I have some yarns that are lovely, but they just don’t jive with me anymore. They need to come live with you! You can check out my destash page on Ravelry to see what I have for sale.
Poodle Skirt Lace August 29, 2010
Approx 765 yards of lace weight. Spun from Scarlet Fleece – Wool Paint in Poodle Skirt.
Fly By Post… August 25, 2010
First of all, I LOVE my new job. L.O.V.E. I’m starting to adjust to the new schedule too, which means I may be able to get back to blogging regularly soon. Also, I love that I get to see my family much more now. I’ve been alternating having lunch with my mom and lunch with my dad & grandma on my days off. I’m also starting to exercise in the mornings before I leave for work. Now that the heat has broke for awhile, I’ve been able to get out and walk again.
Ok, now on to the post…
Between adjusting to the new schedule and the sun trying to slow roast us for over 3 months, my plants aren’t doing so well. My oregano cannot be stopped though. The “apple bush” was loaded this year and the rose bush keeps randomly blooming one or two blooms. But, I seem to have been infested with lady bugs. I had a small pumpkin on the porch that was nearly devoured by them in a matter of days. They ate the honey dew plant just as it was about to bloom and they ate all the pumpkin vine and I’m assuming the rest of the pumpkins are going to receive the same fate.
Right now I have 3 really large pumpkins (larger than basket balls) but their stalks have been the entry point for bugs. This saddens me because, although I don’t eat the pumpkins, I do use them as my yearly jack-o-lanterns and I don’t expect these three to make it until the end of October. You can see in the photo of pumpkin #2 the hole near the stalk where bugs are coming and going.
I did have a random bush of poke berries sprout up near the pumpkins. I’m assuming that this was a gift from above (aka bird droppings LOL) since there aren’t any poke bushes near my house. When these ripen, I’m going to use them for some natural dying.
I’m still working through my Wild Thing fleece and last week I picked up another fleece that is a Dorset mix breed. I washed up a small sample of it and it is a lovely butter color and is pretty soft. I can’t wait to start washing it up too.
This is some of Wild Thing drying on the porch today. It’s not completely clean but what is left will come out when I card it.
I haven’t been doing much personal knitting lately but I have been working on a whole bunch of stuff for the shop. I designed this crochet stole/scarf as a pattern that is available with purchase of the yarn. I made it from one skein of sock yarn.
I’ve also been doing a whole lot of spinning. I spun CJ Kopec’s Indian Corn as part of the August SAL. When I split it in half, I thought I had gotten it pretty equal but I ended up with a whole bunch left on one bobbin after I plyed it. I spun up some black alpaca to ply with what was left. The two yarns I ended up with, I’m calling Withes Brew (which is photoed with the small pumpkin pre-lady bug infestation) and Bubble Bubble Toil & Trouble.
Right now, I’m spinning Poodle Skirt by Scarlet Fleece, crocheting a doily for my grandma, knitting two sweaters, a pair of socks, a shawl, a large tote bag, and I have some other things I’ve had to put on stitch holders like the Nightingale socks and the second La Vie de Bois sock. Also, I started buying yarn for my Christmas knitting/crocheting. I swore I wasn’t going to do it but, I came up with some really great projects and I’m starting early. I just hope the gifts are appreciated this year… sometimes I wonder if they are or not.
Wednesday WIP’s June 16, 2010
Sunday I started spinning CJ Kopec’s Jester (2/3 merino and 1/3 colonial). It is incredibly soft and practically spins itself.
Monday I went stash diving and came up with a bunch of destash yarn and some other yarns that I want to knit but have been hanging around for awhile.
I cast on the Dandy Neckerchief in Summer Linen which is a cotton & linen blend. It’s been great to knit with since the summer has certainly arrived. It’s been far too hot to knit wool.
I also cast on a blanket in Cherry Tree Hill cotton/rayon bouclé in the colorway Winterberry. I have four 440 yard – 8 oz skeins. It’s not something I would make a garment out of so he only thing I could imagine making was a blanket. I love the colors! It’s basically a giant Grandma’s Favorite Dishcloth.
