Knit and Spin with Susan

I swear, I didn't mean to start another WIP!

Really, I didn't!  But the Spooky yarn made me, I swear!

Here's the finished product!

53 yards, about 10wpi.  Dark brown/black Shetland carded with orange sari silk waste and spun with occasional very long locks of white mohair added in.  Quality is OK, I had the yarn fed wrong through the new wheel, so the intake was off, so there are some over-twisted spots.  Also, needed to slow down a bit while feeding the mohair on with the base.  Some spots aren't as secure as I'd like....  But....

Seems to be knitting up fine!  Yup, couldn't resist starting a quick hat to wear on Monday.  The white yarn is some Malabrigo from a swap.  Goodness this stuff is soft.  As much as I love my yarn, it would have been too itchy on my forehead.  So, a bit of striping to balance it out.

As if one new WIP wasn't enough, I has to join the Fuzzy Feet Along.  Crazy Aunt Purl Laurie mentioned Fuzzy Feet the other day, and since then, my feet have just been cold.  Little ice cubes, I tell you.  So, must knit Fuzzy Feet. 

  Besides, it's another good use for the hand-dyed Fisherman's Wool.  Goodness knows, I haven enough dyed up to make Fuzzy Feet for the whole darn family.  First pair's for me, though.  Greedy knitter that I am.

There's been progress on the Honeymoon Cami, but I'm not so sure on my sizing.  We'll see, but I think the V might be too deep for me.....

And finally, I dyed up half of the wool Spaazlicious Wendy sent off with Audrey.

Dyed with Wilton's Juniper and Brown.  Juniper splits into pinks and greens and a little brown, but adding the brown to the mix toned it down a little.  I'm going to spin this up to match the other cream half and try two color knitting, probably a Norwegian style hat, which Wendy Knits! suggested as a good first project for two color knitting.  Which I haven't done before so, sounded like a good idea.  Now to find a pattern....

Spooky yarn and sweet wheels.

Alright, that was a lousy post about the new wheel.  And I so intended for a better post days ago, but life seemed to get in the way this week.  Let's try for a real one, shall we?  Audrey and her goodies:

Wheel, Stool, Lazy Kate and Niddy Noddy.  Audrey's last caretaker was Wendy of Spaazlicious, who met me at NobleKnits in Oceanside on Saturday.  It was great to meet her and I'm so glad I was able to get Audrey!!  If you're not familiar with the Kromski Mazurka, it's  double drive or scotch tension setup.  I like the double drive, the Fricke is scotch tension and I definitely like the feel of the double drive better.  Will the Fricke last?  Maybe not as long as I'd thought. 

I think I'd like to have a second double drive wheel.  I know what I've had in mind for the next wheel, it's just a matter of deciding and making a choice and finding enough money for it. Lendrum Saxony, Jensen Ultimate Production or a 30" Schacht-Reeves.  Yes, I know these are serious wheels, but I plan on purchasing one that will last.  This is not something I'd ever replace. 

I spun up what promises to be my first batch of "novelty" yarn today on Audrey, but it's under wraps until Friday as it's for Fiber Friday on Livejournal.  It all started with this:

This is a batch of silk waste  bought for blending.  I decided that it would be nice to separate the colors before puting it away, so it got reduced to this:  See all of that orange on the side?  It got me thinking about Halloween, which reminded me that this weeks theme for Fiber Friday is Spooky.  OK, I said, Halloweenish yarn it is.  So, I sliced and diced the orange silk (you have to really chop this stuff, it is super long) and add it to some dark brown/black Shetland that I had sitting around.  This stuff needed a lot of work, I'd bought it a while back and never messed with it.  Another batch of stuff that was easier to pull and fluff, run though the drum carder and then comb.  Blech, glad I wasn't doing much of it.  Well ,after all that work I had this:   I spun it up with some white mohair and voila!  Spooky yarn, which y'all can see on Friday :)

I also dyed some yarn the other day.  Remember that green stuff I bought a few weeks ago at Tuesday Morning?  Well, I decided it was just too green.  I also thought I'd spruce up some 70's colored wool I found hanging in my mom's stuff, it was lemon, gold and orange.  Oh yeah, 70's.  Here's what I ended up with:

  The old wool is on the left, the green stuff on the right.  The green came out nice, the old wool, OK.  The orange and gold didn't change much, bu the lemon came out nice.  I'm thinking striped and felted?

Introducing Audrey!

Look, it's Audrey!

              

And she spins like a dream!

            

More later!!!  Back to spinning!!!

A little behind...

OK, So I'm a wee bit behind on posting here....  I have been annoyingly sick all week, stupid chest colds.  Coughing and hacking like a 100 year old chain smoker.  (No, I don't smoke, nasty disgusting habit.  QUIT, IF YOU DO.)  I was finally able to make phone calls and speak longer than 5 min without coughing today.  Blech....  Between that and catching up after getting home, I owe a big post here.

