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Lack of inspiration will not leave me alone. It’s haunted me all February and is now following me in to March. All I want to do is make pretty things. Really… is that so hard? But I sift through patterns and nothing looks enticing. The other night I was perusing my stash and nothing was singing to me. Not even the unspun fiber. I know that I have an annoying habit of letting my aesthetic shift every so often, and I think that it has just shifted. Previously I had been drawn to bright, saturated colors, variegated yarns, fingering weights, tiny needles and simple patterns that allowed the garish yarns to shine. But now everything that seems appealing to me is made of muted, earthy tones. Architectural patterns, rich, intricate cables and worsted to bulky weights are what I long for. Sadly, my stash is seriously lacking anything muted, earthy, bulky and worsted. And I’m still on the no yarn until April kick.
So, I’m trying to ignore what my heart wants to knit. And it hurts, actually. But, I know that it’s a necessity right now. I trudged back to my stash this morning and found some bulky novelty yarn that I had been ignoring for quite some time. Since my feet were cold, I decided that it wanted to be slippers. I set out with the lovely Amy March Slippers pattern, knowing that my loud, variegated yarn will probably murder the simple beauty of the pattern. And I was right.
BUT, there has been some good to come out of this. First and foremost, I have finally learned a toe-up method that does NOT involve a provisional crochet cast on. (And there was great rejoicing!) The figure-eight cast on (which can be found here, along with some crochet cast ons) just might be my new favorite thing. It was crazy easy and relieves me of all kitchner duties. And that’s a wonderful thing. Actually, I want to start a pair of toe up socks just so I can try this cast on again. But, with toe up socks comes another technique that still eludes me: the short row heel. I’ve tried to read tutorials on the short row heel, but apparently they are all written in a foreign language. Now, my slipper pattern actually had a little tutorial on how to complete the heel in the pattern. And it was still a foreign language to me. I tried. I followed the directions diligently, but it made absolutely no sense. I kept ending up with large holes and running out of stitches rows and rows before I should have. I finally just improvised and ending up making a heel that looks like a heel flap, only knitted in reverse. Now I just need some ribbon and lace to finish this one up and then I can move on to the second one.
In spinning news, I’m spinning the most luscious batt right now.
I received it in my most recent swap. It’s a Merino, cashmere, baby camel and silk bled. Hello, luxury. I’m going for a delicate lace weight as I have a lovely neck piece in mind for it. This stuff is seriously a dream to spin.
Still making progress on Lew’s yarn. I finished up the singles and have moved on to the plying. I’m so close. I just need to get out of this slump so that I can finish it up.
Life has gotten in the way lately. There’s been little progress on pretty much everything. It’s funny the curveballs that life throws you sometimes. But that’s enough about all of that. Time to get back to the fiber.
That being said… I don’t have much to offer tonight.
I’ve started a new brea bag for me.
The front and back panels are completed and the gusset is about 80% done. This time around I have a groovy leather handle that I purchased on last November’s holiday to South Carolina and lovely button from a knitting shop in Frankenmuth, Michigan that I picked up over my New Year’s holiday. So, all that’s really left is the blocking, seaming, and lining- which I am on top of this go around. And I’m in love with this design, for the record.
And in a stunning turn of events, Lew’s fiber and I have made up. I’ve spun through about an ounce of the 2 ounces left to spin into singles today. So, I’m in the zone and really hope to finish it all up this week. Once the singles are done, I’m home free. I can ply it up quickly on the kiwi, wash, whack, and send it on it’s way back to whence it came.
I’ve been slacking on the blog posts. I have no excuse for my absence. But I promise that I have spent my time away working diligently.
Actually, the majority of my time has been spent spinning my September Spunky Club fiber, Acadia. It’s taken me a bit longer to spin than I expected it would as I was spinning a little more fine than I usually do. But I’m pleased with the finished yarn. While there’s still the thick and thin areas, it’s far more consistent than any other yarn that I’ve spun.
