Saturday Surprises

Yesterday was a Saturday full of wonderful things, including a couple of surprises that just made my day! You all saw that I got to spend my whole morning knitting and finishing a hat, which is already enough to make the whole day wonderful.  Well, that wasn't all that happened...

First, this package arrived in the mail from the excellent Kathy of Irisheyes Knitters: My Yarn Garden.  Check out this adorable card:

And what is that peeking out from underneath? Glorious spinning fiber in a beautiful pink, brown, and cream colorway - Neopolitan ice cream? 

I cannot wait to get started on my next yarn :) Thank you, Kathy!!!

I also got an e-mail about teaching jobs for next year, plus I got to enjoy a rousing afternoon discussion with my book club ladies and, on top of all that, a Blues Brothers movie night with good friends. Talk about an eventful way to start the weekend. 

Today is a bit more slow-paced and will definitely involve a lot more work to balance out yesterday's relaxation. What's going on with your weekend?

spinning, at long last

I have some beautiful fiber for spinning, but I've clearly been distracted with finishing up all those knitting projects. Well, I was finally able to get back to my spindle.

It's been through the soak-thwack-hang to dry process now, so as soon as it's wound up into a ball, I'll be back with more photos and a new project.

Happy birthday to me!

Today I am 28, and my plans for the rest of the afternoon look a little something like this:

The fiber is my birthday present to myself from Girls Like Boys Like Fiber; it's Polwarth (can't decide between this and alpaca for favorite spinning fiber), and the colorway is called Gimme Gumballs. The Misti Alpaca I shared the other day is a hat in progress, which may still turn into socks in progress. Storm of Swords probably needs no introduction. I'll just say "It's my party, and I'll cry [over fictional characters] if I want to."

Tonight will be drinks out with some good friends to celebrate.

Spinning update

(This post was composed early in preparation for a post-moving day busy period.  Updates about the old and new place as soon as I get some free time!)

In the last few days before the move, I spent my evenings on the couch with episodes of Dr. Who on the tv and this gorgeous fiber from Woolgatherings.

 this image from the Woolgatherings shop (link above)

I turned it into three skeins of sport weight singles, preserving the beautiful hand painted color gradation through burgundy, violet, blue, turquoise, and aqua. 

My first thought was to turn it into socks, but the BFL is a little too soft for that, and I'm sure they would wear through after only two or three uses.  So now I'm thinking a very special pair of long cabled armwarmers that can go in the shop, and I'll use the leftovers to spice up a striped project of some sort.  What do you think?

Sunday Snaps

I've had some nice crafting time this weekend, and this afternoon I'm headed off to play Mahjong with a great group of girls (and we are going to eat lots of cheese and kettle chips and drink wine - the recipe for a perfect get-together!).

Spinning: Woolgatherings BFL 

Decorating: paper lanterns in the window - tonight I'll add the fairy lights!

Growing: sweet basil and rosemary in the window

Folding: paper cranes

And knitting: prof. sock #2

Oh noes!

You guys, I had this great Link Love post drafted, and it is now gone forever, because of some troubles with Blogger! I'll try to recreate it tonight, but it might become a Saturday edition... then we can have links to check out plus a list of 10 smile-worthy items all at once.

For now, enjoy some photos of my latest spinning adventures. All this fiber (wool, nylon, sparkle batts in really fun colorways) is from MissBell UK's Etsy shop. It doesn't look like she has any fiber for sale right now, but if she gets some more in stock, you should check it out.

Welcome and spinning progress

First of all, let me extend a very excited "Welcome!" to any new readers who found their way here from Smile and Wave :) I am so glad you decided to stop by. I hope you'll take a look around (can I suggest starting with the About tab above?) and leave a comment to let me know who you are. Reading new-to-me blogs is so much fun, so if you post a link for me, I'll be sure to hop over and say hello.

***
I hadn't done any spinning in about 2 weeks before I buckled down yesterday and had a ton of fun with two different sets of fiber.  First up is my contribution to the GLBLF Jan./Feb spin-a-long.  I'm working with the "His" colorway, a beautiful blend of blue, purple, and yellow-green called "Night Must Fall."  The mixed light and dark BFL fiber is a really rich base for the colorway, and I got a surprising amount of yardage with a fingering weight single.

I am so in love with the way the fiber looks as singles, but I'm also excited to watch what happens when I turn it into a two-ply. The relatively long stretches of color should be nice and create a neat barber pole effect.  

