Batt'r Up!

Thanks to the late season bugs making their rounds, the weekend was dedicated to creating inventory for the local yarn shop in addition to my own store. I'm all batted out I think. A weekends worth of hand carding has me surrounded by batts.

I did spend some quality time with my wheel...the cats were plenty happy to let me spin peacefully when I was just spinning the plain wool...but the plying was a different story altogether. That's what I get for trying a five ply (what cat could possibly resist all that string waving about?!) and it certainly didn't help that 2 of the plys were rather shiny - especially the one with beads and sequins all over it! Stay tuned, that skein is in the finishing process now.

Troy may look all innocent, but really, he's quite the little hellion. I think at one point I was stuck behind my wheel, one cat was batting at the beaded thread and the other had managed to grab hold of one of the other plies and was dragging it away.

Here he is, resting up and saving energy for the next spinning section. And don't buy that "who, me?" look of his. He's got it perfected after all the mischief he's raised :)

Stash Reduction

Alright, I'm going through my stash and am trying to find new homes for some of my yarn - you can see the list (now updated with photos) here. A bonus, it's on its very own blog - so if you are inclined, you can subscribe to its feed :) The list is also linked in the sidebar, so if you don't want to go with the feed, you can opt to click over there any time ;)

Kitchen Lab

My poor kitchen is just not turning anything interesting out lately - I'm not feeling motivated or inspired to cook....

However, this seems like something right up my alley. Perhaps I should suggest it to my cohorts back at my alma mater...

Kitchen Aid *check*
Tasty Ice Cream Base *check*
LN2 *drat* unfortunately, my stock of LN2 is running a bit low. *sigh*

Happy Spring!

Vernal (spring) equinox is today :)
While my favorite season is the autumn, I also love the spring - it's usually marked with a spurt of wildflowers and the hills all bedecked in color, but this year we've been having a bit of a shortage of rain.

Sadly, today is a photoless post.

For those who are crocheting patterns by me, I have created flickr groups for each of them...
Right now, I think they only have photos posted by me...If you have made any of the little creatures, feel free to join the Flickr Groups:
Little Lambkins
Ilion the Cat
Carat with Carrots

Stay tuned for new batt colors - I've been giving the drum carder quite the workout and I'm quite pleased with the new color combinations :)

Some favorite things....

Amongst the things I seem to adore, bowls are one of them. I really like this bowl - first, because it has a cute kitty that looks an awful lot like my kitty (along with some mice) playing with a ball of yarn....

Second, because it's the perfect size for a serving of ice cream or other tasty things that should be indulged in with moderation...like pudding or custard....or molten cake.

...or sweetly handspun yarn ;) (thank you Illanna!)

Finally, you can see the third reason I love this bowl - it clearly proclaims the contents as "mine" :D

I'm adoring the yarn, I love it when people bring me gifts I can learn from! I plan on studying it closely so I can create more beaded yarns for the shop! (yeah, I know I said that would not likely happen again anytime soon...but soon after I was gifted with this ball, I somehow stumbled into Beads Galore and wound up leaving with a pile of beads that I think will go quite nicely with some handblends I've got bouncing around in my head. Unfortunately now I have to see if they will fit through the orifice of my spinning wheel. Stay tuned ;)

Forced into the kitchen

Apparently, Peanut Brittle is considered a seasonal item. I was hunting high and low for it the other day, to supplement the hiking food pantry (with the amount of hiking that is done around here, it is safe to say that the regular gorp and beef jerky were long ago tired of). Anyhow, as there was no peanut brittle to be had at the store, I figured I'd try my hand at making my own. Yeah, the color is off...but I figure the next time, I'll get it right.

Recipe and comments can be found here.

Springtime Buns

With the lack of rain, all kinds of little creatures are wending their way down into the residential areas. Each morning and evening I could watch cottontails browsing the grass in nearby parks and greenbelts, and they provided the inspiration for this little guy.

His name is Carat :) Don't you just want to reach out and give him a hug?

Luckily the record breaking lack of precipitation was finally broken over the weekend, giving me an opportunity to actually finalize the pattern for Carat.

Should you wish to make a Carat for your own, his pattern is available at the shop now :)

a little bit of this...

...and a little bit of that.

Twas an exciting weekend, actually *seeing* my yarn and some of my batts at the LYS gave me a little jolt of surprise and pleasure :) At the same time, it also made me realize my personal store is near to empty, and that I better get spinnin'! Hoping for a little rain to perk the wild flowers down this way, I spun up another skein of Desert Globe Mallow - this time with more Mallow ;)

I did somehow find myself sucked into a bead store, so while I did vow to not do beaded yarns again, I'm going to have to give it another go...This time, I think I'll be going with beads on the plying thread rather than beading the singles as I spin.

