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It was a nice productive weekend. Yesterday I knitted my tail off and finished this:
It’s really stunning and I’m so excited about it. And, I even blocked it. I know, right? But blocking wires are my best friend.
And today I spun up the caldera batts into a lovely single:
I really loved this batt. It was a blend of romney, silk noils, tussah silk, bombyx silk, and viscose. It really spun up effortlessly. Now I just need to figure out what I am going to make with this. I only have 95 yards of heavy worsted. So, I’m thinking hat? Maybe?
And just for the record, my dog must be having quite the dream right now. All four of his paws are twitching frantically. Do you think he’s chasing squirrels? I hope he catches them. They’re stealing all of my birdseed from the feeders.
Today I’ve been trying to knit. And I say trying because I have been very unsuccessful at the attempt. I’ve screwed up the avalon scarf beyond repair. The only thing left to do is frog and start over. But I did try to knit a second avalon with some different yarn. I screwed it up on row 12 beyond repair also. I guess this is the knitting gods’ way of knocking me down after the merino triangle high that I was on this morning as I pulled out the blocking pins. So, looks like I’ll be giving it another go in a day or two.
I would like to start the absinthe socks though. And the cotton slouchy hat. Or maybe I should finish something that I’m already working on… like avalon.
Today was the fiberfest (hooray!). This year, instead of wandering about aimlessly buying everything that catches my eye, I went with a mission. First, locks. I wanted to give spinning locks a try. So, I found these pretties:
and these…
Next on the agenda, a fun batt with artyarn promise.
And lastly, fun add-ins with artyarn promise. Well, I failed at this one because I forgot to go back to the booth to buy the firestar that I had pondered. But I did go ahead and find a funky tube of random bits of wool that when spun together hold some promise for some interesting results.
Weird. Wool in a tube. But it’s soft and some of the bits are really interesting, so I’m excited to see what happens with this.
In my most recent adventures in spinning, I spun up my Spunky Club Champagne top. It didn’t turn out as I hoped it would. I had these visions of thick and thin, of gold with tiny little seed beads floating throughout (like champagne bubbles). But once spun, it morphed into some massive disappointment of handspun monstrousities. (Is that a word?) So, here it is. My epic spinning fail for the world to see…
It wants to be interesting, but it just doesn’t make it. You can’t even see the damn beads. So, to the bottom of the stash bin it shall go. Thank goodness I have new goodies to spin up into hopeful pretties.
Just a quickie to share yesterday’s spinning adventure… ’cause I kinda love it.
I’m calling it Black Tie Affair. It’s black alpaca spun with white tussah silk, then thread-plied with silver thread that has been strung with red beads. It’s going to become a clutch for me. Rock.
First and foremost… Lew’s yarn is done. (and there was great rejoicing!)
This photo is pre-soak and whack. It is now drying peacefully . And soon it shall be back with its rightful owner. I honestly didn’t think that I was going to make it through the spinning of this yarn.
The other day I started to notice that my sock count was diminishing. There is much darning to do. So, obviously, I need more socks. And feeling ambitious, I gave toe-ups with a short row heel a go. And I must say… what was I so afraid of? Actually, I’m finding it easier to do toe-up on two circs than it is to do cuff-down on 4 dpns (which is usually my favorite method). So, I’m knitting up these little diddies right now:
It’s the Express Lane sock pattern by Diane Mulholland. It’s a super easy knit. I used the figure 8 cast on method for the toe (the pattern called for a provisional crochet cast on and short row toe). And for the record, the figure 8 cast on is a beautiful thing. I’m about a quarter of the way up the cuff now. If I can keep the momentum going, I should have a new pair of socks by the weekend. But, I’m not sure the momentum will be there this week. I just have a hunch… But as always, I’m hopeful.
Always hopeful.
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’m skipping the superbowl this year. I know, I know. I’m unamerican. But it just seemed like more fun to curl up in my bed with my knitting, some hot chocolate, and the Firefly Complete Series DVD set. I’m 3 discs in and man, this show never gets old. But I thought that I would take a little break and update things on the knitting front.
I’ve had a lot of time to knit this week as the winter weather has pretty much extinguished any plans that I wanted to make. I’ve had 14 inches of snow until today, when the temps got above freezing and finally started to melt it down. I actually had to call off work one day because I got my car stuck in the driveway, and the last couple of days have been a pain because of high winds and crazy drifting. Ah, the joys of living in the middle of nowhere…
I’ve been working on my mother’s christmas socks and finally have the second one finished. Too bad I have to rip out half of the first one (back to where the heel ends) and redo it to fix the awkward sizing. So, still knitting away at that.
I’ve finally picked up Lew’s yarn again. We had words a few weeks back, and the spindle and I decided that we needed some time apart, so it’s been taking a break. But, we got together today and worked through some issues, so hopefully I can get back to it and have it shipped off to her soon.