And now for some finished yarn! I started out a couple months ago with three carded batts of variegated blue fiber from Hobbledehoy.  I spun the first batt a while ago, so the yarn is listed in my shop already. The other two batts I just finished yesterday and this morning.

 This one is about 67 yards of a worsted weight 2-ply that I'll be adding to the shop later this week.

The other I decided to keep as singles, so I have about 107 yards of fingering weight that is currently drying and is therefore not quite ready for its closeup.  It looks about like the singles above. I'm thinking of pairing it with some silver Knit Picks Palette for a pair of striped fingerless mitts.

I have lots more time for crafting today, since it's looking like it will be impossible to do anything outside in Chicago for the next 24 hours.  If you're in the middle of this blizzard, too, I hope you're keeping warm and enjoying a restful day at home!

Tuesday afternoon treat

Falkland in Limone Cricket colorway by Cosymakes
In case you haven't had your greens yet today.

Friday: Link Love

I am so looking forward to this three day weekend (well, sort of. I have work on Monday for an hour and a half) after a long week! At least one day is going to be totally devoted to crafting (particularly spinning and catching up on my project planning for the new year). I'm excited to choose the patterns I want to knit for myself and pair them with yarn from my overflowing yarn closet now that all my commissioned projects for the shop are finished.  Saturday afternoon, I get to go to a LYS with my Monday night knitter friends for snacks, chatting, and lots of knitting. I'll be sure to take pictures :)

Here are a couple of links that made me smile this week:

1. The clever and forthright A. Darling shares her adventures in crafting and life over here. I've been enjoying reading about her recent adventures with hairdye and knitting.

 

images from the A.Darling blog

2. All of Violet's sweet, sweet posts about the early weeks of her pregnancy made me smile.  If you don't read her blog, you really should! Her frequent additions to a list of "1300 Things to be Thankful For" are wonderful and always remind me to appreciate the small things on a day to day basis.

3. I got a colorwork fix by looking at Pinneguri's projects on Ravelry. One of my favorites is the rubber duck sock! Her knits are beautifully executed, and the bright color pairings are cheerful.

4. This post chock full of organization ideas over at Moorea-Seal blog got my wheels spinning.  I would love to have a little stack of notebooks to keep track of the shop, designs, blog ideas, and more... Right now I have just one composition book (sneak peeks coming soon).

image from Moorea-Seal

*****

On the spinning docket for the weekend - blue with sparkles!

What are you working on?

Tuesday afternoon treat

GLBLF Jan/Feb Spinalong
"His" colorway: Night Must Fall
100% Mixed BFL
4 oz.

All Spun Up

Spinning progress, a photo essay.

Part One: merino, tencel, silk batt to 2-ply

Part Two: tiny silk singles

Part Three: Superwash merino singles

Spinning progress

I finished spinning my 3.8 ounces of Falkland in the colorway Renaissance. I ended up with three skeins that look very different (the colors in the fiber bump changed pretty significantly from one end of the braid to the other, but as I'm knitting the skeins up the color transitions are working very nicely).

That is my mini, sparkly Christmas tree in the background. I haven't figured out how I want to decorate it this year, but I'm hoping you might have some suggestions for ornaments I could make out of paper or yarn that might be cute. Let me know in the comments if you have any ideas!

These photos are of the project I'm working on using the yarn - a simple stockinette shawl with purl ridges.  This is the first real thing that I've knit with any of my handspun, and I am just loving it. The yarn is really squishy, the color changes are fun to watch, and I keep smiling when I remember that I made the whole thing (well, except for the sheep part...).

Here is what's currently on my spindle: 4 oz. of Australian Wool (I am guessing it's Merino, given the feel) in the colorway Grass, purchased at Fibre Space on my trip to DC.  I'm thinking of changing its name to Kiwi.

One of the things that really strikes me as I'm spinning this up is just how much we knitters can attach emotions and memories to our yarn and our projects.  Do you know what I'm talking about?  Every time I pull this out of the yarn closet to work on it, I'm struck by what I was doing the day I purchased it with my now-ex, what meal we ate right after buying it, what we talked about.  While it's sad to think that three weeks later our relationship is so different, it's also heartening to think about all the new memories I'll soon associate with this green fiber and yarn. I'll probably take this along to my knitting group tonight, where we'll share coffee and laughs, and next time I pull it out of the closet, I'll remember those things, too. And when I finally gift this yarn away or knit a gift with it, it will gather even more good memories that can be shared with someone else.  I think that's the real joy of crafting, creating something that is both so temporary and so lasting just using our hands.