Thursday, January 28, 2010

Pictures of Knitting

I haz them!

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The Wildfoote colorway is Rhapsody. I believe I got this yarn at like 60% off from Little Knits.

I would love to show you more knitting, but I have been focusing on that Kilkenney Shawl pretty exclusively and it would just be a picture of a bigger shawl that looks exactly like the last one. I am up to 20 inches wide (out of 28 before the ending border) so I'm getting there now.

I did get some of the black alpaca that the Chief bought me before Christmas washed last night. I don't think I've ever had a fleece in the house that waited that long for washing before. Every time I look at this fiber drying on the floor of my laundry room, I can't stop thinking of the Gorilla soldiers from Planet of the Apes. Not really the nicest, softest, yarn related image. I want to blend some with black shetland that's been rattling around my stash for awhile. Later for that though!

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(That VM pretty much falls out during carding so no worries. Alpaca just doesn't seem to hang onto the grass and chaff the way wool does)

And we have a new addition to our family!
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Why yes, I do name inanimate objects! Thank you for noticing! Our old crockpot had a crack in it on Tuesday morning when I took it out of the sink to clean it. I was just beside myself. I've been a bit obsessed with crockpot cooking for awhile now and I only have one crockpot. That crack meant I had NO CROCKPOT. On the way home from work on Tuesday, The Chief picked up Lulu for me. She is very new fangled and has the locking, sealing lid for taking potluck things. We think she's pretty special. Her maiden voyage was potatoes and sausage for breakfast which I threw a pair of eggs on this morning for everybody. Another crockpot success!

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

It's the Same Old Story

You have these two friendly acquaintances, or maybe casual friends, and they have some kind of falling out. Let's call them L and U. So L starts saying horrible things to the entire world about U. U keeps mum and some of the people you all like are listening to the bad things that L is spewing (some of which you are 90% sure are not true.

When you really think about it, wouldn't it be better to stick with U? U is being respectful and not saying bad things even though you're pretty sure she's being backstabbed to death. Isn't it a safe bet that if L thinks you've done something wrong, she'll stab the shit out of you too? Why don't people see that? It's weird, man!

In other news, on my spinning goal, in short: I ROCK!

I have my first fleece completely picked and roughcarded. The second carding is only two batts in, but it's started. The problem really is that it's going to take four passes to blend thoroughly (poop). The good news is that it is HEAVENLY. I've processed a number of Jacob lamb fleeces before, but this one is like buttah. I will definitely be contacting this Shepherd for a sister of this lamb's fleece next year. (I'm up to my armpits in fleece, :P) I've also just finished the third bobbin of the fleece that is in the goal for spinning.

Picked jacob
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Shetland lamb fleece being spun

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OH my, Lola needs a dusting doesn't she?

I've tarted knitting a blueberry waffle sock with Wildfoote. The yarn is really so colorful that I didn't want to try a "real" pattern with it. I tried to knit the Naive Socks with this yarn and the pattern just got totally lost. Later for the Naives.

I got one more thing. I have opinions. I don't think that comes as a surprise to any readers of this little thing I call my blog. (i blame my parents who had the audacity to encourage their X chromosomed children to express themselves. I mean really wth) So, if people have different ideas than me, I am cool with that. I don't feel like the world has to agree with me. Why is it so many people on Ravelry freak out if you just express an opinion that doesn't match up with theirs. Have we really wussified this country so much that we have to have everybody agreeing with us to keep our self-esteem out of the toilet?

If you don't agree with my opinions, I'm not sorry. In fact, that's great. You have every right to your opinion, and I am happy to listen. (but please for the love of all that's holy, have some type of back-up or reason. It makes it so much more interesting to listen to) Buck up, little soldiers! I'm sure I'll say something offensive any minute!

Friday, January 22, 2010

Annie Was Right

She mentioned that the bag really needed bedazzling. The reason it's funny is because: A) I already had three big rhinestones on the back pocket, you know, just for fun. and 2) I had already bedazzled a bow on Conchita's creepy, purple head.

