Upcoming Spinning Class

 I've been given an opportunity to teach a spinning class!  Kirstin and Polly at Lila and Claudine's invited me to teach a spinning class.  I'm working out the details but watch here or at Lila and Claudine's and I'll have the dates and times.  Right now I believe it will start mid-October and run every two weeks for 4 classes.  It is a bit scary to think about teaching a spinning class.  I'm virtually self taught.  There is so MUCH I don't know.  But what I can do, is teach what I do know.  And I'm excited.  There is nothing better than being surrounded by people who get excited about the same things I do, fiber and yarn.  smile...

And to my two girls, tomorrow is the start of a new school year, Emily's a bus patrol and so very excited...Anna is settled into high school.  Have a GREAT year!

A happy moment

For the first time ever, I entered something into the MN State Fair.  I entered the baby blanket I made for my nephew and his wife's first baby.  Their baby will be born in November and hopefully they will wrap him or her up in this blanket.  And guess what, the fair opened today and I couldn't wait.  I went on line and looked up the results and found out the blanket came in second in its category!  GRIN....I'm so happy.  I spun the yarn myself and knit it up.  And it WON something. 

Hopefully I'll get to the fair and get a picture of it in the case...and will replace this picture, but until then?  I'm THRILLED!

And I've been to the fair and added the ribbon picture.   Still thrilled!

Thank you Yarn Harbor

I spent the best day Saturday at Yarn Harbor in Duluth.  I set up my wheel and spun, laughed, and talked to so many people.  Kathy is a wonderful hostess and I had a great time.  I forget sometimes, so much of my time is spent doing my day job or taking care of my girls or my mom.  The time I spend spinning is mostly spent alone in my room, surrounded by my yarn and my fiber.  But Saturday I remember what it is like to be surrounded by people who love the same thing that I do.  And I had fun.  Lots of my yarn is now at Yarn Harbor, I can't wait until I can go again.  But before I do, I need to spin like a wild woman to rebuild my stock.  So tonight I started this...

It is from Aloha Blue, and it is spinning up beautifully.  Stay tuned...I'm going to need to spin fast, so I'll have some new pictures up soon.  I already have a couple skeins soaking and two bobbins full ready for plying tomorrow night.

I know I'm not posting as often, I'm sorry, but lately life is just a bit much to handle.  Work is trying, family life is interesting, but the fiber is soothing.  It will work for now.

The circle of life

In the last ten days, we've had a funeral, a birth, and a wedding in my family.  Sadness but oh so much joy.  All in all, we are blessed.  Although I will admit, tired!  The sadness of losing my great uncle is blunted knowing he is once again together with his beloved wife.  The joy that stretches so high and wide is my favorite niece had her first baby last week, welcome to the family Adelynne!  And finally two days ago, my cousin's daughter married in a beautiful park.  All in all, lots of family time, lots of laughter mixed with tears. 

In the mix I received a new package of roving.  I found a new dyer, Aloha Blue, her colors are heavily influenced by Hawaii and oh it shows. This is Tropical Sorbet. 

Then there is Lanikai Hike.  I'm a sucker for blues and browns

I also picked out South Seas - this is a Superwash blue Face Leicester roving.

And finally Blood Oranges.  This is what is currently on my wheel.  It is a wool silk blend that is heavenly to spin.  Just slips through my fingers. 

But the truly best thing I'm working on?  This is Baby Girasole, for another new baby on the way to our family.  This baby will be born in November.  When Kyle and his Anna were married three years ago, I knit them a Girasole blanket.  So when they announced they were expecting, I quickly ordered up some roving from Ginny at Fat Cat Knits, I spun her Millifiori into a fingering weight yarn and am powering through a baby sized Girasole.  I love the symmetry of the same pattern.  I'm nearly done and I'm so happy with how it is turning out.  So a couple pictures, does need some blocking eventually, but I think it is gorgeous.  smile....

I hate math

I was an English/Elementary Ed major in college.  Taught school for several years.  Most of those years I was a Reading/English teacher for middle school kids.  Note, READING....not math....ENGLISH....again not math. Later, I transition into the legal field, working as a paralegal and legal secretary.  Again...no math.  Well I'd have to number exhibits for trial but that was the extent of my math requirements.  So here I am, knitting.  A lot.  And what is part of knitting?  Math.  Sigh, sometimes a lot of math.  Did I mention I hate math?  That my sister is an accountant and can do math easily and in her sleep.  Me?  Not so much.  I can do it.  But it is a chore.  The Girasole is a well planned out and beautiful pattern.  I've even done it before.  Most of the math is limited to simple counting.  Apparently this weekend, that was more than I could handle.  But I'm back on track and should finish Chart F by midweek if not sooner.  But I did use my math skills to figure out that to finish this baby blanket, I have approximately 26,000 stitches left.  26 THOUSAND stitches.  This is why I hate math.  It is black and white and just lays it out there.  I need to run, must keep knitting.  I'm talking THOUSANDS of stitches needed to complete the blankie by August 4.

