Knitting Update and Fiber

/ LDSVenus / 8 Comments

This blanket looked like a perfect fairly mindless knit with a nice texture for a friend who is expecting. I didn’t ask if she was expecting a boy or girl so I chose yellow, cos yellow is an awesome color and she already had a girl and a boy sweater I had made her for previous little ones. Oh my gosh, this blanket was jinked! I got the bottom border and the plain stockinette stitch area done and started the main design and the stitch count was off. I recounted it several times and then looked at the stitch count according to the instructions. ARRRGGG, I had cast on the stitches for the one size larger than the baby blanket. Frogged it and started again. Got back up to the main design and the starting row was on the wrong side, ARRRGGG again. Only had to tink back one row, the pattern said row 1 was on the wrong side and I had started it on the right side. Ok, I think I’m done with (my) issues now and this is it so far. I think I’m going to have to ask Heavenly Father to bless it before I give it to her :P.

Next picture, this was the braid of fiber I bought, that I mentioned in an earlier post, that was so soft, Merino 18.5 microns (so soft!!!). It has Alpaca, Camel and Mulberry Silk and it’s like holding butter. Can hardly wait to spin this up!! Most Merino you buy is around 23 microns (that’s the fineness of the fiber, the lower the micron the softer), and that is still soft. I partly bought it because I knew all those fibers are amazingly soft and because I loved the colors on the braid.

I need to get back to knitting hats as well, fall is coming fast. They say it’s a La Niña year starting in the fall, so colder fall and winter, I can’t remember if that means more snow or just colder. But the last 2 summers have been sweltering, dang humidity.

Lots of Flowers & Alpaca

/ LDSVenus / 14 Comments

My braided hibiscus tree occasionally goes crazy with flowers. Love the flowers! Every so often I have to spray it for aphids with a soapy water with a few drops of cedar wood oil (one of my doTERRA oils). The soapy water kills the aphids and cedar wood oil smell keeps them off for a while.

The alpacas in the next picture are enjoying the splash pad on a hot day. My son bought it for them last year. They love it, as soon as he drags it out and sets it up they are in it like any kid, lol. Occasionally one will lay down in it and hog it up. Tisk, tisk tisk. Sometimes he brings out a sprinkler instead, but there are some that stand on top of the sprinkler and hog it up, lol. They much prefer our winters which are often -20’s to -30’s without the windchill. Their coats are so dense that snow doesn’t melt on their backs, and rain doesn’t soak in! But, they spend a lot of time in the barn too, they always have access to get into or out of the barn. They love playing in the snow. He has large fans going 24/7 in the barn in the summer so they can stay comfortable when the heat is too hot to be outside.

Hope you all are staying cool, we are very humid and hot. Sweltering is what the weatherman said. Tomorrow they said with the humidity factor we will be around 101F.

RAGBRI Spin is a WIP

/ LDSVenus / 8 Comments

My drive band was very frayed so I went and bought some jute to make another one, I did get the new drive band on my spinning wheel and this is the fiber I am spinning. It’s a BFL-Corriedale cross 64%, Alpaca 27% and Sari Silk waste 9%. The blue and green looks really pretty against the brown fiber. The color sure pops on the brown back ground. This is a thinner spin compared to the Pop Rock tweed, will probably be a light sport weight. When the RAGBRI is finished tomorrow, I will go ahead and spin for the Summer Olympics, lol. Promised myself I would work on some older fibers and this is one. I think I bought it about 5 years or more ago at a small fiber festival in my little town. I have lots to choose from when this one is done :).

RAGBRAI 2024 – There’s Still Hope!

/ LDSVenus / 6 Comments

For those of you not familiar with RAGBRIA, it stands for Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa. It’s a non competitive 434 mile bicycle tour across the state of Iowa from west to east. This is the 51st year for this. So instead of spinning to the ride across France this year I will spin to the ride across Iowa, so all is not lost with my spinning. I planned on starting today which is the first day of RAGBRAI, however I noticed my the plied string I use as my drive band, is very frayed and being held by two of the small strings, so I will go get more string tomorrow and fix the drive band and start tomorrow. Always something isn’t it, I’ll call it a flat tire on day one.