Knitting funk

I've been in a knitting funk lately, and just can't get out of it.
I haven't knit socks in months--maybe because I was so disappointed with the last ones I tried.
The knitting of my Tilted Duster is complete, but I just can't whip up the energy to get those sleeves sewn in.
I have a few small knitting commitments that I just can't make decisions about (small gifty items).
My Baby Surprise Jacket is just sitting there about 1/2 done--some how I just can't count, and I'm having trouble keeping the increases and decreases in the right place. I do have time for that one though, as the little energy sucker is not due until March--but it would be nice to see this looking like something other than a weird rag.
What I have been working on the last few nights--my Moderne Blanket. Ah, so mindless and soothing. But last night I finished a skein--time to pick a new color and pick up some stitches.

So long September, I hardly knew ya

As work keeps piling on at the office, and team members are dropping like flies (lost one person last week to indefinite medical leave--we are again 3 short on a team that should be 12), I try my best to keep my sanity.

My Tilted Duster is still armless--but I really should get cracking, it has gotten chilly and I could use a cozy cardigan.

My Baby Surprise Jacket is coming along, but of course still looks like a badly made washcloth. We'll see how that all goes.

What has been keeping my sanity is the spinning! It is mostly mindless and that is pretty much what I need these days. I've been working some more on my Stained Glass merino, and I'm about halfway through that bunch. I also bought 2lbs (!) of undyed combed top from Hello Yarn. 1lb of BFL and 1lb of South African Fine wool. I haven't done anything with it, but I will give dying it a shot and let you know how it turns out.

Otherwise, this household is looking forward to the Fair tonight--have a good weekend!

World Wide Spin in Public Day

I just found out, through Ravelry (of course), that tomorrow is World Wide Spin in Public Day. I don't know if I will get a chance to spin in public--I'm not sure that the waiting room for my flu shot is a good place, but maybe at (our first) soccer practice!

In the meanwhile, I thought I'd post pictures of my latest spinning results.

Here is the second half of the green merino. I'm happy with my progress.

The boy would like me to make him something with this first bunch of yarn that I've made. Once I do a bit of swatching, I may look into using it for some color work--maybe mittens.

And I've started the new stuff.

A little more brown than I would have liked--but pretty nonetheless.

I'm looking into sources for my next fix :)

100 days until Christmas

. . . and I don't think I will be doing any Christmas knitting this year--though I seem to toss in a hat or two somewhere near the deadline.

The knitting for the Tilted Duster is complete. Now I just need to sew in the sleeves (it has been a long long time since I did set in sleeves) and weave in the ends. I'm also planning on putting in some snaps so the collar overlaps where I want it to. I didn't add button holes--I plan to use a pin to keep it closed.

I finished spinning all of that first batch of fiber and the 2nd 2oz definitely came out better than the first. I've told the boy I will make something for him using the first yarn that I spun. I was thinking a hat or mittens--but I wonder if I should use this yarn for some color work. I need to check it to see what kind of gauge I get with it (mostly). Is it fingering, sport or dk? Either way, I'm sure I've got a single skein or so of some complimentary yarn that I can use.

Last night I started spinning the Frabjous Fibers merino--and this one is a bit different than the other merino--interesting. The colors spin up quite dark. I will take a picture soon. I find it funny reading blogs and hearing podcasts about being able to control your spinning so you get the yarn you want. I am at the mercy of the spindle. Pretty much what it wants to do, happens. I have been trying to get thinnish yarn though, so I predraft everything to get it close to what feels right.

On a less fun note--tonight will be my yearly stash reorganization night. Less fun because it was only at 7am this morning that I realized the necessity of running downstairs and moving all my yarn. For months we had on the calendar the annual check up of our burners (yes, plural, we have two, one for each floor). The cabinet that holds all my yarn, as well as my letterboxing stuff (papers, cutters, carving supplies, binding supplies, etc.) blocks one of the doors to access one of the burners. So this morning I unceremoniously dumped all the yarn into plastic trash bags so that we could move the cabinet. Just as soon as I moved the last bag, the burner guy showed up. I did find stuff that I had been missing for months--one good thing about being forced to do this. I just wish I hadn't been stressed out and rushing. Tonight I will sort through it and put it all back--though who knows, I may put some in a pile to give away.

