Happy New Year!

Where has the time gone? It seems that another year has come and gone. I hope that every one has a wonderful New Year and that the coming year is a good one!

Finished Sweater!

I was able to finish my sweater just in time for Thanksgiving! There were some moments when I didn't think it was going to happen, but it did. And of course, the color doesn't want to show up like it really is, but I tried.

Now I want to knit another sweater. Or maybe some socks.

More fiber

Here are the other three fibers I dyed up at yarn school this year and of course a photo of my haul correction, a photo of goats because I can't find a photo with all of my fiber and yarn at the moment.

The purple fiber was actually an over dye that was originally a pale red, pale blue and tan dye job that had enough white left in it I knew it would be baby colors if spun up. So in to the crock pot with three different purples. 

Spinning default

It seems that whenever I sit down and just spin without having a set plan for what I want the finished yarn to be I end up spinning somewhere in the 80+ wraps per inch range for my singles. And the spin I started at yarn school is no exception. This was started on Thursday evening when we arrived and I still had about an ounce left when it was time to pack up and that isn't because I wasn't spinning at all.

I've gotten a bit further than the photo shows, but darn it all, I still have about half an ounce left out of the first four ounces and I'm blissfully ignoring the second four ounces at the moment. Originally I was thinking about spinning the other 4 ounces and making this a two ply, but the colors will end up being completely barber polled so the new plan is to thread ply this with a gold thread. 

As long as this is taking I'm glad the fiber is as wonderful as it is. It is the Effie color way from Two If By Hand on organic merino. I've got some more of their fibers waiting to be spun- Prim on MCN and about half a braid of Maritime left. Oh, and a batt or two.

Happy Halloween!

I haven't actually made anything for Halloween in a while so when the idea to be a minion popped up, I knew I needed a hat. And not just any hat, but a minion hat.

Today I'll be sporting my hat and my minion shirt all day. And possibly while handing out candy.

Hope everyone has a spooky Halloween!

Yarn School Again!

Yes, I do love yarn school. This year I again stayed for the dye lab and I am really happy with how all of my fibers came out this year. Though I will admit, I did have to overdue one to be happy with it. The most interesting one that I dyed that could have failed horribly is one of my favorites! Instead of just randomly pouring the dye to have splotches, I decided to paint the photo I was using as inspiration onto the fiber with the dyes. The photo is the one on the bottom right of the paper I was holding and what you see is the backside of the fiber after I flipped it to make sure the dye penetrated so it is a mirror image.

Thanks to Adrien of Hello Yarn for taking this photo and letting me use it!

 Below are the two sides of the braided and coiled fiber. I keep thinking that I should lay it back out and see if the image is even somewhat recognizable.

And another two I dyed up

WIP Sweater

So the sneak peak I posted a while back showed some lovely blue yarn, though it is a bit more teal than it looks in the photo. The project for that skein of yarn along with a few others is a sweater! Because why not?

Still not quite the right color and from a few days ago.

So far I've finished the yoke and am about 3 inches past where the sleeves and body split and I can't even begin to list everything I've learn while working on this.  Mostly being that I should trust the math and not second guess myself.

Small little decoration

Since I moved to my apartment back in...January, I haven't really done anything to decorate. SO the other day while trying to figure out a simple little project that would double as something practical I grabbed a mason jar and some fine crochet thread and whipped this little jar up in under an hour. Not sure exactly how long it took, but it took almost a whole episode of Criminal Minds on Netflix.

I think I'm going to hang it in the bathroom and use it for hair tie and bobby pin storage because anytime those get set on the counter I lose them to the cat. Maybe I'll make a second one and have one jar for each.

Sneak Peek

Just a little sneak peek of an up coming project. The yarn on the right is for the project which is going to be on the larger side. On left left is some Malabrigo yarn that I wanted to try. Originally the project was going to be out of that, but for the amount of yarn I needed, going with the Berroco was easier on the wallet.

WIP Wednesday

I have a few, ok, more than a few projects in the works and of course I have many more planned as well. These are a few that I am slowly working on an dope to finish before the new year.

The african flower blue and white blanket will need 106 more hexagons if I want to get it to be a nice lap blanket size. It might be smaller if I get bored or run out of yarn before I get that far, but since I got the giant balls of yarn I'm not too worried about running short.

My third attempt and an OWL for the HPKCHC (you do have to have a Ravelry account to see the fun) and the only one that I haven't finished. The fiber for this is a merino/silk blend that was somewhat compact and had to be redrafted quite a bit to make it spinable, but I still have four ounces to spin and ply before I can cable ply it with this bobbin. Hopefully I can get this done before Yarn School in October because it is taking up my bobbins.

And my last spin that is hogging a bobbin at the moment is red silk hankies that I'm going to chain ply with beads. I finally got the beads so all that is left is plying. There is a bit more to the singles than what is shown in the photo, this was just to show that I did spin with my miniSpinner in the car while on a road trip. 

Knitting a lace shawl is...

Not as complicated as it seems. And at the same time more complicated than it seems which got it shoved into the corner a time or two over while I was making it. But it's finished! And I even blocked it.

This pattern is Upstairs from Ravelry and it is a free pattern once you've signed up. And the yarn I used was from Lost City Knits Oak Barn Merino Lace in the Desert Rose color. I love this yarn and still have one skein of this color to use as well as two skeins of the thicket color.

Now I'm crazily contemplating knitting a sweater for next term's OWL because why would I ever pick something sane to do for a second big knitting project? Or maybe a second ripple blanket that's even bigger than the first one...

