Hand over the Wool!

TdF Status Update

Two of my four TdF goals were to spin 4 oz of my hand painted Bamboo top and to spin 4 oz of my hand dyed Corriedale top. Done!

 

What about plying, you ask? I'll show you tomorrow ;-)

Did you know my brother currently lives in Sweden? He's there with his wife and 3 children and working there for another two years before coming home for a while. At least, that's what we thought until Wednesday night. The little stinker (he's Critter #2 and I'm Critter #1) cashed in all his frequent flyer miles and came home to surprise us all for our dad's 60th birthday on Sunday. Pretty cool, huh?

Did you also know it's my birthday this coming Wednesday? Uh-huh. I don't think I'm going to freak out or anything. Especially when you see my birthday gift from my brother.

(Grinning like a true fool) That there be 4  100g bumps of carded wool and 4 100g skeins of yarn in matching natural colors. How cool! It's from Ullcentrum.

Destash!

I'm finding I really enjoy knitting with my own handspun yarn, and haven't the time to knit up everything in my stash. I've listed the yarns I can part with on my Trade/Sell page over at Ravelry. My Ravelry ID is WoolPrincess, log in and check it out. I just listed some Qiviut at $15 under retail including shipping to cont US. Help these yarns find new loving homes!

PS- I will ship internationally, just let me know if you're interested and we'll work something out.

Handspun Danish Wrap Shawl (For Me!)

About a year ago I was toying with the idea of not continuing my subscription to Spin-Off. I'd been receiving it for a year and even though I'd only been spinning for a year had felt I wasn't getting anything new out of the quarterly issues. Boy am I glad I continued that subscription! My mother and I had just been talking about wrap shawls that tie in back leaving your arms free and how nice it would be to have one with shaping to wrap around your shoulders vs. just lay across them. And then my newest issue of Spin-Off arrived with the perfect pattern. Holy Cow! Just what I was asking for! Like Christmas, only in a weird way...

I had some 2 ply sage Merino which was spun last winter and had been marinating in the stash, I immediately thought of a former neighbor from when we lived in another city and house. She and her husband are retired and work in their garden a lot, the color and shawl would be perfect for her. I cast on and went to town, until I realize I'd need more fiber to finish it. More on that later.

While looking for options I came across some other Merino top colors that were not my first choice and would not be something I'd normally pick out as colors that go together (at least for me) but the more I looked at them I swear they were begging to go home with me and to be spun as singles yarns and knit into the Danish Shawl Wrap. Must have been the wool fumes, I was at my spinning guild meeting at the time.

The original colors were the berry, peach and darker blue balls. Well, after spinning up the first bump of blue fiber I realized I again would not have enough fiber to finish this project. Diving in to the stash provided white Merino top. I mixed up some blue dye and black dye, fooled around a bit and came up with about 4 oz of kettle dyed top. After spinning it wasn't quite right and then overdyed it with more blue and a touch of black to dull the color a bit but not too much. All the yarns were spun with a little too much twist, but I'm finding them to be fine as I knit as the twisting and turning that happens when knitting is working just fine. If I get to a particularly hard twist section of yarn I will pull the needles into a safe storage position as to not loose stitches and then let the whole shawl rotate as I hold onto just the yarn. I give it a little push to speed it up and after some revolutions the yarn is not as hard as wire anymore.

I'm knitting the shawl on a US 8 Knitpicks Options circ. I think I have the 32 inch cable on now but will need to move up soon to a longer cable. The knitting is easy and fast, I can do a row or 2 while waiting in line at the bank each day. I think I'm averaging maybe 5 min a row, which is getting longer the more the shawl grows. I'd like to get this done before Mother's day, as this will be my gift to myself.

Here Froggy...

So the Tulip Sweater is progressing, albeit slowly. The Critter is awake most of the day, only naps for 20 min. 4 times a day and needs constant stimulation while awake to keep her asleep at night. Then when she does finally go to sleep for the night I have about 1 hour to get ready for the next day before I need to hit the rack myself, since she'll be asleep for only about 5 or 6 hours and then we're on for the next day. She is worth it, every sigh, smile and giggle makes it all worth it. By the way, after 2 months of teething a tooth finally appeared this last week, making for a very much happier Wool Princess Palace.

