Friends

I have a lovely friend who embroiders linens like you wouldn't believe.

Look what she gave me....

I'm in love...the linen is heavy like "old" linen...and her stitching is perfect.  It makes my old wooden farm table glow.

Spinning makes the world go round

Now I've been spinning for about 2 1/2 years.  My skills have improved quite a bit from the first bumpy lumpy "art" yarn I first created.  I'm pretty consistent in the size and shape of my yarns.  They are even and balanced.  But one thing that continues to amaze me and leave me totally in the dark?  How the yarn will look from roving.  I do grasp that the colors will usually not be as intense as they are in the roving.  But beyond that?  Each spin leaves me marveling at the end result.  Even when I have a bobbin full of singles, I'm not always sure exactly how it will turn out.  Case in point, I spun up two totally different singles.  One is soft lavenders, greens, and blues.  The other, appropriately named Peacock, is powerful, electric lime green, pulsating blues.  They look like this.

They are both beautiful colors, but really not much alike other than they both have greens of a different mother and blues that glare at each other from across the room.  But they are totally different in hue and feel.  Until you ply them together.  Then the magic of spinning takes hold and creates something so unexpectedly beautiful and unpredictable.  Look....

The loud screaming peacock has been subdued but the pale blushing fiber has been elevated to something bold and softly daring.  So I spin.  And watch for each new mix to create something magical.  I love my wheel.

And now on a totally different note....look at my Gadget.  He is a well loved pug.  He is pampered and hugged and catered to.  And for this?  He puts up with great indignities most pugs would not. 

First day of fall

I tell time differently than most people who simply use a calendar.  Today is my first official day of fall, why you ask?  Because today my feet are in handknit wool socks and REAL shoes.  sigh...when there is frost on the roof tops and the grass feels crunchy underfoot it means it is time to pull out the big guns.  So I kitchnered the toes on a new pair of socks (why do I always balk at doing the toes!) this morning, pulled out my rather dusty shoes and my toes were happily snug and warm on my walk into work today. 

I am thrilled we are getting a couple more days of flip flop weather but probably only a couple before the toes are snuggled up for months to come.  But really, while I love my flip flops, I love my handknit socks more!  Come on fall!  My toes are calling you!

Finally a FO!

May I present my version of Fat Cat Knit's Floppy FairIsle Hat.  Emily has claimed it as hers, it still needs to be blocked but at least the ends are woven in!

I used Ginny's fiber as well as her pattern.  I did simplify the pattern as I used just two yarns, the neutral is her varigated BFL and a blue/brown mix.  It makes it look like I used multiple skeins to achieve the look.  But it is just 2 yarns.  The handspun is beautiful and soft.  I'm thrilled with it.  I'm planning on making up some kits with the appropriate amount of yarn to make the hat.  I have a couple fiber events coming up so I'll have them there and hopefully at Lila & Claudine's as well.

It felt good to finish some knitting, lately my projects have been big and slow...and I'm talking to you, Atalanta Scarf!  This hat I made start to finish in 4 days and those were mostly work days! 

I had to convince Emily that wearing a wool hat on a day that will top out at 90 degrees was not the best plan.  But just wait until Wed, the high is supposed to be a whopping 60!  Hats will sound perfect then.

Fall has arrived

As in many places in the US, the weather this year has been unpredictable at best.  Swinging from one extreme to another.  But we here in MN have apparently tipped from the hot end of summer lazy hazy days to the crisp cool evenings of fall.  While fall is my favorite season, I'm a bit sad at the quick fading of summer.  Both girls are back into school, Anna is now in HIGH SCHOOL.  My how did that happen.  Emily is charging full steam into 4th grade, happy to move from class to class.  I'm just trying to keep up.

I've been spinning a lot as I try to build up my stock for an event in November.  This is my latest spin, a lovely soft blue and lavender. It reminds me a a soft watercolor painting.  I'm thinking of naming it Water Lillies.  The fiber is from the wonderful Ginny of Fat Cat Knits. Her eye for color is just amazing and I'm so happy to use her fiber.  If you have any interest in spinning or knitting from great product, than you won't go wrong with buying from Ginny. 

On that note, I'm working up a hat, using my handspun that I spun up from Ginny.  And to top it off (bad bad pun) I'm using a pattern that Ginny worked up.  It is called the Floppy Fairisle Hat.  Now I'm simplifying it by only using two colors of yarn, a beautiful neutral and a charming blue/brown mix.  I just started it, but here is a quick peek at it. 

I'm quite happy with the colors working with each other and it is working up very quickly.  I'm hoping to make up some kits for a yarn/fiber festival in November as well as bring them to Lila and Claudines and see what they think of them.  But it is off to a good start.

I hope your fall comes in slowly and lingers long before we are thrust into a true winter, but at least it is perfect knitting weather!

