Happy Halloween!!

Halloween for my husband and I is like our Christmas. We have such a good time!

Hope you had some great treats!

(And maybe a few tricks. *wink*)

GO SOX!!

I don't have much time, but I wanted to say CONGRATULATIONS WHITE SOX!

Their amazing win last night over the Minnesota Twins put them into the Playoffs.

Being a Sox fan in here in Minnesota in Twins' Territory has been ruthless the last few weeks on my husband and I, but now we get to be bop and scat all over the place.

Here's to a great October!

Thanks, Everyone!

My first day went well!

I was nervous to start but soon got over that. K (the secretary who's going on maternity leave) was really patient with me in as far as teaching and my questions. I made all kinds of notes, she showed me where her "cheat sheets" are (there are so many - LOVE those!) and I did pretty well on the dictation. I was able to keep up nicely, though my anal proof-reading (twice) habit slowed me down in actual start to finish time. I'll have to learn to get over that.

K and I went out to lunch and had a nice time chatting and getting to know each other a little better. It was fun and she's a lovely person.

There's so much to learn that I offered to come in next week for more training (one day is just not enough.) We decided on Tuesday and Thursday. Then the Monday after that is my first real day.

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I haven't touched my spinning wheel in over a week.

My goodness, I miss it. Maybe tomorrow I'll have to dedicate some time to spinning. I've been working on this beautiful alpaca my friend N got for me. I'm spinning it into a thin lace weight and I can't wait to see what it will look like when it's done.

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My head is still spinning a bit. I spent some time tonight going over my notes and re-writing some of them to go into more detail while it's still fresh in my head. I hope I don't forget anything before Tuesday.

So I'm Nervous.

I've got a new part time job. Well, two actually. I've neglected to tell you about the first one.

Mid-June, I left my position at Yarn Garage. It wasn't the easiest decision, but I'm happy now and that's what matters.

I now work at Knitter's Palette Yarn Shop. I love my new job and the people I work with are great! Everyone has been really nice and made me feel very welcome.

But that's not the job I'm nervous about.

A friend of mine recommended me to a lawyer whose legal secretary will soon be going on maternity leave. (I used to work in a law office when T was little.) I met with him and his secretary last Wednesday. That went well, I thought, and we agreed I'd come in this Tuesday to practice dictation and shadow his LS to see how things are done, etc.

And I'm so nervous. I've only really taken dictation once and I'm terrified I'm going to do badly at it. I can type fast and pretty accurately, but not when someone's watching. I always end up getting so nervous and messing up. I'm hoping they'll let me try it out and then leave the room.

I'm also nervous about the whole experience in general. It's been a while since I've worked in an office and even longer since I've worked in a law office. I hope it will come back to me quickly.

I've been practicing taking dictation the best I can. I've put audio books on my iTunes and then just typing everything they say. It's been pretty helpful, for the most part. Except when I know I make a mistake and then my fingers get all fumbly and soon there's a whole word there that doesn't make any sense. Oh well. Enough about that.

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Onto the knitting front. There's actually been some! Aren't you excited?

This is a hat I've knit out of my most recent handspun, the Neapolitan. I coupled my handspun yarn with Rowan's KidSilk Haze in a soft shade of pink. They matched perfectly!

This photo is of the top of the hat. Strangely I didn't take one of the whole hat by itself. Oops.

There's going to be a pair of gloves to go with this. It was going to be a pair of mittens but I decided that since I hate mittens, I'd rather knit gloves. I've got all but the index finger done on the first one and a whole couple pages on notes of my pattern. I hope I can make sense of them to get the second one done!

Pattern: Fabulous Fuzzy Hat
Yarn: AJ's Neapolitan Handspun, Rowan KidSilk Haze
Needles: US2, 3mm, 16" and 32" circulars


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I'm also working on the Mystery Stole 4. Let me just say, there's a LOT OF BEADS. GoodNESS.

I have already made one rather large modification (which I hope doesn't come back and bite me in the butt). I moved the beads from Row 2 down to the cast on row. I thought they stood out better there than they would between two rows of garter st. I'm farther than I was in this photo - both of them have clue 1 complete and one is about halfway through clue 2.

A friend of mine and I are working on MS4 together and it's been fun to see the same thing by two different knitters. Hers is blue with silver lined blue beads and it's just gorgeous.


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I'll leave you with two closing (hilarious) statements.

"The status is NOT quo..." - Dr. Horrible.

