Ok, seriously? I liked the yarn Liv picked for her sweater. I legitimately did. I thought it would be cute on her, if not something that I would have picked myself.

So, on Saturday I’m going on a train with 30+ other knitters to Portland to hop yarn shops and knit in company. It will be tremendously fun, and I’ll have the opportunity to get a lot of knitting done. The only project I have in progress are my cable socks.

(We’re not speaking of the purple gloves. They WILL get finished at some point, but right now, I’m pretending they don’t exist. The only time I acknowledge their existence is when I’m hunting like mad for my size 2 double points and it finally comes to me that they’re in the purple gloves. Then I grumble, make do with something else, and forget again).

Anyway, I bought yarn to make Liv’s sweater awhile ago and decided to swatch it today, to hopefully get it ready to knit on the train. And it is swatching beautifully. I was surprised. I showed Nate, and he was “wow-ed”. It’s gorgeous. The color is mouthwatering. I’m excited.

I wish you could see it in person.

I have to mess with the pattern to make it fit her, as it’s an adult pattern, so I have some work ahead of me.

Now I’m off to do laundry so I have my choice of things to wear on Saturday, and so we have clothes, really.

Remember the frog? I took a cute picture of him yesterday and thought I’d share.

I’ve been doing a lot, and therefore have lots to talk about, but my brain isn’t working right. I can’t focus and formulate anything comprehensive. So I’ll show a couple of pictures and ramble a bit.

Since I happened upon that little spinning guild meeting years ago and decided then and there that spinning on a wheel was something that I simply HAD to do in my life, I’ve been romanced by and in awe of the idea of making a completed, functional item from raw fleece. Now, 5 or so years later, I’m finally doing it.

As I mentioned last Monday, I want to make a sweater for Clark. Well, now I’ve sampled, swatched, and decided on a blend and weight…

…which is basically going to be in between those two. The one on the right is a two ply of 1/3 alpaca, 2/3 wool knit on size 5 needles. The one on the left is a 3 ply 1/5 alpaca, 4/5 wool knit on size 6. Indecision and varying opinions from the outside have resulted in a 2 ply yarn that is 1/4 alpaca, 3/4 wool by weight. I’m well into the spinning right now, and have carded over half. I’ve learned that while carding does remove some vm (vegetable matter, or bits of grass and hay, etc), it doesn’t remove enough to make it worth using the parts of the alpaca that are particularly dirty. (It’s been washed, so it’s CLEAN dirt/hay/grass/whatever).

That was annoying, but I learned quickly, and didn’t ruin anything.

So, I have about a week and a half to finish the yarn before the dye party, and I’m planning to journal the progress for posterity.

Here is weighed and measured, cleaned fiber for one batt.

That picture isn’t completely legit, as I’ve hand fluffed the wool to get it ready to card. But we’re close.

And here are some batts, which you’ve seen already, but humor me.

Oh! The softness. The fluffiness.

And here we are with I think 4 of the required 15 batts spun into a single.

And that’s as far as I’ve got. Hopefully, you’ll see some plied yarn in the next few days.

I’m shocked as to how quickly the spinning is going, which has a little voice in the back of my head FREAKING out that I’ve messed up my math and have 3 times more to do than I think I do. At least.

I haven’t touched the socks, so they look the same as they did the last time you saw them.

And I had more to say than I thought I did. Cool.

Ok, so everyone around me is losing weight. It’s the month for it, and I’m wanting to get in on it, too.

This past week, I did some core strengthening, but my treadmill is still buried under stuff from Nate’s painting project. Hopefully, we can get it accessible today and I can start on it next week. I’ve already bought running shoes.

A woman in our church congregation is a personal trainer at a gym, and Nate has talked with her about coming and setting up a program for us. That could be a fun kickstart.

I actually weighed myself today. I could tell I’d gained weight, and was afraid I was up around 232. And I’m only 226.5. That was happy news. Well, not happy necessarily, but a major relief anyway.

I’ve been struggling with Calorie King, because I’ve lost some of my patience with breaking down everything I eat to figure out calories. Breakfast, snacks, and lunch are easy enough, but dinner can be really tough. Janell and I emailed last week and she said some things that I think will help, mainly to not be so OCD about it and just guestimate the best that I can.

That has to be better than doing nothing.

So, I’m working towards a good week. Is anyone having some good, beginning of the year success?

1, 2, 3, count!

So yesterday, I went down into my newly usable basement kitchen to card some batts to take to spinning group.

I carded 3 romney/alpaca batts, but only ended up spinning one, as it wasn’t spinning up as soft as I wanted it to, meaning I need to add more alpaca.

(That’s about 7 ounces of washed alpaca fluff that is remarkably similar in color to my countertop).

Since you saw the basement kitchen last, I’ve added more shelves

and a corkboard to pin various project notes and color inspirations to, along with a few pieces of the girls’ artwork.

(That piece on the bottom right is a 3 dimensional depiction of the life of a silkworm that Abby made in class last year. It’s really, really cool, and theme appropriate)!

I navajo plied the batt spun last night to get it off of my bobbin, and surprisingly, it still made a very nice yarn. Good to know. I’ve washed it and it’s drying now.

And this is interesting… Here are two skeins of yarn made with the same wool, and different colors of alpaca, one black and one that reddish tan color.

The black skein is extremely soft and amazing, and that’s what I’m trying to recreate, this time, measuring and recording fiber amounts.