In addition to pondering and designing yarns, I sat myself down to think a bit about some other design submissions...my friend Alison is launching a new e-magazine: For the Love of Yarn - go check it out :) She's accepting design submissions in both Knit and Crochet in addition to articles...so if ever you've been wanting to be published, here's an opportunity :)

Glorious Sunsets

This photo (I love the desert - we have such spectacular sunsets!) led to this:

A bowlful of wonderfully colored merino...yeah, I admit to using a huge mixing bowl for my fiber prep activities :) May as well make my kitchen multi-purpose - it is, after all, where my drum carder lives!

Speaking of drum carders...that big bowl was turned into this:

Isn't it lovely? In case you're wondering what the batt looks like rolled, have a peek at the shop! That's right, I'm now offering batts for sale, in addition to handspun!

Busy and Exciting

Last weekend was a busy one indeed, what with the redesigning of the sweater and the subsequent ripping and reknitting. Before I went and got that wild and crazy idea of redesigning my knitwear, I had spent the day carding and spinning.

Since I was wanting to test out my CD Spindles, I spun up another skein of Nighttime Sky. I'm pleased to announce the spindles seem to spin beautifully and are certainly not lacking in capacity! I fit the entire 4 oz skein quite happily onto my CD spindle. In case you're wondering, I decided to do away with the binder clips, as I was afraid they would snag my precious handspun - the weight of 2 CDs seemed to be fine for plying purposes.

In addition to playing with my new spindles, I finally got around to executing on a yarn that's been floating around in my brain for a while - a closeup and more info can be found here.

And now for the exciting news: my yarns and some handblended batts will be available for purchase at a newly opening local yarn store (in addition to my online store, tho it is rather depleted for now)! You locals should have a peek at Tempe Yarn and Fiber - their Birthday and "Grand Opening" is this weekend!

Olympics Redone

Imagine my husband's horror when he found me surrounded by pieces of graph paper...and my Olympic Sweater no longer in one piece...

The day of the closing ceremonies found me knitting frantically, straight from the detached top of the original sweater onto the body of my even more modified sweater....with a new goal of completing the re-knitting of the body of the sweater by the time the flame went out. What triggered this madness? It was the debut wearing of the Leaf Lace pullover - it kept buckling across the top of my chest, and the neckline was slumping in a most unattractive manner. Did I make it? Yes, yes I did. And the new design is much improved over the first, I think :)

Have a look here and tell me if you do or don't agree :D

And not a moment too soon.

Sigh. I guess it's fair to say I finished that sweater not a moment too soon!

Work seems to have exploded into a crazed beast, and I'm doing my best at containment. Hardly any knitting has happened since Sunday's finishing fiesta!

Anyhow, things are slowly coming back under control, and I hope to have more knitting/spinning goodness to display....in the meantime, I recommend heading over to Cute Overload to make your day a little brighter :)

Olympic Update - Days 8, 9 & 10!

First I want to say thanks to those of you who have inquired after my poor fingers. The good news is they are well on their way to recovery, though for my own sanity, when I'm working with fiber, I wear a bandage over the cut on the middle finger. It really probably looked a lot worse to me when it happened simply because it didn't seem to want to stop bleeding. A day under a bandaid and it's well on the way to recovery :)

Day 8 was a slow day, with not much more than the bottom ribbing being complete. That twisted ribbing goes even slower than regular ribbing does...and of course, things were even slower with the bandaged finger!

Day 9 flew by with speedy progress with PBS cooking shows and a mid afternoon nap to boost energy, I completed the bottom of the body (adding some length and a tiny bit of waist shaping) and began on the grafting! The grafting was going even slower than the twisted rib, but at least I seem to have managed to memorize how to graft properly. By midnight, I had only managed to complete half the grafting before having to put things away so I could get some sleep!

Day 10 - a day of accomplishment! I actually managed to finish the sweater - in record time! The remainder of the grafting was completed in the evening, with a little bit of difficulty in the last couple of stitches (I had a little bit of finagling to do to get the end of the grafting to join with the beginning bits). I managed to cobble it together by doing something akin to duplicate stitching. Anyhow, a photo of the finished sweater can be found over here!

Eeek! Knitter Down!

In a freak accident and a run-in with ridiculous sharp cutlery (I strongly believe in ridiculously sharp cutlery, and the ensuing accident was purely the fault of the user) and an apple, I've managed to sustain injury to my index and middle fingers!

Let me tell you that running up and down stairs while bleeding like a stuck pig with a pair of cats hot on ones heels is not recommended. I'm pleased to report that with some firm pressure and elevation, the bleeding was contained and the knitting should be safe.

