Worless Because I Have No Time

Here's some pretty pictures. I'll update with the actual news that goes with it later. Apparently, I am incapable of a wordless post!


Creatively Dyed yarn - quickly becoming the Whisper Cardigan - this will be my summer sweater to fend off the air-conditioning!

Holy-crap my bobbin broke! WHILE I was plying some yummy yarn! ARG!!!

Cool fiber I got at the Yarn Party that has sari threads carded in - it's called Confetti. I plan to spin, then dye this - fun, fun!!!


Alpaca from an animal named Gracie - the owners are so nice - I'll post on their farm and animals later this spring, after I make a visit!


First installment of the Intention Yarns yarn club. Things are a bit wonky getting the club off the ground, but the yarn is nice. They will become Monkey socks (finally!).


Pictures of some fiber from a fiber-study group. I've got one ounce of about 11 different fibers. This is Border Leicester, and I love the natural color. Washed, but not carded or spun as of yet. I wanted to have another washed and ready to go for when I'm prepared to deal with it.



The first two skeins of Corredale that I'm spinning up - it actually goes right along with one of the PS 4 themes - "north" since half of this fiber is from my trip to Canada this past summer. I'm plying that fiber with a lighter colored corriedale that I got locally at Cloverhill, and it's turning out wonderfully. A study in spinning, too - because I'm doing long draw with one strand, and short forward with the other. Interesting!

:O)

OWWWWWWWCCCCHHH!

I started a new exercise class tonight.

I am sore NOW.

I was sore when class ended.

Pray I can get out of bed in the morning.

:O)

P.S. - Laugh not, dear sister. When you get home, you're coming to class WITH me!

Time Keeps on Spinnin'

That's what it's been like around here these days.

I spin more than I knit.

Funny.

I think it's because I don't seem to muck up my spinning quite as much as my knitting, and if I do, I just run with it, where as when I muck up knitting, I have to take it out and then reknit. Blech. I HATE reknitting!

There have been some successes, though:

This lil' bunny was a great model for the Baby Surprise Jacket I gifted to a friend/coworker. I am VERY happy with the BSJ. I tried my best to muck it up, but it came out nearly perfect anyway!!

Now, I want to spin the yarn to make more! Stay tuned, I guarantee it WILL happen!

I've also been staying busy with work, of course, and doing a lot of Ravelry lately.

I joined this group that promised to help me use up my spinning scraps (so, at this point, I don't really have "scraps" but more like unused bits. I dug through the stash a bit, got out my hand cards, made rolags, and wound up with 81 yards of a really cool worsted weight yarn.



It's a huge skein of worsted weight sized yarn - I meant to get that big a skein and have it be only 81 yards? The yarn's a pretty good size!

I'm thinking this might need to be a periodic project - yearly? 6 months?? It was fun, and let me see the differences in the different fibers I was spinning as I came to them in the rolags. Very cool.

I've also been working on and considering some Project Spectrum 4 adventures. I started out by spinning up some meriono/tussah gorgeousness that I had been given in a swap (see why I stopped swapping so much? - I forget who gave it to me!). It was BEAUTIFUL to spin. I plied it with some silk hankies that coordinated, for a peach and green skein of lovelieness:

Then, I spun up a some "Olive Grove" Faulkland from Spritely Goods. That was wonderful, too. I spun it with a 'short forward draw' instead of long-draw, which I'm becoming accustomed to, so it was a nice change. It went by way too quickly, and now I'm wondering what to do with it. It all fit nicely onto one bobbin, but now I'd like to ply it together (it's a rather thin, underplied single to use by itself) for a 2-ply. I'm NOT going to be silly enough to try the navajo on this fiber since I mucked that up pretty badly the first time, so i'm wondering how to get it to be a plied yarn! Maybe winding it into a cake, then plying by using the outside and inside of the cake. . . hmmm. I'll post pics when I've plied and finished.

The next PS4 project I'll work on/finish is the Corriedale I picked up in Canada this past Summer. I visited several yarn shops, and got fiber at each. I don't remember where I got this particular bag of fiber, but it was in Canada, which is "north" of me, so fits in with PS4's cardinal directions bit.

:O)

Due North.

Yesterday, Project Spectrum started another round of inspiration. This round, the focus is on the Cardinal Directions and the elements and colors that go along with them. Up first? North, green, earth, gemstones, and Winter.

Yesterday, I kicked of PS by spinning up some Merino/Silk Tussah in a lovely green blend. It's very pretty, and it's what I plan to ply the silk from yesterday's post with.

Annnnnnnnnddddddddddddd. . .

Since this

is due North at my house this morning, I plan to do just that with my 2nd snow day of the year.

Those of you who are teachers (or family members), will recall that this also means my Summer break is shortened by two days as well now. Argh. Maybe spinning will help me forget!

How's YOUR day going??

:O)

Paid!

A while ago, I wrote something for a teeny, tiny commission. This past week, the goody I purchased with the commission came in. Looks like fun to me!!!

Silk hankies from Shunklies ETSY store.



Here's the box I'm storing the project in. On the left, you see the dyed hankies - she did a wonderful job! To the right, you see the "roving" made from pulling the hankies apart. It's now waiting to be plied with some merino/tussah I'm spinning as part of Project Spectrum. Yum!

I'm liking the idea of spinning the hankies. I'm a big fan of Rexenne at YouTube, who has great tutorial videos for spinning, and of course, she's got a good one for spinning and preparing silk hankies!! She actually plies the drafted "roving" directly with an already spun single of another fiber for an interesting yarn. Great idea.

I plan to see how it goes with spinning/plying in this way, then possibly getting my hands on some undeyed ones to spin and dye with! Since this is a Project Spectrum undertaking, I'm hoping there will be progress shots and updates here in a timely fashion.

First, however, I need to get "Michelle" off the bobbins on my wheel. I plan to ply this afternoon. "Michelle" is the name I've given to my purple spinning project from the Creatively Dyed fiber I've been working with. I was spinning some rolags from the fiber the other night when I was watching the President address congress, and noticed - again - that the first lady really likes the color purple. So, the resulting yarn is now "Michelle." She will probably be knit up into the Mistake-Rib vest I've been coveting out of Dsigner One Skein. I think I'll have enough, and that the two skeins are similarly weighted. I think.

And, while we're talking about the Obamas - I met my first little Barak yesterday. He's 7 months old and very cute. Remember the cartoon? Yup. It's coming!

Other than that, I am continuing to screw up my knitwear - there's something to be said about consistency!!! I "finished" Frances last night. Or so I thought. I completed the directions according to what I believed the instructions said. Apparently, English is NOT my native language. I knit the neck inside out. Argh.

Well, now I have a baby shower gift to knit, so it'll probably have to wait until I'm finished with that before I have the heart to rip it out and knit the neck again. Argh - again!


Gratuitous shot of the Briar Rose BFL I bought because I just couldn't stand it!!

I'm off to fin the dummy instructions for the Baby Surprise Jacket - we don't need any 'surprises' with this knit, too! - and to watch the snow fall and hope it gets pretty outside, but not so pretty that school is closed tomorrow. Delay only, Mother Nature, delay only!!!

:O)