Knits N Things

The Move . . .

2010-02-28T10:19:00.000-08:00

It's official. See me here from now on!

:O)

Our Guy Is OK

2010-02-27T15:51:00.000-08:00

Apparently, there was bad news in Chile overnight. Our guy there is a-ok. He apparently discovered that he knew how to fly. In order to escape the shaking hi-rise he lives in, he descended 14 floors in one minute flat. Oh, and he had to break his door down first because the locks and jams were leaning so badly that the door wouldn't open.

Wow.

Glad you're okay, Scottie!

:O)

How'd I Do That?

2010-02-27T14:34:00.000-08:00

So, a while ago, my friend Rani asked if I could show the process I go through with raw fleece to get it ready to spin into yarn! No problem - well, actually getting off my butt to do it seemed to be, but I'M HERE NOW!!!! And, before I post this, let me just say that this will now be a 2-part tutorial because Blogger won't let me upload the correct amount of pictures. You can expect part 2 to appear in my new, Wordpress blog that I'll be switching to later today!

Also, let me put in a disclaimer and a plug for YouTube and say that everything I learned, pretty much came from this video. It's awesome, and it's what I'm TRYING to do when I make rolags to spin. I hope I am actually doing it!! It works for me, so what I'll show you in pictures is my style, I guess.

First, you start with clean fleece. Then, you pull it apart. So, step one, for me, is "pulling." I put all the locks of wool that I pull out (think doll's hair ringlets for this BFL/Cotswold fleece) in a tin bucket. Once I have a bucket full, I move on to step two - picking.

Picking: I grab a handful of locks, then pick them apart even more so that I wind up with a handfull of fluff, like you see above. This serves to better prepare the wool for 'carding' and also lets any little leftover bits of VM - vegetable matter (think about it!) - fall out, making the fiber even that much cleaner and nicer to spin and eventually knit or wear!

Carding: Now that I've gotten the fiber ready, I can grab my hand-cards (basically really big dog brushes, but there are actually different grades of fineness to them and such - it's a very technical thing!) and begin to smooth the fiber out even more. I do this by brushing back and forth until all the little fibers/hairs are a pretty, airy cloud. Once there, we're ready for step 4 - rolling (no, not THAT kind!).

Load the card/dog brush . . .
Then keep smoothing it with the opposite one, back and forth a couple times until you have fluff.

Stay tuned for part two - see you on WordPress!

:O)

Happy Birthday, Big Guy!

2010-02-20T06:37:00.000-08:00

February 19th:

My boy turned 8. Once again, I wait for the world to explain to me just how a thing like this could have happened. It WAS just yesterday that he was born, so how the heck did he turn 8?

Regardless, it happened, so . . . we made cupcakes on Thursday night:

That he then took in to his buddies in his class on Friday morning.

Mom got to drop him off, too, since my school system is still running a 2-hour delay, but his school went in on time! Yay!

After school I picked him up "in the line" (immediately after school) so that he could come home and tear into a few more packages. He was immediately wowed by the scooter my parents gave him (that I somehow managed not to have a photo of!).

Then, it was off to pick up the cake and meet Auntie Jenn and Daddy at Red Robin. Too much fun for kids, and Auntie got extra brownie points for the Shawn White game and CLOTHES (who knew??)!!!

After the dinner, it was over to GameStop to trade his 1 year old DS Lite for a DSi. We totally work the DS time to our advantage by requiring that he read more to earn his play time. So far, however, the DS has always taken a backseat to playing outside, and since we still have at least a foot of unmelted snow, I don't even see the new toy totally taking over like I've seen in some little ones!

Now, he is totally happy and one year older, and I still kinda feel like I'm shell shocked. All is right with the world! LOL!

:O)

2010-02-14T14:05:00.000-08:00

I have been away from the blog for a while, but all is well. Despite Mother Nature's attempt at it, we did not in fact get buried in the snow. My silly old-age claustrophobia tried to set in, though. I swear that, on Wednesday, while watching the ENDLESS coverage of the snow, and listening to the forecast for 20 more inches for the night and following day, I was feeling VERY, VERY claustrophobic - the house seemed very small, and my breathing was a bit labored. Weird, huh? Don't answer that!

But, we did survive. The outside world is very beautiful, and we officially have the snowiest winter on record. School was closed for a week, but all should be well for Tuesday and an on-time arrival. Unless there's worry of ice. . . OY!

The weekend has been interesting. It started on Friday with my regular spinning group meeting, which melded into the Olympic kickoff party. If only the NBC website had held up this time. But, as it did for the Summer Olympics of 2008, the site crashed, leaving all those planning to watch via the website out in the cold. I quickly called home to ask my sister to push record on the DVR, so I eventually got to watch, but I'd have really enjoyed all the chit-chat among friends if NBC had their act together.

Saturday was exciting, with a mid-day matinee of Grease at the National Theater downtown. It was interesting to see how the story - which I came to know in it's movie version - and worked as a stageplay. The best part was the 5th scene - the one with the song "Grease Lighting" in it. For those that are familiar with the movie, you'll remember that the old beatup car gets a makeover during that scene. I couldn't figure out how they were going to trade one car for another, or how car parts were going to fly around. But, they did it, and it was, in a word, "brilliant."

There was also a big, big Taylor Hicks love fest during the "Beauty School Dropout" scene, where he played Teen Angel. The funnies thing was when the scene was going right along, and Frenchie - who's supposed to be really enamored of this cool, older guy who's suddenly showed up to serenade her - leans in really close, gives him the googly-eyes, and says in the dreamiest voice "I voted for you!" Too, too funny!

After the show, we stopped by and picked up some steamed lobsters, came home, made a salad and french bread, popped open the wine, and had an indulgent, delicious meal! Yum-O!

Today was quite the day as well. We headed up the road to go to the snow-date Superbowl Sale at Cloverhill. To say that the sale was a success for the shop would be an understatement. It was busy, busy, busy in there, and everyone was running high on the yarn fumes. Even though I wasn't supposed to be buying anything, after pulling a 20% ticket, I managed to talk myself into the Jojoland Melody for the swirl scarf that my mother and sister want to knit with me, the Trekking Hand Art sock yarn that I'd been eyeing on Friday, and some gorgeous http://www.straw.com/cpy/yarns/images2/Mochi-newstripe2010webLg.jpg that was just too beautiful to pass up. I got two skeins, so either socks (which I've been thinking I need to get back into knitting!) or a shawl will get knit with it. It's yummy!

Now I'm home, to do more spinning and maybe some knitting while I watch the Olympics. It is, after all, the Knitting Olympics, too! LOL!

:O)

Snowstorm Files, Day 5

2010-02-09T14:54:00.000-08:00

Day 5 of the snowstorm brings this: MORE SNOW.

School is closed (for the kids) through the end of the week. Friday was scheduled to be a teacher professional day (aka "training") in the first place, and we've been instructed to check back in to the website after 4 on Thursday (I think) to see if we will need to report. My guess is yes, since it's just us adults, but that's okay by me.

I finally made it out of the house today. I'd been leery because my sister and dad reported messy roads, but enough was enough and I went for it. Since my ex, who has the same model car I do, made it in to take The Boy to dinner last night, I figured I'd be okay. We won't mention that he got stuck on a hill, and had to go back and take the "smart" route out of the neighborhood or anything. I made it free and clear. We stopped by the post office and tried to go to the library, which was closed. A stop by McDonalds finished our run, and now we feel much, much better.

Good thing, too, because it's now snowing again. There's another storm upon us which will bring mainly snow, but has a chance of sleet and freezing rain as well. In all, we expect maybe 15 more inches and lost of wind. Whoa. We're praying that the power stays on, but if worst comes to worse, we'll hunker down in the basement/den with good ole' PopPop and his woodburning stove.

Today was momentous in another way - I finished the wheel. Here she is in her glory:

Not the best picture in the fading light, so here's a better picture of the wheel portion of the staining.

That's when (I feel) I had really gotten the hang of it. Thank goodness, too, because I was actually not too happy with some of the pieces - there are a few drips and 'runs.' But the wheel? Perfect (if I do say so myself)!

Everything is in working order, and I even spun long-draw style pain free to test her out.

This is some of the stuff I've been dyeing during the snow - I blended a bit of the lime green and brown with my handcards a couple times, and got a good blend. I think the brown/blue will be fabulous. My earlier thoughts of blending this romney with some of the lincoln locks I received are quickly dissolving, though - the romney is so very easy to spin and very, very soft! YUM!

:O)

Cabin Fever?

2010-02-08T12:33:00.000-08:00

Okay, so we are on Day 4 of the snowstorm saga, and I'm getting a bit bored. I have plenty to do here at my house, it's just not stuff I wanna do! LOL

Regardless, I did go ahead and tackle my bedroom today. I always seem to leave that for last since the mess inconveniences no one but me, but it's time. I'm finding that doing my yoga really helps out my back/hip situation, and my space is being encroached upon since I refuse to put my laundry away! I much prefer leaving it in a stack on top of the "off-season" clothes boxes in the corner, and that's what gives me the overflow/lack of yoga space. The room just ain't big enough for unnecessary piles!

Yesterday, my sister and I got LOTS of dyeing done. She really takes to dyeing, and found the easter egg colors to be intriguing - she kept pulling out more fiber and yarn and asking what was next, even though we'd run out of containers to dye the new stuff in. In all, though, we tried all methods of dyeing - microwave and stove top, easter egg dyes and food coloring (the food coloring was really, really interesting, and very controlled - you know exactly what color you are getting, and the placement was easy peasy!

Here a picture, but it's kinda horrible. The drying rack sits right in front of the oor in the basement, which has windows, and it's extremely bright in there right now!!

My main goal yesterday was to get lots of the blue, denim, and brown done (and that's what you see here), because I'm thinking they'll be nice colors to blend together on my hand cards. What do you think?

I've washed and dyed almost the whole Romney fleece now (one wash-bag full is in my tub now, waiting on more vinegar), and I'm hoping for a good amount of yarn to come of it!

Tomorrow is another day. Another day OFF that is. School's been canceled already, and there will be another Winter storm in the afternoon/evening, so I'm thinking I know what Wednesday will look like as well. With that said, I gotta go make my kid do something OTHER than watch Phineas and Ferb! See ya!

:O)

Snowstorm Files, Day 3

2010-02-07T05:47:00.000-08:00

It's over.

The blizzard warnings were called off yesterday evening around 6. It was still snowing here, but clearly winding down. We haven't taken any measurements, but the news is reporting different totals from different people around the area. Anywhere from 20-33 inches, I think, has been reported. We are leery of going with the "official" totals, which are taken at Reagan National Airport. The airport is in a low spot for the area, and always has a lower total than we have in our backyard. Of course, that's when we actually have a measurable total, so 'whatev.'

The Washington Post's online link showed 24.5 for Camp Springs (right around the corner from Upper Mayberry!) yet only 17.8 for the airport. See what I mean!

Here are some of the photos from around our house this morning. In the aftermath!

This is looking out the front door at the carport. You can see that there are a couple cars under there. My dad made a path out yesterday evening. The rest we'll tackle together after breakfast, I'm sure!

Another view of the front - looking more toward the yard and out to the street where Wall-E cleared a car path last night. Seriously, a backhoe came by, pushing and dumping snow in a very methodical manner. The guy was AWESOME, but it really looked like Wall-E to me!!

This is on the deck. The egg-shaped lump there is the Webber grill, and that's how much snow is surrounding it. It's on the very edge of the deck, so the blowing kinda drifted around it, but you can see how much snow is surrounding it, and that's pretty much how deep the rest of the yard is.

Again the back yard - this time looking toward the table that's been moved to the side of the yard. You can see a bunch of things piled on top, but where the table starts is about hip level for me. I'm short and all that, but THAT'S A LOT OF SNOW.

So, how'd I pass my time yesterday? Being that I can't knit (or spin) and all, I decided to play with some fiber! Messing around on YouTube the other day, I saw this video from my new "friend" Tara at Blonde Chicken Boutique, where she dyed some raw fiber in a canning jar in the microwave using - guess what? - Easter Egg Dyes!!!! It was so easy, and I'd snapped up all the leftover Easter Egg Dye kits at Target and the FoodLion near my house last year, so I figured I'd be able to play all day!

And that's just what I did! Looky:

The fiber - the Romney I just received, and washed on Friday afternoon. From left to right, and top/back to front/bottom there are - purple, brown (!), blue, teal and green. I should say that both the teal and green were listed as "green" on the packages, but you know egg dyeing - close enough is good enough for them. No worries, as I plan to card most of these colors together with other colors and blend them. The brown I'm super excited about, and plan on using the rest of the dye tablets today on more fiber (I've got two pounds). The purple was a bit wonky, and gave some interesting color effects - blue in lots of places and a funky amethyst in others. Nice! Here's the fiber back on the drying rack after coming out of the dyebaths:

The colors are (top to bottom): blue, teal, orange (see below), then brown, purple, and green.

I also did some Lincoln locks in orange on top of the stove, but apparently forgot to take pics of that. I like it - I used a big hank of the lincoln, so used 3 orange tablets dissolved in the water, then put another crunched up on top so that some parts would be REALLY orange, and it worked!

I'm off to fuel up so I can shovel, and then I'll be doing more washing and dyeing today.

:O)

Snowstorm Files, Day 2, Part 1 OR "Blizzard Warning"

2010-02-06T05:31:00.001-08:00

This morning when I woke up (6:25 am), I looked outside, was pleased at the progress the snow had made (I wanted to not be able to tell where the curbs were on my street). And, I could have sworn, the snow had stopped. I couldn't get back to sleep, so I checked Weatherbug on my phone.

They claimed that it will continue to snow all day, though, so I put my trust in them, ended the phone connection, and opened my new book - "Change of Altitude" by Anita Shreve.

Now that I'm up (it's 8-ish as I write), I see that it is indeed snowing again, and it does indeed look blizzard-like outside. The windows at the back of the house are difficult to see out of because the snow has blown around so much that it's stucking to the screens.

I took several pictures of the snow from the front and back windows. It's pretty deep in our yard. Apparently, the dogs needed help getting out, and the birds (the wild ones) needed to be fed - that's one of our snowstorm past-times, watching/naming the birds! - so my mom went out to shovel and feed. And got stuck! Thank goodness my dad was awake and came to rescue her! ROFLMAO!!!

So, how is the area dealing with the snow? Well, MOST people are heeding the advice of the public officals and staying off of the roads so they don't get stuck and/or in accidents, and so that the roadcrews can do their jobs. But not everyone.

Two people, apparently, in Virginia both got stuck. Going to get gas. Um, . . . didja hear that a snowstorm was coming? Shoulda gotten that gas earlier, bub.

Most events/businesses are closed today. Some are reportedly trying to open at noon. I'm glad I'm not one of the people who need to try to get there then, because even main roads don't look good right now, and the side streets for the most part haven't even been touched by roadcrews. This is serious stuff. My county and the areas east and a bit south are officially under a blizzard warning until 10pm. the rest of the immediate area is under a winter storm warning.

-There's been a report on the TV that a snowplow has now gotten stuck trying to do it's job. Wow.
-At least one hospital in the area was calling in all the expectant mothers who could possibly go into labor or were due this weekend. Just in case. An unexpected home birth would be very, very scary (not to mention dangerous in some cases!).
-I also, I know of a dialysis center that attempted to see ALL if it's patients yesterday. They didn't quite make it, but not for lack of trying!

That's it for now, but I'll probably post again this evening to say what the day has brought, officially.

:O)

Snowstorm Files

2010-02-05T10:42:00.001-08:00

How about some updates on the snowstorm, Maryland style?? This should be funny. This area CAN'T. HANDLE. Snow. At all.

Lots of schools in Virginia closed for the day as of last night - when a pretty "official" say was on for the snowstorm happening outside now. The weathermen are listing this as a "crippling" snowstorm for the DC area - it's just "disruptive" for outlying areas. And by areas, I mean whole states.

My county released schools 3 hours early. They didn't state this until 5:30 this morning. That meant my school was released at 10:45. We'll talk later about how many of my guys actually showed up. When we dismissed at 10:45, it was not snowing where we are. The snow started at about 11:30-ish, and it's now going strong.

Government offices (remember, I'm just outside D.C.) were on an unscheduled leave policy. Basically - if you have leave available to take, don't feel as though you have to come to work. Take a day of leave - no biggie. Now, they'll probably close the offices later on anyway (if they haven't already), but they rarely shut down unless things are just frozen over!

I'll keep you updated on the snow's progress and the reactions of people to this. I can already tell you that if you just happened to run out of bread, milk, eggs, or toilet paper anytime in the last 24 hours, or the next 2, you're *&^% out of luck. There probably is none in any store, anywhere.

That's how we do.

And, since I also got the box of fleece that I was expecting . . . you can expect "washie" updates as well. I'm about to go upstairs to wash the first bagful now . . .

:O)

And Another One On The Way

2010-02-04T18:52:00.001-08:00

So, Yesterday, I had a day off with The Boy. The reason? 3 inches of snow on the ground (which had melted off the roads and sidewalks by about 9:00 in the morning. Oy.

Here's the backyard in it's snowy glory, though. Beautiful.

Tomorrow, I expect an early dismissal (The Boy's school has already said they'll be closed) because yet ANOTHER snowstorm (this time, a "real" one) is on it's way late tomorrow morning, and it's supposed to turn out to be a big bear by early evening, and will continue to be so until sometime on Saturday. So, yet another snowed in weekend, and that's fine by me.

I spent a good part of the day taking my new wheel apart in order to get it stained/finished. I'm going the easy route and using "Polyshades" from Minwax, which is a stain and polyurethane all in one. That way, I don't have to go back over it with a clear coat once I'm happy with the color, which is "Pecan Satin." It will have a bit of a rosy brown to it, but not dark red cherry or anything like that. Should be somewhat natural, but not yellowish or plain old brown. Those were two colors I just wanted to avoid, but which seemed to be everywhere at good ole Home Depot.

There's the lovely all taken apart. I'm staining it bit by bit due to lack of space to spread out with some paint/stain-like materials. I can't guarantee that the four-legged friends will leave things alone while they're unsupervised, so I've got a couple pieces on a TV tray in my little living room, and I'll continue this way until she's finished! I'll hold off on the peeks at the color until I have it back together, though - a nice, dramatic before and after would be nice, right?

Now, I promised to show the process I've been going through for the BFL/Cotswold fleece, so here goes:

Remember this cute guy? He's holding the box of dirty fleece. I divvied it up with two other spinners at my spin group shortly after this picture was taken. I came home with about 2 pounds, or 32 ounces.

To start, pull of some large bits in preparation to wash small amounts at a time - REALLY hot water, and some Dawn dish liquid (takes out the grease/lanolin).

I do it in a bucket like this - usually the first time in the hot water with Dawn, the second is with just plain hot water (I use one kettle of boiling water from the stove, and then fill the rest of the bucket with the hottest tap water I can get), then another rinse or two with hot, hot water right from the tap, to try to get the rest of the soap out. When I remembered, I also put some Unicorn Fiber Rinse in the very last rinse, as a softener, but I didn't really need it with this fleece. It's very lovely!

The salad spinner is to spin the excess water out of the fleece without squeezing, which could cause some felting (it is really, really hot, after all).

Then, you wind up with a nice, lovely pile of CLEAN fleece. I removed the brown bits you see above, and I'll see if I can get by without them. This fleece was relatively clean, though - I went from 32 ounces to about 24 ounces, so only about 6 ounces of dirt/grease came out in the wash.

Spin up some lovely singles with the hand-carded rolags (I'll get pictures of those steps as soon as I'm able to do all that stuff again - I'm still resting, icing, and stretching my poor trigger thumb. Triggering less, but still a bit uncomfortable.

So, clear as mud? Who's ready to become a spinner?

:O)

Healing

2010-02-01T15:33:00.000-08:00

All this resting is really quite exhausting! Suddenly, I actually let my mind wander into that dark corner. You know. . . the one in the living room that holds too much junk. Well, in my teeny tiny living room, there seems to be just TOO MUCH all the time, but you know what I mean!

Yesterday, I dusted off and cleaned out under my desk. I found work/printed online textbooks from my Masters (that I've had now for four years . . . ), a few old bills (the rest will go to the bulk shredder just as soon as I do my taxes), and pretty much organized my fiber/yarn corner into neatness. Feels good.

Wish I was spinning.

Then, The Boy, my sister, and I also had a Create-Your-Own-Dino contest. We all created, drew, named, and colored/painted our own dinosaurs. Then, we had unwitting family members vote on their favorites. The Boy "won" but we all know my dinosaur - anglerobicus was the real winner. LOL So. Much. Fun!

I also have just about finished reading "The Tempest Tales" by Walter Mosley. This is one I was listening to on audio book while knitting before bed, but returned and checked out for real on Saturday. Along with 4 other actual novels. Maybe this will turn into a book-review blog for a bit . . . This one is really good - a funny look at life, death, sin, morality, heaven, and hell. Mosley is so good! Wish I was knitting and listening, though!

And, I also discovered a GREAT way to ice my poor trigger thumb:

Perfect fit, wouldn't you say? I may need a steady stream of these to keep things under control! LOLOLOL!

And, . . .

Did I tell you we had another snowstorm??

So far 2 feet of snow for the DC area this season. Woohoo! Now that's what I call Winter!!

Still wish I was spinning!

Rani - tomorrow, I promise a look so far at what I've done to the BFL/Cotswold fleece I recently purchased. I figure I'd best do this now, since I have 2 pounds of Lincoln locks and another 2 pounds of Romney fleece on their way to me as well!!! Tee hee!

:O)

Off The Wagon

2010-01-30T10:40:00.000-08:00

Guess who now belongs to me?

Her!

I'm very happy, if even more broke, now. I'm happy to have supported my favorite all-time local yarn shop in buying it, and I think the Ashford products are wonderful besides (and I have bobbins for them already! LOL).

Currently, I have one full bobbin of the BFL/Cotswold fiber that I'm carding up from the fleece I just purchased.

The plan still is to spin and knit that fiber into the Ravensong sweater from A Fine Fleece. The plan may just have to wait a bit longer.

Remember the lovely brown merino I'd started spinning when I first borrowed the wheel? Well, I'm now finished spinning that up, and that's only because I decided I was FINISHED spinning that particular fiber.

I've spun with merino before - in commercially prepared rovings, and very often in the "superwash" form that's very popular right now. Lovely fiber. No problems whatsoever, and I 'can' spin this stuff. This fiber, however, was very short, and required an immense amount of control from me to spin.