Generally, an injury to my left hand wouldn't cause me much distress, but I both knit and draft with my left hand...and boy, have I got knitting to do! I'm on a mission to finish the sweater early so I can attempt to take a swing at another Pirate Hat...

Oh, in case you're wondering, that *is* indeed a piece of cake being used as a stitchmarker. It's an official Amyville Creation :) - it's in the Blue Moon Cafe collection.

Olympic Update Day 7 - Detour!

When we left off yesterday, I was pondering the possibility of having to rip out the entire top portion of the sweater for a massive redesign. Faced with an evening of mattress stitch, kitchnering and other seaming delights, it was safe to say that chocolate was in order. Thank goodness for brownies.

Behold. The fruits of my labor (and I'm not kidding here folks, I don't know why I didn't knit the darn sleeves in the round, but it would have saved me a fair bit of mattress stitching - I hate mattress stitching). Ignore the blurriness and the smears on the mirror. It was past midnight. This is what happens when I don't get to start my knitting/seaming until close to 9pm. Once I mattress stitched the sleeves, I set to kitchnering them onto the shoulders. All I can say is I'm going to be needing a lot of fortitude when I get to kitchnering the bottom to the top of the sweater....I suppose I ought to be thankful the darn seem won't fall right across the midline of my bust! And in case you're wondering, the reason it took so many hours to seam, is because I had to do each set in sleeve twice. *sigh* I hadn't pulled the seam together tight enough the first time and it looked sloppy.

Things are looking much better now, if I do say so myself. the shoulder seam actually goes over to my shoulder. I'm thinking with the added weight, the collar should settle (I'm holding onto the bottom of the sweater in the photo to the left). The button also seems to help tame it's unruly behavior. Don't mind the wrinkle in the fabric - that's simply due to my arm being elevated to take the photo!

And just because I'm so much more pleased with how it's looking, here's a closeup of the collar detail and the button. I couldn't decide on a round button or an oblong one, and I'm not yet opposed to going shopping for anther one. This particular button is made of wood and has some neat design on the lower portion of it. It does tend to stand out though...perhaps a more unobtrusive one is in order. I am fond of the organic look of that button though - what say you?

Grommet anyone?

*sigh* in another distraction, I decided to make a couple CD spindles to aid in my plying. Turns out there is no jumbo flyer/bobbin assembly for the Kromski Minstrel....so in order to allow myself to ply the entire bobbin without having to cut the yarn, I'm going to have to result to spindle plying for some yarns. Unfortunately, the majority of my spindles have smallish whorls - the largest(I think) is about 3 inches in diameter.

Anyhow, CDs in hand, I was able to find cup hooks and hardwood dowels at the local home improvement store. The washer/grommet/gasket, however, was a royal pain in the you know what, and I have yet to find a suitable alternative. I wound up settling for some cone washers, but they do not hold the CDs securely, and require supplemental adhesive (also known as glue or epoxy) to keep things where they aught to be.

Some googling later, I've discovered I can either purchase small packets of multi sized grommets (of which I only need one size) or I can purchase a ridiculous quantity of grommets (all the correct size) which would keep me, all my friends and untold number of acquaintances in CD spindles for quite some time. *sigh* Turns out what I'm looking for is typically used for wire management, and not plumbing, which is why I was unable to find the little bugger at the hardware store. (update - I did find a pack of all the same size grommet, qty 5 at my local hardware store! hooray! tho the bargain shopper in me keeps telling me I would have gotten a better deal by buying the big bag from the online source ;) )

Of course, I could probably engineer something to work, but it probably won't look anywhere near as clean as a grommet, and may well involve duct tape...but seeing as I've already made the cone washers work (mostly, with modification) I guess I'll start expending energy on how to make the spindle spin faster ;) click here to see the finished goods.

Olympic Update - Day 6 - In the Groove....mostly.

Day 6 of the Knitting Olympics drew to a close with knitting progressing more or less right on track. As you can see, I've managed to complete the top of the sweater...and I've even transferred it to another needle so I could cast on for the bottom.

I am now facing a difficult decision of to frog or not to frog. It's truly a conundrum. If you recall, the sweater is being knit not out of bulky yarn, but of dk weight yarn. This resulted in lots and lots of math. Well, not too much, but enough to make me scribble notes on various sticky notes to append the pattern.

Anyhow, while it looks like the gauge and everything was right on, and I did pick the right size to knit, I am wondering if a straight translation was not so smart. Why not, you ask?

I present to you the following:
Exhibit A: Note where the shoulder ends on the knitted top. Note where my actual shoulder ends physically. Does this seem odd to you? With the exception of Raglan Sleeves, I do not think garments are not supposed to be shaped this way. Especially garments with set in sleeves. I could be wrong, after all, this is only my 3rd sweater...and I'm not so good with sewing. It could very well be that everything settles into place with the finished weight of the garment.

