Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Sorry, just haven't felt like blogging lately. Hopefully soon.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Ok so you Guessed!

My mom called me and she knew what it was right away. So I guess she'll get some socks for a gift (Wow that never happens!)

It's a new yarn swift just for me. My husband contacted LadybugKnitter BEHIND MY BACK to get me one! Then he brought it home and painted it. Well then he put it in his truck so he could drop it off for the final assembling (like after the paint job) and it got hot and the paint welded together and bubbled up and stuff. Whoops. Poor guy he was disappointed. I'm not though. I got an awesome new swift!

Here's the web address of the builder. You gotta get one of these! I'll have a photo of the whole thing as soon as he finishes repainting the pegs. It is SUHWEET!

http://www.hornshawwoodworks.com/

I also did some spinning. This superwash that I spun up. It used to be this.
Pep O Mint Superwash

Now it's this! 416 yds
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It's for socks. FOR ME DANGIT!!!

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Oh my, whatever could it be?

I wonder if anybody can guess what this is?
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If you've read me a bit, you know I am a bit partial (ok a crapload partial) to sparklies, particularly if they come with pink, purple, or red. Hubby painted this in purple sparkle for me.

Any guesses?

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Bad Blogger!!

I know, I've been slacking! Allergies and busy schedules are currently more important than blogging. Can you imagine? Yeah me neither.

I know what you're all thinking, shut up and show us some pictures already. I have a few of Friday Night at City Knitting.

This is a 13 year old knitter that was there (I'm not giving his name out duh!) He knitted an itty bitty Remy from Ratatouille. Cute right?
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This is Lakeside Knitter and Hyjinx. The rode from the Holland Knitting group we have. I didn't get a picture of CoggieTM. Sorry!!
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I had a great time, but didn't end up bringing my wheel. I was concerned about having enough room in the trunk for all our chairs and our snacks. Turns out I needn't have worried. There was plenty of room back there.

I dyed some fiber Saturday night with my DSD Number 4. We put it outside on the drying stand my mom is letting me borrow to dry on Sunday.
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Two batches are tan Shetland. One has dark green, olive green and copper added, but some left the natural tan also. I was trying to go in a camo direction. The other Shetland batch has some burgundy added to the natural tan. I love how it turned out. The white base one has burgundy, pink and purple spots (can't wait to spin this of course) and it's white superwash from Sheep Shed Studios. The yellow in the back was some saffron superwash that was tucked in with the superwash order (or so Ladybug Knitter tells me) I encouraged number 4 to experiment so she picked two colors to add to the base saffron color and dyed it herself.

Last for today, I finished the first pair of socks from the demon possessed, growing, gray polypay. While I was spinning it, I swear that ball of roving GREW!!

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Good lookin' right? I used a turkish Cast-On and knit my beloved Fleegle's Toe-Up sock pattern. Those fit the Chief's fit wonderfully. The socks weight just over 2 oz. That means I will probably get THREE pairs out of the 8 ounces I spun up (is that right? spun up?) Spunneded? Spinned? hmmm. At least all that spinning wasn't for just one pair. That would be a bigggggggggg bummer.

Hey pssst. I got a surprise to show tomorrow too. Better come back ya'll.

Friday, April 18, 2008

Sunshine, Pure Laziness and Fun

We've had sun and warm temps for a few days. Wow, I can't tell you how good it is to get outdoors in a Tshirt! I even saw capri pants today. Shame on the dumbass wearer (and yes I do know her. She's a mom at number 5's school and she IS a big dumbass) for wearing white capris in April. My mom came with me to drop of lunch for number five.

Never fear, the earthquake didn't even wake us so apparently it couldn't have been much of a shake.

I've been spinning more Suffolk. I'm pretty sure that's what it is. I really have to tease it apart to spin it but it's been so worth it and it makes a really nice sock yarn. I don't think I would like a sweater made of this unless it was more like an outerwear thing, but socks are turning out beautifully.

