Behind on Blogging.

I have been neglecting my blog a little bit. To catch up, I have been mostly spinning lately, with some knitting sprinkled in here and there. Lets see. Ispent most of the last month spinning up all of my gray wool. I was doing the Yarn Everyday in April group on Ravelry so most of that was spent spinning mass amounts of thin (for me) gray yarn. I didn't really like working with it at first because it kind of resembled dryer lint. It would have pieces in it that were on the extra fuzzy side. No big deal. I worked around it. It is about 408 yards plied and I still have a little left on one bobbin. I don't know for sure what I am going to do with it but I am thinking of Navajo plying it just to get a free bobbin. I need to buy more bobbins as I only have the two regular ones and then the one big one for plying. Of course I would really LOVE to get a new wheel... *sigh*. It isn't that I don't like my babe, it is just that I would prefer a wheel that is a little bit steadier. If that makes sense. Anyway besides the gray I also have a little purple and yellow that I have been spinning for a single. I don't think I care much for it. At all. I just went yesterday and bought some more of the fiber like the spice that I spun before, only this stuff is bright green and yellow! Happy colors. I have been playing some with my drop spindle. I really am trying to make it work for me. It is getting better I suppose. What else? Lets see I decided that for Easter, instead of dying eggs, I would try my hand at dying yarn! Since orange is my favorite color I decided to dye it orange and yellow! I was very pleased. I used food coloring and vinegar. It was super easy and I was suprised at just how much I enjoyed doing it. I also tried dying some fiber with KoolAid and um.... was less than happy with my results. I don't know if I did something wrong. I didn't agitate or anything, but it seems that it felted a tiny bit in places. Not all over. In fact that is the purple and yellow that I am spinning up. There were just a few small pieces that wouldn't spin. No big. I haven't been doing much knitting. A couple dish cloths. I started a sock for Jim that I really don't like the yarn for. I have started a lace shawl. I am knitting http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/creatures-of-the-reef-shawl right now. Since we are moving to Florida I thought that it would be appropriate. : ) This is my first attempt at lace knitting. I went to LYS last night and she helped me figure out some of the things I had questions on. There was some stuff written in there that I really just needed to hear someone else say because it didn't make sense when I read it. I started it last night and am only a couple rows in but so far I like the pattern. I have only done one row today because I am kind of feeling blah today. I am not sure that counting is a good idea for me today! LOL! Maybe I will make some lunch and then knit. That sounds like a good plan.

Finished Wicked

Well I am done with Wicked. Overall I really liked the pattern. I just wish I was a little....less chunky (ok fat, but I was trying to be nice to myself). It is actually kind of flattering. I am heavy in my top area and I think that it doesn't make the girls look too scary! If only my tummy wasn't so big it would look absolutely awesome. Cascade 220 was a perfect choice for this. It gives it enough stretch in the areas that need it without looking stretched out. I am glad that I went ahead with the shaping. Its a little big through the shoulder/armpit area, but no so much that it is going to bother me I think. It is also a tad big through the lower back area. I haven't blocked it yet so maybe once it is all blocked it won't seem so big through there. If not it won't be the end of the world, it isn't too bad. I made it extra long to accomodate my thickness. I HATE having to fight my shirts because they are all too short. The short sleeves were good I think because it isn't a heavy sweater. Good for spring because it will give warmth and a little bit of cool too. I am glad that I have this sweater in my library. I am probably going to be knitting one for my best friend too. She really liked the design of it and said she wanted one too. I am going to show her my finished product on Tuesday so we will see then if she still wants one. I think I am going to rip out the sleeves for Jim's Fog sweater. I am like 2 inches short of finishing and since I used Cascade Eco Wool.. I really don't think that I need 475 yards of yarn for two inches. I hate to do that just because it is not cheap yarn (for the amount it is priced well though) and then I will end up with a partial skein of yarn that I won't be able to use. Well I am sure I could come up with something.. but $20 specifically for two inches worth of sleeve doesn't make sense to me. I bought some more wool on Thursday. I sat down to spin a little bit today. It is pretty gray, but I am not sure that I really like the way it works up. I guess it doesn't really matter. Practice is practice and that is really what I want right now. I am going to go to the library sometime this week and try to pick up a book on spinning. It is Spring Break. I don't have much studying I HAVE to do this week. I am taking off work on Thursday so I can stay home and spin all day. I just need some quiet time to figure it all out. To figure out what it is I am doing wrong and right and figure out what all needs to change. I really was interested in spinning at first but not like I am now. Now it almost consumes me. I am not very good at it but I love it. Funny.

