Knitting, Spinning, Meme-ing

Heh, heh... even if I'm not up-to-date in my blog reading, I'm making an effort to be up-to-date in my blog posting : )

Knitting Update

I'm still working along on my sweater-length, top-down version of the Serpentine Coat from Knitting Nature. I've finished the yoke and one sleeve (the bottom half of which I re-knit several times to get the right fit).




There's one hitch: I've read over and over again that when doing stranded knitting you need to be sure to keep the floats loose. I think I took that way too seriously (doh!) - hence, my floats are too loose (making the stitches around them wonkily loose, too), and I think I'm going to have to try to redistribute the extra yarn in some fashion - probably by shifting the slack row by row to the edges, cutting the yarn, and weaving the ends in. I honestly think this will be much faster than starting over (I'm not a speedy two-color knitter, and it took me a while to finish knit the yoke, which I guess is arguably not finished yet...)


Dublin Lake Redux

So, what did I do with the other half of the lovely "Dublin Lake" Bluefaced Leicester roving I got from The Painted Sheep?



I split the remaining roving lengthwise into halves, then split one half into 8 lengthwise pieces and the other into only 4 (this is something I've seen suggested by Kristin of All Spun Up - another wonderful fiber artist - on the Ravelry boards). This resulted in longer color-runs on one bobbin, which you can see here:




Here's a close-up of the singles (I just love the colors):



I plied the singles from the two bobbins together, aiming for a bit of extra plying twist. Since my bobbins weren't very equal, I ended up having to transfer about half of the remaining singles to the empty bobbin, spit-splicing the ends to my two plies before finishing plying. As you can see, I still ended up with a little bit of singles left over:




...and here it is after finishing:



...and closer (click to see better):



The yarn seems nicely balanced. (I washed it in hot water and whacked it on the tub a few times before hanging it to dry unweighted.) I ended up with approximately 345 yards (2.15 oz.) of 22 wpi yarn - which is more or less a lace weight (I think I spun my singles finer on average than I did for the Navajo plied yarn... oops!). Here's my 2-ply hanging out with the Navajo plied yarn for comparison:




I like them both!


A Quirky Meme

Brandy of The Purl Parables tagged me (a while ago!) for a quirky meme. The rules are as follows:

* Link to the person who tagged you
* Mention the rules in your blog
* Tell about six unspectacular quirks of your's
* Tag six following bloggers by linking them
* Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged

1. I will look at my (non-digital) watch to see what time it is, only to promptly forget what it said. This is generally only an issue when someone else, having just seen me check my watch, asks me what time it is : )

2. I prefer very dry, chewy raisins to plump, juicy ones (so I'm not a big fan of raisins in baked goods).

3. I like yarn a little too much... yes, some people would consider that a quirk - why do you ask?

4. I often look down to check that I'm in gear ("Drive") while driving in an automatic transmission vehicle.

5. I like to have a salt shaker handy when I'm eating dinner in case I need a little extra flavor.

6. I would rather not have a cat pacing back and forth between me and my keyboard while I type, wooshing it's tail in my face and snuffling my fingers with each pass. (Pretty quirky, I know!)

If you would like to participate, consider yourself tagged. 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)!

Of yarn and... other things.

I made a rather significant purchase recently. I'll give you a hint -- it was integral in turning this:



...into this:



Here are a few more hints:





Meet my new wheel! (Woohoo!)



It's a double treadle Original Lendrum Spinning Wheel, and I think it's lovely (and it spins nice, too!).

I have been doing a lot of research lately and wanted a versatile, reliable wheel that didn't cost a huge amount. I had narrowed it down to this wheel or the Ashford Traditional, but decided on the Lendrum.

Here's my first attempt with it (Bug and Moana helped me out quite a bit with the fiber prep):

















You can see that I had some issues maintaining an even thickness in my singles - I need to work on my drafting : )





My Husband's Hat

I've been meaning to blog about this for a while.



My husband used his Berroco Jasper in the lovely "Copper Silk" colorway to make himself a really cool hat! He prefers to purl, not knit, (so the hat was done in all-purl stockinette) and he likes to wrap the yarn clockwise which produces a biasing rib-like effect in combination with the singles yarn. I've dubbed his hat "Purl-Crazy."

I really love this yarn (even though I didn't get to use it!), especially in this particular colorway. I may have to make something out of it eventually myself (although I'd need to get more, since he used most of the two skeins we had) : )





Love the reverse stockinette inside, too...

Of course, Bug isn't content to let me photograph knitwear in peace, so he had to get in on the action:






Thrummed Mittens

I started some Thrummed Mittens from the Winter 2006 issue of Interweave Knits.



The yarn (which I won) is pretty wild (it totally reminds of rooster feathers!), so I think it's a good match for mittens : ) And, to maximize the craziness, I am using cotton candy pink thrums:






I've finished the first mitten, except for the thumb.


Doh, Tagged Again!

I've been tagged by Susan and Tammy. Here are the rules (notice I'm not a stickler for 3 or 4):

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

So here are 7 (more) things about me:

1. I love cheese! (although I admit I had some trouble with the Morbier I tried once)

2. I've had a piece of graphite from the tip of a pencil embedded in the palm of my right hand since elementary school.

3. I really enjoy the music of MIA, Northern State, and Primus, to name a few. My musical tastes are pretty eclectic, though I tend to be turned off by "ballads" / slow cheesy love songs that take themselves too seriously.

4. I tend to say goofy things around people I'm not very familiar with (shyness...gah!).

5. My favorite genre of books is science fiction / fantasy (well.... it's at least tied with "knitting books").

6. I have trouble finding comfortable shoes, so I mainly wear one pair over and over and over... it's very attractive : )

7. I like yarn. (Hey, I'm running out of ideas - this is hard!)


If you would like to participate, consider yourself tagged!