Yarn!

It really doesn't take much to entertain me, so with getting my spinning wheel I really hit the jackpot. I spun pretty steadily for the first three days, determined to see what I could make. I had some very brightly colored wool fiber left from the box of practice stuff sent by my good friend, Goatlady, so I took some of it without regard to order of color, and got going. I spun about one and three-quarters bobbins before I ran out of the fiber that I had put into my bag. (I later found a bunch more, but I had really done enough for my first attempt.) It's a little less than three ounces total.

I understand drafting pretty well from the spindle, but of course had lots of control and wheel setting issues (as would be expected from a first try). I actually find it quite fascinating to compare the different sections of my finished yarn and see which look perfect (to me) which could be better, and which are totally unspun.

Here are the two bobbins when I'd finished spinning them.

This is the plyed bobbin. I managed to get more onto it than I had thought I would be able to.

Yarn skeined up but not washed.

Finished, washed yarn. See how some of the strands look really good?

And how some have that "artsy" unspun look?

The final skein.

I know I'm simple, but I smile every time I look at my yarn.

It's Official - I Fell Over the Edge

She's an Ashford Traditional, about 15 years old. I think I'm the third owner. She's in good shape and I'm busy learning the ins and outs of using her. Already signed up for a class at Village Yarn and Tea later in the month so I can be sure I'm on the right track.

What could be next?

The Dog Days of Summer

Don't worry, he's not dead and no animals were harmed in the process of obtaining this photo.

I hope you enjoy a happy, safe 4th of July that includes a chance to lie on your back in the sun and be as carefree as Buddy for a few minutes.

Time Flies....

and then your baby graduates from high school.  As I predicted in this post, yesterday arrived quicker than I could've imagined.  From the first day to the last, time sped by.  Back to school night turned into the Homecoming assembly, winter holidays morphed into college visits, and the whole thing rushed headlong into moving up, moving on, and commencement.

The Princess tried on her cap and gown.

She struck a pensive pose.

She waited patiently at the back of the alphabet for her row to walk to the podium.

She posed for a few photos.

The brothers came in - one from a semester in Australia.

One from Eastern Washington.  I guess the barbers are on strike there.

And then she was off to the school-sponsored all night party which, by her quick report this morning, was loads of fun.

Now we're on to the next thing.

Princess Goes to Prom

A Quick Update

I'm continuing with my bad habit of not updating the blog very often, but that's all I'm going to say about that.  I got a new computer (yay for the iMac) and am slowly learning how to work everything that's different from my old PC.  I like it a lot, but definitely don't know all the ins and outs of it yet.

On the knitting front, I finished a few things since last time.  My sister's late birthday present has been finished and given, so I can reveal it:  A shawl I based on the Snowdrop Lace scarf pattern, but made wider and longer so it would be a stole.  I used Knit Picks Bare merino/silk fingering weight yarn and I think it came out well.

I also finished my Wollmeise Die Auster socks and like them a lot.  They're plain stockinette and were knit that way as an example of the colorway on the Wollmeiseaholics board on Ravelry.  Not many people have this color, since it was a Spring Fling gift last year, but I wanted to knit it up and this gave me a good reason to.  

I also whipped out a few Catnip Mice for Bob, Mason and Emily.  Here they are:

Perhaps we can get a few action shots of them being used?

Despite other intentions, I had to cast on the new kit from the May installment of Woolgirl's Embrace the Lace club.  This cashmere yarn is incredibly soft and the blue is beautiful.  I made it through the first repeat the other day and now have an idea of how the pattern works.  It will be very pretty.

All for now.  The next couple of posts will likely feature the Princess; prom and graduation are looming.

Oh, and I remembered why I wanted to post:  I recently noticed that The Red Scarf Project

is up and running again and will accept scarves from September 1 through December 15, 2009.  If you get a chance to make a soft scarf for a young adult who has aged out of foster care, do it!  They are much appreciated.

Living in the Present Moment

I do yoga. I actually practice quite a bit of yoga, and have for some time. What's one of the first directions you get when the class starts? "Come into the present. Leave the past and future alone and just concentrate on the present moment." Sometimes I have trouble doing that, but for the most part, it's possible.

So I can't figure out why I seem to totally be living in a different time period in the rest of my life. For example, I'm in a book club. It's existed for over five years, and we meet the last Tuesday of the month. Always have. Here's what happened at the end of April. I returned from my knitting extravaganza late Sunday night, April 26. Monday was my birthday and we went out to dinner. I know I mentioned book club a couple of times on Monday..."tomorrow is book club. Tomorrow I'll find out about etc. etc...." You get the picture. I knew it was tomorrow.

Fast forward to tomorrow, Tuesday night. I'm sitting on the sofa, knitting and watching tv with DH. Again I say something about book club being tomorrow. My alert DH says, "I thought it was Tuesday." "Yes, Tuesday, I answer." Then in my great wisdom, I figure out that we're watching the show that we watch on Tuesdays. Book club is at 7:30 on Tuesday. It's now 8:45 on Tuesday. Ooops!

The worst part was that it was a book I had suggested. I read it twice. I loved it. I was so looking forward to the discussion. I forgot to go. (The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian. Read it. It's great.)

And apparently I'm still not over the problem. Today my Collegeboy called me about summer quarter classes and a bill that needed paying. I had paid the bill and saw that the bank had scheduled the payment to go out on the 11th, guaranteed to arrive by the 18th. I told him, "no problem, it's supposed to be there today." To my credit, it only took me a few minutes to figure out that I was on the wrong week. I'm ready to go back to normal time now, please.

A knitting update: I've been working on several things, as usual. My main emphasis is a gift I'm making for my sister's birthday, so no photos now. To my credit again, I realize that her birthday was last Wednesday, so I'm just late and not under the impression that it's some other day!

I took a tiny break from that project to whip up a pair of children's socks since I read that afghans for Afghans needed some more for their current campaign. I used some of the Cascade 220 that was in my fabulous big box and they only took me a couple of days to make. I did them two at a time on Magic Loop and if I hadn't decided to get a little fancy with the colors, they would have been done sooner. They'll be in the mail by tomorrow morning.



I'm noticing a theme in my WIPs. It's apparently the season of green. I'm doing a stockinette plain pair of socks from last year's Spring Fling yarn, Die Auster. It looks more green in person.


These will go up on the Wollmeiseholics Anonymous group page (on Ravelry) illustrating all of the colorways in plain socks. I'm liking them a lot. They're on the left.




I have one of my Wendy Knits Asparagus Cable socks done, too. I like how this looks, but I needed a break from the tiny little cables.


I hope to get back to these before too long.

Next up will be a change in color. This yarn was my April KAL prize in the Spring Fling group. It's The YoYo String and Fluff superwash merino in the Spiced Up colorway. It's very soft and I'm looking forward to getting started. This color is not one I would ever choose for myself, but I think it will look great in the Sock Knitters Anonymous May mystery sock as designed by Yarnissima. I need to get a little farther into my sister's gift before I cast these on, but I'm having a hard time waiting.

It's too bad that I haven't' figured out how to get more done when I magically transport myself into the future all the time!