Sock class Saturday

I forgot to mention yesterday, this weekend is my monthly sock knitting class. This month we are working on a Christmas stocking. It is knit with a really bulky yarn or two Lamb's Pride bulky held together. They are also knit on size 13 or 15 needles. Because my hands tend to "hurt" faster when working with that size needle, I don't knit with it very often. We'll see how long it takes me to get this stocking done.

I haven't finished last month's socks yet. I put them down to work on some Christmas knitting. I imagine when I am done with obligated knitting, I will have them done fairly quickly.

Speaking of Christmas knitting, the second fingerless mitt from yesterdays post is past the thumb and heading rapidly towards the knuckles. Almost done! Just have to do the thumbs now.

Next Projects

Now that the hats are completed, I have moved on to knitting fingerless mitts. The kids don't like mittens, but I think they will like these. They work really well for driving and all but the two youngest are drivers. I made a pair last year and I really like them. This pair is out of Galway in black. The black is a little hard to work with in a dark room, but is coming along quickly. I have one mitt part done, just have to knit the thumb. I think I will knit the second mitt before doing either thumb. I would like to get two pair out of the one skein. The Galway has 210 yds in it so I will have to see.

I am going to use some of my handspun for the next few pairs. This means I will have to do some washing and winding. Some of the handspun has been sitting in bins for quite awhile. But I think this will be a good way to use some of those skeins that there isn't enough to do any one large project or even enough for accents in a larger project.

Happy knitting & spinning.

Completed Hats

I thought I only had twelve hats to finish. This was when I thought I was done. Two weeks ago we got three new kids in Nursery. That made my total 15. Yesterday I recounted and recounted. I needed 16 hats for Christmas.





Well, they are mostly done. I give you eight girl hats.








And eight boy hats. The blue one in the lower right is at the point where the decreases are halfway done. ES says he could tell I was getting tired of doing them, because I had gone to solid color hats, no stripes or designs.

I have also been doing some spinning. I am now plying the white I spun. I have three and a half bobbins of it. I have also been washing a batch or two of raw fleeces every other day or so. I am working on a brown fleece which I hope turns out pretty good.

Happy knitting & spinning.

Spinning Accomplished

Remember the twelve hats I have been making for my Nursery kids? Well, we had three new kids last week so my total is now 15 hats. I am about three inches into #14. I should be done with all of them by the end of this weekend and then I can move onto Christmas knitting. I thought I had a picture of the completed hats on my camera, but I cannot find it so you will get pictures next time.

I have also been busy spinning. This past week I have spun five and a half bobbins of this champagne color, I have plied all the bobbins, and have spun two and a half bobbins of white. I don't have very much of the white left to spin and then it will be onto the dark brown. I have started looking for a pattern to use, haven't found one yet. I know about what I want and maybe I will have to improvise. To spin while on the computer has been very advantageous to me in the amount I have increased my spinning. Thankfully, the Hitchiker makes it all possible, because of it's ability to fit under the computer desk.

Today I have to work so will not get much done until tonight. Happy knitting & spinning.

Thanksgiving

Although I give thanks daily for all I have, this is the one specific day of the year that is really devoted to thanksgiving. To that end I give you the things I'm thankful for:

Family. We are a combined group of his and hers in kids. We are thankful that they mostly get along. There have been some subtractions and additions since this picture was taken, but it is the most current on the computer right now. This was taken in 2004.










Family. Extended. Both ES's and mine. Mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews. I'm thankful for them all. We have no living grandparents, but we are thankful for them also.

Friends. I have lots of fiber friends, work friends, family friends, and church friends. I am thankful for them all.

Work. I love my job and enjoy most of the associations I have made through there.

Spinning & Knitting. They have given me such an outlet for the expression of my inner self. They have also been, especially spinning, my relaxation technique when going through some trials in my life. There's nothing like having a hard time and being able to sit at the wheel and work through those frustrating, mind numbing feelings until I'm calm and relaxed and know in which direction I need to go.