Spinning

I was hoping to get a post in before the end of August, but September snuck up on me. Around here we are busy saying goodbye to preschool and getting ready for kindergarten!

There has been very little knitting in the past few weeks, but I have done a bit of spinning. One of the neighborhood boys came over to play with my son the other night and I was so surprised to hear my son say, "And this is my Mom's spindle". He is paying attention to what I do :)

So I started playing with the lovely green merino I bought at the Fiber Revival. I was as bad as you would expect the first few times, but I think there has been some improvement. Here is my first yarns--from left to right. See, the right-most one is a bit better!

I plied it with the Andean plying technique that a friend showed me years ago--with a refresher course via the web.

I've got some now that is waiting for the twist to be set, but I want to do it all in one batch, so I'm waiting to finish this bunch of roving. Which brought me to the point that I'm running out of roving! I've only got about 1 oz left. What will I do when that runs out?

Then yesterday I got the weekly (I think she sends it weekly) newsletter from A Loom with a View in Newburyport--and they are now selling handpainted roving. Hmmmmm, interesting.

So, we went out to dinner the other night, conveniently right next door to the yarn shop, and I just had to pop in and see what they were selling. And here is what I found. Yummy.

That will keep me occupied for a little while.

Meanwhile, on the Tilted Duster. . . I had bound off the bottom edge, and it was curling like you might expect if you actually thought about it (like I hadn't), and this bothered me. I looked at people's pictures to see if the curl could be blocked out. I was suspicious. So I let it sit there, not snipping the ball. I thought about it and looked at pictures, and I finally decided to do what some others had done--add some ribbing to the bottom. So I ripped out the bound off edge and went back a row and started added a bit of ribbing. I need to do another few rows before I bind off again--but hopefully this will keep the curl away. Then on to the collar.

Fiber Revival

On Saturday the boy and I braved the heat and headed out to Fiber Revival in Newbury MA. We saw some lovely alpaca--and I really did want to take one home.

I met Julia Farwell-Clay and Alison Green Will--both very nice. I also bumped into my knitting pal Paulette, just as we were leaving.

We saw lots of spinners.

And some weavers.

And I did not leave empty handed.

Later that afternoon we went to the pool. Some dragonflies really liked where I was sitting and kept coming to rest on me. Some nearby kids were super impressed and wanted to know how I called them :)

For number one, you've got to sit still!! Which these kids had a hard time doing--but they finally got the hang of it, and the dragonflies came to them too. They must have thought it was some sort of magic. I'd sit there knitting for a while, then stick my hand up and a dragonfly would land on my finger. It was fun.

I'm back

The cicadas are buzzing, the sun is shining, there is a cool breeze and I won't have to cook dinner--what a great day, if only I wasn't so swamped at work.

We were away for a while, resulting in the lack of posts recently. We tool a road trip of the northeast where we spent time with family and friends. It was great.

I stressed out about what knitting to bring. In the end I brought two potential scarf projects. I tried to start one early in the trip, promptly got a migraine that night, and put down my knitting for the rest of my travels. So, I lost about 10 days of knitting time, but it was such a good 10 days it hardly matters.

I'm back to working on my Tilted Duster and here is how it looks now. Just two more repeats of the skirt before I start thinking about the collar.

In the mail came a lovely package of Kool Aid dyed yarn from Destiknit.

Lovely stuff--but my favorite are the tiny little "hand made" hands. I'm looking forward to using those!

Tomorrow I hope to get the boy out to the Fiber Revival to check out some spinning. If I take any pictures, you'll see them.