Eleanor Wears Cashmere May 31, 2011

One day at work a package arrived filled with the most amazingly soft yarn, Miss Babs Sojourn (65% cashmere and 45% silk). In it was one skein (their last skein) of a color called Mystery Mine. Although there were threats of hair pulling and mud wrestling, I came out victorious! The skein was mine! I loved it so much I wound it by hand instead of using the ball winder.

It was 200 yards of fingering weight heaven that I knew I needed to make an item that would be close to the skin. The Eleanor cowl from Knitty was the perfect solution, especially since I love lace.

Last night I bound off and this morning I seamed it. If it wasn’t going to be 93 degrees today, I’d wear it all day.

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.

Malabrigo, You’ve broken my heart. July 11, 2010

I used to love Malabrigo Sock yarn. I could have written sonnets about my love for the Malabrigo at one time. The colors are amazing and the softness, *swoon*, but…..

I had an incident last fall with my blackrose socks. I knit them with no problems, wore them three times then discovered a hole in them. I shrugged it off as a fluke, frogged them and put the yarn in my sock yarn bin to be reknit into another pair of socks. There wasn’t a reason for the hole, I hadn’t snagged them on anything. I had hand washed them because they were a dark color and I wanted to make sure they wouldn’t bleed before I ventured into tossing them into the washer. After today’s incident, I know that it wasn’t a fluke at all.

Today, I tried to wind another malabrigo sock yarn into a ball so I can test knit a sock for a friend. I noticed when I put it on the swift that there were more than the usual number of ends just dangling, and they weren’t tied to anything. Still I was hopeful. I’ve seen large yardage skeins that have breaks and I was willing to work with that since this yarn is my favorite color.

Then I started winding it. *sigh* I ended up with 15 different pieces. One large ball, that I’m really leery of using, and a whole bunch of little bits that range from small balls to strings about a yard long. It was simply falling apart as the winder tugged on it. The tension on the yarn will be stronger when I knit it than what the winder was putting on it and I’m afraid the sock will disintegrate as I’m knitting it. Unfortunately, I’m on both a time and budget limit so I will be using the largest ball to test knit the sock. *fingers crossed* I hope it holds together long enough to take the photo.

Malabrigo, you no longer hold my heart. In fact, I’ll likely never buy your sock yarn again. Lace on the other hand…. well, I still love you.

EDIT: Just to answer a few questions that have come up about the yarn. I purchased it just a few days after it arrived at the shop. I brought it home and stored it in a Rubbermaid container with the rest of my yarns (which have had no issues) and it was stored with moth deterring things like lavender sachets and cedar balls. I haven’t had any issues with moths at my home but keep my yarns stored this way just in case.

2nd EDIT: I have been in contact with an intern for Malabrigo and she is willing to see if a replacement can be sent to me. I may be able to love Malabrigo Sock again.

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.

Yarn Destash! June 14, 2010

All yarn and buying info can be found on my Raverly destash page. If you’re not on Ravelry, send me an email: paperkittyblog[at]gmail[dot]com

1. Yarn Destash – Soleil, 2. Yarn Destash – Soleil, 3. Yarn Destash – Soleil, 4. Yarn Destash – Fibranatura Sea Song, 5. Yarn Destash – Caron Black Magic, 6. Yarn Destash – Lion Brand Magic Stripes, 7. Yarn Destash – Knit Picks Shamrock, 8. Yarn Destash – Wisdom Yarns Endurance Socks, 9. Yarn Destash – Knit Picks WOA Bulky Spumoni , 10. Yarn Destash – Classic Elite Montera

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys

Friday FO’s June 11, 2010

I finished the Chopstick Socks and I am in LOVE with this pattern. I’ll definitely be making several more since I have a good stock of hand painted sock yarn.

I also finished the Murder Mystery SAL.

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.

How Does Your Garden Grow? June 1, 2010

Notice I left out the “Monday” part of that title… because yes, it is again Tuesday and I’m posting. I have a good excuse though. We did a lot of house work this weekend and basically rearranged the entire house. We have a much bigger den and reclaimed a closet. Here’s the start of my yarn decorating in my corner of the den.

I ran out of clips or there would be much more yarn hanging there. I’m also leaving some room to add more hand spun yarn when I finish them.

Ok, on to the plants….

The pumpkins have more than doubled in size this week. I love when they start getting the little curly bits.

The oregano has taken over the front half of this flower box.

The roses are beginning to fade but the bush still looks wonderful.

We had several big storms the past few days and this is what it did to my peonies.

Friday FO’s May 21, 2010

I recently made another Ishbel shawl in the larger size. I made it in Alpaca Prima in a pretty heather brick red.

This was the last yarn I spun on a spindle. The fiber came from Cindy of Studioloo in my Monty Python swap package. I love the bright colors!

This Cranberry beauty is what I spun on Willow during an eight hour Dr. Who marathon on Sunday. 157 yards, 2 ply, wool but not sure what kind. Looks to be near sport weight.