Knit Night & Shop Update

In Personal News:

Rach and I had a blast at the festival despite some rainy weather and we even saw two old college friends there! This year's effigy burned on the final night's bonfire was a dragon much to my delight! It was amazingly designed and at the moment of lighting the blaze the wings popped open and fireworks shot off of the dragons body. The dragon's eyes were also fireworks of some kind. The bonfire is several stories high and the sparks filled the night like a whole new set of stars. 

We also spent quite a bit of time hiking and sitting on a wooden bridge by one of the campsite's ponds relaxing and listening to the bullfrogs. I spun quite a bit while we sat there and I'm down to plying my Mom's yarn!

We each attended a workshop and ate maple cotton candy and amazing Mediterranean food from a vendor and shopped too.

On the way to the festival the first day Rach spotted a store called Woolgathering in Brocton (she saw it while she was driving and she's not a fiber freak, isn't she amazing!). 

It wasn't open but when we got home I looked it up and we stopped in the next day on our way back to Brushwood. We chatted with the owner Barb for about an hour and a half! She is an awesome lady and the shop is great! I'm going to start attending Knit Night on Wednesday nights there and I'm super excited! I've been looking for a knitting group for awhile and hadn't found anything less than 45 minutes away. This is only 10 minutes from home!!! Happy Dance!

In Business News:

Kimber from Palm Valley Fibers finished spinning up the Surf Shop roving she purchased from me. It's so amazing to see someone take my product and transform it to make it their own! 

That is what I love about selling roving and yarn-the item I create goes on to become innumerable new objects and creations. The energy I instill in the fiber as I create with it passes on and it added to by whomever spins it, then knits, crochets or weaves it. If the yarn becomes a gift then there is another person in the chain. If the final item is a gift then there is yet another person in the chain. If the item is handed down etc, etc. Not to mention everyone who interacts with the fiber in a more passive way.

 

In other words, I can't wait to see what she makes with her yarn!

Also there as a small shop update:

1. Evening Sapphire, 2. Dried Roses, 3. Majestic Tempest, 4. Evening Jade, 5. Venetian Vase, 6. Sea Glass

I'm skeining yarn like a crazy person and handpainted yarn should be available in the shop within a week.

OMG BLOG UPDATE!!! Image Heavy

First, gratuitous pictures of our trip to NC for Thanksgiving:

It was really too cold to go in the water, but that didn't stop Rach and I from going in up to our waists! Oh I LOVE the beach!!!
This is Arden's shawl all done (and in time for X-mas too!) modeled by my lovely girlfriend Rachel. And yes, that is a giant ceramic badger in the lower left corner. Rach loves badgers the way I love llamas and she made it in her Handforming Clay Studio. Leila is poking about in the bottom right there.
Here are my Mom's Monkey Socks all complete. (Thanks Mom for the picture):

These are my Dad's socks.For some reason the first one self-striped beautifully (it was not self-striping yarn) and the second one refused! I cast it on and ripped it out 6 or 7 times before my Dad said I should just knit them and get it over with. Sorry these were late Daddy!(Thanks again to my Mom for the picture):

My Mom has been inspired by the handknit socks I made them and has picked back up her knitting needles after many years away from them. She had never knit socks but I showed her how to make a baby bootie with a heel flap and gusset and she's been feverishly knitting socks for her and Dad since!!! Yay someone to enable and share fibery goodness with!! I don't know if I've mentioned this on the blog but my Mom is my best friend and I call her and talk with her every day, so it's exciting to have her as a knitting buddy too! (Like we really needed more to chatter on about!)

Speaking of Mom, she bought me some stash when we went yarn store crawling in Buffalo this January during their visit to buy my laptop (SQUEEE!! I love my new MacBook more than life itself...and it's purple!!!::licks laptop::) I've never tried Flat Feet and I was helping my Mom pick out her first sock yarn ever, so she get me this as a pressie!!!

At this point, chronologically speaking, my life blew up. With the help of my parents I decided to leave school and pursue other things. It was one of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make but my parents were beyond amazing about it!! I have mental health disorders (those who get squeamish about such things can scroll down, there are more pretty pictures to come) and I've taken time off of school before to deal with them and come back and it was just not working out. I was stagnating there, and using it as an excuse not to grow. I may go back someday, I may not, but for now I am focusing on new endeavors and it has really been good for me!