First things first:  The new Blogging System!  Whooo!  HP Pavilion dv1000 Special Edition.  Pentium M with 1Gig of memory.  So this is how Photoshop is supposed to run!!!Plus, a neat feature which allows it to run DVDs without the operating system on, saving battery power quite a bit.  And, it will etch a label on DVDs when you burn it.  Haven't tried it yet, but sounds cool.  Wheeee!!  Much, much better.

Second, the tunnel lace scarf is done!  I really like how it came out.  I could have done a better job on the blocking, I think a set of wires would have worked better, there's lotsa little points along the edges.  And, why yes, that's my Knitty T-Shirt peeking out.  And yes, I do think my stash is bigger than yours. :) (Especially after the last trip.)

Since the scarf is done, I had to start another mindless scarf project, so I pulled out a skein of handspun and balled it up to knit. I hope there's enough for a decent scarf, it's about a worsted WPI, so I'm knitting it up on 10s to get a little bigger scarf.  It's a double moss stitch, which I like to show off thick and thin yarns.

Finally, the green socks got a little attention today driving around with The Male.    I like this twisted rib, but it's a bit hard to see in the picture.  It adds a lot to the tweedy stripes.  These are going to fit fairly tight, however, the last couple of pairs I've made could have been tighter, so hopefully this will work better.

Sadly, I have no progress to report on Honeymoon Cami.  Maybe Sunday, if I can tear myself away from tomorrow's little project. 

BECAUSE I GET TO PICK UP AUDREY, MY NEW SPINNING WHEEL!  WHAOOOOO! 

Susan Needs...

So, I couldn't resist the needs meme that seems to be roving (see, fiber reference) around blogland.  Google your name with needs, so, "Susan needs".  Here's a few choice ones:

Susan needs opportunities to practice literate speech (Huh...)

Susan needs to hear from YOU!! (Yes, post comments!)

Susan needs a lip ( I have one, thank you!)

Susan needs to quit injuring people. (Gee, usually I just injure myself.)

Susan needs all your love and money. (Yup, I do.)

Susan needs to pant.  (Grrrr, baby, grrrr.)

Susan needs to ask herself is this : Is my goal realistic? (You mean, the goal of knitting all my fiber in my lifetime?)

Susan needs to continue to learn about the world of work. (No, I don't wanna, and you can't make me.

Susan needs to take penicillin for the rest of her life. (Yikes!)

Susan needs a wheelchair.  (This falls in with that injury thing)

Susan needs to get laid! (well, now...)

Susan needs to do this to keep spam under control. (Darn straight!)

Susan needs anybody to send specimens at this point.  (Oh, please no.)

Susan needs to "get off her butt and do more housework." (Insulting me will not motivate me)

Susan NEEDS animals. (Definitely)

and finally....

Susan needs to continue sharing her public farts - proudly and loudly! (Oh, I do this well enough, thank you)

The Rock and other assorted Boston

Hello again from Beautiful , yet drippy, Boston! 

I, unlike the rest if the knit blogging world am not in Rhinebeck, at the NY Sheep and Wool Festival.  I am however, only 3 1/2 hours away from it, and can't seem to get any closer than that.  It is closer than California, but not quite close enough, ya know? 

To fuel the fiber desires, yesterday I got to visit Mind's Eye Yarns in Cambridge, MA.  Lovely shop with a lovely owner, Lucy.  I picked up a few things:

The three colorful ones are Merino/Tencel Blend, then at the top is some brown Blue Faced Leicester, and to the right, silk caps!  Now, those oughta be fun.  I can't wait to try painting them!

We also have an almost FO, the Tunnel Lace Scarf is done, thanks to lots of car time.  It just needs blocking, which I'll do when we get home. Check out the little, tiny bit of yarn.  That's all I had left...  The car time was spent driving to Plymouth Rock. Yay rock!    We also saw a beautiful sunset in Nantasket.

Tomorrow, Salem....

Umm, Yarn Porn!

Oh, yeah, baby!  It's yarn porn time!  Today we traveled from Sudbury, MA north and around back to Boston via Lowell, MA, home of the American Textile History Museum.  Great place to visit, with a lot of good info on the history of textile production in America.  Even better was their AMAZING collection of vintage spinning wheels.  I was completely overwhelmed by them all.  If you happen to pass through this area at some time, do stop.  They also need the funds, as the museum is not doing well, and has had to cut back their hours to Thurs through Sun and they have closed the gift shop completely.

Also in Lowell is Classic Elite Yarns, and their Hub Mills Factory Store.  It's a bit hard to find, but worth a stop.  Here's the booty:

From top left, we have Star, a stretchy cotton and Lycra blend, then we have Sand, another cotton blend and finally, six lovely skeins of Majestic, an Alpaca/Tencel blend that is just amazingly soft.  Here's the best part, folks.  THE SAND AND STAR WERE ONLY $1 A SKEIN!  Yup, you read right, $1 a skein.  They are slightly imperfect, but perfectly knitable.  Yeah, baby, yeah!