"Stop referring to me as a flurge. I googled what it means and I do not like it." - Amy Poehler as Hilary Clinton

Neapolitan

I figured I'd try to sneak one in before August finishes up. ;)

This is Enchanted Knoll Farms Superwash Merino in the "She Sells Sea Shells" colorway. I bought it from The Loopy Ewe about a month ago and I'm thinking I need to get some more now. I absolutely loved spinning this.

I did a thin thin single and Navajo plied it to get a nice light fingering weight 3ply yarn with lovely heathered stripes. It's my favorite handspun so far and the absolute most even.

Between the two skeins there's 560yds at 25wpi.

More eye candy:


Right from the start I knew I wanted to knit this into a hat and mittens set. I had the perfect soft shade of pink Kidsilk Haze to pair with it.

I started knitting with it yesterday and it's been sheer bliss. Knitting with my own handspun has kind of spoiled me to where I just don't want to knit with commercial yarn right now.

Which is fine, because I'm really enjoying spinning anyway. *wink*




To wrap: a before and after shot.

Handspun Lace

It's done! And I could not be more thrilled with it.

1216 yds, 32 wpi, 8 oz Crown Mountain Farms BFL, "Stonehenge".

I've got no idea what I'll knit with this. Normally I like to knit lace with a solid color, but since I my hands like to spin thin, lace is what I get. ;)

This was therapy spinning. My husband is away on a business trip (but will be back tonight) and this was to keep me busy while he was gone. (I have trouble sleeping when he's not here.)

I started this Sunday night before he left. A few late nights of spinning later and I have yarn. That's about as insant gratification as spinning can get for me. *wink*

Instead of bogging you down with a bunch of photos of this, I put together a mosaic. I'll definitely be ordering more from CMF!

Keeping Busy

This is what I've been doing for the last couple of days.

It's BFL from Crown Mountain Farms, 8oz Stonehenge colorway.

I'm absolutely in love with it and can't wait to ply it together.

One bobbin is done and I'm about halfway through the second one.

It's soooo soft!

Hilarious

Yesterday I plied up some yarn that really gave me some troubles. (Read: I HATED IT!)

As a result, my son drew this portrait of me this morning.

I think it's a pretty good representation of how I looked.

And he got all the details on the wheel right!

Great, job, T!

New Digs!

I bought a new computer yesterday! Finally! I'd had my other one since February of 2002. It's older than my youngest son! (And it still works, too.)

But the allure of a new computer was strong. Well, that and the fact that it's pretty much been left behind by technology. Everything was "out of date" with mine. XP? Check. XP with SP2? Nope. SP2 installed? Tried. Broke my computer and made it load in Safe Mode so I had to get rid of it. Lots of things *will not run* without SP2. (Lots of things will, though, which is how I got on so long without it.)

CD burner? Check. DVD burner? Nope. I missed that snazzy option by a couple of months.

USB 1? Check. Firewire? Check. USB 2.0? Nope. Damn. (Another snazzy feature I missed by a mere 2 months in my purchase.) And putting in USB 2.0 would have been a pain which is why I never did it. When I had my old iPod, it allowed Firewire transfer. Then that one drowned and I got a new one. Which only did USB. So for over a year I've transferred with slooooooooow USB 1. But now I can play with the big dogs again.

My old computer was top of the line when I bought it. Flat screen monitor, auxilliary ports (front and back) up the yin yang, and not to mention fast fast fast. I loved it. We got along well over the years. We saw four (yes, four) reformats together, two different external hard drives because I kind of grew out of its capacity, and lots of files along the way.

But, as things happen, my head was turned by a shiny new one and I just had to have it. It's set up and running, but I think the keyboard may go. I'm a split/ergonomic keyboard kind of girl. I type fast (on either) but the split is so much easier. Thought I'd give the new keyboard a try when I set this one up, but man, I keep tripping over it and hitting all the wrong keys. We'll see.

It's going to take me the better part of the next few weeks to get everything installed and up and running on this one that I had on my old one. As I'm typing this, I've got my old one on the floor at my feet. It's on and in the process of burning discs to transfer everything. (Because with its limited technology I can't transfer any other way. Suckage.)

I was sooo tempted to by a notebook. I really was. But with all of my photos and music, I need LOTS of hard drive space. (Like an obscene amount.) And to buy a notebook with that kind of space was far out of the price range that I was willing to pay. Besides, I'm used to desktops. I like them. I like a real keyboard and mouse. Old habits die hard.

So anyway, learning what this thing does coupled with all the data transfer will take a while. Exciting!

