Has it really been over a month?

Yikes! :-(

No knitting. That's right. I've done no knitting in almost a month. Cannot recall the last time I did any spinning.

The reason? DH and I bought 10 acres of woodsy goodness. Just about all our spare time is spent out there doing projects.

My Adamas shawl has an error in it. I decided I'm going to just frog it rather than try to stick a lifeline in after the fact.

The sock I'm working on will probably get frogged as well. I'm not real happy with how the ribbing came out when I did the heel gusset.

To be honest I have not been much in the mood for knitting. I have been having some pretty stressful times this last little bit. A lot of it has been work-related. When you work in the newspaper business this is perilous times. And while I probably need the relaxation that knitting gives you, I've been too tense to do any and my guage would probably be way off. I really should be spinning. I am contemplating setting my spinning wheel up in my room and after a certain time in the evening just go in there and start spinning. I've tried setting aside time for myself in the past but it hasn't worked out. I should just say to heck with it and make the time my own.

On the health front, I'm getting close to my peak weight. The work stress of early 2009 had turned me into a stress eater and I gained more than 10 pounds. So I'm now trying to manage my weight and lose it again. So far I think I'm doing all right but it's certainly not coming off as quickly as it did when I was on the Atkins program.

My son is all done with Headstart/Pre-K. The school year went by so fast. I marvel at how far he has come in the last school year. I tell people what he is capable of doing and they are quite impressed. It makes me nervous that he will be more advanced in the other kids in his class, so he will be come bored with school.

Playing catch up

Or as one of my friends would say, a state of the knitting.

Well, that fiber that I got at at the beginning of the month was spun up into 2 singles.



159 yards of yumminess. I got it from forbiddenwoolery. Not enough to do a pair of socks like I had hoped. I didn't figure the WPI for it either. I think I can make a cowl with the amount of yardage I have.


While we are on the topic of spinning. I have something to share:


This is about 28 yards of what I would call lace weight shetland yarn. Last year another SIL gave me a couple fleeces from one of her friends who has a few sheep. I took a bunch off of the fleece and processed it. Then spun it up on my wheel. No plans for it whatsoever but I sure felt a sense of accomplishment with it. Next year I think I'm going to get a drum carder.

I've also been working on the Adamas shawl in a KAL with my BBs.

Yarn is Knit Picks laceweight that I dyed myself.


A close up. Don't you love the varigation?

I'm also working on a couple of gift knits so I don't want to post about them yet.

I also have a sock on the needles. Just about ready to turn the heel on it.

I'm using this pair to figure out my very own vanilla sock pattern. First time I have taken the time to count the rows on the leg and the heel flap. But it has made things easier. I'm knitting the sock in a 2 x 2 rib. It's gonna be so snug! I'm debating on continue the ribbing through the foot.

I also knit a pair of worsted weight socks for my SIL for her bday. A pair of lovely purple socks in Berocco yarn. Alas, I forgot to take photos of them. But trust me, they were very nice :-).

Well, I guess that's about it for now. When I put it all down it sure seems like a lot has gone on the last month, but I feel like I haven't accomplished much.

The fever made me do it

A couple weeks ago (March 30 to be exact) I had a cold and all the fun stuff that goes with it, including a fever.

It was during this fever that I decided it was a good time to learn to crochet.

(Doesn't it look like Nebraska?)

Using some leftover dishcloth yarn I had I managed to figure out how to single and double crochet thanks to videos on Youtube and Lion Brand.

I have a crochet video at the library waiting to be picked up. Can't remember what it's called though.

Isn't if funny how you decide some things are so important that you have to do it *right now*?

Well, I haven't picked up my crochet hooks since. I have been on a bit of a spinning kick and I'm having daydreams of processing the fleece that is sitting in my garage. (Even though I don't have "proper tools" that's not stopping the daydreams)

Today was a good mail day

Today I got in the mail a braid of fiber from one of the ladies on my online knitting group.

L is very talented. I told her what I wanted and she created exactly what I had in my minds eye.

Since we started discussing the fiber around Valentine's day she called it "Funny Valentine"

The plan is to spin this into a pair of socks.

Knitting Olympics project done!

Ice Queen from knitty.com

Yarn was Schulana Kid-Seta by Skacel company. It is 70% mohair and 30% kidsilk haze.

I finished this item a few days before the closing ceremony.

This pattern was easy and not. I mixed up a couple things but it still turned out great. Basically I meant to use the chart that called for the lesser amount of beads. I started using chart B and didn't realize that I mixed up until I was halfway done. I needed to get a second ball of yarn. I was ready to bind off and I ran out of yarn. After a quick trip to the LYS I was able to finish.

But now I have an almost full ball of this yarn. I'm going to set it aside until I decide on a project. I may end up combining it with another yarn.

I've never used true laceweight on a finished project. It's my first finished pattern with beads. I did a successful picot edging. I've never done a provisional cast on before. I didn't get the cast on to "zipper" correctly. I ended up doing a lot of snipping and carefully placing the stitches. I didn't have the correct sized 16 inch circular needle for binding off. So I did it magic loop. I have never done that before.

I learned so many new techniques. I've very glad I did this pattern for my knitting olympic project.

Off to a shaky start

My Olympics project that is. I swear, I can over analyze a thing to death. I did a crochet provisional cast on directly onto the needle. Then I didn't know what to do after that. So I think I sat there for quite a while. Then I "got it" and I have three rows of Ice Queen done. Then I quit for the night.

The opening ceremonies were beautiful. I loved how they integrated the First Nations into the program. I was surprised at the time when it was all done. Anyone who knows me knows that I don't stay up that late normally.

Knitting Olympics time

Are you ready? I sure am. ... Well, lol, maybe not completely ready. I still have to learn a provisional cast on and I need a US 5 16-inch circular. But that needle is for the cast off and it's on order over at my LYS. Maybe if it doesn't come in time I can just use DPNs. ... maybe :-)

I am NOT waiting til opening ceremonies to cast on. I have to figure out the provisional cast on and I figure that could take me a while and I have to cast on 150-something stitches for Ice Queen.

It is going to be an exciting two weeks.