Before we headed to Lowell, we passed through Harvard, MA and went to The Fiber Loft.  This has to be one of the best LYSes I've ever been in.  Amazing selection of yarns, and a good selection of fiber.  I came away with this:

  The big pile is Malabrigo Merino in Lime Blue, which my camera did not capture the color of at all, it's really a deep vivid blue with splashes if lime, enough to make a sweater. The we have 5 oz of an Angora/Wool blend roving, super yummy soft, and a hank of hand dyed soy silk to spin.  I had to get out of there, or I would have come away with much more of the store.  Yummy!

Boston Part One and other stuff.

*Before I move on to our regularly scheduled blog posting, I need to deal with some business that I've been avoiding.  Looks like I'm not pregnant any longer again, the blood tests I took over the last week or so show dropping hormone levels.  Sigh...  Tyson and I are really looking into adoption, so if any one has any good contacts/links/etc for Eastern European or Asian adoptions, let me know...

Well, back to the trip.  I'm here in lovely Massachusetts, after a much delayed flight last night.  Stinkin' broken radar.  Nothing much fibery to report, there was much work on the Tunnel Lace Scarf on the plane.  I noticed someone Googled the pattern yesterday, it's part of the 365 Knitting Stitches Calender, great little toy, pick it up if you can.  I just don't feel right posting the stitch pattern, I hope you all understand. 

Nothing else fibery to report, there will hopefully be much fiber shop visiting tomorrow, and The American Textile History Museum, which looks great.  I did tour Buckman Tavern in Lexington, and saw the door Paul Revere used and open when he shouted, "The regulars are coming!"  And, Lexington Green, where the first shots of the American Revloution where fired.  Amazing, that I can stand in front of that kind if history.  The fibery highlight of the day, was the really neat spinning wheel they had there and correctly identifying a niddy-noddy, much to the delight of the tour guide, and the lady from Irvine also on the tour.  Small world, eh?  Also had a great antique set of comb and hackles.  Alas, no photos allowed, or I would have provided you with some.

Vegas, Part Deux

So, if you haven't figured it out already, I'm a huge Motley Crue fan.  I've been looking forward to this concert for months.  However, I've never managed to see them in concert before.  By the time I could afford a ticket, they were going through the band member changes/in-fighting crap.  Finally, all the band back together and I can afford the rather steep tix price...  (Yeah, I paid that.) 

Anyway, point is, THEY STILL ROCK!  I swear, they still realllllly rock.  Yeah, they're a little older, and Vince's voice isn't quite what it used to be, but they still put on a darn good show. I was frickin' impressed, and lucky enough to work my way one person from the front.  Couldn't quite elbow that last person out of the way...  I am really glad I got tix for the Hard Rock here, it's such a small venue, it was so much closer than I ever could have gotten at an arena.

Unfortunately, due to Vegas entertainment, there has been little knitting and no spinning to report.  Tomorrow we fly to Boston, so I've got hours of knitting ahead.  Off to have some wicked fun!

Viva Las Vegas, Baby!

Hello from Sin City!  Or, as it was today, city of lovely fiber shops.  Today, I visited Wooly Wonders, down the strip on Tropicana.  Lovely little shop, more yarn than fiber, but the owner, who was wonderful, said that's a demand thing.  She does keep several fleeces in the raw around to purchase, which is nice. She carries Lendrums, Kromskis,  Country Craftsmans and others. I got to try out a Prelude, which spins lovely, and would make a great beginner wheel.  She helped be a bit with my drafting, and gave me some suggestions that really made a difference.  Makes me want the Mazurka I'm getting even more.  Oh, did I forget to mention that....  Read on, but back to the shop.  First day of vacation, and I'm already going to have to rearrange the suitcase for goodies.

On the top, we have a couple 2 oz bags of Merino, in shades of blues and a little tan.  Bottom left, a 1 oz bag of Angora top, to play with on the drop spindle I brought along.  Bottom right is a bag of Optim Fiber, which is wool stretched until it is as soft as Cashmere.  A good explanation is here.  In the middle is a cotton boll and some seeds with the fiber still on, she was showing me how to spin straight from the seed.  Oh, and a spare set of sock needles, as I seem to be missing a pair.

I've also gotten some knitting done, Honeymoon Cami is getting closer to being done, one side of the top and the straps and I'm done.  I also worked on the Tunnel Lace Scarf on the plane, as I wanted something a bit mindless.  I also want a warm neck in Boston, and managed to pack away all of my warm stuff.  Doh!

Now, on to the wheel!  Spaazlicious is selling me a gently used Mazruka for a gentle price.  Wheeee!  Plus, she has a matching stool.  Her name, is Audrey and I am verrrrry excited about making her a part of the family.  Jessimuhka is borrowing her and making her comfortable right now until I can get down to pick her up in San Diego.

Tomorrow is the Motley Crue concert, so I will probably have a blog post/review on Monday!  Have a nice Sunday folks, and think lucky casino thoughts.