TdF update (another one)

The Forever Blue yarn is done done done. This one really took forever. A whole week of spinning everyday to get this done. Thankfully it is a balanced and even yarn. It really turned out great.

539 yards of sport weight. Plenty to make a few things that I am thinking about. Heck I might be able to make 2 of the things I am thinking about.


This is the latest spinning. 50/50 camel/silk that I bought at Rhinebeck 08. It is really beautiful stuff. The only problem I have with it is the silk likes to float and get all over. On cloths, in drinks, heck it even got in my mouth. That part I do not like at all. It will be done and plied tomorrow.

Sheepy the 2nd was lovingly received and had a sex change =) He is now a she. So here is Sheepy in all of her finished glory.







Sheepy's fleece is knitted from the tiny left overs of yarn from a huge ball I bought at Rhinebeck 07. Seriously this huge ball has made 3 hats and Sheepy's fleece. It was only 157 yards of super bulky yarn. Sadly I only have a few feet left. Buddah has one of the hats so she loves that they match. Oh and true to form Sheepy has been naked for half the day = )

TdF update and Knitting?!?!?!?!

I have yarn today = ) Not the main yarn, it is still soaking wet (darn humidity) but what was left over is dry. I had 155 yards of merino singles left over from plying the main yarn and well I did not want to just stash it away. So I dug out some crochet cotton and strung on a ton of beads and plied them together.

It came out really cool! It was my first time doing this and it went very slowly. It almost took me an hour!! I didn't want to over twist the yarn and had to space the beads which I just did totally random. I might just do it again but on a smaller scale first. I need more practice before a whole skein.

Now for knitting. Yes knitting. I still remember how =)

Meet Sheepy the Second.


He is to replace Sheepy. My daughter's stuffed sheep (was the stuffed sheep from Harvest Moon video game) that was loved to bare threads and mauled by a puppy (Snick) and could not be fixed anymore. It has been a while since Sheepy has been brought up but today Sheepy was and when she remembered that Sheepy was gone well she broke my heart with her tears. So what is a mom to do? Knit her a new Sheepy.



Now Sheepy the Second is not finished. I still need to embroider his face and make his coat. Yes coat. The pattern lets you change the sheep's coat and I thought that was adorable. I am sure Buddah would like a purple fleece = )

Pattern: Knitted Sheep by Flutterby (Rav link)
Yarn: Wool of the Andes undyed
needle: size 8
mods: well the pattern make a small sheep and I wanted something bigger sooo thicker yarn, bigger needles and basically doubling all the numbers makes a bigger sheep. Body is reversed stocking stitch and head, ears and legs are stocking stitch. I did it this way so when he is naked (which I am sure he will be at times) the bumps look kinda like wool on a sheep.

Tour de Fleece update

Well that is pretty much what I have been up to lately. Spinning for the Tour de Fleece. I have already spun 12 oz of fiber and around 1500 yards!!!!! I think that is close to a mile!!! Crazy!



This is the finished Elvira (from Enchanted Knoll Farm, ruby and black merino with sari silk and angelina, thats the sparkly part) I am making Ishbel out of it. I did get enough yardage 492 yards to be exact! More then enough for the shawl.



ok so you can not really see the sparkly parts but they are there. When I knit it is like little flashes of red light going off. Very pretty. When the shawl is a little larger I will try to take a picture showing the sparkly.



This is "I am going to take forever to spin so you can not spin anything else" singles. The top one is 4 oz of Corriedale and the bottom one is 4 oz of merino. Both were dyed by me. I am going to ply them together. I almost want to put them in a time out but after a short rest, meaning tomorrow, I am going to ply them to free up the bobbins. I also have some 50/50 camel/silk from Rhinebeck 09 on a bobbin that I am almost halfway done with. I need the bobbin cause well I have a little something on the way to me and when it gets here I want to spin it!!! Yes, I bought something ,12 oz of something to be exact and I do not feel guilty about it at all. 8 of the 12 is for Drama girl and if there is enough maybe Buddah. The roving is called Fairy Dance and the girls right now are all about fairies.

=)

Back to the world of the living..

somewhat. Not 100% but good. I am keeping the good thoughts that the upswing continues.

So lets see what shall I blog about. I have nothing new for the Tour De Fleece. I want to spin but sitting is still to painful. I am hoping tomorrow. So how about my first quilt!!



I showed the top finished last year sometime



Now it has a back, binding and it is quilted. Free hand on my machine no less!! Yes people I just dive right in!! It was pretty easy and now that I have done it I hear it is hard. Sometimes it is good to just go for it and ignore what people say.



