Yarn

1st Pair of Socks Done

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1st Pair of socks done

Yarn for 2nd Pair of Socks

YEA!!!  My first pair of socks is done.  There were matchy matchy until I got to the toe of the 2nd sock, they were the same length but two of the darker stripes were a bit longer on the second sock so the toes didnt get the dark tip like the other one.  That is ok tho, I’m excited to have them finished :).

A family member put dibs on them  and she was so excited to get them even tho they are to big for her lol.  But they were just my practice pair because I had no one in mind when I made them, just wanted to see what size that needle size would make.  She gave me another skein of sock yarn to make her another pair lol (see picture on the right.)  Going down a needle size this next pair, and will change to a 2×2 rib cuff which I will make 2 inches long instead of one.  This new yarn is dyed by The Lemonade Shop and the color is Bad Day, it’s sparkly and so pretty, I’m really excited to see how the colorway works up :).

My son has purchased 4 alpaca, one grey, one black, one fawn and one mahogany.  They are so pretty, guess I can see a little bit of alpaca fiber in my life to spin this next spring.  I have a light black Polypay fleece I need to skirt and get sent off to the fiber mill (my car has been a bit “me, me, me” lately so the things I  usually do earlier in the year have had to be put off for car repairs, but when I get the brakes fixed I should be able to send it off next month), then the next month I have another alpaca fleece to send off to the fiber mill.  So much fiber, so little time :).

Tour de Fleece 2016 Update

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Spinning Rolags for Tour De FleeceHere is a picture of what I’ve accomplished so far on the first spool of singles.  Spinning this rolag is a little different than spinning from roving, it doesn’t move quite as fluidly as I thought it would, and this combination of fiber did NOT want to be spun thin.  After fighting with it and having the singles break on me a couple of times, I decided to spin it a little heavier and it has been behaving since.  The colors are beautiful and I will be spinning this for a shawl.

We have had some really bad storms here in the last couple of weeks, I’m tired of rain and humidity 😛  It is suppose to be in the 90’s this coming week, and I just have to remind myself that I will miss this heat in the winter when it’s 30, 40 and 50 below zero and tons of ice and snow :P.  Tho’ honestly I have been known to miss the piles of snow when it’s 90 outside as well, lol.

Yarn – Alpaca for the Tour de Fleece 2016

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Handspun Alpaca 2016

I did finish the Alpaca!!  222 yards at 14 wpi, which looks like a fingerling weight.  It was very fun to spin and will become a hat for my daughter :).  For the Tour de Fleece tho, I can only count half of this because I already had one spool spun, so just the 2nd spool and the plying went toward this year’s Tour de Fleece.

 

Rolags for Tour De Fleece 2016 It’s ok tho,  I’m ready to start my next hand spun which are 4 ozs of these lovely rolags by The Wooly Witch.  I’m excited to see what they spin up to be yarn wise :).

Shepard’s Market Spring 2016

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Shepard's Market spring 2016I went to my first Shepard’s Market/Fiber Fair this past Saturday.  Lots of nice stuff – think, spinning fibers, yarn, spinning wheels, spindles, weaving looms and various other things with fibery stuff on it :).  Sorry my picture turned out a little blurry 😦  I’m not a wonderful photographer like my sister :P.  But you can see the tee shirt I bought (gotta love it this time of the year with elections coming up :P), a really cute red mug and matching bag (the bag was a mother’s day gift from the vendor so I didn’t have to pay for it woot woot), and of course you can not go to a Fiber event and not come home without a skein of yarn!!  I am not where I can get the names of the vendors I bought from at the moment but will come back and edit this in a while and put their names and web page addys on and give more info on the items I bought :).  It was fun, the vendors were wonderful and I am saving up so I can spend more money next year!!

Friday, the day before the market, I was in the mood to spin but not feeling like carrying my big wheel to the park, which I usually do once or twice in the spring.  So I carried it outside to my balcony and finally finished that first bobbin I have been working on for quite a while (laziness and lack of time on my part) and started the next bobbin.  I am going to try to spin on it every day until I have the 2nd bobbin done and then ply them and have that beautiful alpaca yarn done :).  That will become a hat for my daughter, then I will have to decide which of the other beautiful rovings I have that I want to spin, tho the light colored cria I have is calling my name :P.  Someday I want to save up and buy a portable wheel so I can more easily go to the park to spin whenever I want and not worry about damaging my bigger wheel in transport.

Mother of All Shawl and It’s SPRING!!!

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Gradient Mini Skein Set
A family member will be graduating this year, so for her graduation gift I am knitting her a shawl for her Senior Prom.  She said her prom dress would be aqua, and I found this beautiful gradient aqua mini skeins at my closest local yarn shop, Stitch Together.  It’s a subtle change from light to dark a little hard to capture on the pictures.

The started shawl picture is on the right.  I just started the 2nd color and am about 1/2Start of Mother of All Shawl into that color.  There are 5 shades, it will be very lovely.  The shawl is the Mother of All Shawl by Nick Davis.  It’s easy and fun to knit, but yes you do need to keep your mind on what you are doing for the changes that happen every so often in the pattern.  I will add this my Ravelry project page.

