Steady Progress

This weekend has been one of working on projects. I have done quite a bit on the Angel's Rest socks. One of the socks is half-way down the foot. The other sock is about two inches behind the first. Once I remembered the pattern, these socks are moving along fairly quickly. I have decided to gift them away. A-g didn't get the socks she picked at Christmas, they ended up going home with J-g, so these will go to her in the not too distant future. I will have enough yarn left that I can use them for accents in another pair of sock, maybe for myself, because I really like the color.

I also have almost a full bobbin on the Lendrum. Not too shabby of progress when I was only at the wheel for about an hour or two this weekend. I really like how the colors are turning out. There is definitely dye lot differences, but I think it will turn out alright when combined with the other roving. I am interested in finding out what this will look like in the skien.

Happy knitting & spinning.

New Toys

I got a new toy for Christmas and I have been having some fun the past two days playing with it. I got a lot, 70 and some odd, songs downloaded before my free trial ran out. Even with that number of songs, I still have plenty of room left to put other things on. I need to learn how to download podcasts, I guess. It has been nice to have my own music that is right where I am while I am doing chores, spinning, and hanging out on the "net".

Speaking of spinning, I thought I would show you my latest spinning project. It is one of Judy's Novelty Wool, Merino in the "Dew on the Moab Desert" color. I picked this up at the Idaho Falls Fiber Fair in 2006 and it has just been marinating in my fiber tote. I decided this is the current Lendrum project. I have16 ozs. and you know how I can't spin anything but fine. I will have quite a bit of this as yarn.
Catherine, this one is for you. Remember the start I got from your plant in the front entry? Well, it has a blossom on it!!

Thanks for the plant!

Happy knitting & spinning.

Sheep in Green

I saw these today, as I was walking into work and I couldn't pass them by! I grabbed a pair and left them with my stuff until I could check out tonight. What could be better than sheep pajama bottoms? And seeing as how green is one of my favorite colors, I really couldn't pass them up. I couldn't wait to put them on when I got home from work.

There is not much else happening here. Knitting is continuing on the Angel's Rest socks from the November sock class. The heels are turned and I'm onto the foot. I thought I would give this pair away, but the more I work on them the more I want to keep them for myself. Besides, my feet are almost always cold for the first few hours at work and the wool socks I have right now are more boot socks or bed socks than shoe socks. And on top of that, I really like the colors!

Happy knitting & spinning.

Lace Weight

There hasn't been much happening around here in the past couple of days. I did finish plying the roving from SOAR 1996. Here it is completed. There ended up being 4 ozs. which is spun to about a lace weight. I ended up with about 285 yards. I think there is enough to do a some type of lace project. I haven't decided on the pattern, so I am open to suggestions. Anyone have any?


The second finished spinning project is the batts I carded for the fiber exchange in December. I have about an ounce of fiber here and I ended up with about 41 yards. The pictures do not do justice to the yarn. The predominate color is green with some spots of purple and yellow. I like how it turned out. I'm glad I had dyed up more than was actually used, so I can blend some more and get enough for some unknown project.

This is also a dk or lace weight. I have a really hard time spinning a thicker single. Although, the fiber I am spinning from Notlwonk is a thicker single. Maybe because I am spinning it while busy reading and not paying too much attention. There could be an experiment in there somewhere.

I have done some knitting on my UFOs. I am undertaking the heels on the socks from November. If I had more tv interesting enough to watch, I could even get them finished this week. Who knows!

ES has started his new job and so far is enjoying it. He says his place in Fairfax is actually bigger than he thought it would be. Last night he did some rearranging so it feels more comfortable for him. I do miss having him here, though.

Happy knitting & spinning.

Yes, This Weekend Has Been Busy

This has been a long, busy weekend. I got to have Thursday thru today off of work. I do have to go back to work tomorrow. I have enjoyed having these past four days to get some things done and worry about ES and his driving.

I finished the Christmas stocking and yes, it is big enough to put a 2 or 3 year old inside of it. I did this stocking according to the directions with the needle size requested. I knew I should have gone down two sizes on the needle, but I wanted to see what would happen. My stocking ended up being about an inch and a half wider than the sample and about two inches longer. Oh well, one less thing on the UFO list. I don't know what I will do with it yet. I am just going to put it in the Christmas stuff and see what inspiration strikes me next year. I don't have to decide today, do I?

