Knitting Has Been Happening

Knitting Has Been Happening

I haven't fallen off the face of the Earth. I have just been busy going back to school working on my Bachelor's degree (one class each semester so far), full time work, part time work, lots of knitting, and some traveling.

Color Affection

 I finished this Color Affection shawl for a friend who moved from our area. This is the second time I made this pattern and this time I really liked it. It turned out nicer than the first one and it is so soft. I am hoping that it will keep this friend warm as winter will set in out in Utah before very long.

I used Woolike yarn from Michael's for this shawl. I was surprised at how soft and wonderful it felt as it is an acrylic and nylon blend. In fact, I liked the yarn so much, I went back and bought enough to make a lightweight sweater or two for myself.

Ashton

 I knit this Ashton shawl by Dee O'Keefe for another friend who moved to California. This was a fun knit. The pattern didn't have beads on it, but I thought some little purple beads would look so pretty on this shawl. I really like how it turned out and I would like to make myself one, probably without the bead though. The beading slowed the knitting down quite a bit.

This shawl was knit with a Zauberball lace which is a single ply. I don't really like to work with single plies, but this one wasn't bad at all. I might even succumb and purchase another ball one day soon to make a really large shawl for someone else. The beads were some that I had in my stash from a project many years ago. I only used one tube of beads, so I still have another full tube left in the stash.

H's Modig

 This little vest, the Modig, was made for our twelfth grandchild. It is made with Paton's Encore yarn which I picked up at Second Story Knits in Bethesda during the Metro Yarn Crawl in April. In fact, I started this little vest the night I bought the yarn. I only had a week to make it before flying out to meet this new little baby. I love how the blue and green car buttons just fit the vest. Perfect for a little boy.

Truth be told, this is the second Modig I made. I also made one out of stashed Luna yarn for my niece's baby who is about the same age as "H" but much smaller. My niece says her little one can probably wear this when she is five.

Maryland Sheep and Wool 2016

May brought the Maryland Sheep and Wool show. I loved going this year. I probably spent more money than I should have, but I found some wonderful things. I found that the jumbo flyer for an Ashford Kiwi will fit my Ashford Scholor, so I bought the jumbo flyer and can now get a larger skein when plying.

I found I really like Turkish spindles and I found a couple of really nice ones. I also replaced my Trindle. My first Trindle's arm don't stay in very well, they keep flying off when spinning which is very annoying. I like the new Tridle, it spins very nicely. I also bought some yarn: Ella Rae worsted in a pine green and Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool in a pumpkiny color. I also bought one hank of fingering weight yarn from Dragonfly Fibers in their show colorway.

I have lots of new projects, lots of UFOs, and projects in the planning stages. I am hoping that getting back into blogging will help keep me accountable and give me a goal to get some things finished as I would like to share my progress on all these yarny pursuits.

Happy knitting and spinning.

Dropping in After Way Too Long

This past month has just flown by. There has been knitting, spinning, work, gifts to send, a new baby and one due this week, trips to plan, airplane tickets to buy, a fiber fair to attend, a cooking class and just life. For some reason though it seemed to get away from me. I really didn't mean to not post for a whole month, but that is what has happened.

First let's talk about the gift giving: With two grand babies due in October, one a first child, there was baby knitting to be done. This stack of bibs was sent in time for a baby shower for K & J-b's baby, who is due this week. They were fun to make and I hope will be well used. The cream colored one is one I came up with the pattern for and I really like how it turned out.

I also sent along this dishcloth patterned afghan made with an acrylic/cotton blend. It worked up really quickly with large needles and was a mindless knit on those nights after work when I needed to unwind and let my mind quit racing.

There is other baby knitting, but I will save that for another post.

Our second grandson was born Sept. 20 at five weeks early. He weighed in at 5 lb, 3 oz and is now up to 5 lb, 7 oz. He is still in the hospital, but hopefully just for another week or so. He is eating well and he is breathing on his own and from what his parents say, is quite a little trooper. We are anxious to meet him and his soon to be born cousin, hence the airplane tickets.

I took a cooking, well really a baking, class last week. We learned how to use meringue, besides for lemon meringue pies, which we didn't do. We made these really cute mushrooms!

Don't they look real. Ruth, our hostess for the class, said that she had made these for an open house and put them on the dessert table. No one ate them because they looked so real. I brought home the ones I had made, to share with the guys. They both got quite a kick out of the mushrooms and C said he was going to call R and tell him that "Mom is giving my mushrooms". Besides looking cute, they really are good and sweet. They just seemed to melt in your mouth.

The final two pictures today are of my new drop spindle. It is a Trindle with red granite orbs. It spins really well and is down right fun.
I came home and got out a sample of punta/wenslydale which Vicky was kind enough to send me to sample. It is spinning up very nicely and I am enjoying it.

I have also finished spinning some fiber which was on the Scholar. It is on the niddy noddy now and I will get pictures of it soon. There is a project in mind for it, so I want to get onto it soon. Well, as soon as I finish up a couple of other things first. Too many projects and too many proposed projects, but isn't that the way we all work. What is on your project wish list?

Happy knitting and spinning.

4th of July Festivities

ES and I spent the day on the Mall in DC. It was a fun day of attending the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, eating, watching people, fireworks, then more people watching, and shopping.

In the Wales section of the Folklife Festival, I got to watch a gentleman spin on a walking wheel and listen to a woman talk about dying wool with natural dyes. What a fun fiber related day and I learned something more about natural dyes. I haven't used many natural dyes, so talking with her was really interesting. I also ran into Laura from the Wednesday night knitting group and we spent some time in the Marketplace together.

ES and I were going to watch the fireworks from the top of the Cap Gallery, but ended up going and sitting down by the Washington Memorial when it came right down to it. The fireworks were really pretty and I think I got some good shots of them in all their glory.

My favorite picture of the fireworks has to be this green one. There were many more which didn't turn out, but that is to be expected.

I think one of the best parts of the night was standing ontop of the Cap Gallery, once again, watching the people head onto the metro and watching the thirty or more fireworks displays going on around the horizon. There were fireworks going off all over and they kept going and going. You could tell when each of them came the their conclusion as the grand finales were quite spectacular. We watched until about 11:15 pm by which time the metro line was managable and we felt like we could get on without too much problems. Glad we were on the orange line, as there weren't as many delays on that line.

The last picture of this loooong post is the fiber related goodies that I picked up at the Folklife Marketplace. Those are "Darn Pretty Needles" in a size 8, perfect for the scarf I'm knitting for the Red Scarf Project, and a new drop spindle. I haven't spun on it yet, but am looking forward to the spinning. I think I now have about a dozen drop spindles.

Happy knitting and spinning.