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

Happy New Year!!!!

2014. When did that happen? What happened to 2013? And where was I during all of this? Anyway, I hope everyone is having a great start to the new year! And as always I'm going to get my goals for the year down and see what actually gets done this year.

• Get moved into my new place and have it unpacked and (mostly) organized before February (I'm starting my move on Jan 9th!)
• Spin at least 6 pounds of fiber up this year (I'd like to say spin more than I buy, but who am I kidding. Then again, this is will be my first full year with a mS so maybe it will be possible)
• Learn to knit and make at least one wash cloth a month and possibly other projects as well
• Start using my hand spun yarn for projects
• Get in shape!
• Cook something not from a box/can/mix at least 2x a week
• Use my crock pot at least once a month
• Grow something on my balcony- I'm thinking herbs or cat grass, maybe both
• Figure out my sock loom and make 4 pairs of socks. There are some amazing free patterns for loom knit socks on Ravelery.
• Restart my couch to 5k program and run/jog a 5k at some point during the year

Ever want to know?

What a mixing bowl full of unwrapped mini Reese's peanut butter cups looks like?

Now you know! And because I know you are all curious as to how many there were. It was over 100, but I'm not sure the exact number.

Stash Explosion!

Yes, I did go to Yarn School and the dye lab extension again. And yes, I did manage to bring back more than I did last year. A bit over 8 pounds... It didn't all fit in my bags so I did have to ship some of it home. And that was with using space bags to squish it down! I did get some yarn along with my fiber this year which I'm really excited about. I also traveled with my miniSpinner and it was so easy and I managed to spin in both airports.

Most of the new stash

This year we were asked to bring some magazine pictures with us to try some color matching and I only realized the night before I left- I don't have magazines. Or rather I do, but they are all cooking magazines and none of the colors seems to pop out to me. So I grabbed the National Geographic photo issue while I was in the airport and I found a few photos to use. One being a picture of an iceberg with the setting sun reflecting off of it. And I love the way the fiber came out.

Two others that I think came out pretty well were my 20 minute attempt at a gradient and my crock pot fall leaves. Though there are a few places in the leaves that look a little more like bruised bananas, I'm hoping that goes away when I spin it.

Over all, Yarn School was just as amazing as it was last year and I'm looking forward to going again in the future!

Puzzle Square

I've got about half a skein left of each color from my neat ripple blanket and I've been using the left overs for different projects. Including trying out different blanket squares and a few hexagons. This has to be my favorite, if not most complicated square to date. I would love to make a blanket out of this pattern, but I'm thinking a black, white and grey one. Or maybe pick out a few different puzzle squares and combine them all for one blanket.

And of course the flower hexagons which are very quick to work up and slightly addicting. I'm thinking that any leftover yarns I have from other projects might get made into flower hexagons and then made into a huge scrappy blanket.

Just keep spinning...

I've been spinning away for the past few months and have managed to turn this:

Into this!

Though I did have to switch out the neon pink/blue/purple because the cat decided that it would be more useful as a bed. In the end I spun up slightly more than 20 ounces and came out with 2,022 yards of yarn. This was a fun project because there are four different yarn structures: 2-ply (the green/purple thick and thin yarn), a 3-ply (the green), a 4-ply (pastels gone wrong at the top) and last, a cabled yarn (the blue).  I'm planning another cabled yarn soon because it was a very fun spin. but right now I'm working on a chain ply from this lovely fiber containing merino, bamboo, angelina, nylon, tussah silk and recycled sari silk. It's going to be a nicely textured, somewhat thick and thin finished yarn. I'm in the teal section right

Photo from Loop purchase on Etsy

Let It Snow!

At least the ice looks pretty

Well, not so much snow as it was ice. As you know the US has been hit with some crazy winter weather and we have definitely felt it down in Texas. I've even gotten to wear my cowl quite a bit. I've also been very lucky that I've didn't loose power or have any tree branches land on my car. Yes, it did happen to someone in my apartment complex, but it wasn't just a branch, it was half the tree. I'm not joking either. Here are some photos from my venture out yesterday.

Luckily it was not near where anyone could walk

That's about half an inch of solid ice on top of the bush

Loved the icicles hanging off of it