Exhibit B: Thickish, wideish, tallish, frumpy looking collar. It certainly doesn't look that wonky on the other sweaters I've seen - Part of the problem is the collar is not yet secured with a button. The other part, is I'm also fairly certain that if the sleeves pull the shoulders into place, it will also flatten that collar out - not to mention the additional weight that will be on the bottom of the sweater when it's not crop top length.

And finally Exhibit C: The placement of the leaves is um...a result of my straight mathematical conversion of the pattern with lack of thought to placement of design elements (also probably why I was having issues on Day 3 or whatever day it was I was working on that part). Here is a closeup (of both Exhibits B and C). The little leaves are supposed to be jauntily off to the side of the neckline, but if we observe these photos, we will note that the leaves are parked more or less right below my chin. Not too dreadful, and I'm becoming more and more comfortable with the placement. I've caught the mistake now and have adjusted placement of the leaves on the hem of the sweater.

Plan of Attack: Well, a wise woman (who also happens to have a son with a fine taste in hats) suggested I do the sleeve seaming tonight instead of knitting blindly onward on the bottom of the sweater...this way, I can see if things fall into place, as it were, once the sleeves are attached. If not, there will be much chocolate, and perhaps some other things, while I pick out my seaming and kitchnering of the sleeves and rip back the entire top and go back to the drawing board to make design adjustments to the pattern.

This is what I get for substituting yarn I guess ;)

And now for a diversion

You are Shetland Wool.
You are a traditional sort who can sometimes be a

little on the harsh side. Though you look

delicate you are tough as nails and prone to

intricacies. Despite your acerbic ways you

are widely respected and even revered.


What kind of yarn are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Olympic Update - Day 5

The needles are positively flying here with the finishing of the armhole increases and the re-joining of the front and back. 24 more rows of knitting (to be completed tonight while watching the amazing mens freestyle skiing event). With some extra caffeine and a touch of insomnia I might even cast on for the bottom of the body. I'm taking some liberties and am thinking of adding some shaping to the bottom piece. With minor miracles the sweater may well be ready for assembly by the weekend. eep!

oh, sorry for the lack of photos - I've been knitting well into the night and really can't bring myself to get out of bed to take a progress shot before putting the knitting down, and there's just no time for photos before dashing to work!

Olympic Update - Day 4

Knitting Continues, with no photo to share. Day 4 of the Knitting Olympics found me at the dividing point for the top of the Leaf Lace Pullover - finishing 2 of 9 increase sets (only 28 more rows to go and I'll be rejoining the halves for more knitting in the round). If you're keeping track of balls of yarn used, I'm nearly done with ball number three. The knitting rhythm is settling in and I had nary a frog in sight yesterday :) I think at this point it is fairly safe to say I'm no good at estimating required yardage for sweaters that I have to do math on.

Not the Smoothest of Starts

The Olympic Crazed knitting was off to a slow start for me, as I was distracted by my spinning on Friday afternoon - I had all the good intentions of starting my knitting promptly at 2pm local time, but just couldn't bring myself to leave that full bobbin alone and unplied until the end of the Olympic undertaking. Look here to see how it turned out.

Anyhow, Day One (or the day of Opening Ceremonies) otherwise was off to a creeping and slightly bumpy start - I think I finally cast on around 4pm or so. Progress was slow, with the twisted rib pattern going slower than conventional ribbing. About 2/3rds of the way through the leaf chart, I realized I had made a mistake in my knitting, and had to rip back to fix it, as I could think of no easy way to drop and re-pick up the stitches in a manner that would resolve the problem. I called it a night after I did my first set of sleeve increases.

Day Two - a day dedicated to knitting - I had hoped to finish off the sleeves, but apparently I was plagued with YO forgetfulness - meaning I forgot to insert a YO or two, and couldn't figure out why my count was wrong (I wasn't paying attention - I was too busy watching the Olympics on TV) Anyhow, like the minor fiasco of the previous day, there was no simple dropping and picking up the stitches to fix the problem - so rip rip rip I went....ending the night just after the last set of sleeve increases (and the ends of my first two balls of yarn).

Day Three - was supposed to be an off day, with knitting relegated to the car, but between the possibility of the forest being closed down (thanks to some foolish git who failed to put out their campfire properly) and sheer exhaustion, plans got mucked up and much sleeping ensued. Regardless, I finished off the sleeves, leaving enough yarn attached to graft them to the shoulders of the body once I get that far.

