelry (I expect to finish that one today), then I think I'm going to pull out some hand dyed SW merino in Albatross that I purchased from CMF (I love starting new spinning projects). =)

Oh, and I'm dyeing my way through 4 pounds of fiber for the shop. I'll make a little announcement before the next update.

Simple Yet Effective Shawl

Yesterday morning I finished my Simple Yet Effective Shawl (pattern by Laura Chau) and here it is in all its glory.



I had a very difficult time photographing the colors in this shawl but at least the photos aren't blurry like the last batch I took.



Up to this point I haven't really thought of myself as a shawl knitter (especially since it's very unlikely I'll ever have need of a shawl in my wardrobe) but I really enjoyed the process of knitting one. I like how they 'grow' as you're knitting them. I also like how you can still enjoy looking at them -even if you don't actually wear them...

Today was my first day back at work. I only worked for a couple of hours but it was a refreshing change of scenery. There's a lot of deep cleaning that needs to be done and it will probably be a long while before I have need of bringing my knitting to work with me. I'm guessing I'll have 4-6 weeks worth of work-days filled with deep cleaning before I'll have any time to knit, and hopefully when that time comes business will have picked up enough that I'll be too busy to knit.

We're also getting lots of work done around our home. This afternoon when I got home from work my hubby cleaned out the garage and I started painting the kitchen cabinets. Once the kitchen is done and put back together I'm going to start painting the bathroom. I hope we can get the bathroom finished by Tuesday. There's so much work to do... but at least we're starting to see some progress.

I'm gonna go knit...

P.S. I'm still spinning. It's slow going, but I haven't forgotten the update.

Shawl Progress

I wanted to take a little break from working on the house (I've been sanding the walls in the bathroom -we're getting ready to paint) to give a little sneak peak at how the Simple Yet Effective Shawl is coming along...



I love this yarn. I love the way it feels, I love the way it drapes and I love the way the colors are shifting in it (the picture really isn't doing it justice, the colors are off and I was having a difficult time with blurring this morning). When I eventually get the second half of this fiber spun, I think whoever ends up with it is really going to enjoy it. After working with this yarn all day yesterday, I've decided to spin the second half of the fiber the same as I spun the first.

I've been spinning so much over the last week that I'm feeling a little burnt out at the wheel and am happy to be knitting instead. Another couple of days and I'll be back to it, as I don't want to get behind on the update. It also gives me a little extra time to work on the house which we're really tring to get ready to list.

Oh, and I almost forgot -I'm going back to work! I'm actually really happy about this because I spend way too much time at home. It's to the point where it's not good for me anymore. I'm starving for a change in scenery. Plus, it'll help put some money in bank. I start back at work this Saturday, and I'm hoping that as long as I manage my time well when I'm at home, I'll still be able to get everything I'm working on for the shop ready in time for the update.

Now, I'm off to do laundry and sneak in a few more rows on the shawl. =)

Feeding Frenzy

Well, it's only a few days before Christmas and I'm fighting through the effects of my procrastination to finish the Henry by tomorrow, so I can do the crazy-long bind off and get it washed and blocked in time to give it to my dad on Christmas eve. I do anticipate finishing this on time, though it's not going to be done without cheating a bit -I've decided to do only six of the seven pattern repeats (which I can get away with because this scarf is already much wider than I expected it to be). This is double good news for me as I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I can't possibly run out of yarn with this decision either. Aside from that, here's some yarn...



It's approximately 4.3oz and 430 yards of 3-ply handspun sock yarn (Navajo plied), spun from gorgeous 70% SW Merino/30% Alpaca top from AllSpunUp. I love this blend and this skein is a total triumph for me. A while back I got about a pound of this lovely fiber blend from Kristin (in different colors) and I've been saving it to spin for a Serrano. Until now, I've been extremely worried that I wouldn't be able to spin it fine enough to get the yardage I need. I did the math a while back and I figured that I'd need to get at least 420 yds out of each 4oz braid. So this project (while still a long ways off in my queue) is something I can conceivably pull off at this point. Deep sigh of relief.....

At this time I'm spinning for the next update, which wont be happening for a while, definitely not until after the new year and possibly as far off as February. It's a long time to wait, but I've got way too much that needs doing around my house at this time to be spending several hours a day at my wheel. But I do think this next update will be well worth the wait...



And speaking of great updates, I just scored 2 beautiful skeins of Mama Blue Troika Sock in Beekeeper from the Mama Blue Knitting Goods update tonight -I'm stoked! Last update I managed to get a skein of Sea Merino in Palomino, but I've always wanted to get one of her yarns in the Beekeeper colorway- it's one of my absolute favorites. Ever since I've been working on my dad's Henry I've had this thought in the back of my head that I would probably never knit another Henry unless I could make one out of Mama Blue in Beekeeper. Now the thought of knitting another Henry is sounding appealing (I should totally slap myself right now). Oh well, I'm still stoked. I'm confident that I'll love this color and I've heard incredible things about the troika yarn. I do hope that this will quench my hunger for Mama Blue for a while, though. Shopping one of her updates is like finding yourself amidst a school of hungry piranhas. Seriously. Brutal. I'm going to consider myself a very lucky woman.

I'm off to finish my row requirement for the Henry this evening while watching season 7 of Smallville (I do miss TV sometimes). Cheers =)