This blog. It has given me a outlet to share my interests which I have a passion for.


I hope you get the chance today to reflect on what you're thankful for. Enjoy!

Happy knitting & spinning.

Saturday Guild Fun

This past weekend was spent with fiber, friends, food and fun. The guild met at Marie's on Saturday. There was lots of spinning by Catherine and Sharon.






Still more spinning by Heather and Marie. (Don't you just love Marie's purple moose dress?)







There was knitting by Diane and Bonnie. Did you check out Bonnie's hand knit socks. They look really good. There were also the knitters: Becky, Eldri, Elizabeth, Joan, and Valerie. I ended up not getting good pictures of them.





I did get a great picture of Elizabeth being kissed by one on the dogs. I can't remember which one he was.

I was able to get three bobbins of Notlwonk roving in a champagne color spun at the guild meeting. Saturday night I went home and finished spinning that bump. I ended up with five and a half bobbins that I am now Navajo plying. I am now spinning some of Knowlton's white roving and then I plan on the dark brown I have from them. I have a plan to make a sweater. It is in the design phase in my head. I'm pretty sure it will be worked from the top down, but haven't worked it all out yet.

I got all the "skirtings" from the spring "wool-trek" washed. I am planning a dye experiment with them. I am excited to see how that will turn out. So much to do and never enough time in the day.

Happy knitting & spinning!

I have seven hats done. I am working on the eighth hat and have four more to go. The one I am working on now is pink with green stripes. I should have C try on these hats and see if they fit him. If they do, they will fit the kids in the class.

Last night I worked on my toe-up Railroad Rib sock. I got the heel turned and I am ready to knit up the cuff. I hope I remember how I did this sock when I get to the second sock! I did take some notes, but I'm not sure they are enough.

Meg brought us surprises to the Driggs retreat. She brought some wonderful yarn that we were able to chose from. The blue is Alpaca with a Twist. I had just seen a pattern not long ago that I liked that used this yarn. I had never seen it before and wondered what it was like. The green is Keltic by Berroco. There is enough that I am going to do some fingerless mitts and I think a beanie for one of the kids, as in children not nursery kids, for Christmas. I really love the colors in both skeins.


Here is my stash from Mountain Knits Yarn in Driggs. There seems to be a reoccurring color in all the new fiber. I wonder why? The green/blue combination on the top left and the green/pink right underneath are both Fleece Artist. I had never seen this yarn either, but hear of it in other blogs. It will be fun to use these two skeins. The green/pink/blue at the left bottom is some Lorna's Lace in the Somerset color-way. I bought some Lorna's Lace last year in Driggs and haven't used it yet. This one will probably sit in the stash for a while also before getting used. The green on the right top is some Noro in a cotton/silk combination. I have about 400 yards of this. The red/golds/browns on the bottom right is some Mountain Colors in the Gold Rush color. I r-e-a-l-l-y like this color. You all know I'm a "fall" person though. Right?

Well, that takes care of the Driggs weekend. This Saturday, as in tomorrow, is the Spinners in Pocatello. I get to have two fiber weekends in a row. Yeepee!

Happy knitting& spinning.

Lots of Spinning Done

So, I told you, I got a lot of spinning done at the Driggs retreat. I plied the reddish-pink. This is the stuff I dyed with the Tropical punch kool-aid. It has a lot of variations in the color and I think it turned out really well.





I still have one full bobbin and two partial bobbins to ply of the Tropical punch and then I will count how many yards of this I have to work with.






This yarn was spun and plied on Saturday. It went really fast. This skein was dyed with Easter egg dyes and was really fun to spin. I ended up with 173 yards. I haven't decided what to do with it yet, but it will be bright and colorful.





The purple is fiber I picked up at the Great Basin Fiber Fair. I got it from the Rumpelstiltskin's booth. I spun most of this up while waiting for Meg to finish knitting the cotton boys hat. I finished spinning it Sunday morning before heading home. I plied it last night while reading some blogs.

