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!

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

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. :)

The Ups and Downs of Life

Well, it happened again.  Just when I thought everything was looking up and that life was turning around I found myself crashing back down and falling to pieces in the process.  There are parts of my job that I love, and there are other parts that are so toxic I block them from my mind whenever I am there.  My boss informed me on Friday that I had "not made the gains they had needed" and thus "I would not be recommended for a contract next year."  For the third year in a row I will be unemployed again at the start of summer.  The first time this happened I felt finding a new job teaching would be hopeless, but family and friends encouraged me to continue with my passion.  My coworkers were shocked that I was let go, so I must have been good enough for them to be surprised that I was "let go."  The second year I was dismissed due to budget cuts within the state and county which was based on my contract level for that year.  I was ready to go back to school and find a new career, surely two years in a row was saying something!  Again, coworkers from the new school encouraged me not to give up.  They felt I had a talent and I needed to be there, especially since they felt I was so good at what I did.  I was rehired at the same school that "let me go" last year and was having what I felt was a great year.  I could see my improvements.  I could see how I was growing within my profession and really having an impact on my students.  Unfortunately the administration did not agree and I have just under three months until I will begin searching again.  Although I knew this could happen, and with the toxic environment at my place of employment I considered quitting on my own, it still crushed me to be told I wasn't good enough for their standards.  I'm looking at the bright side, I'm focusing on things that make me happy and I promise not to babble on and on about my job hunt in the upcoming months.  If anyone has any suggestions for switching careers please do let me know!

Now for what you really came for... the yarn!

I finished something.  Can you guess what it is?

Pattern:  Wingspan
Yarn:  Handspun - Superwash Merino from Crown Mountain Farms
Comments:  I had 700 yards of this handspun and only used up approximately 401 yards to make this scarf/shawlette.  138 grams of yarn.

I LOVE this project!  I have some plans to make more scarves/shawlettes in handspun yarn because I do enjoy it so much!

Since I had so much yarn left, and Knitabulls is doing a Monster Madness March KAL I decided to cast on for a Dot the Dress Up Box Monster by Rebecca Danger.

May I present to you:  A Monster Butt.

Since taking this photo I have finished the main body of my monster and have come to a horrible stopping point.  I have no idea what to do for the contrast color that is needed for the eye patch and the ears.  I want to use handspun and would prefer to keep with Superwash Merino since that is what I have for the main body.  I do have a variety of CMF Superwash up in my stash so I may do some stash diving over the next few days and get your opinions.

Things like this make me wonder if people actually do read my blog.  I started this blog with the intention to help store and track my personal information for my own use.  I assumed that very few people actually read it; however, while watching The Knitting Game Podcast yesterday I thought to myself: "I love this podcast!  I really should remember to join their group!"  Not one minute after this thought occurred the lovely podcastor began going down her list of new members and mentioned my name.  Oh!  I did join!  Awesome!  Shortly after she began talking about how much she enjoyed my blog.  I died of shock.  Here I was convinced no one read my blog. ;)

Oh I have a yarn update too:

Yarn Out:  3954 g (7589 y)

Yarn Destashed:  376 g

Yarn In:  1013 g

Yards Spun:  1907 y

 

The finished scarf is added to my list as well as some "new" fiber that came to live with me yesterday.  I'll post some photos of the new fiber some point this week.

Just Plugging Away.

Work has been very busy as always and unfortunately I haven't been feeling well here myself.  Back in December they stopped making the medication I had been on for over 8 years, and it took three months before I realized the "new" medication just wasn't working at all.  After a miserable night last night I finally realized what the problem was and headed to the doctors this afternoon.  Hopefully she'll be able to find me something to substitute because I don't know how long I'll be able to deal with this!

Oh well, on to yarn talk!

My friend Dori came over on Saturday and we played with yarn.

281 yards, 100 grams of a two ply yarn, dyed by Dori and spun by me!  This took just a few hours to spin up and is sooo soft and squishy.  This was the second braid out of the fiber we dyed up the other weekend.

I'm really enjoying spinning up the stuff we dyed and I'm in LOVE with the new wheel.

I've been plugging away on a few larger projects lately, just trying to make a little dent in them.  One of them was the 12 ounces of alpaca fleece a friend sent me to spin up.  There is one skein all wound up that weighs about 3.5 ounces and my math tells me that if I can spin approximately 2 ounces each week I should be able to have this done before I go home to visit!

Finishing it before I head home means that I can deliver it back to it's owner in person.  Saves me about 6 bucks in shipping, but hey, I'll be spending a few hundred on gas just to get to and from home.  Plus I haven't seen this friend in over 2 years so it's a great excuse to meet up with her again.