Wednesday WIP’s June 9, 2010
Not much on the needles this week. A pair of plain vanilla socks made out of Intentions yarn in Courage. The Nightingale socks haven’t been touched since last week.
A few weeks ago I was asked to be a demonstrator at the local 4-H center. I was an avid 4-H’er so I checked my schedule and said a quick yes! Last night I gave four 15 minute demonstrations on drop spindling and a speech on where yarn comes from. I was pleasantly surpised that the kids were interested and asked really good questions. My biggest surprise was the interest the little boys took in spinning. I got a few really good kid comments that made me giggle. I had the kids name off animals they thought would be good for making yarn from their from and one little boy insisted that elephant hair would be great. At least one kid in each group asked if you could spin and make a sweater out of cotton candy because that is what the wool looks like. I had a wonderful time and I think the kids did too.
Lazy Blog Video #1 June 5, 2010
Ok, I had a big weekend and I didn’t want to type it all out so I recorded a video. Sorry about the bad edits and barking dog.
Edit: BTW, I said that the Scarlet Fleece did not have a colorway listed, I found it and it is called Poodle Skirt 100% Australian Wool Top 4 oz.
Edit #2: Also, I didn’t post yesterday’s Friday FO’s so I’m adding it at the bottom of this post since I’m wearing the FO in the video.
I finally finished the Tappan Zee!
After reading comments on other Rav project pages that the sweater comes out a bit on the small side, I opted to make it two sizes up. I like the way it fits and I’m in love with the buttons. I made it in Brown Sheep Nature Spun Sport in the colorway Roasted Coffee. It took five skeins and I have about a quarter of the last skein left.
Thoughts Dump Post April 21, 2010
To elaborate more on the 10k Hours project that I talked about in the last post, I stated that I wanted to “do one creative thing a day”. That is somewhat vague. What I mean is: I didn’t want to say I’ll be binding books for 10k Hours because there is so much more to it than just stitching paper together. There are so many things that I am incorporating that I would have felt very boxed in by that statement. As, I have said before, I am no longer going to just make pretty journals. Not that I won’t make journals but that is not my focus anymore. What I will be making will likely be a piece of “art” and not a functional/useable book. I am not limiting myself to techniques on paper either. I do so many things that I do not want to just say something like “No, quilting, you don’t have a place here” because I can incorporate it into a book (and have big plans to do so). So, that is why I’m saying that I’m going to do one creative thing a day. They will all (most likely) be associated/incorporated into a book because that is what I want in life, to be a Book Artist.
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Yesterday, I took my camera along with me on my afternoon walk around town. The day before a gorgeous pink tree caught my eye (and nose) so I *needed* to take a photo of it. I wish I could bottle up the scent too. I don’t have a clue what kind of tree it is but I would love to have one in my yard.
I also snapped a few photos of the lilac bush outside my office and the churchyard gate across the street.
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I finished knitting the April Fools Socks that is the April pattern for the Star Athena Sock Pattern Club. This sock was fun! All that is left is to snip the scrap yarn and bind off. They look so cool that I just want to keep them together for a few days.
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The Everyday Adventures class started on Monday. I’ve had so much fun thinking about my surroundings in a different way and documenting them. I haven’t finished the first few assignments yet but I’m working on them. I’ll post photos of them sometime soon. This is the Goggles of Enhanced Perception which was the preclass assignment. I had so much fun making them.
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April 9th & 10th there was an event at the Southwest Virginia Community College called Minds Wide Open Celebrating Women In Art that focused on the women of Tazewell County that are artists and makers and supporters of the arts. I had two pieces in the gallery and I did a bookbinding demo on Saturday afternoon. Before I went to the event I spent the morning at Thistle Cove Farm’s Sheep Shearing day and some little *Wild Thing* followed me home. I had so much fun and got to spend the morning with wonderful women that I love dearly. You can spot a photo of me on Sandra’s blog, I’m wearing my favorite green hat (photo #5).
