Proof of Spinning

I know I've been quiet this month, but one thing remains true, I've been spinning.

This armload of unwashed/unset yarn shows a few weeks of spinning.  About 20 ounces of some Julie Spins "Pastel Jungle", 8 ounces of Fat Cat Knits roving as well as some plain but absolutely lovely BFL from a local place, Della's.  They have all been washed and are in neatly organized skeins in my yarn cubbie.  I still need to print out new labels for them and get them all set.  Because I just applied for a spot at this year's Yarnover.  Last year, Yarnover was my first real exposure selling my handspun.  I sold the most I had ever sold as well as being approached by Lila's & Cladine to sell my handspun in their store.  That has been just a great experience for me.  I can't wait to see what happens this year at Yarnover!

Emily is practicing her photo skills so set up this lovely shot.  smile...I love my girls!

So just in case you were wondering, I am spinning, every day.  It has truly become my source for calming myself.  And I'm so grateful I fell into the rabbit hole of spinning.

Sepia filled world

Winter has truly set in finally in Minnesota.  It is gray and gloomy and with the new snow yesterday it all blurs in various shades of gray, white, and black.  Hard to tell where the sky stops and the snow blanketed ground starts.  So instead I dig through my fiber basket filled with oranges, reds, and golds.  Teals sprinkled in with greys and creams.  Yarn is a true blending of colors and that is what I do each day.  Watch as the fiber slips through my fingers, sometimes soft, sometimes scratchy, yet blending into a soft yet surprisingly strong piece of yarn.  That once it is knit up will yet again transform itself, both colorwise and looks.  That is the beauty of spinning and knitting, what you start with is transformed into something even better.  This is a short post, one to let you know I'm still here, still spinning, still dreaming...

The new year beckons

The last few weeks have been filled to the brim with life.  Holiday get togethers, family gatherings, and the joy of spending time with my girls.  It also brought mind numbing tiredness.  So I gave.  I kept moving, doing the things I needed to, but that was as good as I could get.  Toss in a wicked hard cold that I'm still struggling to get on the other side and you can see where I've been for the last 3 weeks.

However, I did manage to carve out slivers of time for myself.  I learned to spin singles through some trial and error.   First results so so, but now I'm pretty comfortable with how it looks and feels...

I also received my next order from Fat Cat Knits, I "only" ordered 5 pounds of roving this time...see how much fun is coming my way?

So tonight, before the onslaught of our crazy weekend jammed packed days, I'm going to sit, slowly pre-draft some fiber and let the soothing whoosh whoosh of my wheel take me to a calm place.

I'm stressed and tired.  Can't think of a better way to calm myself.

Hockey Time

With Anna officially a Hockey cheerleader, you can imagine where I'm spending two nights a week for the next several months.  Yup, an icy finger numbing ice rink.  I get to watch this...

and  this...

All the while I'm working on various knitting projects.  I keep forgetting to wear my own fingerless mitts to keep my hands warm.  Crazy!  I'm knitting Anna's fingerless mitts.  At this rate, I should have the second pair done in before the first of the year.  Check out what I bring to the games...

I have Anna's mitts on top.  Underneath them you can see my own mittens, I've worn them for two years and they are clearly my favoriets.  In the knitting bag on the left, you can just see a second sock that is waiting for the foot to be finished.  So once that mitt is done, look out, the sock will be next.  And I broke down this weekend and got a pair of sturdy warm boots to wear at the games.  I just couldn't keep my feet warm enough, even wearing hand knit socks.  So now I will be set, my feet will be warm in my new boots and if i can only remember to bring my own fingerless mitts I'll be fine!

Look who else was having fun at the game...might have been knowing that hot chocolate was near on the horizon!

Shocking Spinning Knitting Content

I know, this is supposed to be primarily a knitting/spinning blog. Well life happens, and while I'd love to spin and knit full time, unless i win the lottery, that isn't going to happen. And having two girls, a job, and my mom living with us, sometimes my crafting takes more of a back seat than I would like. But onward...I give you proof that I am still spinning....and knitting....

Isn't this basket of fluff just lovely? It is a beautiful tealy blue green with just hints of purple sprinkled throughout. It is Polwarth and spinning up nicely. When I was predrafting I wondered if may have felted just a bit, but once I started spinning it, everything worked out well.

This is the first full bobbin of the blue/green fiber, nestled in a bed of the softest squishiest cream yarn. I think the cream would be a nice base for some stranded work. I'm thinking of coming up with another hat to make up kits for, maybe this would be a good start for it.

I finished these yarns last week, moving from the left, I have two skeins of this, I call it Storm Lake, I can not take a good picture of this, it has much more blue than green in real life. The red is one of three nice size skeins of a Tuscany red colorway. It is Lorna Laces and I bought this roving on vacation in Colorado this summer. Next to it I have 2 skeins of Kodiak. I spun it before and loved how it turned out. And finally I have one skein of a beautiful St. Patrick green wool silk blend that I think is yummy.