Here's the progress on the Tulip Sweater. I finished the main body and started on the seed stitch waist band, you know, the waist band knit in the smaller needles just like the pattern explains, right?. Um, yeah, I managed to switch only one of the needles on the circular pair I was knitting with from a US 7 to a US 5.  Ha Ha. I knew there was something funny about the seed stitches. They just didn't look right. Darn those Options needles!

See, not kidding, am I?

I ripped (see the "froggy" title does work) and reknit the band today, this time, for the heck of it, I followed the pattern and it seemed to work out. Who knew?

Oh, and that "Knit From Your Stash" thing? Um, I would just like to remind you that I gave myself 2 get out of jail free chances for the whole year. I seem to have used one on a recent yarn shop hop yarn binge. Yes, there are 6 pairs worth of sock yarn pictured. Yes, I know it takes me about 3 months of active but unfocused knitting to finish a pair of socks. Yes, I remember my stash-flash from January already indicated a glut of sock yarn in this house, thank you very much. Yes, I know there is a lot more yarn in the picture besides the sock yarn, along with a spindle, pickup stick and stick shuttle. Many of the yarns are intended for gifts to others, and I HAVE BEEN A VERY GOOD GIRL! (sorry 'bout that, have I mentioned the teething yet? heh, heh...)

Croissant Anyone?

My little family had a nice weekend, kind of a mini-vacation. It's been about 3 years since we took a real vacation, one that actually entailed relaxing recreation and no work or household duties. Oh, we've had a 3-day weekend or two which have all been for holiday purposes and including presents and parties and things like that or went visiting our old neighbors for the weekend or had house guests for the weekend. But usually we work 6 days a week and DH sometimes is working for 14 or more hours at a time. In return we have a nice house, decent and reliable vehicles that aren't fancy but get us wear we're going, and overall a nice life.

This time we took ourselves off to the big city (Minneapolis/St. Paul) for one night of bliss. Before we got to the bliss-part, there was packing up the dogger for her overnight with very nice friends, prepping the cat for her solo night at home (read: dishing up 3 meals worth of food knowing full well she'd eat it all before we left the driveway), packing our overnight bag, double-checking everything and finally getting on the road around 11 am. Yep, we're highly organized folks (not).

Since this was sort of a Valentine's / 5 year anniversary / last moment of freedom before parenthood celebration we decided to spend the night at Hotel Sofitel in Bloomington. Very nice hotel, very good food, very helpful staff. After a lovely supper in one of the restaurants, we went to DH's sister's house for a birthday celebration for her husband, who turned 50 this month. The house was packed and everyone was talking at once and there was cake to be had so all were merry. When we couldn't stop yawning around 9 pm (yeah, party animals) we made the 5 minute trip back to the hotel and sat in stunned silence enjoying the peacefulness of our quiet, comfortable room. We zonked out about 30 min later. Like I said, we're party animals.

Here's how we woke up the next morning:

Yum! Over our in-room continental breakfast we watched "Stranger Than Fiction" (Will Ferrell, Emma Thompson). Such a good movie, and very, very good food again. When we checked out and were on our way to pick up the dogger we both sat in a peaceful state in the car, I commented how I felt like I had just had a day at the spa getting the full treatment. DH said he wasn't sure how that felt, but that he did smell "pretty" from using the hotel soap, shampoo and conditioner. Funny man.

There was very little productive knitting done this weekend. The mystery sock started the trip with the gusset almost finished, but after many try-ons, came home like this:

We'll try again later this week. I'm disgusted that I did not try the sock on earlier and therefore save myself from useless knitting. Grr.

On the upside, DH bought me some pretty pinkish sock yarn, a mini-noddy, some dye packets (for use after the critter (10 weeks to go) is born) and 4 oz of cashmere top. Yes, ladies, he is taken. He's mine, all mine. He got a fish-finder out of the deal, but since I got the cashmere and Koigu sock yarn, I win.