Excuse the crappy photography. The battery was low on the camera. And it was freezing cold. And there was no sun. And it was actually just starting to snow as I ran outside to take the photo. This whole dark by 5:00 pm is not conducive to my desire to document knitting and spinning progress. Plus, I’ve not set the twist on this yet, so it’s still a little kinky. But I did get about 400 yards. So, that’s rockin’. I did spin it for someone else… but I kind of want it for myself! That’s terrible. It’s just so pretty.
Anywho… I’ve finally come to some realizations in my spinning. 1. I love my spindles. I spin more consistantly with a spindle. 2. I hate using a wheel. It’s boring. However, it’s necessary for plying as the thought of plying on a spindle makes me a little faint. The wheel is much easier. But again, ridiculously boring. I literally sit down to use the wheel and I’m immediately sleepy. I have to at least have some good dance music that I can sing along with blaring on my ipod when I sit down at wheel. I find that Cher works best for this. Especially her song “Believe”. I’m sure my dog cringes when I sit down at the wheel because he knows that there’s a terrible sing-a-long-at-the-top-of-my-lungs in store for him to suffer through. This afternoon was no exception. But the sing-a-long keeps me going. I just treadle to the beat and before I know it, all is plied.
On the good news front, only 3 1/2 more days until I leave for my vacation. Can I get an “amen”? I’ll be heading down south to the hopefully much, much warmer state of South Carolina for an extended weekend to hang with a friend and participate in Twilighty fandom, yarny activities, and any other debaucherous goings ons (she used the word debachery, not me…). It’s certain to be a good time. Of course, now I have the daunting task of trying to decide which knitting projects will accompany me on the plane. I’m thinking lace ribbons, a still-to-be-determined sock project, and maybe the mittens that I want to knit for my mother for christmas (I haven’t picked out the pattern yet. I should do that tonight.). I should probably take my spinning with me as I still have 3 spinning projects left to finish by christmas. Can you take spindles on a plane? I should figure that out.
Well, I’m off to scavenger something for dinner out of my barren fridge. I really should go get some groceries. Woman cannot live on rice cakes alone.
Just got in from morning coffee with my dear Joe. I love Joe. While I find it funny that we both ended up in this same town, I can’t imagine being here without him. Cheers to old friends!
So, saturday is before me and I’m still at a loss on how I’m going to spend it. A drive to civilization sounds like a good idea as I could desperately use a bookstore, grocery store and Target. But that means gas. And time. And the realization that Christmas is 3 months away has suddenly appeared, meaning that I need to start haulin’ ass if I’m going to keep my promise to only give handmade gifts this year. So, I need to plan. And I need to be realistic, as it is common knowledge that I tend to set my goals a little too high at times. Plus there’s the Twilight swap… I’ve too many ideas. And my swap partner is so awesome that I can’t help but have a gazillion ideas. Edit, Jenn. Edit.
Oh, I almost forgot! Weekly spindle pr0n:
Oh yes. BGD, your spindles are like heroin. It’s a murano glass flower top whorl spindle and it might be my new favorite. The weight of the glass whorl is so perfect. One of these days, I’ll put down the spindles long enough to get some knitting done. Hopefully this happens soon as Christmas knitting is the big dark cloud hanging over my head and I don’t think that handspun yarn is a practical gift for non-knitters.
A quick update: I need to get back to the red heart socks. I’m done with one sock, and I have a good start on the second sock. I just need to make the time to finish it. Ahhh! Too much and not enough time to do it all!
So, I should go be productive, right? Affirmative. And I should not let the Twilight board on ravelry suck me in. Because if it does, I may never get anything done…
So yeah. We all knew that I couldn’t keep my vow to not start a new project until I completed 4 of my current WIPs. BUT my new project is for a good cause. I’m test knitting. It’s a most groovy scarf for the lovely troismommy over at ravelry. It’s called Tourniquet.
It’s knitting along quite quickly, actually. And I rather love it. The charcoal grey and red together are stunning. I wish that I had not been so impatient and had ordered some better yarn for it. But I really wanted to get going on it, so I just used some wool/acrylic that I had in my stash. (luckily I had the right colors!) It’s all good though. I have an excuse to knit another one! I had hoped to have it finished today, but I got a little distracted by an afternoon nap (I haven’t taken a nap in sooo long. It was blissful!). But it should be done in the next day or two. It’s going to be wonderful for this winter.
