Distracted

I'm still trying to finish a couple of projects, but I have been busy with this:



and with this...




...and my husband's week long vacation, and painting our hallway and bathroom ceiling, and our ninth anniversary, and normal summer stuff.


I should have at least a couple finished things to show next week, but this week is going to be lots of quiet work, which sounds great to me right now.

Present Pictures and Tour de Fleece

Since my presents for my nephew arrived I can now show the pictures of those. I made a blanket for him...



You can really see the cool texture in the close-up.


...and a little bear also!



The silk that I had recently finished spinning was knit into a kerchief for Lily.


I adapted a shawl pattern and knit until it was big enough. She of course, then cut her hair so it is less needed, but she can still use it.


I used the rest of the silk to make a choker for Curly.


She loves wearing it and has me put it on her most days.



now, for the Tour De Fleece wrap up. Out of my six goals I managed to accomplish 4 of them. I did spin every day - in fact, yesterday was the first day I didn't spin probably all month. (and I washed yarn instead - all of these pics are pre-washed)

I also finished some fiber...


The Yarn Pirate April Club Fiber was finished. I think it's between a lace and fingering. I'll have to measure it after it dries.


I also finished the Fantom Fiber Purple. This is for a sweater for Curly. She helped choose it at the MA sheep and wool. She wants it made into a Wonderful Wallaby sweater.


I really like how it came out. Now I need to do a swatch and see how much I'll need to play with the sizing. I was aiming for a worsted weight yarn, some places look a bit thicker as it's drying.



Another goal was to start the silk hankies I have.


They have been started. It was fun to just start this and put it away in the middle of the other spinning.



The Sweet Pea (Yarn Pirate) was spindle spun and then plied on the wheel. The purple was done completely on the wheel. Both were chain plied. The silk is on my bosworth featherweight.

The two goals I didn't get to were to spin either gray or brown for an adult sweater, and to spin another fiber (4 oz or less) of something I had gotten at Rhinebeck several years ago. Oh well.


Now that the purple yarn is done for Curly's sweater I need to finish a commercial yarn test of the pattern (so I'll know what if anything I need to change as I knit the handspun one). This is for one of my nephews... there's no time crunch, I figured I'll send it out in the fall with a baby present, but Curly is wanting it done tomorrow so I will start her sweater as the purple yarn dries.




I'm still working on the lace and cable cardigan for my sewing swap friend, but I am on the first sleeve, and actually halfway done with that I think... so if all goes well I should be seaming it up within the next week or two. After that (during the wallaby sweaters) I plan to start two things for me. One is a shawl, and the other is a vest.



This is the yarn for the vest, which is going to be fun as I haven't done colorwork in a while, and I have never steeked, and this pattern calls for both! :)

I also have a loom borrowed from my neighbor and I just got all the tools for it today... I think I'll be learning to warp a loom sometime very soon also...

For Fun and For Family...

Enjoy!



(July 16, 2009 10pm)

Tour de Fleece - goals

Ok, so although I never really sign up for things, I sometimes do like to participate. The Tour De Fleece for instance, is a spinning challenge to set some goals for yourself and spin every day of the tour de france (July 5 - July 26). Last year I managed to spin four different yarns. Three of those four yarns have now been knit up, which is a very happy ratio. The orange became a bag, the sage and daffodil yarn became mittens and a cowl (the mittens are loved by Lily, the cowl - not so much), and the red yarn became Noel's scarf.

This year I would like to:

1. Finish the April yarn pirate roving (5/16 done, working on number 6 during the first couple days of TdF). I've been spinning it on a spindle and plan to navajo ply it on the wheel to get a sock weight yarn.

2. Spin the purple wool that was just bought at the Ma sheep and wool for Curly's sweater

3. Spin either some brown (alpaca) or gray (superwash) for a sweater for an adult

4. Spin one additional braid of pretty wool in my stash

5. Start some more silk (hankies?) on my featherweight spindle

6. Spin some (at least 10 min) every day

I'm not sure I'll finish all of these goals, but at least they are out in front of me now, so I can keep an eye on them. So far I have done the spinning every day by working on the April roving on my spindle. the only problem is I have a lot of knitting I want to get done in this same time-span. ...and some sewing, and some gardening, and exercise, and family time... yeah. We'll see how well I can juggle these goals with the rest of my life!