Seems I can't go a day without *some* issue with my knitting - in addition to finishing off the sleeves, I did cast on for the top of the sweater and discovered not one, but two discrepancies with my plans - the first was a math error on my part, resulting in uneven placement of the shoulders - that wouldn't do, and was quickly resolved. The 2nd was a combination of the pattern as written in the book and my math - (something about the increases for the shoulders - the number of stitches just weren't adding up properly - neither in the book nor in my converted notes). I think I've corrected it properly - we'll see once I get all the increases done. I have to say I'm loving this yarn (SWTC Optimum) - it's wonderfully soft - Lilac wouldn't be my first choice for color, but the price was right when I bought the yarn - we'll just pretend that my color choice is inspired by the Purple Leaf Plum Tree, shall we? :)

a Little Last Minute Spinning

Knowing I was headed into the Olympic Knitting Frenzy today, I had to spend some quality time with my wheel last night.

I was experimenting with core spinning - this is a handblend of merino blues (with a touch of firestar) that I am calling "Twilight" spun over top of some of that Beachcomber Yarn that I haven't known what to do with. The super shiny spool is lurex, and I'm getting ready to ply these two together....

In other news, the beaded yarn is dry and skeined...commentary here, for sale here.

All Quiet

The calm before the craziness, if you will (in case you've missed it, the Knitting Olympics madness starts tomorrow).

The balls of yarn are sitting patiently by, the husband has been warned, the needles will be prepped tonight (I need to take the curl out of my circs)

In spinning news, I'm wondering if the beads weren't so good for my wheel - I've noticed some groove marks on my flier hooks. I didn't think I've been spinning that much, but the wear marks on the hooks would indicate otherwise. In other news, the beaded yarn is dry, I'm just waiting for some light so I can photograph it! Stay tuned...perhaps you'll see it tomorrow!

Weekend Spinning

In addition to some coils, the weekend spinning involved some experimentation with the spinning wheel.

It involved small shiny things, chasing the cats, minor cussing and lots and lots of time. Likely a one of a kind yarn, at least with this size bead (seed, in case you are wondering) - look closely - you'll notice I am actually spinning the beads onto the singles.

Here's a closeup of the bobbin. Don't mind the white blob - that's a little bit of the leader yarn - I got tired of trying to wind onto the bobbin without using a leader (yes, it's possible, but it's also a pain).

Here is a closeup of the plied yarn before it headed off to its finishing bath. The skein is nearly dry and will make an appearance on the finished objects blog and the shop soon.

While I have proven to myself that it is indeed possible for me to spin beads directly onto the yarn, I find it a slow and painstaking process - it may be better if I used larger beads, and perhaps I'll give that a try in the future, leaving the seed beads and sequins to be plied on with an accompanying thread.

Make Thyself More Useful

I'm not quite certain how it happens, but it seems I am always finding a plethora of plastic grocery bags hiding under the sink. Loath to let them go (it's the packrat in me), I eventually have to round them up because they are threatening to overflow their allotted territory. Instead of hauling them off to be recycled, I did the deed myself, and have given them new life and purpose.

Larger photo and more info here.

The Carder is here to stay!

Well, I broke out the drum carder and had some fun with it... All of the fiber I have for blending right now is lovely merino - and I have to say, the spinning is wonderful. I'd forgotten just how lovely it is to spin with merino - it drafts out so smoothly!

For any new/aspiring spinners out there, I personally recommend going with as lovely a fiber as you can while you're learning - I think it will help because you'll love the feel of the fiber as it flows through your fingers...and even if your finished product is a bit slubby and uneven, you'll still love the feel of it! (and trust me, going back to the slubby spinning is tough once you are in the habit of turning out a fairly even gauge single!)

Anyhow, go ogle the results here.

First KAL for the New Year?

Well....I swatched. And I did math - lots and lots of math. I think I have a Random Button around too that can be used to close the sweater.

What am I yammering about? The KAL is Yarn Harlot's crazy Knitting Olympics. The object of my craziness? The Teva Durham Leaf Lace pullover. Knit in Southwest Trading Company Optimum in Lilac (I think - or maybe it's Plum) - whatever it is, it's purple, and it's sitting on the side table waiting for the designated start time, along with my copious notes. I sure hope I did the math right...and I'm also hoping I have enough yarn. In order to try to mitigate the possibility of shortage, the following strategy has been planned: 1) knit the sleeves, together of course...even tho they have different motifs on them 2) Knit the top and finally 3) Knit the bottom, and if the yarn is looking short, graft away and hope to heck it's not a belly baring sweater.

Am I nuts?
Probably.
Oh well. According to some, this is not a new development.

Cats on the Brain

Don't they look like twins?

Okay, maybe not completely...but humor me here!

