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January 29, 2009

Not sure what to talk about first!

The mittens for the son are still not done....sigh.... he even asked me about them today! I need to buckle down and work on them. Tonight. Promise. The son stayed home sick from school on Tuesday so I was able to do a little playing with some fiber. That and I had some good natural lighting to take some pictures.

Like I said I did a little playing. What did I play with? A little alpaca and a little wool. I split a fleece with a girl in my guild. She washed it I carded it. I will never do that again! Wow, that is a lot to card! Anyway I carded up a bunch of Corridale fleece. I did a sample spin of some of the white stuff and wasn't too happy with my spinning. It was perhaps operator error. And I won't even show you the bad spinning. No way. So I now got all this Corridale that I am not crazy about. I was moving stuff around and I found this

I bought a bag of this alpaca mill end dyed bits and bobs. Never knew what to do with it exactly so I thought why not mix it with this Corridale

and see what happens......

Oh my! Did this come out awesome or what? Wanna see a close up?

Sure it looks all pretty, but how does it spin?

mmmmm......nice.......It spins real nice. I will report back on how it plies and knits when I am done.

Posted by beth at 12:52 PM | Comments (11)

January 22, 2009

Hey Mom! You said you would make me a pair of mittens!

Yes, I am a bad mother. My son requested mittens way before Christmas and well I have been distracted.....

I did finish 1 mitten

But I don't like how it fits. I love the cable going down the front, but the cuff is way too short and the thumb is too snug and it just fits weird. So I am going to re-design this mitten the way I want.

I have started it too. Really I have.

Did I say I was distracted? This is what has been occupying my time lately:

I am up to season 5 of Buffy and I just can't stop! Spike is MY MAN! Carol (work friend and occasional commenter) has been lending me all of her Buffy library. Oh and she also gave me this to read:

Yep! More vampire stuff. This book is what True Blood is based on. I haven't watched that series.....yet......

Oh and I got this for Christmas:

gotta watch my lusty King Henry.....

And I have been plugging away on my plain old sock (when I should have been working on the son's mitten - shhhh)

I am up to the heel flap on this.

So would you say I am a little busy at the moment? The son will get his mittens. I promised him I wouldn't start anything else until they were done. But there is so much calling to me.....

Final note: YAY! A new President!!!!! I am very very excited about this.

PS: While Tangerine Dreams is having a contest over at her site. Check it out!

Posted by beth at 12:13 PM | Comments (12)

January 13, 2009

First finished project of 2009

I probably would have had these done if it weren't for the holiday's.

Oh how I love these socks. They are warm and soft and I think I will really need them over the next coupla days. It's going down to 9 degrees around these parts

Do you know how hard it is to take a picture of the back of your leg? I don't know how I did this and it NOT come out blurry. Must be some new yoga position I made up......

Not very flattering of my legs. Looks like I had one too many Christmas cookies over the holiday's doesn't it? Oh but I enjoyed those cookies....

Specs:
Yarn: Fingerlakes Woolen Mill - 2 ply Soft Wool - color: Sheeps Grey
Pattern: Tyrolean Stockings by Anne Budd - Interweave Knits Fall 2007
Needles: US 3 - 24" - 2 circular needles
Notes: This pattern looks a lot harder than it really is. Keeping track of the cables is tough at first, but then you get into the flow. These were a dream to knit.

While these were still unfinished I started a new sock! Are we surprised? Nothing fancy, just a plain sock. I like plain socks.

I frogged a sock that I actually had completed from 2 years ago. The sock was too small and I just wasn't that into finishing the second one to gift to someone. You couldn't see the complicated pattern anyway. I am slowly going through some of my real moldy UFO's and frogging them. Trying to be practical.

Plus this yarn is just gorgeous as a plain old sock.

Posted by beth at 12:14 PM | Comments (16)

January 06, 2009

It's a new year!

So I should show some new stuff? I wish I could show you a finished knitted project, but alas you will just have to look upon some finished spinning.

I won't disappoint...

Don't you just want to touch it? Really, it is soft.

I have finally finished spinning this 4oz batt. It's a beautiful Angora/Wool blend. I got approx. 210 yard in a worsted weight yarn. Oh and it's 2 plied. All spun and plied on my Ashford Kiwi. I am thinking of making a nice cowl or scarf with this. It definitely needs to be worn close to the skin. It's so so soft.

Next up:

another yarn to be warn close to the skin! 100% Alpaca, spun 2 ply in a fingering/dk weight (I am getting thisclose to spinning sock yarn weight!) All spun and plied on my Golding Spindle.

I have more of this to spin. So technically this is just a UFO right?

Here it is on my spindle as a single ply. Don't be fooled. It is a single ply

I really, really enjoy spindle spinning right now. I think I am getting the hang of it.

I always like to show pictures of the people that receive my hand knits. This is my bestest friend Pegi:

Show us a side view Pegi:

I know she liked this. When ever I make her something, she wants the pattern! She is a knitter too, just not as obsessed as me.

Well, I must get back to my lunch (yummy leftover meatloaf) hope to have my Tyrolean socks done soon. I am working on them very slowly though...

Posted by beth at 12:19 PM | Comments (7)