spinning
Spin In!
A few weeks back the ladies on the Antelope Valley Fiber Fiends group had a Spin In. I couldn’t resist going because…
1) This group includes the lovely Nicole of FreckleFaceFibers and Laurs of BeeMiceElf. Both of which were bringing their beautiful fibers!
2) They were going to have dessert.
3) SPINNING!
4) The ladies in this group are made of awesome!
So I showed up with my wheel and a desire for fiber. I got to meet some great new ladies (well, new to me), hang with some lovely enablers, and consume mass quantities of sugary treats! What could be better than that? I also brought some spending money to get some purty new fluff.
Tubs o' fluff!
The fiber I brought home with me...
I also learned (via Casdena) all about a new Ravelry group called 10 Shawls in 2010. Since I was looking to knit a bunch of shawls and kill my sock yarn stash for scraps, it seemed like a good idea to join. They do have prizes every month. Maybe I might win something? I also got to see a beautiful shawl that LimeJuicy was showing off (Loremor made it for her). It was so gorgeous I asked about the pattern…and so gorgeous that I have started crocheting one. Yes, you heard me right.
It was so much fun being a room full of wheels! I hope I get to make to to more meets. It is very much worth the drive!
Slowly…things progress
I haven’t been sleeping much lately and that seems to leave me with a lot of time for crafting. I mean, God forbid I do the dishes or vacuum the house. Not that it would be a wise thing to do at 11 o’clock at night. I mean…what would the neighbors think? What? I don’t have downstairs neighbors right now? Um…yeah…well…
Crafting is pretty quiet.
Except for the sewing, which I try to keep to a minimum after 9 p.m.
I finished two skirts recently. Yay, something to wear this summer for work! The hand sewing hook and eyes with black thread was a real treat for some evening fun in low light. MY EYES! MY EYES!
I had some fun with a hot glue gun after knit-a-long last Sunday and made some cute hair flowers.
My daughter is thrilled with Mommy's attempts at girlieness
Then there is the knitting…all the knitting…
I have slowed down a little on my strappy tank, but it is pretty much all stockinette at this point. So it is more my mindless knitting. It’s “I’m half asleep on the couch watching bad t.v. shows” knitting.
So. Much. Stockinette.
Then my baby for the moment, the Insanity Blanket. It is coming along nicely. I got some great yarn from Vilma and Camille this week!
Vilma's contributions.
Camille's samples: noro from her poncho, and some of her koolaid dyed yarn from a class she took
The new stuff is amazing, and it is hard to get sick of knitting the same thing over and over when you get to try out all kinds of different yarn. It is really starting to grow.
I am going to knit some more squares as soon as I am done blogging.
I have been making sure to keep track of where everything is coming from. I have been tagging all of my flickr photos and labeling each square. Yay me!
Also, in a “hell must have frozen over” moment, I have started spinning again! My wheel and I have not had the occasion to spend much quality time together since the new year. It feels good to get reacquainted.
Of course I have been spinning all of my fiber samples for use in my insanity blanket. Man, ulterior motives!
I spun them end to end...
Later I will break the ends and ply them on themselves.
Now, off to knit some squares!
CogKNITive Fiber Retreat - Afternoon Session
Shari waiting for lunch while I snap a picture...
So after a very good, but very long lunch, we bought fudge…starbucks…and headed back to the retreat. We didn’t get there in time for Mindy’s class, so I brought out the wheel and started spinning my new fiber!
Alexis, Me, Jo and MeiLan doing our thing...
Jasmin...spinning
Look at that new FreckleFaceFiber I am spinning!!!
So I spun and spun until about 6:45 p.m. and then headed for home. I made it home in record time. The 2 1/2 hour trip, according to Mapquest, only took me 1 1/2. I updated my facebook status to warn my husband about how much I was bringing home with me.
This was my backseat right after lunch...
The back of my van before I left.
It’s time for the CogKNITive Fiber Retreat!!
First thing in the morning we got our goodie bags…which made us a little giddy…
We also had a pow-wow by the pool with Dr. Gemma starting off the festivities with a strategy and some raffle prizes.
Mei Lan and Alexis knitting and crocheting
Dr. Gemma and Alexis
Raffle time and surprises!
