love at first spin

last friday was my birthday, so i decided to take the day off from blogging. what was that you asked? what was my excuse all the other times? uh... er...

moving right along...

weekly wrap-up/finished object(s) current projects
on the needles
i'm still plugging away on my shawl :) and making lots of progress! yay!!! more exclamation points!!!!!!!!!!!

no casualties to report. you don't understand how happy i am to say that. i'm on my 5th set of pattern repeats (repeating the pattern 5x now), and planning on working the repeats to 6 or 7 before i start the "edge" chart. let me tell you, the edge chart looks like i will need to take my eyeballs out and rinse them in a strong vodka tonic w/ an extra lime solution. anyway... i'm not even going to worry myself over that madness right now. just focusing on the task at hand!

i've also started another shawl. i know right, what the hell?! the pattern is called the age of brass and steam kerchief (free!). i went stash diving (seriously, i love that term. thanks stash and burn!) and i'm using madelinetosh (of course) merino dk (of course). the colorway is named "norway spruce"... so picture the needles of the deepest, darkest conifer tree you can imagine and you won't be far off on the color of this beautiful yarn.

let me digress really quick... still on topic though. ok. when i first started knitting, i could not wrap my head around the price tag on some of the yarns i was encountering. sometimes i still can't, but at least now i understand a little better. quality can be expensive.

when i visited yarn shops, my inner commentary would always scream, "$30 for an itty bitty skein of yarn?! like... for real, for real?!" eventually i broke down, because the colors i was coveting were coming from the more high end yarn companies. i started enhancing the stash slowly with malabrigo (which is quite the affordable luxury!) and then jumped right into madelinetosh. talk about 0 to 165 mph! i have nothing but wonderful words to share about madelinetosh yarns. even if my skein of yarn was filled with knots and joined in weird places, it would be worth it because after i untangled that mess, i'd still be 100% satisfied with the color of the yarn and whatever i knit it into! and i'd actually wear it! if you are like me and love deep, saturated jewel tones, you will absolutely love everything this company has to offer. the way i alleviate the sting of the price tag is by buying single skeins. simple, right? the yardage is pretty decent on a lot of the yarn - for about $20 i got 400 yds from the tosh merino light, and i'll eventually have a nice-sized shawl. single skeins are just fine for the types of projects i usually like to knit: instant gratification, hats, scarves, socks, and now shawls!

on the flipside... i am now understanding the importance of purchasing yarn that you love. no sense in skimping and being unhappy with the finished product. if the budget is not there, then wait until it is. the yarn is not going anywhere! and sometimes, you may luck out and find it on ravely on a destash page or "for sale/trade" for much cheaper than the retail price. although i may not be at the point of purchasing sweater quality of high end yarn (i can't swallow dropping $200 in one sitting for the same item!)... once i've proven to myself that i can finish a sweater, i will save up and splurge on something really lovely :)

speaking of finishing up sweaters... let me say, i did attempt this last week and failed miserably!

on the spinning wheel
working on bobbin 3 of my hubbies handspun socks! almost there!!!

with the way the panda blend is spinning... it's feeling like i'm probably going to have light fingering weight yarn when it's all said and done. my husbear better appreciate all this damn work or he will be spending the rest of the week laid up in a hospital bed! tour de fleece almost killed off my spinning mojo and spinning for someone else is really pushing me over the brink of insanity! i have all this gorgeous fiber waiting to be spun into something lovely, but noooooo i'm trying to be disciplined and take care of obligations. how virtuous. :P

so as i mentioned above... while this is what i was supposed to be working on on my birthday...

the idea was to wind my handspun up so i could get started on a new project (a very long cowl for the colder months ahead) and then to start finishing up my 2-yr sweater. instead, i got distracted by a new friend.

on the spindle(s)
say what?! you read that right, sucka! a new segment and yup... i've been bitten again.

probably in response to having the itch to purchase a new wheel. another spinning wheel is quite the investment - $$$$ - but while i'm saving up... i can totally swing a nice spindle. or two... you know, for my birthday and stuff ;)

and what better way to use up all these lovely fiber samples from corgi hill farm!

