calicokitty6

2012-01-24T14:15:00.000-05:00

A Meme ~ Currents

I saw this on my friend Donna's blog and decided to play along.

listening - my dog Pooh "calling" for my other dog Hanna who went to Rainbow Bridge today

eating - yogurt and a banana earlier. nothing right now

drinking - coffee with sugar free hot chocolate this morning. Diet Coke now

wearing - black sweatpants and my Alaska t-shirt and fuzzy leopard slippers

reading - a historical romance novel

weather - sunny and in the 50's

knitting - Thin Ice Shawl. Snuggles for the animals. I've become a semi-monogamous knitter right now.

wanting - my yarn and fiber I dyed a couple days ago to finish drying. It's almost there.

needing - to track my food for today

enjoying - "Downton Abbey" on PBS

looking forward to - my knitting guild retreat in March

wondering - what I should take for the spin in at Sue's on Saturday

2012-01-17T21:02:00.000-05:00

Progress Can Be Very Slow Sometimes...Working Down Stashes

There hasn't been much progress in my spinning or knitting lately. The sweater has been put aside so I can work on my Thin Ice Shawl. I'm on row 212 of 270. They do get longer as you go, but I'm enjoying the knit. I started the second skein around row 200 and I should have more than enough to finish it since I wound the skeins to approximately 420 yards each. The pattern calls for 800 yards.

I finished spinning the first 4 ounce braid of the Rambouillet fiber and am ready to start the second one. It's going to be a simple 2-ply when finished.

There was a tentative plan to go to the weaving studio this coming Thursday or Friday, but I don't think it will happen. Pat may need my car on Thursday, and there's a snow storm coming in for Friday. So, the looms sit and wait a bit longer. :(

I devised a plan for tracking/controlling my stashes this year. For every ounce of fiber that comes into the house, I must spin 3 ounces up. For every skein of yarn that comes into the house, I must use 2 skeins of yarn. The use can be knit, crochet, or weave.

I went to my knitting guild last Thursday evening and had a good time. I taught the Tunisian Twisted Edging while a friend taught the Magic Loop method. Friday found me driving down to Eneri Knits for the monthly Knit & Tell she does there. I instituted my stash rule mentioned above. I'm counting the 2 skeins of the shawl yarn as being used so I could buy 1 skein. I came home with a beautiful peachy pink skein of 100% Cashmere and a pattern to knit with it. This will be my next project after I finish Thin Ice, some Snuggles for the animals, Dragonfly Wings Shawl, and cast on a pair of socks for travel purposes.

I've been watching some movies I picked up from the library. The latest was the three seasons of "Ballykissangel". I really loved the entire series and wish there was more to watch. It was set in Ireland and there were several gorgeous sweaters, vests, and other knit items.

Well, it's time to pick up my shawl and try to get another 2 rows in tonight.

2012-01-05T18:04:00.002-05:00

Goals & Intentions for 2012...Spin/Knit Update

Firstly, Happy New Year to one and all. I hope it's going to be a good year for everyone.

Over the last few years I've not done resolutions. I do intentions or goals. Here's my list geared toward 2012:

1. Continue on my "get healthier" path. The weight is slowly coming down and I'm avoiding the back surgery so far.

2. Work on a walking regime. Pat needs to set up my treadmill so I can use it in the basement.

3. Spin/Knit down at least one bin of each in my stash.

4. Finish knitting my old UFO/WIP sweater from 2009, which I'm making with my handspun.

5. Finish spinning the yarn for my second handspun sweater and knit it.

6. Use my handspun either in knitting, crochet, felting, or weaving instead of just looking at it.

7. Use my spindles instead of letting them decorate the shelf in the hutch of my desk.

8. Use both my looms which includes investing the time in proper lessons.

Knitting: As I said last time, I finished my Multnomah Shawl. Here's a picture of it blocking on my bed:

Here's a picture of the above mentioned sweater in progress. I jokingly call this my never ending sweater. It was finished in 2009 except for the button band and was too small and short. After ripping out the yoke, it sat in time out for about a year. Time was spent adding about 3 inches to the body, gussets in the arm section and to the sleeves. Currently, I'm re-knitting the yoke. The button band is being deleted in favor of a simple trim and frog clips instead. I only have the last decrease section of the yoke (about 20 rows) and the edging left to do.

Last week I won a copy of "Thin Ice" from Diane of the Knitabulls Podcast. I decided to dye the yarn for this as well as a couple other projects. New Year's Day found me in my dye room downstairs. Here's a picture of four skeins of yarn. The natural one is for another shawl called "My Wish". I previously dyed a gray variegated to alternate with the natural. The pink/lilac is for a pair of socks. The two skeins of blue/silver/white skeins are for Thin Ice. It looks sort of greenish blue but it's really a very light blue. The yarn took a long time to dry so casting on of the blue shawl is happening tonight.

Spinning: The Cornflower blue fiber is finished and I started a braid of pink/magenta/purple/green Rambouillet fiber I had dyed last year. There's 8 ounces of it so it should make a nice size project.

2011-12-28T15:19:00.003-05:00

Christmas, Knitting, and Spinning

It was the usual quiet, low key Christmas here at my house. The reindeer decorated the front yard again and the big tree was in the window. This year found white and red velvet ribbons with green and red shatterproof ornaments decorating my tree. The topper was just one each of the two ribbons made into a couple of bows. No kitty attacks or sitting in the tree events happened, so I think the "kids" are ready for me to use my regular ornaments next year. They are all glass, crystal, or ceramic.

The meal was simple: Baked Ziti, Roast Pork, mashed potatoes, veggies, garlic bread sticks, apple pie and coffee.

Santa, (a/k/a Pat) gave me some nice gifts too. He had told me to order a set of the Deluxe Blocking Wires from Inspinknity a few weeks ago. I'm planning to try them out today or tomorrow to block my latest knit shawl. He also gave me money for my weaving lessons, and toward my knit guild's retreat in 2012. I gave him a new computer desk. :)

Knitting: Multnomah is finished. I ran out of my handspun, but had just enough of a yarn I had dyed to finish the shawl. I did do extra repeats to finish up all the yarn and make the shawl a bit bigger. No pics yet. It's the blocking project I mentioned above. The picture below is the handspun I used.

Now, I'm back to the yoke of my never ending sweater a/k/a Sort of a "Ditto". I currently have no socks on the needles. This will be remedied Sunday when I cast on for the new Through The Loops Mystery Sock KAL.

Spinning: I'm into the last two ounces of eight of "Cornflower" which is a Fibers4Ewe blend I purchased at the Fiber Festival of New England in November. I've been having pain issues with my feet so haven't spun for long spurts this month. This is resulting in less ounces getting finished.

I'm including a picture of the Baby Surprise Sweater set I made for my newest little cousin. I decided to send it before he couldn't fit it. The hat and booties are super stretchy too.I made it in the 6 month size so he should be o.k. for a while. He's just 3 months old now.

2011-11-24T21:43:00.001-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had a wonderful, peaceful holiday today. Mine was quiet as usual. I don't know why, but, I don't feel like eating after I do all the food prep and cooking. My dear husband, Pat, helped with it all today so it much easier. Plus, I made less items and smaller quantities of some things. There still was plenty of left overs from 3 people and an 11.5 pound turkey.

In my knitting progress, I've managed to finish my second Breaking Hearts sock, and am currently working on my languishing, woefully deserted Ditto sweater. I've made so many modifications to this pattern, it's very loosely based on the original pattern now.

In my spinning progress, I've finished the FatCatKnits Dead of Night fiber.

A couple weeks ago found me at Eneri Knits Friday knit group. I came home with 2 braids of Frabjous Fibers in Chromatophia Red. This fiber is so far from my usual color choices but it spoke to me. I plan to spin it using the fractal method.

I've managed to spin about 3 of 4 ounces of some lovely Polwarth fiber from Cloudlover. It's for the Knit Girllls SAL/KAL. Originally, I wanted a fingering weight single, but, the yarn told me otherwise. It chose to be a lace weight single which means I will be Navajo plying it to maintain the colors. Here's a picture of the fiber. I had already pulled a piece off before I remembered to take the picture. It's called "Haunted Vineyard" and the colors are perfect for that name.

I'm going to spin a bit when I finish writing this. I hope to ply it this weekend. Knitting starts December 1.

2011-11-11T00:09:00.000-05:00

Busy, Busy, Busy; Visiting the Fiber Festival of New England

It's been a busy month of knitting, spinning, and other stuff. My needles have been clicking away. My "Mystic Midsummer Wreath Shawl" was finished at the beginning of October. Here it is blocking.

One of the podcasts I enjoy watching is Knitabulls. Diane had a KAL for the "Dancing Batty Shawl" for October.

I've also been knitting on a pair of "Breaking Hearts" socks. The first sock is finished and the second is ready for it's heel flap.

My Minstrel wheel has been busy with the CJ Kopec "Lily Pond" fiber. I finished all 8 ounces the other night as a Navajo ply. I didn't figure out the yardage yet. Last night found me starting some FatCatKnits in a lovely Mohair/Wool/Nylon in the "Dead of Night" color.

Last Saturday and Sunday was spent with some of my favorite fiber pals at the Second Annual Fiber Festival of New England. I missed the first one last year due to medical issues so I was really looking forward to this one. There was a stop at WEBS and their bead store on the way.

We chose to make it into a girl's weekend and stayed at the Sheraton in Springfield, MA Saturday night.

Here's a picture of all my fiber goodies except for the two fleece I brought to Fibers4Ewe booth for processing.

Tuesday found me dropping off 24 pounds of mostly washed fleece/fiber at Fibers4Ewe for processing. I was going to wait and bring half of it up when my other two fleece were ready for pick up, but decided to just get it up there now instead.

2011-10-07T18:53:00.000-04:00

Whirring Bobbins, Flying Needles, Fiber Prizes

It's been a few weeks since I posted. My wheels have been busy, as have my needles. I finished the August and September Stash Buster fibers as well as a couple others. My latest one was from Fibernymph Dye Works on Etsy. The BFL/Silk blend spun and plied like butter. It arrived at my house on the last Thursday of September and just begged to be spun immediately. Usually I try to put the new stuff away and work with some of the older stash stuff first. Not this time. Since that Saturday was the monthly spin in at my friend Sue's shop, that's the fiber I took with me. The entire braid was spun and plied by late Saturday night. I just couldn't wait to see how the yarn came out. I forgot to take a picture of the braid before starting it, but here is a picture of the last part and the yarn before it's bath.

The Mystic Midsummer Wreath Shawl has had some issues. It was definitely knitter error, not pattern. I did a decrease stitch wrong over and over through sixty rows of lace. I used an extra stitch every time. This made me short several stitches for the last section. Obviously, this resulted in a major tinking event. Of course, I hadn't bothered to put a lifeline in which would have made ripping back sooooo much easier. The shawl has survived, and all sixty plus rows are now back in place. I'm two rows away from starting the last part before the edging. My goal is to finish it before October 13th so I can bring it to my knitting guild meeting.

In August, I took a break after casting on the above mentioned shawl to participate in a sock mystery KAL, hosted by Jen Hansen who is "Knitting Like Crazy" on Ravelry. I want to thank podcaster Sarah of "Rainlover Knits" for introducing me Jen's patterns. The sock pattern was a fun knit. I hadn't planned to enter for the contest part of it since I'm a slow poke knitter. You only had to have one sock done by the end date of September 2. Since I had finished the first sock, I took a picture, and posted it. I have finished the second sock since. They are knit from some Merino/Silk yarn I dyed last year.

To my surprise I won one of the prizes! And what a terrific prize it is ~ a project bag, pattern and skein of Socks That Rock yarn! The yarn is a Rare Gems skein and I don't know the colorway, but I love it.

Now, October is here with it's own KALs. I want to knit a shawl called "Dancing Batty", a pair of Halloween socks in a skein of my DkKnits yarn "Salem Spirits" and weave a scarf to match the socks with the second skein of that yarn. I don't know if I'll get the last item done. This is a picture of the socks and scarf yarn.

2011-09-18T22:27:00.000-04:00

Are We Craft People or Gardeners An Unknown Threat?

Recently, I've read a couple articles that singles out crafters, especially knitters, makers of cupcakes, people who sew, and gardeners. The first one was regarding "strong women" and tried to say if you are a crafter or love baking or creating items, you are not strong. I don't know about you, but I know some pretty strong people who do these things. I'm not just talking physically, but mentally and emotionally as well.

Tonight's article was regarding a teacher who has a garden, worm bins, and keeps bees in Memphis, TN. He is teaching a handful of his students about these things. Here's the link to the article. There's a link to pictures of his property within the article. This man is being fined and ordered to dismantle his garden, and other items because a few neighbors complained, and consider him a "public nuisance".

When I was a kid, we always has a big garden. The neighbors all had them as well. My grandmother and mom canned a lot. Sadly, I didn't have an interest then and never learned. We also had lots of fruit trees and a huge grapevine. The grapes were made into wine when my grandfather was alive. Dad wasn't into making it. I hate to think I would be "breaking the law" if I still had the garden, trees, and vines.

What is wrong with this world when creating and growing things you love and enjoy doing is punishable by law and open to ridicule? We live in a sad society where plastic wrap, commercially made items takes precedence over natural, fresh home grown or items created by hand. By attempting to force people to give up these things, we are losing so much.

As for me, I'll continue to knit, crochet, spin, weave, make stained glass, cook, and even grow some veggies in pots in my yard for as long as I can. Shame on the people who don't like it.

2011-08-24T14:48:00.001-04:00

A New Fiber Tool & Project Progress

My dear husband is right. Craigslist can be a dangerous, addictive site. He has been perusing the site often and found several items, of interest to him, which he thinks were good deals. I, too, enjoy checking the site out. Arts and Crafts is my favorite category, of course.

Last month, I saw a spinning wheel, but hesitated to contact the seller. I lost out on the opportunity of buying it. Pat told me not to hesitate next time if I see something I liked.

This past Sunday found me glancing at the listings for looms and wheels. There was one ad in particular that caught my eye. We contacted the seller and the item was still available. So, we hopped in the car, and drove to Milton, MA.

I'm now the happy owner of a Toika Leena table loom with stand. It's 4 harness, has string heddles, is intact, and just needed to be cleaned up. Since the harnesses were not properly attached, I need to do a bit of research to set it up correctly.

My Mystic Midsummer Wreath Shawl has seen a bit of love in between my Mystery Sock by Jen Hansen. I had to re-start the sock after I tried on the leg portion. It would have been too tight to fit over my heel/instep. Now, I'm knitting the larger size and it fits well after trying this one on.

The August Project Stash Buster fiber is spinning along. I've got about 2 ounces left to spin and can then start the plying. This coming Saturday is the monthly spin in at RI Handspun, and I plan to work on that while there. If I have time, I want to spin some of my natural colored fiber before starting the September fiber.