I hope it doesn't cut too much into my knitting/spinning time.

Hush-Hush Handspun Hootenanny Questionnaire

1. How long have you been spinning? What skill level do you consider yourself? A little over a year, but on my wheel for about 2.5 months. I consider myself an advanced beginner.

2. What kinds of yarn do you create (singles/2-ply/3-ply/art yarn)? I love 2-ply and have recently begun 3-ply and N-ply yarns.

3. What do you spin with (spindle/wheel/both)? Wheel. Lendrum DT

4. What are your favorite fibers to spin with? Anything you don't like? I love merino (superwash or not) , BFL and alpaca. I've spun merino mixed with seacell that I adored, and merino blended with silk. Shetland was fun to spin, but I wouldn't call it a favorite. I love anything soft soft soft.

5. Who are your favorite crack dealers fiber sources (etsy or otherwise)? The Loopy Ewe has been posting some great fiber lately. I also buy from Crack, er, Crown Mountain Farms.

6. What kind of fiber do you want to try? Cormo, Llama, Qiviut, Yak

7. Are there any techniques you would like to learn? I still have so much to learn!

8. Do you dye fiber? If not, would you like to learn? I haven't yet, but will soon.

9. Do you have fiber prep tools (and like to use them) or would you prefer ready to spin fiber? Ready to spin, please. Haven't got the tools to prep fiber. (Yet.)

10. What do you do with your handspun? What projects have you completed? Um.. look at it? Take pretty pictures of it? Seriously though, I've knitted a pair of socks with one skein so far, and have plans for two others. Not enough time to knit and spin!

11. Are you in need of any spinning gadgets (WPI Gauge, threading hook, etc)? I'd like a new WPI gauge. I have the Nancy's Knit Knacks one, but I don't care for it.

12. What colors "fall into your shopping basket"? Any colors you just can't stand? I'm a sucker for greens, jewel tones, and naturals. I can't think of any colors I can't stand.

13. What is on your wheel/spindle right now? Sakina Needles Superwash Merino, "Dusty Cornflower" colorway. (Which is fun to spin and the colors are so pretty!)

14. What other crafts/hobbies do you have? knitting, photography, reading, cycling.

15. Other than crafts, what are you passionate about? my family

16. Do you have an online wishlist? My Loopy Ewe wishlist.

17. Is there anything that you collect? My husband says I collect fiber.

18. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What magazine subscriptions do you have? I can't think of any books at the moment. I suscribe to Interweave Knits, Spin Off, and regularly buy the Rowan Mags when they are published.

19. When is your birthday? October 11

20. What book or movie character do you most resemble in personality? Bridget Jones?

21. What is the climate like where you live around this time (need to know for careful shipments of anything meltable)? Minnesota is just blossoming into Summer weather. It's been in the mid 70s to mid 80s with lots of sun (and a few storms here and there.) But within a month it will be hot and humid.

22. Tell us one weird fact about yourself! I'm double-jointed in lots of places.

Favorites
favorite painting/picture(link): Beautiful Black and White photography. Doesn't matter who it's done by.

Candy: Reeces Pieces

Food: Snacks

Drink: Root Beer

Movie(s): Horror, suspense. Although, sometimes there's nothing better than a fluffy chick flick.

TV Show(s): Grey's Anatomy, Scrubs, Friends, Ugly Betty (I sacrifice the TV to my sons and husband, mostly. They hog it.)

Book(s): I love mysteries and horror!

Guilty Pleasure(s): Buying yarn and fiber when I probably shouldn't. And my Nintendo DS.

**Edited to change the fiber types that I'd like to try.**

Mother of Pearl

Ok, seriously, I know I say this every time, but I'm thrilled to pieces over this yarn!

This is The Dyeing Arts Superwash Merino in the Mother of Pearl colorway, 4oz.

I spun it very thinly, then Navajo plied it to keep the stripes intact. (But boy, did I go back and forth on whether I wanted to do that, or a regular barber-pole 2-ply.)

It wasn't until I saw the full bobbin that I knew what I was going to do.

This is my first big Navajo ply project (and only the 2nd time I've done it) and I'm so pleased with how it turned out!

4 oz, 488 yds, 21 wpi.

It's so soft!

This roving was a joy to spin. It was so effortless - no issues, no nasty ends. Just very smooth fiber that was easily drafted.

I have several of their other colors in my Loopy Ewe wishlist and hope to be ordering more sometime soon.