In other news, I’ve ordered another Butterfly Girl Designs spindle. SOMEONE STOP ME PLEASE AS I AM OUT OF CONTROL! I keep buying spindles (plus I’m in the middle of making two… I’m making the whorls out of fimo clay. I just need to run to the hardware store for some grommets.) And don’t even get me started on the knit picks order that I’m about to place. Must. Buy. More. Yarn. (that will sit in my stash for a few months before I even give it a thought, only to then go out and buy more yarn) I needs it… my precious!
Back to the Tourniquet.
The fiber has gotten out of control for me. I’m frustrated that I’m not finishing anything, but at the same time, I have too many (for me) projects going. It’s causing severe project ADD.
Currently, I am actively working on the following: red hearts Socks, embossed leaves socks, long long lacy gloves, newly fallen snow (spinning), alpaca laceweight (spinning), that effin’ cormo (spinning), the remainder of drunk bunny (spinning), and macabre (spinning).
So, I’m not letting myself start another project until I finish at least 4 of what I have listed. Yeah, I laughed out loud as I typed it. We’ll see how long that lasts…
But, I did get my new spindle the other day.
It’s a top whorl paula shell spindle from Butterfly Girl Designs. (I love her spindles!) It weighs 0.5 oz and is perfect for lace. I’m spinning the newly fallen snow batt on it right now. It’s a merino/silk/icicle blend and it glistens. You can kind of see a hint of the glistening in the photo. It’s spinning up like a dream.
So, now I’m off to work on …one of my projects as I wait for True Blood to start. Seriously. I’ve got to finish something before I go crazy.
This past week has flown by. Tonight I am mentally preparing myself for the return to work tomorrow. The thought of waking before 8:30 am is probably the biggest thing that I am dreading. Although, I suppose I really am dreading the actual work itself, but there’s not a whole lot that I can do about it. I’m just trying to figure out how I’m going to make it through ravelry withdrawl since I will not be able check the forums every hour as I have been for the last week. Stupid work firewall.
Lots of photos ahead…
For the record, I didn’t complete 7 projects. I only eeked out 4 completed items this week. But I’m okay with it. Because I did still accomplish quite a bit. Plus, I’m relaxed and content and that’s really what my ultimate goal for the week was. In addition to the first two pairs of fingerless gloves I have also completed a second pair of Maine Morning Mitts in Noro Silk Garden:
and most exciting of all, I finished the Eclipse socks!
I love these socks. Like, really really really love these socks. They look awesome. I was surprised at how long it took me to add the ribbon to the socks. (This is probably why I only finished 4 projects this week!) I can safely say that I will not be doing another swiss darning project for at least a couple of months, as I am all swiss darned out for right now. But, it does look really good and well, these socks would not rock as much as they do without the swiss darning.
And I’ve started a new sock project. I finally broke down and cast on the embossed leaves socks that I’ve been saving my knitting notions sock yarn for.
These are knitting up more quickly than I expected, which is always a good thing.
And lastly, I broke down this week and purchased my first Bosworth spindle. Oh, I am in love.
It’s a purpleheart mini. .77 oz of spinning beauty. I can’t decide what to spin on it first. Hmmm… what wants to become laceweight? Look at it… it almost glows!
I’m off to find some dinner and enjoy my last few hours of vacation. So sad that it’s ending…
I have finally finished spinning my very first shipment of Spunky Club fiber! I give you Eclipse:
It’s hand painted Romney and it’s fuzzy and wonderful in a way that only Romney can be. (I’m more than pleased with my first month in the club and now I cannot wait for the August fiber to get here!) I spun it as singles on a spindle and it’s approximately 11 wpi. So, a good worsted to bulky weight. It was a relief to be able to spin something a little more substantial than lace. I worked so hard at spinning thin that it was almost as if I had forgotten how to spin a heavier weight.