Finally Pictures!

This is my latest spin, Lichen, it is fresh off the niddy noddy so hasn't been soaked or set yet, hence the curly cues.  But the colors are soft and lovely.

I've also been churning along with the baby blanket for Kyle and his Anna's baby.  I'm using the Jared Flood pattern, Girasole.  When Kyle married Anna 2 years ago, I made this for their wedding gift in a gray wool, not exactly chunky, but it worked into a HUGE blanket.  So now I spun this yarn, Millifiori from Ginny of Fat Cat Knits.  I used a SuperWash Merino and spun it to a fingering weight yarn.  It will now work into a baby blanket.  I like the tie in from their wedding to their first baby.  I hope they do.  smile...I did run into a bit of a dilemma...I was knitting at a parade yesterday (love the looks I get when doing knitting in public) and I realized to my horror that in my happiness to have finished Chart E I churned through the first 2 rows of Chart F.  And realized those little sharp jabs in my brain had meaning.  I slowly looked at the directions and realized that Chart E was to be knit THREE times.  sigh...Not once.  THREE times.  Did I mention each row is now 640 stitches around?  sigh...that meant I had to tink back 1280 stitches.  That took a L    O    N    G time....but I'm now on track again, I've reknit the two rows I had to take out, using Chart E this time.  Onwards.  The goal is to have this done by August 4.  I'm giving a spinning demonstration at Yarn Harbor in Duluth and would love to have this to add to my show and tell section.  The other thing I'm bringing?  The blue baby blanket...

Again I haven't soaked this and blocked it.  When I do, that should open up the lace pattern nicely.  but the part I wanted to show was the second picture.  I spun this yarn too, I had a pound of roving and spun up 8 ounces, got a nice thick cushy yarn.  Started knitting.  Got to the final 9 rows when I ran out of yarn, see the first two ends?  That is where I ran out.  Now I knew I had plenty of roving to spin and be able to finish the blanket.  However, I was spinning other things and didn't want to start, just for 9 rows.  So I had one bobbin that I still had some of the original singles on, I didn't spin each bobbin quite consistently so ran out of one bobbin before I finished the other.  I took that small amount of singles, hand wound half of it off on to a second bobbin and then plyed that together, hoping I'd end up with enough 2 ply yarn to finish off 9 rows.  I wound up with 10 yards.  Now 10 yards for 9 rows sounds pretty good, until you realize I was knitting in garter stitch, which is a yarn hog.  But I started knitting, and knew when I got done with row 7 of 9 that I wouldn't get another 2 rows, so I went ahead and started binding off.  As I got half way I started to panic and followed the Yarn Harlot's method when she fears she is running out of yarn, I knit as fast as I could hoping I'd outrace the yarn!  Well see that tiny 1 inch blue bit of yarn in the corner?  Yup, that is all I had left.  The knitting fairy was very kind to me.  And the best part?  I now have 8 ounces of the same roving I can still spin for something else. 

Back on line

Boy did that last month go by fast.  The girls and I went to Texas for our vacation.  If you've read my past posts, you know I lived in Texas for a long time.  I've been back home in MN for a long time, but there will always be a piece of me that longs to live in Texas.  When I drop over the Oklahoma hills down across the Red River, I just grin.  And when Anna runs to the door of my friends house to be enveloped in hugs I know I've done something right to instill my love of Texas in my girls.

I have been busy on the spinning/knitting front.  My nephew is having a baby in the fall so I spun some beautiful fiber and have been busy knitting it up into a baby blanket.  I made Kyle and his Anna an afghan for their wedding present.  This time, I spun the yarn myself into a fingering weight and using the same pattern, I'm creating a baby blanket.  Pictures to follow.  I also knit another baby blanket since I wanted a more utilitarian gift for them to use.  And just to top it off, my niece is also pregnant and due in a few weeks.  I'm working on a little sweater for her little girl.  This is a Florida baby, so a lightweight sweater seemed the way to go.

Hopefully, I've still got readers.  I'll do better, lots of pictures coming up.  Baby blankets to show off.  Soon babies too!