So much so, that I now have a bit of a trigger finger (well, thumb) because of it. I was pinching really hard to get the fiber to stay together long enough to spin the way I wanted, and there was a lot of it! I spun about 600 yards, but then did a 2-ply, so wound up with 301 yards. The rest of the fiber? I 'gifted' it to my sister. Since she and I split the fleece to begin with, this will help her to ensure she can do whatever she wants with the fiber - she'd have more than enough for a cabled sweater now.

But I'm through. I'm going to take a self-imposed knitting/spinning break for about 2 weeks. I may have to test out my progress to see how I'm healing by knitting a row or two here and there, but I really think I need the rest before I require a doctor! I'm already going to Drs and PT appointments for my back and hip pain, I don't need to add on any more ailments!

While resting, I think the first order of business will be to take my new wheel apart and stain it, get it (and myself) ready to go for the Olympics. 'Cause you know there are Olympic Knitting events as well, right? If not, clicky the linky and find out all about it. Join in the craziness. The more the merrier!! I hope to begin carding more fleece during the opening ceremonies for one 'event' geared toward spinning, and will work on a few knitting works-in-progress for another.

Until then, I'll be reading regular old books - returned my audio books this afternoon - and checking into how to disassemble and stain my wheel. That should leave plenty of time to cook up some new spinning and knitting plans!

:O)

Who Knew?

2010-01-24T20:20:00.000-08:00

That my little Cub Scout (actually, he's a "Wolf", but all those designations confuse the nonsense out of me) would win his first Pinewood Derby race??

Apparently, he and his dad are pretty good at making cars that go fast! Considering Mommy tried to break the thing not once but twice (it hit the floor and off popped all the cool washers and such that weight it down . . .)I think their talents are remarkable.

Here he is after we hot-glued several washers and small lead weights to his car (but before it hit the floor the first time). He's smiling, slightly.

And here he is after his car won his "heat." Made even cooler by the fact that he was the only "wolf" in attendance from the pack, so he went up against the more seasoned "bears." Notice that now, he's too cool to smile at his Mommy.

When it was all said and done, his car took 2nd place overall, earning him a trophy, and a trip to the district race in March. Let's hope the car recovers as nicely as it did the first time, cause during cleanup, the car hit the floor again. Oy.

Again, much too cool to smile at Mommy. Sheesh!

:O)

My Excellent Mail Day

2010-01-11T19:43:00.000-08:00

The other day I had the best mail day. Ever.

I'd been doing ((ahem)) a bit of swapping on Ravelry and thinking that I was due a package. Besides that, I'd also purchased a fleece from Vermont to split with some of the ladies in my spinning group.

Sooooo, was I ever happy to see this in the living room when I came home last Thursday evening!!!

The big one was, of course, the fleece - 6 pounds of a silver/grey BFL-Cotswold cross. It's lovely.
I have the best, most handsome mail helper, too!

I washed it all in small bits last weekend.

Well, at least my 2 pounds of it!! Very nice to way to spend a weekend, if you ask me!!

Now I have this pile of wonderful, silvery fluff waiting for me!!

The other large-ish box contained more fleece that I'd ordered from Etsy. It's cormo that's been dyed in the fleece-y state. The result is like little clouds of color that are ready to be hand-carded (think really, really big dog combs)into "rolags" that are then spun up on my wheel (or a spindle!).
The colors were inspired by a fallen leaf in the woods, and I think they're just fabulous. Can't wait to card and spin it!

The last, small flat box was a nice surprise. It was my last shipment for the Intentions Yarn Club, which turned out to be a sampling of some dyeing techniques. There were 6 or so mini sock yarn skeins along with some yummy teas and a sample product from the dyer's OTHER/new business, I think. Smells wonderful.
I think I'll take the mini-skeins to my knit group on Saturday to see what they think of a possible way to use them all together. Either that or I'll be gifting them, which is more likely.

:O)

Hellooooo, 2010!!

2010-01-05T15:23:00.000-08:00

No New Year's post this year - no real "resolutions" to make. I'm already in the middle of trying to get rid of some serious hip/back pain so there was no real reason to vow to get healthier. How about a day without pain? I'll take that in a heartbeat, which logically means getting healthier and more active anyway. As soon as I can walk without pain, I'll get right on that!! LOL

The holidays around here were great - lots of family time, The Boy had a blast, and I had three extra days off due to a lovely "blizzard" (I'm using that term loosely) that hit the weekend before the week of Christmas. Did that make sense? Basically, my county was planning on holding classes until December 23rd, which is crap, so Mother Nature did us all a favor. We'll see what the county says at the end of the year, though!!

During that week off, I made a trip up to my favorite LYS to rent an Ashford Traveler to test out. It's been entertaining me immensely, and I don't want to give it back on Friday, which is when my original rental was supposed to be up. I think I'll keep it for another two weeks, unless the shop wants it back. I'd already said that I had to pay off my one major credit card before buying a new wheel (and I doubt that's going to happen in the next two weeks). I may have to re-evaluate at the end of that time, because I really, really don't want to return it - I'm liking it that much! Here's what I've been spinning:

Some core-spun fiber in a colorway called "Butterscotch Sky" from Spincerely Yours I spun this for my contribution to the Handspun Revolution. If you're a spinner, you should spin, too. Then you can have your work dispayed in an art museum, too. A little party conversation pick-me-up, if nothing else, right?? LOL

I spun that small skein for the art show, and in preparation to spin the rest. I'll keep the rest for myself, thank you very much!! It's very, very pretty, and core-spinning just seemed the right thing to do with it!

And here's 125 yards of a BFL/scrap blend. The idea was that The Boy and I would work on this together - he'd card the scraps for me to spin with the BFL. I think he made 2 rolags. The rest was all me, while I tested out the borrowed wheel.

The brown that you see on the left is the merino top I had made from the fleece my sister and I shared from MDS&W, and the far right is a dyed corriedale blend. Lovely, but way overspun as I tested out the wheel.

Told you I'd been having fun with it!!

On New Year's Eve, the family and a friend spent time Wii-ing it up, and in between Dream Snowboard and Ice-skaing, I worked on finishing my Vine Yoke Cardigan. I love it, and have barely taken it off since washing and blocking it!!

:O)

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T13:27:00.001-08:00

Hope your day is happy. Hope you got a reaction like this somehow, some way today.

Harry Potter and a handknit, beaded scarf (that my sister knit) did it this year for my mom. Score!!

:O)

Mother Nature ROCKS!

2009-12-21T13:38:00.000-08:00

Thank you, Mother Nature, for helping to make my Winter Break the length that it SHOULD have been in the first place.

A little "extra" snow never hurt during Christmas Vacation, ya know! For the record, we got 18 inches total in our yard!

:O)

The Weather Outside

2009-12-19T13:08:00.000-08:00

. . . makes me glad I'm inside for the day!

We are having a "weather event" here - according to the media, and what you see is a good foot of snow on top of our four (yes, four - there's a Subaru Outback behind the tan Camry if you can believe it - but it's had the snow cleared off of it!) vehicles. See how the wiper blades barely stick up out of the snow on the Camry?? I do believe those are 17 inch blades. Just sayin'.

Soooo, what have I been up to today? A little Facebook, a little knitting (while LOST plays in the background - gotta get ready for season 6!), a little spinning, and a lot of hot liquids. My first graders gave me a cold, so I'm mad at them. Good thing I don't have a hot date this weekend. Heh.

I've finished the Christmas knitting - cranked out another "Boyfriend" hat for my uncle, and I declare myself officially done. Back to knitting for myself. I really, really want to knit something comfy for myself for around the house. It's clear that knitting to wear to work is futile - the boilers in our building are monsters. I've been wearing my Fall shirts since August!

So now, I want to knit comfy and warm stuff for me to hang out here, since hanging out here (or somewhere that I can dress equally as comfy) is what I seem to do. I've got two sweaters started, but my knitting mojo for sweaters has just left me - something always gets in the way of me finishing and wearing these lovely patterns.

Maybe the snow will send me good vibes, but for now, I'll just keep knitting Saroyan, spinning away like mad, and planning all the comfy "home" sweaters I want to knit.

By the way - did you hear about the plan that Pluckyfluff has for an art show? If you're a spinner and ever thought that your craft was more of an artform, you need to check this out! Then, start spinning and join in. I plan to spin a skein for the project, and I think you should too. If you don't know how to spin, then you should learn. It's fun, and just about as addicting as knitting.

But don't let that deter you. You CAN have more than one legal addiction in life and still be fine.

At least that's what my therapist tells me. She works at a yarn shop. Think I should trust her?

:O)

'Tis The Season!

2009-12-13T07:56:00.000-08:00

Blogging has been scarce lately due to my busy, busy schedule. I have been Christmas gift knitting like a madwoman. Above is the latest project I've cast on, just for me! I've been thinking "scarf" for myself for a while now - in the midst of all my Christmas knitting, since I really only have the Clapotis that I knit myself a couple years ago, and I wear that thing out - snags and everything! So Saroyan is next for me, and I'm knitting it in red Silky Wool so that The Boy and I will match in our winter gear. We have a brown and red thang goin' on, and this will help me stick to the dress code! LOL. Excuse the crumbs on the corner of his mouth - this was just after breakfast this morning. He's showing off my progress as of midnight last night, after leaving a fellow knitter's house for knitting and chit-chat. Love those nights!

Here's some of the Christmas gifts I've accomplished so far, pre-blocking. They are, from the top left: a scarf done in Alpaca Seta (MUST get more of this yarn - yum-o!!), Trilobite for a big-headed kid I know. . . and a prayer shawl for a co-worker. I was quite proud of myself for the scarf, since I just looked at a stitch pattern book, chose an edge I liked, guessed how many stitches would make a cute scarf, and went to town. I even managed to finish the bind-off edge on my own after losing the pattern book in a corner of my bedroom! Yay me!

They look much better (but I take a crappier picture, apparently), AFTER blocking.

I can't wait to deliver the prayer shawl to my co-worker/friend. She always admires my knitting and had a bit of a rough time last year, so I thought she was definitely due!

The hat you'll see modeled after the big day, I'm sure!! LOL.

And, last but not least, we FINALLY found a non-rainy, non-puddle day to get Molly together with her friend Cricket (who is still a puppy). Molly is on the right. The 'puppy' is on the left. He's a big galumpus, and so, so friendly! They had a great time running around the dog park together!

I'm off to finish some Christmas shopping in the rain, then come home to put up our tree! Yay - now I can wrap what's hidden in my room!! Now when am I going to have the time for that . . . ???

:O)

?Got Milk?

2009-11-27T09:12:00.000-08:00

Here's hoping everyone had a perfectly lovely Thanksgiving Day!

I had fun PREPARING for Thanksgiving. (The Boy went with his dad for the actual holiday, but we spent the day together on Wednesday!) Here's the pies we made (one for here, one for him to take to his other grandparents' - well, actually to his Pop-pop Harold!).

Here's my helper with the pies. Such a ham.

And here's how I enjoyed my pie yesterday after eating my meal:

PSA #1 for this blog - get your Vitamin D levels checked. More on that later!

And here's the haul from the Black Friday sale at a LYS. I'll try to go clockwise. Hopefully, you'll recognize the pretties just by name . . .

Jitterbug sock yarn in a mint green and brown colorway that I've been eyeing for a while (20% sale = cha-ching!), Some Classic Elite Yarns "Princess" in a beautiful teal colorway for another "Frances Revisited" - love the first one, but it's a bit itchy, so I want a more wearable one, two more skeins of jitterbug in coordinating colorways that I just had to get for a giftie for someone very special . . . , some lovely burgundy, Louisa Harding "Grace", a lovely skein of Ella Rae "Lace Merino" for a giftie, and a lil' sweater's worth of red Silky Wool for myself. I am now officially a collector of Silky Wool. I have about 4 colorways in my stash (red, forest green, purple, and a teal/blue), so I NEED to get knitting! I'm wondering if I can do the Akomeogi Tunic with it - I may have to change the sleeves and make it more sweater length than tunic, but I'm thinking I'll like the fabric the yarn makes for that . . . maybe over the Winter break from school/work.

:O)

Small Thrill

2009-11-25T05:59:00.000-08:00

It's funny what a couple decades (and an historic election) can do to your point of view.

When I was fresh out of HS, I got a boring job with a fancy, big-name government agency (a friend called it the "F-ing Big Indians"). The novelty wore off pretty quickly, and I moved on after a short 3-year stint. During that time, however, I was stopped many times in traffic on the way home by the presidential motorcade of then-president George Bush (Sr.) - yes, it was THAT long ago!

I never really thought much of it, other than - "Oh, you're kidding - we have to pull over AGAIN???" It seems, and logically so, that no other cars should be moving within a certain radius of the President's motorcade. Yeah, yeah, okay, so do all this AFTER the good, hard-working people who pay your salary are finished with their daily commutes, will ya??

So . . . . . it was very interesting that Monday night, I was actually EXCITED to be a stationary witness to that rolling security detail!

I was leaving the Kennedy Center, where I'd just come from a teacher's workshop, when I came up to stopped traffic and noticed a LOT of flashing police lights. My first thought was that it was an accident, and I wondered which street to turn down to get around it. Then I noticed that all my available options had flashing police lights blocking them, too, and thought - "Hey, maybe it's the President??" My heartrate sped up, and I realized I was a bit excited to see this! Quite a different reaction from 1989!

Well, it was, indeed Mr. Obama's motorcade (although I really have no idea if HE was actually in it - I'm assuming "yes" since there were at least 3 of those cool sedans they've put in place for him, as well as 3-4 SUV's and a TON of motorcycles. I immediately sent out a text to friends that I thought would be impressed, told my family all about it when I got home (The Boy was very jealous), and even tried (somewhat unsuccessfully) to show off to my students the next day.

It's funny to me that I was so excited to see those cars rolling by. Since I grew up in this area, I just have never been that impressed with the presence of the president in and around the area (sometimes you go places and realize that you can't get around because things have been blocked off for his protection/safety - particularly around the base).

But this time, with this president, it definitely seems like a big deal to me. I was honored and excited to be stopped to allow his car to pass. It didn't seem silly or inconvenient to me at all (then again, I wasn't rushing home to fix dinner or something), and I'm actually glad to have been where I was at the time to have seen it.

Funny.

:O)

Busy, Busy, Busy.

2009-10-04T19:32:00.000-07:00

Wow. What a weekend! If only the "long" weekends off from work coincided with weekends like this, where there are 50 things to do, and only 20 time-slots available!

Here's our weekend in list form:

Friday:
1) Picked The Boy up early from school and took him to the doctor's office, where we were equally traumatized by the fact that he needed a flu shot.
2) Stopped off at ColdStone after said flu shot. We BOTH needed a cool treat (have you had one of their smoothies?? All that's missin' is the hooch. I'm just sayin' - had I the self-control to wait until I got that badboy home, that would have been a "spiked" smoothie.)
3) Realized that we were both too stressed and tired to brave traffic to go for a free showing of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. We have that movie here. 'Nuff said.
4) Proceeded to eat McDonalds for dinner, then watch Tales of Despereaux and crash on the couch together.
**I did wind yarn and do some laundry somewhere during this evening, but I can't for the life of me remember exactly when. . .***

Saturday:
1) Feed and properly clothe The Boy in time for an 11:00 soccer game against the team from HELL. We won. Hale-stinkin-lujah.
2) On the way to the game, stop at Safeway and pick up gift card for birthday/slumber party later in the day. Line too long to get Starbucks for Mommy.
3) Get gas, then stop at CVS for birthday CARD for party mentioned in #2. Find singing Spiderman card - BONUS!!
4) Zoom to the house, shower The Boy so he is fit for public again, pack slumber party bag, zoom to his school, where they are holding a Fall Festival.
5) Enjoy an afternoon at the Fall Festival playing with friends, talking with other parents, answering questions about the school from community members who came out to check out the school.
6) Follow Slumber Party Boy's mother home to drop The Boy off for party.
7) Go home and crash.
***At some time during the evening, I did manage to cast on for a new sweater and pack a bag of spinning things for a spinning demonstration, but I do not remember when/in what order I did these things. I do know they were accomplished, but the details are a bit fuzzy.***

Sunday:
1) Wake up waaaaaaayyyyyy too early for a morning without my son. Decide I might as well knit a bit. Manage to screw up knitting several times, then fix it, then realize I need to move on to #2.
2) Finalize packing and leave the house for Kinderfest.
3) Demonstrate spinning at Kinderfest, where I said things like "I'm making yarn." and "Drop-spindle" at least 100 times, and had 50 different kids 'help' me make a wonderful spindle full of Hog-Island Wool into yarn.

I let the kids give the spindle some twist (little boys do it best, with their "zoom-hands") while I (mostly) pulled - some wanted in on that part, too! I plan to use this for something. I really had a good time!
4) Drive home with a sleepy boy in the backseat who REFUSED to nap, even though he looked like a zombie.
5) Finish homework.
6) Bathe and put Zombie Boy to bed.
7) Knit and relax.

Whew!!! Here's some picture proof of the final package (which ROCKS) of the Secret Pal 14 exchange.
My pal really rocks, and I HAVE to figure out who she is - need to do some sleuthing still, tho! More details on just exactly what was in the package tomorrow!

:O)

NOW I'm Ready

2009-09-25T19:45:00.000-07:00

Guess who I got to meet??

Yup, Cookie A!

Cookie came to Crazy 4 Ewe to teach classes this weekend, and seeing as how I'm an excellent educator, I was given Friday afternoon off (I busted my butt and did some extra training earlier in the week, after a full school day). So, I was able to attend a class on reading charts, given by Cookie Friday afternoon.

She was wonderful, and even though my sister and I were a bit late (couldn't seem to find the street without a STREET SIGN - thanks, Solomon's Island!), she had no problem catching us up to the rest of the class (with a bit of help from the lovely Ellen, of Crazy 4 Ewe), and we were reading cable charts in no time! See:

She was a wealth of information, since I'd done cables before, but not necessarily from a chart, and NEVER something that twisty-turn-y! I was very happy with myself, and plan on using the beginning swatch that you see above to extend into a cute lil' scarf from SpinOff magazine. I have some handspun that will be an outer shell to the strip that I'll knit as one long, winding cable. Progress photos will help, and I should be posting soon!

Also during her class, she had a lovely "bag O tricks" - she emptied out a huge sack full of . . . wait for it . . . all the socks she's designed. O.M.G. Makes me wish I truly had an inkling to knit socks again!!! They were gorgeous. Her gauge is perfect and machine-like, and of course, her color choices are outstanding!

I think my sister was duly inspired - she purchased a book and asked for Cookie's autograph and everything. We followed her and Ellen back to the yarn store after the class, and had a good time picking around a store that was new to us - see Crazy 4 Ewe is a mini-chain (!) and we're patrons of the La Plata store, which is much, much closer to our house! I managed to find some Shaeffer yarn on sale (!!!) and wound up buying two skeins of Schaefer Yarn's "Nancy" in the Rosa Parks colorway(!). I might try to copy the cardigan Amy did with this, but for right now, I'm just happy to have 1200 yards of this colorway in my stash - it's my favorite!

So, now you see why I was so tired - after such a great, busy day, all I wanted to do was rest (even though I actually knit a bit more on my cable strip and THEN rested!).

It was a very nice day!

:O)

How DARE you!

2009-09-09T19:52:00.000-07:00

Joe Wilson, you ought to be ashamed. You should have been "escorted" out by the Secret Service, at the very least. Grow up and treat your office and position with some respect, so that you can learn how to show it to the leader of your country.

Didn't your parents raise you better than that?

:\

Quick Holiday Weekend Update

2009-09-06T08:39:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update to show progress. I have been knitting - when I'm able - on my Poppy sweater. I'm approaching the finish line, too! Just one more sleeve to go!

School has me almost completely distracted - jobs take up so much valuable knitting time! My class this year is interesting. I see them shaping up nicely. Notice, I'm trying to keep a positive attitude!!! LOL. More on that later!

The other thing that has me distracted is the "Twilight" series. I keep going back to the books. They are a guilty pleasure. There's no reason a grown woman should enjoy a book about teenagers and vampires this much. But I do. Just finished "Eclipse" and got myself put on the list at the library for both regular and audio versions of "Breaking Dawn." Oy. Let's hope it's the audio version so I can get some knitting done!

Other than that, between constructing new Alien Police sets of Leggos, The Boy is trying to get me waterloged by spending every waking minute at the pool. Ah. The end of Summer. What a nostalgic time.

And that's it for the quick update - off to buy more Leggos and look for dress shoes for The Boy. . . and maybe his mommy!

:O)

2nd Package

2009-08-29T08:42:00.000-07:00

It's been a whirlwind week, what with actual students showing up in my classroom this week and all . . . but I didn't want to let even one more hour go by without thanking my Secret Pal for a lovely and awesome 2nd package!!

I should have taken a picture on Thursday night as my family played the Harry Potter trivia game (achem *Iwon* achem). That was a really great surprise! Thank you so much!

The rest of the package was equally delightful! There are two skeins of fingering weight yarn ready for me to dye, (I think they'll be headed for the indigo pot my friend Gregory is setting up at her farm next month), a most gorgeous and huge braid of spinning fiber in lovely plum shades (I'm thinking it may be BFL???), and the cutest sock shaped needle gauge. I'd secretly been coveting the needle gauge! Must be that's why she's my "secret" pal!!

Once again, thank you so, so, so much! I loved absolutely everything!

Today, I'm off to knitting group in Bowie, to work on the sleeves for my Poppy sweater I'm knitting (another KAL with my sister - she's ahead of me, finishing her second sleeve as I type!). Here's a progress pic, taken as I was finishing the tube of the body. Since then, I've attached the back and two fronts to what you see here - in Noro "Chirimen" which should make it bearable to wear this with the required cami underneath, since all Noro, no matter how beautiful, is just too scratchy to go next to my skin! This is a fun knit, and I highly recommend it to everyone who likes a bit of creativity in their knitting, but may not want to brave changing a pattern around to accomplish that! Check it out! Sorry for the sideways pic - forgot to edit!

:O)

Goodbye, Friend

2009-08-15T15:35:00.000-07:00

Well, after 8 well-served years, my Jeep has met the end of it's very useful (if somewhat pampered - for a Jeep) life.

Yesterday, I took advantage of the CARS program, and traded in my clunker for some cash towards a brand-spankin' new car. My first. OMG!

