Been away too long

What happened to April? It’s May already? Whoa!

I guess the older you get (not that I’m that old) the faster time seems to go. I have been very busy but for some reason there hasn’t been a whole lotta knitting going on. I’m still hooked on Jewelry making and swaps but other then that I’ve been in Spin city. As usual, I’ll try to tell my story in pictures.

Whatcha Knittin’?

Like I said before, I really haven’t knitted anything. I finished knitting my secret feet socks then I was at a loss. I couldn’t find anything that my fingers wanted to groove to. Until recently that is. A certain somebody stated that I need to start knitting with my handspun so I set out to use some up. I first tried to knit socks but this yarn is a three ply in which I spun with a heavy twist so it was no good for socks. I finally settled on making an Argosy scarf due to the low yardage. Here’s what I have so far.

Here’s a picture of my secret feet wearing the socks that I made for her. I was worried that they wouldn’t fit or that she wouldn’t like them but rest assured, she gave them two toes up. The yarn is Socks that Rock medium weight in the Chanticleer colorway. I used the Baby Fern Pattern from this book. As far as the socks I received, Judes made the greatest pair of Socks that “Freakin” Rock. The pattern is called Knitslexia and it’s a Judy original. I heart them so much. Especially since I’m a big fan of pooling and these socks pool like a billiards club in Vegas.

Here's a group shot of all the socks. I can't wait for the next sock swap.

They be spinnin and spinnin and spinnin

I’ve been spinning like crazy. My poor Vickybo has been getting a workout. First is this yarn that I spun from roving I purchased from the Yarn Tree. I swear, I was only going in there to get a niddy noddy but the owner just happened to mention that she had some roving for sale that she hand dyed herself. I fell in love with the colors as soon as I saw them. I thought I put the wool back but somehow it ended up in my bag. Weird I tell ya.

So I ripped open the bag open as soon as I got home and was a little disappointed to find that the roving had felted a bit during the dyeing process. Not one to be discouraged, I was determined to get my moneys worth, so I spun that sucka up right then and there. This picture still doesn’t do the colors justice.

Specs:

Fiber – Corriedale
Method – Forward Short Draw
Ply – 2
Weight/Length – 1.9 ounces / 58 yards
WPI – 11

I finally joined the Spunky Fiber club. I don’t know why it took me this long to join. I received the wool on a Monday and I had it all spun up by Wednesday. I love the way she dyed it and it spun like butta. I’m planning on knitting some socks with it very soon. As a matter of fact, I’ll be knitting the Falling in Love socks along with Nancy.

Specs:

Theme – Strawberry Fields
Fiber – Correidale
Method – Forward short draw
Ply - 2
Weight/Length – 3.7 ounces / 148 yards
WPI - 16

My most recent spinning project was also a goodie. Like I said before, I don’t know what took me so long to try this fiber. Spinners all over blogland have been raving about their roving and I don’t know why I thought I would be immune to their wooly fumes. I am in love with Crown Mountain Farms roving. Necia swapped me some roving for stitch markers and I am in love. This wool spun so smoothly and poofed up so much once I set the twist. You don’t want to know how much more of this stuff I ordered.

Specs:

Colorway – Wild Thing
Fiber – Superwash Merino
Method – Forward short draw
Ply – 2
Weight/Length – 2.15 ounces / 100 yards
WPI – 20

Sew whatcha doin’

I actually sewed something other than a bag. I fell in love with this pattern once I saw it on Necias blog so I ordered one. This was my first ever garment and I don’t think it came out too shabby. I believe the fabric is cotton although I could be mistaken. The only thing I would have done differently would have been to read the pattern correctly. No matter what I’m doing, I never read the pattern thoroughly. I usually just skim it or think that I’ve read over things and skip over whole paragraphs. In knitting I can usually fudge around those parts and Tim Gunn it (yanno, make it work). For some reason, in this pattern I missed the part that says one inch seam allowance and sewd it as if I was doing a bag which is a quarter inch seam allowance. Oh well, Wabi Sabi. I’ll try to get it right on the next one.

Jewelrific!

I’m still addicted to beading. I’ve been making stitch markers but I give them away before I get a chance to take a picture of them. I’ll try and be more diligent about that. I have meddled around with making earrings and bracelets. I really like making bracelets but there’s so much to learn. I have a few books that have helped me a bunch. Here are some of my experimentations.

Is that the end?

It may seem like I’ve done a lot but I really haven’t. This is like 3 weeks worth of stuff packed all into one. So for this month, I’m going to try and blog once a month so it won’t seem like so much. I’ve been really busy getting my Etsy shop together and I finally got it up. There’s not much in there because I’m still getting settled but I’ll let you guys know when I update. I’m planning on offering hand carded batts, Hand dyed roving, maybe some hand dyed yarn, stitch markers, maybe some jewelry and hand knit head bands. We’ll see how it goes. I also started another swap for all you spinners so go check it out.

Thanks for checking in on me and I‘m sure my next post will be much smaller.

Happy craftin!