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. 

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.

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.

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:

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.

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.  :)

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.

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. 

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. 

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. 

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.

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.

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". 

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.

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.

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.  :)

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.

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. 

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.

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.