There was a giant sigh of relief on April 16th. Tax season is finally over. Me & the hub cleaned the house from top to bottom. I started cleaning out my studio and already have a bunch of supplies that I want to get rid of. I also started cleaning the second batch of the fleece. I carded the first batch and it is so pretty. I’m torn between dying it first and then spinning it or spinning it then dying it. I’m not sure what color(s) yet either. I’m leaning toward spinning it first so I’ll know how much yardage I have, then picking a project to make (hopefully a sweater) and then dying it. That’s a long way off though, I’m on batch #2 and the bag is still overflowing.
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I’ve had great mail all week. Monday, I got the Intentions Yarns in Courage from The Loopy Ewe. Yesterday, I finally got my package from Jlist (things take forever to get here from Japan) which was full of Bento goodness.
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I’ve been meaning to post the flowers in bloom around my house.
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I’ll leave you with a photo of a very happy Raisin.
Friday FO’s March 5, 2010
I finally finished the Whisper Cardigan from Interweave Knits Spring 2009. I cast the thing on at the beginning of October and it remained in my knitting bag/purse since. I knit it out of Malabrigo Lace in Black Forest. I love the colorway. It appears to be a nearly solid dark color but there are actually nice bits of green and lavender in it. I bought three skeins to knit it but I only needed two.
I also finished spinning the Cloudlover roving called Nothing Gold that I bought at A Novel Yarn. It was fantastic to spin. I’ve left it as singles and it is approximately 300 yards of a sport weight. I’m hoping to make another Ishbel from it but I’m not sure the yardage will stretch that far.
Wednesday WIP’s March 3, 2010
Since beginning my yarn diet, I’ve discovered that I’m much more of a monogamous knitter and I’m trying to finish up some projects that have been lingering in the bin for a bit too long. I’ve mainly been working on the Bulky Asymmetric Cardigan. I’ve knit through the body portion and I’m ready to begin the sleeves.
I’ve also picked up my afghan again. I was surprised at how little work was left to do. In two evenings, I attached what was left of the hexagons and now all that is left to do is weave in the ends and crochet the border. I’ve been working on it while taking a break from the sweater.
I have a pair of socks that I keep in my desk drawer at the office that I’m also working on. They are going so slowly because I’m knitting them on Size 0 needles but it’s nice mindless knitting when I get burned out crunching numbers. They’re made from lane cervinia in gray tones. Sorry, there’s no photo; I didn’t have my camera at the office today. I’ve also been hauling around the yarn to finish my cthuluh but I just haven’t worked on it lately (no photo of that either).
I’m also spinning some wonderfully happy colored roving that my Monty Python swap partner (Studioloo) sent me. I’m about half way through the bump. I’m hoping to learn how to Navajo ply with it so I can keep the color progressions the way they are.
I spent last weekend organizing my fiber stash. I was surprised that I didn’t have as much spinning fiber as I thought I did. I sorted the yarn into three categories: sock yarn, yarn that I have a project in mind for, and yarn that is for charity knitting. My plan is to knit through the project specific yarn before buying any more yarn and knit at least one item per month to send to a charity. I’ve been looking around Ravelry and a few other websites to find charities that I can send my items to. This has proven to be a bit more difficult that I had anticipated. Most of my yarn is wool or wool blends but most of the I’ve found charities want acrylic or washable fibers. Luckily, after much searching, I found a charity that only wants wool items. I do have a few skeins of acrylic hanging around so I can send a few items to other charities too. If you know of any really awesome charities that accept finished items please let me know.
Lots of new wooly goodness February 7, 2010
I’m on the team L&V challenge and made this as a part of the pre-challenge KAL. Made in STR Med. Christmas Balls.
I had left over yarn so I made a pair of fingerless mitts to match them.
I ended up making a second pair of mitts out of some other left over yarn.
I spent last week knitting this shawl.
I’ve also been spinning. This is 4 oz, approx 100 yds, of BFL called Soot from Miss Babs.
I also plyed this merino called Sherbet. I have a little less than half of the roving left to spin still.
I also had this little mini skein left over.
I was part of a ravelry swap that was monty python themed. I made a market bag, knight with shrubbery and a “Confuse-A-Cat” set that includes a baby killer rabbit that all went along with a bunch of other goodies.
The Sylvi coat ran into some blocking problems so it’s still in the works. I’m also working on a cardigan and I’m still working on the Whisper Cardigan.
