Nuthin much

That's usually my answer when people ask what I've been up to. I haven't really done anything crafty because I'm in the process of moving and it's really been stressin me out. Needless to say I'm a person who's easily stressed so I'm like in hyper drive right now.

I'de like to share some good news,I saved a bunch of money on my car insurance.....just kiddin, my wheel is finally in working order. Yay for me! It took forever for my ashford maintenance kit to get here but I'm so glad that I ordered it (thanks Bon). So once I got it, I oiled that sucka up, attached the tension thingamabob and replaced the doohicky that attaches the treadle to the long bar that turns the wheel. After that it was purring like a kitten (and not making that irritating squeaky noise). My first endeavers were a horrid mess. It was just like the first time I drop spindled. My coordination was so off and I wasn't use to how fast you have to ply. I ended up with a thick and thin, over spun mess. I couldn't even bring myself to take a picture of it. But my second effort was a little better and here's a picture of that. Not too shabby for a newbie huh?
Here are some yarns I've spun since then. My favorite is the purple yarn. I spun that from a batt that I was gifted by my SSF pal by grafton fibers. I like spinning batts because I just broke a big chunk and didn't have to pre draft. It reminds me of spinning from the fold, kinda.

Speaking of spinning here is a pic of a spindle that I'm planning on posting on ebay. It's about 2.3 ounces and 12inches long. I tested it and it spun well. I carried it all day in my purse just to make sure that none of the rhinestones fell off (I'm pretty rough on my purses, I broke a strap on two different purses in two weeks time). I would love to hear any comments- you love it, you hate it, what were you thinking, you know stuff like that.

I'm still merrily knitting along on my Swallowtail Shawl. I almost abandoned the project the first time I had to purl 5 tog but thanks to Bronxie, I've decided to go ahead and finish it. If you look closely, you will notice, that like an idiot, the colors do not match. I ran out of yarn and was in such a rush, I just grabbed a hank from my stash that resembled what I was previously using without checking in natural light. I didn't realize my boo boo until I had competed a full pattern repeat. Those who know me, know that I'll wear it proudly regardless.

My next project on display is the toddler sweater that I was working on. Guess what, my sweater has majically transformed into a vest. Of course I can't find any yarn to match that color brown, and I don't have the ball band from the original yarn. So my sweater is now a vest. I just have to do the edging on the armholes, add a little belt and block it. Hopefully the recipient will like it anyway. I'll keep you posted.

Here are my Baudelairs all done. I got tired of doing all those yarnovers and triple decreases so I just did my ribbing and called it a day. These too are a gift so I will get pictures of them on an actual foot once I give them to her (she doesn't read my blog so I'm not worried about ruining the surprise).

That's all folks. I don't expect to work on much else because I have a lot of packing to do. Hopefully I'll see a bunch of you at the Knit Out this weekend in Union Square. Actually I'll be volunteering to teach knitting there so if you see me, come over and say "Hi". Shoot, I always forget something I wanted to say, guess what? I'm certified Baybeeeee!

Happy Knitting.

Spin Roving Swap Questionaire

I know I probably mispelled the title but here goes

1) How long have you been spinning?
For about 2 months

2) Are you a beginner, novice, or experienced spinner?
I would say that I'm about Intermediate on my spindle but I have yet to conquer the wheel

3) Do you spin on a drop spindle or wheel, or both?
Mostly spindles but hopefully by the time this swap is over, I'll be spinning like crazy on my new wheel

4) What types and weights of drop spindles (or what type of spinning wheel(s) ) do you currently own?
My drop spindles vary from lace weight to hunka chunka. I own about 5+ and only one of them is a low whorl. I just purchased an Ashford Traditional Wheel (see below) that I haven't started spinnign on yet.

5) What type of fibers have you spun with before?
I'm horrible at identifying fibers but I've spun corriedale, BFL, silk(which I wasn't too crazy about), angora, merino (I have tons of it), merino/tencel blend, merino/firestar blend and variouse other unidentifyable wool fibers.

