Way back in October I took a spinning class. What? A spinning class? Didn’t you already take one of those? Yes, I did. Along with about 50 other women (yes, they were ALL women). It was not a very well organized class, and I think the interest overwhelmed the instructors. So when I saw a spinning class was being offered through community schools I jumped on it.
It was fantastic. Very organized. It was still taught by the local spinning/weaving guild, but this time I had a mentor who worked with me one on one and taught me how to really spin. Now before I was kind of struggling and muddling my way through with a shortish draw. My mentor showed me how to do a long draw *heavens open, angels sing*. She demonstrated how the wheel can draft the fibers for me using the twist. She showed me how it is not all bad if the twist enters the drafting zone as long as you keep it from the fiber supply. In short, she taught me how to spin. She also taught me how to ply. Oh.my.gosh. My plying SUCKED. Part of it was my singles were not great, but mostly I was just plain doing it wrong.
Look. See? Balanced yarn! Before when I was done plying, I would hold up the yarn and it would twist back on itself HORRIBLY. Really. I don’t think you could have called it yarn it was so twisty. Not any more. Just the mere sentence of, “You take out half the twist you put in your singles when you ply” changed it all. Suddenly I felt as though it was okay to put quite a bit of twist in my singles since, you know, I was going to be taking it out. Whatever it was, I don’t care for now I am spinning balanced yarn.
One of my favorite things about the class was we got to try lots of little bits of different fiber to get a feel for how the staple lengths of the fiber changes the spinning. From furtherest away from witch to closest to witch: merino, yak, and some undisclosed-wool-but-it-was-medium-length. I liked the end result of the merino but enjoyed spinning the yak best.
Since I finished up the class, I have not spun much. I am seriously lacking spinning fiber. I spun up about 4oz of merino my parents gave me as a gift a couple years ago. See above. It was great fun. A large number of evenings just spinning. Honestly, I love spinning more than knitting. You really get your money’s worth. It takes quite a bit of time to spin through not too expensive amount of fiber THEN you get to knit it. Spinning is very relaxing too…meditative. I just need more fiber. Which I ordered. It is on its way. Don’t tell Terry, okay?
Categories: spinning
Rewind to Christmas of 2008. I was a little obsessed with Noro sock yarn and asked my folks for some for Christmas. Now my mom crochets and is not intimidated by words such as worsted or bulky. She understands yarn. However, I failed to give her some very important information. I opened my present which was beautifully wrapped in a basket and I kind of balked…
Mom: “What’s wrong?”
Me: “Oh, nothing.”
Mom: “Something’s wrong. I can tell by your face.”
Me: “Oh, no. Nothing is wrong. It is just REALLY a lot of sock yarn.”
Mom: “What do you mean? It is enough for two pairs like you asked.”
At this point, I come clean that it is enough yarn for four pairs of socks. See critical information missing? 100g makes a pair of socks. Now I have 400g of yarn. That’s a lot of sock yarn folks. Not only that, but I have two 100g balls of two different colorways, which of course means I could knit something other than socks. For the last year, I have mulled over what to knit. Clapotis? Simple Yet Effective Shawl? Well, last week when Terry was struck down with the plague I decided finally to cast on Multnomah. Lots of garter stitch for a while and then some feather and fan. Love it.
This is it as of last Friday. Now I am knitting the feather and fan border. The pattern is lovely, but how it is written is kind of wonky. Almost like some punctuation is missing. I managed to get through and figured it out. It could just be that I have never knit a triangular shawl and had a hard time visioning what was happening too. Either way I love how this is turning out with the striping of the colors. It is great.
Categories: Yarn · shawls
Pattern: Mitered Mittens from EZ’s Knitter’s Almanac
Yarn: Some delicious handspun I bought years and year ago
Needles: US5
A very, very long time ago (2004?) I bought some handspun at a yarn expo. About 200 yards of not-quite-aran weight yarn. It is purpley, blue, & cranberry and destined for this pattern for forever. I don’t know why I didn’t cast on sooner probably because six years ago pithy instructions intimidated me and the lack of needle guidance REALLY intimidated me. Now I am pretty confident with what gauge I will get with what needle and certain weight yarn….particularly heavy worsted.
Hello? Lamb’s Pride Worsted.
The pithy instructions are not that pithy since it is an easy garment. The only thing I didn’t do was knit all the way to the top then snip a stitch to unravel for a thumb hole to pick up. Call me a pansy, but I opted to knit some waste yarn on seven stitches to designate a thumb hole then later took out the waste yarn to knit the thumb. Worked out nicely and because of the miter, the lack of thumb gusset is not that uncomfortable.