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That's right, my bedazzling skills are 100% unrivaled!

Also, I have a goal regarding raw fleece. The people who need to know what it is, already know. I have the first fleece half picked. It's a yearling, Jacob fleece (Laila) plus a couple of handfuls of the first Jacob fleece I bought last year. That's right, HALF DONE picking.

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**not part of the goal**
Last year I got some Cormo and I've been having a tough time gettint it really, really clean. There is like mud on the tips and I have done everything I know of. If I remove the tips (1/4 inch) it's super awesome. I took a few ounces and soaked it for TWO weeks and then scoured it in a teeny lingerie bag. And everybody says you can't card Cormo. I say, Bullshit!

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No neps and dude, it is so soft, it's almost like you aren't touching anything. That's carded IN MY DRUM CARDER, but at like .01% normal speed. It's ridiculous how much trouble I'll go to to process an awesome fleece.

Also, have you ever been digging in your stash and something turned up that made you say, "WTF??!!"? Happened to me . . . this morning . . . a couple of times.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

January Goal: Check!

So I am not really a hoarder exactly, but I hate throwing away certain things. I have a stash of jeans that have holes or were grown out of in my fabric stash. I grabbed a pair of my husband's old jeans (Yes, Carrie, Hot husband had his ass in these) and made myself a new sock bag. I loved my old bag because it was the perfect size, but I bought it for a dollar at a flea market and it was getting frayed, and the lining was really getting shredded.

Meet my new bag!

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I lined it with a purple bandana from my underwear drawer and folded the bandana over the top. Then last night we were looking at it and throwing out some ideas and I decided to use the leftover bandana to cut a skull to iron on. I looked online for the perfect free skull graphic and couldn't find one, so I designed one in Inkscape and used it to create a Cricut image. A little iron on fusible web and a lot of practice cuts so that I could make sure I had the placement right on the fabric. I only had one corner left and I wanted it to be pretty much centered.

Anyhoo, yay, it's a win for me! (I might add a little bow on the skulls head with rhinestones, but I haven't decided yet.)

Also, I forgot that I was supposed to show some photos of the stuff I was spinning last week. It's about 800 yards of thick singles. It's a mystery fiber that got to me on quite a weird trip; It appears to be mohair and wool. I'm thinking it might make a nice purse, but how knows!?

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It is slightly darker than the photo turns up on my monitor. The wool was a dark blue, and the mohair was a nice venomy green.

Later!

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

I Didn't Resolve . . .

to post more here in 2010, and yet, I have. Weird.

This morning, I finally finished blending the Border Leicester lamb that was dyed a month or so ago. I love it. It's 2 parts very blue, one part tealy blue and one part barbie pink. The thing I ended up liking about it is that the pink and green seem to knock the edge off the flat blue and tone it just slightly less vibrant which is good. I love me some color with depth. I'm planning on spinning it longdraw because really it is just so much faster!

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I have a gift I need to spin up first anyway.

And also, I'm going to achieve my January goal today!

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(notice the fluff was still in my hand and is now framing the picture. Love that!)

Come back and see what I sewed!

Monday, January 18, 2010

So You Know How It Is

I took photo after photo of the Kilkenny and could NOT get anything decent. The flash was just showing the color variations in the yarn, but obscuring the pattern. So Annoying!!!!

I took a flashless picture this morning with the sad light that passes for full daylight around here. At least the pattern finally shows in a photo!

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I love, love, LOVE this yarn and pattern too. It probably would have been even prettier in a yarn that had no or less tonal variation, but it's still beautiful, soft and squishy. I'm really looking forward to being able to wear it.

I do feel a little bit sad that this fleece is going to be used up. It's silly, but it stops having potential when you finish knitting a project with it. Every step of the process narrows the potential of the fleece, and this is the very end. Boo!

Good thing sheep keep growing wool huh?