It was also the first time I've used the fast flyer that I bought for my Lendrum over a month ago. I was nervous to try it before, but the last yarn I spun I really had to treadle hard and fast to get the kind of speed to keep up with my hands. My poor wheel was shaking with fear at me.

Well, not literally, but there was a shimmy at some points.

So I decided I'd give it a go with this. I'm so glad I did! I was able to go much faster and actually spun far more evenly and consistenly than I have before. Yay for the fast flyer!


My husband thinks I should make something other than socks with this. He said it's far too pretty to wear on my feet. I agree - this is one that I think will need to be something I wear around my neck.

Just not really sure what that might be. I'll have to go digging through Ravelry to find something!

And just so you don't think there's never any knitting going on here anymore, here are the socks I finished for my husband for Father's Day.

Stroll Through the Forest Path

Oh my goodness, I had the most fun spinning this! I've been working on it on and off for about three weeks.

The fiber is a 70/30 Merino/Seacell blend from Creatively Dyed, Forest Path colorway.

I made a traditional 3 ply yarn and got about 564 yds at 17wpi. There were leftovers that got plied into two different mini skeins. One is a 2 ply and the other is a Navajo ply yarn.

This fiber spins like butter and the resulting yarn is just as soft! I love just running my fingers down the length of the skein.

I've got no idea what I'll make with this, but I'm immensely pleased with how it turned out.

The seacell provided a lovely sheen that my photos didn't fully capture. I do really like this one, with just the spill of the strands.


I took this on a trip with me last weekend! A friend of mine (who is blogless!), Nancy, asked our friend Aimee and me if we'd like to have a knitting/spinning weekend at her cabin. We went and had such a lovely time! Lots of knitting, a little spinning, and lots of relaxation!

When I got back, I set out to finally finishing this. I really wanted to see what it would look like when it was done, so I spun like crazy on Tuesday and plied like crazy yesterday. Skeined and washed it before work last night and woke up to beautiful dry yarn this morning!

It bloomed a bit in the washing, which I love. It's very squishy and soft.
**edited to add the photo of it in progress.**

Handspun Socks!

My very first project with my own handspun yarn.

Truly truly thrilling.

Needless to say, I'm very proud of these socks.

In a conversation with a friend last week, we were talking about whether we'd knit anything with our handspun or not. I said no, and thought how ridiculous that was.

So last Friday night I wound up the yarn and off I went. Sock #1 was done Sunday afternoon and Sock #2 was finished a day later. Literally could not put them down.

Details:

Pattern: my own modifications on Feather and Fan
Yarn: my own handspun, Blue Faced Leicester
Needles: Knit Picks NP Fixed, US 1, 2.5mm 32" circular
Started: Friday, May 30, 2008
Finished: Monday, June 2, 2008

They are so soft and squishy! And warm. I wore them around last night and while I was spinning. Love these socks!

Zombie Blogging

I'm *really* tired - might sound jumbled.

Sex and the City was amazing. Friend and I went to midnight showing. Absolutley amazing.

Everything I expected and more.

What I've Been Up To...

Spinning! (Surprise.)

A little bit of knitting, too, but it's a project for work and I'm not sure I'm allowed to show it. (It's a test pattern.)

But I can surely show photos of my spinning!

This is 4.5oz of Superwash Merino from Lorna's Laces. The colorway is Gold Hill. I spun it into a 2 ply sock yarn and I can't wait to knit with it.

I had a good time spinning this one. The roving came in a huge bundle of three-ish color blots of red, gold-orange, and green. I split it up into 8 or 10 long strips and spun them end to end to get the most out of the colors.

Plied from a center pull ball to get all the yardage in one big skein. (Kind of a fun way to ply, really.)


Next up is the chocolate-y mocha laceweight that I was working on when I last blogged.

The color in this photo is a bit lighter than the yarn really is. It's more accurate in my previous post.

This one was quite a challenge to spin! All that laceweight and all that time. But I really love how it came out.

I have about 400 yds here - enough to do a lace scarf with. I'll have to look for a great pattern for it.

As much as I like this one, spinning it was a bit of a bore. I really love solid color yarns, or even tonal solids, but spinning a solid is definitely an exercise in prolonged patience. I started with an 8oz bag, fully committed to spinning at least 4oz for the laceweight, and only plowing my way through 2.5oz. Oh well. *wink*


And now for the pièce de résistance!

Fiber is BFL and was purchased at Shepherd’s Harvest in Lake Elmo, MN over Mother’s Day weekend. I bought two 3oz braids that had bits of green, burgundy, and lime green over undyed oatmeal.