I DID knit them at a smaller gauge than called for. I didn’t want largish mittens, but a closer fit so I could still help small children with their mittens or zip zippers. Overall, I really like these mittens and see them as being very practical for the month of February.
On a personal note, man are we sick. Usually this means the small children are lying around with fevers. Nope. Not this time. The adults are ill. Poor Terry has had a fever for five days now. Very nasty cough. We are off to the doctor this morning for him. Now I have been married to this guy for 13 years. He has NEVER been this sick. He was contemplating going to work because “I’ve never missed this many days of work” – can you say big, new project at work he’s behind on? I finally talked some reason into him that adults who have a 101 degree fever deserve to be at home despite having missed three days of work. I don’t have a fever so I am holding down the fort. The kids are bouncing off the walls.
Categories: finished object · mittens
So, it is January. We’re over the holidays and deep into winter. Now I love winter. I love snow. I love cold. I don’t love entertaining small children in the winter. See, winter activities require balance and agility. Snowboarding. X-Country skiing. Downhill skiing. Ice skating. My poor kids, they have my sense of balance so couple that with their age and our winter sports are limited to something like sledding. And there’s sledding. Oh, wait sledding too. We spend a lot of time sledding.
Now Bubba is getting older – he is SEVEN now – and he realizes we sled a lot. He wants to do Other Things. One of the Other Things he asks to do now is fish. We went fishing a couple of times last summer, and he is hooked (pun totally intended). He was surprisingly shocked to find Little Campbell Lake completely frozen over when we took him by there. He suggests, “Ice fishing?” Phone call to my Dad who is versed in such things and the next thing we know we are outfitted enough to take the kiddos ice fishing. Over Christmas, my Dad took the boys & Terry fishing, and they had a great time. So, when we had a lull one weekend the suggestion was….”Let’s go ice fishing.”
Ice fishing it is. Now let me say up front, I am not a fishing person. Not that I have a problem with it, just I would rather do Other Things when I am outdoors. I am not squeamish in any way shape or form….quite the opposite actually. Still. The boys long to do something else, and I must be an open-minded mommy.
Honestly, it was a pretty good time. See these guys up above? They have very different fishing styles. Bubba is very alert and patient. As soon as he feels the bittiest, bit of a bite, that poor fish is yanked out of the water with force similar to a shuttle launch. Seriously. The poor fish are airborne well above Bubba’s head. Muskrat on the other hand is slower. He waits until he is certain the fish is on the hook. Preferably after the fish has SWALLOWED the damn hook.
Our job? We are fish removal and baiting of hooks minions. It is a thankless job resulting in very, very cold fingers. I think it was about 8 degrees in these pictures. We don’t keep the fish….they are pathetically small but very fun to catch.
One job we don’t get to do. Ice removal from the hole. This a kid only job and high prized. Note to parents: purchase two ice scoops for they are not expensive, and it will keep the peace.
We did drill our own holes in the ice using a hand auger. If one were REALLY into ice fishing, they would have a power auger. We are not REALLY into ice fishing so we use a hand auger because drilling the hole is half the fun. This is one of our holes in progress. The ice is about 18 inches thick. Plenty safe. I was surprised to find how easy it was to drill a hole in the ice. I expected it to take longer. We will definitely do more fishing this winter….
Categories: Alaska · Da boys
Yarn: From 13 mile Farm Montana Lamb and Wool…predator friendly, plant dyed
Needles: US 7 and US 9
So, remember how I said I don’t have any knitting resolutions? That is not true….I need to knit up some of the gift yarn that has been given to me. Over the last year I have received some very nice yarn as gifts from people. People who have gone out of their way and hunted down something they knew I would like. It is all beautiful and I plan to go out of my way to make sure I knit it from the stash instead of hoarding it. This yarn is a start….it is a gift from Jessie who visited several yarn shops in Montana and
even toured a mill. It is plant dyed and very rustic. Have I ever mentioned how happy I am to find vegetable matter in my yarn? I reminds me that the material comes from a living thing. Rustic yarns rock. It is my first plant dyed yarn ever. It did bleed quite a bit on my hands while I was knitting; however, when I soaked them for blocking they didn’t bleed too much so we’ll see how it goes wearing them.
The pattern is from
Indigirl, Amy Swenson. I love all of her designs because they are simple in construction but still beautiful. No complicated seaming and usually lots of cables. Anyway, I am sure you are all familiar with her. I have been reading her blog for forever. As soon as she put this pattern on her blog, I knew I needed to knit them. My above photo makes them look goofy. On your hand they are just gorgeous….I tried my best with photo below. Does not do the arrowheads justice though.