Anyhow, the little cat is indeed inspired by the big handsome one. And I had to prove I could design other animals other than sheep (tho there is really nothing wrong with sheep :D)

This guy is easier to create than the sheep, in that he is created entirely of "regular" yarn, and the seaming didn't seem particularly challenging.

With some luck, I'll have a new creature added to my growing menagerie fairly regularly, but I'm not promising anything.

And in case you're wondering, the pattern is indeed up for sale in my shop.

I Love Pirates.

Amazing! I've managed to complete my pirate hat - and much more quickly than anticipated :) I think I actually finished it within a week of when it was cast on (I'm behind in my blogging, what can I say?)

Details, as usual, can be found over here (you really should read on - it's up for adoption).

It's fair to say I'm addicted to fair isle now, and am planning a 2nd Pirate Hat (mostly because the first is too small for an adult, my own fault) and I'm tempted by the Teva Durham Bias Fair Isle sweater in Loop-d-Loop.

Olympic Training?

I was all fired up to join in on the Knitting Olympics, that is, until 1) Work went to heck in a handbasket and me up to my eyeballs in taskforce meetings 2) I realized I didn't have yarn required for the project I had planned. What project was this you ask? The Teva Durham Leaf Lace Pullover. For me to complete this project while not enhancing the stash would mean mucho math. And while I'm not opposed to mathematics (I am, after all, an enginerd) my brain has been mush and not mathematics friendly of late. I could go ahead and cast on the Misti Alpaca and see about doing another Pirate Hat.

So then I thought hey - maybe I could join the Crochet Olympics instead, but then I wasn't sure what I could crochet.

What would probably do me best tho, considering the recent haul of fiber would be the Spinning Olympics, wherein I attempt to spin a bobbin a day or something like that...Of course, seeing as I only have 4 bobbins, I would have to finish off or wind off a mess of singles...

Course, I could just say I don't need this additional stress and finish off that cat bed, after all the winter won't be staying long and the cats need more furniture :P

Have you ever wondered...

How big a box is required to hold 40 lbs of fiber?

Well now you know. :P Cat and 1qt/1L Nalgene bottle included for scale.

I have not taken a photo of all the luscious fiber inside the box, mostly because it is just plain shameful. Most of the fiber is colored solids, so I can play with blending color - see the drum carder on the counter? It's out of its box...and just waiting to be loaded...

There is, of course, a bunch of solid white/ecru in there, so I can start with the hand painting...of course, this means at some point, I'm going to have to make a dye purchase. I'm hearing good things about Lanaset Dyes...and I'm a little familiar with Dharma Trading Co...but of course, I'd love to hear about other dyes. I'm ready to expand from Koolaid!

New Tricks!

I'm learning all kinds of new tricks these days!

See? Here is the beginning of my first fair isle project :) I'm considerably further than when I took these photos - I've been a bit preoccupied and haven't been the best at updating my blog :P

Anyhow, I think I'm addicted. I'm knitting two-handed (ha ha) meaning, I'm knitting with the main color in one hand and the contrast color in the other. The knitting seems to be moving along smoothly, with no puckering or pinching. We'll see how it comes out at the end. Some of the stitches aren't terribly defined - I'm not sure if it's because my tension is a little wonky or if it's because I'm knitting fingering wt yarn on US3s (I started on 4s to try to hit gauge, but things looked way too loose). The hat seems to fit (yes, I tried it on and it looked more like a hairband) but it might make the skulls look a little weird - there's plenty of stretch in the fabric, but because I'm on needles a little larger than recommended for the yarn, the floats might show thru when stretched.

Lookie Lookie! Another Finished Object! Isn't it lovely? :) In addition to learning how to knit fair isle, I learned how to install a faucet. Much mumbling, cursing, grumbling and chocolate later, it is happily installed with no leaks - and it works wonderfully! It's such an improvement over the el cheapo faucet that originally came with the house!

I've been Memed

Somehow, I got Memed. Seeing as it was interesting reading, I'll play along.

Instructions:
First: Remove the blog in the top spot from the following list and bump everyone up one place. Then add your blog to the bottom slot.
Easy enough :) Here we go.
making (nee stitch marker)
step into my thimble
scissorina
Brooklyn Handspun
Half Baked

Next: Select five people to tag:
Alrighty then, here they are:
Raquel
Chris
Amy
Another Chris
the Luscious Gracious Clan

Finally, answer the following questions:
What were you doing 9 years ago?
I was bright eyed and bushy tailed...well, figuratively speaking, of course. A total green newbie to corporate life. Eeeek! Has it been that long?!

What were you doing 6 years ago?
I was properly aged and a true cynic, looking desperately for ways out of corporate servitude (I haven't found an escape to my liking yet). I was likely also lamenting the tech stock crash.