The back is just plain black cotton and the binding is black corduroy I had gotten on a scrap bundle. Yeah I know not fancy but..



the quilting shows up great on the back and I love how it looks and in the end that what matters =) It is a light weight quilt, throw size that has been at home on my side of the couch for the last few months. I love it very much and there is a sentimental-ness to it. I bought the fabric when I was visiting my father and the sunflowers also remind me of my uncle. I miss them both. It is funny how something like a quilt connects to the past and memories.

=)

Well round two is over. I am doing ok. I am still pretty well medicated though I can feel the stuff that makes one feel like they are in la la land is wearing off. Tonight the pain meds will wear off.

Right now i am doing what the doctor said and lay down and take it easy. Well as easy as I can with my 3 running around.

In tour de fleece news I did spin last night. I finished the Elvira and start something new. Left overs from my Etsy store - 4 oz of Corriedale and 4 oz of Merino braids. I started the Corriedale. They are both dyed the same to they will go well together. I am going to single ply them together to hopefully a 2 ply sport weight, maybe for socks.

= )

Happy Fouth!!

Today was one of my favorite holidays when I was a kid. I loved the picnics, getting together with family, eating anything and everything until you were stuffed beyond belief, and of course the fireworks!! I love fireworks. Sadly I have not seen any fireworks since 2000 = ( The kiddies get really cranky when they stay up to far past bedtime. I am counting down the days until they are old enough to stay up. I can hear then going off right now in the distance. Oh I really miss seeing them.

Ok lets talk about something on the happy side. Today is also the first day of the Tour de Fleece. What is that you ask? Well spinners have gotten together and invented this. It happens on the same schedule as the Tour de France (get it spinning the wheel and the bike riders spin their bike wheels). You can challenge yourself to anything really. I decided to join this year to get back into spinning and to make a dent in my fiber stash.

So today I spun for a little while and managed to spin 2 of the 4 oz I have of Enchanted Knoll Farm's Elvira. Pretty pretty pretty!!! It is ruby and black wool with angelina (sparkly strands) and sari silk. Some of the sari silk is this bright aqua that just looks amazing!



This is a true to color photo.



This picture is over flashed to show the silk and the angelina.

OK now for the spinning tech stuff

I am spinning this as a single ply and fingering weight. I want to spin enough to make one of 2 shawls. Ishbel or Gail (Sorry non Ravelry people for Ishbel, for Gail scroll down just a little). Basically I need between 350-450 yards. My fingers are crossed. If I do not make it the next batch to be spun hopefully should work.

= )

Just to clarify

about the little video. I do not agree with everything he says. I think everyone should be able to come to this country (and not have to pay thousands of dollars too) and become a citizen. I have family and friends who are came to this country.

The points I agree with are with congress. I think they should pay taxes, pay for their own healthcare and should have to fund their own retirement. They should be held responsible for what they do. They should also do what the people want them to do. The electoral college is out dated and should be done away with. Heck I think congress should fund their own staff. Maybe if they had to do these things they would remember how it is for the rest of us and make smarter choices.

I am sorry if I offended anyone. I should have made it clearer, i apologize.

=)

Ok I am getting a little political here

but this guy does have some points that make sense

The Great Granny Square of 09

=) I have crochet for today!! I can not even remember when I crocheted something. Basically on Ravlry I am part of stash busting group and one of the challenges is to knit or crochet something big that uses at least 10 balls of yarn. Well I have a ton, at least it seems like a ton, of Knitpicks Wool of the Andes. Now WOA is a nice yarn but I had a bunch of different colors in all sorts of amounts and honestly I have no idea why. I know some were left overs from other projects but others were from I have no idea,
Anyway I took out the tub of yarn and pulled out all of the now bubblegum pink and purple and was left with 23 balls of yarn to play with. That is 2530 yards or 1.44 miles!!

Right now I am about halfway through the yarn, I have used 11.5 balls. And here is the progress



ok a) it is on a queen size bed and b) boy does it clash with the quilt - ignore that part = )

This has turned into my I can not sleep because of whatever and need something mindless to work on. Which reminds me I still have to blog about my previous mindless project the Shalom Sweater. I knit 90% of that sweater laying flat on my back talk bout arm work out. I will save the rest for another post.

Now working on this while tired or medicated does have its drawbacks. While I was spreading it out I found 2 mistakes that well I somehow correted in the next round so the numbers are still right.



here is one boo boo. I missed a 3 dc but in the next rd I did crochet the proper amount with out even noticing the boo boo



here is a corner that is suppose to have 2 sets of dc and the is only one and again I did the right amount the next rd without even noticing.

Both boo boos are in the same color block and I would have to frog a lot to get back to it. Strange thing is I didn't see the mistake until the pictures so part of my brain was paying attention and kept me on track. I know that I crocheted that color on a bad night so I am not surprised I did make mistakes.

Oh well. I do not think I am going to frog it. It is too far back and they do not really bother me.

=)