Good news? There were two hanks of this yarn…now I will knit a pattern from a book I received as a gift from my friend
Katrina.
It is cable-y too but calls for a smaller gauge, but I think it will work nicely with this yarn.
Categories: finished object · mittens
When it coms to what my kids eat, I am not a major food nazi. However, I do have standards. Whole wheat bread. Skim milk. Fruits. Veggies. Lucky Charms are evil, you know the drill. So, on Monday while I was making the weekly menu and feeling a little un-creative I offered up, “What do you guys want to eat this week?” Never in my wildest imagination did I expect to hear, “Kip Cuisines!!!” Why we call them this….I do not know. Off to the grocery store to buy Kip Cuisines for Friday. Friday has dawned and at long last I do not have to count down the days to Kip Cuisine Day. No longer do I have to shout at them to get out of the stupid freezer and quit pawing at the boxes. Tonight we dine in processed food heaven for small children. The adults you ask? Oh. We are having Moose’s Tooth…home of the best caesar salad and pizza ever.
Been to
Tom and Jessie’s blog lately? You should. Dude. They are gaining mad skillz. They totally deserve a z at the end of that skills. Scroll through the past few posts and prepare to be amazed.
Categories: Da boys
Pattern: Swirl Shawl by Lijuan Jing
Yarn: Jojoland Melody MS08 (purple,green,blue – 2 balls) MS27 (orange,green,purple – 1 ball)
Needles: US 6 DPNs (5 inch needles, very important)
All finished, took me long enough, huh? It is beautiful. Terry didn’t even recognize it when I brought it out. Blocking makes a big difference. I blocked it a little stronger to make the hexagon very pointy. I like it. The store sample and the pattern picture are softer hexagons, almost like they just steam blocked it.
The next question is….how the hell does someone wear this thing? I am not an accessory gal unless is has a very practical purpose like warmth. This scarf is more decorative. Do I need a shawl pin? Do I just tie it around my neck? Who knows. Maybe I will just drape it across my table in the sunshine.
Categories: finished object · scarves
My swirl scarf. I started it waaaaaaay back it in October 2008. Longest running WIP for me, thank.you.very.much. Here it is about a week ago. Now everyone I know who has survived, er, I mean finished this scarf likens knitting up all these hexagons to eating potato chips; once you get going you just can’t stop. Well, I am here to tell you my friends, I am full. I have four damn potato chips to eat, and I am going to gag them down. This scarf will not defeat me. I will finish it by Sunday. Four hexagons times 40 minutes for each hexagon equals 160 minutes, I can do it.
Categories: scarves
I managed to squeak these out. I finished them the afternoon of the 31st. They fit okay. A little long since I needed to finish the pattern repeat, and it made the sock a smidge too long.
So, how was everyone’s New Year? We went downtown for Anchorage’s “Fire and Ice” celebration. Ice skating in “town square”, fire jugglers/eaters/hoopers, and general fun. At 8pm there were fireworks, which were actually very good. It is perfect for people with smallish children since you know we turn to pumpkins if we stay up later than say 10pm. This year the boys did good….they made it to 10:30.
Here is the gem though….they slept until 8am. I can’t remember the last time I did that for they never have.
Resolutions and recaps seem to be a theme on the blogs. This is
one I particularly liked because she is such an interesting person. Resolutions here? None knitting-wise really. I just cleared my Ravelry queue and filled it with things I want to knit with yarns I have. Will I stick it? Probably not. All it will take is a trip to the yarn store or a new pattern, and I will be back to my old habits. Besides all of my will power needs channeled to my New Year’s resolution…..to lose 40 pounds. *sigh* Not really a New Year’s resolution, I have been working on it since October when I went to the doc and found out stuff that I didn’t want to hear. It is complicated, medical, and quite honestly boring but boils down to lose the weight and I will feel much, much better. Don’t worry, this won’t become a weight loss blog.
Anyway, I hope every one had a happy, happy New Year and are looking forward to what 2010 has to offer.
Categories: finished object · me · socks
We finished putting away all the Christmas decorations except these snowflake gels. I like them too much to pack them away.
The boys finished building Lego projects. If only you could hear the dialogue, Bubba wants to build his own thing and not the Indiana Jones plane from the directions. Terry has completion issues and wants to see a finished object before they cannibalize the end product. Muskrat just wants to play with “the Lego guys”.
Me? I want to finish my Socktober socks from
TTL before the New Year…..
Categories: Uncategorized
