More for Monday!

Happy Monday everyone! It's going to be a long week and I can feel it already, so I plan on making this a very quick post!

I mentioned some spinning yesterday, and there was a lot done while I was off for spring break!

The first thing to dive onto the wheel was some buffalo I pulled out of my Ohio Fiber Stash

 

Approximately 200 yards of buffalo blend in a heavy worsted/bulky 2ply yarn. LOVE this fiber!

Approximately 420 yards of a sock weight/fingering 2 ply from an unknown breed of sheep. Not the softest but hopefully it will soften up when washed.

I haven't washed these yet, but I am sooo enjoying spinning lately.

Of course with all these finished objects I have a bunch of yarn that has left the stash and some that has joined the stash. As much as I had to fight with photos tonight on blogger I think I'll have to save the new stash for a future post.

Stash Update!

Yarn Out:  4352 g (8716 y)

Yarn Destashed:  376 g

Yarn In:  2648 g

Yards Spun:  3248 y

Busy, Busy, Busy...

This past week I've been on Spring Break. For a whole week I didn't have to go to work, so I drove over 600 miles to rescue the remaining yarn stash and my pattern collection from my parent's house in Ohio. I've also gotten a large amount of knitting done on my works in progress while I was at home, gave Dot the Monster a mouth so she could talk to me, and have even started some new things as well.

In fact, I've gotten so much accomplished that I'm going to have to divide up last week's progress into two or three posts.  We'll see. I wanted to do nothing but knit while in Ohio on Vacation, but that may have been the 40 degree weather they were experiencing.  It was much nicer to knit in than the 8-+ degree weather we are having here in SC right now.

I finished 2 projects on Easter day.

The first was a pair of socks that I started at the end of January.

Pattern: Nanner Socks by Wendy Johnson
Yarn: Lime & Violet Sasquatch Super Sock in Just Ripe Nanners
Comments: I bought the yarn for these AGES ago back when I first started wasting all of my free time on Plurk.  I'm not even sure when the last time was that Lime & Violet were doing yarn, but I know this has been in my stash for ages.  So glad to have them done, kinda sad that I didn't make them just a smidge longer.  I have fat feet and always will, so I need to remember to make them just a bit longer so that I can actually wear them! These fit. Pull, tug and cram them onto your feet type of fit. Since yellow really isn't a color of mine (and I found 3 pairs of knit socks when cleaning my bedroom in Ohio) I decided to gift these to my little sister.  She has smaller feet than me, so she'll definitely be able to wear them.

After casting off the Nanner socks I immediately picked up the worsted wingspan I was working on and finished that off in less than 2 hours.

Pattern: Wingspan
Yarn: Bernat Mosaic in Waterfall
Comments: This was a great yarn for the price.  I picked it up when it was 40% off at A.C. Moore and had to do some ripping at the beginning when I messed it up.  I ripped the beginning out three times and the yarn still looks amazing!

I still love this pattern, especially with gradient and self stripping yarns. This shawl will be going to a friend in the future and I may make more for gifts because it's soooo quick and easy to knit!

Before leaving Ohio my mom picked up some felt for me so that we could give Dot the Monster a mouth.

Pattern: Dot the Dress Up Box Monster
Yarn: Handspun
Comments: Oh how I love handspun yarn. I used a superwash merino for the body (leftovers from another project) and less than 4 grams of a merino/silk blend for the ears and little eye patch. LOVE this monster! I definitely need to work on my seaming skills however.

At the beginning of this month I decided to knit up a pair of socks as part of a Knit-A-Long for the Knitting in Circles podcast.  It was a 56 stitch sock so it knit up SUPER FAST and as an added bonus it actually FIT Fiance's feet!  He now has a brand new pair of socks in boy colors for him to wear.  This I believe is his second pair of socks (the first pair was the Pomatomus Pattern that I knit AGES ago for him.)

Pattern: Crocodile Rock
Yarn: Knit Picks Felici Sport in Ecology
Comments: This was such a fast knit!  I cast them off last night (April 14th) so it was less than two weeks with one and a half socks knit in the last week alone! I absolutely love knitting socks out of sport weight.  I think I'll be buying some more and knitting a few more pairs for myself. Especially since sport weight socks means I can make socks that fit me with normal patterns!


A lot of finished projects huh?

Since I'm in a typing kinda mood I think I'll keep on going and make this one epic post!

If you remember, at the very end of March I wrote a post that said "I need to knit my March hat for the 12 hats in 2012 thing!" We'll I knit a hat!  I stash dove, I mixed and matched up a bunch of old cotton yarn in the stash and knit a hat that I am quite in love with!  I knit it up before March ended and yet I never got around to blogging!

For some reason I was on such a knitting/spinning high I never bothered to blog because it took away time from playing with fiber!

Wanna see the hat?

Pattern: Grace Lace Beret
Yarn: TLC Cotton Scraps
Comments: I knit this up with some blue and green cotton scraps I had in the stash for years now.  I used about 70 grams to make up this hat and since I have tons left I will be making a matching scarf to go with it!  Note to self: Start the scarf before you forget.

As far as works in progress go, as of this morning I have only ONE project on the needles!  Just one!  I made quite a bit of progress on that shawl as well while I was on.