I was intrigued by the idea of the CARS program, since I KNEW that I was not going to get a good return on my car. It was 10 years old, with close to 150,000 miles, and the A/C system was shot - apparently a common problem in the 1999 model Grand Cherokee. And, well, sorry to say it, but it IS the truth - it was a GAS GUZZLER. Since I don't drive very far at all these days (my work and my son's school are both within about 5 miles of our house), I didn't really feel the "pinch" that much. But I was very aware that it was drawing near time to put some money into it for repairs of some sort.

Friday night, that realization hit home. I had to stop suddenly in D.C. (okay, I was about to run a red light, but still), and when I stepped (hard) on the brake, I felt them sorta smush in, rather than grab hold. I did come to a stop, but I glided to a stop, I didn't STOP like I needed. Since I was not far from my destination, I went on and found a quick parking spot and waited till the ride home to panic. On the very slow ride home, it was very clear that those brakes were D-O-N-E. I canceled my plans for Thursday, and enlisted the help of my child to get the car all cleaned out and ready (although I think they take them in whatever condition you bring it to them - more on this later), made sure I had all my necessary paperwork, and asked my lovely sister if she'd mind accompanying me the next day.

We got lots and lots of knitting done while waiting for different things (well, she got lots and lots, I just got 1 lots!)

Jennifer knitting:

We are both knitting versions of "Poppy" by Lisa Mason. Awesome, creative knit, if anyone's in that market!!

When the day was done yesterday, I drove home in this:

Isn't it CUTE???? It's a good thing it is, because they told me what was going to (did) happen to my Jeep. The CARS program is intended, partly, to take some of the environment-killing gas-guzzlers off the streets (and give the car industry a boost - both of which are happening), and when they use a car for the program, they have to disable it. Kill it. Put it to sleep (I like this last description best). So, they drove my car into the service bay, drained the transmission fluid, and poured in some evil potion in place of it. Apparently, death comes quickly, because when they drive the cars out of the service bay, they're already coughing and sputtering! I feel like a beloved pet has left me! But I'm also excited to have my first brand new car, not to mention the first car I've owned/signed for by myselfies, so I think I just might make it. The Jeep, no. Me, yes.

Anyone need a lift?

Oh, and P.S. - if you're in the market, go over to Honda and ask for Elliot Bourne. He'll hook ya up with a few jokes on the side, and everyone will be happy. And mention my name so that I can get some cup holders for The Boy, will ya?

:O)

Circle Cardigan

2009-08-10T13:30:00.000-07:00

After an entire summer of knitting, I'm FINALLY finished with the Vogue Knitting Circle Cardigan. This knit is beautiful, but it takes A. LOT. of patience!!

I really like it, and I'm really glad that I finished it in time for the beginning of school. My building is famous for blasting the A/C, so I always need a little something to help out! Staff meetings in the library are notoriously cold as well!

Here it is:

Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece - 5 skeins (I JUST tapped into the 5th skein, so I'll knit up a chemo cap with the rest)
Size - Larger
Modifications - the yarn I used was a bit of a bigger gauge, so mine is a bit bigger than others out there, but then again, I'm a bit bigger than others out there, so SCORE! I also left 9" open for the armholes (again, probably because I'm a bit bigger than the supermodel who's modeling it in the magazine). Other than that, I knit according to the directions, which were great (besides the little rant over semicolons - see my RAV notes!)

I also spun up a little skein (131 yards) of some California Red wool for the Spinner's Study group I'm in on Ravelry. Each month we "study" two different fibers - those who knit it share their experiences and findings for the good of the rest of the group. Such a sacrifice!

What I found was this - if oriented the fiber the right way to spin (the way it came off the factory machines, I'm assuming - it would spin nicely up with a long-draw style. The fiber I had was also very "rustic" feeling and would be ideal for outer wear or a vest, but nothing like a scarf or socks - not something you'd want next to the skin. Now that it's spun up and two-plied, I feel the same. BUT! The thing that endears this fiber to me is the RED hairs in the fleece that, when spun up, give the fiber a bit of a tweedy look - very interesting! I hope it comes out in the pictures:

Tomorrow, I hope to try dyeing this stuff up with some easter-egg dyes. I'm leaning towards a yellow or a green. I want the red hairs to still be visible, so I'm going to probably stay away from the blues or reds . . . I'll post my results later on in the week!

Hope everyone's having a great summer. Stay cool - it's finally gotten hot here, and besides the school shopping that I just HAD to get out of the way, I'm only venturing outside to go to the pool if this keeps up!

:O)

Thanks, Pal!

2009-08-06T06:49:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I received a package from my secret pal!

She sent: a beautiful skein of Berroco Comfort Sock. Who knew? This stuff feels wonderful and would be great next to my skin, since it's nylon and acrylic, but I'm thinking that with 447 yards, it's not going to become a pair of socks, but a scarf/shawlette! We shall see. Maybe I'll get a wild sock hair. Haven't been knitting them much, but I really do love wearing them . . .

Also included were some "Pattern Tamers" in case I DO choose to make a shawlette - then I'll have no problem tracking down my place in the pattern, since they're gorgeous magnetic strips - very handy!

And last, but not least - a gorgeous book called "Knitting Memories" filled with reflections by well-known knitters like Teva Durham, Lily Chin, and Lela Nargi.

Now I'm really wondering who this wonderful pal is. Such a wonderful package, full of things I really love, but wouldn't necessarily buy for myself. Exactly the point.

Thanks again, Pal!

:O)

Summer Update

2009-08-03T06:05:00.000-07:00

Well, this blog is like no-knitter's land this Summer! I have not been blogging at all, but not necessarily from lack of content! I have been somewhat busy, but mostly it's been about The Boy - as usual and expected around here! And, since I've been forgetting my camera ALL THE TIME, there's darn little to show!

In the last little bit, though, there's been stuff that I think I need to blog/report! First, my family's reunion this time was in Knoxville, Tennessee. If I ever reach the breaking point and need to move away from all the madness in Mayberry, I'm definitely going to Knoxville! I loved the city and (once again) wished I'd extended my stay to play tourist a bit more! The family did a great job of showing us around, though - I think we saw more of Knoxville than other cities where reunions are. Usually, the reunion is so jam-packed with activities, that there's not much time or need to do other things or go other places.

Friday night(s) we always go to a host family's house for a back-yard barbecue. This time we were at the Gaiter's house. They live on Gaiter Lane. The road was closed that evening to ease our family's traffic. Think they have much influence in the area? It was a beautiful house and grounds, and we all were able to find a little nook to relax and have some dinner.

Saturday morning we all were asked to show up at a neighborhood park for pictures. This is a break in tradition since we normally just take our group pics at the family picnic later Saturday(s). Soon, we found out why they wanted us here. Location, location, location:

That's a ginormous statue of Alex Haley, taken in Haley Heritage Square. The statue is so big that The Boy was able to climb around and sit on the book that Haley holds in his hands. This is MOST of the family that remains here in DC. There were similar groups of family from Alabama, Ohio, and Tennessee, and some smaller groups from Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Florida, North Carolina, and Michigan. Hope I got everyone!

Family reunions are about unity, and roots, so here's a picture of the elders of our family that were there.

After the pictures, we did go to a picnic. From there, we were taken to catch a riverboat for a short tour. Great!

Zac enjoyed himself immensely, and was fascinated by the paddles at the back of the boat.

The evening was for a formal dinner, and on Sunday we were treated to a brief word from the family church's pastor before things drew to an official end. Since we still had some time to relax before catching our flight, The Boy and I explored a cute little market square area, ate some great snacks from a great little shop called Coffee and Chocolate (yum!), and explored a little artsy park. It was a great weekend!

Since then, I've been finishing things up on the knitting front. I can't believe how much/little I've gotten accomplished. The Tour de Fleece helped me with my spinning, and I now have 660 yards of a 2-ply corriedale. I got half of this corriedale last year about this time on my cruise to Candada. Now that it's finished and I know how much I have to work with, I'm planning on a vest.

I also finished a cowl that I knit in the Morning Surf pattern from some of my very first handspun. This stuff was spun on my Golding spindle a while ago! I think I started knitting it last Fall during The Boy's soccer practices!

Finished as well is the baby blanket for my former SIL. I love these Patons blanket patterns - so quick and easy. And, it's in my usual cover-the-carseat size that won't drag on the ground or need excessive folding. Cause with infants, it's all about saving time not doing unnecessary things!

I am ALMOST finished with the Cotton Fleece Vogue cardigan that I can never remember the name of! I'm hoping to finish up today - I've got maybe two inches of the outer ring to go, and then I get to sew things down. Yay! Since I have about 4 projects that I really want to cast on NOW, I really can't wait till this is finished!

This week I am "on my own" since the boy is vacationing with his dad, and I've plans for lots of knitting, cleaning, and hopefully getting to do some things that I give up when I'm on Mommy duty! Hopefully I'll be updating here more often as well!

:O)

Once Every 20 . . .

2009-07-23T08:04:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, I attended my 20th high-school reunion. Oh my.

It was nice to catch up with old friends that I don't see often enough (even though many of them are still somewhat local), reconnected with friends that I hadn't seen in 20 years, and just had a good time. Maybe too much of a good time. I had my first hangover in SEVERAL years. Didn't miss that part at all! I'll spare all the gory details and just include a few borrowed pictures from the beloved Facebook.

This one's my favorite. I think I look much better when surrounded by a TON of man candy, yes??!!

Here's some of my best friends from HS. I forgot my camera, so this isn't everyone, but just some borrowed from friends who've posted on FB already.

One of the best things about the weekend was visiting the National Harbor and realizing what a HOT place the Cadillac Ranch is on a Friday night! Wow. A bunch of classmates met there for happy hour. My sister went with me - she attended the same HS and graduated two years before me, so she was familiar with some of the folks as well. But that place - oh my! When we walked in, it was calm, nice decor, friendly staff, etc. When we walked out?! O.M.G! Beautiful people everywhere, waiting in line to get in, hanging out on a great patio. Makes me wish I was young and cool again! I was trying my best:

:O)

Finally!

2009-07-10T08:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday there was little spinning toward the TDF goal. Why? Because my fleeces FINALLY came back in from Zeilinger's! Yay!

This bag had 3 pounds of this dusty-brown merino top. Yum. The woman I dropped it off with at the MDS&W suggested making it into top for a smoother fiber to process into a smoother yarn. She said that the short "neps" would come out that way, and make for smoother spinning. I believe her now, because there was a whole bag of "waste" as well-nothing but short, pill-y stuff that I'm assuming I can stuff a pillow with, but nothing more. Unless anyone else knows of something to do with fiber that has a staple length of about 1/8 of an inch!!

I am sharing this fleece with my sister, so I grabbed 4-ounce hanks and put them in separate ziplocks. I'll do the same with her half. Hopefully there will be a tad more for sampling when I've finished divvy-ing!

The spinning I DID do was maybe half a bobbin of the CJ Copek BFL that is on my list. I LOVE that fiber, and will try to content myself with that while I decide what I'd truly like to do with the merino. I have thoughts, but I need to make my spinning plan, do some sampling, and spin this stuff right. No messin' around with the merino!

Today, I am on my own for a bit, so I plan to do some work (a power-point that I really need for reading evaluations), then get back to the fiber, so I'm off to get busy!

:O)

TDF Check-In

2009-07-08T06:57:00.000-07:00

This is a progress pic for my TDF spinning. So far, I've spun up these two bobbins that I plan to ply together - one is the "Cowboy Up" fiber in red, white, and blue, from Copperpotwoolies. The other (that I finished spinning last night) is some plain navy blue mohair. I think the two together will be wonderful. I am ready to ply, and that's today's main project.

I also want to spin up the rest of the teeswater/alpaca that I blended on my combs. I might even try navajo plying with that, since I STILL need to learn that lil' trick!

After that, I plan to andean ply some small bits of fiber that is currently taking up space on a few bobbins so that I have free bobbins for this Friday's spinning group meeting.

The Baltimore Spinners meet at Cloverhill Yarn Shop in Catonsville every 2nd and LAST Friday of the month, and lately we have been spinning different types of things together as a group. The last idea was to spin singles - I did one skein of a BFL fiber named "Emerge" from CJ Copek. The last skein/braid is still to come on the TDF plan! BUT! This time, we are going to take a lesson from Jody - a fabulous spinner in the group who is fond of art yarns. She's going to teach us how to do some of her tricks, so I need free bobbins, and to select a fiber to play with. That will be the last item on my "to-do" list for my free part of the day.

Sounds like a good afternoon to me!

:O)

The Tour, 2009 Edition

2009-07-05T07:33:00.000-07:00

This summer, I am once again going to participate in The Tour de Fleece, a spinning-wheel take on Le Tour de France, a bike race. Related only in that there are wheels involved, and marathon-like goals! I participated last year with my Golding spindle, but this year, I get to use my Hitchhiker spinning wheel. She's just come back from being tricked out (i.e., made into a double-treadle wheel instead of a single treadle.)

Yesterday was the first day, and after returning from vacation, setting up my new flyer and tension knob, I was ready to spin. Here's the day's progress:

My first goal is to finish (spinning and plying) this yummy stuff from Coperpot Woolies that my sister sent me at Christmas. The name of the colorway is "Cowboy Up" and it's red, white, and blue. Very appropriate for a start on the 4th of July!

I also did some combing, and spun up 4 combed rolags of a teeswater-and-alpaca blend.

My comobs are new to me, and blending on the combs is very interesting. I have a little more than one ounce of the teeswater locks to blend with this yummy alpaca, and when the teeswater is gone, that will be it for this experiment. The Ravelry group Spinner's Study is the main reason for doing this - they study two different fibers each month and prod us to try fibers that are new to us. Since I'm so new to spinning, most fibers ARE new to me, so this is right up my alley right now! I do have more alpaca for spinning, and blending, though. Yum! A member of my spinning group was giving lots away at our last meeting, and my sister and I were quite tempted. We came home with this bunch of white you see here, plus a bag full of a gray color. Fun, fun!

So, one of the ideas behind the TDF is that each spinner spin toward a set goal - time or an amount, etc. I think I will aim for an amount. I want to get to some yummy things I've been dying to spin up while my wheel was away from me. So, I'll set as my goal for the end of the tour, the following:

1. Spin and ply the Cowboy Up with it's matching blue alpaca roving.
2. Comb and spin the teestwater/alpaca blend. Ply it (not sure "how" yet).
3. Finish spinning my light/dark Coopworth yarn (this involves combing half of it and making rolags, so long process!)
(4. "Emerge" singles to match skein/hank 1)
(5. Pick a fiber from stash to practice skinny spinning for 3-ply yarn.)

I guess I don't really need five separate goals, but I'm assuming the first three will be easy-peasy to finish. It's Summer Break, after all! Heh.

:O)

Secret Pal #14!

2009-07-03T09:29:00.000-07:00

Wow - has it been that many already? The last one I did was LAST summer, so I guess I'm about due!

Here's my info:

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? My very favorite yarn is Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece, but anything soft and beautiful is good! What fibers do you absolutely not like? “Fun-Fur” types of gaudy acrylic.
2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in? I was gifted a circular needle holder, and I love it. My straits (what few of them there are) are stored in a roll-up bag made by my auntie.
3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Knitting for about 12 years again now. Taught by my mother as a teen, didn’t do much with it until I was given some old needles, yarn, and a pattern booklet by my former MIL. Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced? Intermediate/advanced knitter.
4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? NO
5. What’s your favorite scent? I love natural scents, like lavender, sandalwood, and patchouli.
6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Yes Favorite candy? Junior Mints and Skittles
7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Spin and process natural fibers (card and comb). Do you spin? YES!!!!!
8. What kind of music do you like? Jazz Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? Yes (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
9. What’s your favorite color(s)? Reds and greens are my favorites, although I’ve been on a purple jag (especially with spinning fibers) lately. Sometimes I get myself in a rut. I also love the yarns and fibers with browns in them lately. Any colors you just can’t stand? I’m not a big fan of pink, although when you put brown with ANY color, I’m definitely a fan.
10. What is your family situation? This question always cracks me up! I am a single mother with one son. We live with my parents and one lovely standard poodle. We also have two hermit crabs that entertain us from time to time!
11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos? Yes to scarves, hats, and ponchos (occasionally). No to mittens.
12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? Sweaters (all types) and lace shawls knit in sock yarn.
13. What are you knitting right now? I keep a sock going all the time (sometimes not too quickly, but it’s going!). I’m also knitting the Medallion Cardi from Vogue for me, and the Entomology shawl for a dear co-worker.
14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts? Of course.
15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? I normally use circular, wooden needles, but some of my favorites are a metal pair from JoAnns, and a small plastic circular needle!
16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift? Both
17. How old is your oldest UFO? About 1 year old – it’s on my list of “fixes” for the Summer (a tank I put aside for some warm weather knits, but really, really need to finish!)
18. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas What winter holiday do you observe? Christmas.
19. Is there anything that you collect? Turtles – sculptures, figurines, pictures, paintings, etc.
20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? See favorites above for yarns. I’d kinda like to have a pair or two of the Harmony circulars in sweater knitting sizes (5-7) cause of their lovely pointy tips!! What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have? Currently – Interweave and Knitter’s, I usually buy Vogue and Vogue International as well as Spin Off.
21. Are there any new techniques you’d like to learn? The techniques I am interested in now are for spinning – different plying techniques, and blending for color.
22. Are you a sock knitter? Yes What are your foot measurements? Size 9 shoe, 9.5 instep.
23. When is your birthday? May 6th.
24. Are you on Ravelry? Yes. If so, what’s your ID? Heather219

:O)

O.M.G!

2009-06-29T09:03:00.000-07:00

Wow. Summer. Busy. Super busy. Wow.

Summer vacation started one week and one day ago. I think I've lived 4 lifetimes since then. I'm going to borrow a trick from my bloggy pal Adrienne and give short updates.

~I have done very little actual knitting. Not nearly as much as I wanted.

~My wheel came back from being turned into a double treadle. The flier was missing. I still cannot spin. Dang.

~The Boy is on the local swim team this year. He keeps getting DQ'd by some crazy judges who need to get a life. Yes, I'm bitter. That's my baby!

~I want/need to buy a new car this Summer, but I don't want a new car payment. Heh.

~My 20th HS reunion is next month. Dang. Really?

~I am addicted to this swap group on Ravelry. My favorite is the "Yarn for Fiber" board. Yum!

~Took a dyeing class with Karida from Neighborhood Fiber last weekend. Made some yummy yarn. Two sock colorways, and one larger batch that will be for a shawl.

~The shawl quantity is being knit up into a prayer shawl for a co-worker. That's going to be more praying than I've done in about 4-5 years!

~My sister has introduced us to Geocaching. Similar to Letterboxing (which we tried last Summer, briefly). We are WAAAAAYYYY to into it!

~I have way more planned for the summer than we will be able to get to.

~I just want to knit, knit, knit, and spin, spin, spin!

That's all for now. I'll give pics of the yarn I dyed in that class later, promise!

:O)

AWOL Once Again!

2009-06-04T18:22:00.000-07:00

Wow! It's been over a month since I've blogged! Not for lack of material, but rather, lack of TIME!!

Here's a quick captioned post to update those who may be wondering! As I tell my students, the stuff with a picture and a caption around it is probably the important stuff!! LOL.

Just before Sheep and Wool, I got a chance to visit a spinning friend's house where we helped with skirting fleeces after her sheep were shorn. Great fun, very educational, and I came home with this (that I was willing to process on my own) half fleece:

Just before hitting the bathtub.

And nice and clean after! The yellow bits, despite The Boy's thoughts, are NOT pee, they are sunburn. I have a slightly yellow fiber once it's prepped and spun, but it's oh-so soft.

Hence, there's been lots of fleece cleaning. Turns out, I lurrrrrve me the smell of sheep-y wool! It's all lanolin smelling and scrumptious (well, except for the bits that still have poo attached!!) I've been washing it in small batches, so that I get the smell every so often. I think I'm addicted! Strange, huh?

I also had one of these:

Don't look too closely at the candles. Nothing to see here, folks, nothing to see here!!

And for those of you who DARED to look that closely, I'll quote a movie character and just say "And I STILL look good! Hmpf!" :O)

I participated in an Indie Dyer swap through Ravelry. I can't wait to spin up that yak/merino blend from A Verb For Keeping Warm (that's the green fluff at the top of the shot). Thanks, Liz!!

Since my beloved Hitchhiker is still with Dave, getting tricked out - I mean DOUBLE TREADLED, I've been knitting more than in recent weeks. My mother, sister, and I are knitting the Mandarin Collar Jacket from the cover of this Summer's Vogue Knitting. I'm using Cotton Fleece, so I'm really, really in love with this project, despite all the times I have to K3tog!
The sock is what I'm working on at The Boy's swim practices (well, actually we've had ONE so far - the other three this week have gotten rained out!).

And finally, The Boy had his annual violin recital. Ask me how many different variations there are for playing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on a violin???? My favorite is the "Huckleberry" style, but he did "Mississippi Hot Dog" for the recital. Thank GOD he switches to a new song next year!!!

And that's it for this time!

:O)

Maryland Sheep and Wool, 2009

2009-05-04T20:19:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of introducing my sister to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. She was appropriately overwhelmed and excited. As it should be.

We both set out with a budget in mind, only went slightly over on wool processing, and both came home happy. Here's how it happened:

Whose Fleece?

When we arrived at the fairgrounds, it was just before 11:00 am. We were waved past the main gate, and made to turn into the "exit" lane of the parking field, which meant we walked - RIGHT INTO THE BACK GATE BY THE MAIN BOOTH! Thank you so much, festival parking crew - you let us out right where we wanted to be. I quickly grabbed the fleece I picked up at my friend Gregory's farm two weekends ago, and we hit the main barn to find a dark colored fleece we would share.

We thoroughly enjoyed looking at all the fleeces for sale, and finally managed to narrow it down to two - a chocolate-y Lincoln (I think - it was lovely locks, that I do remember), or a dark, fine merino. Since Gregory herself was working at the fleece tables, we asked her opinion. After getting the "okay" for both, we finally decided on the merino (from a sheep, apparently, named "Branaugh" - perfect!), hoping to find some sort of lock-type fiber for her in a booth later in the day. We also considered a small Karuk (?) fleece - very long, hairlike, and apparently a bit coarse, but decided against it.

