Blame it on Bea!

Yes, I've started spinning. And it's all because of Bea and Jody. Jody posts such beautiful pictures of her handspun.. and then that Olympic sweater! So gorgeous. But Bea's Wurm is what really pushed me over the edge. So here I am... a budding spinner.

I bought a spindle kit a few weeks ago from Pacific Wool and Fiber. Not long after that, my first merino roving arrived in the mail. The timing was perfect, because as soon as that was spun up, the Homespun Yarn Party was here! Ryan, dutiful husband and expert enabler that he is, bought me quite a lot of roving to keep me busy.

So let's back up a little. That first merino roving was from Freckle Face Fibers, in "Ocean Glass." I forgot to take a photo of the braid before I dug into it, but here's a shot of some of it unwound. I was a little terrified by how much there was!



The fiber was fluffy and easy to draft, and I spun it up in about a week. Nowhere near perfect, but I'm working on that. ;)



Plying it was interesting - I'm definitely going to have to work on that. I think I put a lot of twist in the singles, and then tried to put a lot in during plying as well. I'm not sure how that will work out in when I start knitting, but the yarn looks pretty similar to what I envisioned. The finished yarn is 2 skeins of about 70yds each, and varies from dk to aran weight.



The Homespun Yarn Party was a blast. Yes, it was a little warm.. and yes, it was very crowded.. but it was totally worth it. All of the vendors were super-friendly (and talented!).

I ended up bringing home 4oz. of BFL from Wild Hare, 4.25oz. of Finn Wool from Cosymakes, and 3 2oz. braids of merino cross combed top from Folktale Fibers. I've already broken into the blue braid - spun up about 50yds of fingering weight singles. I put a bit too much twist in, but that was because I was actually planning on plying it. But I think I want to spin all of the merino cross up as fingering weight singles and then (someday!) crochet a granny square scarf with it. Someday. Maybe.



Ryan and I are headed out for a weekend in WV soon, so I supposed I should go get ready. But.. Happy Spring! And thanks, Bea and Jody! :)

Time

Feels like it's been awhile. Or maybe a lot has happened.

Miss Radar has been adopted...



..and the house is a bit more empty...




But I guess that's a good thing, because now I have more time to spend with my pony. And apparently we really need it.






Don't ask.

But I also have more time for basking in the warmth (in my hammock), gardening, knitting, and my two new time-sucks: knit night and spinning. More on the latter later.

Because now it's time for bed. 'Night!

Thank you!

Thank you everyone for the kind comments on my finished knits and photos. Those definitely brighten my days.

These past few days have been a bit weird, for some reason. The worst of it was the death of a starving, freezing, terrified stray kitten that Ryan, myself, and a few neighbors had been trying to coax into the warmth. Poor little one was so tiny, but so loud. I feel awful that we couldn't save her.

But at least I do have my silly fat Squirrel-cat, who chose my steps to sleep under 5 years ago.




And I have Radar for a bit longer, too.



Who wouldn't fall in love with those hopeful eyes?

Well.. chili's done (I hear it's National Chili Day?), so I'd better go heat up the bread!

Percy

I've finally knit my first full-sized shawl. Kind of a personal knitting watershed moment. Now I can certainly knit anything! ;) I remember being mystified the first time I picked up a lace chart, thinking that surely it would take me ages to knit anything from that. But after knitting many cabled pieces from charts, lace is no big deal. Much easier since there's no cabeling, actually!

Anyway. Here is Percy.



Percy is massive. 6 feet wingspan, massive. Well, maybe that only seems huge to me, who's never knit a proper shawl before. But really, I have no idea what to do with it. Here's a shot of it blocking on the futon:



It spilled over each end.

Thankfully, Percy is also gorgeous.



I don't think I'll ever wear it, but it was a great deal of fun to knit. The pattern is free, well-written, well-documented, and changes quickly. Plus if you change the number of repeats of any of the charts, you can end up with a very different shawl. Mine was knit exactly as the pattern is written. Other versions are on Ravelry, and are very pretty.




My version was knit from Zen Garden's Luxurious Lace (50% silk, 50% merino) in color Midnight. I reluctantly passed it up at the Cloverhill booth at last year's Sheep & Wool.. but couldn't refuse it again when I saw it at the store after the Fest. Oddly enough, it's almost exactly the same color (but with some variation) and yarn as the Zephyr that I knit my Swallowtail with. Guess I "needed" a gray-blue shawl?




Anyway. I love it, and I'm proud of it. And I can't wait to make another! Though I don't think that makes any sense at all. ;)

Sweaters

Being snowed in allowed me to take the time to find, learn about, and use my camera remote. (Not that using it is difficult. At all. But from the notes on Amazon, you'd think it was rocket science.) So I spent 2 afternoons taking pictures of some finished objects that didn't previously have modeled pictures.

And let me tell you, it's weird taking pictures of yourself.

Do you cut off your head? It's only the knits you're after, so who needs a face?



Do you look serious?



Do you look mad?



Goofy?


Or do you just go crazy?


I honestly still don't know.

The green cardigan is Mrs. Darcy, knit with 3 skeins of Harrisville New England Highland in the most amazing green. It's a bit wide at the shoulders, but other than that, I love it. Very wearable, especially on top of my favorite outfit. :)

Rav link for Mrs. D.

The orange pullover is Kate Davies's very popular Owls. I completed this over one holiday weekend in the fall. It's actually been on the blog before - Mom took some great photos of it last time she was up for a visit.

It's probably my best-fitting sweater yet, thanks to the fact that I tried it on every hour or so while knitting it. Had I not done that, it would've been enormous. As usual.

My Owlie took 6 skeins of Classic Elite's Skye Tweed, which I think is now discontinued. :(

Rav link for Owlie.




That's all for now. I have some photos of my first finished object of 2010, but that's for some other day.

P.S.

Squirrel just informed me that I forgot to include her picture in the last post. So, here she is, being thankful she's an indoor kitty:



Happy now, Squirrel?

Snow.

We survived the first snow with no major catastrophes. Ryan made it home safely (if grumpily). And I went on several awesome walks. The day after the big snow was clear and sunny. Perfect walking weather!





There's a definite air of festivity once the sky clears and people emerge. Neighbors collaborate on ideas for snow removal and car excavation. Music and laughter abound. And the local Farm Store becomes The Destination.





Unfortunately, just as Baltimore was starting to get all of us dug out, it began to snow again. I'm a bit dismayed because the our roads haven't really been plowed - and it looks like I may not make it to work (or anywhere else for that matter) for the rest of the week. One more foot of snow on top of almost 3 feet of packed snow.. no good!





But we're safe, warm, and have plenty of food and water. And since Ryan's home this time around, he got shovel duty! ;)

And he baked some pound cake, which I'm going to go eat now...

No more snow!