knitting- not so much (so far)

Whenever I have great plans planned, I should know that it will not work out. I planned on finishing the pinwheel sweater today (I have not even touched it yet), switching out the summer clothes (did that), shopping (check), cleaning (does changing the guinea pig's cage count) and watching football (maybe 5 minutes). It just seemed like one of those days where nothing goes right.

Well the kids are in bed and the sunday night game is almost on and well, I am going to work on that sweater.


Hubby's surgery to tomorrow afternoon.

mini up date

Yeah!!!! I am on the i-cord edge of the pinwheel sweater!!!! I should be able to finish it (edging- maybe the whole thing) during football tomorrow.

No pictures today as the weather was still icky. (rain, wind and cold - holy cow fall is actually here!?)

I am off to enjoy the extra hour of sleep tonight!

I like spinning = )

Well yesterday after I blogged I sat down and was ready to work on the pinwheel sweater (I am on the last band of color- so close) and I saw my Rakestraw spinner. It was calling me. I thought well I could spin for a little while......

Well that little while became the rest of the night. I did however spin the entire 2 oz of merino. To me it looks like dk weight. I know there is a ruler somewhere and when I find it i will check the wpi. I even set the twist and the yarn is drying. I am thinking about plying it but I am still undecided. I will have to see how the orange merino spins up and then I will decide.

I did take pictures but it is so dark and overcast and the flash did not show the color well. Actually it made it look black when it is really a purplely - navy color. Tomorrow is suppose to be sunny so my fingers are crossed

Blog a Post A Day in November!!

Ok if you haven't heard there are a few things that one can do in the month of November. 1. write a novel - not going to happen. 2. knit a 50,000 stitch sweater - way to many things I have to knit for christmas and well I really do not have the attention span to knit a whole 50,000 stitch sweater. 3. blog everyday - I think this one is something I might be able to do.

So there you go - i will try to blog everyday and hopefully not bore everyone to tears. = )


Here is todays post.

Yesterday when we were almost home from trick or treating something bad almost happened. Hubby had crossed the street with Son and Budha and Daughter and I were on the corner while I was calling in our dinner order (chinese - yummy). Some A-Hole stopped his Jeep Liberty (blocking on coming traffic lane) started getting out of his Jeep and talked to my daughter. I heard someone talking and at first I thought it was other trick or treaters. Since I was on the corner I didn't see anyone. I turned and saw A-Hole, I grabbed Daughter and said What!! He jumped back into his car and took off. I ran across the street to Hubby and told him what happened. We decided we were done and started walking home. As we got to the corner by our house A-Hole was turning back onto the block. I shouted that's him and he took off. Yes I called the police and made a report. No we didn't get the plate number.

Can you believe this!! I am so pissed off. and upset and scared. We have told our kids many times do not talk to strangers, do not go near strangers.... but here we are going from house to house talking to strangers. Strangers saying how cute you look and we say thank you. So we tell our kids one thing and then go and do what we told them not to do. I can understand how this may seem confusing to a 5 year old.

I just thank Who ever above that he didn't get her.

(sorry if this doesn't make much sense - I am still really upset about it and can't seem to think straight)

I Made Yarn!!!

Ok, so it is just a little bit, but it is mine and I made it. I think I am going to frame it. = )



I also started spinning the Corriendale roving. I do not like how it is coming out.. The yarn is, I guess you would say "sticky". It would be great for felting and I am thinking about making felted balls, that I could make snowmen out of. I sense a kid project coming on. = ) (sorry about the fuzzy pic - kids running around) = )



(Note: for some reason Blogger does not want this picture uploaded. I have tried several times tonight. I will try again tomorrow - ok scratch that. Blogger has uploaded them but now the pictures are HUGE!!! and off center - go figure)


So I took the Corriendale off of the spinner (duh, how else did I take the pic?) and started spinning the merino (the multi one)




Ok here is knitting updates.