On the knitting front, I’ve gone back to the striped Noro sock. I wasn’t happy with it. The heel flap was screwing up the stripes and the colors and it just wasn’t working for me. So after some thought, it came to me: afterthought heel! Now there will be no break in the color progression of the stripes and I will be able to feel much better about them. So, I ripped out the gusset and heel flap and have knitted in my pseudo row and I’m ready to finish these babies up!
I’m still not pleased with the not-seam that I’m praying will block away…
And for the record, Dawn has Broken. I read Breaking Dawn and while it was not what I expected, I’m learning that I loved it more than I thought I would. And I’m happy. I’m really truly happy with what happened. And that’s all that I shall say here in the realm of possible spoiler-land (for those who haven’t finished yet). Now, if she’d just release Midnight Sun…
How do you decide between your spinning WIPs and your knitting WIPs? I’ve been making some good progress on Icarus. But I’m distracted by the spinning.
The Bunny Merlot seduced me…
Actually, I like the name “drunk bunny” more than “bunny merlot”. It’s not turning out the way that I had expected it to when I originally bought it. However, it was one of my very first fiber purchases after learning how to spin, so I honestly didn’t have any idea about what I was purchasing. It’s angora, silk and merino on black polwarth. The black polwarth is pretty greasy and the fiber isn’t spinning up nearly as soft as I had expected it would. BUT, it still is lovely fiber and it’s spinning up into some lovely tweedy fingering weight singles.
But the drunk bunny has been put aside for today’s new arrival. My brand-spankin’ new spindle and roving from Butterfly Girl Designs arrived today. The spindle is a picasso jasper high whorl spindle and it is ridiculous the difference between it and my first spindle (see the drunk bunny spindle). It’s elegant and effortless. The difference is like Alice and Emmett, really. But, oh… the roving. I saw the roving and had to have it immediately. Can you say love (1000)…
Because I am that obsessed, it is so Twilight that I don’t even know where to begin. The batt is actually called “macabre”. It’s a superwash merino/superwash wool/bamboo blend. Red, white and black with sparkles. Seriously, how can you not think about Twilight when you see this? And best of all, it spins like a dream… especially on the gorgeous new spindle. I must get more of her spindles. I think that I might become addicted.
And on a sidenote: A week and a day until Breaking Dawn. (See? Obsessed.) Back to the macabre…
My knitting has been feeling a little neglected in the past couple of days. I’ve picked up my drop spindle again and despite some very difficult moments where the drop spindle was getting a little saucy with me, we’ve managed to spin up some lovely lace weight singles. Okay, perhaps it isn’t the spindle as much as the short staple length of the merino. Okay…it’s my poor spinning skills. There. It’s now out there for the world to read. I feel better.
It’s very robin’s egg-ish. But it’s soft and it has a lovely halo. I think that it will make a nice yarn once plied. My only complaint is with the roving dye…that keeps bleeding onto my fingers and has actually stained my spindle a bit (Not that it’s the nicest spindle in the world. It’s homemade, but it gets the job done and that is all that matters to me). I think that this fiber may require an extra long soak when I set the ply. I’ve been pondering taking it in to work with me to spin on my lunch hour. But the bleeding dye has kind of put out that fire. Ahh well…I can spin in the evenings while watching the radar on ravelry.
I burned the back of my hand on the toaster oven this morning whilst toasting my bagel. It has left a very bulbous line across the back of my hand. It’s very Tyler Durden-ish. Only, I’m not really allowed to talk about that because the first rule is that I can’t talk about it.
I have cayennes. They’re still pretty tiny, so you’ll need the magnifying glass to see them. But they are rockin’ out on my patio garden. There are 9 little cayennes scattered across the plant. I can’t wait until they turn red.
See? Tiny. But they will soon be grand. And spicy. Oh, and my very kind neighbor is going to transplant some of her cilantro for me, so soon I will have another addition to my garden. I think that I will pass along some of my basil starters to her. I have soooo many- in addition to the plant that is already giving me more basil than I thought I would be able to use.
