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!

Happy Birthday

Tomorrow is my youngest daughter's birthday, she will be 10.  Ten!  I have no more children in the single digits.  Another rite of passage.  Time is moving faster and faster.  Anna's first year of high school is coming to an end, Emily is turning 10.  When I think back to the years I longed for a family, for children.  Thinking it would never happen to me.  And then I was not only blessed with Anna, after years of struggle and soul searching, I found our way to Emily.  And my family became complete.  At an age I never expected to be a mom.  But how blessed I am.  Who knew my two girls would be found thousands and thousands of miles away from me.  In another country!  And somehow I followed the tangled red thread to find my two best blessings in life.  At the perfect time. 

Emily is determined to wake up at midnight and open a package.  I told her that all the years I was in Dallas, when it was just me, I would wait until midnight and open my birthday presents.  Who am I to deny her that joy.  After all, like mother, like daughter.

To my youngest daughter.  I love you.  You brought spice and laughter and feistiness to my life.  And I thank you.  Jump into your double digits!  Can't wait to see what happens next.

Fun at Shepherd's Harvest

This was the best weather I've ever experienced at Shepherd's Harvest.  It was sunny and warm and amazing.  Emily and I went and worked our way through all the vendor barns.  Had a picnic lunch sitting next to the Yurt.  And when I returned home?  ummm I just may have walked away with over 5 pounds of fiber.  But oh man, what BEAUTIFUL fiber.  So let the fiber pictures begin....

I found this...amazing white, silk.  It looks like Rapunzel's braid....and my hair may be that color before I ever finish spinning this 16 ounce silk braid.  I so want to do it justice.  I want to spin it fine fine fine.  Which means time time time.  But can you imagine the yarn if I can get it the way my mind sees it?  Now just to translate what is in my mind through my finger tips and feet.

Then I stopped at Angela's booth, All for Love of Yarn.  I met Angela at Yarnover a few weeks ago, I have not spun any of her fiber and wanted to try, so I bought three braids, I've already got one predrafted in my spinning basket, but here are the other two I picked out. I picked out a variety of fiber bases, polwarth, merino, although they all had silk in them.  Hmmmm is there a trend I see?  Apparently I need more silk in my life....

Before I came to Shepherd's Harvest, I thought I was going to buy some raw fleeces and then get them processed.  Well that was before I actually saw some of the finished roving already in bags.  And all of the raw fleece thoughts flew out of my brain....resistance was futile!

I found this 2+ pound bag of a lamb named Stella.  A lovely soft gray.  I'm such a sucker for gray yarn...I think this will turn out so beautiful.  I like using the gray as a base for stranded knitting and so much of my wonderful yarn from Ginny's fibers are bright and lovely, they will shine with this gray as the contrast (at least I hope).

And finally I bought this ginormous bag of fiber from Marie, she is from the Dakotas, I sat next to her at Yarnover and we had such fun chatting that day, so I was happy to find her again and this time I had time to really look over her stuff.  And although I tried to walk away from this bag, actually got halfway down the side of the barn from her, I had to turn back and get it.  This is another 2+ pound bag.  It even has some sparkly stuff just barely there mixed in with deep greens and purples and reds.  I can't wait to see how this turns out.  So um, just how long do you think this will take me to spin up? 

Oh and just to make it interesting, I have another order from Ginny that should be shipping in the next few days.  Like 6 pounds of it.  So that makes a total of 11+ pounds of fiber in a month.  Isn't it grand?  grin....so many choices...so little time.  Really my day job is just so cramping my spinning life!  I do have some finished yarn as well, watch for those pictures in the next day or so.  They are currently drying on the rack.  And more on the niddy noddy waiting for a bath.  And did I mention I'm knitting too?  The baby blanket is moving along.  The pattern calls for 9 repeats of the main lace pattern.  I'm on number 5.  Life is good. 

Knitting again

For so long, I've been spinning constantly.  Happily, but I missed knitting.  With the news that there will be another baby joining our family in the next few months, I realized I needed to get with the program or there will be wee babes with nary a woolie item to be snuggled in.  So I took the beautiful Azurite roving, spun it into some equally lovely yarn.

I thought the white would come through more, but the blue really dominates the final yarn.  It is very pretty, but once again, what I think in my head will be the finished yarn is so far from the end result. 

Since this is SuperWash Merino.  I found the Baby Chalice blanket, a free pattern on Ravelry.  So far this is what it looks like.  I'm happy with it.  The yarn is soft and squishy.  It looks like it will be a small blankie.  One that can be easily used in a car seat or stroller.  One that can be easily dragged by a little one.  I hope it will be loved to pieces.  smile...