so here is spindle one. spinning a little bit of wensleydale here.

this is a bosworth mini spindle. if i can remember correctly, i think it is about 1.2 oz. the wood is bocote and the shaft is rosewood. the customer service was on point! quick and effortless. i received my spindle in no more than about 3 days from the time i ordered it, and i had it in my hands on my birthday! my first response when i opened my package was "dammit... should've ordered a darker shaft" hahahaaa. ehhhh. aesthetically the rosewood is "off" to me.  it doesn't effect how smooth and fast this spindle spins, so who cares. i'll pipe down about that one ;) i don't remember spindle spinning being this effortless. for some reason, it was like riding a bicycle. it is however, still slow as hell as i remember! ;) but now it is a lot more enjoyable and relaxing.

this is my first time spinning wensleydale, and i will say... i had many preconceived notions of how i thought it would be. it seriously reminds me of really overprocessed people hair on a baaaaadddd day. or like straw. eugh. maybe that is a bad description, but longwools always feel like they could use a good soak in some pantene pro-v. to my surprise, when i spun the wensleydale it was smooth, silky, easy to draft so long as i kept my hands about 5" apart and it had quite a lovely sheen. it really wanted to spin itself fine on the spindle, so i let it have its way. the moral of the story... never judge before sampling!

i'm glad that i had a small sample of wensleydale to test out, because i bought a 4 oz bag of some dyed wensleydale a couple months ago to play with. couldn't resist the combination of jewel tones and fall colors *sigh* it's good to know that it won't give me too much trouble. what i'm going to do is knit a swatch from a single and then knit a swatch from 2-ply to see what that looks and feels like. wait... hold up. am i actually contemplating doing something more "technical"??? taking my spinning to the next level? i seriously must have lost my mind. what the hell is in the milk over here?

anyway,  i wouldn't call wensleydale "next-to-skin" soft, as i'm sure you've heard ad naseum from others, but i know some people's threshold for scratchier yarns is pretty high. so i'll play it by swatch ;) i'm not sure what i'd like to knit my wensleydale into, so a few small swatches seem to be the way to go before i get too excited about knitting it into a bra and underwear set. maybe... socks?

ok. and now, spindle two! the real birthday spindle, with an unknown fiber (probably merino).

so this lovely, lovely, lovely piece of art is from the spanish peacock. it is a russian lace support spindle in macassar ebony. i'm a sucker for dark woods, what can i say? again, i must have lost my damn mind when i purchased this gorgeous spindle. i mean... what the hell am i gonna do with a spindle without a hook on it?! but i also happen to be a sucker for really well done woodworking.

mr. peacock is quite the artisan. his spindles are beautifully crafted, beautifully polished and i have heard nothing but rave reviews about the quality of his products. many satisfied customers! when i first saw some of his work on flickr, ravelry and then on his website it took me a few minutes to wrap my head around how the hell to use a spindle w/out a hook, let alone supported on a bowl. that opened up a can of worms, and now that i've been made aware... i won't be able to put those bad boys back in the can! *sigh* curiosity killed the cat, right? hahahahaaaa

so i picked up a couple of wooden kitchen prep bowls from cost plus (rather than shelling out additional money for a matching hand-turned bowl... i splurge, but not that much!). i will share photos of my first spin on the russian support spindle on the next post! but i already played around with it, and i can tell you it is fun!!!

helpful links
this post is getting a little long, so i'm going to cut it short. i'll have a dog piece for the next time :)

youtube
for additional support on spinning with supported spindles (be it russian or tibetan, there are a number of different types out there...) the "fleegle" youtube videos are pretty fantastic. i think they are what pushed me over the edge, because after seeing the videos... she had me believing i could spin this way!

russian lace support spindle video here!
tibetan supported spindle video here!


and a really quick review...

books
yup. i'm late to the party per usual. not too late as this book was released sometime in june.

i just got wind of the fleece & fiber sourcebook, and i've had the chance to play catch up and read through this book for the past couple of weeks and this book is extensive. and hardback. and heavy. read that as... not good for bedtime reading. i've mentioned this before, but this is not the way you want to count sheep (aka... dropping a heavy, hardback on your noggin).