I bought some of the little markers to use to keep myself motivated while working on larger projects. It helps me to feel like I'm accomplishing something because I can see how much I've knit up! From the marker to the end was the amount I knit while on Spring Break. Hopefully we'll see much more progress by the end of this coming week. :)

I've got a bunch of spinning to show and of course a stash update, but I think I will save those for tomorrow.  I hope you all have a great week! Happy knitting!

The Alpaca that Ended!

Remembe that alpaca that I was spinning like crazy? I actually managed to finish it before the end of March! Only problem was I had to wash it four times and it spent almost three days drying. I'm sure it could still be cleaner, but its a lot bette than it was when I got it! In total I got 712 yards from 306 grams. That is the total yardage after washing. I did lose some of the weight during washing... That dirt and dust must have beem heavy!

I'm meeting up with the friend who sent it to me tonight at Starbucks and I can't wait!

Mouthless Monster

Well, the monster is almost finished! Two ears, two eyes, just in need of a little mouth. I'm currently in Ohio visiting my family for Easter, so until I get home any posts you read will be coming to you from my tablet. Because I suck at typing on this. It means posts will likely be short!

Luscious Lace!

I love Lace.  Lately since Spring has sprung and Summer is just around the corner I have been working away on a shawl that has been languishing in my WIPs for far far to long.

Well I mentioned last night I had something new off the bobbin and it took me ages to ply and wind it into a skein.  I was actually surprised at just how long I spent skeining this yarn!  The only good thing about it taking so long, is that it must mean I had a ton of yardage right?

The answers is yes.  This has to be one of my largest skeins I've spun to date!  588 yards of two-ply yarn and it only weighs 3.5 ounces (100 grams).  It's some serious yarn love.  What will I make?  That is yet to be determined, but I have a lot of yards to play with that's for sure!

Yarn Out:  3954 g (7589 y)

Yarn Destashed:  376 g

Yarn In:  2648 g

Yards Spun:  2495 y

Just Keep Spinning...

The end of the alpaca is in sight!  After what feels like ages I am down to less than 3 ounces of fiber left.  At the start of March I set a goal hoping to have it done by the end of the month.  It definitely looks like I'll be able to finish it and have plenty of time to wash it before hauling it off with me to Ohio.

I'm spinning up the singles on my Ashford Joy and then plying on the Majacraft Suzie Pro.  It's so nice that two Ashford bobbins will fit onto one Majacraft bobbin.  Makes plying soooo easy.

Speaking of plying, I've finished up the merino and nylon blend that I was spinning up on the Majacraft.  It's so thin I lost count a few times while trying to add up my yardage.  I have a ton of work to do yet tonight for my job so I'll be counting that again tomorrow when I get a chance to take photos.

It definitely looks like it will be between a lace and fingering weight so I'm hoping for a ton of yardage.  Whether I'll knit it up, or sell the handspun I've yet to decide, but it would make a gorgeous triangle shawl.

Since it's a new quarter at school I am on another goal setting mission in hopes of making the fourth quarter even better than the third.  I've also been on a mission to organize life at home in a bit of a spring cleaning effort.  Well this has rolled over into my fiber hobbies as well.  Although before I've been setting monthly goals, since I'm blogging a few times a week I decided to set a few weekly goals as well.  Ready to see what I'm hoping to finish this week?

Goals for the Week:

• Finish the Alpaca
• Knit a Hat
• Complete one repeat of the Shawl
• Finish the Monster!

I love goals. :)

I swear I haven't bought anything!

Last week I said I place an order with Knit Picks due to some "work stress" I have been dealing with lately, and it arrived on Friday!  It was a big increase to the stash as 18 balls of yarn came to live with me.  Each of those weighed in at 50 grams.  Want to see the sock yarn?

I have a think for self-striping yarn and I will not deny it!  These were fairly cheap, and sooo soo pretty!  Plus it allowed me to get free shipping on my order and you can bet I'm a sucker for free.

Of course, seeing as how I have a new best friend who loves to crochet, we decided to meet up on Friday and take a little adventure out to the yarn shop in Summerville, SC.  We went.  I bought.  I figured since I had been buying so much at the big box craft stores and online it was time to show some love to my local yarn shop as well.

It was the first time I had stepped foot in there and I was not disappointed.  My ideal store would have excessive amounts of trekking and regia, but that's just my silly little preferences.  This store did have some stunning sock yarns and I might have come home with two of them.

I loved the colors in this yarn.  It was bright, pretty and will make a fabulous scarf for next fall.  It says "sock" but I've never been a huge fan of socks made out of singles.  Now, I do love sock weight yarn, and singles make fabulous scarves and shawls, so the yarn definitely has a plan in mind!

Since my current obsession is actual socks, I decided that I needed some "real" sock yarn as well!  Aka, yarn that I will knit and wear as often as possible.

I loooved these colors.  In real life it's a bit more purply, but of course that doesn't show up the best with my camera, especially since it's been overcast today with a bit of rain.

So yes... 1100 grams of yarn came into my stash on Friday. For those of you keeping track that is almost 2.5 pounds.

Since so much has been coming in, I do have some plans for things to be leaving, but that will be coming more in the future.  As some stash leaves, more will come in, and hopefully leave again shortly after.  But for this you will have to wait and see. :)

Yarn Out:  3954 g (7589 y)

Yarn Destashed:  376 g

Yarn In:  2648 g

Yards Spun:  1907 y

 

I do think it's funny.  Even with all of the yarn purchases this year I still have used up a good bit more than I've bought.  Guess when you look at it that way it isn't too bad. :)