Black Hole Knitting

I love the Stargate tv series, mostly Stargate Atlantis, but either is fine.  Perfect knitting/spinning tv watching or should I say listening fodder.  There is plenty of techno babble speak throughout the series involving time dilation fields, out of phase episodes, alternate realities, and black holes.  I fear my tv world is turning into a reality.  I swear I'm in the black hole of knitting.  I've been knitting and knitting and knitting and KNITTING on my Atalanta scarf.  Now I love this scarf.  See?  What's not to love. I am much farther than this picture.  YES I AM!  I love the yarn.  I love the pattern.  I especially love the criss crossy border.  However, I'm still knitting on the first skein of yarn.  I actually did start knitting the pattern as if I'm at the half way point.  But I'm still on the same flipping skein!  I look at it each time I start, convinced that today will be the day that it will run out.  The second skein is wound into a cake and ready to go.  Each night when I'm putting it away I look and.... sigh...that little ball is still going strong.  I keep telling myself to just keep finishing each pattern repeat and before I know it I will be able to start the decreases and then WHOOSH!  I will finish it. 

Now I will admit I have let spinning take the forefront in my crafting time.  I finished two skeins of frolic.  I love how it turned out, it is very girlie I think.  There is enough roving to have another 2 skeins so I think I will end up with over 900 yards of Frolic.

The BFL variegated spun up beautifully.  I have two nice skeins of that although they are still waiting for a soak to finish the twist.  But what needs to really happen is knitting some hats out of my handspun.  My goal is to have some hats knit out of my handspun along with kits of the pattern and yarn to sell both at Lila and Claudines as well as at the two upcoming fiber/art festivals I'm participating in this fall.  So black hole of knitting or not, I must put aside my scarf and whip up some cute hats, I'm leaning towards one baby/kid hat and one hopefully two adult hats.  Did I mention the first event is October 1?  And looking at the calendar, that is a mere 5 weeks away.  Oh ya, can't see why I'm stressed over that at all!  Besides what have I got to do other than spinning, devising an oh so clever little pattern or two or three,and knit those clever patterns?  Oh just a full time job, two girls starting school in a couple weeks, shopping for final school clothes for my girls, getting girls and/or mom to various Dr. appointments and finding time to sleep.  No problem. 

If only I could figure out that time dilation field thing where time goes much slower in one reality than the other.  My luck?  I'd whip myself into the time that is moving exponentially faster than now....hmmmmm....maybe I already did!

Spinning Frolic

Since I'm sitting on a MOUNTAIN of roving, I've been spinning like crazy.  So far I've completed 2 skeins of a yummy chocolate brown that is merino and silk.  What should have been a luxurious spin was one of frustration.  I just don't like spinning from batts.  These batts were really soft but as I spun, I could never find a good rhythm and found little nepps hiding in the fiber.  And to top it off, it lent itself to a really FINE FINE spin.  Which meant it took a LOOOONNNNNGGGGG time to spin.  Now that it is done, I like it, but for now at least I'm going to shy away from batts.

Once I was done with the chocolate puddle of yarn I turned to this...the first of the 9 pounds of fiber I selected from Fat Cat Knits.  Let me introduce you to Frolic.  Now you may need sunglasses at the almost psychedelic hues but oh my what a treat.

I spun it into a nice 2 ply, which I think would be great for something for a baby maybe.  You can see the single and if you squint past the flyer you can see a bit of the 2 ply.  Currently the 2 skeins are hanging on the lighting arm of my ceiling fan to dry after a nice soak from last night.

Which brings me to a dream I have.  Currently my yarn is in my bedroom.  Along with my wheel, a large cubby unit that holds ALL my yarn, a dresser, a queen size bed, two bedside tables and a floor Ott light.  This is my present yarn studio.  I don't claim any longer to have a bedroom, I have a yarn room with a bed in it.  My dream is someday I will have a dedicated yarn room or dare I say a studio.  I guess the luxury I have is I can plan and dream and decide what I would have in that studio.  Interweave has a new issue of its magazine Studios out and the amazing organized chock full of crafting goodness just made me long and dream about what mine would like like.  I think one of the things I'd like is some type of island that would have a top that I could use for blocking out my completed knitting.  It would have shelves underneath that I could fill with baskets of roving and yarn.  A practical item but at the same time one that would be a feast for my eyes and yet keep me organized.  I want a place where I could hang yarn to dry as I set the twist.  It would have a wall unit of some type that would be flexible enough to hold skeins of yarn as well as my books and magazines (which would be magically organized so I could find whatever pattern I wanted).  Someday I will have this type of space.  But right now, I'm happy in my version of a yarn room.  It is filled with yarn and fiber.  My girls come in and spend time with me all the time on their own (I know!).  I'm blessed.

But back to spinning...this is the next batch on the wheel.  It is a variegated BFL and it feels like silk....