Sunday, April 19, 2009

Bad Blogger!

I know, I know, I'm such a bad blogger lately! I have been busy, just not good at getting my pictures up to day. But here's a little of what I've been working on lately:

1. Spinning - I have finished 2 skeins since last posting, have taken pics, but not on the computer yet. I'm working on my next skein now, a Blue Faced Leicester (bfl) wool in the wicked witch colorway from KnitFit Knitting.

2. Knitting - Been working on shorties and soakers- finished a pair of shorties, then used the leftover yarn to make a coordinating soaker. The soaker isn't quite finished yet, but close.

3. Sewing - Made myself a new skirt, and have 2 cross cross dresses for the store in progress.

4. Organizing - I actually went through all my yarn last night and sorted it by fiber - Fun! I also see that I have Too Much Yarn, so I'm now on a destashing frenzy. It's time for some odds and ends projects, because I really don't have room to be buying any more yarn or fiber right now.

BUT

I already have 1 lb of roving coming my way (blush). So I need to find somewhere to stash it!!!

So I'm looking at some scrap afghan patterns right now. I have tons of acrylic, but really prefer to knit with natural fibers, so I'd like to get rid of the bulk of my acrylics. I like to keep odds and ends on hand for stuffed dolls and animals, but I don't need anywhere near the amount that I have on hand right now! And that will free me up with space for the wools and cottons that I really love. So starting tonight is project SCRAPS! We'll see what we come up with!

Oh, and I found an alpaca farm nearby that I can't wait to visit! I already have a couple friends who want to work out a field trip for the kiddos, so it should be a blast. I'm hoping to get my hands on some roving - I know they have the whole fleece, but after reviewing my stash last night I really think I have enough on my hands without cleaning and processing an entire fleece...that just seems a bit...much. But I have a habit of jumping in with both feet, so we'll see...

Sunday, April 5, 2009

April Showers...

Means more time for knitting!

I finished up a few small projects last week.

First up is a baby bonnet knit with Panda Bamboo Silk. A fingering weight yarn, it is a DREAM for knit with...very soft and smooth! I still have a skein and a half left after making this bonnet and a pair of booties, so I have cast on a lace scarf for myself.

This stretchy newborn hat is also knit out of bamboo. These projects were my first foray into bamboo, and I gotta admit, it's not my favorite fiber. The bamboo and silk was a nice combo, but I guess I didn't like the way the strands tended to separate on the bamboo.

These are the booties to match the bonnet above.
Ok, I'm not sure how this one got turned sideways, but it is a 3/4 length sleeve shrug for my 15 month old daughter. She wore it to church this morning and it was darling! It was a super quick knit with worsted weight yarn and size 7 needles.
This has also been a do-it-yourself weekend. I have been slowly but surely spinning by spindle. I decided to make two little helpers this weekend - first up, this is my niddy noddy, a handy little skeining machine...I wind on 2 yard skeins with this.
Ok again, not sure what Blogger is doing to my photos because this one is sideways too, but this is my makeshift Lazy Kate. I slid my singles off my spindle and onto a straw, then slid the straw onto size 2 straight knitting needles and poked them through a shoe box. Then I was able to ply the two singles together while keeping my singles nicely seperated. It worked fantastically and I was able to ply these two together last night into a 180 yard skein of blue-purple yarn (pictures to come, it is still drying).

So that is what I've been up to lately...lots of different odd projects! I started spinning a new yarn today - Blue Faced Leicaster, and this roving happens to be superwash so I can machine wash whatever projects come out of it! I bought this from a new source and it seems to be losing some color on my hands, so I'm not really thrilled about that. But it is fun to try a new fiber!