Monday, April 30, 2012

Another "Currents"

Listening: Daughtry CD

Watching:  "fluff" movies (comedy romance)

Eating: waffles a couple hours ago

Drinking: cold coffee

Wearing: white t shirt and purple pants

Reading: re-reading one of my V.C. Andrews books.

Weather: partial sun, partial clouds

Knitting Vittorio scarf

Wanting: dental issues to be resolved

Needing: more hours in a day lol

Enjoying: the quiet of the neighborhood before the kids get home from school

Looking Forward: finishing my current spinning project

Wondering:  if I will go to MA Sheep & Wool this year.

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Fiber Explosion!

Yesterday, Friday, a trip to Putnam, CT to the Fibers4Ewe Mill meant coming home with 5 bags of soft, squishy, luscious processed fiber to spin.  It's looked like an explosion when I brought them in the house.  lol  The picture is outside my door in the drive after I got them out of the car.

The 5 bags are:  Cria Alpaca/Merino blend, White Border Leicester/Mohair blend, Black Border Leicester, Polypay, and Merino.  The black Romney hoggett and 3/4 of a huge Coopworth fleece are still at the mill, waiting for processing.

After bringing these home, I decided to skip the CT Sheep & Wool Festival today.  I don't need anything.  Plus, thanks to still not feeling 100% terrific, I didn't really have the incentive to go this year.

I've been knitting on my Vittorio scarf and have a little over 1/3 of it finished.

Monday, April 23, 2012

Currents

Listening: Kitty snores and Pooh begging for a treat (he just had one)

Watching: Just finished Wolfe Farms Podcast

Eating:   nothing now

Drinking: hot homemade mocha coffee

Wearing:  gray t-shirt, red slacks, brown clogs

Reading:  a knitting pattern

Weather:  cloudy with showers off and on

Knitting:  Flamboyan shawl, Vittorio scarf, Kandahar sock

Wanting:  Finish the Flamboyan shawl tonight

Needing:  to get ready to go to Weight Watchers

Enjoying:  Pooh's doggie antics

Looking Forward:  either the CT Sheep & Wool Festival or Sue's spin in, depending on the weather and what I decide

Wondering:  will the scale be nice to me tonight?

Saturday, April 21, 2012

The Four S's ~ Shawl, Scarf, Socks, & Spinning

Shawl:  Flamboyan is almost finished. I've got about 2.5 inches of edging plus the bind off to go. It's actually too big to spread out on the needles now.  The pattern called for 400 yards of each color, so I had to buy 3 skeins of each.  I did add about 3 inches to the center part to make it a bit bigger. I really wanted to use as much of the skein as I could.  The ball in the picture is skein 2 which I started the edging with. The left overs will become my first pair of 2 color socks with different color ribbing, heels, and toes.


Scarf: Vittorio has been cast on and looks great in the Koigu yarn.  It's a fun, interesting knit and is moving right along. Again, I have more than enough for this project, but I don't plan to alter the pattern and make it longer.


Socks:  Kandahar saw a tiny bit of love this week.  Sock 1 has been finished for over a month.  I'm about halfway through the first 16 row pattern repeat on the leg of Sock 2. 

Spinning:  Braid #2 of my "Autumn Rainbow" has been spun for a bit. Last Sunday found me spinning a pretty turquoise/teal green to use as the third ply.  It will be my first true 3 ply. Usually, I just Navajo ply to get a 3 ply, but I've been trying to broaden my spinning experiences lately.  It's a good thing I have the jumbo flyer on my Sonata wheel since this is now a 6 ounce fiber project.

My Minstrel currently is home to some lovely pinky purple fiber from Fibers 4 Ewe.  I had spun some of this fiber a couple years ago and was lucky enough to get more last year.  I liked Fibernymph's idea to spin something old then something new, so I'm copying it.  My "old" fiber is anything before 2011.

My "I Love Fred" yarn is here.  It will become my first self striping socks with an afterthought heel.


I did add a bit of fiber to the stash when I caught a Loop update recently. "Smitten" and "Surfs Up" screamed "pick me!" when I saw them.


The mouth is feeling much better, but, still giving me some issues.  My diabetes has been a little out of whack lately thanks to the previous infection.  This is causing everything to heal a bit slower than it should.  My dentist is pleased with my progress and I have another follow up in a couple weeks. I hope it's the last one. :)

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Yay! For Finished Projects!

Here's a couple pics of my latest finished projects as they are blocking. 

Dragonfly Wings Shawl  in my handspun: 


Cashmere Scarf in Jojoland Cashmere:


Now I just need to finish my Flamboyan before the end of the month and my second Kandahar sock.  I haven't touched that in a month.  There's also some plying to get done.  I decided to ply a true 3 ply with the two highly colored singles I recently finished and a complementary solid color.

It's been a rough week medically for me.  I've been dealing with some issues after the dental surgery including a lot of pain.  Today I had a visit with my endo and he upped my insulin again because my bloodwork was a bit high due to the antibotics, pain meds, and dental infection I was fighting lately.  He might lower it if I start having too many low glucose readings.

Due to this, I really haven't done as much knitting or spinning as I would have liked.

Friday, April 06, 2012

Knitting Retreat, Learning Cables, & Finishing Projects

Last Friday and Saturday were spent with some of the lovely ladies from the Ocean State Knit and Crochet Guild.  We had a retreat in Plymouth, MA, which included lots of yarn store hopping, a class on cabled fingerless mitts, delicious food and so much laughter and sharing.  We stayed at the Cold Creek Best Western.  The motel is super clean and the staff extremely friendly and helpful.

Some yarn found it's way home with me, too.  The first yarn shop, The Black Purls, found me buying some Happy Feet in two complementary colors to knit Flamboyan by Stephen West.  I've been wanting to do some color work and this fits the bill.  It's my project for Knitabull's KAL this month. 

After visiting this shop, we all headed over to Dunbar's Tea Room for a wonderful lunch.  I think it was one of my favorite parts of the weekend. 

From the tea room, we went to the Wool Pack.  They had a clearance bin where I found some lovely Berroco Jasper in a variegated purple.  I bought this to use in the fingerless mitts class Saturday morning. Dinner was once again at the East Bay Grille.  I had a baked scrod and artichoke dish. Yummy. The evening was spent knitting before we all retired to our rooms for the night.  I managed to finish my Dragonfly Shawl during the knitting time.

Saturday found us working on the mitts, then having a nice lunch provided by the motel, and the final yarn shop visit.  Fancie Purls found me buying some tote bags, stitch markers, and a couple of other little things. After that we went back and knit until it was time to go home.  I got a bit more done on my Cashmere Scarf during this knitting time.  I finished this project last night.  Pictures need to be taken of both items when I block them. 

 








This was my second year attending and I am looking forward to going again next year.  I wish it was a bi-annual event.  (hint, hint to Ginny)  lol.