Yarn Bowl

I started some mitts yesterday, one from each end of the yarn cake. My new yarn bowl from my friend Kim of Clearwater Handcrafts is perfect for this, because I ran the center strand out of the cutout and the outside strand can unwind in the bowl. 

I wasn't sure how a yarn bowl would work for me before, so now I know at least one way that it's quite helpful keeping things straight!

WIP Wednesday on a Thursday, October 17, 2013

Let's do this thing!

I started a spinning project. It's kind of an experiment because I'm using the stopwatch on my phone to time how long it takes me to spin.... oooooooo.

It came home in this crowd, from the Southern Adirondack Fiber Festival in 2011 (click through for notes).



As an aside, I've lately had an interest in looking at my pictures from fiber festivals and thinking about what I've actually used from each photo. In this one, I've spun up the fiber ball on the top right, dyed one of the ones that is white, and I've used the brownish-pinkish laceweight from Llady Llama at the bottom right. I also use the little needles for a million things. Not bad overall, but I feel like I should be more productive.

So my fiber - Wheel Candy from Bittersweet Woolery, merino dyed in a color called Bubble Gum Vampire, looked like this.



I'm 11 hours and 11 minutes in for spinning time so far.



I have about two and a half of these guys to go.




Now as to why my camera is taking pictures that look like they came from a cell phone in 2004, I don't know.

Paper Moon - these socks are still coming along. I'm into the gusset increases, which makes a cool little reverse stockinette triangle on the side of the heel area.



Morticia - I put this down in the middle of a row. Why did I think that was a good idea??



Maluka - Coming along, of course...



Pink stripey socks - I picked these up to take along to the open house at my younger son's preschool. You can't beat a couple hours of presentations in a school gym for getting a sock from most of a toe to most of a foot without looking at it! It keeps me from getting restless so I can actually still pay attention, and I get lots of knitting done. Awesome.




I have some finished objects to talk about later this week! Otherwise known as... tomorrow?

WIP Wednesday, October 9, 2013

It's October! WIP Wednesday is where I take photos of everything I've worked on in the past week, and right now there are a lot of things going!

=== This post contains spoilers for the Morticia mystery knit-a-long.===

Zee's Wallaby - I'm in the hood now and it's mindless stockinette, which means I can work on it while reading or otherwise very engaged. Then I just have to attach the underarms and weave in the ends.




Chewy - He's looking good!! He just needs his satchel and bandolier and he's done. This is the kind of project that looks really bizarre until it's almost done and then it looks like what it's supposed to....




Vlad - I've finished the fifth repeat of the chart. I'm planning on doing eleven repeats to make a nice, big shawl for BrittneyK.




Paper Moon - These are my bus stop project right now, since the pattern is really easy to memorize through the foot! It's slow going though, since I save it for special occasions.




Morticia - The mystery knit-a-long! I love how it's coming out so far. Mystery knits are a risk, and this one was a paid pattern too so I hesitated. In the end I went for it and so far I'm very glad I did!

The beads are two different colors. In my photo, the silver-lined beads show up as white spots.



Maluka - I'm trying out this yarn for The Periwinkle Sheep. It's a fingering weight single yarn and it's 100% very smooshy merino. So far, I LOVE it.



Weaving - Yeah, same pic as the other day, but I started this project last Thursday so the whole thing so far has been made in the past week.



So that's what we're looking at today. I worked on a traveling scarf and will have that out in the mail as soon as I find the packing tape.

Let's Play Catchup, Shall We?

It's been nearly a year since I posted. What have I been up to in that time?

I finished that big red sweater I last posted about. It won a second place ribbon in the fair (the ribbon is out of the frame - all the ribbons you can see are for other items!) .



The Evenstar got blocked (twice, actually) and ended up taking Reserve Champion Wool Product, and earned me the Knitting with Distinction award. I was so excited!




I think the fair is going to need its own post, because there was so much going on there!


Last May I went to Maryland Sheep &Wool for the first time. It was quite the show - lots of people, lots of fiber and lots of friends!



And I wore this on Sunday, because Trish said she'd make it in 3 days if someone would actually wear it. Who am I to hold her back?

Hmmm... let's see.... I got a loom from a moving sale a few weeks ago, and I've just started a project. I'm Youtube-taught and it's actually making fabric so I think that's a win. 

Last November I finished a bunch of stuff at once, so I took a group photo. I actually used the timer and took this one myself.

Got some kits from Knit Picks for Christmas.




More beautiful yarn club yarn from Alina Shea Creations.




Finished bigger projects..




Did some spinning.....



And dyeing....



Made some socks....



And lots of things.




I had a wonderful fiber-filled year!