What are your hobby goals for July? Come on... other than normal daily things that HAVE to get done, what are you trying to do this month?

Another month, a bunch more done

Wow, what a month it's been. We finished all of our external homeschool groups, 'Curly' turned 5, we celebrated several times, we went camping for the first time with kids, we started our 'summer schedule' (piano practicing + one schoolish thing every day), we've endured days and days and days of rain, my back went out, the library summer reading program started, the garden is planted and in, we picked strawberries and made jam, flowers are blooming, and suddenly a month has passed.

On the crafting front many things have been started, several things have been finished, and much more is planned...

First up, I did my first Pay it Forward gift. Noel was given this beautiful scarf.



It was made of fiber that I spun last July (tour de fleece). It's a merino/tencel blend that spun close to a dk weight. I was planning to make this Rivulet scarf - and joined a group on Ravelry to discover they were doing it as a Knit-A-Long, so I decided to let it skip queue and started during their KAL. I had to drop down a bunch of needle sizes, as I'm not used to holding yarn tight unless it's for socks, but it was a fun pattern, and pretty easy.



Handwash cold, lay flat to dry (I blocked it out with wires and pins, but just laying it flat should be good enough). I told her all this when I gave it to her, but thought I better include it here in case her memory is like mine...



Hope she likes it and gets lots and lots of use from it!


Next up, I started a pair of socks for my husband. I actually began it during the drive out to camping, I finished the first toe on the way, and then on the way back I only did about 6 rows.

I have this as my travel project, as it is mostly ribs with just a couple tiny cables, I can figure out where I am fairly quickly. It's yarn from my husband's stash (that he wanted me to knit up for him), and a pattern from WendyKnits.


I also had been drop spinning the silk cap I purchased. I managed to finish spinning the single, wound it into a center pull ball, fixed the big mess it became, and plied it. Then I wound it and plied it back on itself, so this is a four ply cable yarn I guess.



Althought it was purchased for 'Lily' she was willing to share. After I finished a kerchief for her (shawl pattern from Knitter's Stash - changed into a stockinette pattern instead of a garter one, and then I added a crochet border on to the knit on.) I also made a choker necklace for 'Curly'. She loves it and I still need to snap a picture...





Let's see... I also started a time-swap sweater. One of my friends made a bunch of skirts for my girls, and so I'm knitting for her. We agreed to buy our own materials and just swap time. Since she chose a sweater that's made with Dk weight yarn, with cables and lace, I might be getting some more sewing done for me :)

It's a debbie bliss pattern, Empire Line Cardigan, making it with Knitpicks swish so she can machine wash and then lay out to dry.
I did just finish the back yesterday. I need to block it out to size it and make sure it all looks good before I start the two fronts.


I'm also involved in another time-swap. My friend gave me a big bag of roving to spin up for her. I never did take a picture of the roving, but 21 hours later...


There was actually three skeins, two larger and one smaller. I had given her the first one after finishing it so she could see how it was coming along. I didn't really take too many measurements of the yarn, since it wasn't mine to keep, but it was very nice.


Probably a bit thicker than worsted, which was the only direction she gave me (thicker rather than thin). I spun it all up and Navajo plied after I filled each bobbin, that way I had some finished yarn gratification before the end.


I can't wait to see what she does with it... even if it takes a while!


Oh right, since it was the month of June I also got my final fiber club shipment. This fiber is BFL and the color is by the Yarn Pirate and is called Zinnia. Although I really enjoyed getting the fiber club (great present idea any time, almost any fiber club...) I thought I'd not renew this gift from my husband and maybe buy a bit every other month of different wool blends from different etsy sellers. Unfortunately I've already found several that I like and faved on etsy.




It is so pretty though, I can't wait to spin it...


However....


I have started a bear and blanket for my new nephew, need to finish the rest of the Empire Line Cardigan, I borrowed my neighbor's loom, knit my husband's socks, a vest for me with steeking, and fiber to spin for a sweater for 'Curly', and many other projects that I can't wait to get to... so the fiber club spinning will happen - sometime.