What were you doing one hour ago?
I was watching the plumber install the new water heater * (*I should note that I am typing this entry and saving it for posting for later.....)

Name 3 movies you can't turn off if you stumble across them on television.
Any of the Lord of the Rings Series
Any Wallace and Grommit movie - including Chicken Run (even tho Wallace, nor Grommit was in the movie, it has Wallace and Grommit Feeling)
Any Pixar movie, because Pixar does wonderful work - their animation is wonderful and the storylines and presentation are fantastic :)
Thank goodness the question wasn't about what type of TV shows I get sucked into :)

Name 3 things you want to improve upon this year.
Time management
Weight management
Financial Health (I'm aiming to get out of Corporate servitude, remember?)

Name 3 things you can't live without
Fine Foods, Friends and Fiber
Wonderful Wilderness
Good Health

Name 3 things you could (live without)....
Corporate Servitude
Bureaucratic Nonsense
Bush in Office (oops, did I just let show my colors?).

Name 3 things you really like about yourself.
My curiosity to learn - nothing in particular, I just like to learn new things!
My ability to pick up new skills quickly
My ability to problem solve. I know, that sounds nerdy, but it certainly provides a fantastic sense of accomplishment!

A Chocolate Kind of Day

Being "grown up" can be such a blessing...and a curse :P Our house is starting to show signs of its age. The last couple of days have been spent learning about the joys of plumbing and spending lots of unforecast money (this after already deciding to take the plunge about getting serious with my handspinning business!) it's driven me to Chocolate.

Chocolate firmly in hand, I'm learning how to contort myself in strange ways to fit under the kitchen sink so I can replace a faucet. I even had to buy a funny looking wrench for the job! The other major plumbing fiasco has professionals coming to fix it. Lets just say it involves a dreadful odor of something burning, a tripped breaker and no hot water.

Speaking of Chocolate, I highly recommend this stuff:


Especially the peanut butter variety. It's a perfect sweet and salty combination, as proclaimed on the bag - and it's like crack terribly addictive. Anyhow, enough "resting" in front of the computer. I have chocolate a faucet to tend to.

It's Lambing Season!

Just as cute, if not cuter than the lambs I designed for Southwest Trading Company, and inspired by the little lambs I see in fields this time of year, I present my first pattern available for sale in my shop!

They are made out of SWTC yarns, mostly because those are what I have on hand these days. I have been successful in making these sheep out of other yarns and note that while the Karaoke is easier to find substitutes for, the Feather is quite unique. If you know of yarns like it, to use as a substitute, please feel free to leave a comment!

Round and Round we go...

No, you're not seeing things - those fat little slubs and coils were put there on purpose! And no, the photo doesn't do that skein justice - a closeup, and more info on what's doin' can be found here. But if you don't want to go there, I'm planning on offering up more unique yarns by way of my handspun sometime in the future. When? Not sure. Soon, I hope - I'm just having some problems figuring out how to knit, crochet, design patterns and spin all in my rather limited spare time. Does anyone have a functioning Time Turner?

Come out, Come out Wherever you are!

Apparently, this week was National De-Lurking Week!

Unfortunately, I'm slow to catch on, and the end of the week is nigh!

Please, if you are a lurker, leave me a comment - first, because I love comments, second, because if you have your blog identified in your blogger profile (or if you don't have a profile, leave your blog address instead) I happen to love seeing "who" my readers are!

If you don't feel like leaving a comment, think about leaving a pin on my Frappr Map!

If you're super motivated, do both!

I have no willpower.

I am weak. An absolute Wimp with a capitol W when it comes to yarn sales - even more so when I can get my hands on said yarn to feel it up good and proper before it goes into the shopping basket. The original intent was to purchase some yarns for spinning - or rather for plying and some yarn so I can start that Pirate Hat...

Anyhow, behold, the yarns for spinning - in their glittery glory - 5 balls of fancy yarn to use while plying - a little something to add some shimmer to my handspun goods. The white stuff is actually an iridescent glittery yarn, and the red is Flame colored Little Flowers from Crystal Palace. I couldn't resist.

Here is a small pile of yarn that is destined to become pirate hats. I figured the red and black actually matches the yarn that is called out in the pattern - the baby ull will require some futzing to get it to hit the gauge requirements. Wish I had known Adrian was going to release matching mittens, I would have picked up extra - as it is, I'm going to have to figure out what to do for the linings in the hats as I didn't get extra yarn, and I really don't have any sport weight yarn in my stash - which would be why I had to enhance the stash to get those hats done!