in terms of the breakdown of the book, i'm sure many have already heard the glowing podcast reviews, so i won't bore you too much with every detail. i will say that the book is broken down into two chapters. the first is on sheep: blackfaced mountain family, cheviot family, dorset group, english longwool family (which has many familiar faces including bluefaced leicester and a new to me buddy wensleydale), the feral group and the very well-known and coveted merino family, to name a few of the sections. chapter two discusses the "other" species like goats, goat crosses (think cashgora, pygora), camelids, bison, yak, etc.

there are tons of beautiful photos of almost every fiber spoken about in the book - raw, cleaned, spun/plied, a knitted swatch and different colors of each fiber. i learned lots of new information as i jumped around in the book to read more info on some of my favorite breeds: who knew polwarth also came in brown and black! i sure didn't. thanks for the education. this is a great addition to any spinning library. such a wonderful reference book. i'll probably get back to pulling info from my books again, to add a little a bit of depth and a technical aspect into the mix when i am talking about spinning. i'm sure you'd like a little more than my "cool," "awesome," "easy breezy" and "spins like butter" descriptions of fibers ;)  although in my head, that is pretty technical.

so now a gripe. i was annoyed at the source section. you know... the section at the back of the book where you hope to find really great website links or phone numbers so you can contact vendors for stash enhancement? well, when i flipped to this section i was met by a "many have websites, and a Google search will take you to them." *side eye* what the hell is that? how about you give me the @#$%ing links! why the hell do you think i bought the book? to not do extra work! ugh. i can't stand that. you can tell lots of research and thoughtful work went into this book, so it's a little disappointing that the source section couldn't be just as well-prepared and thoughtful. the other irritating bit about the source section (and then i'll shut up) is that it is essentially just a list like "jamie from blah, blah, blah farms". my critique would be to actually tell the reader what the hell the farm is, as in polwarth from such and such farm, you feel me? this stuff isn't even mentioned on the actual breed page either from what i've seen, so basically, you would have to google every name listed to find what you want. and with my luck, after i google search all 100+ of these farms, the one i'm looking for is somewhere close to the damn end! pretty disappointing. again, why fall off on something so simple. honestly, the "do a google search" disclaimer is lazy. ugh!

there may be more of a review of this book once i've used it a few times, but for now, i think that is enough for your poor brains to process. all in all i think it's a great resource, and it's about $20 for a hardback, so you won't be in the hole too much if you decide to purchase this! i think it's totally worth it. so despite my b.s. rant about sources (kind of a pet peeve of mine, if you couldn't tell), this is a great buy!

until next time!
p.s. please excuse typos. you get what i'm trying to say! lol :D

progress!

weekly wrap-up/finished object(s) current projects
on/off the needles
believe it or not, there is one for each category!

off the needles is my "portland" hat. it's not blocked, but it's finished - ends weaved in and everything. i'm looking for a mannequin head to block this hat out properly; open up the lace pattern. until then, we wait.

and this is what it looks like on. the fit came out perfectly. just the perfect amount of tightness around the brim and again, once it's blocked and the lace pattern is opened up, i think the top will be a bit more slouchy like i like it :) i'm happy with the yarn - madelinetosh worsted in "sequoia" - and the easy, breezy pattern!

here is my new project: my first shawl!

i am using the free "springtime bandit" pattern by kate gagnon osborn. the skill level marked on the pattern is medium (2 out of 4 difficulty rating), and initially i wasn't sure i was ready for chart reading, but after hours of fumbling and false starts (talk about a learning curve!), i think i am well on my way to my first shawl.

the lovely yarn i am using is madelinetosh merino light in the colorway "candlewick." this yarn does happen to be singles which i typically avoid at all costs, but the color sucked me in and i am weak for saturated jewel tones. it's knitting up just fine, albeit, a little fuzzy as you would expect from a single ply yarn. i've managed to finally get through the first repeat of the "body chart"... *sigh*  and i should have about 5-6 more to go, based on the recommendation of other fellow ravelry knitters who have used this same yarn.