Here is the spinning for the second batch of this wool.
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I was too lazy to take my Mystic Light off the needles and stretch it for a photo. Sorry! Clue number 4 is almost complete and unless the last clue is like five rows, I will definitely run out of yarn. I don't know how that happened because I had about 100 yds more than the pattern was supposed to take, but I did go up a needle size, so maybe that's why. Here it is in a big jumble. Impressive right?
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Well it WILL be when it's all done and blocked. The silk is really pretty and red and warm and I'm not sure what I'll do with this shawl when it's completed. There is patterned knitting on the back (which is new for me) and I struggled a bit with it at first, but then I got the hang of it and what it was doing to the pattern and now I'm fine.

I'm also working on a pair of heavy socks made of the blue handdyed Shetland. This is the second batch I dyed. Because I don't know how much yarn I have left, I wound it into one big cake, knit one sock foot on the center pull part and now I'm knitting the second sock foot from the tail on the outside. I figured I'll switch back and forth and knit a few rows of rib on each until I run out of yarn. That explanation probably didn't make sense, but basically I'm knitting a sock from either end to make sure I use up ALLLLLLL my handspun. That shit's like gold to a spinner.
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Late Night Yarn Party tonight! I'm going to stop and pick up caffeine on the way so I can make it until midnight! I'm also bringing the little cheesecake squares. I watched Maria Shriver on Oprah the other day and have resolved to make an effort to stop feeling like a failure if I'm not Martha Stewart. Those little cheesecake thingies are as yummy as anything I could make myself and all I have to do is plunk down my money and they're done! And i'm NOT a failure. Shutup Aholes.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

I'm not funny today

things are just rolling along in a blur. I've been spinning! I finished the Lemonade Stand BFL that I handdyed. It turned out to be a light fingering and I cannot WAIT to knit a pair of patterned socks out of it. Most of my handspuns are so wild colorwise that patterns get lost, but I think this yarn will be perfect for a pair of monkeys or hederas.



I also finished two skeins of the Hydrangea handspun. It's Navaho plied. I can't remember if it's suffolk or shetland but both are great for socks. I handdyed this a few months ago. I really enjoy spinning the BFL more, but maybe I'll buy more when things settle down here and I get some of my stash spun up ;). I think this ended up to be somewhere in the realm of fingering/sportweight although I haven't counted the WPIs yet.


Time for me to go jump on the stepper and find some trash TV to watch while I sweat and huff. O and I'll be attending the Late Night Yarn Party and City Knitting in GR with some ladies from my Knit Nite. I am driving, so I won't be drinking, but hopefully they will and I can get some good photos!

Sunday, April 13, 2008

I've been doin stuff!



I finished the Tiny Toes socks. It is my first afterthought heel and I like how that works! Pretty cool. I don't like how loose this yarn seems to get after wearing for a very short time so no poem after all on the tiny toes. I have to save my skillz for poetry worthy stuff.
Hey remember this?this? and this?

Well now it's this!


Also, I finally knit a hat for the Chief out of the yarn that he helped dye and picked the colors for. It really turned out pretty cool.



Whadda ya think? Isn't he handsome? I am working on spinning some handdyed Suffolk now too so i should have photos of that soon. Ooooooooo and I bet you all think I'm behind on my lace well Au Contraire, Mon Freres! Mystic Light is totally caught up and I am currently working on Clue 4 of Bad Nauheim. I gotta get some more sock yarn wound into cakes today so i can do more socks soon. See ya soon I hope!

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Hey, Do You Smell Something?


I do! It's VICTORY!!!!!

The demon possessed gray polypay! She is Finished! Also, I have just the ribbing left on one of the Tiny Toes socks. This is by far the longest it has ever taken me to kniit a pair of socks. It turns out this yarn is not poem worthy after all. the colorway is really pretty, but I'm not in love with the base for it. Enjoy the gray yarn. Isn't it exciting?

Friday, April 4, 2008

Welcome to a new WTF Friday!

I have a couple items of note to mention before I give you your WTF for today.

1. I will not be back until Monday because it is my birthday weekend and apparently I am getting company for my birthday. Nothing tops off your birthday weekend like having to clean your bathrooms and make sure guests are comfy.