Also in the past week I've been working my way through the wingspan shawl/scarf thingy.

I LOVE this handspun.  I've just started the second ball of handspun right around the start of the 6th triangle.  The second skein is a bit thicker than the first, so I think for future projects I'll be making a better effort to check my gauge more often to get a more consistent yarn.

I do love working with handspun!

Yarn Out:  3553 g (7452 y)

Yarn Destashed:  376 g

Yarn In:  913 g

Yards Spun:  1907 y

 

Had some more yarn destashed too!  Dori used up the rest of the Lincoln I purchased years ago at the Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet Festival.  Not bad fiber, just not fiber for me.  Also since the blue handspun is being gifted to her (since she dyed it) I have another 100 grams that disappeared from my stash!  It feels so good to declutter!

The Year of Berets?

I think this might become the year of Berets!  I said last Monday I hadn't even begun to think about my 12 Hats in 2012 hat for the month of February, but Thursday night I pulled some handspun out of the stash, and today I cast off on my newest hat!  Technically I guess this is the first hat I've ever finished for myself.

Pattern:  Spring Beret
Yarn:  Handspun from DragonFibers in Peachsicle
Comments:  Great Pattern, loved being able to use my handspun!  I knit the extra slouchy version and it was more of a "slouchy" hat.  Probably because my yarn wasn't the worlds most even worsted.  The yarn was about 8-9 wpi and is sooo smooshy.  It's a 80% Merino/20% Tussah blend and was a dream to spin!

I've been plugging away on the afgahn as well.  About 3 full days left in February and I may be able to finish my goals but it will definitely be close!  With work (and a now sick cat) I'm not sure the blanket will get finished but I sure am trying!

Stash Update!

Yarn Out:  1073g (2925y)

Yarn Destashed:  50 g

Yarn In:  913g

Yards Spun:  1285y

Finally some Photos

The first project was finished at the end of January; however, I didn't get around to blocking and taking photos until this past weekend.

Pattern:  198 yds. of Heaven
Yarn:  Bernat Handicrafter Cotton in Swimming Pool
Comments:  This was a great pattern, I used up some washcloth cotton I had in the stash and did an extra repeat of the body to use up more yarn and make it a little bigger. I may make more of these in other colors.  It would be great for handspun!

Also I showed you the Llama fiber I had been spinning up.  It's done! There is 8oz of handspun, 576 yards total.  Of course some of that yardage may disappear during washing, or maybe I'll get lucky and the yarn will grow during washing?

I love the colors of this and Llama is SO soft!  It will probably be a shawl or scarf, something that doesn't need to fit and will drape nicely.

Stash Update!

Yarn Out:  817g (2058y)

Yarn In:  0g (0y)

Yards Spun:  841y

The shawls yardage had already been added in since it was bound off for my last update, but the handspun is new!  Another 576 yards added to my handspun stash!  Lately when looking at my stash it feels as if it is shrinking quickly.  Part of me is sad to see the yarn disappearing fast, but another part of me is happy to see these things finally being knit with!  I have big plans for when my stash is gone, but you'll have to wait to see what happens. :)

February Goals:

• Knit my February Hat for 12 Hats in 2012
• Finish the Afghan started back in 2006
• Finish the Stripe Study Shawl
• Make some progress on my Candle Flame Shawl
• Buy NO yarn/fiber!

Happy Tuesday!

Wow, is it me or does this week seem to be dragging along just a little?

I seem to have lost my motivation at times.  I finished the socks and was thrilled to have one of my three major UFOs off of the needles, and encouraged by a Knit-A-Long I cast on a shawlette out of worsted weight yarn.  That flew along very quickly, but now that I'm "almost done" it's starting to drag just a bit.  Of course since it's a triangle shawlette it gets bigger and bigger with each row which means more stitches!

I am using stash, and it is part of my cotton stash, so I plan on using as much yarn as possible!  Yay for stash busting!

This leads me to the point of my post.  I like goals.  When the year started out I had several goals, and although I am still flying through my goals for 2012, I would like to set myself some mini-weekly or even monthly goals as the year progresses.  Why?  Because I need to feel like I'm accomplishing something!

Weekly Goals 1/23-1/29: (I plan on my weeks starting Monday mornings.)
-Finish the Washcloth
-Finish 198 yds. of Heaven
-Use up the rest of the first skein on the Candle Flame Shawl

Three goals, three projects, a good beginning.

Want to see what I'm spinning?

 

It's 100% Alpaca (I think...maybe Llama, I'll have to look.)  It's been a pain keeping Odis out of this fiber.  I have to keep it tied up even when I'm in the room and high on a shelf when I'm not.