I also finished a sleeve for the B-Side and it fits! That means one more sleeve, a collar and the construction. If I can force myself to block the body today, it would be great, but I'm not holding my breath (hint: You shouldn't either).
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I'm making some tough decisions right now too. But, one thing I've learned from my husband (and annoyingly, I have had a lot to learn) is that I shouldn't make them out of emotion or too quickly. Wish me luck!

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Muahahahahaha

It's Cookie's Birthday! Happy Birthday to youuuuuu! Click Here to wish her a happy birthday today!

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Kilkenny!

I got started on the patterning yesterday for the Kilkenny Cable Shawl. I'm using Jacob lamb handspun, and the color variation is kind of hiding the pattern. Doesn't matter. It is very soft and scrumpshy (it's a word. I'm knitting this wrap with THIS handspun and that's it. Deal!

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I finished up some handspun too. Mystery fiber (which I am sure is mohair and some type of wool) that was given to me by a new spinner who felt her stash was too big (thanks, M). I worked on fat singles with it. Still needs to be skeined, washed, and thwacked. I do think I managed a good handle on the fat singles though. It took a bit. In fact I'll have to throw out some perfectly good yarn that is just too thin to be knit up with the rest. It's only probably about 10 yards or so though. Pics tomorrow? I never know!

Tonight is Jr. Rifle League so I'll be going north for the evening. I'm too tired to do this on Thursdays!

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

I effed an oh, Bitches!

Oh shit, just deleted first post.

Last night I finished this pair of lovelies. The pattern is quite busy, so I went ahead and used a mostly plain yarn. It's Knitpicks Stroll tweed. The pattern is The Boyfriend Socks by Alice Bell. I didn't modify them much. I used a Turkish Cast On instead of the one the pattern called for, and I changed the cuff to a 2x2 rib that followed the pattern of the sock all the way up.

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I love, love LOVE these socks and I will definitely be making these again. Really, I love them. A lot.

And, the cranberry, cinnamon, pecan caramel corn, well, yum.

I've cast on for the Kilkenny Cable Shawl which is our local New Years Cast on. Pics soon! Like who knows, maybe tomorrow even!

Oh and I'm trying to finish up some mystery fiber I'm spinning. I believe it's wool and mohair, and I'm working on thicker singles. I should have it all spun up sometime today!

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

So, Here's the Thing

I got a Cricut Expression for Christmas. And, being me, I want to be able to cut things that I design myself. I don't want to buy the stupid cartridges with designs that somebody else did. Plus, they cost a fortune right? Soooooo, there is this software program called Sure Cuts A Lot where you can cut anything that's an SVG file.

I'm not even going to go into what an SVG file is.

Anywho, there is a free download that allows you to create just about anything you want in SVG format, so i downloaded it and I've been learning to use it. Which reminds me, how the hell did we learn to do stuff before Youtube?

but, I digress.

So I made that button over there > and I'm spending like 20 minutes a day learning to go on from there. Hey I'm beginner! (but I did finish up a possible logo option for something else that could be announced here in the next month or so).

I had to rip back the sleeve for my B-Side. Cookie's brilliant suggestion for this whole "trying it on" thing told me that my arms are too fat for it, so I'll be adding back those two stitches.

poop.

I've been carding on that Border Leicester Fleece, but it's on it's first pass through the carder and still looks kinda like shit. Not to worry, it's been my experience that subsequent passes will fix the shitness.
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I spent my KP gift card that I got for Christmas.

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Three sweaters worth of yarn. How fun is that?

And last, much like half the blogs I've been reading, it's cold here.
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but tonight, we are staying home with a fire and a movie and bowls of chili.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Extreme Close-UP!!!

Remember those? Me too.

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Wouldn't you swear he's like right inside your screen? The Chief took that picture and it just cracks me up.

I am working on a sleeve for the B-side. I've modified the pattern to knit the sleeves in the round. I just thought it seemed silly to knit the body all in one piece and then knit the sleeves flat to be seamed. Silly. I do hope I did not screw up. In fact maybe someone will have an opinion. All I really did for the part I'm on is eliminated two stitches that I figured I would use for seaming if I was knitting if flat. Otherwise the counts are exactly the same, but it seems narrow. I'm sure it'll be fine.