6) What fibers do you prefer to spin with?
Merino & BFL but I would love to try any other types of wool

7) What fibers do you dislike?
Hairy ones like the angora and silk

8) Do you prefer natural colored fibers, or handpainted/dyed fiber?
No preference because if it's natural I'll prolly dye it anyway

9) Would you prefer all one type of roving or smaller amounts of different types to sample?
No preference but I have a lot of Merino so something different would be nice

10) What are you favorite colors?
I like green but I'm game for most neutral colors

11) What colors do you dislike?
Pink (can't stand it)

12) What would you like to do with your handspun yarn, or what do you plan to do with it? (pattern clarification here)
I'm in sock knitting mode but I plan on gearing up for Winter with lotsa hats, mittens and neckwarmers

13) What spinning projects are you currently working on?
Nothing really. I'm waiting for my wheel to get in working order. Right now I spin small sample skeins to destress sometimes

14) Do you have a wishlist?
nope

15) What are your other favorite hobbies?
Knitting, Crocheting, Sewing

16) Do you have any allergies (pet, smoke, food, fiber,etc...)
smoke

17) What is your preferred shipping method (USPS, UPS, FedEx)?
USPS, but it really doesn't matter

Additional Questions:
1. Do you subscribe to any fiber-related magazines? If so, which ones, and for how long have you received the magazines?
No, I currently do not subscribe to any fiber related magazines. I bought my first issue of spin-off from the newstand.

2. Do you have any spinning-related books? If so, which ones?
Currently the only books I own that relate to spinning are related to dyeing roving. I own Color in Spinning by Menz and Hands on Dyeing. I also own the Twisted Sister Sock knitting Workbook which got me wanting to spin in the first place.

I hope this helps and thanks Secret Pal for reminding me.

I'm Spoiled

Yup. I admit it, I'm spoiled.

Truth be told, when the Secret Sistah Friend Exchange ended in August and I hadn't received anything, I gave up all hope and thought that I wasn't getting anything (awwwww). But don't cry for me Argentina, I finally received my package and once I received it I forgot all about the wait. My SSF came through and spoiled me beyond any measure. She sent me so much stuff that I couldn't even fit it all in the same picture. She went above and beyond any of my expectaions and I just want to give Carine mad props (and I apologize for cursing you out in my head, can you ever forgive me?). I am sending you a small thank you gift by snail mail so be on the lookout this upcoming week.

Now on to the goodies.
My package contained 2 skeins of Seasilk (yes seasilk!), two skeins of Debbie Bliss Pure Silk and a pair of size ten needles from Knit One, Crochet Two. I would have been happy with just one skein of Seasilk but let alone two. That just made my day.

To satisfy my spinning fix, I received two bats of roving from Grafton Fibers. You will not believe how incredibly soft and airy this wool is. You know I spun a sample skein as soon as I opened the box.

For the greedy monster in me, my package also contaned two (yes two) boxes of Godiva Chocolates. Pay no attention to the open plastic wrapper in the background. I would've taken a picture of the chocolates inside but let's just say, no one wants to see a picture of an empty box.

And lastly, I received two packages of Stash tea in Jamaican Butter Rum and Cherry Almond with a tea infuser included (I didn't have one already, thanks). My pal must have been in my head because I was just thinking that I want to cut out the starbucks for a little while and switch to tea. So this package came right on time.

So as you can see my pal spoiled me silly and I cannot thank her enough.

As far as the knitting goes, it's been kinda slow. I have one more row before I start the ribbing for the cuff on the Baudelairs but basically there is little progress. The next picture I post of them will be when they're an FO.

I joined the Swallowtail Shawl Knit A Long hosted by our Sistah Friend Bronxie. I'm knitting this in Koigu on size 4's (I think). I'm going to be bold and not use a life line. I've only had two close calls but I was able to find the error quickly and compensate for it. So here's my progress so far.

One of my other WIP's is a toddler sweater. Below is a picture of the back only but I actually have completed the front right and left also. I am using the cardigan pattern from the Knitters Handy Book of Patterns book and I am using a lace chart from one of my stitch dictionaries (please don't ask me which one cause I can't remember. I always translate most of my lace patterns into chart form on graph paper anyway). I would love to finish the sleeves for this but of course I've run out of yarn. I was using the Caron one pound acrylic. Since most acrylic yarns like that don't have a definitive dye lot, I went back to the store I got it from to get some more. Well guess what. They haven't restocked the Caron One Pound yet and they didn't have my color. To make a long story short, I got the Caron Natura thinking it would be close to the same color and it doesn't match. Sheesh. Well I bet the knitting goddess is sitting up there with that "I told you so" look on her face right now. So now I'm trying to decide if I want to turn this sweater into a vest or try and track down that Caron One Pound. I'll keep you posted.

Other than that, I haven't really been up to anything crafty lately. I haven't sewed anything since my last post, beleive it not. Nothing's inspired me as of lately to sew. Oh well. The one thing I did do this past week is make my own spindles. Here are two that I made. After I do a bunch of research, and perfect the look, I'm going to post them for sale on ebay so wish me luck you guys. Hopefully next time I'll have more yarn porn and FO's.

Peace

P.S.
How could I forget. Lookie what I got (Don't hate). You can read the whole story behind it here because I'm kinda tired right now. Lata.