since i have declared myself a born again monogamous knitter, i should be able to make decent progress on this shawl, so i expect to have something lovely to share with you all next week! :)

odds & ends
in this edition of the schnauzer life, let me introduce these photos as "let sleeping dogs lie..."

little miss riley getting her snooze on

mr. tinsley, really showing us all the proper way to relax. with one ear up!

what i love this week
i'm a little late to the game, but i have fallen in love with this new to me podcast, the spindoctor podcast. this podcast is for handspinners, and it's filled with reviews on spinning tools, equipment, techniques, fiber, all the above. i'm finding it very interesting, informative, and all together really enjoyable to listen to. from my understanding the podcaster, thecraftyrabbit, started off as a new spinner.

what i really like is that she is not claiming to be an expert, but she is allowing her audience to follow her through her spinning journey, as well as taking the time to do her own personal research (reading, testing products, taking classes) to boost her knowledge and skill set, all the while freely sharing her impressions with her listeners. the podcast is really well done and it is right on time for me as i am at the point where i am ready to take my spinning to the next level.

anyway, it's a very easy, breezy podcast chock-full of great information for handspinners. so if this is your thing, go check it out and support it! oh, and be sure to check out all the lovely pictures on her blog!

until next time folks!
love and light :)

-- untitled (again) --

welcome back...
i've been expecting you ;) i've been on a much needed break since my last challenge. i have been keeping busy in hobby land but all that spinning had a sister wiped out.

[[weekly wrap-up/finished object(s) current projects]]
on the needles
now that tour de fleece is wrapped up, i am continuing to plug away, albeit slowly, on my portland hat. here is your refresher:

i have about... i'd say 2 or 3 repeats left on it, and then i can start decreasing. i've made a ton of mistakes - talking and/or listening to conversation while knitting is not my thing), but they are well-loved mistakes that i will leave alone, because they don't effect the overall look of the hat. and it is a hat after all ;)

i'm itching to get started on a new project, and here is the kicker - i'm looking at shawls. i mentioned this on the last blog, so ignore this part if you read it already, but shawls always looked and seemed so matronly to me. as of recent i've seen knitted shawls being worn in a different, more current, more "hip" way - as a kerchief. i already wear kerchiefs as accessories, so knitting one with lovely yarn is a natural progression. this i can swing. the hard part is stash diving and finding the "right" yarn, for the "right" shawl. right is in parenthesis because that is relative and really will depend on the mood i am in on the day i am picking yarn and patterns ;) i could always use handspun...

on/off the spinning wheel
today i finished plying my last tour de fleece yarn - 5.4 oz of polwarth. it's a 3-ply yarn of which i managed to spin a whopping 368 yds out of. my new yardage record! i haven't checked the wpi, but it feels like it's fingering to light fingering weight. this yarn is currently drying, but i took a few glamour shots of it before i gave it the spa treatment.

now that my wheel is currently unoccupied, i cleaned it up/dusted it off and now it's ready to finish spinning the other 2 plies for the husbears 3-ply socks. if you remember (you probably don't) i spun 1.3 or so ounces of "panda" blend (merino/bamboo/nylon) from fatcatknits at the end of tour de fleece to hit my goal of spinning 1 pound of fiber. well... i almost hit the goal. in fact i spun 15.7 ounces! :O say what?! i know... crazy. the even crazier thing is my total yardage in singles was a touch over 1 mile. that is re-damn-diculous! anywho... here is that bobbin i spun on the last day of the tour, and next to it is a before shot of the fiber.

this was my first time spinning panda blend, and i wasn't sure if it was going to do me wrong, and just leave me all kinds of frustrated. surprisingly it didn't. this blend is super soft and silky, practically drafted itself (come to think of it, i just had a bit of a deja vu moment... so maybe i wrote these exact phrases on my last post? oh well... i'm keeping it!), and all together this blend was really enjoyable to spin. it gave me no problems at all (it spun like other slick fibers i love to spin) other than it shedding all over the place. i had a pile of fluff left on my legs and shirt. this stuff shed like a mofo! and if you only knew how much i can't stand hair being all over the place... just take my word for it. the dogs are lucky they are cute and a non-shedding breed because they would've gotten the boot a long time ago if they weren't ;)

and last in the spinning section, here is my little collection of usable handspun. usable meaning decent yardage - over 150 yds - and not chunky, lumpy and funky. this is the only yarn i keep outside of a plastic bag or plastic storage bin, because it's lovely and i am very proud of it, so of course, i must keep it on display so i can look at it and appreciate the work it took me to get to the point of usable yarn, and also to possibly inspire me to knit with it :)

there are 5 nice skeins here. basket is overflowing, so it is time to knit!

