It Never Ends

It

Never

Ends.








That is how I'm feeling about the lovely brown cabled sweater. The intended recipient is about 5'11 or 6' and a size extra-large, just to be sure it fits. I held it up to him and it might be just a bit baggy, but otherwise okay. I still have to sew the side seams ... that makes it a little adjustable, right?

I've gotten to the point on the front panel (under the mitten) where I'm about to decrease for shoulder. Do you know what that means? I get to bind off about 1/4 or 1/3 of the stitches. That makes me VERY HAPPY. The arms will go pretty quick ... so I tell myself. In truth, the arms will be just like doing the back panel, twice more.

Anyway, I want to be finished so that I can start this project. I have no rule about the number of WIPs laying around (currently ... 4, if I don't count all of them), but I do have a rule about large WIPs. Only one at a time! So once the brown sweater of death is done, I'm going to start knitting a vest, for me.

You see, I have an agreement with Joanne's, the craft store. They stock a lot of yarn, and I keep them solvent. I can't help it. I saw in an email flyer that they were selling Paton's, one of my favorite yarns ... buy one skein, get another 50% off.

Well, if you do the math ... that's really not a great discount. The skeins are roughly $6 a skein. I'm saving $3 by buying two. Be still my heart. But when I see the yarn in the bin, and that lovely red and white discount sign, all I think is buybuybuybuybuy. Luckily -- ha ha -- Joanne's has big variety but not big volume. I couldn't have bought more than 6 skeins of any one color. I agonized over the four choices that left me, believe me. Natural? Blue? Green? Brick? I love dark reds, but anyone who knows me can roll their eyes and attest that I have a lot of red and maroon clothing. I don't wear green except as a knitted accessory (in high school, girls who wore green were teased by the idiot slobbering neanderthal boys ... most of you probably remember why. There was even an M&M commercial about "you know what they say about the green ones" or something like that.)

Anyway, I had it in my head I wanted to knit myself a vest. I've never really worn vests, so it would be novel. Oh -- here's the other thing. I've been running, as readers of my threefriendsfitness blog know, and I've lost 18 pounds and nearly two sizes. So now I'm all about clothes fitting me properly, now that I am transforming my body into a better shape!) I think a vest would fit the new me nicely, and it's a way to knit something larger for myself, but not commit to sleeves or anything like that.

I chose a Paton's pattern, and Paton's yarn in a lovely blue that will hopefully match my eyes. Soon as Brown Monster of Boredom is over, I'm casting on the vest. It was just the incentive I needed to hurry the sweater along.

In other news ... spinning pretty purple Merino:

Spinning thickly, and I mean for it to be singles. It's fabulous. Just everything I thought it'd be.

I leave you with a photo of my cute little muttlett, Georgie Girl. This l'il bed is juuuuust right ....

She always curls up into a tight little ball. Cute, isn't she? I think she's been jealous because I always post cat pictures.

Be sure to head over to Andrea's  and see what everyone else is up to!

Stop Me Before I Cast On Again...

My case of start-itis has developed into full blown WIP addiction.

I started (and finished!) this...

It was meant to be a hat. I was going to pick up and knit around the top edge and make a full hat out of it, but I think the cable is too wide for that to look good. So it's probably going to be an ear warmer.

The fiber is the Wonder Why alpaca from Wonder Why.  It's super warm, and as always, soft and squishy and comfortable. I might make a version out of less chunky yarn to put in my imaginary Etsy shop.

This is my first serious effort to spin a sort-of bulky yarn. I normally go for thin (because it's easiest and because I get more yarn that way) but lately I've been wanting to make heavier yarn for warmer items. Hats, mittens, etc. I did all right, still had some slubs in spots ... I personally don't like thick-and-thin yarn, so I tried real hard to pull the slubs out! I wanted it to be thick, though, so I wouldn't lose the amazing color changes.


Here is another WIP:

This is one of the rare times I'm using alpaca yarn that I *didn't* spin myself. This is Paca-Paints, manufactured in Peru and dyed in the US, by The Alpaca Yarn Company. Purchased at Shepherd's Purse Alpaca farm in Mt. Airy, MD.

This yarn is fabulous. I love it. I can't get enough of knitting with it. I even stayed up late working on it.

It's soft, and the colors are just wonderful. I think it makes a fabulous mitten. The mittens might go in my imaginary Etsy store, too, but I'm not sure ... I knit part of them on dpns, and there are noticeable ladders in a few spots. I will try to fix it with gentle blocking, but if I can't, I won't try to sell them.

I got the pattern from "One Skein Wonders" but I modified it (added ribbed hem). It's a very basic and super-easy bottom-up mitten. Normally I make top-down mittens, so I know exactly how wide it needs to be, but I don't like the pointy tip on those!

