Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Socks and Shawl Knitting, Spindle and Wheel Spinning

There hasn't been much happening around here in the fiber endeavors.  My Flutter-by Socks were restarted for the third time.  These were my March Stash Buster Socks that never happened.  I didn't like the way the pattern looked in my first yarn.  I had to give my current yarn a soak to remove some residual dye I was getting on my hands.  Now, it's knitting up beautifully. Since I don't like tall socks, I decided to do two and a half repeats of the pattern. I'm also using another handknit sock to judge length as well.  The only other alteration I made was to do a plain stockinette foot.  Lala of TheKnitGirllls video-cast mentioned the possibility of the "butterfly" floats getting caught in her shoes and I agree with this.  I also tend to like stockinette or less patterning on the foot part of my socks since I have very sensitive feet thanks to my Diabetes. The plan is to get most, if not all, of the foot finished tonight.

My Evenstar shawl did see a tiny bit of love.  Two more repeats of the border have been completed.  That's 16 of 57.  At this rate it may be done for late summer.  lol

I had some fiber on my DyakCraft spindle for a while which I finished spinning yesterday.  I decided to ply it on my wheel just to get it finished.  Spindle spinning is not my strong point and seems to take me forever.  The tendency is for me to spin thin, but I think my spindles are made for thicker yarn and it keeps wanting to break.  Towards the end of the small bump, I had a good rhythm going and accomplish quite a bit.  I just need to really set aside some time every day and do the 10 minutes spin time to get better at it. 

Over on the wheels, the first four ounces of "Autumn Rainbow" Polwarth from CJKopec is finished.  I have four ounces left to spin and plan to try a different technique with that. 

Last Wednesday evening was spent with some spinning ladies  in Tiverton.  I decided to spin some more of  the "Honey Cinnamon" from Wintechog Hill Farms and now I need to finish the last ounce of the first bobbin.  It's coming out such a pretty color with pops of others shades in it.  Maybe I can finish that last ounce before knitting tonight.

Tiger is back to his old self and showing no residual problems.  Pooh is no longer on "nursemaid" duty.  It was cute to see him hovering over the cat and checking on him.  He was like a "Papa" keeping watch over his sick child. 

Monday, May 09, 2011

Spending The Day With Fiber Pals.....A Sick Kitty

Firstly, let me wish all the moms a belated Happy Mother's Day. 

I spent it with some of my Happy Hands friends at our monthly gathering.

My Project Stash Buster fiber for May, "Autumn Rainbow" in Polwarth by CJKopec, (top picture) was started.  But, first, I decided to spin some of my friend Sandi's latest special blend (bottom picture).  It's Baby Coopworth, Cria Alpaca, Angora Bunny, and a touch of Firestar.  The processing and blending was done by Fibers4Ewe Mill in Putnam.  It drafts with little effort and spins like a dream.  After spinning the Rambouillett and Shetland at lace weight, and the "Stormy Seas" at a fingering, I decided to spin both these a bit thicker.

We had a tough weekend with my cat Tiger.  He started throwing up on Friday night.  We called and got him into the vet on Saturday morning.  After an exam and an x-ray, the doctor determined he just had an upset tummy.  We spent two more days of watching and trying to get him to drink and eat.  Today was the breakthrough with him eating and drinking a little bit on his own.  He also finally went to the bathroom.  Tonight, he was sitting in the window watching the activity and birds.  Now, he's sleeping.  I'm glad he feels better and is on the mend.

Saturday, May 07, 2011

CT Sheep & Wool 2011 Stash Enhancement, Meeting Jadee

Last Saturday was the annual CT S&W festival.  The weather was wonderful.  The day was sunshine filled with a nice breeze, and not too hot or cool.  It was perfect for walking around the festival.  My husband, Pat, came with me and did all the driving.  We set out with the coolers packed with salads, grilled chicken, cheese sticks, and sodas, chips in the bag, and the GPS plugged in.  

I didn't really buy very much.  My first stop was the fleece barn. My plan was to buy a Polypay fleece, and maybe one or two other items that caught my fancy. 

Well, I did get my fleece, but Pat bought me a couple of items.  He helped me "stuff a bag" of alpaca, (left pic) and bought me some Fibers4Ewe sparkly fiber to spin (right pic).  That's all I came home with.  I did look at a lot, but nothing else really called to me this time.










One of the best parts of the festival was meeting Jadee, the host of Twisted Strandss Podcast.  She is just as nice in person as she is in the videos.  I also got to meet her cousin Bridgit. 

Even though fiber arts are not one of my husband's hobbies, I think he enjoyed the day.  I know he liked watching the sheep dogs herding the sheep.

After riding home, I decided to finish plying my April Stash Buster Fiber.  I got the first 4 ounces done just under the wire for the month.  The second 4 ounces are also finished.  There's a total of 991 yards, 2 ply from the 8 ounces. 


My Corgi Hill Farm "Stormy Sea" is spun and one skein is plied with the total being 350 yards of 2 ply.  Skein 2 is getting plied tonight. The flash is a bit bright on the close up picture.  I was trying to capture the sparkle from the glitz.

 








And here's a couple of pictures of my Megan kitty.  She has commandeered my quilt and wooden rocker as her "kitty bed".  It's a good thing it was a Walmart special purchase and not an expensive one.  At least I got to keep the tote bag it came in.  lol.