We asked at the checkout about processors and were given several names, but finally decided on Zeillingers, since they were just out the back door! The prices were great (only $30 to wash my 6 pound fleece from Gregory, and just over $100 - at an 8% discount - to process the merino into combed top). I can't wait until I get it back! It will be a good project to start over the summer, since that is when it should arrive, and hopefully can be spun up to keep me busy all Winter long! My goal is to "need" a new fleece by the next year's festival! Wish me luck!

My only regret is not at least taking a picture of the lovely merino fleece before it was sent out. Next year's game plan will include at least one of these three options:

1) take a damn picture, already!
2) pull off at least one lock, put it in a ziplock, and hold onto it to see the difference in the original and the final product. I could've sworn this was a dusty brown fleece, but it's listed as gray by the processors on my receipt - my sister confirms it was more steel-y gray than brown, so it should be interesting to see what arrives on my doorstep in a few months!
3) Grab a good hunk to keep and process myself. After washing my own fleece on Sunday (more on that later), I think I could handle it, but at the time, I just didn't want to muck up that lovely fleece!!

Live and learn, right?

Make Mine A Double

One of the best parts of this year's Sheep and Wool is that I got to meet Dave of The Merlin Tree. I bought my lovely Hitchhiker wheel from him just after Christmas, and have been spinning like a madwoman since. After renting an Ashford Traditional for my sister to try out while she's visiting, I decided that I really wanted a double treadle wheel. So, I took my wheel to the show, and dropped it off with Dave to be converted to double treadle. It's really an inexpensive upgrade, and I think the payoff will be well worth it. I can do a good deal with the wheel as it is, but I think I'll be much happier with it as a DT.

Dave in show mode.

And also - you just can't beat the customer service of a true Vermonter, or a Vermonter at heart. Dave is both. Kilt and all.

LOVE him!!

Man Candy

While we're talking men here, let's get a little lewd, K? The following may be found offensive. You've been warned!

Those of us familiar with the festivals know Tess' Designer Yarns is a big hit. Well, this year, she may owe some of the hubub surrounding her booth to the LOVELY, LOVELY MAN. CANDY. she had working the register. Here he is striking a pose.

I mean, COME. ON. As if we weren't drooling before! Do the triceps do it for anyone else out there?

If I were a competing yarn vendor, I'd be mad. That's what you'd call an unfair advantage, Tess! Shame on you!

But, um, please feel free to bring him back next year!!

Oh, The Lovelies

And now, I'll stop babbling and get to the good stuff. Here's the haul from this year. Don't forget, there's unphotographed fleece out there in never-never land. 8 pounds of it!!

-2 ozCormo (!) roving - beautiful red color - almost a watermelon shade?

-4 ozBrown and blue rambouillet from Spirit Trail Fiberworks. Yum - but I can't find the pic!!!! Ack!
-A skein of Creatively Dyed (!) worsted. Ahhhhhhhhh.
SO glad she was able to take advantage of a last minute cancellation - I was so excited to see her there! It really made my day to see her reaction to my completed Whisper Cardigan, done in her sock yarn. She LOVED it and had her daughter snap a picture. Maybe I'll be a superstar!
-4 oz bamboo and 1 oz nylon for blending into other fibers when I spin. No pic. Kinda ho-hum.
-Some gifts that shall remain unnamed for now, as they're for a swap partner, and I don't want to spoil the surprise!
-WPI tool from a really nice woodwork vendor - The Spanish Peacock.
-Upgrade to my wheel, plus two more bobbins when he sends it back, from Dave at the Merlin Tree. Again, Dave is wonderful, and so very nice and friendly. I'm very glad I bought one of his wheels!

Anyone else? Did you visit this year? Do you plan to visit the next time it's on a nice, dry weekend, rather than a wet, cold one? I'd love to hear all about it!

:O)

Shorn!

2009-04-27T19:04:00.000-07:00

Sunday, I spent the day up to my elbows in sheep poo, and I loved it! It was hard work, but VERY interesting, and since my new friend Gregory was giving away (yes, GIVING) fleeces, I was 100% up for the game!

First, I had to drive to her lovely farmhouse in Havre de Grace, MD. No problem - I lucked into the new Jodi Picoult at the library on CD last weekend, and was well into the third CD (and about the 4th bout of tears), so I was all set.

I arrived just before the shearer did, and watched in fascination.

This little lambie was calling for his (her??) mother - couldn't figure out why all the big ones were in that little fence, sweltering together. It was 90+ that afternoon, so it really must have been terrible in there!

First up was Electra, this beautiful black sheep (the outside is brown because of dust and regular, sheepie wear-and-tear. The underside is definitely:

Black!

After everyone was shorn we got down to the business of skirting each fleece. That basically meant picking off the truly gross parts, parts that had been really matted or poo-ed on, or sections that looked like they wouldn't be worth taking the time to clean and prepare because they wouldn't be nice to spin anyway. I'm so new to this all, that I just might have let some "bad" bits through, but I think I got better by the end!

In all we skirted about 24 fleeces - about half from those shorn that day, and half from some sheep from Gregory's farm that now reside on a neighboring farm. She will enter two of hers in the judging at next weekend's Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, and I can't wait to see what is said. Electra's fleece will be judged, as well as the fleece of her Border Leicester Ram. His stuff was awesome!

I came home with a fleece and a half, and now need to figure out how the heck to get this all cleaned! I'm going to take the bigger of the two bags to MDS&W next weekend, in hopes that I can just drop it off with a processing mill there. It seems to be about 4-5 pounds, which is the minimum for some places. I will probably tackle the half-fleece myself. I think it's only about a pound, so should be a good intro to cleaning, and manageable in my lovely bathtub. I think I'll make The Boy help me - life experiences, right??

I can't wait to see what this all becomes, and excited to think that I just may be able to clean, process, dye, spin, and knit my own sweater. At the very least, I'll understand and appreciate this whole business a little bit more. Here's hoping!

:O)

Exploring

2009-04-14T19:38:00.000-07:00

Wanna loose a few inches? Try bellydancing. Dude. It works!!

:O)

2009-04-04T07:07:00.000-07:00

Molly had a haircut the other day. She's not really a puppy anymore - I think April 11th is the birthday, and she got a full, shave-down, get-rid-of-the-puppy-hair-mats haircut. Poodles are SKINNY!!!! But her fur looks so much better like this - very lustrous, like a crushed velvet pillow. She's all about everyone petting her now, too - really funny. If you're petting her with just one hand, she'll nudge the other as if to remind you that you could be doing a better job!!

In other news, Spring Break has started. We are "stay-cation" -ing it. I'll let you know how it goes. We plan to visit places in the local area that we haven't had time to go to lately, and to do some Spring cleaning. Woo-hoo! I've only brought one work/school related project home, and I plan to stick to it!

My cousin Carol is coming down, so I'm sure there will be plenty of fiber-related activities, and I have a goal of finishing my Whisper Cardigan by the time the break is over, so that I have my protection against the school A/C that I know is coming up. Yesterday it was 70 outside and the heat was on, so we all roasted! They can never get it right, and we all freeze all Spring long, so I need to be sure I've got an emergency cover, which is the whole idea I had behind the Whisper Cardigan. I'm knitting it out of some Creatively Dyed sock yarn in the colorway "Sour Orange" and it's turning out really great. It's a teeny-tiny knit, so the slight added weight with sock yarn instead of laceweight is just right to make it more substantial, since I'm a bit of a more substantial girl!

FO pictures by Monday, April 13th!!!

:O)

Worless Because I Have No Time

2009-03-28T14:31:00.000-07:00

Here's some pretty pictures. I'll update with the actual news that goes with it later. Apparently, I am incapable of a wordless post!

Creatively Dyed yarn - quickly becoming the Whisper Cardigan - this will be my summer sweater to fend off the air-conditioning!

Holy-crap my bobbin broke! WHILE I was plying some yummy yarn! ARG!!!

Cool fiber I got at the Yarn Party that has sari threads carded in - it's called Confetti. I plan to spin, then dye this - fun, fun!!!

Alpaca from an animal named Gracie - the owners are so nice - I'll post on their farm and animals later this spring, after I make a visit!

First installment of the Intention Yarns yarn club. Things are a bit wonky getting the club off the ground, but the yarn is nice. They will become Monkey socks (finally!).

Pictures of some fiber from a fiber-study group. I've got one ounce of about 11 different fibers. This is Border Leicester, and I love the natural color. Washed, but not carded or spun as of yet. I wanted to have another washed and ready to go for when I'm prepared to deal with it.

The first two skeins of Corredale that I'm spinning up - it actually goes right along with one of the PS 4 themes - "north" since half of this fiber is from my trip to Canada this past summer. I'm plying that fiber with a lighter colored corriedale that I got locally at Cloverhill, and it's turning out wonderfully. A study in spinning, too - because I'm doing long draw with one strand, and short forward with the other. Interesting!

:O)

OWWWWWWWCCCCHHH!

2009-03-17T20:12:00.000-07:00

I started a new exercise class tonight.

I am sore NOW.

I was sore when class ended.

Pray I can get out of bed in the morning.

:O)

P.S. - Laugh not, dear sister. When you get home, you're coming to class WITH me!

Time Keeps on Spinnin'

2009-03-14T10:10:00.000-07:00

That's what it's been like around here these days.

I spin more than I knit.

Funny.

I think it's because I don't seem to muck up my spinning quite as much as my knitting, and if I do, I just run with it, where as when I muck up knitting, I have to take it out and then reknit. Blech. I HATE reknitting!

There have been some successes, though:

This lil' bunny was a great model for the Baby Surprise Jacket I gifted to a friend/coworker. I am VERY happy with the BSJ. I tried my best to muck it up, but it came out nearly perfect anyway!!

Now, I want to spin the yarn to make more! Stay tuned, I guarantee it WILL happen!

I've also been staying busy with work, of course, and doing a lot of Ravelry lately.

I joined this group that promised to help me use up my spinning scraps (so, at this point, I don't really have "scraps" but more like unused bits. I dug through the stash a bit, got out my hand cards, made rolags, and wound up with 81 yards of a really cool worsted weight yarn.

It's a huge skein of worsted weight sized yarn - I meant to get that big a skein and have it be only 81 yards? The yarn's a pretty good size!

I'm thinking this might need to be a periodic project - yearly? 6 months?? It was fun, and let me see the differences in the different fibers I was spinning as I came to them in the rolags. Very cool.

I've also been working on and considering some Project Spectrum 4 adventures. I started out by spinning up some meriono/tussah gorgeousness that I had been given in a swap (see why I stopped swapping so much? - I forget who gave it to me!). It was BEAUTIFUL to spin. I plied it with some silk hankies that coordinated, for a peach and green skein of lovelieness:

Then, I spun up a some "Olive Grove" Faulkland from Spritely Goods. That was wonderful, too. I spun it with a 'short forward draw' instead of long-draw, which I'm becoming accustomed to, so it was a nice change. It went by way too quickly, and now I'm wondering what to do with it. It all fit nicely onto one bobbin, but now I'd like to ply it together (it's a rather thin, underplied single to use by itself) for a 2-ply. I'm NOT going to be silly enough to try the navajo on this fiber since I mucked that up pretty badly the first time, so i'm wondering how to get it to be a plied yarn! Maybe winding it into a cake, then plying by using the outside and inside of the cake. . . hmmm. I'll post pics when I've plied and finished.

The next PS4 project I'll work on/finish is the Corriedale I picked up in Canada this past Summer. I visited several yarn shops, and got fiber at each. I don't remember where I got this particular bag of fiber, but it was in Canada, which is "north" of me, so fits in with PS4's cardinal directions bit.

:O)

Due North.

2009-03-02T05:31:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, Project Spectrum started another round of inspiration. This round, the focus is on the Cardinal Directions and the elements and colors that go along with them. Up first? North, green, earth, gemstones, and Winter.

Yesterday, I kicked of PS by spinning up some Merino/Silk Tussah in a lovely green blend. It's very pretty, and it's what I plan to ply the silk from yesterday's post with.

Annnnnnnnnddddddddddddd. . .

Since this

is due North at my house this morning, I plan to do just that with my 2nd snow day of the year.

Those of you who are teachers (or family members), will recall that this also means my Summer break is shortened by two days as well now. Argh. Maybe spinning will help me forget!

How's YOUR day going??

:O)

Paid!

2009-03-01T07:17:00.000-08:00

A while ago, I wrote something for a teeny, tiny commission. This past week, the goody I purchased with the commission came in. Looks like fun to me!!!

Silk hankies from Shunklies ETSY store.

Here's the box I'm storing the project in. On the left, you see the dyed hankies - she did a wonderful job! To the right, you see the "roving" made from pulling the hankies apart. It's now waiting to be plied with some merino/tussah I'm spinning as part of Project Spectrum. Yum!

I'm liking the idea of spinning the hankies. I'm a big fan of Rexenne at YouTube, who has great tutorial videos for spinning, and of course, she's got a good one for spinning and preparing silk hankies!! She actually plies the drafted "roving" directly with an already spun single of another fiber for an interesting yarn. Great idea.

I plan to see how it goes with spinning/plying in this way, then possibly getting my hands on some undeyed ones to spin and dye with! Since this is a Project Spectrum undertaking, I'm hoping there will be progress shots and updates here in a timely fashion.

First, however, I need to get "Michelle" off the bobbins on my wheel. I plan to ply this afternoon. "Michelle" is the name I've given to my purple spinning project from the Creatively Dyed fiber I've been working with. I was spinning some rolags from the fiber the other night when I was watching the President address congress, and noticed - again - that the first lady really likes the color purple. So, the resulting yarn is now "Michelle." She will probably be knit up into the Mistake-Rib vest I've been coveting out of Dsigner One Skein. I think I'll have enough, and that the two skeins are similarly weighted. I think.

And, while we're talking about the Obamas - I met my first little Barak yesterday. He's 7 months old and very cute. Remember the cartoon? Yup. It's coming!

Other than that, I am continuing to screw up my knitwear - there's something to be said about consistency!!! I "finished" Frances last night. Or so I thought. I completed the directions according to what I believed the instructions said. Apparently, English is NOT my native language. I knit the neck inside out. Argh.

Well, now I have a baby shower gift to knit, so it'll probably have to wait until I'm finished with that before I have the heart to rip it out and knit the neck again. Argh - again!

Gratuitous shot of the Briar Rose BFL I bought because I just couldn't stand it!!

I'm off to fin the dummy instructions for the Baby Surprise Jacket - we don't need any 'surprises' with this knit, too! - and to watch the snow fall and hope it gets pretty outside, but not so pretty that school is closed tomorrow. Delay only, Mother Nature, delay only!!!

:O)

Coffee Swap!!

2009-02-23T16:09:00.000-08:00

I was finally able to get in on the Knitter's Coffee Swap - this is number 4 and I'm just getting in - not for lack of trying, but my timing, apparently, could be better!

So, my package arrived from my wonderful pal Tessah - she's just great! She lives in Japan (I'm going international when I swap these days - to see what's going on on the other side of the world!!!), and sent some wonderful goodies!

Right now, I'm enjoying some "Blendy" coffee for my after-dinner treat, along with some surprising biscuits. I'm not 100% positive what I'm eating (not that that's a problem with me - I love food), but I'm thinking these are a mild, iced wasabi cracker???? Something tastes a bit salty underneath, but they're clearly iced on top . . . Definitely interesting. She also sent chocolate-filled cookie "biscuits" that look a bit more traditional, a cute note holder that will go on my desk at school(work), TWO different coffees (the "Blendy" plus one from Brazil that looks like it has chocolate added in (the Blendy has a little something in it, too, very mild, but lovely), and TWO different Imperial yarns - two skeins of a medium-weight dusty pink that I'm thinking "hat" with, and two skeins of a heavier celadon green that I'm thinking I'll make into a chunky scarf (since I found so many interesting patterns when researching for the package I sent her!!!).

Once again, a wonderful package and a new friend to boot. I'd been "off" from swapping for a while, but I have really enjoyed my last two - probably because there was no "make" part to it - just get to know the person, put a package together and send! I think I was getting burnt out on the ones that involved making something to send - requires a bit more time and effort, and takes away (excuse me for being selfish) from the time I'd be spending on my own personal knitting or gift knitting, etc. Maybe I WILL go sign up for that Indie dyer swap like I wanted . . .

***** ***** ***** *****

In knitting news, I'm plugging away at my two (3?) projects slowly but surely - I have one sleeve finished and the other started on Frances, I'm about to change over into the gold color on my Kauni Convertible, and the baby surprise jacket? Well it's pretty much still the same. I need to get knitting on that again soon, especially since the recipient was nice enough to loan me a store bought sweater she had on the other day so I can attempt to copy it!! Wish me luck - I've planned to do this several times, but haven't quite gotten there. I'm thinking there's hope with this one, however, since I can't just rip the tags off and wear it like when I "plan" on returning it, since it actually does belong to someone else!!!! Wish me luck!

I also broke down two weekends ago and stained the Ashford supplies I've gotten recently to go with my wheel. Everything from them is unfinished, which gave me the chance to test out the stains before tackling the bigger project - the wheel. Here's the lazy kate, stained in "pecan" along with the top bobbin. The center bobbin is stained the cherry color that I will do the main wheel on the Hitchhiker. The bottom bobbin is still unfinished, as it had yarn on it during the staining. I think I'm happy, but I definitely like the pecan a little better than the cherry, although I do think I'll be happy with how the wheel looks when it's finished with both stains.

The yarns I've been spinning - the outer two are wheel spun, with some Creatively Dyed fiber that is YUMMY, and the center is some romney I've been doing on my Bosworth spindle.

Here's my "space" that I've been rearranging - trying to get organized and unclutter things to allow for some creativity
***** ***** ***** *****

And, finally - The Boy. He's a mess. He FINALLY got his sleepover, and man, was that FUN!!! (Note the sarcasm!) Seriously, though - it wasn't that bad. I'd consider doing it again - for only one or two friends, not 5!!! That was a bit much. But everyone had fun - the only tears were from my spoiled rotten brat, and only one child had to be put in timeout. Seriously. If you are bad enough to get put in timeout during a PARTY, you probably won't get invited back. Dude. Calm the $#@! down!!! Wow.

Here he is the morning after. Notice they're all absorbed in the Wii once again. That thing is good for something, right??? Thank goodness for Mario Kart!!!

:O)

Happy Birthday, Baby.

2009-02-18T20:15:00.000-08:00

7 years ago, about this time of the evening, I learned the joy of an epidural. Boy, was it ever JOY! Very ironic that during my pregnancy, I swore I did not want any drugs - I wanted "natural." Yeah, right!

After the epidural kicked in, I watched some ice skating from the Winter Olympics (they were in Salt Lake City, Utah that year), and took a nap. Yup. A nap. In the middle of "labor."

That's what I call some "Good Drugs".

About 6 hours after that, The Boy arrived, and my life has (thankfully) never been the same!

I really can't believe he's turning 7! How and when did this happen? It doesn't seem like he should be this big already, and yet sometimes, he seems like he's much older (and sometimes much younger - you should have seen the things he tried this evening to get me to let him open some presents before going to bed!).

He has such joy for life. He is my very proudest "accomplishment" in life. I am so glad he's my son, feel so privileged to be able to be called his mom, and I'm scared to death and excited as anything of the rest of our lives. I keep thinking I'm going to muck it up somehow. But then, he comes over to give me a hug without prompting, or concedes to give me a goodbye kiss in front of his classmates, and it's all better. Little boys DO love their Mommies, and I'm glad.

Happy Birthday Sweetie. I love you.

:O)

Odds Are . . .

2009-02-08T20:12:00.001-08:00

You know that saying - "One step forward and two steps back." - that one??

Well, I've got that one beat, hands down.

Over the past week, I've finished two WIPs!

First off, The Boy now has his kool-aid dyed sock blank socks. This past summer, my mother and I created one afternoon in the backyard (lord, the mosquitoes loved us that day!!). I was so very proud of the spark within that thought of this twist to the dyeing process:

Then The Boy claimed it for his own. DANG!!!!

But it's totally worth it - they fit like a dream and he wore them from the time I gave them to him till last night's shower.

I also finished the All Aboard I was knitting in Silk Garden. I am now engaged to be married to some Silk Garden. It's a match made in heaven.

I was planning on wearing this tomorrow, but since The Boy is in bed with a fever right now, I'm going to be lounging in my jammies tomorrow, playing nurse, NOT dressed in all black with this over the top. I'll give an update on Tuesday instead!

Soooo, with all this finishing, I DESERVE to cast on a little something, right? Don't worry - I've been very restrained. I really, really wanted to cast on for about 2,000 things - socks from the grab-bag stash, a falling leaves shawl with some Kauni that's calling to me in my sleep, the Shawl Cardigan I've been wanting to try with my prize yarn from Stitches - the list goes on and on!!!

However - I only cast on for Frances Revisited. It's going very quickly, but I'm feeling the need to put it on another needle and try it on to make sure it's giving The Girls plenty of space. With how open this gague is knitting up, I don't need to be obscene with it!!

So, that's TWO steps forward (FO's) and only ONE step back (casting on again). I wonder how many times I need to do this dance till I completely run out of WIPs???? Nah, that'll never happen!!

P.S. I totally scored some free fiber today! Seeing as how it was 70 degrees outside today, The Boy and I ventured out to show some friends our favorite hang out - Watkins Park. Of course, that meant we had to go see the animals at the farm. While there, I talked to the head Naturalist, and asked what they do with the shearings and clippings from the animals (three sheep, two llamas and - GASP - an angora goat). She said she normally gives most of it to a friend who comes in to help with the 'wool day' even they hold each spring because the friend brings in her spinning wheel and does demonstrations and talks all day. She asked why I wanted it, and I said - "Same reason - to spin!" We agreed that if I come with my spindles (the other spinner uses a wheel), she'd let me leave with some fiber. YES!!! Gotta love that!

:O)

Goings On

2009-01-27T10:17:00.000-08:00

There's been a lot going on here lately. I'll give a picture post with a few words to catch you all up!

The gamblers have returned, and along with them, a real, live POODLE has arrived at the house. She gets a proper cut when she goes to visit the breeder, and this time, she's got actual curls underneath, instead of puppy fuzz. MUCH better!

Here's what I've been spinning:

Inspired by the package I'm putting together for my Valentine Swap partner, I carded two different fibers from Windrose (ETSY vendor). Both were dyed "Princely Purple" but one was merino, one alpaca. They both came with the same shade of angelina, too, so I carded a bit of both rovings along with the angelina, then spun away.