They had some really awesome raffle prizes, including beautiful spindles (the one above donated by Yorkie Slave on etsy.com) and gorgeous fiber (from FreckleFaceFibers and Red Fish Dyeworks). As a surprise, Jasmin and Gigi of The Knitmore Girls!!
Then the festivities began….shopping, shopping and more shopping!
Vendors!
They had some really awesome vendors. Above there is (from left to right) the folks from Unwind (my LYS), BeeMiceElf, Wolfe Farms and Red Fish Dyeworks.
After shopping there were classes. Jo was teaching drop spindle in the hallway (as we had a hard time finding a large enough space to accommodate everyone). It was great to see so many people wanting to learn to spin! There were so many people there that Alexis, Tika (from the “Gives Good Knit” podcast), and myself offered up help when folks needed it.
Look at all those spinners!
More spinners!
I even did some spinning on my new spindle.
And this all happened before lunch!
This place had the best turkey, bacon, apple sandwich.
Time for the Retreat!
It’s Friday night and I am here. Woohoo!!
I am here in Tehachapi eagerly anticipating CogKNITive’s First Annual Fiber Retreat. I am in my room. I have gotten all the tubs of stuff out of the back of the van (I am hauling merchandise for Unwind) and I am ready to go. I haven’t heard from anyone I know yet, so I am not sure who is here.
I did meet nice woman downstairs (Kathy), her husband, and their cutieboo 150 lb. dog. I also saw a woman hauling in tubs of yarn while I was unloading the van. I am guessing she is a vendor.
Don’t get me wrong…I am hardly bored while waiting. I have my trusty macbook and a boatload of projects.
Nuzzling some of my own dyed-by-me roving I am donating as a raffle prize
Carbonized "Han Solo" Bamboo that I am still spinning (from Stitches West)
Arm Warmers and my Vaya Shrug aka "The Boobie Holder"
Not to mention I also have my spinning wheel and some cash in my pocket for shopping tomorrow. Hopefully I can get something done!
For now I am gonna knit and goof around on Facebook!
Labor Day Par-tay!
Is there anything better than getting a project done? Heck no! My desire to get stuff done has gone into overdrive and I spent my holiday weekend making stuff. Yay! Of course it helps to get together with a bunch of other folks who like to get stuff done too!
Knitters' Gone Wild...Sunday Morning Version.
Patty plays bartender...
I made my yummy breakfast casserole….and there were so many goodies to eat!
I started the spinning right away.
Spinning, in a chair way too short for me...
Ok, so in the “do as I say and not as I do” files…please don’t send me notes about my poor spinning habits and/or posture. I know, I know….I did get a better chair later.
I got a boatload of spinning done. Would you believe I had 1lb. of fiber completely spun by the end of the weekend? I did. I didn’t get it all plied, but I am well on my way to getting a sweater started. I also have a couple of projects on the needles…just little ones though.
I had also heard that Dr. Gemma of the CogKNITive podcast was going to be headed to the shop so I decided to hang out until the shop closed. Dr. Gemma and Limejuicy of the Fiber Collective came to visit and meet up with Red Queen of Here’s to Ewe! All of them are super cool to hang out with and we all talked about our excitement for the upcoming CogKNITive Fiber Retreat and there was a little bit of Sock Summit gossip!
Red Queen and Dr. Gemma!
So, I am super excited for all of that yarn to be finished. I am overdue for a little yarn porn on this blog. Don’t worry…it’ll be coming very, very soon!
Another one bites the dust…
I did it. I finally did it. I finished my summer sweater. I finished it at the end of August, but that is okay. I do live in Southern California after all. I guess technically I can wear my summer clothes until…at least…December.
I finished it last week and decided to wear it to my regular Friday Night Stitch n’ Bitch. So, here it is…
Ta da!
I cannot even tell you how glad I am that this project is done! It isn’t like I didn’t enjoy it, but I think I have found that I have limits. All the ladies at the shop are always so impressed that I “get so much done” having 4 year old twins and a full time job…and my volunteer work….and teaching sock knitting…they just don’t know how I do it. To be honest….I don’t either….outside of me being a little manic about things sometimes. So, I have decided my limit is lace knitting. Don’t get me wrong, it isn’t like I can’t do it, I just think it is difficult to do with *distractions*. I did use life lines for the first time on this one and didn’t screw up (thankfully), but I think I could stand a long stint of stockinette sweater knitting.