I still am going to keep the new endeavor a bit secret until I know more, but stay tuned!

I had a spinning swap in January for which I spun this lovely batt from Crystal Creek Fibers (nice transition huh?):

It turned into this yarn: (Photo compliments of my swap partner Hattie because I forgot to take any ::headesk::

 I received this lovely skein in exchange (I don't normally like glitz but this is quite subtle and nice):

I spun up another Crystal Creek Fiber batt (I adore her batts!!) for myself. This is the single, I'll probably do a 2-ply.

These are Mark's Slytherin socks that I just finished (sorry for the lateness Mark!) I'd never done two colors before and I had to wing the heel a bit. If I do another pair with accent heels I'll start further up the heel flap with the color change, do a peasant heel or do toe-up.

This is what I'm spinning right now. The amazing BFL I picked up at the Knox Farm Fiber Festival this fall. I'm going to handpaint it when I'm done.

I still need to make Rach's holiday socks (it's a good thing she loves me), but I need to order size  1 1/2 needles from Knit Picks.

I also need to make my sister's 80's Glam Rock Legwarmers (she asked for them, what can I say, we were children of the 80's) and a BSJ for a friend of the family who is due in April (yikes!). I don't have the yarn (or the money for the yarn) right now so I'm kinda stuck on those.

I'm making the Putting on the Ritz Legwarmers from Knit Picks (these are actually cool legwarmers, not the cheezy 80's kind) for myself and I am done with one. I still need to seam it and I need buttons.

Whew, so much to update on. Hopefully my blog posts will become more frequent again and I promise I'll let you in on my secret soon!!

FY Pics , Spinninfg WIP, More Leila Pics, New Book, Knitting Socks WIP

Some of my latest FY's (Finished Yarns):

The last of the Blue Icee chain plied Romeny/Mohair
(This has been done for awhile but was sitting around waiting to be photographed)



"Glee" 2-ply Ramboullet. There is a third skein of this which I haven't photographed yet but total yardage is 386 and the WPI is 28.


"Amethyst" 2-ply of superwash merino, 32 WPI and 328 yards.


2-Ply Coopworth (from the batt I got at Knox FFF), 21 WPI and 148 yards.


Spinning WIP

Plying 2oz. of bamboo and 2 oz. of BFL




As I was photographing yarn Leila became curious and I got some really cute pictures of her.


BIG NEWS!!! I have joined the dark side (feigned shame). I have learned to knit...SOCKS!! ::HAPPY DANCE:: This sock is actually done now but I haven't taken photos of it. I haven't cast on the 2nd one yet but I am still SO proud of myself! This is my first sock and my first knitting item. My Mom taught me the knit stitch as a child (7 or 8 I think) and I recall making a blob of yellow fabric which I inteded to be an afghan someday but never became anything.

I have been wanting to teach myself to knit socks out of my handspun for quite some time now. I finally bit the bullet and through the help of Coggie from The High Fiber Diet podcast and a couple of beginning knitting books I have picked up the DPNs!

I just used some cheapy acrylic yarn for my first socks in case I ruined the yarn through frogging. This is sport weight done on size 3 DPNs (because we don't have a LYS and I couldn't find Fingering weight yarn or #1 or #2 DPNs). I now have some Imagination Handpainted Sock Yarn in the Lost Boys colorway and Harmony Wood DPNs on order from KnitPicks.


Yeah those are my rainbow PJ pants!! :)



I also have a new book!!! YAAAAYY!!!

Ravelympics 2008

I am currently busy spinning my heart out for the 2008 Ravelympics. For those of you who aren't on Ravelry, it's a knitting/crocheting/spinning challenge which is going on during the summer Olympics.

I am on Team TARDIS and I'm signed up for the Handspun Heptathlon.

My goal is to spin one mile of finished yarn on my dropspindles in 17 days!!! That's 1760 yards!