Beautiful! It wasn't much, though (barely one bobbin full), so I thought I'd see how it goes with the Creatively Dyed braid full of wool and seacell in purples that I picked up at Stitches East this year. I'm carding it, too, to blend the seacell in a bit more:

It went from this:

To this:

And I love it!!! With as huge as this braid was, I'm thinking I'll try a three-ply yarn. Two strands of the Creatively Dyed and one of the Windrose. I'm still carding and spinning, though, so it will be a while. A fun while, but a while. I also discovered I'm in need of more empty bobbins (again).

As for knitting, I'm a bit through with myself for how many projects I've gotten myself into the middle of. Barring any forgotten UFOs, I am currently working on:

1. Morning Surf scarf (this is the end of the spinning study I was doing with a Ravelry group).
2. All Aboard - a shawl/wrap from Knitters a couple seasons ago (note - this is actually finished and blocking upstairs. I will give updated pics and a review once it's sewn together and worn!!).
3. Snow White (got stalled because of a mistake, and can't get started again).
4. Aurora's Surprise (Baby Surprise Jacket for a co-worker).
5. Wrap cardigan from the fall that I put aside because of an error (heard that before)
6. Cherie Amour - stalled because I suck at reading patterns for shaping.

And that doesn't even begin to mention the things I WANT to knit!!! LIke the Francis Revisited I said I'd knit along with a friend, or the Wrap Cardigan from Runway knits that I heart, heart, heart!!!

Inspiration comes from great ideas, though. With that in mind, my friend Heather told me about a brilliant plan to get more socks knit. Since I've been knitting NO socks at all, I thought this might just inspire me, and it has.

Here's the socks I plan to knit SOON. I've grabbed the patterns I love or want to try, and matched them up to sock yarn that's in my stash. Put them in bags, and then when you are able to cast on (note, I said "able" not "it's a good idea"), you grab a bag, and you're sure to say "Winner, winner, chicken dinner!"

The goal/purpose for all this? I want to cast on for one of those socks SOON. I'm setting March 1st as the cast-on date for a new pair of socks. That means finishing the baby gift and at least three of the unfinished sweaters before I can start any socks. That should make me feel better. Wish me luck!

I also decided to show my other little obsession going on (When there's time, that is!). I've been Wii-ing it, and here's a couple family helper miis, there to cheer me on during the Advanced Step. Sometimes they're there for the hula hoop sessions and running as well!!! Too fun! For those of you not in my immediate family, the lady in the green is my late Grammy (LOVE seeing her step!!), and the one in blue is my very own mother!!

:O)

Welcome, Sir.

2009-01-20T06:14:00.000-08:00

I am at home. I am warm. I am NOT venturing downtown to watch the festivities. My part of "living history" was the day I voted for Barack Hussein Obama. Now, he will be the president even if I'm not freezing my tuckus off on the Mall. I prefer to get a closeup view on my living room tv.

Besides, it's too cold to knit while I wait, so I would NOT be hanging out on the Mall no matter what was going on!

Welcome Mr. President (and please forgive me for the numerous times I've said "pe the Bresident" in my head these days. Runny Babbit will do that do you!)

Now, if you don't mind, I'm off to watch the festivities, spin some yarn, and find pictures for a timeline project the boy has due at school this week!

:O)

All Bets are ON!

2009-01-14T20:09:00.000-08:00

Why is it that, when you mention that you are going to be anywhere near a casino, people start throwing money at you? Why can't they do that on a 'normal' day?? My parents are planning their yearly trek to Las Vegas, and keep telling me of friends handing over their pocket change.$2-$3 at a time. I hope they don't plan to get rich. It'll never happen that way.

I'm not much of a gambler (the quarter slots were my friends on the cruise this past summer), but I might give some of the top online casinos if I were so inclined.

Right now, however, my "bets" if you will, are going toward yarn and knitting projects. That's my favorite kind of gambling. I think I win, no matter what the outcome. Either I play with yarn (which I love) with no good outcome, or I play with yarn (again, LOVE) and wind up with something yummy to wear. Win. Win. Win!!!

Now, with my new spinning wheel, I'm even more dangerous! Behold, I give you - my first wheel-spun, plied yarn.

Isn't it FABULOUS???? Okay, so actually, only one of these skeins is balanced (the one at the top of the screen - just slightly "darker" too, and I'm trying to figure out how to do that, but really? I made yarn. 305 yards of it in one fell swoop. Those of you who might spin with a spindle - you'll be the ones who really appreciate that. Spindle spinning is soothing, relaxing, you get into making the yarn and enjoying how the fiber spins up and all, but. . . Dude. You get like 50 yards when you're finished. And "finished" might take a couple days. This time, a couple days gave me 305 yards. Definitely enough for the Morning Surf Scarf I'm going to knit with the yarn. I may have to do a cowl for a giftie. I'm still considering what other options could help me use up every single solitary ounce of this yarn.

Can you tell, I'm VERY proud of myself!!

A shot of me plying on my Hitchhiker. I can see where a separate Lazy Kate, that would be able to sit behind me like I'm used to for my fiber, would be a good idea. For now, I'm broke and I'm using the on-board one. Sometimes you just gotta make it work.

This was the end of my spinning. What you see in roving here is the last of the lighter half of the roving.

Here are the two full bobbins I wound up with. One was from the front half of the roving, the other from the back (front = darker colors, back = lighter colors). They both look pretty much the same here, though, because I'd spun from the outside in.

:O)

2009-01-10T20:38:00.000-08:00

According to my NBC news channel, Las Vegas is "on sale" because of the economy. Some people might want to skip it totally, and go with an online casino. Thanks to the internet, now people don't have to fly to get to their fix!

Speaking of NBC news, the Health and Fitness Expo is in full swing this weekend at the Washington Convention Center. The Boy and I love this event. I like that there are serious things for adults to check into, like glaucoma screening and diabetes awareness booths, but there's also a TON of things for the kiddos to do, to bring home the fact that we all need to make being active and healthy a part of our lives.

This year, I took the opportunity to meet up with an old friend from high-school (Hi, T!!!!) and his cute-as-a-button-son. The boys are close in age (6 for me, 4 for them), and had a ball running around the indoor track, playing a bit of tennis, getting golf tips, and playing a bit of 'smash-em up' soccer. They were appropriately worn out at the end of the day, and enjoyed each others' company very much. It was great to get back in touch with an old friend, and to find that we still enjoy each others' company as well! I'm looking forward to a renewed friendship!!

In knitting news, I had to do some frogging to my Spicy Snow White. I didn't really have things set properly when I joined the sleeves to the body, and kept trying to MAKE it work, but with ribbing, you just can't do that! Those stitches show, and it wasn't looking so pretty! So, this morning I spent about 45 minutes ripping it back, and putting the stitches back on the needles. Now I need to figure out the stitch marker placement again - and correctly this time! - so that I can knit the whole neckline again. What makes it even worse was that I had so little left to go on this top! I'd even done the cute little picot neckline!!!! Oh well, next time it will be right and will be something I'll be proud to wear!

The back - the part that actually WAS turning out properly!!!

The front, neckline, where you can SO tell that it was not turning out correctly. You could also tell at the underarms, where the sleeves had been joined, that I was flubbing it, and the ribbing decreases didn't match up. DANG!!!!

I really need to get this finished, because I'm itching to start a new project and can't decide. Surprise, surprise! I may have to put another little poll up to see what you all think. There's so many choices running through my brain right now, and what with the new wheel and all, I feel like I will never get to everything I want!!!

Speaking of the wheel, I am almost finished spinning up the CMF roving, and getting a bit nervous about plying them together! I bought two new bobbins to assist when I finally am ready, because all three bobbins the wheel came with are currently in use. Don't quite know how I thought I was going to ply without an empty bobbin!!!!!!!

I picked it up last night at my spinning meeting. I also got some Ashford hand-carders that I've been wanting. I really, really, really want to learn the long draw, and to use rolags to do it with, so I broke down and got them when I saw them at Cloverhill. I also got 6 more ounces of Corriedale to use with them. I had some previously that I got from our trip to Canada. It's not an exact match, but I can ply the two together (or use them together with the carders!!!!) and get something lovely for a rustic project. I can't wait!!! There's also other things I'd like to do with the carders. I think they'll come in pretty handy with roving that has become a bit smushed or matted/felted in dyeing or shipping. I tried them out this evening, and the rolags are so light and fluffy. I had to resist starting one of the new bobbins with that fiber!!!!

I can become QUICKLY addicted!! Oy!

:O)

It's Here! It's Here!!!

2009-01-04T09:29:00.000-08:00

With help from Santa, I ordered a Hitchhiker spinning wheel just after Christmas. Yesterday morning, it came. I am now a spinner of the spinning wheel kind (before this, I was spinning with a drop spindle like mad!).

I love it!

I could barely wait for it to arrive, and had to keep my hands busy, so I prepared some roving that I had previously tried out on an Ashford Joy at Cloverhill Yarn Shop.
My current knitting project - Snow White - was (and is) in timeout, because I'm silly and can't do shaping and ribbing at the same time. So, I'm taking it out on the project and not working on it! That'll show that silly yarn for tricking me!!!

I did swatch for two other sweaters at my new knitting group meeting. The Bowie Knitters are a wonderful, welcoming, knowledgeable group and I love them all!! The wheel came just as I was getting ready to leave to go to the meeting, but I managed to stop long enough to pull it out of the box, set it up, treadle a bit, then tie on a leader. It's all ready to go!!!

When I returned, I tried out the rainbow roving I'd prepared earlier.

And after some work and dinner, I started on the Sunshine of Your Love roving from Crown Mountain Fibers.

This wheel rocks, and I can't wait till we have all our kinks worked out and are spinning at full speed! I love it, I love it, I love it!!

Any suggestions on a name? I eventually plan to finish it with some pretty wood stains, but for now, I want to SPIN!!!!

:O)

Be My Valentine, 2009

2009-01-03T20:57:00.000-08:00

So, if you're on Ravelry and up for a cute swap, go join the Be My Valentine group. It's a knitterly swap for Valentine's Day. And a sure way to make sure that no one or nothing ruins your V-Day, cause - YOU GET A YUMMY PACKAGE!!!!

For Valentine's Day, I'm kinda like the kid on Polar Express - it just doesn't work out for me. Not even when I'm in a relationship have I ever had a good Valentine's Day. The one time it was all set up to work, HUGE ice storm and I couldn't go anywhere or get anything (like the roses that were sent!). Oy. Story of my life. Sooooooo. . . Me likey the Be My Valentine swap!!!!

Pre-P.S. - My wheel came today - look out tomorrow for pictures of it, and some of my first wheel-spun yarn!!!!!

Here's the 2009 questionnaire:

What:
2. Are you mainly a crocheter and/or a knitter? Knitter
1. Are you a spinner? Would you prefer roving or yarn in your package? Yes I am a spinner. I’d love either, maybe leaning towards roving since I’m a new wheel owner and very excited!!!!
2. Do you prefer to crochet or knit with fine thread, lace-weight or thicker yarn? I tend to gravitate towards sport/DK weight, or worsted.
3. If someone were to send yarn, would you prefer several different skeins of yarn with a variation of colours and fibres or would you prefer all to be one and the same? I like “lots” of yarn – enough to complete at least one small project. Random skeins tend to not get used. :O(
4. Do you have any favourite projects? (As in, do you prefer to knit or crochet afghans, pot holders, sweaters, mittens or socks, or amigurumis? Or … what else?) I’m a sweater person, mainly these days, but shawls/scarves run a close second.
5. Would you consider your skills to be newbie, intermediate or advanced? Intermediate/advanced.
6. Which are your favourite yarns? (fibres, brands, colorways) LOVE Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece as a staple yarn, collecting Noro Silk Garden to do a luxury Lizard Ridge. Pretty much, though, I'm non-discriminatory - I love all yarns!!!
7. What are your favourite colors? Autumnal colors – greens, deep reds, brown.
8. How interested are you in patterns? Can you read any language besides English? Can you read diagrams even if the pattern is written in another language? I collect patterns to use up my stash. I can only read English, and I’m not that great with diagrams.
9. Dyeing? Any particular item in this area you would find appealing? I’ve dabbled with Kool-Aid dyeing, but don’t have the space or tools to do the high-tech chemical stuff. I’m very interested in Natural Dyeing, after reading the Interweave Press book.
10. Are you in need of any particular knitting or crocheting supplies? Or do you crave something in particular, a hand made crochet hook or perhaps wooden needles? A special book or magazine? I always say I want to have at least 10 more of those hanging row counters, because it always seems as if it’s in use somewhere else when I want it for another project, or need to loan it out to someone.
11. Fiber Allergies? (We wouldn’t want to send wool yarn to someone allergic to wool) Not allergic, but very sensitive to wool (Misti Alpaca Chunky I can't wear next to my skin - OY!). I usually only knit with merino or wool blends for next-to-the-skin projects.
About me:
14. Why is Valentine’s Day special to you? I’m in “love” with falling in love, even though my the love of MY life is a soon-to-be seven year old!!
1. Is there any particular item or symbol that particularly says Valentine’s Day for you? Hearts, definitely.
2. Do you use hair pins, scrunchies and hair bands? Hair bands when I’m having a bad hair day and need to get it away from my face. Occasionally pins to hold pieces back on special occasions. Earrings pierced or unpierced? Pierced ears. Necklaces or bracelets? Brooches? Yes to necklaces and bracelets, no to brooches.
3. Do you like vintage stuff? Yes Thrifting? Yes
4. Do you do other crafts? Not currently. Fiber arts are my obsession.
5. Are you a collector of something in particular . Turtles!!!
6. Dark or milk chocolate? Or (god forbid) no chocolate at all? Any, although I feel better about eating it if it’s dark.
7. Favorite candy? Tie between Junior Mints and Skittles.
8. Favorite anything from another country? Umm . . . curry????
9. Coffee? Definitely. Beans or ground? Ground, although a little grinder with some beans would be welcome, too! Tea? Love tea, too. Bags or loose? Either. Any particular favourites? Jasmine tea balls are always nice. Hold on while I go brew a cup. . .
10. Favorite fragrance(s)? Lavendar.
11. Allergies, food intolerances? Mushrooms (not very Valentine-y, right?)
12. Maybe it’s impertinent to ask but it could be interesting for your swap partner to know how old you are? Old enough.
13. Do you have kids and/or pets? One kid – 7 year old boy, and one standard poodle (female).
14. Is there anything else you would like to add that you think your swap partner needs to know about you? I think that covers it.
15. If your swap partner messes up and needs to send you a gift certificate – what on-line store would you like it for: The Woolery, or Crown Mountain Fibers.

:O)

A Very Fiber-y Christmas

2008-12-31T05:47:00.000-08:00

I am very late posting this, but I did have a wonderful, fiber-y Christmas full of family and love. Just the kind I like!

I've already posted the picture of The Boy opening his blanket. He LOVES it and has been using it every night to snuggle with. Note that he and the blanket are still HERE, and he claims he is not going to take it to his dad's. Oh well, at least I get to look at all my lovely knitting!

I'm still waiting for my spinning wheel to arrive. I have high hopes for today, so that I can spin for the New Year, but Friday is OK, too, since then I'll have the weekend (and a bit more time to do the schoolwork I've been planning on catching up with!). I also haven't quite finished my Snow White, or the spinning project I was doing on the spindle yet, so it's no big deal if it doesn't come in. Kinda.

I did do some stash cleaning/rearranging and deciding what will be first on the wheel. A while back I attended a meeting of the Baltimore Spinners, and spun a bit of a bright roving from a fiber club. I plan to adjust to my new wheel by spinning the rest of that up. It's probably about 2 ounces or so by now, and should allow me to get used to how things go with this new wheel. Since I have the mechanics down, somewhat from the spindle, I'm hoping for a short adjustment period so that I can get to this:

This is a superwash merino "bump" of roving from Crown Mountain Farms (LOVE their stuff!). It's for a spinning study I'm doing with a bunch of Ravelry friends. We are all spinning the same roving (this one is called Sunshine of Your Love), then knitting the same pattern (we've chosen to do the Morning Surf Scarf - great for handspun!) I'm excited to get started!!!!

Okay, on to the gifties I was so blessed to receive:

Some Potters Covers came home to roost, from my sister.

My sister also is responsible for my first, ever Copperpot Woolies!!!! This stuff is amazing! Navy (!) blue, natural white, and burgundy for a combo called "Cowboy Up." Hilarious and gorgeous!

I started spinning some on my Bosworth Middi, a gift from my mother. This little guy spins very nicely, and I love the long, pointy hook on this one. Of course, the gorgeous wood doesn't hurt a bit!!!

Santa came through with some help for my wheel. Yay! Thanks, Santa!

Mom snuck some sock yarn in for me from Creatively Dyed at Stitches this Fall. She knew I wasn't buying sock yarn this year (I've got one metric ton of it in my stash). Since this is technically going to be for a shawl, it doesn't count. Have I said that before, somewhere???

:O)

For My Sister

2008-12-26T21:46:00.000-08:00

The Boy liked his blanket!!!!

OK - before I am disowned, here's the pictures and info I've been promising!!! Sorry - there's so much to do - it's Christmas Break, after all!!!

For anyone who doesn't know, my sister is currently living in another country, far, far away. We miss her here on Christmas, and I'm trying to stage a family uprising to hold Christmas wherever she and her husband may be next year. Sounds like a good plan to me.

My sister is the undisputed QUEEN of online shopping. One mention of The Boy liking Leggos very, very much these days, brought us a Leggo Advent Calendar.

Who knew there even was such a thing? My sister, that's who!!!

The Boy was immensely pleased!!! He liked the days when he got "people" best of all.

Here he is, riding the bike that Santa gave him.

She also wanted to see pictures of Molly, our standard poodle. She's a mess. The name on her papers (from the breeder) is something like "La Vie en Rose." My mother wants to register her as Molly Malone (very Irish, no?) I jokingly call her "Molly Fru-fru" because I think poodles are just the most far-out dog. She WILL answer if you call out "Fru-fru." I think this means she knows it, too! Here she is walking on the leash with my mother on Christmas Day while The Boy rode his bike. She could hardly be contained (The Boy was loose, after all!), but looked very poddle-ish!!

She also is being cut, pretty much in the traditional, fru-fru (and you wonder why I call her that???) style. Which means that, in-between cuts, she can barely see. Last time she was due for a cut, we pinned her hair back with one of my clips. She left it in place all day, and I think she really enjoyed seeing what was above her in the world!!!

She also has a favorite bone. A marrow bone. Poodles have skinny snouts. She walks around, and even takes naps with the bone AROUND HER CHIN. You couldn't make this stuff up if you tried!!!

She does many, many more entertaining things. I will try to get a video of her catching a ball in the living room - a trick my ex taught her the other night. It took her 3 whole tries, and then she didn't leave him alone for two days! In between opening presents, she expected him to throw the ball for her.

She, of course, was the recipient of the latest edition of the family stockings in this house. She loved it!

She's really funny and a great dog. I'll also get a video of her searching the house up and down for The Boy when he's away at his dad's. She cannot accept that he isn't here, and sniffs around the whole house, checking in his room over and over again.

That Molly Fru-Fru, she's a keeper!!!

Here she is watching TV with The Boy.

I promise to post all the fiber-y goodness from Christmas tomorrow, and tell you of my plans and resolutions now that I am about to be a WHEEL OWNER!!!!

:O)

Merry Christmas Eve!

2008-12-24T12:25:00.000-08:00

Sometimes little boys grow like weeds. I swear, I SAW him do this during this past month! You could just TELL things were happening. If you can't quite make it out - the top line says 12/22/08, and the one before it/underneath it says 11/20/08. Less than one month! Maybe that's why he had to have that last tooth pulled because it just wouldn't fall out on it's own??? The Tooth Fairy brought him 4 golden dollars for that one since it was so traumatic. Isn't that nice of her (him??)!

Things here have been very festive, very holiday, very cold, and very exciting! I LOVE this time of year. Nothing to do but spend time with the family, and I love it!!! Yes, I still think about my classroom in the shower (don't ask - horrible habit of an overworked teacher), but mostly, it's just me and The Boy against the world, trying to do as much family stuff as we can. Yesterday we ran to see Santa, ate lunch out, had desert at Cold Stone, saw the movie "Bolt", came home for home-made pizza dinner, then played with our cousins the whole evening long. What a great day. If it weren't for the horrible holiday attitudes we had to deal with while we were out (two on the highway, one trying to get into the movies), it would have been PERFECT!!!

We are finished with our shopping - hallelujah! I am considering running to the 7-Elleven to get some scratch-offs for my dad's stocking. Might do that when I run to grab what Santa has stashed at my mother's office, but I am DONE.

I have wrapped up the Lizard Ridge (smiled the whole time!) and it's now underneath the tree. I actually went back to working on my Snow White this afternoon. I'm almost finished with the first sleeve (I think I need to increase once more at the top, even though I'm supposed to be finished increasing. If I do, however, and it buckles, I'm thinking I'll be disappointed. My arms do, however, get slightly bigger after the point where I am now, so I'm also thinking it's a good bet to hedge. I am still baffled by how, exactly, the neckline of this sweater will be going together. . . we shall see. I'll be sure to give detailed photos!! Here's the progress so far:

The beautiful sleeve detail. I love this garter stitch ribbing - so beautiful and functional!

This is the body so far - long and tubular for a good fit. The increases in the ribbing pattern are (hopefully) strategically planned to be functional and flattering. Let's hope my parts match up in the final fitted piece!!

The yarn - Patons "Country" - is nice to work with. I'm not sure how warm it will be, but since my school is a sauna this year thanks to a new heating/ac unit for the building - who cares!!!

Well, I'm off to listen to more Harry Connick, Jr. Christmas stuff (I used my first Christmas present today - an iTunes card from a co-worker) and knit some more while The Boy is distracted by the neighbor. Merry Christmas!

:O)

Big Time Catch-Up

2008-12-20T17:17:00.000-08:00

This is what I've been working on, in between sleeping and working (and not much else) for the last two weeks. And, thanks to books-on-tape (Pride and Prejudice at the moment - hilarious!) and a bit of insomnia Thursday night, I think I just may make it!!! I plan to finish the knitting tonight, and begin the sewing/crochet work tomorrow. I have chosen a teal colored Wool of the Andes (KP yarn) to do the dirty work. Some of my least favorite things in the crafting world? Sewing and crochet. Sometimes I hate the finishing. Good thing I like the knitting so much!

