From Bobbin to Skein

Last night I finished spinning the Alpaca/wool/angora fiber. I'm loving the flecks of angora and the overall softness of the yarn. I have to ply the second skein. what shall I make with it. I think I'll have at least 500-600 yards.

Round and Round

This collage depicts the circularity of our lives. We spin round and round, and we teach our daughters as well. Upper left corner shows Carol M's work; next to her is Carol R's purple varigated singles and then my Alpaca/wool/ and bunny. Middle row left is Sue's blue and purple mohair spun on her Hitchhiker; next is Sandy's wool followed by Patty's neat wheel. The bottom row hosts Paula's electric spinner filled with some lovely plying; next is Phoebe knitting a sock followed by Paula helping Phoebe. What a challenging first project, Phoebe!!!!

Yes....the joy of Saturday's Spin In at Sue's......

Two Kinds of Joy

Well....this is my brandy new antique wheel!!!! I am so excited about it that I could scream. My dear niece's husband brought it over after I returned from Claudia's blogger get together Sunday. My nephew's father heard that I was a spinner and gave me the wheel!!! I'll have to find a flyer, bobbins and a whorl for it, but I still love it. I am just soooooo lucky.

The other joy this week is watching my Amaryllis bloom; it helps to cure the winter doldrums for me every year. My mom and I always start forcing bulbs every January and discuss their progress. This morning she told me that she already has three blooms while I have only two blooms.

What a Special Sunday

Who says the Internet has replaced face to face contact? Sunday was a testament to the chance to develop new communities because of the web. Thanks to Claudia, a gracious host, Judy and I were able to meet a number of knit bloggers and blogless folks, eat and share some knitters' lives.

So many blogs to read and so little time!!! I've visited with Cathy, Paula, Carole, Teresa.
I was able to touch Cathy's wonderful lavender and beaded cap as well as Teresa's swatches for Crossed in Translation. I also talked with Laurie who was wearing a beautiful aran cardigan made by her mother. I also met Stitchy and learned about the Boston Olympic Team. Colleen showed me her new swatch for a sweater she wants to make. I fell in love with Beth's Peace Fleece sweater.There were many other bloggers there, but I'm at a loss to list them all.

Stay tuned to my next post. I will have pics of my new antique wheel!!!!!

Another Day Ends

Sunset, January 19, 2006

Stashes

Here is a great use of my Stash and my camera. I took my first self-portrait successfully after 10 tries!!! This felted hat is knit in Peer Gynt yarn.


This morning I mosyed over to Laurie's blog and listened to her intelligently discuss the most emotional topic of all....that of stash size. This is the first I've heard of microstashing, but I like the concept. In fact I could divide my stash into microstashes and perhaps alleviate the guilt of owning so much fiber and yarn.

Let's see.....there is the fleece microstash hanging out in my garage mostly. This stash doesn't bother me as much since it's by its lonesome away from the twin towers of my real stash. Then there is my bin microstash....this contains rovings and yarns which are separated as to yarn weight. The last microstash is the most embarrassing...this is cones of yarn and other assorted yarns just thrown together in bags in much need of organization.

OOPS....I forgot the dining room corner...this area is the launch pad to the twin towers in the basement. When I buy new yarn or fiber, I park it briefly in the corner of the dining room. DH notices that the pile grows...when it gets too high and he complains, I move it to the basement....so I guess this is the birthplace of a microstash.

My DD has been causing me to add to the dining room corner. Look below and you can see I've caused the pile to grow higher with Paton's Classic Wool and Dalegarn Sisik...add to this she got me to buy more yarn today....EEKkkkkk.

A Collage of Knitting

It certainly has been a busy week! I went back to work after a holiday break. I also was thrilled to be back knitting at RI Handspun. As you can see we have been busy knitting up a storm.

The first row begins with Paula's ( aka the aran Queen) socks done in a lovely Border Leicester yarn. Next to Paula's sock is Rachel's scarf knitted in very even garter stitch tension using Cascade 220. I want some of this yarn...the purple and pink is lovely. The last of the row displays Patty's North Ronaldsday's yarn knitted into a Faroe shawl from The Best of Knitter's Magazine Shawls and Scarves . It is so soft to the touch...a lovely grey and blue.

The second row shows Barbara's glovettes knitted in dyed woolen yarn she purchased from Knitpicks. Then we have Carol R's Merino scarf and hand sewn wool lined jacket. Another view of it can be seen in row 3. The third in row two belongs to Sue....her tea cozy knitted in Anne's pattern is so sweet.She knit it in Plymouth's Galway.

The last row sports Carol R's Lucy bag soon to be felted. Next to that is my new purchase of Artyarns Merino. It is much like Koigu; it may be a small shawl.

A January Escape

Thanks to Cassie's post on Durrow I decided to make this marvelous sweater. Because Marisa played the Christmas Elf, R bought me some luscious Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed ( 85% wool, 10% silk, 5 % cashmere) from Webs. They still have more if you want it!!! It knits up nicely and feels warm and soft.

If you're feeling the January doldrums as I am wont to at this cold time of year check out Judith's blog for her post on seed catalogs that will remind us of the spring that's down the road. I'm starting to dream about all the daylilies I planted from the Foster Fair, a Rehoboth nursery and from Cathy's very own garden! Cathy, I should tell you that they took well when I planted them so I look forward to blooms.

Hey....check out some interesting Ribby's at the Chic Knits site. What a neat interpretation of a sweater for a baseball player!!

Gifts Revealed

Above are the felted mittens I made for Marisa for Christmas!!! They are so soft! Thanks to Carol M I decided to make these out of Garnstudio's wool and angora yarn. Marisa wore them for driving thanks to the Fiber Trends suede palms I bought at RI Handspun.

Here's the Kilmainham Scarf I made for John. The yarn and pattern are from Paula, who created this pattern after a trip to Ireland.