Still working on the socks will update a picture after I finish this shawl, I’m on a crunch time line with the shawl 😛

Hope you are enjoying this wonderful warmer (tho as normal uneven) Spring weather, it’s SPRING!!!!!!!

Sock Journey Has Begun!

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1st SockWell, my sock journey has begun.  I chose Regia yarn color 03765.  It has an interesting design and is fun to watch it unfold as I knit.  I am using a size 1  Addi Turbo 8″ circular needle.  Very small to knit with but since I really don’t like double pointed needles (which is why I haven’t been a big sock knitter), it’s working out all right.  I had knit one pair of tube socks (no heel) on double pointed needles (see photo on the right), but this is a regular sock with a heel flap.  We will see how it goes :P.  The pattern, a basic sock pattern (it’s one she uses to teach new sock knitters and I have no link to share with you, sorry),  was gifted to me by Benita aka the Fiber Pusher on Ravelry and she has a blog/podcast, Basically Benita ,  as well.  You should check her out at either or both places :).

Jasmine Scarf :)

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Jasmine Scarf  This scarf is called the Jasmine Scarf by Pearl Soho.  I was intrigued with the pattern design.  It looks like a herringbone design and is pretty.  I’m hoping to have this done in the next week,  I am making this for a friend who just had her last round of chemo and is cold and requested a scarf.  I thought this design was pretty and wanted to use a nice warm yarn so I chose some of my prized Andean Yarns, Alpaquita Superfina.  I was lucky enough a couple of years ago to buy a full pack of 8 skeins of this yarn because it is soooo soft and squishy.  Unfortunately it is now discontinued, but I use it for special occasions :).  My friend is special :).

Basia Hat Done :)

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Basia Hat right side out  Basia hat inside out

The Basia Hat has been an easy and fun knit.  We discovered that you can also wear it inside out! As you can see on the picture on the right it gives a honey comb effect.  She liked both designs, but really liked the honey comb.  Pretty cool to have a hat that can be worn right side out and inside out :).

Actually the color is closer to the picture on the left.  It is shaded from darker to lighter, really pretty.  It will be well loved 🙂

2 New Knot Bags & Knitting a New Hat

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Got Fiber Knot Bag

 

 

Stress Zebra Knot Bag

I put these two bags in my Etsy shop.  I’ve made the Stress Zebra Knot Bag before for a friend but this one is for my shop, it’s just so cute.  Don’t we all feel like this sometimes?  The alpaca design looked very good, but it’s a pain to sew out because  of all the thread color changes, even tho some of the colors are the same.  Still it’s a nice looking design.

Basia Hat for JadeThis hat, Basia, is a very nice knit and the texture design is pleasant to look at.  I’m making this for a special family member who requested a hat from me.  She said she wanted lavender, so I ordered the Lilac Jacquard acid dye for 1 of the polypay skeins I still have (only about 4 more skeins tho, have thoroughly enjoyed knitting them :P).  I love the way kettle dying comes out, instead of one solid color they are usually shaded, no complaints here :).  You can also see on the hat the beautiful stitch marker I got from MekaMika on etsy.

The mega snow storm missed us except for a trace of snow.  I won’t complain, I didn’t want 1 or 2 feet of snow :).  I love the El Ninos that come every few years, they make for a much more pleasant winter here :).

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2016 and New Year Knitting

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new-years-

I wish everyone a very Happy New Year filled with spiritual peace.  May we look forward and not backward.

One more hat start

Yes, I’m knitting one more hat, was trying to get done before the New Year but alas it won’t be done until New Year’s day.   This is some of the polypay yarn I had processed from the fleece that was given to me.  I dyed it blue but some of the yarn didn’t take up the dye as well as other parts in the skein and there were some very light spots from where the skein was tied (even tho’ I loosened the ties quite a bit), but you know what, it makes it look like faded denim so I am not going to complain, I know the recipient will enjoy it :P.

I made a knSocks by Ann Budditting New Years resolution, I made other resolutions too, but if I share them and I don’t complete them I’d have to hunt you down and wipe your memory (like they do on Star Trek)  so you are better off not knowing what they are :P.  My knitting resolution is to knit some socks.  Something I’ve wanted to do for a while now.  I’ve gotten a step closer when I bought  this book by Ann Budd, who is well known in the knitting community for sock construction, today at the 1/2 Price Book Store (I love that store!!).  The other book I have ordered from Amazon is Knitting Rules! by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee aka in the knitting world as  “the Yarn Harlot”.  It has a sock pattern called sock recipe: a good plain sock.  I have heard many people say this is their go to sock pattern.  Then when I get the sock pattern I want I will get the needle size it calls for (because the needles I will get are Addi Turbo 12″ circular needles and are expensive so I need the pattern first to see if I need size 0’s, or 1’s, I’m not a big fan of double pointed needles) and begin my sock journey.  🙂