All laid out like that on the couch, I've decided that the three panels (plus a bit of extra on the side edges for safe-keeping) will be fine for a throw. Hope The Boy likes his gift. I really liked knitting it!!!

Watch the news much? It's normally background noise as I unwind from work and get settled. So, Friday after work, I was watching the ABC evening news, and Charles Gibson (anyone else remember calling him "Charlie" for years and years?????) started in on his "Persons of the Year" bit. The interview started, and I looked up from knitting (the blanket above, in fact!) and thought - hey, that guy looks really familiar. Well, come to find out, there's a good reason. Apparently, some old, old, old (and I'm talking like 20-some years ago now) classmates of mine, Drs. Vince and Vance Moss, have been doing wonderful things with their lives. No surprise, really - they always had their acts together, came from a great family, etc, etc. I always did have a little bit of a crush on Vince. **sigh** I wonder if Vance would still hate it if I called him "Vancent"????

Here's the video clip (I hope): Enjoy.

:O)

Amateurs

2008-12-14T07:12:00.000-08:00

The Boy and I made our first gingerbread house together.

Clearly, we will be needing a lifetime of practice to get this right!

We also put the Christmas tree up on Friday evening. Here they are, just after my dad put the angel on top.

And here's what The Boy thinks of decorating the tree (finally)!

In knitting news, I have just about finished the charity scarf that I promised (I'm trying to get it finished for Monday, so I can drop it off and concentrate on the LR gift knit). This means I'll have about 10 full days (well, as "full" as the knitting portion of my day can go seeing as how I still have a job, a kid, and would like to see the floor in my bedroom sometime before 2009!) to knit on the blanket for The Boy.

I discovered on Friday evening that I'm pretty much finished with the 2nd panel. I laid the two out side by side, along with the start of the 3rd panel (it's actually the first 'square' I did before I began knitting long panels instead) and decided that it will most likely need to be 4 panels long. Hence, the charity scarf has GOT TO GO!!! Just when I was feeling like I had control of the blanket, here comes another weekend's worth of knitting to squeeze in!!! Here's where the 'convenience' of being divorced comes in. The weekends he's away, I get to do "my" stuff, in which case this particular weekend coming up? It'll be spent knitting and listening to knit blogs or books on tape!!

:O)

2008-12-10T20:51:00.000-08:00

Dear Santa,

Hi, hope things are going well for you at the North Pole this year. I know it has been a long time, but I am writing to give you my Christmas list (after a 30 year hiatus).

I have been a very good girl this past year. I continue to use patience when dealing with my mother. I haven’t sworn at her once (out loud). There was that whole entire school year last year when I throttled not one kid (unless you count in my dreams) – even though I was provoked. And, I went to church. Just last week. I was very proud of myself. Hope you are, too.

In return, I’m asking for just one thing this Christmas. Here she is:

An Ashford Joy spinning wheel. I don’t ask for much. Just this one little thing. I have everything else I need in life. All that's missing is The Joy.

Oh.

And Peace on Earth.

:O)

Another Holidailies

2008-12-09T20:19:00.000-08:00

In answer to the Holidailies prompt for today (oops, it's actually for TOMORROW - see what happens when I read my sister's blog??): "Do you still live in town where you grew up?" I give you:

No. While I DO live in the town where I grew up, "still" doesn't quite describe it! I keep trying to leave here (it's actually not a bad place to live, overall), but somehow, I keep coming back!

Here's how it happened. In 1991, I moved to the next town over (Bowie, MD), asserting my independence and all that! That lasted for about 6 months. Then I left the area completely and went into the Air Force. While there, I lived in Shreveport, Louisiana. (Let's stop here to note that, at the time I left for the military, DC was the murder capital of the nation. Also note that, during the time I lived in Shreveport, IT was the murder capital of the nation. I swear I am not a serial killer.)

After the military, I moved "back home" while I attended the University of Maryland. My town is close enough to commute, so I did, while saving a bundle on room and board! While attending UMD, I met my future (now ex-) husband, and moved to Catonsville, Maryland with him (This was 1999? - I think?). 6 years later, I moved back here in the midst of our divorce, got my son settled into a school, and wound up staying.

Somehow, I have the feeling I'll just wind up staying here, although I do have dreams of running off and discovering some great new place to live! I always thought it would be nice to live in South Hero or Burlington, Vermont - where my Grandmother was from (and a dear cousin or two still live). One day. You know - when I rule the world!

:O)

Happy Meme-ing!

2008-12-08T17:48:00.000-08:00

Here's a cute little holiday meme for ya:

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper, unless it’s an object that just won’t be wrapped neatly. Then it’s okay to shove it in a bag!

2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial.

3. When do you put up the tree? As soon as possible – the first reasonable weekend that The Boy is here with me/us after Thanksgiving. When I rule the world, it will be the day after Thanksgiving!

4. When do you take the tree down? After New Year’s Eve.

5. Do you like eggnog? Only in my coffee!

6. Favorite gift received as a child? I am always excited every year by Christmas, so this is a tough one. Gotta love getting a bike for Christmas! I so clearly remember sneaking downstairs to peek at what Santa brought when I was 8, I think, and my sister and I nearly killing ourselves, tripping over the bikes in the dark! Then, I remember being outside all that day with the thing (yes, it was COLD!), so I’ll have to go with the bike!

7. Hardest person to buy for? My dad. I always feel bad that he doesn’t get a whole lot of gadgets and things to play with, but I’ve TOTALLY got him covered this year!! A close second is my Brother-in-law!

8. Easiest person to buy for? My mom. There’s usually a pile of gifts ready to go in my stash upstairs for her!! She’s too much like me, so she’s easy!

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes – a ‘crèche” as my grandmother calls it. One of my new favorite holiday memories is my grandmother, a few years ago (I think she was 97 at the time), insisting on telling the story of the baby Jesus to my son. Thank GOD he had his manners on that day, and was too polite to tell her that the “baby Jesus” she was holding was really a lamb!

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Oh, shoot! Cards!!! (This happens every year!)

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Is there such a thing?

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? While You Were Sleeping (Sandra Bullock)

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? usually? When I can, here and there. I usually do the bulk of The Boy’s stuff in the traditional holiday season.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I might have used a not-so-favorite gift for that good old office party game a time or two . . .

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Ham

16. Favorite Christmas songs? Ave Maria, Barbara Streisand’s version of ‘Jingle Bells.’

17. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Stay at home. I hated traveling when I was married. Too much traffic and it always felt rushed!

18. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? One present Christmas Eve and the rest Christmas Day.

19. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Crowds. Used to be getting report card grades done before going on vacation, but NOT THIS YEAR!!!!

20. Favorite ornament theme or color? I like red all year long, and especially at Christmas! Red ornaments on a tree lit with white lights is my favorite!

21. What do you want for Christmas this year? An Ashford Joy spinning wheel, or the cash to help me buy one!

22. If you don’t celebrate Christmas, what holiday do you celebrate. I’m a Christian, celebrating Christmas!

:O)

Sale or Trade

2008-12-07T16:11:00.000-08:00

I am forgoing the Holidailies writing prompt to show Nerdynunchucks my stash that's about to go into my Ravelry stash as "for sale or trade." She won a contest a couple posts back, and I promised her the pick of the litter, so to say.

So, without further ado, here is the stuff that's in my stash that I just have a feeling I won't be knitting up:

Tahki Cotton Classic (mercerized, i.e. non-stretchy) in color 3416, a salmon-y pink. 3 full 108 yard skeins, and one half-skein, wound into a ball.

Valley Yarns "Rainbow" yarn - 4 full skeins, although one has lost the tag. This is color 09, lot 4. 140 yards per skein. 85% wool, 11% acrylic, 4% poly.

One full, one 3/4 skein Giglio novelty yarn. This is great for those who are patient enough to knit those pretty scarves, but I am not one of those people, hence, I started one scarf, and quickly gave up after about 10 rows. 100% nylon tape yarn there's probably 150 yards left here total.

Three full cones of Brilloso - a 21%cotton, 64% rayon, 15% acrylic blend that I was going to knit a summer tank out of. That was about 3 Stitches ago. Since I haven't knit it yet, I don't think it'll get done EVER! I opened one cone, but never even swatched with it, so three full cones remain (There's about 450 yards per cone, so 1200 at least)

Here's a kit from JoAnn's, I believe. It's all 100% wool yarn put together in a kit for a felted bag. I just don't happen to need a pink felted bag. Nor does anyone I know. There's about 375 yards total, plus the pattern for the felted bag if you are so inclined. I nabbed the crochet hook that came with the kit. Sorry.

And lastly, 5.85 skeins of Patons "Brilliant" that I was going to knit an out-on-the-town tank top from. I snuck into the stash to knit wings for a play prop, and discovered that the yarn is way too scratchy for me to ever be comfortable in a tank made of this. So, it's up for grabs, too. Each skein is 166 yards, this is color 3232, lot 104487.

So, Nerdy - you have your choice. Let me know which you want. If you could leave your e-mail addy or Ravelry ID in the comments, I'd appreciate it!

:O)

Most Vivid

2008-12-06T19:18:00.000-08:00

Before I actually begin this post, let me apologize for the picture-less post of yesterday (egads!!!)

In case you were wondering exactly how far I've gotten on The Boy's Lizard Ridge blanket, here's the progress as of right now - after about 3 hours total knitting time today (spread over this morning's viewing of "American Gangster" and this evening's Harry Potter-on-the-Family-Channel viewing.

That's about one and a third panels. The completed panel is folded in half. I plan to make this one three panels wide, since it's for a little boy and not a full grown adult. I'm hoping blocking will make it much much wider than it appears here. Any thoughts? Remember, blocking is supposed to iron out all those lovely ridges! I almost wish they'd stay, though - they are a very entertaining part of this knit!!

The writing prompt for Holidalies 2008 is to remember (and blog about) your most vivid holiday memory from last season.

I'm not sure I have one most vivid. I remember knitting lots (habit/routine now??). And, I remember it being very quiet around this house.

It was the first Christmas without my beloved grandmother. It was also the first Christmas that my sister lived overseas, so we didn't have her and my brother-in-law visiting or even close-by (relatively). So it was very, very quiet here.

I also remember the love I put into the knitting I did - an on-my-0wn sweater for The Boy that he seemed to really like (but hasn't put on yet this year), and a cute little scarf for my secret pal from work (who I get to knit baby stuff for as soon as Christmas knitting is over!).

Other than that, nothing really stands out as a vivid, jaw-stopping memory. Last year was just a nice, homey Christmas. This year may prove to be busier since the boy is into more stuff, and this year's break seems to be plenty long enough - two weeks and two days for him, two weeks even for me. I'm coming up with an activity plan, because we pretty much just took it easy over Thanksgiving. I want to play tourist (i.e. visit the museums in DC) and get in some good, cultural activities while we are off together this time.

So far, the plans include:
1. Seeing the trees on the National Mall (this is on the plan each year, and my cold-hating self wimps out every year - NOT this one!!!)
2. Seeing Polar Express in 3-D at the IMAX downtown
3. Visiting the new "oceans" exhibit at the Museum of Natural History
4. Watching the Washington Wizards play (I know, not very cultural, but we love sitting in the cheap seats and spying on everyone - you can see everything from up there!!)

What do YOU plan to do this holiday season???

:O)

The Rush Is On

2008-12-05T19:57:00.000-08:00

I have only one knit this year (left) for Christmas. Should be no problem, right?

Heh. Yeah right - not when it's an entire Lizard Ridge blanket that I want to knit!

I am knitting it for my son, for him to take to his dad's house, to snuggle on the couch (dad keeps his house a tad cooler than ours, and, well, he misses his mom when he's away!). I originally started the blanket for myself, back in the Spring. The Boy saw all the wonderful colors, and decided he'd like one too! I decided the one square I'd already made would be a great place to start with his. So, I'm knitting a version of the LR blanket for him. (Later, I'll do one in Silk Garden for myself.)

His version is being knit with the following alterations: I'm knitting three panels nonstop. When I switch colors (every 12th row, not every 6th), I just keep going and going and going. The first panel is about 20 sets of 12 rows long. Plenty long enough (and three panels wide will be wide enough) for a cuddle on the couch blanket.

I'm only slightly worried about finishing in time. The colors keep me interested, the short row pattern makes me concentrate once in a while, and the stockinette between is soothing and familiar. The wool, however, is giving my pointer finger on my "throwing" hand the fits! The joint where my finger and hand connect is very sore, and doesn't like it much at all!

Is it bad to need Alleve to get your Christmas knitting done?

So, what do YOU plan to knit for Christmas? What have you finished? What do you still have planned? I'd love to hear about it! I love how productive this time of the year is! If only I didn't have that pesky job taking up most of my waking hours!

:O)

Contest!

2008-11-29T19:01:00.001-08:00

"Whatever you do, NEVER throw the ball for this dog!"

I've been cleaning out my stash, and I will give winner's choice to the first person to give me the name of the movie that line came from. The rest is going on Ravelry in the 'for sale or trade' section of my stash!

We've been saying that stinkin' line over and over here at my house.

Here's the culprit, momentarily sitting with my mother on the floor. Note what she has in her mouth!

:O)

The Beautiful Boys

2008-11-26T09:42:00.000-08:00

Monday night I went once again to my favorite jazz place (Blues Alley) and was witness to a great show (of course). The Christian Scott Quartet, while very-very-very young (!), played the most beautiful music!!!

I forget where I first heard of Christian Scott - probably on my David Sanborn "radio" station on Pandora.com (heard of it? It's GREAT at work!!!) But I absolutely LOVE his sound! He's originally from New Orleans, and much of his Anthem recording is very brooding and soul-stirring. Just the way I like my jazz very, very often! I went to his website, liked what I saw, went over to iTunes and downloaded some individual tracks and the entire Anthem CD. It's on my 25 most played on my iPod now. LOVE. Him.

HOWEVER!!! I had NO IDEA how young this man is! I just liked the music, period, end of story. Sooooooooo, Monday night when he and his quartet (equally as young) came out, I was pleasantly surprised to find that these young guys were responsible for the sounds I liked so much. Plus, they were all BE-U-TI-FUL!!! OMG! Wow. A quartet full of beautiful, talented guys. That is something that you really need to experience at a venue like Blues Alley. They were about 10 feet from me, playing all that beautiful music. Couldn't be better. While I watched, I had visions of The Boy turning into the bass player (that is the coolest instrument, EVER). That would be a logical next step from the violin, right? He's already halfway there!!

But really, it was a great show. They were all amazing musicians and artists. When he and his saxophone player played together on Katrina's Eyes, it was amazing. Those two instruments have never sounded more like one. Amazing. I was so glad I went.

Oh, and Christian - if you're reading this (as if), I can totally help you out with that baby dream. Just ask.

:O)

Out of Queue?

2008-11-19T19:31:00.001-08:00

Ravelry sure has changed things around, hasn't it?

This past visit to Stitches East (the last in my dear Baltimore, I am afraid) helped me decide to kick a pattern out of my "queue" or "line" for knitting. Although I really like the pattern, I am no longer going to consider February Lady for knitting. Apparently, most people already assume I have, so why bother?

I wore my cotton, cropped Juliet, and got so many compliments - "What a great February Lady!" and "I like your February Lady." that I just might as well say I've done it. Actually, those people probably thought I couldn't follow a pattern to save my life!

Truly, the two patterns are very similar (probably why I liked the idea of February Lady so much), but different just the same. The basic idea is the same - garter stitch top, followed by an interesting lace pattern bodice. The FL includes lovely sleeves and buttons in "normal" places (I actually like the abnormal occasionally!) and is meant for worsted weight yarn. The Juliet was intended for a bulky yarn, or holding a worsted doubled throughout. Tomato, to-mah-to. I'm kicking FL out.

Since, apparently, I've already knit it in so many other knitters eyes, I'll move on to patterns I haven't knit yet! Maybe one day I'll knit everything in my queue that I want and have time to go back and "reknit" something.

Until then, get out of line, Ms. Lady. Make room for something new. (Which will, of course, have to wait until after the Christmas-knitting rush, which started about two weeks ago. Only and entire Lizard Ridge, NaNiSweMo to finish, and some spinning this year. Oh, and two scarves for Special Olympics that I could NOT say no to - now how the heck did that happen????).

:O)

Could Have Been Worse

2008-11-10T16:06:00.000-08:00

This past weekend, I traveled (a whole hour) to Baltimore for Stitches East. As usual, I loved it. I didn't find any classes that I absolutely HAD to take, so I only did the fashion show and saved the rest of my money for shopping! I do love the fashion show, though (see the end of the post for just WHY!) - it's so inspiring and nice to see the knits in person and on a live person!

I tried to restrain myself. This post makes it look worse than it actually was. In the yarn department, at least, I bought only things that were planned or had a project I wanted/needed in mind.

Before leaving, I made sure to cast on for Snow White. I am anxious to knit this up and see how it looks. I'm hoping it's flattering. I love that I'm learning how to increase/decrease in a rib pattern! Yay for learning!The tubular cast-on has me sold. The way this works is slightly fiddly (but it could be worse!) but so totally worth it. I AM calling it "totally tubular!" no matter what my big sis says!! :P

I am much further than this now - in fact, I'm finished increasing at the back and just finishing up the bust increases. Fascinating!!!

My haul from Tess' Designer yarns. The blue is her Superwash Merino to knit the Cable-Down Raglan with. I loved Robin's version done in the same yarn in a gray colorway, so I had to try to repeat it. Let's hope it looks as good on me as it does on her! The charcoal is some Silk/Ivory I picked up to knit a Clapotis to be auctioned at The Boy's school. We totally wanted a luxury yarn, and the staff there helped us find just the right color. AND they offered to give us 10% off that yarn purchase. They are so nice!!!! The green there is some Baby Bunny for a super-helpful co-worker who is expecting in April. She deserves something yummy for her little one!

Some Pima Cotton Silk I got from Brand Name Designer Yarns. I think I'll do the Green Gable Hoodie from this - it's about the right weight, and I got a TON of it (each skein is 191 yards. I bought two bags, or 10 skeins - plenty for a jacket to fit lil ole me!!!!).

Kauni madness!!! Yarn and Fiber Company had a swallowtail shawl done up with this on the rack right next to the yarn, and it was FLYING off the shelves! Considering one skein ($13-$17 depending on which size skein you bought) will knit the shawl, and the colors are purty, purty, purty, I can't imagine why. Oh, they also had the shawl right on the corner as you came through from one section, and down the aisle from their main section, so it caught EVERYONE's eye. Smart, they are!!! My two choices are the blue/brown/tan combination I'm such a sucker for lately, and a brown/pink combo as well. Oh, and say HI to "Kicky" - my son's souvenir!

I may make a swallowtail (it's a free download) but I'm more interested in FINALLY doing a Fallilng Leaves with it. I've been meaning to knit that one for two stitches now (the pattern is in Lavish Lace. After Christmas knitting/gifting is over, I totally see myself casting on for this one!

Cascade Dolce (silk, alpaca, and wool) for who knows what. I have 10,000 things in my queue, so eeny-meeny-miney just might find the right pattern! Got this at Woolstock, so for $39 a bag, it was kinda silly to leave it there. I bought enough to go wild with cables if I want, so it's up for whatever!

My sister wanted some Silk Garden to knit gifts with. I decided to help fill the bag at Webs, so bought some to take the place of the Kureyon I'm using for a Lizard Ridge. The original LR will be for my son (who is more tolerant of scratchy yarns), and I'll make one for me out of the Silk Garden. Oh, the suffering!

I bought plenty of roving! I'm loving spinning! From left to right, there's some yummy fibers from Creatively Dyed. The owner is so, so nice and her colors had me mesmerized! I loved them all, and went for a purple in the seacell blend - I went for colors I don't usually gravitate towards. I also wanted one skein of "every-color-madness" that was all over her shop, so I chose a small wool/tencel skein for a quick fix. Yum-O!

In the front, there are two colorways of roving (!!!!) from Neighborhood Fiber Co. I originally passed Karida by, since I'd put myself on restriction from buying sock yarn (you'd have to see my list to believe it - I actually wrote that on there - "NO sock yarn - no matter how pretty it is!"). But, on Saturday (to go down in history as "Roving Day" forever more - that's all I bought that day!) I walked by and saw a customer with a huge braid in her fabulous signature colors in her hands. OMG! You know I HAD to go in. I bought three braids - one Corriedale in Tenley Circle (I hope) and two braids (one Corriedale and one Merino/Tencel blend) in Brightwood (I think) I am too lazy to go searching in my hiding places to double check - I'm afraid I'll spin them if I see them!!!)

I also bought some little balls (probably 4-6 ounces) of alpaca and silk roving for a bargain from River's Edge. I hope there's nothing wrong with them. I could not pass up the $5/ball (6th free) price, so I dashed in there quickly when I was supposed to be looking for my dear auntie. Shame on me - I'll let you know how it goes!

Oh, and um . . . . .

Did I forget to mention I won a kit from the fashion show YET AGAIN!!!??!!!!! I love it when my entrance fee is taken care of by them throwing yarn and magazine subscriptions at me!!! I won the yarn to knit the cover magazine from Knitter's Winter issue (mailing out today!), and a new subscription to Knitters. Since I had let my subscription lapse, I was very happy. I had the biggest grin on my face walking back to the hotel. My family laughed their butts off at me. I won two years ago as well. One day I'll actually finish knitting and sew in the ends on that puppy, too!

But for now, I'm very happy to have had a great time at Stitches. I'm still considering if I will venture to Hartford, CT next year. I may change venues and go for SOAR instead, to brush up on my spinning skills instead. . . Any suggestions??

So, how was your Stitches?

:O)

VOTE!

2008-11-04T13:41:00.000-08:00

Have you cast yours yet? If you're reading this and the polls haven't closed yet - get yer butt out there!

I got rained on for two hours this morning to cast my vote. I was damp and my fingers were little icicles by the time I got to the "indoor" portion of my voting line, but I did it. I've been through worse for voting. The last presidential election, it was freezing cold AND raining. Fun, fun, fun!

Here's what my line looked like. This was what was in front of me:

And this picks up where the last picture left off - to the left, in fact!

It hadn't started raining at this point, and just after I took the pictures, I finished my tubular cast on for Snow White. All I have to say about that cast on is - "totally tubular, man!"