With a tropical storm or hurricane arriving in my area on Sunday, I need to finish clearing the yard and batten down the hatches, so I will say good bye for now. If you are in the line of the storm, please stay safe. If you are told to evacuate, please do so. It's not worth losing a life to stay in your home if it's too dangerous. Hugs and prayers for everyone's safekeeping.

2011-08-16T20:41:00.003-04:00

A Busy Fiber Filled Month

I finally took pictures of the rest of my knitting and spinning items which were part of The Knit Girllls 5K Stash Dash 2011. Besides the Evenstar Shawl, the re-constructed Dragon Scale Shawl, and Flutter-By Socks, I knit a sweater for my soon to arrive little cousin. I'll talk more about that after I send it to his mommy and he's born. I will say it came out cute. I did send a picture of the yarn and buttons to my cousin to make sure she liked them, so I can post that here. I was concerned about the little bit of pink, but she was fine with it since the yarn is mostly gold, orange, and a bit of purple. The lion buttons match perfectly. Everyone I asked said the yarn is fine for a boy.

The rest of my Stash Dash was spinning. The previously mentioned "Carnival Glass", "Honey Cinnamon", "Lavander Vanilla" Alpaca, and DyakCraft a/k/a Grafton Fibers "May 2009" club batt all counted toward the yardage.Also spun up were 8 ounces each of Crown Mountain Corridale in "Ishkur" and "Mea Culpa" and "Jezebelle" from CJKopec. My total yardage was 6287.5 !!

All the spinning also counted toward my Spin Your Stash Equinox total. My goal was to spin 5 pounds from Spring to Autumn Equinox. I'm currently at 81.5 ounces and have 8 ounces in process on my Sonata which will be added soon. Four ounces of that counts for my August Project Stash Buster. I need to get busy and get that spun since I only have 15 days left in the month.

Here's a mosaic of my Stash Dash items. I've included a picture of the current August fiber as well since it was started during SD, even though I didn't count the yardage in the total. I've got about a half bobbin full.

My current knitting is another shawl. I finally cast on and started my Mystic Midsummer Wreath Shawl by Anna Dalvi. There is a skein of yarn waiting woefully on my desk with it's needles. It's for a pair of socks from a Mystery Sock KAL. Clue 3 will be out soon and I haven't even started yet. I keep saying I'm starting but just haven't found the time. Bad, bad, bad on my part. Here's a picture of the yarn I'm using for the MMW Shawl. It's the same yarn and color the designer used. I just fell in love with it and decided to do the same one:

2011-07-17T02:26:00.001-04:00

More Blocked Items

After Evenstar was finished, I decided to take advantage of my mats being set up on the deck and blocked a couple more items.

My Dragon Scale Shawl was finished two years ago ~ sort of. I had a major mishap with twenty rows of lace. Those rows had to be frogged and re-knit twice to correct the problem. I hated the shawl at that point, so I just did the six rows of garter stitch edging, bound off, and tossed it in a bag in my bedroom. A couple months ago, I decided it wasn't fair to leave it like that. I took it out, pulled out the edging, added two more repeats and re-knit the edging. I'm much happier with it now and love it again.

I had also used the same yarn to make a pair of socks to sort of match the dragon theme. Shur'Tugal was a fun pattern to knit. Here they are blocking.

Last Sunday was a beautiful day so we decided to take a ride. We took the Lincoln.

2011-07-14T15:29:00.001-04:00

Blocking My Evenstar Shawl

I'm doing a little happy dance over here. I took advantage of a lovely warm day and blocked my finished Evenstar Shawl. It was a bit of a challenge since I didn't have quite enough space on the eight 2 x 2 foot squares. I need one more, but it worked out in the end. I just blocked the two last spots after the rest was done.

Here's a picture of it while it was still pinned out on the deck. The breeze was flipping the end mats up, so I had to weight them down a bit.

Tonight is my knitting guild meeting and I'm planning to bring it for show and tell. :)

2011-07-10T19:17:00.001-04:00

Fair Fun, Tour de Fleece Spinning, Downpours!

Friday was a rainy day with random thunderstorms in the morning and afternoon. I was a little worried since I was doing a spinning/fiber demo with Happy Hands at the annual North Stonington Fair in CT during the afternoon and evening. My wishing for the weather to clear seemed to be working as I packed the car and headed out. Sadly, I guess I didn't wish hard enough. We had downpours off and on the whole time we were in the Sheep Barn. One of the worst cloudbursts/downpours was when it was time to pack up and go home. I said a quick good night, grabbed my wheel I had covered with a big black trash bag, and made a mad dash when there was a lull in the storm. It started to downpour and I was still soaked by the time I got the wheel in the back seat. Driving home was a bit of a challenge, but the rain tapered off about half way home.

Saturday was a beautiful, warm day and we had lots of people coming through the barn. I even got to be a judge with Sandi for the Lead Line competition.

Here's a picture of the bobbin after Saturday's spinning. It was empty on Friday when I got there. I still have about half the braid to do. If I had spun this my regular thickness, I probably would have finished the braid. I also got a little spindling in but don't have a picture of that yet. The skein of yarn is the first 4 ounce braid which was finished Thursday evening at home. It's 424 yards of Navajo ply. I'm quite happy with my Tour de Fleece progress so far.

Evenstar has 3 repeats left and the grafting of the two edges and then will be finished. I can't wait to soak and block this. My next project is to try to finish the "sweater that never ends" a/k/a my version of Ditto. The poor sweater has been two years in the making. Although, if you read my blog, you already know it was actually almost finished and semi-frogged due to sizing issues.

2011-07-05T18:02:00.000-04:00

Happy July 4th..... On Your Mark, Get Set, Spin!!

Tour de Fleece 2011 started this past Saturday, July 2. It runs until Sunday, July 24th. I'm participating but have a limited goal. I joined 4 teams. No trying to spin as much of a whole fleece as I can in 22 days this year. Since I'm part of Corgi Hill Farm's team, I have to spin her fiber. I had a hard time picking one from the stash, but the final choice was "Carnival Glass". There's 8 ounces in my stash. I'm not sure if I'll finish it all because it's coming out so fine. The colors just pop out at you and the shine is gorgeous. It's a Merino/Bamboo/Silk blend and spins like thinly poured melted butter. ♥

Here's a picture of the 2 braids and three days of spinning. I still have 1.45 ounces of braid one to spin. There was little Wensleydale batt bite included with these and I plan to spin that on one of my spindles. I need serious spindle practice time so I can improve that ability.

Both these fiber projects will be coming to North Stonington Fair in Connecticut with me this week. Happy Hands Fiber Arts is doing the fiber arts demo in the sheep barn on Thursday and Friday evening from 4:30 until 9p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to about 4 p.m. If you are in the area stop by and say hi.

Evenstar is almost off the needles. I have 50 of the 56 edging repeats done as of last night. Oooo! the anticipation of having that finished! I can't wait to block it with my interlocking boards. The plan is to lay it out on the deck on a sunny day and have it dry super fast.

Today was busy with doctor appointments for me. The eye doctor one went well. Although, I need glasses for reading and doing the fine stuff like knitting lace. :( Hey, as I told some online friends, at least it's not bifocals or even trifocals. :)

The other appointment was meh. I got my diabetes meds tweaked and found out I've been taking my iron supplement too early in the day. It conflicts with my thyroid med. This explains why my butt has been dragging lately. I've had no energy and just want to sleep a lot. Now I've adjusted the schedule, I'm hoping for an energy burst to happen in a couple days.

That's if for me for now. Enjoy the rest of the week if you are on vacation. Stay cool in the heat.

2011-06-19T16:07:00.005-04:00

A Dye Day With Fiber Friends, Spinning & Knitting Progress

Last Sunday was spent with my Happy Hands Fiber Friends at our monthly get together. This time, we had a dye day. Dave and Sue generously offered the use of their garage for this. I forgot to bring my camera so have no pictures. :(

It was a cool, comfortable day with lots of experimenting and playing with colors. Liz, from Fibers4Ewe, did a demo about cellulose dyes and then some of us attempted yarn/fiber dyeing with them. I did a purple/blue with red/pink colors on some Bamboo/Wool yarn. The result is quite different from using acid dyes.

We also used primary colors, mixed from acid dyes, and created our own colors for other items. Sandi had brought a couple pre-mixed colors as well. I dyed up some Masham fiber and some of Mr. Attitude's locks. The locks came out quite interesting since they were naturally shades of gray and white. The color in the picture isn't exactly correct. The orange seems to be over powering the other colors. The end result reminds me of Autumn leaves.

In between dyeing, some of us were spinning, knitting, or just chatting. There was lots of terrific food available from the pot luck lunch/barbecue we had as well. It was terrific to see everyone again. A surprise visitor was Liz from Maine who I hadn't seen in a couple years.

As for knitting progress, I've finished my Flutter By socks. I really like how they came out. I have enough yarn to use with a similar color to make another pair of socks later.

My Evenstar Shawl has seen a good amount of love lately. As of about an hour ago, I am starting repeat 30. I'm over half finished with the edging and am looking forward to a completed shawl soon. I've got another mystery shawl to knit, but am forcing myself to finish this one first. Here's the yarn for knitandknag's Mystic Midsummer Wreath Shawl KAL which started a couple days ago.

On the spinning front, I finished the DyakCraft a/k/a Grafton Fibers Club January 2009 batt. I'm quite happy with the results. I plan to spin the second batt some time during Tour de Fleece which starts in a couple weeks. I still need to finish the last bit of "Honey Cinnamon" that has been hanging out on my Sonata wheel for a month. Hmmm. I think I'll got do that now.

I also forgot to post the picture of my May Project Stash Buster yarn, and the Silver Sun Alpaca's "Lavander Vanilla" batts I had spun up.

O.K. It's time for me to spin for a bit and then get back to that edging. My goal is to get at least two more repeats done today.

2011-05-24T15:46:00.000-04:00

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.

2011-05-09T20:59:00.002-04:00

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.

2011-05-07T16:33:00.003-04:00

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.

2011-04-29T17:06:00.005-04:00

The Tortoise Will Win the Race Eventually

Do you remember the childhood story of the tortoise and the hare? Well, I think my progress lately has been resembling the tortoise. My Evenstar Shawl's beaded edging has about 8 of 57 repeats finished as of yesterday. Each repeat is about 20 stitches and 20 rows. That's not a lot, but the beading takes time and slows you down some.

My April Project Stash Buster fiber is the lovely light gray Shetland from Groton Family Farm. I started this fiber during a spinning demo the day before Easter, at the farm on their shearing day. Since it came from the farm's sheep last year, it was appropriate to spin it while doing the demo. I'll be spending tonight spinning the last ounce or so of that. Plying the 8 ounces will be tomorrow evening after I get home from the CT Sheep and Wool Festival. I am only going for fleece. I promise. :)

The "Stormy Seas" fiber from CorgiHillFarm has been taking a break. It will be picked up again after I complete the Shetland. I had 7.2 ounces and have made good progress with it. Only the fourth batt is left to spin.

I'm chomping at the bit to start May's fiber, but I know I have to wait until "Stormy Seas" is done to start that. It's Polwarth in bright, colorful "Autumn Rainbow".

2011-04-18T20:00:00.001-04:00

Whipping Out the WIPs and Re-Learning A Crochet Technique

Last Thursday evening was my monthly knitting guild meeting where one of the members did a demo on Tunisian crochet. It's been about 15 years since I did that particular technique and welcomed the refresher in it. Of course, I am thinking of making some pot holders after seeing the ones Jan brought as a display. I've got lots of worsted weight in my stash that will work well for these.

Last week was a good one for finishing more knitting and spinning. The Edelweiss Neckwarmer has the two abalone buttons, along with the anchoring back buttons, and loops sewn on and is now finished. The second Embossed Leaves socks was knit like lightning. And the best finished WIP was my "Moonlight" Rambouillet fiber. The total for that was 8 ounces, 2 ply, with a 1000 yards of lovely, soft, squishy yarn!! Woot! Woot! That's the most yardage I ever got from 8 ounces of fiber.

Now, Millie Minstrel is busy spinning the second half of my CorgiHillFarm Merino/Glitz batts in "Stormy Seas". I'm hoping to have that finished in a few days as well.

After I finish this post, I'm going to take out my Evenstar shawl and finally start the edging. My intention was to do this a few days ago, but I got sidetracked with the spinning.

2011-04-12T14:31:00.003-04:00

Here I Go A-Clucking and A-Clicking

I go through phases where I can eat the same general item for several days on end. Lately, that item has been chicken. If you hear me clucking and see tail feathers growing out my rear end, let me know. Over the last two weeks, I've made a Mashed Potato Topped Chicken Pot Pie, Curry Chicken Salad, and Baked Chicken Thighs. Usually, when I cook, there's enough for at least two days of meals, sometimes more. There was a pot of chili, and broiled scallops in between the pie and everything else.

As for the a-clicking, both knitting needles and wheel have been busy. I include the wheel because it sometimes "talks" to me. I finished and blocked both the items I cast on during the Knitting Guild retreat, as well as the green fiber I was spinning then. "Make It Work!", "Edelweiss Neckwarmer" and the mosaic for the "Troll" handspun yarn are all pictured below. The neckwarmer still needs two buttons and the loops attached. I picked up a couple abalone buttons at Jo Anne's for this last night. Also pictured are my Embossed Leaves socks, knit in Kindred Spirit Symphony yarn in the color "Dusty Blue". The gusset is finished, and, I'm onto the foot of sock two as of a few moments ago. I hope to finish them by tomorrow. The toe has an interesting construction.

Please excuse the appearance of my deck. When I took the picture, we hadn't power washed the furniture or put the cushions out yet.

The other fiber I was spinning at the retreat, "Moonlight", the blue Rambouillet, has seen a good deal of progress as well. I'm hoping to finish that this weekend so I can move along to my April Stash Buster fiber - some lovely grey Shetland from Groton Family Farm.

2011-03-24T20:03:00.005-04:00

A Weekend Away of Knitting Fun

This past Friday morning found me traveling to Plymouth, MA for a 2 day retreat with some of the ladies from one of my favorite groups, the Ocean State Knitting and Crochet Guild. After checking into the Cold Spring Best Western, we traveled to East Sandwich for some yarn shopping. This was followed with a visit to The Dunbar Tea Room for a delicious lunch. Then we headed back to the hotel where we knit in a big, bright conference room set aside for us. Snacks and drinks were set up on the side for our enjoyment as well.

Then it was time to go for supper at The East Bay Grille. One of our servers was nice to take a picture of our table.

After dinner we all headed back to the hotel for more knitting fun. Audrey and I brought our wheels, so we did spin for a bit.