I've also been knitting. This is a present for my cousin who is marvelous. She watches my girls when I need some help and is generally the kindest and most loving person I know. So Heidi is going to be the recipient of one of my few knitted Christmas gifts this year. This is the Advent Scarf from 2010. It was done on Ravelry as a KAL last year. A pattern per day was released for the month of December, resulting in a large and beautiful scarf/shawl. I knew I couldn't manage to knit a pattern a day, so started working on the 2010 scarf in November. Even with that, I'm only on the 9th day of the pattern. From the results I read on Ravelry, I know this is a very large scarf/shawl and so I'm planning on knitting about 18 days of the patterns, maybe 20.  So I'm hopeful this will be finished before I meet Heidi to celebrate.

And finally, what every photographer needs, is a good assistant or two.  Emily decided she could take better pictures than me (probably can).  Anna helped stretch out the knitting as needed.  And while Emily was taking her pictures, I took one of her.  So hopefully this confirms that I'm still spinning and knitting.  Let me know what you are working on...or even what you would like to see that I'm doing...always interesting to hear from readers.

Thankful time

I had the longest break from work since early summer.  Amazing how many things you can pack into a 5 day period!  Lots of family, food, and even rest.  We did some of this...since as a Hockey Cheerleader, one must show they can actually skate!  Emily's skates needed to be sharpened so she was content to running around the outside of the rink and having fun taking pictures of Anna and her friend.

This also happened, we got our first snow of the season.  Only a couple inches here, my sister got over a foot in the wilds of Wisconsin and were lucky they got plowed out in time for them to attend Steve's family Thanksgiving event.  We had to pass on that one as Emily had a wicked cold that morphed into a lovely case of pink eye.  Fun times at our house I tell you!

I did plenty of spinning, but have no pictures.  I have 3 skeins waiting to soak and dry, then they will be ready for their close ups.  But what I am excited about, is this.  I'm placing a big order from my favorite fiber dyer, Ginny.  I'm down to about 2-3 weeks of roving at the pace I'm spinning right now.  So with the holidays coming up and extra time at home, I will need some new stuff to work on.  It is a Christmas present to myself!  Once I've firmed up on my color choices, I'll share.  But I'm leaning towards lots of color, especially with all the winter gray that will soon be here...color is good! 

Using my handspun

Last Saturday the girls and I went to the UMA Fiber Festival.  It was a good day as far as exposure and lots of people stopping by to chat.  I sold a few things, but frankly I had limited stock since I just sold a bunch of yarn to Lila & Claudines.  I had a good time, but clearly I'm going to need to spin like crazy between now and spring to ensure I have plenty of yarn for Yarnover and hopefully even Shepherd's Harvest.

Emily got bored and took a variety of pictures during the day...so here goes a few shots...to the right lower edge of the shot you can see a wire basket that I labeled Hodgepodge - Yarn with Attitude.  I put small skeins, old beginner skeins, and my mishmash skeins of yarn at lower prices.  People laughed at these but had fun looking through them. 

The next shot appears to have caught Anna completely by surprise but made me laugh.  Anna finished reading a book during the day which drove Emily bonkers, since she didn't have anyone to talk to.  Hence Emily would try various methods to engage Anna away from her book and more to what Emily wanted to do.  Nothing like a little sisterly love!

I spent the day spinning some super saturated pinks/greens/yellows. I got quite a bit done however, the chair I sat on most of the day was much lower than what I usually sit on to spin. The next day my back went out. It wasn't awful like it has been in the past, but enough that I will have to take care in the future on what chair I use to spin with.

I've taken a break from spinning for the next couple weeks. I've been almost exclusively spinning which means my knitting has really taken a back seat. I miss the knitting time. And I especially miss knitting with my handspun. I promised a hat and fingerless mitt set to a good friend. We actually went to a local yarn shop and she picked out the yarn she wanted me to use.  Once I was done with last weeks festival, I knew I needed to get working on her stuff as it has turned quite cool here, there were snow flurries this week.  I started working on the mitts and the yarn we picked just did not work out at all.  It was too thick, I adjusted the stitch count etc and still wasn't happy.  So I took a chance.  I went through my handspun and found yarn that was maybe a shade or two lighter than the colors she picked for the mitts.  The hat is a stranded tam, solid color was brown, I had a beautiful merino silk blend in chocolate brown in my handspun as well.  So I started again, only this time using my handspun.  I think the problem is I love using my handspun and am finding commercial yarn just not the same.  Look what I've done...

Aren't they pretty?  I should have the hat finished this weekend, I'll block everything and have it ready to give her next week.  I need to weave in the ends on the mitts, but I'm really happy and I think she will also be happy to have some of my hand spun.  I sure hope so!