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

Because every few years...

It actually gets cold where I live in Texas. And once in a long while it snows too!

See! I think this was two years ago...

Last year I received some beautiful red bulky yarn which kept wanting to be a cowl. But living in Texas I didn't think I'd really have use for one so I kept trying to use the yarn for other projects and it just never worked. So about a week ago I finally decided to make the cowl it wanted to be and just made up the pattern while watching Once Upon A Time on Netflix. And I present to you: My Little Red Cowl!

I'll have to get a photo of someone wearing it when the cowl won't give them heat stroke. 

Slippers!

Having two days off back to back is not something I often get working a retail job, but Labor Day made me realize just how much I can do when I have free time. Not only did Tangie get a new catnip toy

I moved the toy and someone wasn't happy about that

But I now have a wonderful felted pair of slippers that will venture up to Kansas with me in a month! It was a super easy pattern I found on Ravelry calledFelted Crochet Slippers (you do have to be a member to view the pattern). The only this I haven't done yet is put puff paint on the bottom to make them less slippery, but I'm not sure I will. Adding a vintage blue button from my collection finished them off nicely.

It's arrived!

With cat for scale

I got a box! A very super exciting box in the mail today! But what is in the box you might be asking? This:

See the little pile of fluff on the side? It is now yarn!

Sadly the pictures don't do the beauty of the wood any favors. I'll have to try getting a better photo soon. But let me tell you, it spins wonderfully. 

And I still love my Ashford, but there was a huge factor in getting a miniSpinner. Last month during Tour de Fleece, I was spinning more than I normally do and every evening as well and unfortunately it was really hard on my knees. Which really didn't surprise me. Now I have spun every night before for a month or two, but I generally keep it to about 15-20 minutes for most nights and maybe an hour once or twice a week to avoid knee pain. So what's a spinner to do other than investigate and research the options in electric spinners? Lots of research later I kept coming back to the HansenCrafts miniSpinner and boy am I glad I went with it!

Spinner and all my extras and yes, there is a cigarette lighter adapter.

I thought about going with just the basic maple or cherry spinner, but I took one look at the exotic woods and I couldn't resist the Tigerwood spinner. So after working with the amazing customer service at HansenCrafts (seriously, I had an email answered in under an hour!) the little spinner is now mine!

And the carry bag it came with

Now when I travel I'm not going to have my wheel taking up most of the back seat. But I am still keeping it for the times I can spin on it.

Slow and steady

Recently I've had to cut down on my spinning time, but I'm slowly working on Seashells

Sorry for the flash, with Tour de Fleece all photos were generally taken after the sun went down. The colors are a bit more muted than they appear. I just started on the second bobbin the other night, but it doesn't look very exciting. This is planned as a two ply fractal spin.

I'm also (very) slowly working on another lace yarn as well and trying fauxlogs at the same time with this one. This is Overboard on merino/bamboo. I'm not sure that I really like the blend that much, but I'll try spinning anything once or twice. It is a bright teal and olive green and there is a little more on the bobbin than this photo.

And for a bit of excitement I have something coming in the mail in the next week or two (hopefully sooner rather than later) that should extend my spinning time quite a bit. Stay tuned!

Finished!

One of the major projects I've been working on the past three month has been a crocheted blanket for my bed. And yes, there may have been a little procrastination involved, but I started it on May 3rd and finished it on July 30th. It measures 70" by 60" and covers my full size bed nicely. It was a very simple pattern and I was able to catch up on a lot of shows while working on it and even start a few new shows as well.

As a bonus, the cat likes it also!

Passing Fancy

Yikes, where has the time gone? A lost camera has lead to nothing being photographed except for really crummy phone photos. But here is one that didn't come out too bad. I finally finished this spin of merino and silk and ended up with 778 yards pre-bath of lace weight yarn! There is still another 4 ounces of this color hanging out in my stash, but I haven't gotten around to it quite yet.

Passing Fancy 

Hopefully I'll be able to get a new camera (or find the other one) and get some posts up about what crafty projects I've been up to. There has been lots of spinning, some weaving, a few sewing projects and crochet projects. There is also one HUGE crochet project I need to finish before the end of the month.