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 :).

1st Pair of Socks – 2nd Sock Closer to Done!

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1st Pair of Socks almost done Ok, I am finally getting closer to having that elusive 2nd sock done :P.  I had to switch to double pointed needles for the heel flap and when I did I picked up a set of 2.25mm instead of 2.50mm and it absolutely made a difference, when I got the gusset finished it was quite a bit smaller making the sock shorter, so I had to go to the frog pond and “ripit”  sigh.  I have redone the heel flap in the correct needle size and will be picking up the sides of the heel flap and doing the gusset, then it’s all down hill from there with the foot and toe :).

I had Friday morning off from my reg duties and decided to so some errands.  I went to go to a store I visit several times a year only to find it had moved, hmmm.  I went next door and they told me where it was now located, and NICE, it was now closer to me.  I was headed out of that store to go to the new area and as I got in my car a lady who was parked in front of me got out and came over to me.  I thought, did she hit my car?  what?  She preceded to tell me that she just had to let me know what her 10 year old daughter had said.  As I was walking out of the store, her daughter said “Mom she looks just like Elsa!!! Does she know she looks just like Elsa?”  What a nice surprise!  I told her to tell her daughter that she had just made my day :).  I know, the picture on my blog is about 10 years old and since then I have quit coloring my hair (my hair started turning silver before I was 16) and I let it grow out (now to my waist and I keep it braided most of the time to keep it out of my way), so I guess my hair color and the fact that it was braided made me look like Elsa to her, what a great day that was :).  I have had people ask me if I am Scandinavian because of my hair color, and actually just found out via dna that I am 17% Scandinavian :), the other part is from England/Scotland/Wales and Ireland.  That accounts for my hair color (dark alburn) before all the silver 🙂  Sometimes one really good day can make up for a lot of otherwise harsh days. 🙂

Soon I plan on getting back to sewing some bags for my etsy shop.  Summer happened with little ones :P.

 

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 :).

Happy 4th of July – Independance Day

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July 4th

Happy Birthday to my country!!!!!  May we remember why the our founding fathers came here and may we always work hard to keep her free.

I encourage you to check out this movie called Monumental.  I watched it and was very impressed, every thing was documented and it was well thought out.  It reminds us  of what this country was founded on and why.

2016 – Tour De Fleece Team Stitch

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Alpaca singles Rolags for Tour De Fleece 2016

I decided to join the spinning Tour de Fleece this year.  I am working on the alpaca I have on my wheel (pictured to the left).  I have been working on it for a while so maybe now I will finish it :P.   It requires some spinning every day, I’ll make the time ;).

On the right is a picture of the other two fibers (4 ozs of rolags and 4 ozs of roving) I will spin on after the Alpaca is finished.  This goes on from July 2nd through July 24th.  We will see how much of this I am able to finish before the end :).

I have been working on the 2nd sock for that 1st pair of socks.  I’ll try to post a picture of my progress in the next few days :).

1st Sock of 1st Pair of Socks Done!

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1st sock done for 1st pair of socks   I did finally get that 1st sock done!  Wasn’t as scary as I thought it was going to be :).

I left the progress keeper on so you can see how much progress I made since the last post about this sock :).  I need to cast on the 2nd sock so I don’t end up with 2nd sock syndrome (when you never get around to doing the 2nd sock).  Some people knit the two socks at the same time so that doesn’t happen, not sure if that is what I need to do or if I will go ahead and follow up each time with a second sock , lol.

Knitted SocksYou can see the new sock book I acquired.  Knitted Socks has some really cute socks in it.  You should go check it out and see all the really cute patterns :).  I bought this the end of April.  There is no stash accumulation for June, my car demanded some attention and it is never cheap to give it attention :P.

Today is overcast and it looks like evening outside, I am not really a dreary day kinda person but the weather does whatever it wants, it doesn’t consult me :P.  Hope everyone has a wonderful day, even if it’s a rainy dreary day.

Memorial Day 2016

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Memorial Day

I give a special reverence to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice, their lives, for what they loved, a free and safe country for their families and all of us.    May we honor them in all we do and may we always keep this country free and safe in their honor. 

I also want to thank all those who are now serving or have served, in any of the branches of the Armed Services, for your love of freedom and for being willing to serve us and your country without regard for your own lives, you’re all heroes to me. May we always remember that Freedom has a price and all those that have paid that price.

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.