Sunday, February 28, 2010

The Sound of Kitty Sleeping

I'm sitting here trying not to make a loud noise or move too quickly. My cats, Tucker, Buddy, and Tipper are all snoring in unison. It's loud enough to be noticeable. My other cat Tiger just decided to give a nudge to Tipper and Buddy to let them know it's a bit too loud. lol
Ravelympic Awards

I got my third and final award today. Here's all 3:



Friday, February 26, 2010

The Wheel Won

Since I haven't touched my wheel since last Saturday, it won the decision of what is next to work on. This is what I'm spinning up now. It's fiber from Fibers4Ewe Mill which I bought last summer. I was trying to get a good shot of the sparkle. I think the photo on the right caught it pretty well.


By the way, the mac and cheese for lunch was delicious. I ate it before I thought to take a picture to show you how it turned out. Pat really liked his gluten free version too. I made it really simple. Take a cup each of uncooked pasta, milk, water, and shredded cheese. Add a little salt and some Tabasco sauce if desired. Mix together in the casserole pan. Top with a little bread crumbs. Bake at 350 degrees, covered with foil for 35 to 45 minutes. Remove foil to allow for a bit of browning and let bake 10 min. Remove from oven and serve. The next time I will spray the casserole with Pam because it did stick a little bit.
Empty Hands, Lots of Options

I have plenty of projects sitting here in front of me to start or finish. I could spin, knit, crochet, or dye some fiber. The wheels are both calling to me along with my Ditto sweater that needs the yoke re-knit. I could pick up that book and little plastic shuttle and try to learn to tat. I could go in the other room and try to warp the loom. With so many decisions, I don't know where to start first.

Lunch is almost ready to come out of the oven, so I think I will decide while eating my homemade macaroni and cheese.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Ta Da !! Project #3 Crosses the Finish Line!

My last Ravelympic project is finished. The Rocky Butte socks look great! And I had 3 days to spare. :)

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Close to the Ravelympic / Knit Olympic Finish Line

The spinning and dyeing events are both finished and posted. Now, I need to concentrate on the rest of the knitting event. Sock 1 is completed and sock 2 is started. I'm on the leg part already. I think I can finish by Sunday if I glue myself to my chair and just knit on it. This is definitely a challenge for me. Since I always take at least a month, and usually longer, to knit a pair of socks, this is a record if I can complete these in time.
I knit the leg a bit shorter on these and they fit my foot and leg perfect. I did change the pattern near the toe slightly. I didn't want the rib stitch on that part, so I did an extra 7 rows of stockinette instead. The yarn is Fiesta Baby Boom in "Raspberry Mocha". Here's a pic of sock 1:

Monday, February 15, 2010

A Fiber Filled Weekend

Friday evening kicked off my weekend with the Olympic Opening Ceremonies. I didn't watch them because I was busy almost up to the lighting of the flame. My Ravelympic/Knit Olympic spinning project commenced with the lighting. Here's the 12 ounces of fiber in the bag, and partially pre-drafted:

Saturday was the monthly meeting of the RI Spinners Guild. We had a good turnout this time with lots of topics discussed for 2010, as well as a demonstration of how to create a boucle` yarn on our wheels.

Sunday was spent with some other fiber loving friends at the second monthly gathering of the Happy Hands Fiber Arts Group in N. Stonington. Here are a few pictures of our "fiber home".

Here's a couple of shots inside the building. I love that the center is decorated for each holiday. It makes it feel very festive.

Here are a couple pictures of some of our wheels:





Today was suppose to be a dye day, but, I have yet to finish spinning the singles. So this means tomorrow will be a day of dyeing instead. With the snowstorm coming tonight, it will be a wonderful way to pass the time. I'll be starting my other Ravelympic project, "Rocky Butte" socks, while fibers soak in the prep solution.

Friday, February 12, 2010

Ggrrrrrrr Or Frogging Half A Sweater

The yoke of my Ditto is finished .... or so I thought. Sadly, the sleeves are a bit too tight underneath making the sweater not fit right. I thought about ways of steeking the arms, and adding a gusset, but that's not going to work. The body needs adapting at the arm hole too.

There's no way out of it. I have to rip out the entire yoke to repair this problem. The good part of this is, I can also add a couple of inches more to the sleeves since they were a trifle short at the wrist anyway. After ripping it back this project will be in time out during the Olympics for the next 2 weeks while I work on a pair of socks, some dyeing, and some spinning.

Off to the frog pond I go..........

Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Catching Up.....Ravelympics Plans

After all the running around last week, this has been a quiet week. I did take a mini road trip up to Fibers4Ewe and picked up my batts. One kind is Border Leicester and the other one is Border Leicester and the Kid Mohair from Rhinebeck. They came out absolutely gorgeous! If you have any fiber you would like processed, don't hesitate to bring it to Liz. She has the equipment that can handle just about any fleece. I've had everything from a Merino lamb fleece to adult CVM processed with no problems. The plan is to start dyeing up the batts this week. With the snow storm predicted for tomorrow, that might be a good time to do so. I never did make it down to my room this weekend as I had planned.

The "Daffodails" fiber is almost finished. I have 3/4 of a bobbin of singles sitting here waiting to be plied. I know I have another piece of this fiber, which was a sample, in a bag with another blend from Silver Sun Alpacas. I want to add it to the bobbin before plying the last part.

On the Minstrel, I have the Masham. I haven't touched it since last Wednesday night.

The sweater is slowly moving to completion. I am almost at the end of the yoke. That hasn't really been worked on much this past weekend either.

Ravelympics starts in a few days on February 12th. If you don't know what this is, it's run in conjunction with the Olympics. About 8 years ago, The Yarn Harlot started Knit Olympics, which I participated in. My project was the Lady Eleanor Stole which I finished with a day to spare.

For the Ravelympics, my fiber of choice for the spinning event is some BFL "Thin Ice" from Spunky Eclectic. "The Rocky Butte Sock", which was created by Miss Violet of LimeNViolet, is my knitting project for the Sock event. Since I tend to take about a month or longer to knit socks, these might get finished because they are sport weight. I just need to wait a couple more days for the yarn to arrive from The Loopy Ewe. I'm also going to be dyeing some of the batts for the dyeing event. The spinning and socks are also my projects for the Knit Olympics this year.

The Evenstar Mystery Shawl KAL also starts on February 12th. I've yet to wind my skein of yarn for this. It's 2500 yards of laceweight. My plastic ball winder is too small, so a friend of mine is going to help me out by winding it on her big wooden ball winder. I might even have time to start Clue 1 during the Olympics. ha-ha. This coming Saturday and Sunday I will be busy with both my spinning groups, so I hope to get a good chunk of the "Thin Ice" spun up.

It's going to be a busy 16 days of fiber projects. I hope my husband doesn't mind the house and cooking getting a bit ignored during it all..........

Friday, February 05, 2010

Traveling With Fiber and Yarn Projects

It's been a busy week. The fiber traveling started last Saturday with the monthly spin in at RI Handspun, where I managed to finish plying the purpley pink singles I finished spinning earlier in the week. I had bought the fiber at Fibers4Ewe Mill. Six ounces and 641.5 yards of sparkly yarn were the results. Now, it needs a bath to finish it off.

Tuesday was a quiet knit night, also at Sue's shop. I managed to get to the last decrease for the Ditto sweater.

Wednesday was a day of debating. I had been invited to a spin in with the Bayberry Spinners and I was nervous about going over the Fall River Bridge if the temps dropped and the roads got icy. Everyone knows I don't travel when there is snow or ice predicted. Marva offered me a ride, so off we went. We managed to miss the exit, arriving 45 minutes late, but still had a great time. I started spinning the Masham I had dyed a couple of weeks ago. A few of the ladies really liked the colors I used. It isn't as soft as I thought it would be, but I have some plans for it.

Thursday, last night, was a spur of the moment trip. Sandi and Monet were going to the SEConn Stitch and Bitch in New London, CT. Sandi invited me to come along, so off I went. It was a terrific night and I met a couple of wonderful ladies. We had so much laughing, talking, coffee, and sharing, I only managed 2 rows on my sweater. I plan to go again next week if the weather is o.k.

Tonight is spent home and I plan to curl up in my chair in a few minutes with a cup of tea and the sweater. I hope to get the last 2 inches of the yoke finished so I can start the button band tomorrow. My goal is to have this WIP finished before the Olympics start in a week or so.

Tomorrow's plans are for a day in the dye room. Maybe I can even finish washing the last 2 or so pounds of fleece between some dyeing plans. The laundry also needs to get finished. Since I'll be down there anyway, I might as well do that too. :)


In between all the traveling, I managed to spin up some fiber from Silver Sun Alpaca, "Daffodails". All of the 10 ounces is spun except for the last 2 ounces shown here. The blend is Merino, Mohair, Alpaca, and Firestar. I hope to finish this tomorrow as well and get the plying done by Monday.