Seeing rainbows

For a challenge I needed to craft up something that was eye-searingly brightly colored and that would take 6-8 weeks of work. And I figured that along with being ridiculously bright it might as well be a bit over the top as well. And I'm pretty sure that a double rainbow neon color scarf with fringe that is over 9 feet in length fit the bill nicely. I also edged it in black and separated the two sides with black which after sampling I think made the colors pop a lot more.

I'm almost afraid to see this outside in the bright sunlight. But on the bright side (pun intended) if we ever happen to have a snow apocalypse here, I think this would be easy to spot.

A cat in a hat

Because every cat needs a bright pink mini top hat.

Seeing stars

Just a simple blue and white star baby blanket I worked up while watching my shows. I think I was watching Psych and Doctor Who while working on this one.

Flower hexagon blanket

Just the beginning of a new blanket. I'm up to 14 hexagons at the moment and based on my math (which should really never be trusted) I need 120 to get the finished size blanket I want. There are many, many more flowers in my future, but it's not a project that has a dead line so it will be done whenever. Plans for this is to most likely donate it.

Some Spinning Firsts

Other than a little sample of a single yarn that was about 4 yards total this is my very first one! And also my very first felted yarn as well. I love the energy that is see when you first wind off singles and how it all calms down once it is washed.

Before being washed. Always reminds me of spaghetti.

After felting- 206 yards

I also spun up another single yarn along with a two ply. Both were from the same fiber (Malabrigo Numbe in Aguas) that I split in half. After spinning it like that I think I might split some of the 8 ounces bunches I dyed at yarn school in two and spun two different ways as well.

DFW Fiber Fest 2014

After hearing about the fiber fest last year and hanging out in the vender hall last year, I knew I wanted to go back. I was only able to go for a couple of hours, but it was worth getting to see all the wonderful fibers, spindles, yarn and other goodies under one roof. The classes that were going on looked like fun as well with everything from Spinning the Orenburg Way to Knitting with Matawa to Intro to knitCompanion. Sadly, my schedule this year didn't allow me to take any of the classes, but fingers crossed for next year!

Instead while hanging out in the vender hall, I managed to come home with all of this! And some handmade soaps and lotions that have already been put to use. Here are just a few close ups of the goodies.

New KCL Woods 'Super Combo' spindle which can be a top whirl, bottom whorl or support

Some beautiful batts

And a new color way Desert Rose from Lost City Knits

Sweet Azalea

Recently I finished a baby blanket for a family friend and of course forgot to take photos until the morning we were going to deliver it. The pattern was Sweet Azalea from Hill Country Weavers in Austin and I can't say enough about how wonderful the pattern was. Or how amazing the ladies who work there were to my mom as she picked out the yarn and paid for it before shipping it to me. 

I ended up going up to a size G hook as I liked the drape of the sample better than the recommended F hook. And I used a bit over 1500 yards of Berroco Vintage DK in colors mochi and lilacs. All in all I'd recommend the pattern and the yarn to others. The pattern is on the is going in my pattern binder for keeps.

Sari Charlie

My most recent spin is finally finished! It went from this

To this

It ended up at 470 yards and averaging about 18 wpi. This shows how the colors transition from one to the next.

It was an interesting spin in the fact that the sari silk really gave it a tweed like texture and appearance which is unlike anything I've spun before. In the beginning it was really hard to let the slubs through because I really like smooth yarns, but this spin changed my mind on that. Still searching for another spin that will be textured. Everything I've got is smooth. Which I recently photographed most of my fiber to update my Ravelry fiber stash, so I'll leave you with a few photos.

I've got 12 ounces of this and no idea what I want to make

New beginnings

I've been in my new apartment for three nights now and I'm loving it! Tangie is loving all the space too. She spends a lot of time running around and sniffing everything. I said I'd share photos so here they are. It's a bit messy with all the boxes and such, but it's getting there. I've gotten 5 boxes unpacked since I took the photos about an hour ago.

Living room. The blinds at the end lead out to a balcony.

And yes, the miniSpinner is already unpacked and was used last night. I finished up the singles from the in progress spin I showed recently and now am letting it rest before plying it.

Kitchen

 So in the kitchen there is a pantry, or at least there was until the apartments put washers and dryers in the apartments. My guess is that a lot of people use the cabinets in the kitchen for food stuff, but being on the sort side some of the cabinets aren't very practical for me. Enter Ikea units. The white shelves in the craft room sit right next to the kitchen and will be a great makeshift pantry.

They say it's a dining room, I say it's a craft room.

Bedroom, though I think you could have guessed that.

And holy cow, my bedroom is huge! I've got my bed, two bedside tables, a big blue chair, a cat palace on the other side of the bed, a sewing table, two Elfa draw units and a dresser and there is still loads of empty space. But then, I guess just about anything would seem huge after a studio apartment.

There is also obviously a bathroom, but you don't really need to see that. And I've still got a huge walk in closet.

Once everything is organized, the curtain rods have been hung and I've settled in I'll post about the finished project.

Current Spin in Progress

I know that I showed off the fiber for my current spin, but I don't think I've posted a progress photo. The true color isn't as bright as the fiber photo, but is still a tad brighter than this shows. The final yarn is going to be chain plied. And I have to say, I've always been in favor of spinning smooth yarns, but I love the texture in this spin.

After this my next to spins are going to be cable plied. The first is the matching 4 ounces of Glacial and then 8 ounces of North Sea. So a merino/silk blend and a BFL/silk blend. What can I say I like silk?

It's more grey than brown in those sections