From Fluff to Stuff

I'm done, I'm done, I'm done! I finished carding, spinning, and dyeing my Shetland fleece. I started this puppy on the 4th of July and dyed today. Oh my, that was interestingly scary. I wanted a burnt orange with some subtle tones in there. I knew I would not get just one color because the fiber went from blonde, latte, and milk chocolaty brown. Gorgeous stuff.

I have learned a lot working through the process. Carding gets easier with practice, kinda like all the rest of the fiber world. I love spinning the rollags because there so quick. The hard part was getting the amount of fiber onto the bobbins consistently in weight and in diameter. Overall, the thinness of the ply was pretty consistent. Point for me. Now I need to find a cute pattern for it. I have 1358 yards in 3-plied worsted weight, so a good amount of mileage for my $20 bag!

Dishrag Medley

Lawn Guy has a niece that's getting married in August, so I have been working on a shower gift, and the wedding gift that I just put on needles. Needless to say, all other knitting will be on hold until then. Dishcloths are fun to do. Practicing new stitches that is just slightly over a swatch size gives ya something in the end. There are fairly quick to make to boot.



Ballband, seed stitch, Bee stitch, garter stitch, basketweave

Tomorrow spinning and lots of it!

And the Race is on....

That's right it's the start of the Tour de France, and the tour de fleece competition. I missed most of yesterday's due to the fact that only one station is carrying the coverage and of course I don't have that station in my package. Sigh. Hubby, on the other hand, called our provider and ungraded so I could watch it. Sweet truly he is. It just pisses me off to no end that we had to do that. Anyway, I really love watching the tour even though I don't get much spinning done while I'm watching due to the fact that a)I love the scenery and b)I get caught up in the action. Any ways, I have been working on some spinning and knitting some gifts for a niece that is getting married in August.



The mauve color in the middle is superwash merino. The Romney is yellowish purples is called Pansy. A very fitting name, and the last is Shetland called Selfish. All are singles of different weights. Pretty. I think I'll just leave them on the desk and pet them for awhile.

What in FO?

Done!

What? It's Hot!

Good ol' St. Louie. Who needs a summer to start off small? Like usual, Let's see if we can fry dinner on the sidewalk. Needless to say with the soaring temperatures and the heat indexes over 100 for most of the week, there has been a lot of inside activities. The doggies want to play outside, and they kinda look at me like really, do we have to come in? Yeah, it's hot.

I have been continuing to work on a couple of items.
The dratted socks that are starting to near the finish line. Not that I don't love the colors, it's just they seem to be taking forever. Anyhoo, they should be coming off the needles in the next couple of days.



My Pi shawl is through tier 2, but I'm afraid I need to rethink this. I have only used about 2/3 of one ball. Hmm, I think not. I doubt it will be a pi shawl in the end. Looking for a different pattern. I love the reddish orange color, and I want to do it justice. Sigh, it might be a while before I consider that feat.

As far as spinning goes, I am still carding away on the Shetland fleece. Amazing how cool it is to work through the process of preparing to spin. I spun up a bobbin last night because I wanted to see if the carding was going okay. The color reminds me of a Latte. All creamy and foamy. I am aiming for 3-ply weight. Not sure what it will turn into a vest or a sweater, It depends on yardage. I might even dye it after.

Also in lu of Amy King's book release, Spin Control, Spunky club came today. The colorway is Selfish. I thought it was a perfect title, and the colors are spectacular! I really can't wait to put this on the wheel. This is a great way to start off the weekend.

Knit one, Frog one

That's how it's been going on the PI Shawl. I decided that I really couldn't live with the wonky diamonds, so I ripped it out and reknit. It looks a lot better. I got back to the 2nd round of the 2nd tier and made a mistake at the beginning of the round. Ugh, back to unknitting 288 stitches. I would have not minded the one row reknit, but I did it again on the next 2 rounds. Pay attention already! No picture yet. I want to finish the 2nd tier first. Hopefully by tomorrow I can take a picture.

A Little Fibery Goodness for a Monday

I haven't done a whole lot of craftiness recently. The latter part of last week I just didn't feel up to much. By Sunday I felt bad enough that I went to the ER. It amazes me really. I know they are only doing their job, but do they have to ask things like "on a scale of 1-10, what is your level of pain?" My response, "I'm here." Second EKG's. Really?! Before you get the wrong idea. I am okay. They gave me a breathing treatment, and prescription for pain meds and an inhaler. I'll live. Tired, but a little better today.

Fiber, right, that was what I was starting to talk about. I receive a wonderful package from my Kiwi swap partner. Lots of fiber to play with and I am going to try out some dyeing. Should be fun.


Here is what I just finished with. Its superwash merino singles. Lace to fingering weight. I am hoping a soak and whacking will strengthen it up a bit.

I also finished the latest installment of Spunky Club. The colorway is Pansy. It's Romney which is a medium wool. I spun it into low-twist singles because Romney can get scratchy if one is not very careful. Very fast and easy to spin up. If it blooms just right I think I have a hat pattern in mind.

On the needles, I added another project because I really wanted to do some lace. I started EZ PI Shawl. I finished the first tier. My diamonds are off because I decided that ripping back to my mistake was going to cost me more than it was worth. I just started the 2nd tier, and so far so good.

Still working my way through the shetland fleece.