The yarn was bought at Yarnzilla, which by the way is way way way off the beaten path. It's in a business park, and if you've ever tried to find it and gave up, print out the map and give it another try. The sales room is really small, but she only displays one skein of each yarn, like a shoe store. When you know what you want and how much, she retrieves it from the giant warehouse next door. A different shopping experience, but at least you're not overwhelmed by the volume of yarn like in some stores.

I'll show you mine...

If you're like me, you know, a bit of a yarn hog, you might have wondered just how much yarn there really is in your stash. Or maybe you're the sort that knows it's a lot of yarn and think you know exactly what's in your stash, even though it's been months or years since you've looked through it. Well, no matter what type of yarn hoarder you may be, I'm going to be brave and show you all of my yarn. That's right folks, today I'm going to flash my stash.

First up is the Singles category. Noro, Kraemer Mauch Chunky, Debbie Bliss, Schaefer, Malabrigo and Ironstone. Since we have a lot of stash to get through, in the interest of saving time I'm not going to post the colorways for any of the yarns but if you have a question just leave a comment.

Next up is the handspun, by far the smallest of the stash categories. You'll notice the green merino skein is included. I finished re-plying it this week. After washing and drying it flat on a drying rack if hangs straight, so it does not seem to be over plied at this point.

Our next view is of the Cotton and miscellaneous yarns. Since I found out I was pregnant I've been buying Sugar 'n Cream and Peaches 'n Cream yarns like their going out of style. I have enough cotton for 15 bibs and 6 burp cloths plus a bath mat (from M&D Knitting). Then there's the Lion Brand Homespun for prayer shawls and the Christmas colored crochet cotton for a table runner I planned to weave. There's also 3 balls of novelty yarn, maybe meant for embellishing felted hand bags and things. 

An now for the Lace Weight Category. Don't ask why I have 3 skeins of lavender Merino Lace. I don't know either. There's some mohair, some mohair/silk , merino/silk, alpaca, alpaca/silk and straight merino. I am almost embarrassed to say that I could knit about 20 good-sized shawls from this stash. Almost. But then it is an impressive lace weight stash, isn't it?

Of course we cannot forget the worsted-weight group. All the cream-colored yarn at the top of the picture is for DH's sweater (currently working on the sleeves) and the blue at the bottom is for a sweater for me. Everything else is random skeins picked up at sales and given to me.

You didn't think I'd forget the sock yarn did you? Here you go, 33-pairs-of-socks-worth of sock yarn.

Below is the only yarn that has come into this house since Jan 1. The Mountain Colors sock yarn  (that makes 34 pairs) was a gift from my husband (he had one of the gals at the shop help him pick it out). The white is Jamieson & Smith 1 ply cobweb I plan to use for the christening gown featured in "A Gathering of Lace". As you can see I've started the gauge swatch. Since all this yarn is within the rules of my stash diet. Still on the wagon!

Last Ditch Stash Enhancement

Wendy and L-B have a great idea, and I'm always up for tagging along with great ideas. Knit from your Stash '07 sounds like a great way to knit through my collection of yarn.

It's my way or else! (But I snagged these from The Crafty Otter , hee, hee!)

***note: Her rules have been tweaked a bit for my needs***

1. My Knit-From-Your-Stash-a-Thon will start January 1, 2007 and run for the whole year. I have no reason to stop partway through, and plenty stash.

2. I will not buy any yarn during that period, with the following exceptions:
2.a. Sock yarn does *so* count. It doesn't in the original rules, but it will in mine. I have enough sock yarn to knit for a small army. (me too)
2.b. I may buy yarn to knit specific gifts for specific people, as long as that person is not me!
2.b.i. I may purchase yarn to be given as a gift, as long as the recipient is not me!