The next morning, we had a wonderful breakfast buffet. Some of the other ladies came down for the day. After breakfast, we hit the road again for some more stash enhancement. Upon our return, we had a lovely lunch and returned to the conference room for more knitting.

I had started the Edelweiss Neckwarmer, which I am knitting in my handspun "Trillium Lake" on Friday, and the Make It Work! in Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in "Mulled Wine" on Saturday. Both are very addictive patterns and moving right along. My plan is to have at least one finished by next week.

I'm happy to say I stuck to my resolution not to buy yarn. I came home with a couple patterns I hadn't seen locally, and a pair of Puppy Snips. That's it. :)

After getting home Saturday evening, it was time to just relax and knit some more. :)

2011-03-15T21:47:00.000-04:00

A "Green" Happy Hands..."Ditto" Increases are Done

Sunday was Happy Hands and, since Spring is trying to hang around, we had a "green" theme. Some of us wore the color, and some of us knit or spun it.  There was some good natured teasing going on too. I was pretending I was going to "steal" Marcia's pretty sparkly batts she was spinning. The snacks even fit into the green theme. There was a lovely salad and some cupcakes with green sprinkles on them. Someone also brought some Girl Scout cookies. I did have two of those. :)

In keeping with the theme, I was trying to finish up the first 4 ounces of "Troll", but had a little bit left when it was time to go home. Green is not a color I usually wear, but there was one pair of minty green leggings in my closet that used to fit, but had become a bit clingy when I gained weight. Guess what??? They fit again, and are even a little baggy.

"Ditto" has all it's increases in so now it's time to start the yoke. I chose not to bind off stitches under the arm as the pattern said to do. It makes more sense to me to just knit the body stitch and sleeve stitch together when I start the yoke. This is the plan and hopefully, it will work. Either way there will be a bit of ridge under the arm. This poor pattern has been used more as a guide than actually knit as directed. So far, I've added length, made full sleeves, and increased where I was not told to. It will be interesting to see the final result.

"Evenstar" hasn't been touched all week.   I've got some other things I'm trying to do this week and doubt that will change. I'll try to remedy that next week.

I'm going to the wheel now to finish the "Troll" fiber.

2011-03-07T22:50:00.001-05:00

Time to Start "Evenstar" Beading, "Ditto" Progress, "Moonlight" Spinning

Yay!! I finally got the last rows before the beaded knit on edging of my Evenstar Shawl. I plan to start the edge tomorrow or Wednesday.

My Ditto sweater has seen a bit of progress. The yoke is worked in multiples of 10, so I decided to add a total of 20 stitches under the arms instead of 10. I think it will be more comfortable. The plan is to finish the increases tonight.

The "Moonlight" fiber from Flawful Fibers is moving along as well. I finally finished the first 4 ounces. The second 4 ounces will be worked on during the rest of the month after I finish my "Troll" from CJKopec. It may take until April to finish the blue "Moonlight" fiber. It will be interesting to see the yardage I get from the 4 ounces when it's plied.

O.K. I'm heading back over to work on the Ditto some more.

2011-03-04T22:21:00.001-05:00

Dear Janie, I Miss You

Twenty five years ago today, my life changed forever. It's the day I grew up. Twenty five years ago today my sister died. She was shot and killed by my tenant's son. Dad had died five weeks earlier. Mom had died almost two years earlier. My dad's tenant was watching Jane after I had returned to work on second shift, after being home for three weeks. Michael kept an eye on Jane from when I had to leave and his mother got home from work, about an hour and a half. Jane was mentally challenged, but high functioning. I had to go back to work but couldn't leave her alone because I didn't trust her with the stove. She was only 26 and I was 25 at the time.

For some reason, I'm thinking about her a lot more on this day than I have on past anniversaries. Maybe because it's the quarter century and about the same amount of years as her life. I don't know. A day rarely goes by that I don't think of her, remember something about her, and smile to myself. It was mostly Mom and I who took care of her with Dad there sometimes. Our bond was so close that when she died, it felt like not only my sister being ripped from my life, but, in some ways almost like my child.

I know she is smiling down on me, along with my parents, and is at peace. Janie, I miss you and love you always.

2011-03-04T21:59:00.000-05:00

March Project Stash Buster & Dusting Off An Old Knitting UFO

Now that March is here, it's time for the next two bags to be opened. The fiber is CJKopec's "Troll" in lovely shades of green. The sock is "Flutter-by" and the yarn is from DkKnits. I need to pick a different skein because the one I chose does not show the pattern as well as I would like.
One of my intentions for this year was to work on UFO/WIP projects. The Ditto sweater has been in time out for about a year now. As of this past Wednesday evening, it is back in the current project pile. I took it to knit night and managed to plot the increases I need to make it fit better under the arms and across the bust. Since you knit the entire body in one piece, with almost 300 stitches, it takes a while to get across it. I actually managed two rows while there. When I got home I continued working on it for a little while. Progress was eight rows by Thursday evening.

My Evenstar shawl is also progressing nicely. I'm about 4 rows from starting the edging with the beads. I'm debating doing the last pattern row and saving the knit/purl rows for public knitting with some friends. Once those rows are done, it will be an at home only project. Beading in public with a crochet hook and about 3000 size 8 seed beads could lead to a disaster if they are spilled.

Sadly, my February sock never progressed past the cuff. It's now a UFO and in the basket.

Spinning has seen some progress on the "Moonlight" fiber and the completion of the "Trillium Lake" fiber. I haven't taken my picture of the finished skein yet but plan to tomorrow before the rain comes in for the weekend.

It's time to pop in a movie, give the dogs a treat, get a drink and get comfy with Katy cat and knit for a while.

2011-02-21T20:41:00.000-05:00

Bit By The Cooking Bug & Clearing WIPs & UFOs

Don't ask me why because I don't know, but, this weekend has found me spending a lot of time in the kitchen. Saturday, I had the urge for an egg salad sandwich. I boiled up the eggs we had left and made the salad once they were nice and cold. This led to me sending Pat to the store for more eggs after I mentioned deviled eggs to him. Those were made, and we have been nibbling on them all weekend. Sunday, found Pat cooking the steaks on the grill while I made mashed potatoes with a touch of shredded cheese, saute`d spinach in olive oil and garlic, and saute`d onions and mushroom to top the steaks with. Today, Monday, I made Lasagna Bake. There's enough of that for at least a couple more days. I make Pat's with his pasta and mine with the regular stuff. Now, I have a cranberry bread in the oven. Not to be left out, Pat made his brownies earlier. My kitchen has been smelling yummy all weekend.

This weekend also found me spending a lot of time with my wheels. Millie Minstrel was put to work spinning my Copperpot Woolies "Victorian Holiday" batt 2 which I thought I had already spun up. It was tucked in with the Sonata and completely forgotten about. Esmeralda Sonata was set up with the jumbo flyer and engaged in the plying of that fiber as well as 3 more of my Junebug skeins. Now, I'm back to Millie Minstrel and spinning a Hanks In The Hood "Trillium Lake" batt. This batt is gorgeous and so easy to spin. I signed up to be part of her "study". She supplied the fiber, and, after we finish it, we post pictures and info about how we spun and plied it. We have about 3 more weeks to get it done. Here's some photos of it. There are one rolled up, two opened, and one started on the wheel. This fiber is also one of the batts she supplies to Knit Picks. It has lots of green, some brown, bronze firestar, and white bamboo fiber. Here is the link for the page at Knit Picks.

2011-02-14T17:17:00.006-05:00

It's Been A Busy Week of Fiber Arts

Last Thursday, at my Ocean State Knit and Crochet Guild meeting, I was happy to hand over three hats for our charity knitting. I made them all slightly different sizes to accommodate different size heads.

I did get some spinning finished, too. The "Pie for Everyone" is plied. "Lovely Lady" is spun and ready to be plied.

The first clue of In Dreams came out on Friday. My hope and plan was to be on clue 6 of Evenstar by then, but, I am just now finishing up clue 5. I got involved in some non fibery stuff and just didn't have time to work on it. When I get to the final clue 7, which is a knitted on edging, there are about 3000 beads included. Here are some pics of my current progress, the beads I am planning to use, and the cone of yarn. I pinned out the shawl as much as possible. Due to the needles not being long enough to lay the entire circle out, I just did a portion starting at the center. :

Sunday found me at my Happy Hands Fiber Arts monthly gathering where some of us tried our hands at needle felting and then wet felting on fabric and canvas. Sandi was nice to arrange the activity and bring all the supplies including little tote bags for us to use. Monet brought extra fiber for everyone in case it was needed. I had a pretty multi colored mini sample batt from a previous fiber order and I used that to make a cute hummingbird on one of Sandi's little tote bags. It's going to find a home on my Sonata to hold the oil bottle, hook, and allen wrench. Here's a picture of the still damp bag.

2011-02-09T20:00:00.000-05:00

Plugging Along on Spin & Knit Projects

This past week has seen me still working on the same projects. While out and about last Thursday, I stopped and picked up some yarn for the charity hat knitting my knitting guild, Ocean State Knit and Crochet Guild, is doing tomorrow night. I ended up making one already and have another skein to work on tomorrow night at the meeting. It's a bulky weight acrylic Loops & Thread Charisma in Dark Blue. I like the yarn but it does tend to slip a bit on the metal needles I'm using. Evenstar is at the end of Clue 5. I had hoped to be into Clue 6 before the first clue of In Dreams came out last Friday, but, I didn't make it. The ribbing of a sock is started for February. That's as far as that has gotten.

The blue fiber, "Moonlight", on my Sonata wheel hasn't been touched since the spin in. I decided to finish the pink fiber on my Minstrel first. It will feel good to have another WIP become an FO and move into the yarn bin. :) I did spin up another bobbin of Junebug's fleece which is number 6 waiting to be plied. I will have to put the jumbo flyer on the Sonata and start plying soon or I'll run out of regular size bobbins. It's time to head back to "Lady Love" and spin up the last 2.5 ounces left of the 6 that made up batt 2. Batt 1 had 4 so I have a total of 10 ounces. I'm hoping for close to 1000 yards of heavy lace weight or light fingering when I'm done. Here's a couple pictures of the fiber. The skein is from batt 1 which was spun last summer. It got a bit squished in it's bag inside the other bag with the fiber.

2011-02-02T17:23:00.000-05:00

February Knitting and Spinning Plans

The first clue of the February/March Mystery Sock pattern in the Solid Socks group on Ravelry was release yesterday. The color theme for February is "Fire" as in the element. I have a couple yarn choices to pick from so will try them both out tonight to see how it looks. I'm also getting ready to start the Project Stash Buster sock bag for this month. I think I can manage to get that pair done as well since I have 2 months to finish the mystery sock. Of course, slow progress is being made on my Evenstar Shawl. I'm still hoping to get at least part of clue 6 done before this Friday. Seeing how this is Wednesday, I might get to one row if I work really hard to finish clue 5.

The February's Project Stash Buster fiber, "Pie For Everyone" from Spunky Eclectic, was opened and started last night on Millie Minstrel. I was spinning while watching t.v., and not really paying attention to how fast the fiber was going down. About 2/3 of it was spun already. I just got into it and kept going. I'll finish the singles tonight and then knit for a bit. There is a cowl I am thinking of making with it, so the plan is to Navajo ply it to get a bit thicker yarn and maintain the colors which are separating nicely.

Over on Esme Sonata, I have a bobbin of the before mentioned "Moonlight".

2011-01-31T00:26:00.005-05:00

A Relaxing Spin In

Saturday found me heading to RI Handspun for the monthly spin in. There was snow in the forecast, but it was suppose to be only a dusting or so. Luckily, it held off and I never did see a snowflake falling. It was a very enjoyable day with spent with some great spinning friends. I hadn't seen Belinda since the Autumn, so that was especially nice. We were laughing and talking while knitting and spinning and the day just flew by. Before you knew it, it was time to pack up and head for home.

I brought the second batt of Copperpot Woolies "Victorian Holiday" to spin as well as a bag with 2 braids of blue/gray Rambouillet fiber in "Moonlight" from Enablerie, formerly known as Flawful Fibers. This fiber has been in the stash for at least a couple years now. I've been spinning so many combos with pinks and reds, in them I chose to start the blue/gray although I should have held out until March to use it as a Project Stash Buster. Oh well. The second braid still might become a monthly bag anyway. It's spinning so fine I might be sick of it at and need a break from it the end of the first four ounces. lol

The photos are the Copperpot Woolies fiber I had brought with me and the bobbin of singles from when I was spinning the first four ounces.

2011-01-26T16:30:00.003-05:00

Perspectives and Decisions

The last year has been interesting for me in some ways. Besides all the fiber fun, happy events, and medical issues, I've been working on my perspective of a certain area of my life. This has led to decisions of what works for me and what doesn't. There are only so many hours in a day, and I'm not inclined to waste them on stuff I'm not happy being part of any longer. I can't stay in what is a toxic situation for me. Dealing with false, snarky people is not worth it. Coming home stressed almost to the point of tears is not worth it. Removing myself from some people, situations, and a group is part of the decision. Don't get me wrong. There are some people I won't be spending as much time with who I will truly miss. It only takes a few to destroy a terrific time.

Now, with that said, I'm still very active and involved in several other groups. I still plan to spend time with some fiber friends often. As a matter of fact, this Saturday, January 29th, is the monthly spin in at RI Handspun. Thursday, February 10th, is the Ocean State Knit and Crochet Guild monthly meeting. Sunday, February 13th, is our monthly Happy Hands Fiber Arts gathering. OSKCG and HHFA are fabulous groups and I always come home from them with a smile on my face. I feel blessed to be a part of both groups.

2011-01-25T21:59:00.001-05:00

Another Podcast to Listen To, Weather Update

I've been hearing a lot about the Knitmore Girls Podcast, but never really listened to it. Earlier tonight I decided to check it out and have now added it to my list on the left side of this blog. It's a mother and daughter team and quite good.

Mr. Frosty's current amount has been updated to a possible foot of snow between Wednesday and Thursday. I need to have Pat get me some milk, bread, and cheese while he's out tomorrow. I don't usually eat cereal often, but have been wanting some hot oatmeal lately. I bought a box a couple weeks ago and have been enjoying it. And grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup have been calling me, too. Those are both good cold weather foods.

O.K. folks. It's time to cuddle with my chair companion, Katy, and knit a while. LarkRise to Candleford is coming on in 5 minutes.

2011-01-25T17:02:00.000-05:00

More White Stuff on the Ground, Pat's Hat, My Furry Knitting Companion

So here we are in the midst of another winter storm. This one already put two and a half inches in my yard this morning of white, fluffy snow. This is on top of the eight inches still here from the last big storm.The forecast claims it's suppose to turn to freezing rain then rain tonight. Then we have another four to eight inches headed our way over the next two days. Ugh!