Here's my progress so far:


"Cameo" is dome bring spun into singles and it now waiting to be plied. I have 40 yards plied so far, and that's the only finished yarn I have counting towards my goal at the moment. I am working on spinning up the rest of the alpaca and have 2 big bobbins worth.

I also ordered some new fiber for the challenge. This 3 oz. of drumcarded Merino in the "Olive Dotty" colorway from Fiber Monster came today.


It is so luscious and the colors are amazing, I can't wait to dig into it!!!

I have more fiber on the way, I'll post pictures when it arrives.

In the time between posts I've also completed spinning the "Blue Icee" chain-ply. I have 1 small skein and 2 skeins around 100 yards. Here's one which I think is 96 yards:


Also here are my first wheel-spun singles:


I have them plied now but haven't photographed them yet. My lessons are going great!! My teacher says I'm spinning on the wheel like I've done it for 2 years and says I have spinning in my blood!!!

A FY, a forgotten FY, and a yarn sample gone awry

Here is the first finished (nearly dry) skein of Cameo. This is a roughly 50/50 Merino/Soysilk blend I carded on dog combs. This was spun on my Bosworth Featherweight and chain-plied on my Annie May; the WPI is 16 and the yardage is a mere 58. I do have another full bobbin to chain-ply and quite a bit more of this to blend and spin up.


A close-up:


I can't believe I forgot to blog this skein as it is my all-time favorite!!!!! This is a 1 oz. 2-ply of the Abalone bombyx silk hankies I got from Woodland Woolworks. This fiber was finished being spun up and plied on my Bosworth the day after I got it in the mail and I'm so over-the-moon about it that I can't believe I didn't blog it! Anyways this is approx. 16 WPI and 98 yrds. I think silk hankies are so wonderful to spin, so gorgeous, and fun to turn into roving too!!


A close-up:


And just for gits and shiggles here is the sample 2-ply of pure Soysilk that I spun on my Bosworth Lightweight before deciding to blend it to make drafting easier.



And a close-up:


I've soaked both the pue Soysilk and the Soysilk blend in a hot water bath to set the twist the way I normally set my skeins and the Soysilk smells terrible wet, like burnt tofu!!! Does anyone steam theirs or set it a different way? I can deal with the smell, but I was just wondering. I actually love the smell of wool, especially the smell of drying finished skeins!!!

A New Baby in the Family, FY & Spinning Wheel Fund Update

Below is my brand new Bosworth Featherweight Top Whorl Walnut drop spindle which my wonderful GF bought me from Bellwether. After searching and searching for just the right lightweight to bring into my new spindle family, I stumbled upon Bosworth spindles. I am thrilled with my new baby and it spins Alpaca like a breeze! The single on the spindle is an Alpaca fiber sample sent with my spindle, just the same fiber and color as my current spinning project, how perfect!! Of course after ripping into the box (after getting home from an exhausting and HOT day at work, nothing is quite the same as getting a package, particularly a spinning-related one that you weren't expecting for a few more days!!) and admiring the beauty of this tiny little spindle, I set to work testing it out. I can't give this spindle enough praise!! This is the first top whorl I've ever used and I just love it, and it spins forever!!! No more breakage problems with my Alpaca singles from now on! ::HAPPY DANCE::

I love my other spindle, and it's great for some fibers and yarn weights, but at just under 2 oz. my Alpaca singles were slipping and snapping, and I was dropping my spindle over and over. ::tear:: Even adding tons of twist didn't help...I knew I just needed the right tool for the job!

The Bosworth Lightweight in Walnut weighs just .38 oz.!!!

This is my latest FY. I separated the light streak from the navy wool blend I purchased awhile ago and spun it as a thin single while spinning the rest as a thick and thin single. I am really happy with the effect gained from plying the two as the thin single acts as a highlight. This is 62 yrds. made from 2oz. of a wool blend sold for felting in my LYS. I always dig through the basket of wool blend bits the owner has while I'm there and I was surprised when she told me that she'd never thought of spinning with it!! The fibers aren't as tangled as I expected from felting fiber, drafting it wasn't very hard, and while it's not the nicest stuff, I think it looks great as an inexpensive novelty yarn!
Oh and a quick update on the Spinning Wheel Fund, I am over 1/4 of the way to my wheel!!!