Contest Winner! (and Spinning Update)

*Teaser for spinning update below!

And the winner is...



Congratulations are in order for laughingmuse, the randomly drawn winner of my Blogiversary Contest : ) Green yarn will be heading your way as soon as I receive your mailing address...

Thanks, everyone, for entering!


One Last Bit of MDSW

Now that I've gifted it, I can tell you about one last purchase I made at Maryland Sheep and Wool: a beautiful turned wood crochet hook made by Bill Hardy...



... modeled here by Larry, the little green alien guy that Heidi gave me on our ride home from the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival (Thanks, Heidi!):



This (the crochet hook - don't worry, I kept Larry!) went to the very deserving (and crafty!) friend who cared for my kitties while I was at Maryland Sheep and Wool (my husband was also out of town at the time). It was accompanied by a gorgeous skein of Brooks Farm Solo that I bought at Rhinebeck last year.



It was difficult to part with, as I completely adore the yarn, but I had no specific intentions for it, and I wanted to give her something lovely to use the crochet hook with. She seemed to like it : )


Spinning Update

Yes, I really am trying to make a dent in my recently expanded spinning fiber stash : )

A few weeks ago, I finished spinning up the squishy, soft Cormo I got from Foxhill Farm (no website). Here's a summary of it's transformation:










I ended up with about 413 yards (3.67 ounces, although it was supposed to be 4, and I had only a few yards of singles left over) of 16 wpi (light fingering weight) 2-ply yarn. I think it's lovely!

I also plied up the Icelandic wool (that I previously showed you as singles) into about 328 yards (~7 ounces) of 13 wpi (sport/fingering weight) 2-ply yarn. I had about an ounce of extra singles (some of which were created by my friends when they tried out my spinning wheel) that I plied together for about 23 yards of thick and thin yarn (not shown here).




Here they are together:



...and for your enjoyment, here is Bug modeling the cormo yarn:







Additionally, I've spun singles of most of the 4 oz. of "Dublin Lake" Bluefaced Leicester I got from Kris of The Painted Sheep at the Nutmeg Spinners Guild Meeting in April.





I Navajo plied (for the first time!) 2 oz. of the singles, resulting in about 133 yards of 15 wpi (fingering weight) yarn:




To Navajo ply you basically make a giant crochet chain with your fingers and add twist to it. Here's a video that helped me figure out how to do it. It was kind of difficult to understand (and to execute) at first, but I think I've got the hang of it now.

As you can see, Navajo Plying largely preserves the different colored sections in the final yarn. I think I did an OK job, although my yarn initially had too much twist (which I didn't fully admit until after finishing it), so I ran it through my wheel again to take a little of the extra twist out. Now it hangs much straighter after finishing (the second time!), although the joins between each looped section are a little more obvious now.

I think it's pretty : )

I plan to make a 2 ply yarn out of the remaining 2 oz. of singles for an interesting (I hope) contrast. I think it would be fun to use both yarns in one project together (if you have any ideas, let me know)!


Octopus Pattern Coming Eventually...



I've had a number of requests for a pattern for my blue-ringed octopus, and I wanted to let you know that do I plan on putting one together sometime. I made him up as I went along and didn't take great notes, so it will probably take me making a new one to figure out what I did. In other words, it may be a while - but thanks so much for your encouragement to do it : )


Have a great week!

Another Smorgasbord... (including contest!)

Andrea Dogwood Blossom Wrap


Andrea Dogwood Blossom Wrap (Schaefer Yarn Company)
Schaefer Yarn Company Andrea, 100% Cultivated Silk (1093 yards / 99 g per skein), "Dian Fossey," 0.74 skeins
US 2 (2.75 mm) Knitpicks circular needles
US 7 (4.5 mm) Knitpicks Options circular needles

This week I finished the Dogwood Blossom Wrap for Schaefer and mailed it off to them (hopefully in time for a show they have this weekend). I really enjoyed working on it, and I'm so jealous that I don't get to keep it - so perhaps I'll make another some day : ) The yarn was gorgeous and not at all splitty, even with my uber-pointy Knitpicks needles.

Here are a few more photos of the prettiness:









Of course, Bug had to get in on the action:



I think it looks really cool backlit:






(Belated) Blogiversary contest!

