It's harder than it looks

Em spinning in her jammies

Both the girls have been trying their hand at spinning on Gramma Kay's wheel. I won't let them touch mine, but Kay is very generous with her equipment. :o) They have both practiced just treadling, and also spinning with some White Buffalo Unspun that I had around and used when I was first starting. Elise seems very at ease with the process. Emily is analyzing it and maybe making it harder than it needs to be at this point, but they are both doing very well. You need to get ready for your lesson, Kay!

I have been doing some spinning and some blending and some more spinning. First I made about 175 yards of 2 ply natural colored Blue faced Leicester (I looked it up because I didn't know how it was pronounced: "Lester") and you can see from the quick sample that it's not super even, but still nice and soft.


Then there is some wool from the Fiber Event I've been playing with. I made a really nice 3-ply - my first!! - shown here in the picture on the left, and then determined I would like to use it to make the Sunrise Circle Jacket (.pdf file) by Kate Gilbert. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough for that entire project, but decided I could blend it on the drum carder with some natural brown ram's wool(also purchased at said Event) for a nice yarn, shown on the right in this picture. You can't really see the swatch, but it's nice. I will have plenty for the sweater, and decided I would make it 2-ply because I can't imagine having the patience to do 3900 yards of singles for a 3 ply. This is my first time really calculating and spinning for a specific project, and I hope I'm doing it right!


Another thing I've been working on is a quicky cardigan, the Stevie from It's a Tape Thing
(but I call it Stella??) out of color 550 Electric Rowan Cotton Tape. This is going fast, and I'm enjoying some immediate gratification: I'm already done with 1-1/2 sleeves.


Finally, talking about a quick payoff, I spent an evening knitting up the Berroco free pattern for the Air Bear using ?? color of Air, about 1/2 a ball. Obvi I still need to sew on a face, but he's still super-cute! This is a really simple and satisfying little knit. I love making toys!



Personal Note: I'm not sure how frequently I'll be posting in the next couple weeks or so. My parents are having some health issues and I'm keeping pretty busy with them. I'm sure I'll be knitting a lot - it's my biggest stress reliever! - so when I'm back I'll probably have plenty to post about.

A conversation yesterday

Roger: Happy 13th anniversary, honey!
Me: Oh, how lovely...I didn't even get you a card....
Roger: That's OK, you never do.
(hugs)

a couple things

I haven't felt much like blogging in the past week, but thought I should post this picture of a scarf I made for my mother-in-law for Mother's Day. I think she liked :o) I made the same pattern I made for my mom, but with a completely different result. I used 2 skeins of the Great Adirondack Sequins .


I'm also posting the Nashua Knits North American Designer Collection No. 4 Surplice Lace Top I just finished, but I realized after I took the picture that I really needed a camisole, so I've edited the picture to add one (and of course wore one when I debuted the top in public). I would have taken a flat picture, but it looks so much better on. I used 11 skeins of Jaeger Albany, a mercerized cotton tape-like yarn that knit up beautifully for this. Of course if you want it, it's been discontinued, sorry. I used the yarn from my stash like a good girl. :o)

I might make another one, I like this little pattern so much. It was a quiet, fairly mindless knit and the only change I made was to make the decreases for neck and sleeve fully fashioned - I think it looks a little better that way on this piece. Oh, and I added an extra repeat of the lace for additional length since I'm a tall girl.

Silken Goodness

see the shine of the silk?

This is a little shoulder scarf I made for my mom for Mother's Day. I gave it to her today along with a cute brown shirt from Talbot's, and I think she really likes it. It was a pleasure to knit, the silk was just luscious to touch, and I think it came out well.

Pattern: Versatile Scarves from Evelyn A. Clark, Fibertrends, the one with the 3 row eyelet
Yarn: Tilli Tomas Pure & Simple 100% Silk (a.k.a. "Butter"), Glazed Ginger colorway
Needles: US size 7 bamboo circulars

Even though the label said dry clean only, I soaked it briefly in Eucalan and blocked it out with wire. I give this pattern 2 thumbs up!

When I went over to see Mom and Dad today, I brought my wheel and gave them a little spinning demo. I think they find it funny and kinda goofy that I'm so into all the wooliness, but as always, they are very supportive. I'm such a lucky girl to have them!

What has Mom been doing?

It looks like she doesn't have any furniture in this picture, but her room is big and it's all out of the frame. We really didn't give her just a bed and a closet! Oh, and notice the floor: no piles of clothes and toys! She promised me she'd keep it picked up. While I do appreciate the gesture, I'm not holding my breath.

Well, I've been knitting, spinning a little, and playing with blending yarn, but mostly I've been getting Em's room ready. This Sunday she will be 10, and my gift to her is to re-do her room. She picked out the comforter set from Target, and I helped her pick the paint, "Florescent Lime" and "La Fonda Turquoise" from Valspar at Lowes. The carwash style sheer curtains and green glass hardware are from JCPenneys, thank you Sherrie for telling me to look there! Still need to find a bulletin board (is someone getting her one for her birthday?) and a new desk lamp for her. Oh, and a trash can.

Pictures of the fiber related stuff will be forthcoming. The painting etc. has kept me really busy, but I should be ready to post about my knitterly activities soon.