The sweater continues. I held the two sides up to the recipient on Thanksgiving Day, and I think it will be just slightly baggy on him. I am nervous about doing a good job with the seams ... I really want them to look professional.

In spinning news ... I'm going to start spinning this lovely lady today. I'm not sure yet what approach I'll take with the colors, but I'm going to try for a light and lofty yarn. It's so pretty ... makes me think of the planet Neptune

(Fun fact: Neptune is often included in category with the gas giants, but is really an ice giant. Also, it's orbit is "perturbed." I often feel "perturbed" so I like this fact :-)




And of course ... the obligatory Turkey Shot.

We had Tofurkey ....

And Turkey.



Much fun was had by all.



Now, that horrible, hurried, not-peaceful frenzy known as the Christmas Shopping Season is upon us, and I am hunkering down and ignoring all of it. The horror stories have already started (adults behaving like spoiled brats in retails stores), so I am going to focus on faith and hope, and try to tune out the madness.


Peace and goodwill!

Don't Look at the Messy Room

Look at the pretty cables instead!

I've started the armhole decreases. Whoo hoo! I feel like maybe I'm starting to perhaps see the end of this sweater!

I've also been spinning ... the fabulous purpleness was bumped in favor of Wonder Why's  fabulous greenness!

Which I won not long ago, and couldn't wait to spin. This is going to be a hat for ME. And since I am stubbornly not turning on the furnace yet, I might need to wear it inside.















And I've also finally plied that green meriboo with purple beads, that I put together back during Tour de Fleece.

Oooohhhh that's purty stuff.

Not as beady as I'd like, but beady enough.








And that is all for me this week!  Be sure to stop by and visit all the fabulous bloggers at Andrea's, for Fiber Arts Friday!

Knit ALL the Things!

I have the worst case of start-itis ever! I want to knit everything ... I want to start a dozen projects all at once. It's like a fever!

I just finished spinning the marigold cabled yarn...

So now I have 7 empty bobbins!

I have no idea how much of this stuff I have. I used the niddy noddy to count, and the yardage counter. I got two entirely different numbers ... I wonder if the counter really counts in meters?

I was all set to spin up the fabulous purple, but then lovely Andrea of Wonder Why Alpaca Farm sent me the green-and-brown alpaca roving ... so it's entirely possible the purple bump will get bumped in favor of the green stuff!

I toil on the sweater of unrelenting brownness ...



Ready to start decreasing for armholes!

And I started a pair of top-down mittens with Wonder Why alpaca yarn that I spun up during Tour de Fleece.




I have decided to do the Etsy shop thing ... but since the copyright-licensing issue is such a difficult thing to figure out, I'm either going to make my own patterns (for scarves, socks, mittens, that isn't beyond my abilities) or request permission from the pattern owner.


There was just no figuring it out. One thread from the Ravelry Etsy group said it was fine, someone called the DC copyright office, and they said it was the words in the pattern protected, not the product of the pattern (sort of like baking from a recipe and then selling that baked item). Another thread was people viciously insisting that NO ONE ever had the right to sell anything they didn't design themselves. One woman even insisted no one had the right to sell something they knit from being inspired by one of her patterns. 

For Ravelry patterns, it's easy to find the designer and ask permission. I think I could manage simple baby items, as well. In any case, I shall flex my creative muscles, which always makes me happy happy!

What Do You, the Viewers at Home, Think?

I have all this lovely yarn. Well, this yarn, and then some. Then a LOT of some.This is just my handspun. I have lots more purchased yarn, alpaca and wool and blends and just all sorts of things.

I usually just let it sit around and wait till it speaks to me.

Sometimes it doesn't speak for a long time, so it just sort of accrues.

I've been spinning a few years, and I think I've gotten better at it. I've been knitting since 2005, I think, and I consider myself an intermediate level knitter. 




My biggest problem is laziness; I hate pulling back yarn when I've made a mistake, particularly when using handspun. I think I'm pretty good with small-scale stuff, like fingerless gloves and hats and scarves. I still have gauge issues, but that also goes back to laziness.

So what this long-winded post is getting at, is that I'm thinking of opening an Etsy shop. For small stuff, wristlets and mittens and slippers and socks, baby items, things that will use up the yarn I have laying around.

What do you all think?

In other news (yawn) I'm still working on the (YAWN) brown cabled sweater...yyyyaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwnnnnnn....

 

I'm not bored with it, not really. 

Just sort of looking forward to having it done, is all. I want to start a dozen projects, but I don't want to put this one down until I've finished it. I don't want something this large sitting around unfinished.