With this kind of weather, I find myself not wanting to go outside. The ritual for the last few nights has been to snuggle into my recliner with a comforter over me while I knit. I don't really need the covering, but my cat, Katy, has designated my lap her new favorite spot to curl up on lately. I had put the comforter over me the first night because my feet and legs were cold. Now, Katy lets me know it's a requirement to her creature comfort by kneading into my leg until I put the comforter over at least her side of my body. Once she settles down, I'm planted for at least a couple hours, so I make sure the phone, a drink, t.v. and DVD player remotes are all next to me, there's a movie ready to watch in the player, and a bathroom trip is accomplished beforehand. Disturbing Miss Catitude is not acceptable. I've been steadily knitting on my Evenstar shawl. It would be nice to finish it before In Dreams comes out, but, it looks like it will only be on clue 6 by then. Half of clue 5 is done as of Sunday night.

When I decided to spend time with the wheel last night, Katy was not very happy with me. She kept coming over to look at me as if to say, "Well, let's get in the chair." Then she would let out a little sniff of disgust when I wouldn't do her bidding. Oh well. She survived. lol The last of the blue alpaca batt is almost spun. I plan to ply it in a couple days.

Pat really liked his simple hat which fits him well. He told me to make sure it had a little room because he doesn't like anything tight on his head. Since he wanted the ribbing folded up, I knit 7 inches in the body instead of the suggested 5. Last night, when I had to run out to the drugstore, I stuck this on my head. It is quite warm and cozy.

The first of February means I have another set of Project Stash Buster bags to open and start. In the mean time, it's WIP spinning and knitting around here.

2011-01-19T11:58:00.001-05:00

A Little Note to Mr. Winter, Knitting & Spinning Progress

Dear Mr. Winter,

Please stop dumping all this icky, cold, slippery, wet stuff on us. We have had enough to suffice this season. Thanks. Me.

That would be my message to this season's weather. We had snow, rain, and ice yesterday with over 50 accidents in this little state of mine. Today was suppose to be more rain and then freezing, but, so far nothing is happening outside. Yay for that. Friday has another storm coming our way with the prediction of 6 inches to a foot of snow. I'm glad to say I'll be hunkered down in the house where I'm safe and warm.

My January vanilla socks are finished, so onto other knitting projects. :)

During the blizzard, I noticed my husband was wearing a hat which is something he doesn't often do. He has been wearing a thin cheap one he picked up at the store and I don't think it really keeps his head warm or dry. This means I've found something I can actually knit for him and he will use. Last night found me casting on a simple, plain watch cap with some ribbing on the end. Half of it was knit last night, so I think I will finish it tonight. This is a good thing because he can wear it during Friday's storm.

Last weekend was spent washing and setting yarns. I did 4 colorways, with a total of 7 skeins. They are:

row 1:Copperpot Woolies "Masquerade" ; Silver Sun Alpacas "Daffodails"

row 2: Cormo/Bamboo (left bobbin) and Whorling Tides "Best Berries" (right bobbin); the two plied skeins of these 2 fibers

row 3: Spunky Eclectic "Macaw"; Fibers4Ewe Mill Mystery Fiber (this one isn't washed yet)

My Minstrel currently has some blue alpaca from a batt I had dyed last year. The Sonata is....(gasp)...empty. I've got a couple bags of fiber that had 8 ounces in each. I've spun 4 ounces of each one, so they will be heading over to fill Esme's empty bobbins soon and clear out another 2 UFOs.

I also spent some time with a Mosaic Maker and came up with this. It's the Whorling Tides contest fiber from start to finish.

2011-01-14T13:21:00.002-05:00

Another Winter Storm, Learning Reversible Lace, Finishing Projects

Old Man Winter gave us another whuppin' of snow. The official measurement for Cranston was 11 inches, but I think my front yard has about 8 or so. Everyone is now trying to clean up and combat the ice that keeps developing as temps drop into the single digits at night.

Last night was the Knitting Guild meeting where we had a lesson from the owner of Manmade By Jonne. Jonne is a wonderful, patient, knowledgeable teacher. We learned stitches that are knit in a way that creates a reversible lace scarf. We all practiced on sport weight yarn for the class, but the scarf is knit in lace weight. I chose a pretty Pink Coral cotton/wool blend to use for my actual scarf.

My January fiber, Spunky Eclectic's "Macaw" is spun and Navajo plied. The finished yarn is not really calling to me. I think the yellow is to bright for my tastes so I plan to give it a quick over-dye in a weak bath of Slate Blue. It will calm down the eye searing yellow to a nice green/blue shade. Millie Minstrel is now empty, but Esme Sonata still has the Fibers4Ewe to be finished.

I'm knitting on sock 2 of the vanilla socks which I hope to have finished by Sunday. Then I can devote some time to Evenstar. I'm hoping to see some more progress on that soon. It's been stagnant for too long.

2011-01-10T15:18:00.003-05:00

New England Winter, Knitting & Spinning Progress

Living in New England brings lots of changeable weather. So far this winter, we have had a blizzard where we got 10 inches of snow, and high, howling, hurricane force winds for several hours. My reindeer had to be evicted from the front yard before the blizzard hit otherwise I wouldn't have been able to pull the stakes out of the frozen ground. They are now hanging up in the basement. After the "abominable snowman" snowstorm, I decided I had enough of the white stuff for the season. The joy of it wears off with me pretty fast since I'm not a lover of the cold stuff. A few days later, we had a day in the 60s. The cold weather also brought me an unwanted surprise present - a nasty cold. I'm at the end of it now so I'm not contagious, just sniffly. The current weather cast has another storm heading our way. I'm ready to hunker down in the house with the animals. I know Pat will go to work anyway. There's plenty of tea, coffee, hot chocolate, food, knitting, spinning, and DVDs to watch so I know I'll be great.

Knitwise, I'm almost done with the first vanilla sock in Kroy Socks Jacquard yarn, colorway "Lavender Jacquard". I like the way the yarn makes it's own pattern. Yesterday was Happy Hands Fiber Arts Group monthly gathering so I brought this to work on instead of carrying a wheel on what could have been slippery pavement. It was the usual fun-filled afternoon. I got to meet a couple of new ladies as well.

Spinwise, my WhorlingTides fiber and the Cormo/Bamboo blend are plied and a-waiting a soak and dry session. I also started my January fiber, "Macaw" from Spunky Eclectic. So far, I've spun up about an ounce of the 4 so I hope to finish a good portion of the singles tonight.

I'm heading back to the wheel now, and staying inside where it's warm. :)

2011-01-03T19:25:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year!! Van Dyke Socks Finished, Spinning Plans

I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year's Eve. We had a quiet evening at home. It's ironic that it's always the one night of the year I have trouble staying awake until midnight. I thought I was going to call it quits at 10, but, I got another wind and stayed up until a little after 1 a.m.

I'm not making any resolutions. I will endeavor to work on my health issues, and try using yarns and fibers from the stashes to shrink them a bit. Other than that, nothing else comes to mind. Do you have any resolutions/intentions for 2011?

I did finish the Van Dyke socks today. I know these were my December socks for the Solid Socks group on Ravelry, but there was no way I could finish them in time. If I hadn't had to rip back sock 1 to before the gusset to fix the over-long foot, I probably would have made the December 31 deadline. Oh well. I still have a pretty pair of red socks to keep my feet warm. :)

My knitting is now the Evenstar, and a pair of plain "vanilla" socks to use as travel/group knitting. I'm in the Year of Stash Socks group and these are for that. I still need to finish the Spruce scarf that is up to the tree part on the first side.

Spinning finds me plying up 2 half bobbins of an old WIP. It's from Silver Sun Alpacas. I had spun the rest and then misplaced the first half bobbin. When I had placed an order, they had sent me a little sample which is the second half bobbin. I'll take time to ply them tonight. Here's a couple pictures of a couple of original full bobbins and fiber.

Then, I need to spin 4 ounces of Cormo/Bamboo to be plied with my Whorling Tides contest fiber. That needs to be done for January 10. After that, I will be working on my 4 ounce selection for Project Stash Buster. I chose some South African Fine from Spunky Eclectic in "Macaw" that's been hanging around in my stash for a couple years. It's nice and bright.

2010-12-28T13:25:00.002-05:00

The Monitor Saga Continues...More Sock Knitting & Spinning

I guess my monitor doesn't want to be replaced yet. The sunshine was bouncing off the snow in my front yard so I put the blind down and suddenly the monitor looked fine to me. I guess it was just glare from all the white snow and sunshine making it look different. Oh well. It looks like my little shopping trip is put on hold for a while longer, which I don't mind. :)

I managed to finish the re-do of the first Van Dyke sock. Sock 2 will be started tonight. I'm also busy trying to empty some more bobbins in order to prepare for the January bag of fiber for the first Project Stash Buster month. It's some Spunky Eclectic merino that has been sitting around for a while.

2010-12-27T12:33:00.001-05:00

Post-Christmas Shopping By Necessity

It's finally happening. My monitor is giving up on me. Even with the brightest setting, the color is very dull. This means I get to go shopping for a new one in a few days. Since the speakers are attached to the sides, I'm getting those replaced, too. I've been wanting a flat, skinny monitor ever since they came out, but refused to toss the perfectly good one I've been using. It's 8 years old, and was bought with my first computer back in 2001. The screen is a flat one, but it's a big bubble type monitor. I think it's served me well.

I'm heading over to check out some online store sites now. :)

2010-12-24T21:08:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas to All

It's a quiet night here. Pat is watching "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" while I knit on my Spruce scarf a bit. It's not going to be finished by tomorrow for the contest the designer, Susan Pandorf, is having. Everyone votes for their favorite of the finished scarves and the winner gets all of next year's patterns as a prize.

My Van Dyke sock also had to be ripped back below the gusset because it was just too long in the foot. If I put it on so the toe fit properly, the heel was too high. If I put it on so the heel fit properly, there was a flappy bit on the toe. I'll finish them next month.

The menu is planned for tomorrow. It's a simple meal of broiled scallops, baked smashed potatoes with cheese and topped with a little bacon and sour cream, carrots, broccoli, and rolls. The pumpkin ginger snap mousse is making a return as well at the request of Pat and his brother.

Have a wonderful holiday everyone. :)

2010-12-20T22:11:00.004-05:00

Grazing Reindeer Family.... The Tree is Decorated

I had some reindeer visiting me tonight. There's a lovely mama, papa, and three babies in my front lawn. They will be there until after New Year's. Oh, I forgot to mention they are very pretty lit up. Santa is waving in the corner of the window to everyone as they walk by. :) It was spitting snow when I took the pictures.

Here's a close up.

The Christmas tree is no longer naked. It's a bit skimpy by my usual standards, but very pretty. Some of the ornaments didn't show up in the picture. That's Tiger in the window checking for any outside activity.

2010-12-15T19:07:00.005-05:00

Parties, a Tough Week, an Angry Little Dog

Last Thursday evening, Dec. 9, was the Ocean State Knit and Crochet Guild annual Holiday Party. Lots of yummy foods were consumed before the Yankee Swap commenced. Gifts were opened among much laughter and good fun. I did sample a little piece of fudge, but passed on all the other sweet desserts.

Sunday, Dec. 12, was the monthly gathering of the Happy Hands Fiber Arts Group in North Stonington. We are a very eclectic group so this was not a Holiday Party, just our regular get together. We did bring munchies to share. Again, it was all very delicious. I didn't have any candy or cookies.

While spinning on my Sonata, I was getting very nauseous with the wheel spinning around in my line of vision and very cold. By the time I left, I just wanted to get home. The torrential rains didn't help with the hour plus drive. At one point, I had to pull off the highway and sit for a bit. I got home, put the dip and veggies I had brought in the fridge, put on a nightgown, and crawled into bed. I stayed there for the rest of Sunday, and the majority of Monday and Tuesday. I think it was some kind of bug. I didn't touch my knitting at all. Today, I'm feeling more myself.

Right now, I need to deal with a very pissed off Pooh. He is vocally demanding a cookie, which he will not be getting. Then I will be climbing into my recliner to knit for a bit.

Update: Pooh has yapped himself to exhaustion and is now sleeping next to Hanna. He's been a brat all night. I still love him though. Pooh on the left and Hanna on the right.

2010-12-06T18:50:00.006-05:00

Keeping a Tradition...and...The Naked Christmas Tree

Every year, it was traditional to start decorating the house on my mom's birthday which is tomorrow, December 7th. I've missed doing this tradition a few years, but this year I am renewing it. The tree was brought up from the basement, and the reindeer are waiting for the first visit to my front yard. I bought them a couple years ago and just never put them out. I'm not sure about decorating the fireplace. That may just prove too much of a kitty temptation.

The last time I had my big Christmas tree decorated was 2005. We had the rescue kittens which were in isolation from my other cats until they were old enough to be tested, so I put it up. Since then it has been in storage in the basement. Ever since their arrival, I've put a small table one up. Moving it into the front hall and putting it back when I got home every day from work was the only way I could think to keep it kitty proof. Even after retiring in 2007, I used the small one. That year, I had a broken wrist and couldn't even handle that. Pat had to help me.

Now the "kids" are 5 years old, I decided to try putting it up again this year. Tonight, in the setting up. If no one climbs it or hides in it, I will put the lights on it tomorrow. Then some ribbon garland, bows, and my angel on top in a couple more days. I won't be putting any of my regular ornaments on it since they are all ceramic, spun glass, or crystal. I do have some plastic candy canes and icicles I used on the small tree I can put on it. That's it. It will still be a little naked compared to my usual glittery tree I love.

2010-12-05T00:39:00.004-05:00

Project Stash Buster

The other day I was talking to my friend Monet on Plurk about sock clubs. I told her I plan to create my own "club" from my stash by bagging up a skein of yarn and a pattern for each month, label with the month, and knit them in order. This got me to thinking of doing the same thing for a "fiber club".

I posted about this in the Spinning in Rhode Island group on Ravelry. So far, Monet, Sandi, and I are playing. We start on January 1, 2011 in order to give everyone the rest of December to get the bags ready. It was mentioned that it might be fun to add an incentive of a prize for the person who comes closest to spinning up all 12 months of bags. I'm hoping to get around 5 to 10 people to join us so we can turn it into a contest. If we make this a contest, a photo will have to be posted to show the 12 fiber bags and another to show the spun yarn at the end of the year.

I started the group for people who spin, and are in RI, or nearby CT or MA because there wasn't a spinning group on Ravelry for my state. If you are in the area, or want to hang out with us, come join the group and post to the "Project Stash Buster" thread.

We also have a friendly thread every month for a 4 ounce spin of your choice. We encourage and share our progress in that one. No prizes with that.

2010-11-29T16:00:00.000-05:00

Turkey Pot Pie and Finished Socks

The last of the turkey has been consumed in a yummy pot pie. Since Pat can't eat gluten, I made it with a mashed potato topping. I had just enough potatoes left on the shelf. I think it came out quite tasty and have added this to my winter menu selections. I can use the same recipe and substitute beef or chicken too for variety.