And that is another thing….I am not feeling the socks lately. I guess I am moving into my sweater phase. This last one turned out so well that I have decided to spin the superwash Wendy gave me and take a stab at “Wicked“.
I'm calling it "Swamp Thing"
It is going to be…soooooo gooooood.
Oh, and while I was at the shop that night I got the nicest surprise! Rachelle had overheard me talking about my being homesick and how I miss real Polish food. I mean, out here in L.A. there isn’t much to choose from…well, not like in Hamtramck. People at work have heard me complain that I couldn’t track down a paczki to save my life. Well, imagine how excited I was to find out Rachelle brought me dinner…..
Pierogi!!!!!
So…verrrrrry….gooooooood.
What are my intentions?
There are many knitters and crocheters that knit with the intention of gifting good vibes to people. Some people do this by making gifts for friends and loved ones and then there people who go all out with charities…the Prayer Shawl Ministry for example. There are even indie dyers, like Lime and Violet, that dye yarn with specific intentions. Their “Intentions” yarn has a word/intention dyed into it that is not noticeable in the final knitted product. I own a skein of the “healing” yarn. It’s gorgeous!
So, what does it mean that I have been listening to The Prodigy while spinning?
Take that all you people who make those “amish” comments! Next I’m gonna learn to churn butter.
Sick Day…
It is normal for me to, while sick and feeling like I’m dying, feel compelled to all of a sudden clean the house. Please someone out there tell me that I am not alone in this. Is it because I am a mom and my work is never done? Possibly. Or maybe actually sitting in my home all day and having to see that pile of dishes in the sink pushes me to the edge. I dunno. Maybe it is just that I am insane. What should I have been doing? Sleeping. What did I catch myself doing? Cleaning the kitchen. How did I stop myself? I decided to ply myself some self striping yarn. See….craaaaaazy.
Oooh....stripey
I can’t really tell you when I spun this single. It was sometime within the past two weeks. It is 4 oz. of Red Fish Dyeworks in like merino/alpaca/and maybe silk? I dunno for sure without digging around in my stuff (and through the power of sneaky internets, you won’t ever realize that I am typing this while up WAY past my bedtime…on a school night, no less). My hazy memory is only made hazier by my short attention span. Lookie! Stripey!
Ooooh....ahhhhhh
So, I ended up plying it on itself. It’s just been sitting on the bobbin ever since.
I can't wait to see it *off* the bobbin...
It wants to be “Quant“. It really, really does.
Oh, and for a little extra sprinkle of psycho, I also decided to give 1 lb. of alpaca a second dye bath in the pot on the stove. I can always catch up on the resting later, right?
Round 2 - Alpaca and black food coloring
Better late than never…
I didn’t quite make that Tour de Fleece deadline, but I was determined to get my yarn done no matter what. I finally got some plying thread from WEBS and ebay and got busy!
Purple Passion Butterfly Loop SSB, 226 yards
The Purple Passion Butterfly Batt (which ended up more of a lime green than anything) I decided to ply with some leftover Habu Stainless Steel/Silk yarn I had left over from my Kuscha Kuscha Scarf.
Ocean inspired Loop SSB, 285 yards
Can you tell I am a fan of Steph Gorin’s batts yet? She is amazing with the colors. I really want to call this one “Tell me ’bout the ocean movin’ in slow motion” ’cause those were the lyrics to the earworm I had at the time I was spinning this. It is very reminiscent of my Saltwater Waves Batt, but more on the green side.
And last, but certainly not least…
Tidal Wave Loop SSB, 230 yards
OMG! Tidal Wave…this sucker has been sitting in my stash for what seems like an eternity! I had 6 oz. of it and just looking at it make me all nervous. I wasn’t sure that it wanted to be reborn into a yarn yet…so I let it sit and chill out for awhile. It turned out all gorgeous like. I think it wants to be a warm winter hat…and I don’t even care that I live in Southern California and it never quite reaches freezing.
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