This is the Fiber Trends clog that I did in class yesterday. I am on row 4 of the cuff, so almost done. I did go down two needle sizes on this pattern, although being felted I probably didn't need to. I am anxious to see how it will turn out. Maybe I have the kids knitted item for next Christmas and if I start now I can get them all done. The color in this picture is way off. The actual color is a purple variegated color and this shows it as being more blue with dark stripes. I'll have to play with the lighting when I complete the pair so the color will be truer in the final picture.

On Friday I took the batts from the December 17th post and pre-drafted them into this preparation. I spun them while reading blogs that afternoon and ended up with this much on one bobbin.
I haven't plied this bobbin yet so don't know how much is actually there. I am hoping to get that done this afternoon. I'll give you an update and completed picture in the next couple of days.

I have been sitting down to the spinning wheel for a few minutes every day. I am hoping that I can accomplish quite a bit of spinning that way. I have my next couple of spinning projects planned out, I think. I hope to have quite a bit spun before moving so I can have some knitting projects for the drive across the country.

Today I am making some split pea soup. E has been craving it and it sounded really good. Hope it tastes as good as it smells! There is a good chunk of ham on the bone which should make it really good for the boys.

Happy knitting & spinning.

Baby Sweater

Here's the baby sweater, at 3 pm today. The left sleeve in the picture is now completed and the second sleeve stitches are picked up and ready to be knit. It shows you how much I can get done in a time of worry and stress.

ES finally left town this afternoon on his cross country drive. He left at 2:30 pm. As of 10:30 tonight he is around Rawlins, WY and the roads are just now getting icy and windy. He says there is a truck jack-knifed and another car off the road. He is slowing down and taking things easy and getting off the phone, thank goodness for Bluetooths. He says he probably won't call until in the morning. I could get a lot more knitting done if I let myself worry too much. Maybe I can get my last three UFOs finished before ES gets to Washington DC.

Looking forward to the weekend, there is a sock class this Saturday. We are going to be doing the Fiber Trends felted clogs. I am s-o-o-o-o looking forward to this class. I have thought about making them before, but have never taken the time. Maybe the clogs will be the kids knit item for Christmas next year. Is that bad to be thinking of next Christmas already when I don't even have this Christmas taken down yet?

New Year - New Projects - New Adventures

Happy New Year! It's hard to believe that 2008 is already here. There are so many things happening this year. Here's a partial list:
1. ES moves to DC and starts new job.
2. E gets married, if the girls parents don't talk her out of it.
3. M comes home from Bolivia.
4. R graduates from high school.
5. J-b comes home from Richmond, VA.
6. Pack up house and move to DC.
7. Take heritage trip with R.
This list is only through the first of June. No wonder my knitting and spinning have been very profitable lately. I needed the de-stressing time.

Yesterday I was able to complete this hat. I think it's kind of cute. I call it my starfish hat. Doesn't the top look like a starfish? If I had done the contrast color is brown, it would have looked more like one. But, I wanted to use what I had left of the Keltic by Berroco. The pictures didn't turn out too well. They were done inside where it is dark. I liked knitting with the Keltic. I don't know that I would do a large project with it, but it worked well for Meg's mitts and my hat.

I also started a baby sweater. I will get pictures of it tomorrow. It is the Knitting pure & simple easy baby cardigan. It is constructed from the top down, raglan style. I have the body all done and one sleeve almost completed. Only about one more inch on the first sleeve and then the second sleeve to do. I should get it done by tomorrow. I am not working tomorrow, because my boss said I wouldn't be much help to him with just having sent ES on the road to DC.

I haven't counted up the projects I completed last year. I didn't keep a very good knitting journal then. Hopefully this year, with the blog and the journal, I can keep a better record. I do have to finish Mr Greenjeans, that's the only UFO from last year. Everything else was completed. Yah Right! I still have the Christmas stocking from the last sock class and the socks from the November class. Ok, only three projects not finished from 2007.

Happy knitting & spinning.