My Mongolfiera a/k/a Mystery Socks are finished. The heel actually does fit the back of my foot. I was sitting in my recliner, and when I moved, they slid down a bit against my blanket.

2010-11-26T01:17:00.000-05:00

Turkey Day is Finished, A Little Knitting Time

The Thanksgiving Day Feast was well received and enjoyed. I have lots of left overs even after giving some to my brother-in-law. The pumpkin ginger snap mousse was a success. It is very rich so a little is plenty. The dishes are done, out of the dishwasher, and the kitchen is restored to order. It still has the lingering smell of roasted turkey. Mmmm. It's a nice smell. :)

I managed to get some knitting done on my sock 2 of the mystery sock pair. Then the turkey nap struck for about an hour and a half. A couple more rows were knit later. About 20 rows total were completed which was much less than I had planned. I was hoping to get the heel flap and heel turn done today. Oh well. They will be done by tomorrow.

Now it's time for bed. I'm not braving the masses tomorrow for Black Friday this year. Since I don't need anything, I'm going to sleep in. Happy shopping to all who endeavor to make the trip in the morning.

2010-11-24T22:03:00.003-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving 2010

I've already started cooking a couple things for tomorrow's meal. The cranberry sauce and Pumpkin Ginger Snap Mousse are made. There are 2 versions of the mousse. One is gluten free for Pat and one is regular for Paul and myself.

The turkey and all the trimmings will get cooked tomorrow. I'm actually keeping it pretty simple since there are only 3 of us for dinner.

Of course, Thanksgiving isn't only about the feast. It's our day to reflect and be thankful for the good people and things we have in our lives.

- I'm thankful for my husband, Pat.
- I'm thankful for my friends.
- I'm thankful for my retirement.
- I'm thankful for my warm home, food on my table, clothes on my back.
- I'm thankful for my fiber pursuits.
- I'm thankful for my health issues improving since earlier in the year.

What are you thankful for this year?

2010-11-21T16:46:00.000-05:00

Mystery Sock Knitting, Spinning More Junebug

As of last night, I am caught up on the clues for my mystery sock. The fourth clue comes out on Monday.

Do you remember Junebug's fleece I was spinning in July? It wasn't all spun at that time. I've been spinning some colored/dyed fleece lately. Tonight, I hope to work on Junebug and get at least a bobbin of singles done.

2010-11-18T12:59:00.001-05:00

November Mystery Sock and a Late Night

I'm a bit late starting this, but I wanted to finish the beaded scarf. I'm trying to be semi-monogamous in my knitting lately. So last night saw the cast on of the November Mystery Sock from the Solid Socks group on Ravelry. You are suppose to use solid or semi solid yarns in this group, so I'm knitting it in Wooly Wonka Fibers in the "Tide Pool" colorway. It is a very light bluish green semi-solid although in the picture it looks like there are blue and green sections. It really isn't variegated. It's 100% Merino and I love how this yarn feels. I have had it in the stash for a couple years after getting it from a de-stash on Ravelry. Of course, it's now discontinued so I can't get any more. :(

I sat and knit on the sock, finishing clue 1. I wasn't paying attention to the clock. Thinking it was about 2 a.m. (my usual late night bedtime) I packed up. When I looked at the clock it was 4 a.m.! I was up at 9 so it will be a very early night tonight. lol

2010-11-17T22:46:00.000-05:00

Finishing Projects

This week saw the finishing of my beaded scarf. I had to finagle the graft so it would look right. I hadn't done a graft in ribbing before. I think it looks o.k.

The Crown Mountain Farm Corriedale Fiber in "Stonehenge" is also finished. It came out a bit lighter than I expected, but I like it. Eight ounces yielded 790 yards of 2 ply. Here's a couple pictures, one of each bobbin after plying.

2010-11-11T15:26:00.001-05:00

More Fiber Goodies, Slow Project Progress, and Needleless Cabling

Crafting has been slow this week. I haven't had a lot of incentive to work on stuff. Maybe the new meds are to blame or the time change.

An opportunity was presented by CorgiHillFarm for members of her Ravelry group to get some of her dyed Cashmere/Silk blend at a special price. I ended up with 4 ounces of a lovely Lilac color. This is part of my "arm-chair festival shopping" last week. It arrived earlier this week and is super soft.

I'm still working on my first beaded scarf. I had plans to have it finished this past weekend, but, was sidetracked with non-fibery stuff. I think I will have the second half done by tomorrow night or Saturday at the latest. Then it just needs to be grafted together.

Tonight is my knitting guild meeting which includes a lesson on how to knit cables without a needle. This is perfect timing for me since I'm finally re-starting my TTL Mystery Socks again. I tried doing this after watching YouTube videos, but, messed up. Seeing someone do it in person will help.

The wheels are still busy with the same fibers. Sunday will see more progress on the Fibers4Ewe fiber since I will be taking that to Happy Hands. The Crown Mountain Fibers Corrie fiber in "Stonehenge" has had some progress on the MInstrel.
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The person who was suppose to teach the cabling lesson wasn't able to attend tonight. We ended up with a knitted item fashion show instead. We had a lot of fun and laughter.

2010-11-05T18:08:00.004-04:00

Can You Smell the Wool Fumes???

Tomorrow starts the inaugural Fiber Festival of New England. It's both Saturday and Sunday and it's in Springfield, MA at the Big E fairgrounds in the Mallory Building. I'm not going. Sniff, sniff. O.K. I wiped the tears up. I was suppose to go but there is no way I can walk or stand that long yet. I'll just have to imagine the wool fumes from the fleece sale, the kaleidoscope of color from the yarns and fibers, the frenzy of activity, and the low roar of all the people.

As I have posted before, I did some stash enhancement/fiber shopping online in the spirit of Rhinebeck last month. Well, I did the same thing today. CJKopec had a couple of fibers up I couldn't resist. "Autumn Rainbow" and "Christopher" are on their way to live in my stash. I'm calling these my FFofNE purchases. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

So, everyone who goes this year, I wish you a wonderful weekend of fibery/yarny goodness. I'm going to be there next year right along with you. :)

2010-11-04T00:38:00.004-04:00

Shhh .. I'm Taking a Sock Knitting Break

I decided to take a few days off knitting socks even though I joined the Sockvember group on Ravelry. My brain just needed a few days break from them. Instead I'm working on a beaded scarf. You knit it in 2 pieces and graft the center. Since I'm almost done with part one, I should be done with the other half this weekend. The yarn is Kraemer Sterling (the one with real silver), and the beads are seed beads in Amethyst and Iris colors, alternated.This picture was taken a couple days ago.

2010-11-02T13:34:00.004-04:00

Election Day and Simplify Things

It's Election Day so please remember to go vote. I plan to later this afternoon.

The Painted Sheep has an ongoing Ten On Tuesday post that usually is a list of ten items pertaining to a particular topic. Today's was Simplify Things. I'm going to borrow the topic and put my thoughts here.

1. Plan and cook meals ahead so you have more than a day's worth at a time. It's much simpler to toss a dish in the microwave for a few minutes. The extra prep/cooking time can be spent doing other stuff.

2. Clean the house as you go. It will be much easier and quicker for the "big cleaning" on that one day you decide to do it.

3. If you have your own washer/dryer do a batch as soon as you have enough. It will be less of a chore than waiting to do it all in one day. If you go to the laundrymat, bring something along to keep you busy while sitting there.

4. Work down the fiber/yarn stash or your craft/hobby stashes. It's much easier to pick the next item if there is less to go through to choose it. (I'm seriously working on this one.)

5. Only buy what you need. Save "want" shopping as a treat, reward, or present to yourself.

6. Spend time with friends just hanging out. You don't need an event, party, or expensive night out to enjoy each other's company.

7. Remove the "fluff" friends. You know the ones I mean.

8. If you haven't worn or used it in 2 years, toss it. (I'm working on this one too.)

9. Take time to breathe, reflect on the good things, and enjoy what Mother Nature has given us. Let go of the stuff you can't control or change. This helps center me.

10. Enjoy life. We only get this one chance so make it a happy one without carrying around "baggage" from the past.

2010-10-30T22:30:00.009-04:00

Crocus are Finished, Lily's Fleece, And a Fun Evening

Tonight was a fun evening with lots of lovely people visiting the Senior Center. I managed to finish the ribbing of the Crocus socks up to the bind off. I needed to do that at home because I needed to view the tutorial for Jeny's Suprprisingly Stretchy Bind Off. I think this will be my new bind off on all ribbed items.

Here's a picture of one of the Crocus beauties on my foot.

I also came home with Lily's fleece. I was suppose to get it in two weeks, but Barbara showed up with it tonight. It's soooo soft and beautiful. Lily is a 2 year old white alpaca.

I think I will spin for a bit now.

2010-10-30T13:30:00.002-04:00

In the Home Stretch of Socktoberfest, Another Demo, Birthday Presents

There are just today and tomorrow left of Socktoberfest. My Crocus socks are almost there. I need to finish the ribbing tonight. That should be easy since I'm doing a demo with Happy Hands at the North Stonington Senior Center this evening. Instead of bringing my wheel, I'm knitting. It will round out our group. We have someone spinning, weaving, knitting, and maybe spindling. Next month is Sockvember so I plan to get the Through The Loops Mystery socks done for that while working on my Spruce scarf.

Yesterday was my birthday. Pat had the day off work for some other stuff, so it was nice to have an extra evening with him. We ended up going shopping and checking out the local BJ's. We had a 60 day free membership offer. I don't think we will be buying a membership though. We didn't find that many items we would purchase in the future.

Pat gave me a cute card that made me laugh. Since we usually buy what we want during the year, birthdays and Christmas gifts are usually gift cards or money. Some of my birthday money didn't last long. I went shopping on etsy after finding a link on a Plurk post for a really cool spindle. It's made of acrylic and has an etching on it. That and 2 "lamb tails" are on their way to me. The lamb tails are round discs with a slit to hold your yarn if you need to stop spinning. You hang them from your wheel near the orifice. I use a Velcro dot right now and this works well. These little clear etched discs just called to me so I bought them.

I need to get my knitting in it's tote and ready to go tonight. I will also be bringing my Ditto that has been hibernating and might try working on some of the increases again. This is the kind of weather when I wish I had finished it since I would be toasty warm with it on now.

2010-10-23T17:38:00.004-04:00

Spinning with the Alpaca

Today was spent at Rocky Ridge Alpaca Farm in North Stonington, CT. with some friends. Sue and I were doing the spinning demo and there was a person demonstrating how to make leashes from fiber. There was farm raised garlic from a neighboring farm for sale as well as handmade items in the sale shed. Hot chocolate, tea, coffee, apple cider, and pastries were available to keep us warm and full.

The weather co-operated and stayed dry. It was a bit chilly in the morning, but tolerable. Then the wind kicked up for a while. After that the sun came out and it was so nice.

I have a beautiful white fleece to pick up in a couple of weeks at the next Happy Hands gathering. Her name is Lily.

2010-10-22T00:44:00.002-04:00

Knitting at the Speed of a Snail

At the pace of my knitting today, which was only for about a half hour, I will never get the socks finished for Socktoberfest. Ughh! I think I will go do a bit more now that I have guilted myself into knitting.

The second day of the new medication went well. I had no noticeable side effects. My appetite was a bit reduced again though. That's a good thing. :)

2010-10-21T14:44:00.002-04:00

Socktoberfest Knitting Continues...More Spinning...New Medication

With only 10 days left in Socktoberfest, I think I will fail to complete all 3 pairs of socks. One pair might be done. There has been some non-knitting things happening that required my attention and definitely cut into my knit time. The frogging of my Through The Loops mystery sock put a damper on progress as well. I had over half the leg finished when it was frogged.

Esmeralda, the Sonata, has some pretty pin drafted fiber from Fibers4Ewe on it right now. I haven't touched it since Happy Hands last Saturday. Millicent, the Minstrel, has some Crown Mountain Fibers on it right now. For some reason, I had a little bit of this fiber separate from the rest of the 8 ounces so I started spinning it. Now, I can't find the rest of it in the stash. This company wraps their items in white paper. I forgot I had put it in plastic bags and spent some time looking for the original white paper wrapping. In a little while, I'll go look through the bins again for it. :)

On Tuesday, I went to my diabetes doctor. Let's just say I didn't get any real surprises from him in regards to how I am progressing. He has added another medication to my repertoire. Now, I have an injection in the morning as well as my other med in the evening. It is a relatively new medication with some side effects that can be very disruptive. You start with a small dose, and after a week increase to another level, followed a week later with the full dose. It's suppose to lower your blood sugar, and, decrease your appetite which will cause/help you to lose weight. If I can tolerate the adjustment periods, this med will be a huge help to me.

2010-10-15T16:55:00.006-04:00

A Sock Do Over

The Through The Loops Mystery Sock is very pretty. Unfortunately, I've been riddled with problems that are no fault of this pattern. The designer did an excellent job explaining it.

The first yarn I chose didn't show the design. I fixed that by changing to a burgundy shaded yarn. It's still variegated, but all the hues are variables of the burgundy.

It was my first real cables and I cursed my way through the painfully slow knitting of the ribbing which was clue 1. Then I got clue 2 and zip along through the first half of the leg. As I was ready to start the second pattern of the leg, I finally admitted to myself that the sock was looking a bit too big. Slowly Pat slipped it over my foot. He didn't want to lose any of the stitches. Then all was confirmed. The rib was too loose. It just slid up and down my leg without even attempting to stretch to hug my calf. Now, I'm a plus size lady with big calves. I usually don't like my socks too high. The ribbing, when stretched, could have almost been used for knee sock length.

So, off to the frog pond my lovely burgundy colored sock went. I think I will knit on Crocus a little bit first this evening just to prepare myself for those darn cables when I start it later tonight.

I think I'll take a quick ride to Best Buy for a bit of retail pity shopping. O.K. - Truthfully, I was going anyway to get Season 4 of "The Tudors" which was released this past Tuesday. See you later.........

2010-10-05T14:46:00.003-04:00

Brrrr. The Chill Of Fall Is In The Air

The last few nights has seen the use of a blanket on the bed. I can feel the temperature difference that marks the beginning of Fall. There is also the smell of fireplaces and wood stoves having been lit for the first time in the season. I do so love the smell of a toasty fire. That smell always reminds me of camping in the summer, too. Pumpkins, corn stalks, apples, and cider are also happy reminders of the season. Now I want to go to an orchard. The cooler days also reminds me that winter is not far away with the cold white snow and ice. I can live without that last part for a while longer. I'm not a lover of the winter weather.