Shipwreck

I am thinking very hard about knitting Shipwreck Shawl. I really like the idea of (if I use that yarn) dying it myself, since I have never dyed anything before. Also I have been itching to do some lace stuff. And I think it would be fun to work with beads for a project. I have been seeing so many pretty lace shawls and I just really want to knit one. My turn for something pretty. I am sure that part of my wanting to knit this stems from my new found love for Jacksonville, FL (since I might be moving there in a couple years...) so the whole shipwreck idea and all that.... Yeah. So anyway. I might be adding this to my list of UFO's soon. And I need some sock yarn too....
I sat down at my wheel again today. We fought again. I don't know what is happening. When I was using the "good" wool, I wasn't having the problem of breakage. I have had to pull off a bunch of twisty fibers that just couldn't hold. Part of me thinks that maybe it has to do the fiber that I am using. Maybe I am spinning it too fine. Maybe it is just not "sticky" enough to be spun fine. It makes me realize that I need to do a little more spinning homework and maybe go up to LYS and actually have someone SHOW me what I am doing wrong. But for now.. I think I am going to go to sleep. I should have gone to bed about, oh an hour and a half ago, but I didn't want to because the sooner I go to bed the sooner work comes and after the day I had today...I don't want to go to work any sooner than I have to.

It fits!!!!!

I have surprisingly gotten quite a bit done on Wicked. I have done the basic shaping. Now I just have the length left to do. I got a little antsy earlier and decided to try it on. Partly so that I could see how much longer I need to make it. I am almost all torso (my mom is 3 inches shorter than me and her legs are actually longer than mine) so I can't make things normal length. You would think that this would make me thin. *sigh* The other part was because I am impatient to say the least. So I put a bunch of stitches on some waste yarn because I am using some shorter circs. And here it is:

Forgive the boob shot. That is as long as it is and I didn't really want to show my gut. Or my face. It is our anniversary and we have sat around in pjs all day. NO MAKEUP!! So my face is not part of the shot. Apparently this sweater is going to show off my boobs. Oh well! I don't think I am going to be able to finish it... just the body for now. I have to look back through and see if I have 7 dpns for the sleeves, but I don't think that I do. I am going to have to buy another size 7 circ. because I really prefer 2 circs, but we will see. I will use what I have if I have them. This makes me realize that I need to go through and set up my needle inventory on my Ravelry. I have about another 3 or 4 inches, maybe 5, I haven't decided yet, before I do the bottom which is only I think 1.25 inches. So I am adding about 3 inches to it. I don't like my tops to be too short. I HATE fighting to keep them down. Maybe if I lost a little weight I wouldn't have to worry about it so much because my boobs would shrink a little and so would my gut, making clothing a little bit longer. Soon.... I have been eating better at least. We had some issues with our gym. The owner got arrested for video taping a girl through her window so we won't go there anymore. And that was the only one that was cost effective at this point. So soon we will be getting a treadmill for the house. Soon. I have been doing some spinning research today since I want to start spinning more and make it good.

On a non knitting note... my husband turned the tv to some weird show on Discovery. These people are wrestling aligators. People are insane. And I think I am just as insane for not being able to look away! And someone just got bit on the face. Ew.

Finished yarn and Wicked sweater.

I got my first handspun all done, plied, and set. I am happy with it except the color doesn't thrill me. But there it is finished and happy! I haven't checked to see what the WPI is yet. I would do it right now but the cat is on my lap along with my knitting and my dog has me trapt on one side. I love that my animals help me procrastinate! Good puppy and kitty. I decided to start working on Wicked again. I had put it aside and was going to frog it later on. I needed the needles it was on so I put it on scrap yarn. I am glad that I decided to do that instead of just frogging it. I would have had to start all the way over. Instead I spend the time picking the stitches back up. That was exciting (note sacrcasm). I actually had no troubles figuring out where I was in the pattern. That made me pretty happy. Oh and I have this nifty little App on my iPhone called StitchMinder. I really like it helped me in counting all of those billions of stitches every other row. I am kind of funny when it comes to counting stitches. So every other row is an increase row and the following row is a straight knit row, and I count the stitches after every knit row. I can tell by looking at it that I made all the proper increases and everything, but I am always so afraid that I am going to mess up and have to figure out where to rip back to to fix my mistakes that it is just easier for me to go along and count every other row. I have been counting to each stitch marker then putting the number of stitches in my stitch counter thing. I know that I could do tons of other things, but it is easy for me and I can see it really well. I guess I am a little weird but whatever. It works really well for me. I didn't have to rip back at all. Now I am on straight stockinette for a little bit before I have more shaping. It took me a while to figure out what was going on with the sleeves since I haven't done a top down sweater before, but I did what I always do and just followed the directions exactly how they were written and after I got past the first sleeve... well it made total sense. Sometimes I just need to do what is said and not question it. As you can see in the picture, it is a little over 2 inches below the arm holes. Can't see it well because it is on on the needles, and on the cat, but it is. I tried it on when I got the sleeves on the waste yarn and I am pretty happy with it I think. I am not completely sure, but I think it will be good. I really liked the size of the arm holes. I think that the weird neck on it will be good. I am a little concerned about the size of the rest of the sweater, since I am "thick" through the middle. Ok. Fat. Whatever. Maybe this will make me want to lose weight. Yeah. Right. Like that's going to happen. The problem with losing weight is I really need to exercise and that would take time away from knitting, spinning, school, work, my husband, and sleep. I am trying to finish school right now. Ok well I have absolutely NO classes that are a part of the certificate now that I am getting (Entrepreneurship) instead of getting an actual Associates or Bachelors, at least for now, I guess I am starting school instead of finishing it. That is depressing. It is going to be hell for the next couple years but I really want this. So I am having to shove everything I can into all the little holes between this and that in my life. I had a test in my class on Wednesday so I had no studying for the entire weekend. I really don't have much to knit right now due to lack of good yarn so I got on Ravelry and looked at some different patterns people have used the Cascade 220 for. It was between Snow White and Wicked. I decided to finish Wicked. I am still trying to decide on the front pocket, but I am leaning away from it. I can wear it to work if I don't have a pocket. I don't think that they would feel it appropriate with it. But just a sweater I could get away with. I still want to knit Snow White, but it will just have to wait. I need different yarn for it anyway. I am thinking of making it a color that would look really nice with my black pants with a white button up under it... Hmmm. Maybe pink would be good. I like pink... Or blue. Crap. I will never be able to make up my mind. Anyway. That is what I have going on in the knitting world. Oh and I found out that KnitPicks has the same yarn that I was using for the Fog sweater for DH. The one that I have two inches left to go and ran out of yarn.. Yeah. So when I get the money, if I can't make it to KnitWicks, I can always order it from KnitPicks. So even though he won't get to wear the sweater this year : ( It will eventually get done. It is just not easy to drop $20 for 2 inches. I guess I will make a dog sweater with the rest of it. Or a scarf. I don't know. I hate having to buy that much yarn (almost 500 yards) for 2 inches. Well 2 inches and seaming.