In prep, I tore out all of the lime green sections (will later spin those pieces into something else) and split each braid up into 8 long strips. Spun them every which way to sunshine to get the colors to be as random as possible.

I’m very happy with how this yarn turned out. It’s my most even and consistent handspun yet!

And a before and after spinning shot comparison:
(click to embiggen)

More Spinning! And a Pair of Socks

Mmmm, this just reminds me of Sherbet all the way.

Fiber from The Loopy Ewe, Sakina Needles, Briar Rose, 8oz 100% Alpaca.

I *loved* spinning this. The second bobbin full went a lot smoother and more consistently than the first and I had quite a bit left over from itafter plying. I plied that one into a mini-skien and gave it to a friend of mine. She's going to knit it into a little hat for her 5 month old little girl.

Next up is this rich chocolatey Coopworth. The fiber is from Louet. Steven ordered a whole trunk show from them, and believe me, there's some beautiful stuff. I snagged a few bags for myself and this is one of them.

I'm going for laceweight with this, and I think I might have it. My singles are sewing thread thick (which when allowed to relax back on itself is a lovely two ply laceweight), but it's taking - f o r e v e r - to spin.

But it will definitely be worth it!

Another pair of Embossed Leaves.

What can I say, I love this pattern!

The yarn is Classic Elite Alpaca Sox. If you haven't tried it yet, I thoroughly urge you to run to your LYS and get some. It's lovely!

More Handspun!

I flew through this one. Alpaca just slides through the fingers!

My 3rd yarn. The name “Fairy Wings” came from a friend in my knitting group. When I brought my wheel there last Monday, she took one look at the drafted fiber and said it looked like fairy wings. It seemed a great name.

Fiber purchased from The Loopy Ewe. It’s Pastel Caesar (100% Alpaca, 4 oz) from Sakina Needles.

Approximately 216 yds. Wpi and other such info to come later. ;)

About 1/3 of the way through spinning this, the lightbulb went off in my head and I totally got drafting. Like really got it. So the last 2/3 of the fiber were spun very evenly, as a laceweight single.

Once plied, it turned into a light fingering weight, with some laceweight spots and a couple of sport/DK weight spots. Consistency is something I'm striving for.

Still though, I'm pleased like crazy with it. And it's a good amount of yardage, so I can actually do something with it.

Start to finish shots: (click to make bigger)

Look! I Made Yarn! (& a little Harlot talk)

My very first yarn on my new wheel.

I'm very pleased with how it turned out.

It's not perfectly consistent, but it's not bad.

The fiber is 100% Merino, roughly 56 yds. Not sure of the wpi - I haven't measured that yet.

This is the leftover fiber that I had after spinning with it last year. There was 4 oz originally. I think I used up most of it last summer when I got my Spindolyn.


And here's my 2nd singles, still on the bobbin.

This is 100% Alpaca. I absolutely adore spinning this. It just glides through my fingers with great ease. I thought it was going to be difficult so I was going to wait to spin this till I got better. But I decided to just dive right in yesterday. I'm so glad I did.

There's about 3 oz here on the bobbin. I've got another ounce to spin up later tonight when I get a chance to sit down at it again.

(And I've ordered another 4 oz of this fiber that should be coming in the mail later this week!)




Here's a couple of other shots (isn't the fiber just gorgeous?):









OMG, I have a bunch of other fiber I should have taken photos of. I ordered some the other day online, and then Steven also got a trunk show of fiber in from Louët. I got some beautiful stuff from that. Pics to come soon.

Spinning is sooo much fun! Just like Brandy said it would be. :)

Oh!! I forgot to TELL you! I went to see the Yarn Harlot speak in St. Paul on Thursday night. She was amazing!! We had so much fun. I'll blog more about that when I get pics from my friend.

It's Here!

Isn't it beautiful?

My Lendrum Double Treadle wheel. I'm already in love and I've only had maybe an hour to really play with it today. Shortly after it got here I had a couple of friends over to "welcome" it. ;) We all tried it and had a good time playing. Thanks for coming over!

I haven't spun anything seriously on it yet at all. I've just been playing with little bits of all of the fibers I've got on hand here. I do notice how easily it is to get an even yarn on the wheel as opposed to the couple of drop spindles I've tried and my Spindolyn.

I'd say more, but really, I think I'll just let the pics speak for themselves.

(Better pics to come soon. Uggh, lighting was questionable . I'll shoot new ones tomorrow morning.)