It's time to pack away the shorts, sleevelss shirts, and lightweight clothes of summer. Now it's time to dig out the cool weather clothes including sweaters, jackets, mitts, fleece tops and pants, and wool socks. Usually, I wear the socks all year, but this year found me wearing cotton during the warmer and hotter seasons.

I better get back to knitting the latest 3 pairs as well as my poor languishing sweater so they are ready for frosty days ahead.

2010-10-04T13:07:00.004-04:00

Yay! For Socktoberfest!!

I love knitting socks. They are so portable and condensed. It's much easier to carry a sock in a bag to knit on than a sweater in progress. We have a button for this year's Socktoberfest.O.K. I'm heading back to my Crocus sock. I'm on the gusset increases of sock 2. Once I get the heel flap in, I'll knit the legs of both socks at the same time.

2010-10-03T00:17:00.021-04:00

Knitting and Spinning Photos, My New Spinning Spot

I finally got the pictures of some of my recently finished knitting and some finished spinning. This is the "Blueberry Hill Yogurt" by DkKnits. She is no longer dyeing fibers or yarn. I'm spinning the last 4 ounces of the pound now.

The next two are of my "Rosebud Socks" by wendyknits.

The next two are of my "Legolas" kerchief by Susan Pandorf. The left is the entire kerchief and the right is a close up of the stitches.

The final picture is my new spot for spinning. Pat hasn't had time to put the rails or awning up on on the deck yet, but I still love sitting out there on a nice day and spinning.

2010-09-27T14:56:00.004-04:00

Socktoberfest 2010 Plans...and New Sneakers,

October 1st is the beginning of Socktoberfest and I am planning to finish my Crocus socks, and a pair of plain vanilla ones. Over on Ravelry, Through the Loops will also be starting her Mystery Sock 2010 on the 1st. That pattern calls for a semi-solid color yarn which I still need to stash dive for. Those 3 pairs should see me through October. Lace knitting is still ongoing with Evenstar and Spruce both coming along slowly.

In between knitting, I'm spinning the last of "Blueberry Hill Yogurt" from DkKnits 2009 fiber club. Then it's back to Junebug's fleece for some more sweater spinning.

My little dog, Hanna, just had her 14th birthday. She is such a little princess. :)

The weather is much cooler, even though it's been cloudy with showers on and off. I don't mind the lack of humidity at all. The temperature is making me want to get into my dye room and create.

Today was my podiatrist appointment. I now have nice short nails, and pretty new sneakers with customized insoles formed to my feet. The sneakers are so comfortable and have good support that give a nice bounce/spring when you walk. Very spiffy if I say so myself. :) Here's hoping they make my feet feel better which will make my back feel better.

O.K. It's time to head back to some more spinning.

2010-09-21T19:19:00.007-04:00

Oh No!! Camera Batteries Died....Solstice Spinning Plans

Last Wednesday was the monthly Ocean State Knit and Crochet Guild meeting. I love spending time with these ladies. I always come away with a smile on my face and heart. I actually had finished objects for show and tell. Everyone loved Legolas and Rosebud. The in progress Crocus socks were also shown off. I've been meaning to get some pictures of Legolas and Rosebud Socks, so today I set them up for their photo shoot on the outside table. Unfortunately, I didn't realize the batteries were kaput in the camera with no more in the house. I'll pick some up tomorrow since my back was not co-operative with walking today. Dealing with the pain is a day to day, sometimes hour to hour, thing.

I did spend a couple hours on the deck with Millie Minstrel Navajo plying 4 ounces of Superwash BFL fiber. The deck still isn't finished yet. It needs it's railings and handrail as well as staining/sealing. The temptation to sit outside was too much to resist. I just put my chair on the house side, turned my face to the nice breeze, and relaxed. Pat was working on putting up my new clothesline poles while I was out there. There will be 4 shorter lines instead of just the one long one, which will give me twice the amount of space to hang clothes.

Tonight is the Fall Solstice and the completion of our latest round on the "Spin Your Stash" group on Ravelry. I added up all the spinning I had done since the Spring Solstice. Including the 4 ounces I finished today, my total of spun and plied yarn/fiber is 5 pounds. I've set some goals for the round which will end with the next Spring Solstice. There is not an actual poundage goal for this one, but, plans to finish my Junebug fleece, spin up at least one of my 92 quart bins, finish a spinning UFO that is 3 years in the works, wash 4 fleeces and get them to the mill for processing. That's enough to keep me busy. :)

2010-09-12T23:22:00.002-04:00

Spinning With Happy Hands

Today was spent with my friends from Happy Hands Fiber Arts at our monthly gathering in North Stonington, CT. It felt good to spin with friends I hadn't seen since July. I managed to navajo ply almost all of 2 different bobbins. There was spinning, knitting, crocheting, weaving and needlefelting all happening. It's so great to see so many different talents being shared at the same time.

Later, in the evening, it was knitting time with some friends. Crocus is growing with the gusset increases in process. My goal is to be on the heel flap by Wednesday. I'm planning to knit on that part a bit while at my Ocean State Knit and Crochet Guild meeting.

I am sort of tired so I'm going to have an early night. See ya soon!!

2010-09-09T16:50:00.006-04:00

Finishing and Starting

The Rosebud Socks are finished and I've started the Crocus Socks. I know crocuses come in many colors, but the one in my yard is a beautiful shade of purple. Because of this, I decided to knit these in Cascade Heritage Sock yarn in color number 5625 "Hyacinth". It's a pretty solid shade of purple and it shows the stitch definition really well. I do like the feel of the yarn and the way it knits. The pattern is a 16 row repeat which makes a very pretty lace.

While looking for the yarn for the Crocus socks, I found my missing fiber I want to spin for the lace part of my February Lady Sweater. It's only been missing for about a year and a half. Ironically, it was in the bin right in the living room. This fiber is from Wintechog Hill Farm and is a Coopworth Hoggett/Alpaca Cria/ Angelina blend in black. I might need to get more though. I think I will be short on the yardage. I did finish both shades of the "I Wanna Be A Pink Poinsettia" singles. I need to ply a sample of the two shades to see if I like the look or if I need to ply each shade separately. After that is finished, I want to spin some more of my Junebug fleece and the black fiber. I might alternate so I don't get bored with just one color.

This weekend's plan include spending some time in my craft room washing some fleece on Saturday and getting together with my Happy Hands pals on Sunday. I am looking forward to seeing them since I wasn't able to make it to the August gathering.

Evenstar is getting some attention as well. The new Ott lamp really helps a lot. I'm no longer struggling trying to see the tiny stitches with a table lamp.

As far as my current health issues, I'm doing o.k. There is still a lot of pain in the back and leg, but I can't do anything about that right now. I've been trying to walk and move around more which should help. This week's weigh-in found me 2 pounds lighter which is good. I hope this upcoming weigh-in finds me down some more.

2010-09-02T19:28:00.002-04:00

I Have A Diagnosis

Today was the follow up with my orthopedic doctor. The news is not good. I have severe spinal stenosis. According to the doctor, I will definitely need surgery in the near future for this. I really don't want surgery, but he feels therapy won't really do me any good. In order to do the surgery, I need to work on losing weight faster than I have been.

This news follows the news from last week about the necessary dental surgery. My head is spinning right now. It's a lot to process at one time.

I'm going to knit for a while and think.

2010-08-31T13:21:00.002-04:00

Open Farm CANCELLED

Thanks to Hurricane Earl, Wintechog Hill Farm's Open Farm Weekend is CANCELLED. If you were planning to go, you can contact Sandi at the info in the previous post to make an appointment to check out the fleece, fiber and other goodies.

2010-08-27T14:54:00.005-04:00

Open Farm Weekend and a Surprise

Saturday, September 4, and Sunday, September 5, will find me at my friend Sandi's Open Farm Event. I couldn't do copy/paste so had to type the info below:

Wintechog Hill Farm Open Farm Event

Hours for both Saturday and Sunday will be 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Sandi will have both millspun and handspun yarns. Both raw and washed Coopworth fleece will sold by the pound. Coopworth/Coopworth blends will be for sale as regular roving, pin drafted roving, pencil roving, and custom batts for your handspinning or felting needs.

There will be handmade knit items, hand dyed yarns and stitch markers for knitting and crocheting by Shady Fibers.

CK6 Designs will have hand dyed batts for spinning.

Everything will be set up in the barn so this is a rain or shine event. NO CAMERAS PLEASE! Bring your knitting or spinning and hang out with us for a while.

Sandi Nemeskay Wintechog Hill Farm
116A Wintechog Hill Rd. North Stonington, CT 06359
860-912-0240 or 860-535-4046 if more info or directions are needed.

If you haven't figured it out, the surprise part is that I'm CK6 Designs. :)

2010-08-24T23:45:00.007-04:00

A Week of Good & Bad

This has been a mixed week. I'll start with Saturday.
Good: I had my MRI of my back.
Bad: It took two Valium for me to get in the darn machine and I was foggy for the rest of the day. No knitting. Just lots of hanging out.

Sunday was a quiet day.
Good: Part of the foot of Sock 2 was knit.
Bad: I damaged my dental implant.

Monday saw me at the dentist.
Good: The implant is fixed. I had also been having pain for about a week so an X-ray was taken.
Bad: He had to do a minor surgery around the implant base.
Very Bad: I need to have a bone graft to repair some bone loss around the implant base. This is not an option. I must have the surgery. I've had this 2 other times and it's the worst pain I have ever had in my life.

Monday night found me knitting on Sock 2 again. I'm on the last increase of the gusset flap. I'll start the decreases and do the heel flap tomorrow.

Today, Tuesday, was Weight Watchers day.
Good: Stayed the same. There is no bad with this since I have lost 14 pounds since August 3.
Good: I spent a little over an hour spinning on Millie Minstrel tonight. If I have a chance tomorrow, I might finish spinning the last bit I have left. It is "I Wanna Be a Pink Poinsettia" which I dyed a while ago. If all is going well, I might start the other half which is slightly lighter.

I'm really tired so am going to have an early night. See you soon.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, I had planned to go to bed about 3 hours ago, but am still awake. Millie and I spent another hour together and I've finished spinning the first half and started the second half. It's much softer in colors compared to the first bobbin. I need to decide if I still want to ply them together or just knit with both of them in a project.

Now, it's almost 3 a.m so I'm really going to bed now. Goodnight.

2010-08-20T12:01:00.004-04:00

Rosebud Sock Update

Yesterday afternoon found me spending some time at the orthopedist office. I know the wait is usually about 45 minutes, so I made sure to bring some knitting. Of course, I forgot the pattern book at home and couldn't knit any more after I finished the stockinette portion of the toe. Due to my diabetes, I have extremely sensitive feet and don't like the patterning to go all the way to my toes. To compensate for this, I do about 5 rows of stockinette prior to starting the actual pattern. Sometimes, if it's a very textured pattern, I don't do any pattern on the top of the foot. It all depends on what the fabric will feel like. I finished the toe increases and stockinette with about 10 minutes to sit and wait in the exam room.

It seems I might have spinal stenosis which is a narrowing of the spinal column. This is usually caused by osteoarthritis. The arthritis pushes the discs out of place or alignment and squeeze the nerves which cause the pain, tingling, numbness, and inability to be mobile. My MRI is scheduled for tomorrow. Thanks to my severe claustrophobia, I have to go in the Open MRI machine. Also, I have to take a Valium just to get in that machine. I feel like such a wimp, but, can't help it. The claustrophobia can be over powering during that test. My follow up is next week and I hope the treatment plan is simply therapy. I really don't want surgery.

Last night was spent working on the Rosebud sock again with 2/3 of the first 24 row pattern repeat in place. I plan to spend this evening with it again. My goal is to have this pair finished for next weekend so I can move them from the WIP pile to the FO pile. :)

2010-08-18T14:55:00.004-04:00

The Slow Road Back

As I sit here thinking about this past week, I feel some good progress has been made. Tuesday saw me able to spin on my wheel again. I only spent about 15 minutes but it felt so good just to put my feet on the treadles again. The leg and back were o.k. and I plan to do another 15 minutes later today. I figure it's a good idea to work my way into it slowly again.

Last night found me just relaxing and watching t.v. The shocking part is - No knitting! I just didn't feel like it.

I'm a little worried about my Rosebud socks. These are lace socks worked over a 24 row pattern. The original toe-up pattern from Wendy Knits uses a 450 yard skein. I must have missed this when I stash dived for these. I chose a gorgeous hot pink/fuchsia skein of Socks That Rock in "Lover's Leap". Unfortunately, there is only 360 yards in the skein. The first sock is knit through the heel flap and put aside. The second sock will be started tonight and worked until I get to the same point. After weighing the yarn, and sock 1, it should take another 1.5 ounces to do this. That will leave me 1.5 ounces to finish them. At this time, I estimate I can get 2 full repeats on the leg, which looks to be what is in the original photo. If I have enough, I will knit the rib section even though it might be a little shorter than the original. The other option I have is to dye a skein in a similar color which will give a slight contrast at the top and use that for the rib. I will have to wait and see how it turns out.

While on the road to the store, I made a quick visit to JoAnn's and got a second Ott Lamp for my living room. I really needed better lighting near my recliner and didn't want to keep moving the other lamp back and forth from the desk area. The new lamp has a magnifier attachment. Lately, I've noticed the small stitches are just a tiny bit harder to see. I do have reading glasses, but can't find them right now. I might put the lamp together later and then I can use it to start the second Rosebud sock later.

As for the back, I am feeling much better. The last few days have seen much improvement in my walking and moving around. There has even been a couple visits to the store. Maybe the cooler temperatures and less humidity of late are helping calm the muscles down. I did notice less swelling in my feet and hands which I usually have during the summer months.

2010-08-12T21:47:00.004-04:00

No Spinning on My Wheel For Me

Thanks to my current back and leg pain, I've had to miss out on participating in the spinning demo at Washington County Fair this year. If I try to treadle my wheel, I have pain running from my back into my leg all the way to the front of my calf. One of my spindles has been getting some use though. I have an appointment next week with my orthopedic doctor so hopefully, I will get some relief.

So instead of spinning, I'm still knitting. Legolas was finished a few days ago, but is still not blocked at this time. (This pattern is part of the Fellowship of the Rings series and not available individually.) The first "Rosebud Sock" is coming along nicely. Tonight was my knitting guild meeting at one of the member's home. I was going to go, but didn't feel up to it. The last three weeks has been spent pretty much at home.

2010-08-01T19:42:00.005-04:00

Oh What a Pain in the Butt!!

I have chronic back pain due to the 28 years I worked as a CNA. I usually just live with it.

Last Thursday I had a back ache which progressively got worse by Monday. That's when the leg started to ache. Each day it was a bit worse. I called my doctor on Thursday and got something to help relax the muscles. It didn't work. My knitting guild had a bus trip to WEBS this Saturday which I was really looking forward to going on. I had to give in and cancel my seat on Thursday.