2.b.ii. I may purchase yarn for specific projects for Baby. (I need to acquire some baby yarn for the soon-to-arrive Critter, and you wouldn't want the poor dear to not have any cute booties or hats knit by her loving mama, now would you? I thought you'd see it my way.) 
2.c. If I am knitting something and run out of yarn, I may purchase enough to complete the project.
2.d. I get two "Get Out of Jail Free" cards - the original challengers/challengees only have one each - I am running this for a whole year, after all, and would hate to go to Shepherd's Harvest or any other fiber festival with zero purchasing power. (very good idea, Ms. Otter)
2.e. I will start learning to weave this year, as I did buy a rigid heddle loom in November. I can buy yarn for a specific weaving project, as required, immediately before that project is due to start. I will most definitely *not* build a stash of weaving yarn!

3. I am allowed to receive gifts of yarn.

4. Spinning fiber of any sort is exempt, but I will try not to increase the size of my stash in this time.

Of course, that means I have mere days to shop. What? There's nothing in the rules that says I can't increase the stash before Jan 1.

This December I've been amassing yarn as if it was on the endangered species list. There's Malabrigo kettled dyed pure Merino wool in purple, red and green skeins. There's 4 skeins of Noro -Silk Garden for a wrap, a skein of regular Noro for a hat, a skein of Grignasco Merino-Silk lace-weight, maybe for a baptismal shawl or dress for our baby girl (only 4 months to go). I also picked up a skein of Opal sock yarn and a skein of hand-dyed Great Adirondack sock yarn (70%superwash merino/20% silk/10% nylon) and 2 skeins of Schaefer "Helene" (50/50 silk/wool) in the Clara Barton color. I also picked up a set of Brittnay DPNs. I've never worked with them, but I figured I really should give them a try.

And then I received a nice coupon in the mail for Gruber's Quilt Shop, which is also where I buy most of my yarn. I picked up more than enough yarn (the pretty heathered blue Cascade 220) to knit a sweater out of Alice Starmore's Fisherman Sweaters book and of course more sock yarn, Schaefer Yarns "Anne" (60% superwash merino, 25% mohair, 15% nylon).

A Little about me and a Stash Enhancement

On Sunday we went to the Cities, and I fixed a zillion problems my pal J was having with her computers, and DH and his brother rebuilt the frame to our frankensteined trailer. What does this mean in knitting terms? 5 more inches added to the Beartrack Shawl, that's what! I knit on the drive down there, I knit while waiting for the PCs to update and install and reboot, I knit during the welding process (do not look at the bright light!) and I knit on the drive back home. I'm not a fast knitter, so 5 inches of lace knitting is pretty huge for me. Yippee!

My first order from Knitpicks has arrived. I got the free shipping deal, and even though it shipped the next day after ordering, it still took 2 weeks to get here. Grr. I am NOT a patient person. But, it was free, enabling me to justify more yarn and knitting paraphernalia. Behold:

Here we have Shimmer, the alpaca/silk lace weight yarn. Pretty! And the metallic stand with magnifier to promote healthy posture and preserve my eyesight during lace knitting. And the 3-in-1 electronic counter to preserve what's left of my sanity and to prevent marital discord (due to missed rows, stitches, etc). And the Fabulous book: "A Gathering of Lace" by Meg Swansen. Love. this. book.

And the bit about me now. I've taken this meme from Susie. Here goes:

High School Hell

Fill in the blanks about your senior year. The longer ago it was the better.

1. Who was your best friend? Tiffany. At one point we were not friends (cuz of a boy of course) but we finished school as friends.

2. What sports did you play? A little golf in the beginning, then lots of band (trombone), including the strenuous marching band.

3. What kind of car did you drive? Whatever my parents weren't driving. A blue Buick LeSabre, a white Mercury Sable or the red Chevy Suburban. Hey! red, white and blue! (I really just noticed that, duh!)

4. It’s Friday night, where were you at? Working at the DQ, then hanging out with my boyfriend or friends until curfew.

5. Were you a party animal? Nope, just my normal goofy self.

6. Were you considered a flirt? No, I was am a little shy.

7. Ever skip school? Not whole days, but the little devil that I was, I would take my time going back to school after dr. appt. Ooo, rebel!

8. Ever smoke? Never.

9. Were you a nerd? Yep, band nerd. I voluntarily took an extra hour each day to teach lessons and learn to play the trumpet and french horn.