[[odds & ends]]
what i love this week
a clean crafting room.
something about decluttering that makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.

so, i spent a few hours out of the weekend doing some much needed summer cleaning and organizing (i tend to do this each season) because my workspace gets cluttered fast. as i mentioned many months ago, i store most of my fiber stuff in see-through plastic storage bins and shelving systems. it's easy for me to keep things organized and tidy, but it still allows me to see my "stuff" rather than hide it. there is no shame in my game, so there is no need to hide a thing. i also like the see-through bins because i am able to add splashes of color to my craft room, without actually having to have the "stuff" sitting out on the table. anywho... so yeah, my table top gets cleaned regularly because as my husband likes to remind me, i am a stacker. if there is an empty, flat surface, i will stack my "stuff" right on top of it :D in organized piles of course, but nonetheless stacked.

to make this post longer than it really needs to be, through all the sorting, tossing things into the trash (i purge hard when i clean), stuffing donation boxes with items i no longer use, and removing visual clutter, i stumbled upon my first attempt at a sweater, carefully wrapped in its own box.

this sweater, even though you can't see the entire thing, was the makings of a seed stitch, v-neck, slouchy debbie bliss sweater with a chunky cable down the center front, in a very heavy, chunky weight yarn.

get a load of those lovely rosewood needles. probably size us 13. 

i haven't touched this sweater since the time i started knitting it - which i'm sure was fall 2008 - and the yarn is really quite lovely - a deep mossy green - and was pricey at the time for the amount of yardage/weight on the skein. so i am doing what any crafter who hates to waste the good stuff would do. i am frogging this bad boy! perfect knit night project.

i managed to keep my ufo/wip's (unfinished objects/works in progress, that is) consolidated to one single market basket as of my last hard purging session. it is still under control, as much as i've been having the urge to start new projects. i'm trying to discipline myself, and be a predominantly monogamous knitter. i work best like this anyway, as i really don't find multitasking with my hobbies efficient for me. the rule with the ufo/wip basket is, i can only work on what can fit in the basket. this usually ends up being about 5 projects. so far there is a hat for the husbear, a couple of swatches for a sweater, a half-started shawl for my mom which i more than likely won't even bother with right now and an almost finished cotton baby sweater. other items i am currently working on are in my knitting basket which i carry with me from room-to-room and outside for quick access. only 2 items and spinning fiber in there ;)

ufo/wip basket - this is one of the baskets from black sheep gathering. perfect use for this!

what other photos do i have to unload...
oh, here are some dog shots (you know you love them). a couple of weeks ago it was blazing in the house, so i cranked the fan up on high because i was trying to hold out on turning on the a/c... of course the dogs quickly got up from being puddles on the floor and allowed me to take photos of their silliness. enjoy!

and my favorite from this batch:

mr. tinsley is so silly :D

tour de fleece week 2 wrap up

short and sweet.
week 2 was technically on the 16th, but i didn't have anything cool ready to share!

so far i have 2 yarns completely finished (below). i am currently working on 5.4 oz of polwarth right now and i hope i can get to these 4 oz of panda blend (sw merino/bamboo/nylon) for some handspun socks for the d.h. the panda blend is also so i can reach my goal of spinning 1 pound of fiber from my stash. i have 6 days to complete this final 7-ish ounces of fiber (tour ends on the 24th, i think/hope), and i am running out of steam!

this is what i have so far (with before and afters):

5 oz of corgi hill farm merino/silk in "byzantine coin"

singles:

navajo plied. 272 yds, fingering weight.
love the retro colors. this really needs to be a shawl. i think i'll be biting the bullet and making a shawl now!