I can walk about a couple minutes before the pain starts to radiate down my leg. As of right now, it's from the back, across the butt, and down the leg to the calf. I decided to go to the walk in treatment center today. The doctor took x-rays and thankfully, I don't have any discs out of place or anything. It looks like the arthritis is pressing on the nerves. He said I have sciatica, which I knew already. It was also good news to learn I don't have a blood clot or anything. I just wanted someone to give me some advice or meds to help relieve the pain a bit. He gave me a different med to take, ordered ice and heat packs intermittently twice a day, and told me to come back in 10 days if it's not better.

Well, needless to say, there has been no spinning all week since Monday. So instead, I have been knitting. I started my "Rosebud" socks and had to frog them because I was making them too big on the size 1 needles. The pattern called for size 0 but I thought it might be too tight for my foot. When I started them over, I promptly broke my needles. New ones are on their way here as of tomorrow thanks to great customer service from Knit Picks.

The medication makes lace knitting with lace weight yarn too hard to focus on so I started "Legolas" finally. It's still lace but knit with DK weight yarn. I'm on chart 2 and all I can say is that the meds make it interesting to figure out this pattern.

Hopefully, I will be able to start spinning again soon, but, in the meantime the knitting is getting some loving attention.

2010-07-28T18:57:00.005-04:00

A Bad Case of Start-itis

I'm not sure why, but I have a bad case of Start-itis. Thankfully, it isn't usually contagious. Currently, my "Evenstar" shawl has been sharing knitting time with my "Ditto" sweater, "Legolas" kerchief/scarf, and all the Tour de Fleece spinning. There also is the "Spruce" scarf I need to finish before December. That all changed over the last few days.

Before TdF I had done some solar dyeing with a sport weight yarn. Plans were to make another pair of "Rocky Butte" socks with this yarn. Unfortunately, I didn't realize I needed 2 skeins for socks. The yardage just isn't enough in one skein. Instead, they are to be knit in my other Fiesta Baby Boom yarn. That's one addition to the project basket.

Today another project joined the pack. A nice bright pink skein of Socks That Rock in "Lovers Leap" will become "Rosebud" socks by Wendy Johnson. The pattern in in her latest book "Toe-Up Socks for Everybody".

"Skuld" and "Verdandi" shawls, both by Anna Dalvi a/k/a knitandknag, are also in the pile to be done.

That's eight projects! I hope I'm cured of Start-itis soon. The only cure I know of at this time is Finish-itis.

2010-07-23T18:33:00.004-04:00

The Gremlins Attack Again

Yesterday was the Challenge Day for Tour de Fleece. I've been busy spinning my "Junebug" Coopworth fleece. A few other batts were spun or plied in between just to break up spinning the same project.
My decision, at the beginning of TdF, was to ply my Coop singles with my jumbo flyer on my Sonata wheel. After searching for two days, I had decided the Gremlins had hidden it on me. Bins and tote bags were looked in over and over again. I know I looked in a certain bin and it wasn't there. Then I happened to look over at this bin and there it was right at the top.

The flyer is on my wheel and I'm going to ply now. The plan is to ply as many of the 8 bobbins as I can tonight. There are only tonight, Saturday, and Sunday left for me to finish them in.

2010-07-18T22:35:00.010-04:00

Memories of a Grill

When I mentioned cooking supper on the grill, I was reminded of a story about a grill.

In 1979 I went to work for the state of Rhode Island. I was a CNA at what was then known as The Medical Center - General Hospital. Now, it's called Eleanor Slater Hospital. Every summer the union put on a summer cookout for the members. There were also raffle tickets sold with some very nice prizes. The summer of 1980 was my first one working there. I bought a ticket, never thinking to win anything. Well, I won the second place prize - a grill.

This grill was cooked on every summer until 1988 when my boyfriend at the time decided to buy me a new "fancier" model. The still working grill was passed on to someone who passed it on to her boyfriend when she decided to re-locate out of state.

Many years go by and in 1999 I met the man I would eventually marry. One night we had to stop by his house. He called me into the back yard to show me something. It was a complete shock to me to see my old grill still in use. He was the former boyfriend of the person I had given it to 11 years earlier.

Well, the end of the tale is this: The grill is now 30 years old and I've been cooking on it again since 2000.

Here's the latest food I cooked on it tonight. Italian Sausage Shish Kabobs. The left picture is as they were put on the grill and the right is off the skewer on my dinner plate. The juice is from the veggies and the dab of margarine I put on my potato.

While I was cooking supper, Tipper the cat was cooling his belly in the hall.

2010-07-18T18:50:00.003-04:00

Uh Oh! Pickle Jars On the Loose!!

The two large pickle jars are at it again. The sun bathing started about 2 hours ago. These jars have no shame. They are out their in all their naked glory just soaking up that sun.

This time, it's 6 ounces of BFL fiber in each one. The KoolAid is Cherry and Grape, which is used in both jars. I'm trying for a two toned fiber with some blended color. If it works, I have 12 ounces to spin into something nice.

Pictures will be added as soon as I take them. It's time to make supper on the grill, so I will try to take them while out there. BTW, since it's so hot, supper is shish kabobs tonight.

2010-07-11T12:00:00.005-04:00

Our Neighbors At the Fair

I forgot to mention the wonderful neighbors we had next to us at the fair. These lovely ladies and gentlemen were very entertaining.

They won 3 ribbons. :)

2010-07-11T10:56:00.041-04:00

Hi Ho! Hi Ho! It's Off to the Fair I Go!!!

(Warning: Picture heavy post.)

I just spent three wonderful, fun filled days participating at the North Stonington Fair with the Happy Hands Fiber Arts group. We did a demo that included wheel and spindle spinning, tri-loom weaving, drum and hand carding, and knitting. The shawl in the pictures was a group effort. At last year's fair, Sandi had set up some roving for the children to dye with Kool Aid. Members of HHFA help spin the yarn from this roving and everyone who was part of the demo this year did some weaving on the shawl. I might see one of these looms in my future. :)

There was also a very educational display in the sheep judging part of the barn. The fleece and info in the display are complements of Alder Brook Farm which is owned by Sylvia Murray and David Pringle. The fleece is from a Romney named Martha. There is a nice picture of this fleece on the website under the "Fleece for Sale" section. It was very hard for me to resist buying this beauty. Happily, two of my friends bought her and I will get to see her after she is processed into roving.

Here are some pictures of our demo:

These pictures are of some our bobbins we were spinning during the demo. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of all the bobbins or the spindles from everyone.

2010-06-24T12:33:00.004-04:00

Adventures of the Pickle Jars

Today's hot weather is perfect for putting the pickle jars out in the back yard. Let me explain. There are no pickles in the jars. One has fiber and one has yarn. I'm solar dyeing with Kool Aid. The steamy and soupy summer heat will cook them quickly. I think they might be done in a couple of hours. The left jar is 4 oz. of BFL and the right jar is 4 oz. of sport weight yarn. I'll post pictures of the finished items soon.

Just a quick note: No pickles were hurt during this adventure.

2010-06-16T16:48:00.001-04:00

Springtime Fiber Fun

Thanks to Mother Nature for not letting it be too hot for me to be outside, I have managed to spend some happy time in my swing with my knitting. I haven't finished any of my projects, but, progress is being made. The current travel project, Fuzzy Feet Slippers, are knitted and just waiting to get felted. I need to pick up another WIP to be a travel project now. Evenstar is still at almost the same spot it has been lately. It takes a while to a round on it now.

We had our annual swap at my Knitting guild last Thursday evening. It was a terrific time with everyone going home with some new to them yarns and goodies. I did win the grand prize gift certificate to WEBS which will be used when I go on our bus trip in July. :)

The wheels have been very busy. I am participating in a group on Ravelry called "Spin Your Stash". Well, my mind had a blip and for some reason I thought we were finishing up this round on the first day of Summer. Duh! It's from the Spring Solstice to the Autumn Solstice in September. My personal goal is to spin 3 pounds from the start to the finish. Not including this week's spinning, my current total is 34 ounces. I thought I had to have a marathon spinning session to make my goal. Now, I think I will change my goal to 4 pounds. :) There's nothing like a little challenge to keep you motivated.

Last Saturday was the Scottish Festival and I was part of my spinners guild demo in the morning. Then, the guild had it's actual meeting in the afternoon where I managed to finish the singles from pink batt on "Esme Sonata". Now, I just need to 2 ply that.

"Millie Minstrel" has been very busy with some Copperpot Woolies batts. I'm alternating bobbins between three similar colorways. I was going to ply a single of 2 colors together. I'm not sure now. The plying decision will be made later. Right now, I'm taking a break from the batts and spinning a bit of wool that was dyed with Kool Ade. It will be getting Navajo plied tonight.

Sunday was suppose to be Happy Hands monthly gathering, but it to be cancelled because the building where we meet was being painted . The weather was iffy with a possibility of rain, so spinning outside was not a good option either. I did manage to meet up with some spin pals and spend a bit of time with them anyway.

Pooh and Hanna were way over-due for their vet visit. We took them in last week and both passed with flying colors. Hanna does have to have a couple of teeth out and a cleaning again. She's in good shape for almost 14 years old. It's so funny to watch Pooh become so docile for the vet. It's like an entire different animal. lol They both got their rabies shots so don't need that again for 3 years. :)

2010-06-02T22:15:00.003-04:00

Spinning Merino/Bamboo, MA S&W, and Llama Fleece!

Last weekend was very busy. Saturday was spent with my husband's aunt visiting the cemetery in the early afternoon. Then, I took him for his belated birthday supper at Panera. We found out they have a gluten free selection so he can eat there once in a while. After that, we visited the two cemeteries for my family.

Sunday was a long ride to MA Sheep & Woolfest in Cummington. I was suppose to go with 3 friends, but, life had other plans for them. I figured I would just skip it this year. Pat had other plans. He decided we were going. So off we went. I only bought some fiber from two vendors. I've been very conservative this year with the festivals. I need to work down the stashes. :)

Speaking of which, currently on my Minstrel wheel, Millicent, I have some lovely Merino/Bamboo blend from Copperpot Woolies. The colorway is "Victorian Holiday". The first photo is of what is left of the first 4 ounce bump and the second one waiting to be spun. The photo on the right is the bobbin of singles. The camera doesn't really show the shine from the white bamboo very well. I started spinning this last week and hope to finish the first bump tonight. It's coming out nice and thin.

My phone rang last night with a call from a young lady I had met in April. Her mother-in-law has a couple of llamas and she wanted to know if I still was interested in their fleeces. So today found me on the road going to collect two lovely fleece. One is dark brown and the other is fawn mixed with some white. There is quite a bit of guard hair and hay to be removed, but, I think they will be worth the end result. I'll post pictures of it once I get them washed.

2010-05-22T19:20:00.004-04:00

Knitting Outdoors .... Shearing Day Rewards

I have a lovely new spot in my backyard. It's a two-seat swing and it's the perfect spot to sit, swing, and knit while listening to the birds chirp away. The swing has a drink holder built in under the arm rest and an awning to keep the sun off. Without the awning, I turn quickly into a tomato. I need to pick up a couple of cushions for it though. The metal back starts to be uncomfortable after a while. This afternoon was the perfect time to sit for a bit with my knitting and enjoy the quiet. Well, sort of quiet. Pooh didn't like being ignored and let me know this.

The last two Mondays have been Shearing Day at my friend Sandi's farm. The first Monday saw 16 sheep sheared, and this last Monday saw the additional 18 done. Sandi insisted on giving the three of us each a fleece for helping. I fell in love the the one from "Cream", who is a Coopworth/BFL cross. It's her hogget fleece and so pretty. Photos are : (left top) the fleece; (right top) closeup; (left bottom) crimp shot; (right bottom) lock length.

2010-05-01T13:01:00.002-04:00

Spinning in the Warm Sun ... Alpaca Fleece

Today has gotten off to a slow start. It's suppose to be about 80 degrees outside today so I'm getting ready to hang laundry outside. Then, I will sit with my wheel and spin for a bit.

Pat has plans for us to head out to a flea market in the morning. This is nice, but, the stop after that is better. We are stopping at the alpaca farm who just had it's Shearing Days this past Thursday and Friday. Last Saturday, on the way home for CT Sheep and Wool, a detour to the farm was made just to visit. I really want some pure white alpaca to blend with some other fibers. The owner told me she will have some and will put it aside for me if I come up this weekend. Yippee. Now, there is a beautiful silver gray that might find it's way home with me too if it's still available........

2010-04-29T14:38:00.004-04:00

Crazy Weather ... Finished Yarn ... Slipper Knitting

Ssshhhh. Don't tell Mother Nature, but I think she is a bit confused or extremely put out with the world. In the past month we have the Flood of 2010, followed by super warm days that felt more like June than April. This past week we have had a tremendous thunderstorm accompanied by giant pea size hail, low temperatures with frost on the windows in the late evening, and the last two days with blustery winds whipping trees like they are twigs. I hope Mother Nature calms down and doesn't decide to send blistering heat this summer. Oops. Maybe I shouldn't have said that.

On the spinning front, I have finished plying the Merino/Bamboo I won during the Ravelympics. As I mentioned before, it's called "Steel Magnolia" from FatCatKnits. The name is perfect because the finished yarn reminds me of the delicate flower. I Navajo plied it because the colors were remaining separate during the spinning portion. I'll post a pic after I set the twist.

Fuzzy Feet slippers were my travel project on the way to and from CT Sheep and Wool last week. As of yesterday, slipper 1 is ready for felting and slipper 2 is cast on. I'm not rushing these since they really are suppose to be my travel project right now. These are a fun, easy knit and work up fast thanks to the size 10 needles and worsted weight yarn used. If you have thought about making socks, but felt intimidated, this is a good pattern to start with. There is no actual rib, and except for the heel flap, you can do the entire sock on a 16 inch size 10 circular needle if you want. I somehow didn't read that part and just used DPNs for the whole thing. It works either way, and is good practice for using DPNs with fingering weight yarn socks later.

Right now, I think I will sit down with my Evenstar Shawl which hasn't seen much love this past week with other things needing attention. Bye for now.

2010-04-26T12:15:00.001-04:00

Spinning Wheel on "Pawn Stars" Show

My husband and I like to watch a show called "Pawn Stars" on the History Channel. It's about a pawn shop in Vegas run by three family members, father, son, and grandson and a few staff members.

Last night's episode included someone bringing in a spinning wheel they wanted to sell. It had belonged to his grandmother and then mother. I recognized it as a Country Craftsman. The man didn't have a clue what to do with it or what it was worth. Rick, the son part of the owners, proceeded to tell him it was a "fake" wheel when he saw the stamp under the table of the wheel. He called it just a pretty decoration, saying people didn't really use them. Except for little old ladies. He then proceeded to say it was a worthless item and he should take it home and use it as a decoration. Or try to sell it to a shop that does home decorating. Grrr.