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Oh and The Chief made a fabulous batch of homemade bagels along with some Giardiniera (sp?) cream cheese which is my absolute FAVORITE. Having a husband who can cook rocks the party, swearz.

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Thursday, January 7, 2010

Cuz I'm Scintillating Company

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But, isn't he a cute boy though?

So yesterday I sampled from the fleece I dyed on Tuesday. It's nice and it spins up like buttah! The Barbie pink just adds a little bit of purpley depth, so that works well. I figured it would work out, but life is just an experiment for me really (which some would say is part of my charm, and some find very annoying) :S.

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You can't really see the colors well in the photo, but there will be plenty more where this came from once I get this fleece all carded up. Probably TOO many.

Oh! And hey! Guess who has two more fleeces to wash! Yeah, it's me.

This is up next. It came on Christmas day but I've been way too busy to fool with it. The shepherdess sent me some washed locks from this ewe and they are loverly. I really am looking forward to getting her washed up and dyed.

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Last, I have a bit of a situation with B-Side. KP sent me one ball of a different dye lot, which normally is not a problem because I typically order one extra and I almost never have to use it. I can't tell by just holding the balls (yes, I was holding balls today) if there is a color difference, but we've all been there. What if I start knitting and there is one? You know it's happened to you. Knitterly denial is the only kind I've found more powerful than the family denial I use to cope.

So ok, here's what I'm thinkin': B-Side has a shawl collar, and right now i am just about 20-24 rows from the shoulder on the back. Do I dare use the wrong dye lot ball for that since the shawl collar will pretty much cover it? I probably don't even NEED this ball to finish the sweater. Or, does it make sense to use it for the ribbing on the sleeves because there's going to be a change when it goes to stockinette and your eye will fool you into thinking that's all you see? (because it will). Or should i just stick the poor singleton in my stash to be knitted up into a scarf later along with a ball or two of plain black? Any advice for me?

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

It's snowinggggggg

i love it.

So today we got U-verse (instead of cable) and the guys were here for literally HOURS. Since the TV and internet could/would be down for any period during that time, I decided to do projects. I cleaned all the stray wool and alpaca out of the drum carder thingies. Then I dyed the Border Leicester lamb I had washed up for my next sweater!

Oh and did I mention that yesterday i washed a charcoal alpaca fleece? I did.

My kitchen table right now.

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I'm going to blend the raspberry, teal and blue for my next sweater. Yes, I am blending crazy. Don't read the Ashford book of carding or you will be blending crazy too.

I also did go ahead and take a photo of the yarn for the Chief's next sweater. The color of the singles in the last post is closer, but I couldn't quite get it right by fixing the exposure. Kinda weird since I used sunlight, but whatever.
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I am excited to work with it, but I won't be able to until I finish this:
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My B-Side Cardigan! woo hoo! I'm using the Knitpicks City Tweed and I love it. I'm almost done with the body now. It is a super quick knit (and yes I did screw up the cable but no one will know unless they stare at my left boob and I will punch them if they do that.

Oh yeah, and I've been working on a pair of socks too. It's the Boyfriend Sock pattern and I'm using Knitpicks Essential Tweed for those. Hopefully I'll make some progress coming up here soon!
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Monday, January 4, 2010

Soooooo it's 2010

I'm not going to do the retrospective thing. I don't really want to review last year!

But!

This year I plan to make myself a monthly goal/challenge/resolution. January will be to sew something from my fabric stash. I can sew, but anything beyond beginner is beyond me. I thought maybe I would try to challenge myself a little bit.

Oh and remember that Romney I washed, carded, dyed and blended?
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Not much of a sweater huh?

I got about 1600 yds out of it a three ply worsted. That should be plenty for a sweater for my hubs. I spun American supported longdraw from carded batts. I'll show the yarn sometime soon.

Everybody is back to work and school and I am off and running now. Hopefully I'll bbs!