10. Did you get suspended/expelled? No.

11. Can you sing the Alma Mater? Never knew the words, but I can still hum it (4 years of band, remember?)

12. Who was your favorite teacher? Richard Johnson, english. I really got into Jane Austen during his AP class.

13. Favorite class? Band and physiology. I loved hands-on classes. I've learned to play 6 instruments and dissected 4 fetal pigs, a perch, a cat, and earthworm, and a clam. Not to mention the deer and birds I've bagged hunting.

14. School mascot? A purple and white bird named "Lindy"

15. Did you go to Prom? 3 times, which was a big deal as it was the Junior/Senior prom and I got to go as a soph. since my boyfriend was a junior. I felt like a princess going to the Grand Ball, until I tripped during the Grand March (televised) and said "S**t!" (also televised) and said boyfriend did nothing to help me put myself to rights. Yes, we stayed together after that. Yes, I know, I should have dumped his butt for the lack of support. That's Ok, it was just high school, and when I went to prom as a senior, I was very relaxed and had way more fun, since I went with a great friend that turned out to be gay. No, I didn't know it at the time, and yes, I had a crush on him. Oh, well.

16. If you could go back and do it over, would you? Not a chance!

17. What do you remember most about graduation? The Grad Bash party afterwards. I had an allergic reaction to an antibiotic I was taking for a sinus infection, and spiked a 104F temp at about 3am.

18. Favorite memory of your senior year? Marching in the Hollywood Christmas parade in California and the trip involved. We had a great time. Band nerd, remember?

29. Were you ever posted up on the senior wall? No. N.E.R.D.

20. Did you have a job your senior year? Yep, I was a CNA (certified nurses assistant) at a nursing home. I got peed, pooped and barfed on. Kinda like a mom only I got paid and they were all really old.

21. Who did you date? See #15. I know, I could have done better, but I found that out after he dumped me during his Christmas break from college. What a cad. We both now live in our home town (pop. 8000) and I see him around every once in a while. I married a great man who can bench press the cad's weight and then some, plus he's the best husband in the world. I Win!

22. Where did you go most often for lunch? We weren't allowed to leave school during lunch, so either I brown-bagged it or bought the cafeteria's offerings.

23. Have you gained weight since then? Does the sun rise in the east?

24. What did you do after graduation? Went to college.

25. When did you graduate? 1993.

If you read all the way to the bottom of this post you get a gold star for the day!

SP8 Package #2

More goodies arrived today from my SP, some beautiful sock yarn!

I love the blues and reds. Pretty socks are on the way! Thank you SP!

Christmas? No, SP8 Package #1!

My very first ever Secret Pal Present!!! Here’s a before shot:

And here’s an after shot:

There’s a really sweet card, 2 balls of Red Debbie Bliss SoHo (maybe for a wide scarf?), 2 skeins of Knit Picks Sock Garden in Pansy (socks? Scarf? Gauntlets?), 2 skeins of Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud in Midnight (oh.my.gawd! a lace stole, definitely a lace stole.), the most adorable little sheepy tape measure, some vanilla incense and a sparkly holder, and a Chibi with needles. What a haul!!! All together now: “Thank you Secret Pal!” (in sing-song voice)

Now, the identity of my Secret Pal is, of course, still a secret. Hm. The package was sent from Oregon. And she said the card was a clue to her identity, and it’s a seashore-themed card. Hm. Oregon and the shore. Oh, and there’s the date of 1976 on the bottle. So, she could be a 30-yearold Oregonian living on the shore. Hm.

So, since we've last seen Wobbly Circles Tote, it has grown by 26 stitches. Yep, a whole 26 stitches knit on the Wobbly Circles Tote. That’s right, be in awe of my knitting prowess. As for spinning I’ll not lie, haven’t touched the wheel since my spinning guild meeting from last week, and the wheel is still in its travel bag. What’s that? “What bag?” you say? Oh, alright, here’s Minerva’s traveling coat I made for the Shepherd’s Harvest weekend:

 

Now, let me be, I have some work to do. ;-)