What WAS fun, though, was casting the actual vote. When I was next in line for the voting machine itself, I must say - I got the biggest "squeee!" feeling. Then, when I saw the name of my candidate (I voted for Obama, by the way), I just stopped and looked at it for a while! Then I made sure my X appeared where I wanted it to, and double-checked it after voting for the "other" things for this election. I heard what happened in West Virginia. It did not happen to me (at least I think!).

Maryland is apparently going back to paper in the next election, just for this reason - apparently they are not sold on the zillions of ways the voting could be messed with by hackers with all this electronic stuff. It's a good thing they already paid for the voting machines - OH, WAIT - they haven't. My bad. Sheesh. Could I vote for that one, please???

So, did you vote? Please say yes.

:O)

Thing of Wonder

2008-11-02T19:56:00.001-08:00

Wanna guess what I did all day? Here's a hint:

The Boy has been hinting, and I've been thinking, that he needed some "big boy" legos. We have long since graduated from the mega-blocks of the toddler years, although he has recently tried to get me to build something with him out of them. He's been working really hard at school - his reading has taken off, and he gave a wonderful presentation on Trinidad and Tobego on Friday during International Day at his school.

So, today, the mega-blocks sit in a bag of things to give away, and he is the new proud owner of several alien invasion-type vehicles, thanks to his willingness and ability to follow directions. Here they are:

I was truly amazed at my son's ability to pay attention to one thing for such a long time. On our trip to Target today, we had planned on picking up the mid-sized set of alien invasion legos as his reward for hard work. Once we got there, they had a cute little $4.99 kit that we couldn't pass up, so we brought that one home, too. I could barely stop him from opening the boxes in the car.

We got home at 2:00 by 2:15 we were well-entrenched in the book on how to make the first spaceship. He'd already put the people/aliens together himself.

By 5:30 we were finished. He worked straight through. I took a phone call/Ravelry break once. He worked with my mother in my absence. I am truly amazed. Look at the concentration on his face in that picture. He was enthralled! He has never, ever paid this much attention to one subject, unless it was the Disney Channel.

Legos, I love you!!!

We had a truly wonderful day together, thanks to those legos. I am hooked, and plan to reward him with many, many packages to come!

In knitting news, I am learning a lesson on gauge, or actually how gauge sometimes doesn't mean squat. The yarn I've been essentially swatching with all weekend long should work with the Snow White pattern I'd like to knit, only, in ribbing (the stitch pattern for the entire sweater), it doesn't. Wanna know how I know? Because about 3 inches after this picture:

the ribbing will barely cover my lower waist/top of my hips. It's tight. Snug. It measures only 15 inches when fully stretched. It should measure at least 18. I may cry. It's a good thing this part of the sweater has taken a relatively short amount of time. The thing I'm upset at is having to do the tubular cast-on all over again. Really, really cry. I mean it! While I spin this evening (something I won't have to rip out and do over again, unlike the two recent attempts to begin a new sweater), I will consider how best to handle this - I'm thinking restart the sweater, following one of the larger sizes. Since my gauge is clearly off, if I knit a bigger size, I should be okay. Question is, which one? I'm thinking the next-to-largest, the 2X. I hate to have to knit that size, but since it's to cover a gauge problem, I think I might be able to handle it! Any thoughts???

I'm off to spin.

:O)

It's Like Waiting for Christmas!

2008-11-01T14:34:00.000-07:00

That's what it feels like, just waiting for next week to arrive!!! I can't wait. Why? Well how about:

1. Elect-Obama-Day, aka Election Day, 2008. I will be sorely disappointed in my country if things don't turn out "blue" that day, but waiting to actually go cast my vote for Obama is really like waiting for Christmas. I know that people are saying, "either way, it's an historic vote" but I want it my way! I like going into an election with the gut feeling that there truly is a "best" candidate out there, and that I plan to vote for him (or her, but that's not me - at least this election, anyway)!

2. STITCHES!!! Stitches East starts on Thursday in Baltimore. I am taking Friday off completely, so I plan to do my motherly duty and drop The Boy off for school in the morning, then jet up the highway! I should be there just in time for some good market shopping before lunch.

I plan to scope out Webs, Woolstock Knit Shop, and Tess' Designer Yarns first. I'm hoping to score a good price on some bags of yarn at Woolstock. They have REALLY good discounts, especially at these shows. I'm wishing for a nice bag of Noro Silk Garden or Iro (I passed up the Iro at Sheep and Wool, found a skein of it, used it for a Christmas present and fell in love, so I'm really hoping they still are giving the discounts on this yarn!!!) I do not plan to make the same mistake twice! I'll even take Noro Kureyon, since I'm also in love with the Lizard Ridge Afghan, and have two that I want to knit. I want the one for my son to keep at his dad's to be 1,000 different colors, but mine can be one simple color scheme and I'll be happy.

Other than that, I want some Tess Silk and Wool or Silk and Ivory for the Cable Down Raglan, and I'll check there and Webs as well for the yarn for the new Sexy Knitters Club KAL of Baby Cables and Big Ones Too. I actually started this pattern with some Caron "Country" but the braided, acrylic blend is not quite right for the cables. I plan to try Snow White with that yarn instead, as soon as I can figure out my size. I had planned to knit the size 36 with this yarn, since I'm getting a nice fabric that's a little bit more than gauge from the swatch I did for Baby Cables. A closer look at the pattern today, however, tells me that the final measurements mean I should knit a 2X!!!! What's up with that??? I know I've gained a few, but I'm not THAT big! Since this is supposed to be a knit that has a wide range of sizes, I think a trip to Ysolda's blog to check out her sizing guides is due before I commit, but I plan to cast on later tonight. Check back tomorrow for a progress/cast-on pic!

(The "not-quite-right" beginning of Baby Cables, snuggled up with the pattern for Snow White - the yarn is trying to decide what it wants to be!!)
Anyone else going to Stitches? Let me know if you plan to meet up at the Ravelry lunch on Saturday - I'm actually doing the Fashion Show and staying overnight Friday at the Mariott, so that I can shop and possibly do a market session on Saturday before heading back to my part of the state. I love meeting my bloggy friends, and Ravelry (and Stitches, for that matter) really knows how to throw a party, so give me a heads up so we can meet!!!

:O)

And Then He Kissed Me

2008-10-12T10:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the best day of my life.

Well, okay, so maybe THAT day was actually the birth of my son, or any of a zillion days since then (at the time, I probably thought it was my wedding day - but trust me, this day beat that, hands down!).

To begin with, I watched The Boy play soccer. He was AMAZING! Okay, so he's 6 and still has a long way to go, but I am very proud of how his skills have improved this season. He is loving playing the game, and is really getting into it, so I couldn't be happier!

Later in the day, I went to my first book club meeting of the Ladies Loving Literature group. We discussed the book "Passin" by Karen E. Quinones Miller. Awesome book (funny as hell), and what a great discussion! I'm so glad I was finally able to make it to a meetup with these ladies!

From there, I went to Georgetown to meet up with a friend for dinner and some blues. We ate at a french bistro (I didn't catch the name, but the onion soup was fabulous!) took a walk and wound up in Virginia via the Francis Scott Key bridge, then strolled on over to Blues Alley.

David Sanborn was playing. He's a favorite of mine. Since we'd already eaten, we settled in quickly with a bottle of Zinfandel to wait for the show. We didn't have to wait long. The Blues Alley Horns got onstage, followed by his own band - drummer, keyboardist, electric guitar player, and bass player - he did the bass guitar and the actual "bass" instrument. Awesome. Those guys truly love what they do. During the show, you could tell how "good" it was getting by the keyboardist, because he'd stand up every time he couldn't take it any more! Fabulous.

David himself was, of course, simply marvelous. I was well aware that he was a petite guy, but he's truly small! I mean short and thin! Looking at him, you wonder where all the wind for his music comes from! But it did come, and he gave a marvelous performance. Those of us in my corner of the room noted that the length of the performance was not disappointing at all. We had been concerned because the line for our 10:00 show was pretty full at 9:20, and we watched very few people leaving - drawing the conclusion that the show had actually ended even before this time-period. We were concerned. To no avail, however, because the show was good and long!

He played much of his new music, but got the crowd really riled up with some of his classic stuff. St. Louis blues (a ringtone you can download from his site - see the link above) was his starter piece, and Brother Ray got him and the band so riled up that they kept on playing and playing - it must have lasted about 15 minutes by itself! He also did Send Me Someone To Love and I've Got News For You from his new album.

Lovely, just lovely.

Now, and wonderful thing about where he was playing is that the venue is very intimate. Most times, the band/singer will meet with fans after the show. I have played the groupie there before - most recently with Joshua Redman, who was a very cordial artist, signed my album, shook my hand, and then disappeared back into the coat room to finish his chicken and fries (I saw him walk through the room with them in his hand before the show!). Not bad. He is very talented, and must have adoring fans all over the place.

BUT!!!! I must say that David Sanborn truly loves performing and is VERY accommodating of his fans. He, of course, was upstairs shaking hands, signing autographs, and taking pictures with people. I took my CD up, got to shake his hand, asked if he'd mind if my friend took a picture (he gladly agreed). While waiting for the camera to be ready, I told him how much I'd enjoyed the show, and thanked him for playing for us. Next thing I knew, he'd leaned over and pecked me on my cheek!

OMG!!! I was sooooo floored! How awesome! Then I stood there like he was "mine" with my arm around him for the next few minutes while he talked with another fan, and my cool buddy Juan got the camera (and his own CD to be signed) ready.

Wow. I was kissed. By a celebrity. Wow!

:O)

Humble

2008-10-07T19:41:00.000-07:00

Before I get to the good stuff, let's get the "bad" out of the way.

I am a yoga LOVER. Early in the summer, I took a class where I pushed myself a bit too far. Bad move. I've been in pain since. For about the last month, I have cut way, way back on all activities, including yoga (which was pretty much the only "activity" period). I decided that was the best route to take when the tingling in my toes set in (it's my hip/groin - TMI? - that suffered the strain). Not a good sign. I went to my family practice doctor and was sent out for x-rays. They showed nothing. Nothing. Hrmph. Guess that means I'd better lay off the yoga for a while.

So, lately I have been doing nothing. HOWEVER! Over the last week and a half, I have taken to being passed on the athletic track by little old ladies. Very humbling.

The Boy's soccer practice was moved to the community fields where there's a football field and a real, live (if old) track. I decided I'd try to walk a mile each night to see if more normal types of activities (read, not stretching) would help to settle things back to where they belong. I think it's working, but I am VERY slow, determined not to over do it. On none of the nights have I raced around the track, and barely broke a sweat at any time. Tonight, however, I also felt some cramping in the calf of the same leg that is over-stretched, and I completely quit when a little old lady wearing an iPod (I didn't even have mine) passed me up as if I were standing still. Sheesh. I'm not this old yet!!! :/

Let's get a little cheery - here are some current projects:

I saw in a WEBS update that they now have the Harry Potter themed Opal sock yarns. My mother brought this back for me last month from Germany - it's a mini skein. I think it has probably 50-75 yards in it. What the HECK can I do with this? It's almost cute enough just to just stick around like it is!

Here's the final gift yarn all spun up and ready to go. Need to find a pretty, pretty box for it as a final touch. One Christmas present down, and how many to go?

Here's my October challenge spinning. The theme is "Alice in Wonderland" and this is my interpretation for the Cheshire Cat. Somehow, I imagine him as orange and black, with a sly pink smile. The movie, however, shows him as pink and purple. Did I get this idea from the original book? Why am I thinking this way? My mind is definitely set, though, so it would be interesting to see where exactly I got the idea, but I'm not changing my mind, so no biggie! He's orange and black. Period. End of story.

Progress as of Sunday afternoon on my Tanglewood Cascading cardigan. Someone in the Sexy Knitter's Club has this as a nomination, and it would be nice to have others knitting with me. I plan to be finished soon, though - the pattern is so easily memorizable, I feel like I'm flying right along!

:O)

Oh My!

2008-09-27T15:01:00.001-07:00

It's been so long since I've posted, and still I don't know what to "make" this post about. My life is simultaneously too full, while at the same time being a bit too ho-hum. I don't want to bore anyone with the zillion things in my life that are frustrating me, so I'll skip it and stick to the knitting part of the Knits-n-Things blog this is supposed to be!

I have almost finished the gift yarn I've been spinning for this Christmas. I still have one spindle full of singles to ply up. Then it'll be officially done. I think I have about 300-350 yards, although the final two skeins are a bit thinner than the rest. Oops. It's gorgeous, so hopefully the recipient will be willing to overlook my novice mistake. I'll be willing to bet the answer's "yes."

I've also been stockpiling more fiber to spin. I've been so tempted. In order to curb the spending, I might have to try NOT listening to LimeAndViolet. Those girls are dangerous, and I just can't help but drool over the yarn pron section of their podcast, and I seem to buy something every time. I'm such a sucker.

So far, I've bought some prints that are currently out being framed - one is of a knitting girl, it's so cute! - from The Dreamy Giraffe (see etsy for her stuff), this dreamy blue merino that I can't WAIT to spin up:

(Shunklies.com) I'm thinking laceweight shawl from this.

And this awesome merino/alpaca blend from Squoosh (see etsy again!):

I want to make a suitable yarn for the Mistake-Rib vest from the Designer One-Skein Wonders book out of this. That will be a challenge, and I'm weighing my options carefully before spinning this. It's got to be just right, and will be a major project out of handspun. So far, I've only actually knit the one Calorimetry out of my handspun. I'm in progress still on the Wave Scarf!

Oh. I also have a new spindle on which to spin this stuff up. It's a cute little plain number from Spinsantiy (again with the etsy!!). I've already spun up some more gift yarn with it, as a trial to be sure it was a light enough spindle to do laceweight with. It is, and I'm very happy. Don't know if it's the right one for the fingering/sportweight I'll need to create for the Mistake Rib vest, but we shall see. It's a little busy right now.

See, on a whim the other day, I grabbed the BEAUTIFUL Alpaca/Silk blend my SP12 pal gave me to just do a test-spin, and MAN-O-MAN, does it do a wonderful job handling that! Thank you so, so much, pal!!! I am surprising myself, I think, that I have a pretty good handle on spinning this stuff up, since I was expecting it to be super-difficult to get an even spin going on it. Other than it trying to melt in my hands, it's turning out surprisingly well, and with just one pencil-roving length off the first 2-oz braid spun up so far, I think I've got the hang of it. Here's a picture:

Yum-O, right?

I've got it in my head that I can always make one more spindle a must-have purchase at Stitches East, coming up in Baltimore in early November. The only thing I have definitely on my shopping list for the event is some Silk and Ivory from Tess' Designer yarns so that I can make a Cable-Down Raglan that's as gorgeous as Robin's. Other than that, I am going to look at spinning wheels, but I'm pretty sure I'll be going with the Ashford Joy since space is a BIG issue with me, and I'll be going to Cloverhill to get one from them, like we've already discussed. They remain a wonderful shop - the new owner is just as fabulous as the previous one, if that's possible, and I will definitely give them my business for such a major purchase!

In actual knitting news, I have been working on the Noro Striped scarf (gift), the blue tube-scarf from Alterknits, and I just HAD to cast on for the Tanglewood Cascading Cardigan. I have seen this shape all over the place for the Fall season, and since I've been holding onto the pattern forever, waiting for the perfect yarn to appear in my stash, I figured I'd try the BambooWool I picked up on clearance at my local craft store. It is working wonderfully, knits fairly quickly, and I can't wait until I can wear it!
There will be mad knitting going on, though, because I want to have Cherie Amour finished for Stitches. For some reason I always want to have a new sweater to wear there.

In order to accomplish all this, I'd better stop blogging and start knitting! I'll leave you with a gratuitous shot of the best 6-year old soccer player on the planet:

He was the lucky one who got to kick in after a timeout. Ain't he cute?

:O)

Nope . . .

2008-09-11T19:41:00.000-07:00

I have not fallen off the face of the earth. Or been tied up by a mad pack of 1st graders. This year's bunch wouldn't even think of trying it (last year's crew, maybe). I have, however, been very very busy. Doing what?

Well, other than the 12-hour-a-day (minimum) teaching job, how about a little of this:

Some of this:

And this:

Spent some time with this cute guy:

And did a WHOLE LOT of this:
Gift yarn I'm quite proud of.

Super-soft merino yarn from some really great pencil roving. I'm using my new spindle from Canada for this, and it's working out like a charm! I love how thin I can get this!!

Other than that, I've been on full-time mommy detail (man, I never realized how much I love having built-in kid helpers!) since The Boy's grandparents deserted him for a visit to see their firstborn daughter (in Germany). We've managed quite well, however, and it makes me wish, for about the zillionth time that teachers were paid a salary that would actually allow me to live in a safe area on my own. Maybe one day . . .

This weekend is supposed to be quite rainy, so I'm hoping to finish up the Cherie Amour (once I work my way through the neckline shaping that isn't spelled out letter for letter - argh! I am so not adept enough to translate a graph to actual knitting without words to help me!) and the gift yarn spinning. That will free up a ton of "hafta" do projects that I feel are pressing on me, and allow me to start about 5 more, right???

I am looking forward to it!

:O)

Promised Pictures

2008-08-30T15:00:00.000-07:00

Man, has it been a busy first week of school! I think it's going well, though, so who cares. It's been a very nice first week, actually, particularly since an angel walked through my doors on the first day - a classroom aide!!!! I could NOT believe it! I knew I was supposed to have one assigned for a student with an IEP, but I totally wasn't thinking the county would have it together enough to have her there the first day, and she is just a dream. Very helpful, nice as can be, and we get along very well. I forsee a wonderful school year ahead! Yay!!!

If Blogger cooperates, I plan to continue telling about our cruise, and catch everyone up on our last shore excursion with a picture post. Here goes nothin' -

Halifax Harbour had bagpipes, a drummer, and a town crier to greet us as we docked.

On our Lighthouses and Lobster tour, the knowledgeable tourguides let us in on a secret - Hillary Swank (I do believe) is filming a movie aboard this ship. Course, it may be the girl that's married to Ben Affleck. I get those two confused. Sorry. It's one of them!

Lighthouse #1

Lighthouse #2 - rumored to be haunted. Canadians apparently love a good ghost story!!

Lighthouse #3 - the island it sits on holds more snakes than you can shake a stick at. Rest assured, I'll never be setting foot on that island!!

The kids on our boat tour were enthralled with the lobster. The tour guide - I swear to goodness - put the lobster to sleep by rubbing it's back. I'll be trying this the next time we cook lobsters here in our kitchen and get a lively one!

The boy found rock-climbing and a moon bounce on the harborwalk when we were finished with our tour/lunch.

He looks refreshed here in front of the town clock, but I was beat - we had just hiked up the hill you see behind him. NOT a small task, let me assure you. The cruise ship is down there, hidden behind those buildings, just to give you an idea of how steep a climb we had to make. You totally can't see the ship!

The Boy LOVES a nice historic fort (maybe it's the big guns?), and the Citadel in Halifax was EXCELLENT. From appearances, the troops never left the place. We have a fort here in the Washington, DC area from about the same time period, and it's a mess from vandals. This one was lovely, and men in kilted uniforms went about their daily military business.

All that hiking up hills and exploring historic forts made us hungry and thirsty. I normally don't drink beer, but when in Rome, ya know. . . I just had to try some for this knitblogger. Along with the fries and gravy, it was a very refreshing snack!

We were very lucky that the Busker's Festival was just starting on our way back to the ship. Here's the opening act - Rudi Macaggi - a lovely tap dancer with a great sense of humor. Not bad on the eyes, either (notice HIS cannons!!)
This guy's name is Peter Rabbit - he was in Bring in Da Noise. . . you know which one I mean!
AWESOME break-dancers, "Ill Abilities". Each one of them has some type of limiting disability, but you'd never know it. They ROCKED!
My personal favorite - Victor Rubilar - a juggler who was so amazing, I put my camera down and forgot to pick it back up!

We also saw The Calypso Tumblers (hilarious), and a crazy-man who ate fire (but I can't remember his name!).

After this, we hightailed it back to the ship, and made it back on board with only 10 minutes to spare! That was cutting it close, but the performers were so great, we couldn't tear ourselves away!

Tomorrow - pictures of the great fiber, yarn, and hardware I got. It's good - I promise!

:O)

First Shore Day

2008-08-18T19:15:00.000-07:00

The other day, I posted this post, but Blogger had other ideas about adding my photos (as in, they didn't think they needed to do that on that day!) Here are the promised photos!

This is entering the harbor - there is one lone guy standing there near the humongous planters, watching the ship turn and dock. Note that I did no cropping of this picture. The harbor was a tight fit for that big ole' ship!

Zac with a moose statue outside the farmer's market area.

We found (free!) beach volleyball on our way back to the docking area.

This is "slack tide" on the reversing falls. Notice the boat trying to get through. He'd been there for about 30 minutes, trying unsuccessfully (not a powerful enough engine to go against the massive forces here). He made it through about 5 minutes after this shot, as the tides began to work against his motor less. Hence, "reversing" rapids!

A carved statue of Glooskap - the Indian god who was responsible for the reverse of the tides, according to legend. On a different note - where are The Boy's hands going?

And here is the original post, for more details:

Day Three of our trip the ship stopped in Saint John, New Brunswick (Canada). Thanks to the great balcony, we watched the ship pull into the harbor and get tied up by the pilot boats awaiting our arrival. It was very entertaining, and we watched people on the shore watching the boat maneuver around in that small space. I would have DEFINITELY been watching had I been on land!

Since our shore excursion wasn't until later in morning, we took our time, watched the docking, then made our way to the restaurant for breakfast this time. Yum-o to the french toast (one of the only yum-o's from the restaurants, which I don't rank quite as highly as the one I experienced on Royal Caribbean) and the bottomless coffee urns!!

After breakfast, we headed off the boat, asked about a cab ride to the town, and paid a measley $7.00 to go into town and be dropped off directly where we (I) wanted to (yarn shop). I didn't want to waste time trying to find our way on foot there and back, so I thought the cab was a good way to go. Come to find out, we could totally see the ship when we came out of the mall (more on that later), so we did walk back to the pier to catch up with our tour. This worked out perfectly, and I was able to get in some good shopping at Cricket Cove, which was an amazingly nice shop INSIDE A MALL. That never happens here in the states, so I'm not sure if this is a normal occurrence or not. I wasn't that impressed with the fibers in the shop, so I stuck to yarn, and wound up coming out with some sock yarn containing aloe for my mom, a kit for a Fleece Artist hat, and about 400 yards of some lovely, lovely alpaca that I can't seem to put my hand on here at home or find online either!