It was fun to see how much spinning I could get done. I even did some knitting while there. I was working on the hats for the Nursery kids and I did get one hat done while in Driggs. Maybe I can get the rest of the Tropical punch plied tonight, along with getting some laundry done.

Tomorrow or Friday maybe I can get some good pictures of the fiber I bought at the yarn store in Driggs.

Happy knitting & spinning.

Thanks Phyllis

We had a very good time at Phyllis'. We spent Friday night, all day Saturday, and Sunday morning talking, knitting, spinning, reading, shopping, and occasionally sleeping.

This is the view of the Tetons Saturday morning as the sun was coming up. I missed the color by just a few moments.


This picture of the Tetons was taken just a few hours later before the clouds moved in. In the afternoon you couldn't see them. Then Saturday night it snowed, so I didn't get a picture Sunday morning. They were covered in clouds.

This is Lyn and Phyllis talking Saturday morning. They were up early. Like before 6 am!


Lyn is showing off her new fashion accessory. It is a skien she bought while at the yarn store in Driggs. It has silk and mohair and Lyn just wants to "pet" and admire it for a while before deciding to use it in a project.


This is Meg. She is finishing up a baby boys hat before bed Saturday night. She had already done a girls hat and wanted this one completed also. She is using some cotton yarn she picked up during our shopping trip to the yarn store, bead store and book store.

This is a group photo before we all left Sunday morning. Meg is missing from this picture, because she took the picture. Thanks to all who attended. They are memories I will treasure for a long, long time.

Tomorrow I'll show my haul from the yarn store and what I accomplished while in Driggs.

Happy knitting & spinning.

Wool washing going on

There has been knitting, but no new pictures of that knitting. Last night while knitting, Becky called to say I was in charge of Saturday's breakfast for the "Retreat". Decisions, decisions. I did learn a technique for muffins from my sister at our "Sister's Retreat". I think I'll use that. Tonight I will need to make up some batter. I won't have time to do it tomorrow.

Last night, I sat at the Hitchhiker spinning for about an hour. I also washed two washtubs of wool last night. I have a goal of washing all the raw wool in my house and garage by this spring (that doesn't mean I'll get it carded though). And if I want to accomplish that goal, I will need to wash some wool weekly, at least. I don't want to pack unwashed wool if we end up moving anytime soon. I want it all clean and smelling nice. Can you imagine what it would smell like in the back of a hot moving van after a week? This morning I am also washing a couple of batches. It's perfect weather to put some on my racks outside.

Today I also need to decide what will be my projects for the weekend. Will I take some spinning to finish up or will I take some Christmas knitting? Or maybe some of both?

Peak Experience

This past week has just flown by. There has been so much happening and so many things to get done. I took the "Sock of the Month" class on Saturday. We used a Fiber Trends pattern: Peak Experience. The pattern is fairly easy and goes really quickly. I have both cuffs at about three inches in length. Tish told me, at the class, that it wasn't fair because I made this pattern look way too easy.

I thought I might keep this pair for myself. But, you know, Christmas is not very far off and I still need lots of gifts. With four kids each, a child's spouse, girlfriend/boyfriends, ES and myself it makes for quite a lot of shopping and/or knitting. And that list doesn't include parents and siblings.

The past few days, by the time I get done with work, I just want to sit and knit and relax for a while. Not much is getting done around the house. ES and I did make a commitment to get some boxes unpacked and gone through. We have lived in this house for four years and still haven't gone through them all. We spent an hour last night going through, throwing stuff out, getting rid of, and repacking. Some of the things I just can't get rid of yet.

This next weekend is the Pocatello fiber guild's yearly retreat to Driggs. I am so looking forward to spending some relaxing time spinning, knitting, and eating. We alway have an enjoyable time and I look forward to whatever time I can "steal" away. Maybe that is why this week seems to be going to s-l-o-w.