Needing to fill the spinning void, I decided to hop back on my wheel and cranked out some pretty Spunky Eclectic BFL top this week. It’s called Hidden.
I was a little excited by it and it’s ended up being a nice fingering weight. I was thinking a cowl… but the EZ mitered mittens are also calling me. So, I guess we’ll see how the mood hits me.
I also picked up one of my snoozing projects on Friday night. The Juno stole has come back to life and I’ve made it through the lace pattern on the end and am now to the mindless portion. And I get to knit that section for a whopping 42 inches! Woo!
Here’s where I was this morning. Since then, I’ve been engrossed in the Firefly marathon and have added several inches to it. It’s so mindless that it’s perfect for a lazy movie day. Hopefully I can knock this out fairly quickly. I can definitely get some more knocked out tonight while I finish my marathon. Next up, the episode with Jayne’s cunning hat.
I’m exhausted. Every ounce of my being screams for me to go to bed and stay there for at least two days. I spent the entire day at work blankly staring at the computer screen trying not to fall asleep. I turned on episodes of Strongbad on my iPod in hopes that it would keep me awake, but still my eyelids weighed heavy and my head bobbed up and down as I drifted between sleep and oh-my-god-I-hope-no-one-saw-that-I-just-fell-asleep (you know that brief little adrenaline rush that soars through your body momentarily when you wake yourself up from half-sleep in public). Somehow, I made it through without my head smacking into my keyboard with a loud crack that would have made the devout christian woman in the cube behind me swear with surprise. Go me.
But no sleep just yet. I’m about 40 pages from finishing book #1 of 52. So, no sleep until Sookie’s latest shenanigans are through.
And knitting… it’s been a while since I’ve done any of that.
Spinning… I’m way behind on Lew’s yarn. I need to just knock it out this weekend. That’s totally doable.
But I did learn how to crochet last weekend. Surprisingly, it doesn’t suck as much as it has always sucked for me in the past. I’m learning early on that I have a talent for decreasing in crochet. Unintentionally. As in I went from 203 stitches in the first row to 103 stitches in the 3rd… maybe 4th row. And I have no clue how I did it. Now I just need to crochet something that isn’t a sad little test scarf.
And since I have no WIP updates to share, I’ll leave you with my new favorite photo. This is the Best. Spinning. Photo. Ever. And no, I did not do this (although I kinda wish I had because it’s awesome).
Watch out where the other end of your roving is while you are spinning. Otherwise, you might spin the carpet too.
Just a little word of advice.
I’m so behind. I’m behind in my blogging. I’m behind in my blog reading. I’m behind in my Christmas knitting. I’m behind with getting things in the mail. Gah. I need to catch up with all of you. If you blogged about anything that I need to read, let me know. My google reader is about to explode with unread blog posts and I just don’t know when I’m going to be able to catch up!
Okay, so where to begin…? Lots to share.
Progress has been made on a myriad of things. Probably the most exciting of which was my swap bag. I had never made a bag before, and being the overambitious knitster that I am, I decided that I was going to make the brea bag. And I was going to line it. It really wasn’t too terribly difficult. The knitting was a breeze.
I used Lion Brand Fisherman’s Wool, double-stranded. I loved the natural color of the wool because I knew that it was going to show off the stitch patterns so well (and it did!). I even decided to knit a strap for it. The knitting went well. And then came the lining…
My sewing skills are not the greatest. Let’s face it… I can’t even thread the sewing machine. Why I thought that making a bag with a lining was a good idea is beyond me. However, astonishingly, all went well. I knew how to put the lining together in theory. It was the execution that had me a bit miffed. But thanks to the darling kikibowns, and her bag lining linky goodness, things started to click for me and I got the lining finished. I even lined the strap for extra support. I loved it. It got shipped away to its new home this week and I think that she liked it! Yay! I had purchased enough yarn and fabric to make a second bag for my sister for Christmas, but that got nixed due to time constraints. So after all of the holiday craziness is over, I’m going to tackle the second one for me. I’m selfish like that.
So, once the bag was done, I moved on to my Navajo Gems spinning project. This is Spunky Eclectic BFL and was super soft and lovely to spin.
Then it was time to work on the fingerless mitts for my sister’s birthday.
I made these after the awesome swap gloves that I received from Troismommy, using her Tourniquet pattern. I didn’t do the color change, as you can see that this yarn needs no additional colors added. :) But I really liked the design and fit of the ones that she made for me, so I wanted to make these in the same style. Hopefully my sister likes them. I’m going to be shipping them out this week.
Next on the list are 2 neckwarmers that are currently soaking in the sink, awaiting their moment on the blocking pins.
Followed by Macabre #2 which has finished its soak and is currently drying.
So, now that just leaves a few pairs of fingerless mitts, a pair of Bella’s Mittens, and a pair of socks. I can do this. Yes, I can.
But, seeing that it’s Sunday, it’s time for soup first.
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.