Yarn Stash Revisited

It's December, and since New Years is just around the corner I decided to reorganize my stash and plan out my knitting goals for 2012.  I hit a bumpy start when I pulled out my yarn basket and as I began to organize it I ran into a few bugs.  Literally, evidence of carpet beetles.  Although I have been fortunate never to have any wool moths invade my stash, I have had carpet beetles.  Luckily the first time I found a few carpet beetles, they hadn't done any real damage to my yarn.  One little bit of roving was tossed and the rest of the stash was fine.  This time unfortunately there were a few casualties.  Two 50g skeins of knit picks memories that I had purchased years ago (it's no longer sold) had several holes chewed in them.  They immediately went into the trash along with some leftover Lisa Souza yarn that I had used when knitting a pair of socks years ago.  Overall it wasn't a huge loss, and I do still have tons of yarn left in my stash.  Although, taking photos of my yarn and roving today I realized I'm still missing a lot of fiber and yarn.  Things I know I haven't knit with, but have no idea where they are.  They aren't in my current house, so I'm assuming they're still back in my bedroom somewhere in Ohio.  Next trip home I'll dig through my stash and hopefully bring the rest of my supply home.  I miss my yarn.

This is the yarn stash currently living in my house with me.  Organizing it really made me realize just how much of my yarn I do not have.  Yes I have a lot, but there is quite a bit that is missing from this pile.  Sock yarn on the left, some cottons in the middle, and then on the right side there are some current works in progress and some leftover yarn from old projects that I plan on using in a fun scarf or something else.

My Roving stash is quite large too now that I take the time to go through it.  In the back left I have quite a bit of Crown Mountain Farms superwash merino that I plan on making some sock-hop yarn out of.  Once upon a time I used to spin sock hop for CMF so I do know how it is spun and I did horde it back when I used to spin for them.  There are my two Sheep2Shoe kits in the back, some louet fiber in the front which is just delicious, and several 8oz balls on the right side.  Of course, I have quite a bit of silk in the stash as well that I'll need to find something to do with.

Since I have quite a bit of roving I also have quite a bit of handspun in my stash as well.  It's kind of sad actually, I had forgotten I had the majority of this handspun.  I have a few ideas of projects I'm dying to make for myself, and my sister really likes some of the handspun I don't like, so she may get a scarf or shawl for herself.

Christmas Comes Early

Yes, it's that time of year again and this year I got my Christmas present a little early from the man in my life.  I jumped up and down, clapped my hands, and then did a little happy dance with the box.  I know, I'm way too easily excited.

Since I've recently got back into my fiber arts hobbies when he asked me what I wanted this year, my first response was "roving."  Of course, he isn't much of a yarn/fiber guy, so I did help him navigate through my favorite websites so that he knew what would be good to get.  Of course he got to pick out the colors, and ooooh he did so good this year.

Not one... but TWO Sheep 2 Shoe kits from Blue Moon Fiber Arts.  I've never gotten one of these before, so I was excited at the thought he may get me a kit for Christmas, I never actually thought he would get me two of them!  The color on the left is called Cattywampus and on the right is Dragon Dance.  My goal is to spin these with the directions included in the kit, a 3 ply yarn.  Only problem is my typical yarn I spin is 2 ply, one reason being because all my extra bobbins still live in Ohio.  Luckily for me, my mother is coming down to visit next week and bringing the rest of my roving stash down with her, and hopefully my other spinning heel (and lazy kate) with her!  So, I have two options, either spin it as a 2-ply or wait until she brings the lazy kate so that I can do a 3 ply for this stunning roving.  I do have plenty of other yarn and fiber to keep me entertained until next week.

Of course, I also have my 2 other Works in Progress laying around the house should I finish the  handspun scarf and need something to work on.

Speaking of the handspun scarf, I've made some progress over the last week or so since I've posted.  I've spent a lot of time lately listening to podcasts, and nothing better than mindless knitting while listening to podcasts or chatting with friends online.  Life is definitely good.



I'm definitely past the halfway point as far as yarn is concerned.  I plan on knitting until I run out of handspun, and then blocking it out.  Hopefully I'll finish with it tonight assuming my new kitty will let me knit.

On Saturday we went down to the local SPCA and I brought home one little bundle of love.  Nothing better than a cat that wants to be in your lap or at your side 24/7.  Even when I'm sleeping at night he feels the need to be either on top of me, right next to me, or under the covers with me.  It really is adorable.  My older cat is definitely not this snuggly, so I'm enjoying the little guy being around.

I think I'll leave you with a picture of the little guy before I get back to work on the scarf. ;)