I've also been working on the scarf, and spinning up the Marigold yarn. I hope to finish the Marigold yarn this week, and then start in on what I really want to be spinning....



This fabulousness has been calling me for weeks now, but since I'm making cabled yarn with the yellow-orange, I can't spare a bobbin! Four-ply cabled yarn takes up SEVEN bobbins! I only have seven bobbins, so I can't do anything until I at least get everything double-plied. Then it'll only be three bobbins, and I can start in on this 8-ounce beauty.

I will have to spin it a bit heavier than I normally spin, to preserve those lovely color variations.

So happy Fiber Arts Friday to everyone, and don't forget to go check out what the WonderWhyGal is up to!

(I think if it weren't a stick shift, they'd have figured out how to drive it already.)

And the Winner is ...

Kathryn! 

And the prize is this lovely gift box ....

Um, sorry, cat in the way ...

THIS lovely gift box--Edgar! Move! 

The prize is this lovely pair of slipper-socks, which will be in a lovely gift box. 

WITH A CAT. 

Other things I am working on: 

The Sweater of Overwhelming Brown-ness. 

A scarf, with the Malabrigo I recently purchased. 

Ravelry linky here.

That's all I got ... tomorrow morning is my first ever 5k (check out my new fitness blog, threefriendsfitness, linked at the top right of this blog!) and I've been mentally psyching myself up to it all week ... I'm psychically exhausted now, and I must go rest and spin some more eye-wateringly bright Marigold cabled yarn. Happy Fiber Arts Friday, everyone!

Happy Blogiversary!

Wow! 100 posts! I've been doing this since July 2010! It's been so much fun! I've enjoyed cyber-meeting everyone ... Wonder Why Alpaca (how does Andrea manage to run a farm, work a full time job, raise children and alpacas, *and* spin so much?!), and Falling Ladies, and Heather Woollove and Alpacabytes and Bits and Pieces and All Fingers and Thumbs ... Dutch Hollow, Needle and Wheel Designs, Arts, Crafts and Favorites, and Pinkundine (whose moniker I wonder about), Curly Bird Express, Knitting Kitties ... Via Verde, Ally B, Kathryn Ray ... Knot by Grandma ... Nero's Post and Patch, with the beautiful Greek Island pictures and quilts and doggies. Fiberdance and Cloudberry ... I love Cloudberry's pictures too, and she knits so fast! I know I've missed a lot of you.

I enjoy the non-knitting blogs, too. I adore the falling ladies ... I can't quite articulate how they make me feel, but I always look forward to that blog. I think my favorite was the lady falling/flying over a nighttime city, as if in a dream. Then there's the needle-felting, and the crocheting and spinning and dyeing and food posts. I appreciate all of the lessons I've learned from all of you. I consider myself a graduate-level knitter, something I would not have achieved if not for all of the encouragement and assistance (Someone in here hooked me up with a video when I couldn't figure out how to p2tbl, for example). When I'm knitting something large or complicated, I can't wait to get comments on it. I treasure every visit, I really do! And I like knowing there's a community where politics, religion, and region don't matter. Just our crafty selves, goals, mishaps, and accomplishments. Most of you I've met through Fiber Arts Fridays, so I'm doubly grateful to Andrea at Wonder Why for FAF. I look forward to it, since that's usually the only day I post!

So I'm having a drawing. For all of those who got through the enormous paragraphs above ;-). A pair of footie slippers made from BFL that I spun earlier this year. If you want to be in the drawing, leave your shoe size in a comment (I haven't finished knitting them because I wanted to customize them). I'll do a drawing on the 27th and the blog post for the 28th will list the winner.

On to the fiber!  A finished object (finally)

Some spinning ...

During the Tour de Fleece, I decided to learn how to do cabled yarn. I wanted contrasting colors, so this blindingly bright combination of yellow merino and orange corriedale is being named ...

"Sunflowers in my Garden."


Not quite spun tightly enough to be a true cabled yarn, though. It's difficult, spinning and plying that tightly. Next time I'm using four different colors instead of two (it's at least a 4 ply yarn).

I could just as easily call it "Marigolds in my Garden," I guess!

Some new additions to my stash. Red alpaca, and the multicolor beneath it is alpaca as well (When I was cheating on Andrea by going to a local alpaca farm). My first zauerball, and some malabrigo! I want to make a leaf-motif shawl from the malabrigo, but I haven't yet found a pattern that calls for 445 yards or less. The zauerball ... I dunno, socks maybe. That seems so cliche, though. The red will probably be fingerless gloves, and I'm not sure about the multi. A wrap, maybe, or leg warmers.



Happy Fiber Arts Friday, everyone! See you in the comments!