This wheel was complete. All it needed was a driveband. There was fiber and yarn on the bobbin. I'm tempted to write into the show and tell him he was wrong about it. I was surprised at his response because usually he will tell the owner of the item if he isn't sure of an item, not just brush it off.

Yep. I'm going to write a comment to the show. I'll let you know if I hear anything back.

2010-04-25T22:11:00.004-04:00

Opening Day at Gilbert Stuart Birthplace

Today was the first day of the season for a historical home in Rhode Island. With a constant drizzle of rain, nine spinners, myself included, sat with our wheels in the tobacco mill and talked about making yarn. Johnnycakes, hot dogs, coffee, and lemonade were available to keep us full and warm. Flowers and some beautiful beaded items and jewelry were available to buy or just look at.

I managed to almost finish spinning the last of my Merino/Bamboo from FatCatKnits. Plans were to spin the last half ounce tonight, but, it didn't happen. I'll do it tomorrow night and start the plying as well.

Here are some pics of the grounds of the Museum. The first two are of the pond. The waters are still high from the recent Flood of 2010.

These two pictures are where you can usually see the fish swimming. Not so today.

Here's the view from the walking bridge and a shot of the waterwheel from the front.

2010-04-24T18:22:00.007-04:00

Fiber Festival Season Begins Today

Today was the kick off of the New England Fiber Festivals of the Spring. CT Sheep and Wool held all it's usual wonders and fibery goodness. It was the first time a friend of mine had been to a festival and she had a wonderful time. Seeing some friends I hadn't seen in a while was especially nice. The more years I go to the festivals, the more people I remember from the previous year. It was lovely to talk to some I haven't seen since last year's CT festival.

Of course, two Border Leicester fleece, one black and one white, came home with me. Add to that 1/4 of a gorgeous white scoured 4-pound Mohair fleece which was split between 4 of us. I was tempted to add both a Cormo and a Polypay fleece to my growing pile, but decided to wait until the MA festival in May. Both fleece were hard to leave behind.

My favorite wool fiber, Rambouillet, was being sold in the yellow barn at the A Touch of Twist booth. I got some to add to my dye stash. This fiber takes dye beautifully, and, spins like a dream. A couple of colored bumps also made their way into my bag for my spinning pleasure.

A new T-shirt also came home with me with this year's logo on it.

That's it. I didn't use all the money I had budgeted for today and am very satisfied with my newest acquisitions.

It's going to be an early night for me since I've been up since 4:30 this morning. I think I will go spin for a bit and finish a bobbin while the wool fumes are still floating around my head.

This was so much fun and I get to do it all over again in May. :)

2010-04-23T11:01:00.009-04:00

Fun at the Fiber Mill and New Lambs at the Farm

Wednesday found me riding up to Fibers4Ewe Mill with Sandi after a quick stop at Mystic River Yarns for a set of Addi Turbo Lace circular needles in the 60 inch size. I need these for my Evenstar Shawl. A skein of Mountain Colors sock yarn in the colorway "Lodgegrass" also came home with me.

When we got to the Mill, Liz was busy working on orders and packing stock for the CT Sheep and Wool Festival which is this Saturday in Tolland, CT from 9a.m. to 4p.m. I helped Liz pack up some of her rovings and yarns. During that, I found 3 more rovings that were the same as my purple sparkly one I had bought back in October at the Pumpkin Festival. Of course all three had to come home with me, along with a lovely skein of sock yarn. I hope to have enough yarn from this fiber when I spin it up to make a good size shawl. The sock yarn is spun by Liz on her spinner machine and it's a dream to work with. I can't wait to pick out a pattern to knit it up in. Let's just say I started my festival shopping early. lol

Part of the time I was there I learned a little about how the machines processed the fiber. I actually got to put a fleece through the picker for that part of the process and add to to the conveyor belt for the carding machine. Sandi was working at the pin drafter. It was cool to watch different colored rovings become a lovely blend. My hands were itching just to snuggle some of the finished products. We had pizza and soda for lunch in between. The day just flew by and before we knew it, the clock said 3:45.

Supper was nice, as well. We went back to the farm and picked up Sandi's husband to join us for Chinese at the Tea Room Restaurant in North Stonington. It's in the plaza in front of the Senior Center where we have our Happy Hands Fiber Arts Group gathering every month. The food was really good, and it's the first Chinese food I've had in a long time. :)

Sandi has some new lambs at the farm. There are a set of month old adorable gray Merino/Coopworth cross ewes, and a five day old rambunctious Cotswold ram. As of last night, she can add another Cotswold ram, and a set twin Coopworth - one ewe and one ram. I can't wait to see the latest additions.

2010-04-19T16:40:00.007-04:00

Spin Demo, Destash Raffle, and New Spun Yarn

Last Saturday, April 10, found me in Groton, CT at the Groton Family Farm Sheep Shearing Day. Happy Hands Fiber Arts Group was asked to do a spinning demo during the shearing. It was a wonderful, happy time with over 100 people coming to see the Shetlands get their hair cuts. Monet, Sandi, and I were spinning on wheels, and Lora was using her spindle. Hot Chocolate, coffee, and cookies were offered. Eggs and honey were also available for sale. Of course, there was processed fiber available from last year's shearing. I think it was my favorite demo so far.

We had bought some of Warren's fiber during our first Happy Hands Fiber Arts Group Gathering last January, so we were spinning some of this fiber during the demo. An additional eight ounces found it's way home with me to be added to the original 8.

After leaving Groton, I decided I could still make it to Pawtucket to the Spinners Guild meeting which was at Slater Mill for April. I got there at 2 o'clock, so only missed the first hour of it. I really wanted to finish the bobbin I had started that morning so I kept going. A few days later, with two bobbins full, I have 8.35 ounces and 599.5 yards of pretty yarn. It's a heavy lace/light fingering weight. It will be joined by the other 8 after I finish the Merino/Bamboo I had started previously.

Sunday, found me heading back to CT for the monthly gathering of Happy Hands. This time, I had a big bag of yarn and a fleece to destash. At the March gathering, Lora had asked about destashing some of her yarns. It was decided to turn it into a "raffle" and have everyone bring stuff to re-home. I also belong to the Ocean State Knit and Crochet Guild and this is originally something I participated in with them. All the goodies were put on the table and arranged by item or group. A cup was put in front of each item/group. Everyone was given 20 "tickets" to write their name on and then put in the cup of the item they hoped to win. We had a bunch of fun and laughs with everyone going home with at least one new to them item. There were a few items left with no tickets. It was decided to donate them to the Senior Center where we hold our gatherings. Here's a couple pictures of the tables. Sorry they are a little blurry.

Oh, I almost forgot. I came home with a beautiful russet brown alpaca fleece and half of a yearling Mohair fleece. I gave half the Mohair to the other name in the cup with me, Monet. We were both drooling over it. lol :)

2010-04-03T13:32:00.004-04:00

Blog Housekeeping

There are some new templates available, so I decided to clean up my blog a little. Actually, breathe a little color into it. :)
Leave a comment and tell me what you think of the new look.

2010-04-02T16:42:00.005-04:00

Still Cleaning Up

There is still some water in the basement which is slowly being cleared up. The ground is still so saturated, it's still weeping in a little bit. The water only got a couple inches deep at it's worst. I consider us extremely lucky compared to so many other people. It could have been much worse. There's a tributary and pond behind a street in back of me. Before this flood, the worst storm I had seen in my lifetime was the Blizzard of '78.

I'm hoping to get the dye room back to normal so I can use it by next week. The big braided rug in the main room of the basement is going to be trashed. We may be scraping up some of the tiles too. I don't know how much of the stuff not in plastic bins is needing to be trashed yet. Thank goodness the boiler, hot water tank, washer and dryer are all safe.

My heart goes out to the people who have lost so much due to this catastrophe.

2010-03-30T18:54:00.003-04:00

Mother Nature Needs an Attitude Adjustment

Today is not a good day, weather wise. The plan was to do laundry, and spend some time working in the dye room. Well, the laundry never happened. The working in the dye room did, but, not the work I planned.

Thanks to Mother Nature's cranky mood, she dumped lots of water on the New England coastline. Pat went to do a batch of laundry, and found some water. Thankfully, he checked the rest of the basement out. Yep, it was raining in. There's about 200 gallons at one end of the main room and it's going under the wall of my dye room. Luckily, it was heading toward the floor drain he used to connect my sink when he put it in. After disconnecting the sink, we started swishing water. The shop vac helped, but, not much. I moved the plastic bins of fiber and yarn to the dry side of the room. After inspecting the bottom bins, I was relieved to find everything was nice and dry inside. Yippee!! Nothing was lost. The little heater was sitting on the edge of the puddle so I'm not sure if it got wet. The wheel casters might have stopped the water from getting under it. We will plug it in outside later and see how it is. I just hope the stuff in the other room fairs as well. Most of it is in plastic bins as well, but some isn't.

Now if cranky Mother Nature could see her way to calming down, I would really appreciate it so my room can finish drying out. It's going to take us most of tomorrow to finish cleaning up the mess. The weather forecast is for a few days of dry and sunny weather. I hope so. The dehumidifier is also going to be working overtime afterwards. The big braided rug will probably be trashed too. :(

I'm going to make supper then knit or spin for a bit. Enjoy your night. Stay warm and dry.

2010-03-26T15:52:00.012-04:00

Surprises in the Mail

A few days ago I got a box from Korea. I knew it was coming, but didn't expect it that fast. During the Ravelympics, I was on Team Plurk. Some of the lovely ladies decided to send out prizes to the people who completed their projects and got medals. My prize was a lovely braid of squishy merino/bamboo from FatCatKnits in some of my favorite colors.Here's a picture:

In today's mail, I got another package. Right before St. Patrick's Day, my friend, bySarah decided to hold a contest. The random generator chose my name for the prize. She made me a fabulous totebag. Thank you Sarah for such a wonderful, thoughtful gift. I can't wait to use it!

Here's a few pictures of it. The first is straight from the wrapping. I had already untied the ribbon before taking the picture, so I just tucked in back in.

These two are from each side. There's a pocket in the center of the green side too. It doesn't show well in the photo.

Of course, if there is activity in my house one of the cats or dogs has to be around to check it out. Here is proof of this:

Isabella (left photo) and Tipper (right photo) inspecting the new arrival:

2010-03-23T15:49:00.004-04:00

Lace Woes and A Nasty Headache

It's been a tough week here in CK6 land. Late Friday night, I was happily knitting away on my Evenstar shawl and was about to start the wonky round 25 of clue 2. For some reason the directions didn't make sense to me. Then I saw it. I had misread the SSK and K2Tog stitches, and switched them as I knit. It wouldn't be bad except I did this on rounds 17, 19, 21, and 23. This meant tinking back 8 rounds and reknitting. Grrrr. I'm currently back to knitting round 20.

Thanks to a nasty migraine headache, which put me flat on my back in bed for about 10 hours, I haven't touched the shawl since Sunday. I don't drink, but, the best way to describe the residual effects is to say it feels like a hangover. I've got dizzy vertigo and nausea if I move too fast or shift the eyes quickly to look at something, fuzzy head, extremely tired, no energy, and not really an appetite. The last part is good. lol. It usually takes about 3 days for me to kick back so I hope I'll be normal by tomorrow, or Thursday at the latest. My dye plans are on hold for at least a couple more days. I don't think working with the dyes or chemicals would be good for my head right now.

Tonight is knit night at Sue's and I plan to attend. Those last 5 rows are calling to me to put them back. I'll take Ditto with me also in case the lace is too much for me to deal with.

I also got a new chart holder from a destash on Ravelry. It's the same as the Knit Picks one only twice the size. It's made by Knit Pro who is not in the US. It has a pocket to hold my pattern and notes, a tab to slide a pen into, and can be set up at 2 angles with a couple of different snaps . I'm loving this new toy.

2010-03-18T16:49:00.007-04:00

Discovering a New Spindle andTechnique.... Plugging Along At WIPs

This past week has seen me in still not finished in regards to my spinning and knitting projects. The Masham fiber is almost spun into singles. Evenstar is about half way through clue 2 with clue 3 sitting on the side to be done. Ditto sweater is still in a state of yokeless.

I did go to the Spinners Guild meeting on Saturday and managed to get a bit of the Masham done. My Sonata wheel was squawking at me most of the meeting, so much time was spent searching for the cause. It was determined to be my left treadle. After blowing the dust out, wiping it down, and re-oiling, the wheel was finally quiet.

Sunday was the Happy Hands gathering which was fun as always. I met a lovely woman from Albania who showed us how she spins on her Albanian spindle. It's quite different from drop spindle spinning. Actually, it looks much easier to do. If she is there next month, and willing, I'll try to take a few pictures of her spinning. For now, here is a video I found on YouTube that demonstrates the same technique.

Lately, I've really been wanting to work on my spindle spinning and that is the plan now the sun is shining and the weather is warmer. I will sit in the yard and spin with the new spindle I bought at RI Handspun on Tuesday night. It's a sweet little Cascade Tiger spindle.

Mr. Attitude's fleece is almost all washed. Thank goodness for this. I did get some more colors from Pro Chem, so I can play with some more dyeing in a few days. The beads are here for Evenstar, and, the yarn for the Legolas kerchief and Spruce scarf are on their way from Knit Picks.

2010-03-08T20:43:00.005-05:00

Lace Knitting, Enjoying the Warm Weather

A few weeks ago, I signed up for the Evenstar Mystery Shawl from Susan Pandorf. It's the first project/pattern of a multiple pattern series based on The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The whole series should take about 3 years and include about 6 patterns in each of the three sets. You can find details and sign up for the first set, Fellowship of the Ring, at Susan's blog, A Few Stitches Short. So far, I've managed to get almost through the first clue of the shawl and hope to start Clue 2 in a couple of days.

My Ditto sweater is a bit too short. Seeing as how I had to frog the yoke, I might as well add about 3 inches to the body. It was actually a bit shorter than I wanted it to be. When I measured it before, it looked like it was the right length, but, when it was finished I learned it was too short. The sleeves will be getting a couple more inches with the increases as well.

My Minstrel wheel is actually empty today. I've been finishing up some more of the WIP bobbins and little bits of fiber I had hanging around. There was 1.5 ounces of a pretty blue/brown Falkland fiber I had received as a sample with an order from Into The Whirled. I have a couple of other skeins of yarn I had already spun up in very similar colors. I'm thinking of knitting a shawl, starting with this fiber.

My Sonata has the Masham still on it. I plan to spin some of that up next.

It's been such warm beautiful weather around here the last few days. In the back yard, sits a lovely two seater swing with an awning that is calling my name. I'm tempted to grab a wheel or the knitting and sit in the back yard in soak up some of the sunshine. Maybe tomorrow will be a good day to do this. :)