What's that? Oh, the blue stuff? You're right and you're terribly observant - I've broken the resolve to not stash enhance already. I couldn't help it. I've been wanting that stuff ever since I first saw it in a yarn shop - and was successful in ignoring the urge til this last round. Clicky clicky on the photo for a closeup. It's Noro Lotus, in case you're wondering, and no, I really have no idea what it's going to turn into. I might actually have to get a WPI tool so I can try to spin to match it. In addition to the hoard above, I picked up a small group of Addi Turbos (some normal addi's and some Addi Naturas) because my Phildars don't have the smoothest of joins (that, and they were included in the sale).

Last, but not least...remember what I said about being weak? Everything, and I mean *everything* in the store was on sale - that includes the item in the box...if I didn't already have a spinning wheel, it would have been a good time to buy one - I settled for a fine cloth drum carder instead. In an effort to fool myself, it's still in the box, waiting patiently in front of my wheel. (I figure I'm not really committed until I take it out of the box - then again, my wise husband inquires how I know I will like it unless I open the box - it's a catch 22, I tell you!) I intend to use it for custom blending fibers - both by way of color and fiber type. I guess I ought to get that fiber biz moving, eh? I've got to start off setting the capitol expenses!

So Spoiled!

My cats are terribly spoiled.

Here is Troy, lounging around in a catbed, created by me, expressly for him - he fills it perfectly...but I have to admit, that may simply be coincidence :D

If you're curious as to how it was done, I've posted what I recall of the process over here.

Feeling Sheepish

The tail end of last week and a good portion of the weekend was spent on increasing the size of my herd.

Incidentally, this guy is a bit different from the first group - though they do go together quite nicely.

To find out why I was busy making sheep, read on here.

Fruitastic Yarn!

Honestly, it didn't take a week for the yarn to dry...It only took a few days, but I got distracted, what with returning to work and all (what a drag, I was on such a crafty roll too!)

Anyhow, I'm fairly pleased with how it all came out. The fiber still has lingering fruit smell, and the fruity sheep smell has dissipated (thank goodness!

As usual, finished photos and more detail can be found by reading here.

Late to the Party

As I cast on for new projects in 2006, I'd like to present the last of my creations of 2005 - one for each workday between Christmas and New Years - 5 brightly colored birds to say "howdy do!" As usual, more details can be had over here.

New Year Projects have started - I've prepared the wheel for some spinning, and while I wait for the local yarn shop sale this weekend (so I can finally cast on for that Pirate Hat), I have decided to make a dent in my stash and cast on for the Kitty Pi Bed. The Kitty is pleased, every time I lay that project on the floor, she is immediately sitting on top of it :) Hopefully she'll love it just as much once it's felted!

Looking Backwards and Forwards

2005 was a fantastic year - especially when it comes to crafting and "meeting" all kinds of new people when it comes to blogs!

Accomplishments in 2005 included:
Learning how to spin, on both a spindle and a wheel
Learning how to crochet
Plenty of new knitting techniques - including reading charts, knitting lace, ditching dpns to knit socks from the toe up and the cuff down, and learning to cable without a cable needle!
Finished objects were numerous (I'm actually quite surprised, since it really didn't seem like I was finishing much of anything at the time!), and included:
1 long sleeved shrug
1 cardigan (hooray, Ribby!)
various baby gifts, including 2 pairs of baby booties, a matching sweater and hat, and a pinafore
3 works of lace
numerous scarves
a rather neat menagerie of creatures
a felted bag, a photo of which appeared in Creative Knitting
a fancy tank
and finally, some Cabled Goodness in two varieties

This year, I hope for lots of things - I hope for continued and new friendships, good health, plenty of creativity, and the time management skills to be able to do it all ;) . With cabling and sock knitting down, my next task is to conquer color knitting :) Other fiber pursuits include massive stash reduction, getting my fiber business off the ground, and learning how to turn out a spectacular supercoil. I have plenty of other hopes that are non-fiber related too, but those seem rather mundane - from improving my health and fitness, to learning to live more simply and with less stuff and all kinds of things in between.

I don't know what it is about the beginning of a new year - either time time away from work has been particularly energizing, or it's just the mental thing of starting anew - whatever it is, I'm liking it, and I hope to remain energized for quite some time!

Ringing in the New Year!

A Bell to Ring in the New Year!

Before I get too far in this post, I want to wish you all a very Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year!

All kinds of creatures wear bells...

Any idea what might be sporting this bell?

If I had been more on top of things, I might have ordered some fancy ones to remind me of my trip to the Swiss Alps, where in addition to the melodic lowing and bleating one could hear the sounds of all kinds of bells as the herd moved on the hillsides.

Anyhow, for more info (and a photo) of the creature(s) wearing this bell, click here!