This morning, I carded a new batt that I’m trying to spin,

but Clark is enjoying holding on to my whorl while it’s spinning, and plucking my driveband like a bass ’til it falls off. And laughing. So the spinning will resume at nap time. Stinker.

I have some sock progress. I’m finished with one gusset, and almost done with the second.

And after taking all of these pictures this morning, I noticed a very large smudge on my lens, which would explain why they all look a little overexposed and fuzzy, but I couldn’t bring myself to take them all again.

Lame.

I’ve started teasing my romney locks in preparation for carding, and it is taking an extremely long time. I need to fluff this…

into this.

I’ve spent the past couple of evenings working on it, and have only done 4 1/2 ounces. There has to be a better way. I want to get to carding and spinning it.

On the socks, I’ve finished turning both heels and am ready to pick up and knit the gussets.

Now I’m off to return a dress and hopefully make it to playgroup before helping out in Veronica’s class at school just after lunch. My stomach is acting up, it’s cold and gray outside, and I just want to stay home.

I finally finished my handspun cable scarf that causes me endless guilt because my brother wants it, and I don’t want to give it to him.

It is gorgeous and wonderful. I’ve been so happy with this roving and the resulting yarn, I’ve decided that when I see The Pines at fiber festivals, or when I go back to get more fleece, I’m going to buy any of their wool/mohair blend rovings in colors that I like. It’s cheap, (like, a dollar an ounce for dyed, blended roving if I’m remembering right, and if not, then it’s close), and it truly made the most squishy, delightful yarn.

I’ve made good progress on the socks.

I’m about 9 rounds away from starting the heel flaps. I think I’m going to try to plow through all of my sock yarn and make loads of socks. I’ve worn through most of my supply of store bought socks and I’d love an excuse to buy more yarn. We went to the Fluevog store to check out their sale, and I bought two pair of everyday shoes that will work well with handknit socks. (And Hayden will be very happy to see that they’re not sandals!)

That last pair remind me of ballet slippers and I’m tempted to get them in the black/brown and tan colors also, but that would be excessive.

And aside from socks and ipod carrying necklaces, I’ve found yet another useful thing to do with koigu. I’m going to knit a new band for Liv’s watch which was almost tossed in the garbage yesterday while I was cleaning up, but I had the idea just in time. She’s very excited and has picked her color.

It’s fun being resourceful.

Not exactly silence as Clark is still here, but today is the first day in several weeks that the girls are in school and I don’t have to go anywhere!

The house is mine.

My time is mine.

I’m finally going to be able to take Christmas down. It’s been driving me crazy.

I haven’t started yet.

The last dream I had this morning before waking up was full of unforgivable curses, various characters from the Harry Potter books, and ended with me fighting Voldemort. I don’t have the slightest clue as to what brought it on, but I can still feel Voldemort’s spit hitting my face. It was remarkably vivid.

So I’ve spent the morning reading the last bit of book 7, twice, to put it out of my head and move on. Which I am now able to do.

Moving on…

On Saturday evening, I made Abby a skirt for church.

It’s a two layer skirt, with a sheer fabric on top and a red liner, though it looks solid, and it should be entirely long enough for her to not grow out of immediately, unlike the three or four skirts we’ve bought her this year. Yesterday, she wore it with the cardigan I knit for her, (tho’ not in the photo) and every time I looked at her, I felt immense satisfaction and pleasure.

I made the whole entire thing with my serger. I LOVE my serger. It so totally rocks. I have one more skirt to make for her, which is a groovy plaid flannel with a liner. I think I’m going to try putting a zipper in it instead of straight elastic at the waist.

I washed some Alpaca last night that I’m planning to blend with Romney wool to spin and then dye and turn into a sweater for Clark. He’s almost two, I haven’t made him a sweater yet, and it’s totally bugging me. I’m going to a dye workshop on the 26th, and hope (haha) to have it all spun by then so I can dye it under experienced supervision. Am I nuts?

I might be.

Now, (deep breath and happy, wistful sigh), I’m going to clean my house.

Hi all. I did ok. No exercise, but I’ve been a little under the weather. I’ve been watching what I’ve been eating though. At least, Thursday through today.

How is your week?

I don’t remember when I bought this yarn, but I remember specifically seeing it on the shelf and knowing that it had to be cabled socks. And I’m finally getting to it.

Both cuffs are done and I’ve started down one leg. It’s an extremely bizarre color. I can’t decide if it’s purplish, gray, green, or if I even like it… but I know I’ll like the socks.

And speaking of socks, my friend Carol from Knit Me Up is starting a sock club inspired by the Twilight books and characters. Her yarn is great. She negotiated with mills to get it spun to her specifications, and it’s lovely.

Yesterday, Clark and I went out. I decided to go at his own pace, and let him walk everywhere, so it took a very long time, but it was really fun. We first went to the library where I picked up some nice books.

That Cables Untangled is looking pretty cool. I might need to buy one.

So, I’ve been thinking, (and I’m going to need to be a little cryptic because of some adolescents that peruse), about knitting a few small shoulder shawls for some upcoming, spring commencements of age. If you get me.

I think they would be well received, and wouldn’t take too much effort. I was thinking of the Shetland Triangle from Wrap Style, the Angel Shawl, also by Evelyn Clark, and perhaps the Flower Basket if I don’t find another. Any suggestions?