2. The company is my dad and his wife so there will probably be a tirade about how he told me the house wasn't as clean as he thinks it should be or I am too stupid to fry an egg right in my own kitchen. Oh can't wait huh? ( I know it sounds like I don't love my dad, but I actually do. He really doesn't realize that he is picking me to death. A funny thing is that i get so upset when he comes that I usually cry or get withdrawn. It's a real topper when he asks me if I need medication because I seem depressed. Of course I seem depressed. Every time he sees me I cry LOL. So you see, your family isn't as bad as you thought) I only just realized recently how effed up this is. Not sure yet what to do about it.

3. There may be photos that include cake, family, or me being stupid. That's always fun.

Ok so on to the fun.

Yesterday my friend, Plug (over there on the Broken Barn blog -->) mentioned that she just saw a special on TV about The Love Boat and did I know that Andy Warhol had guest starred once playing himself. Now this was weird because I don't care if I go ten years without thinking of Andy Warhol, but last weekend I watched one of the campy horror flicks he made in the 70s (Blood for Dracula). I love campy horror flicks, so it was simultaneously one of the worst, and consequently one of the best, campy horror movies I've seen. Anywho, thanks to the beauty of Youtube, you too can experience Andy Warhold on Loveboat. Adding to the surrealliness (yeah so I made up that word, so?) he is having a bit of a chat with Tom Bosley, AKA Howard Cunningham. Please don't pretend that you don't think of Howard Cunningham FIRST. Do without further ado, please enjoy Andy Warhol, as himself, on Loveboat.



Oh and hopefully I'll have either some knitting or spinning photos on Monday.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

I'm seein' the Light!!



Sorry I didn't get the whole shawl in the shot! Next time I will. I am still having a love/hate relationship with the yarn. I spun it myself so if I don't love it, I have nobody to blame but myself. At least I'm caught up (until tomorrow).

I'm also on the last bobbin of gray singles woo hoo!!!

Oh yeah and I forgot! It's Peggy's birthday! Go click over there --> on the name Peggy and leave her a Happy Birthday message in her comments.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

If lace were cocaine, I'd need rehab

Welp, I've signed up for another lace Knitalong. It starts on April 18th. It's called Mystery Lace. At least I have plans to knit from stash!

Speaking of lace, I've finished Clue 2 of The Secret of Bad Nauheim.


I'm very happy with how it's turning out.

In other news. I have this little mental benchmark for spring. when the first flower in my yard shows up, I feel like it's really spring. Well guess the heck what!!!!



You see that? That, folks, is a SNOWDROP!!! I planted it last year in an attempt to fill in the woodsy back yard. See we live in the woods and our backyard is so very shady that we can't even grow grass. Our neighbors tried two years ago to buy a shade mix and have a pro do it and they got like less than 10% grass in the shady parts. Anywho, last year I started to work on splitting things and trying to fill in the back yard here. This year the work will continue so stay tuned for that. HAPPY SPRINGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!

Oh and PLUS, the second clue for Mystic Light is out. I'll be working on that today

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Insert new Post Here

Have I ever mentioned that my mom is an awesome watercolorist? Well she is. Check proof below.


I have a few of her watercolors in my house (Ok more than a few) but this one went to my sister.

I bet you thought I was trying to draw attention away from my lack of knitting, well Bah you are WRONG! Below there's a photo of my first Afterthought heel. Twas knit toe up using a Turkish Cast On. I'll have to reknit the ribbing because it's a little bit loose which I really hate. But aren't those colors gorgeous? It's Tiny Toes by Interlacements.


I can hear you all saying, "Ok fine Bam, woo hoo knitting pictures, but WHERE, oh where is the spinning?" Well last night at Knit Nite, Lori brought her wheel and she was spinning (and plying) two really beautiful batches of superwash that she dyed herself. I didn't bring my wheel because I am having a hard time motivating myself to finish the gray (oh pardon me for a moment while I swallow back down the bit of hurl that came up at the thought) polypay I am STILL spinning. Mind you, it's making a very nice bouncy, navaho plied sock yarn, but it's SO BORING!! Seeing Lori work with all that pretty superwash made me want to get it over with, so I spun awhile. Let's face it, I need the practice.

Oh oh yeah, now when you look at Lori's blog, notice the yarn swift that her husband MADE for her. Yes I said her husband made that pretty thing. I'll let you know when they are ready to go up for sale!