Catch Up
I have not blogged in a long time. Booo me. In this post I will attempt to redeem myself for my extended absence.
I told you about the new wheel in my last post. That was plenty distracting, but then, Santa brought me this for Christmas (thanks Santa!):
That is a brand new drum carder! So, all my free time has been spent carding batts and spinning yarn. Here is a big box of yummy fibers, mmmmm fiber:
Here is a batt that I carded (it has a little bit of sparkle in it):
And here is the yarn that I spun from the fiber I carded:
This is not to say that I don’t have any FOs. I recently completed a pair of plain old socks in a most fantastic sock yarn:
This is sKNITches self striping yarn - Syncopation, in color way Planetary. It is fantastic I tell you!
Here is yet another FO! For Christmas, my father requested a Navy Watch Cap. Something simple and traditional in a true navy color. Well, wouldn’t you know it, but I found a pattern from 1941 in the Red Cross Knitting Museum. Papa was quite content with his hat. Here is carving the turkey:
I knit this using good old Cascade 220. If you haven’t seen the Red Cross patterns before, they’re well worth a look.
Can’t Blog, Spinning
Ooooh, I got this Wheel, and now I can’t stop spinning:
I am a very lucky girl, because I live in Maine and was able to make a pilgrimage down to Lisbon where I met Ms. Amy of Spunky Eclectic, and admired her new store and bought lots of stuff:
(Aztec Colorway- %20 Silk, %80 Merino)
It turned into this: (can you believe it!)
And here’s even more yarn- this is spun from Spunky’s Dogwood colorway:
There’s lots more to tell you about my new spinning addiction. In fact, these photos are a couple of weeks old. Since these photos were taken, I have enhanced my fiber stash at least half a dozen more times, spun up a bunch more yarn, and I may have purchased an entire raw fleece. Ok, I definitely purchased and entire raw fleece. And hand carders. You may never hear from me again….
Oh the horror…..
As suggested by Wheat I took the “What Kind of Yarn are You” quiz. This is the first time I’ve been tempted to take one of these quizes, and I guess I figured I’d turn out to be Cashmere, or at least BFL. The results were unexpected **shudder**.
Thanks SP 10 Buddy!!!
Yay Leslie!!! My SP 10 buddy revealed herself with her last package, and I just wanted to say thanks!
My pal is Leslie of quenouille . She sent me a very fiber-licious package that contained a whole bunch of fiber for spinning, my very own spindle, instructional leaflets….and, oh yeah - I almost forgot, in all my excitement, sock yarn.
Did you here that, I almost forgot about the SOCK YARN. That is how fantastic this spinning package is. Behold:
Leslie also included a wonderful letter explaining all about the different fibers. The fibers are:
Cream Wool: Corriedale fiber, which Leslie suggested starting with
Dark Brown: Llama mixed with Wool
Grey: Wool with Mohair
Green: Merino and Tencel
Dark Blue: Pure Merino
Dark Red: Merino
Bright Wite: Ingeo, made from Corn Sugars (crazy!)
Here is a closeup of the spindle:
and here is my first yarn (don’t laugh):
I really love this spindle. I’ve tried spinning before, with a heavier drop spindle, and just didn’t have much luck. With this fabulous package and my buddies invaluable words of wisdom, I’ve been spinning up a storm.
I just can’t thank her enough for such a wonderful present and all the thought that went into it. One of the most valuable things she gave me is a letter full of hints and tips and resources for starting to spin. I fear it won’t be long before I have a spinning wheel in my living room and a sheep grazing on my lawn.
Once again - You Rock Leslie!
Garden Sunday
and….Garden Harvest!!!!
Here’s a flickr set of all the garden details.
Yay! Secret Pal Reveal.
Yes, I know that all you over-achievers out there probably wrapped up your SP exchanges 10 days ago if not more. I am a Procrastinator of the Highest Degree, and so my poor Secret Pal just got her last package today. So, now it is time for the official reveal…..
….drum roll please…..may I present Nichole of Lapdog Creations. I have been having so much fun following her blog and thinking up things to send her. She does great work for animal rescue. She has been a foster mom to no less than three dogs since SP10 began. She is also well on her way to a fabulous donation goal to the ASPCA. Yay Nichole!
I also deeply admire the Footsie she FO’d and am Jealous that she got to learn how to dye Yarn with the Cherry Tree Hill folks.
So without further ado, finally my dog Zoe can say a big hello to Zeus, Teutul and Lola:
My First Sweater
I am going to knit a sweater. I knit a little vest for my nephew once…but I think that’s the biggest knitting project I’ve ever undertaken so far.
For this monumental advancement in my knitting, I’ve chosen Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Seamless Yoke Sweater - very sensible. I’m following the instructions from the Knitting Workshop book.
Since this is my first sweater, I didn’t want to splurge too much on the yarn. There is always the possibility that Things Will Not Turn Out Well. So, I purchased Knit Picks: Wool of the Andes yarn- also very sensible. I chose ‘Chocolate’ as the main color for the body and sleeves, and so far it’s turning out to be a very pleasant yarn to work with. I also bought a few balls of ‘Cranberry’, ‘Fern’, ‘Pumpkin’ and ‘Cloud’ for the Fair Isle portion of the sweater, but now I’m thinking that these colors are a little to autumn-y. Luckily, I have plenty of time before I get to the yoke of the sweater and need to make a decision on color.
Here are a few shots of the stash enhancement, and the sweater progress so far:
Garden Sunday
Garden Sunday
Uptown Boot Socks and Priorities
I present to you, a finished object!
Uptown Boot Socks from Interweave knits…this pattern is included in their Favorite Socks book. It was a very easy cabled pattern, which looks much fancier than it really is. This is the first patterned sock I’ve ever worked on, and just because I’m a glutton for punishment, I decided to work it on two circular needles….a technique also being tried for the first time.
I made it through just fine, and I think the socks on two circs method is a good match for such a simple pattern. I have to admit though, I went back to dpns as soon as these socks were finished, and I haven’t looked back.
I knit these using yarn from Carlisle Brook Farm in Alfred, Maine. This has been my favorite sock yarn for sometime now, and I used to be able to get at my LYS in Bar Harbor (Bee’s Yarn and Candy).
On my last trip to Bee’s the proprietress informed me that Carlisle Brook Farm seemed to have dropped off the face of the planet and were no longer answering the phone or responding to emails. Needless to say, I had to buy all of the yarn she had left in stock.
In the event of an emergency that would force us to live off of stock piled canned goods and bottled water, we wouldn’t make it to the end of the week. We would, however, be able to knit until the end of the century. Priorities.
P.S. If anyone out there knows of a source for Carlisle Brook Farm yarn, I’d love to hear from you. Tips may be left anonymously, and I’m offering your choice of stitch markers as a reward for information leading to stash enhancement.