So, with packages in hand, we strolled back through (part of) the town to the pier again, stopping long enough for The Boy to take a picture with a moose and (try to) play a little beach volleyball. It's a good thing my little guy has an athletic dad, 'cause his momma's hopeless. I was trying to show him how to serve, with my 8th grade gym class serve (I'm noticing that serve is NOT seen on the beach at the Olympic Games!!), and not quite "hitting the mark" as the saying goes! Oh well, we had fun anyway.

Back at the pier, we managed to get sucked into buying a trinket or two at the pier shops while waiting for our tour to take off. We are such suckers! The tour was informative and took us to all the major points of the city - the great market, the Reversing Falls (which we saw at "slack" tide, which happens only for about 20 minutes each day - just as the tides are beginning to reverse), and gave lots of historic and factual information in-between. Overall, though, the stops the bus made were too quick to get a good feel for each place. We got only 20 minutes in the market (good thing we'd already been earlier, looking for yarn). We stopped for the bathroom and to get a snack - an asian pear/chinese apple that was so huge, we shared it and had a nice treat. At the reversing rapids, one of the major attractions for this shore stop, we only had about 10 minutes. The last spot, a park situated up on a hill where there were wood carvings depicting Indian legends, we had about "5 minutes" although The Boy and I ran out, took a picture of him at the feet of Glooskap (supposedly responsible for the reversing rapids), and were promptly ushered back on the bus. Boo.

After the tour I wanted to walk a path that ran alongside the water, to a historic point where they used to hang people, but The Boy was worn out, and we got back on the ship. It was a morbid thought, anyway, but looked like a nice walk and would have been a different vantage point for seeing the tiny city. Saint John is a nice city, but not very big at all. I did love all the references to the Native/Indian culture there, and the fact that their beliefs/stories seem to be known by the average person there, such as the reversing rapids being a creation of Glooskap - the Indian "god" who created the reversing falls so that his people could have an easy time going up the river for 20 minutes each day - he didn't want to be too easy on them! Being so tiny, though, it was a good starting point for our "adventures" and let me know that The Boy would be up for the bigger city and all it's sites the next day.

Tomorrow, I'll get to Halifax, which was the next stop, but for now I'll just show pics from Saint John.

Scratch that, BLOGGER!!!! I'll post pics when this site gets it's act together!

:/

Our Trip - Part One

2008-08-16T17:05:00.001-07:00

I know I'm late posting about the cruise that The Boy and I took, but here we go! In my defense, I have been sicker than a dog the past three days - I don't know what hit me, but I've been asleep for approximately the last48 hours STRAIGHT. Finally, I feel able to move about, and I've plied some yarn this afternoon while listening to LimeNViolet and Socks In The City, so I think I just may live!

So, for our trip, I think we accomplished our main goal of seeing whether or not we would survive a trip by ourselves. There was a bit of huffing and puffing over waiting in lines, but I quickly got over that. No, seriously, The Boy DOES NOT like to wait around for anything at all. The cruise-ship put him to the test! I'm hoping he gets the idea that when we go to visit Auntie Jenn and Uncle Scott, there will be lots of waiting. Lots. And no free, 24-hour pizza bar at the end! HA!
The first day of our trip was basically just travel. We took Amtrak from Union Station here in DC and it took us right to Penn Station in NY, about 6 blocks from the cruise ship pier. It was perfect, and much more manageable than the airport!! Wow - why hassle with the airport for all that time for a 1 hour flight to NY when you can spend equal (or less) time on getting yourself there by train! YES! One word of caution is to take a heavy sweater or jacket, though, because the train cars were FREEZING! I had to dig both our sweaters out of our packed bags and we cuddled up and read stories for the last half of the trip because we were so frozen!

We caught a cab to the pier, left our bags with an attendant as SOON as we got out of the cab, then got in line (yay) to wait our turn checking into the ship. All in all it wasn't bad, and we were on the ship in no time. We located our cabin, then headed off to explore. We checked out the pools and outside decks, wove our way in through the gym and spa areas (I signed up for a yoga class, but more on that later), and wound up outside again just as the ship started moving. I got some great pictures of Manhattan from the water, but the pics of the Statue of Liberty weren't too clear - we were actually a bit too far for good pictures (with my camera, at least!).

Once we headed out, The Boy started getting antsy and we both realized we were hungry. They were to start serving dinner at 6:00, but when we got there and saw the lines, we decided we'd do the serve-yourself walk-up buffet, and headed down to get some dinner. After a bit more exploring of the ship and an orientation for Camp Carnival (free babysitting!), we headed back to our cabin, checked out a movie on TV and CRASHED. That was a lot of traveling for two rookies like us!!

The next day was an "at sea" day for the ship. Basically, the ship took it's time getting to the first port, and we all got to relax and act like we were on vacation! The Boy was excited to check out Camp Carnival, so after we ate our breakfast (room service bagels, fruit, and coffee on our balcony), he took off into camp without even looking back at his mommy! Unfortunately, the yoga class I'd wanted to take started at the same exact time as the camp opened up, so I wound up missing it. I headed back to the room to try to yoga on the balcony, but wound up being bitten repeatedly by biting flies, so I finished in the room, which was not really ideal.

In the afternoon, I picked up The Boy, we ate lunch and then enjoyed the POOL! He got a big kick out of the fact that the pool was filled with ocean water, and that the water moved with the ship. With the depth of the pool, he could stand up just barely, until the wave of water moved back to his end of the pool. We hung out there for a while, then headed back to get dressed, because it was one of the formal nights in the dining room. What an experience! The food was great, but remember that little problem I mentioned about waiting. Yeah. Try in a dining room filled with other people trying to have a nice meal. He actually wasn't that bad - no one was disturbed by him and he didn't get loud, but I had to be "Mommy" and tell him that he could not have 10 pieces of bread while waiting for his dinner to be served (cause you KNOW they'd give it to him if he asked!!), and that no, he could not drink 5 glasses of cranberry juice IN HIS WINE GLASS!!! Whew. Good thing the food was tasty and he looked cute in his shirt and tie!

Before going into the dining room, we met a really nice family from South Carolina. We caught up with them again later, at the stage-show, and they wound up being our "cruise friends" that we seemed to run into everywhere we went! The show was a big hit with everyone (although I could have done without being on floor-level looking at a bunch of thongs!!!!) and we were all excited to have a shore day the next day!

Once we got back to our room, The Boy went out like a light, I knit on my Sasha skirt for a while, after making sure we were ready to leave the ship early in the morning.

Here's some pictures from what I've mentioned so far:

Our cabin, from The Boy's point of view. Beds to the right, balcony behind.

"I'm so excited the ship is MOVING, Mommy!"

The Boy on our balcony.

The Statue of Liberty

Manhattan from the water.

More tomorrow!
:O)

Apparently . . .

2008-08-12T15:29:00.000-07:00

You CAN teach an old dog new tricks!

I learned to Andean ply my singles yarns into a double plied yarn! Wahoo! I'm loving it, and turning a lovely pencil roving with GREAT watery-type colors into a two-ply yarn for a giftie. It's classified Super-Secret, though, so no more disclosures!

Here's me (well, my hand) as I plied some coopworth that I picked up in Saint John, NB (that's Canada, in case you're wondering!):

And here's some shots of the watery pencil roving:

It's named "Shala" and I can only think that it's a hint back to the Carribbean/islands, cause that's what it makes me think of. How about you? It's GORGEOUS either way, though! By the way, DON'T click on that link until you've hidden your wallet - they're having a sale!!!! OMG!!! Must. Have. Self. Control. GAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!

I'm loving my new skill, and plan to spin a nice, full spindle each night, to be plied up the next night. Should get this present knocked out quickly, and plying is a great thing to do while watching the olympics, since you're doing a lot of waiting for the twist to settle!

:O)

Fire! Fire! Fire!

2008-08-10T09:04:00.000-07:00

As much as I hate to create a new post and remove the picture of the lovely Jason Taylor from the top of my blog, I need to update!

I'm back from vacation and have finished objects and pictures to share, so remove I must. Maybe later, I'll put that lovely picture on the sidebar, just so no one (like me) suffers from withdrawals! Hee!

So, the first picture/post I want to share is the picture of my "Fire" socks that I started waaaaaaay back at the beginning of Project Spectrum and A Year in Socks. I closed the toe on them in Penn Station (New York) yesterday morning, while waiting for the train back home. The kitchener stitch isn't perfect because of this, but hey - they're going on my own feet, not out as a gift, so who cares?

Here they are:

I think the Yarn Harlot talked about this colorway (Newspaper, from Spritely Goods - link is for roving, the sock yarn is long gone) on her blog , which led to my buying it, and I absolutely LOVE the colors in it! I want to sneek back over to the website and buy some of the roving now, to make my own yarn from these colors. . . maybe one day!

I didn't do too, too much knitting on the trip - we were very entertained by the cruise ship, and had lots of fun. I got to knit at night while The Boy was sleeping, but not in the mornings, and not on the balcony like I'd hoped. Who'd of thunk that there would be biting flies (that look just like houseflies, by the way!) out in the middle of the ocean? At least on the first leg of our trip, and then it was too cold and windy to sit out there comfortably, so I just didn't. Hrmph!

I'll post progress pics of the rest of my knitting later, but wanted to get this posted, say "Hi, I'm back!", enter this picture for the Project Spectrum and Ravelympics, and get to uploading the tons of pictures from the trip.

Later!
:O)

Mr. Wonderful Is Playing My Number

2008-07-30T18:48:00.000-07:00

Some of you may know this already, but "my man" is Jason Taylor. I was thrilled that he was on Dancing With The Stars (would have been overjoyed if he'd have actually won me some stinkin' yarn!), and just happen to think he's gorgeous, talented, and is using his star status for good, not evil. Anyone out there NOT with me on these points?

Another thing you may, or may not, know is - my favorite number is and always has been 5.

So, very recently Jason Taylor was traded by the Miami Dolphins to the Washington Redskins. My home-town team. What's his number? 55.

Hail to the freakin' Redskins!

:O)

Yellow Jersey

2008-07-29T16:24:00.001-07:00

Well, in honor of meeting (exceeding) my goal, I'm posting my yellow jersey for Le Tour de Fleece.

My goal was to spin a braided roving I had (@ 4oz of a merino/tencel blend) to use it for a small project.

I spun said roving, AND used it for a project. THEN I spun another bunch of roving (this time 4 ozs of superwash merino from Lisa Souza)! I had so much fun! The colors on the Lisa Souza roving was just amazing. It's "Bird of Paradise" and I'm telling myself, really loudly, that I cannot go over to her site and buy more of it!! Here's the rundown:

Pre-spun (sorry, forgot to take a pic when it was all together)! Here it is when I got to the point of splitting the roving in half, then in half again (note that I've already broken the length of it in half once - that was the first round of spinning!)

I spun what, I hope, is a DK-ish weight singles yarn out of it. Here it is on the hangar, drying after being soaked. EXTREME close-up!)

What it looked like in a hank after I wound it out and measured it (about 55 yards in this one - about 125 in the first). This has not been soaked, yet - so it's still very kinky in places!!

I am immensely pleased, and plan to knit this scarf with the yarn.

In other knitting news, I am literally flying on my Leilani cardigan. I have finished both fronts, both sleeves, and got about 2 inches done on the back - the final piece, if you're keeping track!

That means, this will NOT be a good project to take on the cruise with me! GAH! Soooooooo, I plan to get my Sasha skirt out again, and knit on that.

The new-and-improved plan for vacation knitting is this:

1. Sasha
2. Lizard Ridge squares
3. Pi Shawl
4. A sock (or two) - these will be my knit-anywhere's. I'll probably take them on the train and keep them in my bag for by the pool, etc.

I'm getting very excited to get on that cruise ship already! Going to try to take my mind off it by getting some things done in my classroom this week. That way, I won't be so crunched when it comes to be honest-to-goodness time to go back!!

Wish me luck!

:O)

Belated "Thank You!"

2008-07-25T12:45:00.000-07:00

I am a very bad blogger/Secret Pal! I neglected to give a bit THANKS to my SP12 partner, who sent along this great pattern book last week!

It is full of lovely, classic knits. I'm seriously considering two.

1. This great, cabled cowl. Lovely. I can see this being my Winter sweater this year - I'll probably try to use some KP yarn from my stash for this - have to check that gauge!!

2. This off the shoulder T. I will wear it like the model in this picture, though, since I'm not really an off-the-shoulder kinda gal!

I'll have to really consider the other patterns. Maybe once the cold weather hits, I'll be more in the mood to look at things like jackets with gorgeous cables. Right now, it makes me break out in a sweat!!

Right now, I'm plugging along on my current WIPs - the Berrocco cardigan, and some spinning, and I'm to the point in Tulip where I really, really have to make sure I understand the directions, cause there's multiple things going on at one time. My brain doesn't work like that in the Summertime!

Hope everyone is keeping cool!

:O)

SP12 Question #7

2008-07-23T19:44:00.000-07:00

What is(are) your favorite place(s) to knit?

I can knit anywhere, but my favorite place to knit - where I'm most comfortable and can really settle in, is in my bed, watching a movie. I usually prop myself up with a few pillows, or sit on the floor, cross legged, leaning against the bed, with my DVD playing a movie, and knit away! Then I feel like I can get some good knitting done. Otherwise, I feel like I'll be disturbed or get uncomfortable.

What supplies (besides yarn & needles) make the setting perfect for knitting?
The "others" I like to have (besides the movie?) are a drink - coffee or water, and those pillows to make sure I'm comfortable. A snack, like Junior Mints might be nice, too, but not necessary - this is one time I can actually NOT eat and be fine. (Maybe I should do this more often!!)

Lately, Tulip has been my "in bed" knit. That's her up there, with my quilt as background - I was knitting in bed! I've gotten to the reverse stockinette (which, forgive me for being late, but I JUST realized that, since I'm knitting in the round, means I am PURLING for the next zillion and ten rows!). I'm hoping, hoping, hoping to get this done before my cruise so I can wear it. Cross your fingers, cause purl is not my speediest stitch!!

:O)

Bringing Home Baby

2008-07-20T06:09:00.000-07:00

Heh. Not really, but since we're talking about a Standard Poodle, well, yeah - you get the idea!!!

Yesterday, I played chauffer so my mother could go pick up the latest addition to our family.

That's Molly!

We got Molly from a wonderful woman who breeds standard poodles. Check out Molly's sisters and brothers here. She is the one with the pink collar - all the way at the bottom of the page on the right. She is very cute.

She just should have been brown, and a male!! ')

Here she is playing with Casey, who belongs to my auntie (Muffett).

:O)

New Round of Quidditch

2008-07-18T20:01:00.000-07:00

1. When Hagrid returns to Hogwarts after being sent to see the giants with Madame Maxime, Professor Umbridge questions him on his late return to school. She suspects that Hagrid had been to the mountains, but where does he tell her he has been?
d. South of France

2. Professor Umbridge comes to Hagrid's Hut and searches his cabin one evening (as she believes Harry, Ron and Hermione are there visiting him at night when they are not supposed to). When she walks past the place where Harry, Ron and Hermione are hiding under the Invisibility Cloak, Harry holds his breath. True or false?
a. True

3. A stately-looking witch in an emerald green shawl is one of the members of the Advance Guard who rescues Harry from Privet Drive. What is her name?
a. Emmeline Vance

4. What is the name of the witch who was killed two weeks after the photo of the original Order of the Phoenix was taken?
b. Marlene McKinnon

5. Which two fifth year Ravenclaw students does Dumbledore choose to be prefects?
d. Anthony Goldstein and Padma Patil

6. Which house was Rose Zeller sorted into?
d. Hufflepuff

7. What is the color of Murtlap's essence?
c. Yellow

8. Name the Ravenclaw girl who became prefect in Harry's fifth year.
b. Padma Patil

9. According to a healer's portrait at St. Mungo's hospital, which disease was Ron suffering from?
d. Spattergroit

10. Which book did Harry give Hermione for Christmas?
a. "New Theory of Numberology"

Picture Scavenger Hunt

Padma Patil

Hannah Abott

Percy (Weasley)

Dumbledore's Army

Cedric Diggory
(Isn't this a great picture of him?)

(Extra 5 pts - What movie will Robert Patterson star in this December?) – That would be “Twilight” as long as we're talking about Robert Pattinson, the cutie above who played Cedric in the HP movies!

:O)

Over.

2008-07-18T13:31:00.000-07:00

When the Tour de Fleece (coincides with the Tour de France, for those non-knit/spin people reading this - are there any??) started, I set as my goal the challenge of spinning up 4oz of a merino/tencel top that I'd purchased two years ago at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. Yep, two years ago. Bought it on the same trip that I bought my Golding Tsunami spindle. Quite obviously, I've been spinning my brains out, right? Heh.

So, I am enormously pleased to say that I not only met my first challenge - to get that 4oz spun up, but I've actually knit it up into a finished object!!!

I present my first Calorimetry, knit with my very first handspun (well, USEABLE handspun!!):

I actually had waaaaaaayyyyy less than the 250 yards I thought I did. So the original plan - for the Unoriginal Hat - did not work at all! It might have started out as 250 yards, but then I made a 2-ply out of it - so now there's less. By half, right?? ;)

So, I used a bit of my stash of Louisa Harding Kashmir along with it, and I think it looks lovely.

Oh, and before, I said it was my first Calorimetry? Yeah, I've cast on again for a second in Noro Iro, Color #5, which has pinks and blues and a bit of green. I'll let you know what other colors pop out as I knit. You know Noro!!

While I'm posting, lemme answer Question 6 for Secret Pal 12!

What is your favorite type of project to take along on holiday/vacation?

What a coincidence that I'm building up for a vacation as we speak! The Boy and I are going on a 5-day cruise to Canada soon. Normally, when I'm on vacation, I like to take along a no-brainer project like something in stockinette, or some socks, as well as a more complex project, like some lace knitting or something involved like that.

On the cruise, I plan to take: The Leilani cardigan I'm knitting. It's a Berrocco cardigan pattern, and just what I need this Fall at school/work, so I'm happy to take that along. That's my basic stockinette project - I only have to worry about decreases to get the shaping right, so hey, I can do that! I also will be taking my Pi Shawl for times when I have a bit more time to settle in and knit. Since it's just The Boy and myself going, I really don't see that much getting done on this unless he's sleeping and I'm out on the balcony knitting by myself. I'll have to keep track of the actual number of rows I get to knit on this - I'm betting it's NOT MANY!! I'm up to the 4th section on this one, which means about 400 stitches per row, right? Yeah.

I might also take along a Calorimetry for an extremely portable project. The sweater will get a bit bulky after a while, but a headband is much more manageable!

I don't think I've EVER been stuck without my knitting at opportune times. I always take some knitting with me. I'm sure that the one time I don't have it with me, I'll get a 10 hour delay with nothing to do. If I don't have knitting, I have a book.

Oh, and since - again - it's just me and The Boy on this trip (we're building up our travel skills in preparation for an overseas trip to visit my sister next Summer), I've broken down and purchased some EXTRA insurance by indulging The Boy in his desire to have a hand-held gaming device. It's not the ultra-expensive and sleek PSP, but a good, old-fashioned Game Boy. My ulterior motive (other than having a calm child in train stations and airports?) is to get him reading more. Taking the advice of a good friend who's an awesome father, he's got some reading goals to meet before he can play! How clever is that? Hopefully, this won't backfire!!! Wish me luck!

:O)

Moving Right Along

2008-07-16T10:09:00.000-07:00

That's the way things seem to be going these days. The Summer is going right on by, and I want it to slow down!

I have been getting a ton accomplished, although since I'm doing a lot of spinning, the finished objects are hanks of yarn, not completed garments to wear or give!!

I've finished spinning the bit that I set out to accomplish in the TDF challenge. Now it's sitting in my knitting bag with the pattern for the Unoriginal Hat, waiting to be knit up. I will probably work on that today while waiting for my doctor's appointment. It's actually with my nurse/midwife that I see instead of an OB/GYN.

I've been seeing a midwife since I got pregnant with The Boy, and I love it. They seem to take so much more time than a regular doctor - and to really care more about your total health in general. Having a baby with a midwife was wonderful - the first time I went in (to be induced), the midwife on duty (there were 3 in the practice at that time) sat and knit with me! I made a hat for The Boy, and she worked on a sweater she always carried with her on her hospital days. I'm sure there's lots of sitting around, waiting for babies when you're the midwife on duty! They're all wonderful women, true sweethearts, and always have kind and encouraging words for me. Just what I need on appointments like these, since I truly HATE the annual exam!!

Okay, enough with my feminine parts, and back to the knitting content!

Since it's Summer, and I have so much free time (not really, just less-pressing obligations than 25 busy first-graders), I have approximately 1 zillion projects on the needles. And I cast on again yesterday!

Over on Ravelry, the BlackPurl group has been talking about famous designers who just happen to be black. We were noticing the apparent lack of black designers - since even the book of African Knits is by a caucasian woman. So, many black designers have been mentioned - Shirley Paden, Nik, Amanda Reed, and Lisa Shobhana Mason (by the way, stop by here, 'cause she's got her patterns on SALE!!!). As soon as I heard Lisa's name, I remembered that I'd been meaning to knit Tulip for about two years now. Seriously, I bought the pattern when it first came out, and it has a 2006 date on it!

Shame on me!

So I cast on yesterday. Tee hee!

I'm using some 2nd Time Cotton that I got from Cloverhill last year. It's color 231, and I have 5 skeins. I'm making the size M/36 and I doubt I'll need all this yarn, so close your eyes and don't be surprised if you get a washcloth or two out of this in your Christmas stocking!!

Let's recap - so far, on the needles (or being cast on today at the doctor's) is:
-Various socks in different stages of completion (this is a given, right?)
-Tulip
-An Unoriginal Hat
-Berocco's Leilani
-Pi Shawl (pretty much following the Goddess Knits Anniversary KAL)
-Spinning for the Tour de Fleece (I'm using a Lisa Souza fiber dyed in a colorway called Bird of Paradise, and it's LOVELY!! - got my first 37 yards the other day!)

Hmm, I wonder if Robyn still has more than me on the needles? Probably! So I can cast on more, right?

Oh, and I found this on sale at Michael's for $1.00 a skein yesterday! Select colors only - the rest are still $4.99.

:O)