Pinwheel sweater: I am now on the second to last color band. You really can't see in the picture but I am knitting purple, and pink is the last before bind off. I really can't take this with me now since it is larger and there are 2 balls of purple attached and waiting for the sleeves to be knitted. I have this feeling if I travel with it the yarn will go everywhere. (that is my luck with this kinda stuff)



I made a quick headband for a little cousin. In the picture it looks horrible but it is cute in real life. I used a yarn I had in my stash. It is from knitpicks and it is a bulky yarn and I have no clue what exactly it is since I have lost the ball band. = )



I started the Dragon Scarf. Here is the tail. The yarn is nice but I really am not thrilled with picking out twigs, sticks and other veggie stuff. Now I know that this is part of a home grown yarn but is this normal to be picking this stuff out every 6 inches?



I also started a pair of Fawkes socks (can not find the link right now but the pattern is from socktopia) I really like that the person I am giving these too wears a size 4.5 womens (and yes she is an adult). = )



Everyone have a Happy Halloween!!

Finished Stuff and a Good Lesson Learned

Remember the last time I dyed yarn? I dyed 440 yards in orange and black and slightly felted it. Well I learned something a little important with that yarn (besides the part where I watch the pot to make sure it does not boil and felt the yarn). When I skeined the yarn, I had wrapped it around 3 chairs and only tied it loosely in 2 places. I also hung it outside to dry. On a windy day!!! Note to self: If I hang yarn outside to dry and it is a little windy maybe I should tie it in more then 2 places and it might help if I make sure it doesn't fall off the hanger and blow around the yard. The slight felting was not the problem, all of the knots were. It took me almost 3 hours to untangle that mess. I am loving how it came out. I think it will become socks for Halloween. (Next Halloween most likely)

Okay, back on friday while I was waiting for Hubby to finish hie pre op testing I finished the Harlot Scarf.



I used 2 hanks of Plymouth Yarn Baby Alpaca Grande on size 10.5 needles. If it ever gets cold here I could use it. Here it is the end of October and the leaves have barely changed. Yesterday it was 75 degrees!!! This is crazy.

I also finished another Christmas gift.





A Owl Cable Hat. Budha is modeling it for me. It was really neat to see the owls form while I was knitting it. I used Knitpicks Swish in Truffle. It only took a little more the a ball to make this hat. I have enough to make another one and I am tempted to make myself one.

Rhinebeck!!! Part 2

Okay now that the telling and pictures of Rhinebeck are done , now it is time for the fun part. What I bought!!!



This was my first purchase. It is from High View Farm. 100% wool and 153 yards of bulky prettyness. It is bulky weight. I am thinking maybe a scarf and hat or hat and mitts.



At the Spinning Mill I bought this:


460 yards of Merino hand dyed. It was the last one in this colorway. This might become a shawl.





Sock Yarn!!!

The top one is from Koenig Farm. It is hand dyed 425 yards of superwash merino. The color is called Lily Pond.

The bottom two, well I lost the receipt and there are no tags. But I do know it is fingering weight superwash wool. Each one is over 400 yards and I got both for 20 bucks. They are from I think (but I am not sure) Pucker Brush Farm.



This is from Morehouse Farm. It is a dragon scarf kit. I love there book and when I saw their booth I was so happy. I bought this for The Son.(shhh... it is a surprise) He is going to love it.



This is the hand spinner. It is called a Rakestraw Spinner. I was spinning in about 2 minutes. The roving on the left is from New Zealand. It is the same wool that was used for the clothing in Lord of the Rings. I have already spun it up and will post picks as soon as it is dry.

Since I bought a spinner I of course needed roving. = )

I could have totally gone crazy.



This is Berkshire in the color autumn. Eight ounces of softness.



This is merino. There is blue, orange and a mixed color (blues and greens)



This is Corriendale. I am spinning this right now and loving it.


I originally didn't plan on buying a hand spinner. I had asked for one for christmas. We had seen tons of drop spindles and Hubby said why not. Right after he said that I looked up and we were in front of the Rakestraw spinner tent. I had seen this on the internet and it looked easy. (it also said it was easy on the hands- big plus) Like I typed before I was spinning within 2 minutes. Really easy and fast. Of course there were also spinning wheels everywhere. Hubby kept looking at them and he told me why not. So now we are looking into spinning wheels. I know it is a big ticket item and that is why I really haven't looked into them. Hubby's case is this: He has his video games and his way of thinking is that if I really want one , I am worth it. He is so sweet. He knows I would not spend the money on myself, so he is going to get me one. (first I have to make up my mind about which one I want)

= )