April 15th was my one year blogiversary, so I'm having a little contest (woo hoo!) Leave me a comment before midnight on Friday, May 9th, and I'll randomly pick one of you to win... this fabulous trio of yarns in lovely springy greens:


-1 ball of Rowan Handknit Cotton "Celery" (93 yards)
-1 ball of South West Trading Company Bamboo "Sahara" (250 yards)
-1 skein of Lanas Puras Melosa fingering weight "Camouflage" (440 yards)


Dr G's Memory Vest

I keep meaning to mention a wonderful opportunity to get a great pattern while donating to a worthy cause. Kirsten of Through the Loops! designed Dr. G's Memory Vest for her father (Dr. G), who succumbed to Alzheimer's disease recently. In return for her lovely cabled vest pattern, Kirsten's asking for a donation (of any size) to the Fisher Center for Alzheimer's Research. Please see her blog for details.


"The Yarn Grove" blog contest prize!

I was lucky enough to win a Chico Bag from The Yarn Grove in their blog contest. It's extremely useful and compacts down to a tiny volume when not in use:




Bug for scale (he's a 15 pound cat) - it holds a lot!


A few good memes

First, Phoebe of Anphoe's Spaces tagged me for a meme. Here is what you do: Use the 1st letter of your middle name to answer each of the following questions. They have to be real places, names,things…nothing made up! Try to use different answers if the person you took this from had the same 1st initial.
You CAN’T use your name for the boy/girl name question.

1. Middle name letter: M
2. Famous artist/band/musician: Metallica
3. 4-letter word: Mush
4. U.S state: Mississippi
5. Boy name: Mickey
6. Girl name: Milicent
7. Animal: Meerkat
8. Something in the kitchen: Moana (meowing for food)
9. Reason for being late? Major delay
10. Body Part? Mucosa
11. Drink? Milk
12. Something you shout: Mom! Joey's pulling my hair!
13. Something you eat? Mayonnaise
14. A movie you've seen? Mean Girls

Second, Michaela of Dollarknits tagged me to do a “six-word memoir.”
Here's mine: “Learning new things makes me happy.”

If you would like to answer one or both of these memes, consider yourself tagged!

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I'm WAY behind on my blog reading, but I know you guys are up to all sorts of great things. Hopefully, I'll be able to catch up soon -- although it will be a little while longer, since I'm going to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival this weekend... Woo-hoo!

Thanks so much for reading, and have a great weekend (I know I will)!

Flood Relief Contest & Pay It Forward

I'm almost done with the back of my Minimalist Cardigan, but I'll post about that later.



Right now I want to put in a quick plug for Knittymama's Flood Relief Contest. From her blog:

"I’m sure most of you have heard about the devastating floods that have taken place in Southeastern Minnesota and Southwestern Wisconsin by now. There has been terrible loss of life and property, but one group that has been hit especially hard are the organic farmers of the region. This is a fertile area, and home to a rich organic farming community....

This is an agonizing loss for these farmers. Not only have they lost their crops but they have suffered erosion and equipment damage, and have had to lay off workers as well. While most farms are hoping to make it through the damage there are also many who have an uncertain future....

Once I began to find out about the losses around our region, I felt helpless but unsure of what to do. But then I saw that Sow the Seeds is doing a fundraiser, and then I thought, “The knitters! The knitters will help!” And so here I am, with both a contest and a plea for you all to help our organic farmers."

Knittymama has some great prizes (sock yarn!, handspun!), but the contest will only remain open until September 29th (tomorrow!), so check it out. Of course, feel free to donate even if you read about this too late to get in on the contest : )




Pay it Forward

Rosina of Noteworthy Knits has very generously offered to make handmade gifts for the first 3 people who leave a comment on her post (I think you can still leave her a comment, so give her a visit, and check out all the cool spinning she's been doing lately!).

I took her up on it (Thanks, Rosina!), and now I'm paying it forward.

This is "based on the concept of the movie Pay it Forward where acts or deeds of kindness are done without expecting something in return... just passing it on, with hope that the recipients of the acts of kindness continue to pass it along as well. Here’s how it works: I will make and send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment to this post on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I do not know what that gift will be yet, and it won’t be sent this month, probably not next month, but it will be sent (within 6 months) and that’s a promise! What YOU have to do in return, then, is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog."

If you would like to participate, please leave me a comment on this post and email me at octopusknits AT gmail DOT com with your contact info. (mailing address, blog address if you have one, Ravelry or flickr ID if you have one).

I'll try to make you something you'll like!