4 oz of corgi hill farm bfl in "tide pool"

2 bobbins of singles (lovely!):

and plied. i don't know why all of a sudden i'm spinning fingering weight. not that there is anything wrong with that... but my default/preference is dk, as it is versatile, lightweight enough for the styles i like to wear, and i have a zillion patterns set aside for this weight of yarn. anyway... this needs to be a shawl as well ;) and when i say shawl, i'm not talking about a granny/matronly style of shawl. i'm talking about something that is hip, young and stylish which is worn more like a kerchief (a triangular piece of fabric that is tied at 2 of the tips and worn slouchy in the front of your neck) and used to add color to a mundane outfit or as an accessory. any of the styles here is exactly what i'm talking about in terms of how you'd style a kerchief (or scarf as u.o. is calling them) and wear stylishly.

i managed to finish up a little knitting last week. a colleague of mine's daughter's, hrmm... how can i word that better because that really makes no sense... ok, the daughter of an old colleague of mine (redundant?) recently had a baby girl (this works for me, so keeping it!), so of course i had to make a small item for her! ok, that was better. here is her hat!

they loved it (they better have) and this was just the type of project i needed to work on. the nice thing about gifting knitted items to people that knit is because they genuinely appreciate it. they know and understand the time and effort it takes to put something as simple as a hat together. they understand this to be a labor of love.  i think this hat took me about 2 hrs total to complete. i didn't work on it monogamously, of course, but when i did i really blew threw it. love instant gratification projects! this is a free pattern and is appropriately named "jester hat." the link is here!

other than that... that is about it. i'm still working on my "portland" hat. i managed to get a few rows in on that yesterday as my husband drove us to a gm classic car show. i won't post photos of that, but trust me... the cars were amazing! my husband is convinced that in the near future we will be trading our "modern" cars in for classic cars. talk about crap gas mileage. ha! i'll never say never, so we'll see.

until next time...

tour de fleece recap, week 1

tour de france started on july 2.

for the readers out there in the world of fiber arts (also hanging out on ravelry), you know what that means: it's tour de fleece time! the tour runs from july 2-24, which means everyone participating in the challenge has 22 days to reach their goals, whatever they may be.

this is my first year participating, and i am doing so with 3 teams: team rookies, team lendrum and team corgi!

my goals are humble: a mere spinning 1 hr a day. and here is the stash i've set aside for my spinning pleasure.

and a detailed shot below:

fiber from left-to-right: corgi hill farm (chf) merino/silk, chf merino/silk, chf polwarth, fatcatknits panda, crown mountain farms (cmf) sw merino, cmf targhee

these are the braids of fiber i've set aside. it could change at any moment. i'm basically going to grab whatever looks good the day of. i'm aiming for bright, happy colors. and these yarns will more than likely be dominated by 3-plys (traditional and navajo).

so now on to the good stuff. how did i do my first week? well... a picture (or 2) is worth a thousand words.this is week 1's wrap up of my progress (nothing "finished" but almost there):

BFL from Corgi Hill Farm:

merino/Silk from Corgi Hill Farm:

i've started navajo plying the above bobbin. this yarn should be finished some time this week! yay!

and also as promised from the last blog... here is my vacation project. i've been trying to just focus on tour de fleece, but i like to keep my hands busy and this project is begging me to keep working on it.

this is "castiel" by woolly wormhead (find it here). i named mine "portland" and my progress on it can be seen on the right side bar (under the tour de fleece project). it's a very quick knit consisting of a 4-row lace pattern repeat. i'm using madeline tosh worsted (now tosh dk) in the colorway "sequoia" which is kind of a wine/burgundy color. it's knitting up lovely so far, and the yarn is beautiful to work with despite there being 1 tied part in the yarn *side eye* other than that... no complaints here! if i get around to it this week, i may put in a few rows on this hat.

i'm also working on a baby hat for a friend's daughter wish will be gifted on wednesday (7/13) so i will have pics of that to share later on in the week as well.

so, on that note...
i'm hopping back on the spinning wheel to finish up another go out this plying before i'm off to the dog park!