Yarn done! Well almost

I have been spinning my little heart out. I love it. I can't wait to spin more. This has been so many firsts for me. I have been nervous the entire time. I still don't know if I am doing anything right but here are the results. Well mostly...

This was Mauch Chunky roving by Kraemer Yarns in Spice. 60% New Zealand Wool and 40% Domestic Wool. I guess I didn't get a picture of all 4 oz spun up, but here is an in progress one. I LOVE the spice color. It is like an orange heather color. Jake thought it looked brown, but it really is orange. I had tried other roving that I had (that came with the wheel) and just kept having problems. I bought this at LYS a couple months ago because I completely fell in love with the color. I hid it in the back of my "craft" closet. I thought that I would get it out and use it once I learned how to use the darn wheel. But I was listening to a podcast talking about playing with your yarn and how when you are playing with it you aren't wasting it. You are enjoying it. So I marched my tushy up to the top of the stairs, opened the closet and fished out the roving from behind the ironing board. I am so glad I did. It worked up so wonderful. It isn't perfect because this was the first time I had spun, really. After I was done I wanted more. I remembered that I had a huge bag of 100% Blue Faced Leicester hanging around so I tried it to ply with the Spice, even though I don't like the colors together.

This is the BFL single ply. I had some issues with it. Overall I was not very happy with it. Spinning it was nice. It felt amazing sliding through my hands. It was so smooth. But I just couldn't seem to get the hang of how much twist to put in to it until I got down to the point that I had decided that I was done with it. I spun it much smaller than I did with the Spice, so I didn't spin as much of it. Of course I had an 8 oz bag of the BFL. I probably have 6 oz or so left over.

And Here they are plied. I am just about done with everything. My yarn is in the sink as I type waiting for me to whack it and hang it out to dry. I am so excited that I could potentially squeal right now, but since my husband is sleeping off the pains of snow (I think I married a bear).

In love with my yarn

It isn't perfect. It isn't beautiful...'Cept for the color. But it is mine and made by me. I am happy with it. I am elated by it. I am please with it. I am intoxicated by it. I am obsessed. All I can think about is spinning. I wish I could make enough money spinning to stay home and spin all day long, but lets face it, that isn't going to happen. I love spinning. Almost as much as I love knitting. Actually with my dry spell in knitting lately I would almost go as far as to say more than knitting, but I am not that crazy. I do love knitting. The only things that I enjoy more are my family, friends and pets. And sleep. Dang. Oh well. And I think that this may have brought my knitting drought to an end. I can't wait to make something out of the yarnish stuff I have made. I am currently spinning a natural light cream color to ply with my orange heather color that is already spun and beautiful. I liked the orange better. I liked the fiber better. It was easier to work with. It didn't fall apart as much. I can't remember the fiber content off the top of my head. The creamish color is blue faced leicester. It is super fluffy and it just seems to fall apart. It feels amazing in my hands though. It is like spinning butter. Super smooth and soft, but I just can't get it just right. I am not sure what I am doing wrong but I am going to keep working with it to figure it out. I only had 4 oz. of the rust color but I have 8 oz of the cream, so maybe I will just start over with it. I don't have much done anyway. Just play with what I have and start over. I think that is a good idea. I also need to try one of my other chairs for spinning. The one that I have been spinning on I have 2 really thick pillows (memory foam that squishes down to about 2 inches thick) and I am still not quite the right height. It makes my knees hurt and I really need something with a back that I can sit up straight with. I have poor posture. : ( I can't wait until I can buy some more roving, but it is going to have to wait a week or two probably. Maybe longer. I really need to find a second job, but I will have even less time to spin and it is driving me crazy right now to be at work and not at home spinning. Maybe someday I will be selling enough yarn to break even on how much roving I will have to buy...