more spinning, less knitting

my knitting mojo is m.i.a. oh where, oh where can it be?
this is no surprise... this has happened to me every year that i have been knitting, so almost 3 years, because i've been knitting for ages, right? har har! this year, i was able to keep the flame going till june! last year, i was over knitting in february. ugh.

i've been trying to find my mojo for the past couple of weeks; trying to get excited about finishing some of my wip's that are glaring at me from their baskets and/or ziplock baggies; and trying to free up some of my needles so that i can work on something fresh and new! failing miserably in all 3 areas. normally, just starting some new w/ amazing, vibrant-colored fiber is that quickest way to get me excited again... but this time it's not working.

so to that i say SPIN!

weekly wrap-up/finished object(s) current projects

on the spinning wheel
first try, navajo-ply. not much to say here... navajo-plying was very relaxing for me. it took a few yards to get a good rhythm going, but all in all, i really enjoyed this technique and will absolutely do it again in the future. i have at least a few more braids of fiber where color management would be very important, so i'm glad i had a few guinea pig bobbins to test this out on with first! i'm not happy with the colors on this (still). looks muddy to me.

not bad... just not good either imo

but it looks nicer in a skein :)

the d.h. loves this fiber nonetheless, and is adamant that i make him socks out of this (instead of hide it at the bottom of my fiber bin)... i probably should. i don't want to be wasteful. the yardage came out to about 150-160 yds... so maybe i can make him those small footsie type socks with reinforced heels and toes. i am actually a little curious as to how this will knit up, because sometimes it does in fact look a bit better.

not all the news today is as depressing (thank goodness).
i finally used a yummy braid from my corgi hill farm bfl/tussah fiber and enjoyed every step of spinning that fiber immensely. hope you are ready for a heavy post of few glamour shots!

three bobbins of lovely greens.

let the plying begin... love those colors blending!

almost overfilled the bobbin :D

onto the homemade pvc niddy noddy, and getting ready for a bath

 a bit overplyed... but this is sock yarn ;)

all finished.

a little sexy lighting here :D

this fiber was prepared nicely and spun nicely as well (bfl and silk = long staples)...
although (ugh... i hate "buts") i wasn't happy with the depth/saturation of color/dyeing. what i mean is... when i was drafting the fiber, i was hoping the color would be all the way through the thickness of the fiber, but the more i kept spinning, i noticed that only the top layers of fiber were dyed and the middle layers were the base color (creamy white). not a bad thing in and of itself, but i would've loved more lengths of the vibrant green.

i found myself spinning in an awkward fashion, where i was trying very hard to spin each color separately, pinching off colors i didn't want to use/grabbing what i wanted to use, rather then let all the different shades of green and white blend together and heather. my spinning guild is having their annual "dye day" this month, and it will be interesting to have a firsthand account of how the dyeing process works, including seeing the individual challenges that arise with the varying types of fibers and fiber preparation, the different dyeing methods and seeing the reactions between different colors. maybe there is a reason why the colors on some of the fiber i have used/seen don't saturate all the way through. i'll let you know.

here is my stash for dye day. gotta love knit picks!

odds & ends
what i love this week
in the garden... signs of life

 

after his workout... he should really think about hitting up a good salon for a pedicure! ;)

bell peppers are in full effect!

anaheim chilis getting ready to make their way to my kitchen!

and of course... to make this post complete... furry shots :D 

oh, you know you love it! how can you resist!?

what a sweet face! doesn't she just look like a trouble maker? 

i love those little rolls at the back of her neck and that little itty bitty nose! *squeak, squeak* :D

doing what they do best... holding the floor down!

being nosey, as usual!

helpful links
youtube: i must share the navajo-ply video i used with you!
it's done very well over a cream-colored spinning cloth and you can see the spinners movements very clearly. the video is actually a decent length (almost 6 minutes), so you don't have to worry about the video being over before it starts! i tend to work alongside videos in an effort to try to mimic the movements while the video is still going, so proper length of video is important to me!

and on that note...
let's hope i get my knitting mojo back. it's been on haitus for 2 weeks now. pfft!