The Fiber Stash

Even though I just started spinning in December, my fiber stash is freaking huge. At one point it all fit in a big paper bag, but the combination of the Homespun Yarn Party and Etsy (oh man, I've lost my mind with Etsy purchases) made it grow exponentially.

I was looking for a way to get my fiber consolidated, and since I took down the shelves in the bedroom that used to house all the dye and undyed Storm Moon Knits yarn, I have a lot more wall space available. So I took a trip to Ikea to get some hooks or something to put on the wall so I could hang the fiber. After getting angry at the crowds, I found these wooden hooks in the bathroom section. They only cost $1.99 each. Note: I know they're crooked and not in line with each other. :)


And here they are covered in fiber!


Here you can see the shelf of fiber batts and such. I wanted to get this taken care of before Sheep and Wool (which is TOMORROW!). I may have to buy more hooks depending on how much more fiber I buy :)


Here's my latest spinning. This was the February club batt from Politically Incorrect Yarns and Fibers (btw, if you're thinking of joining the batt club, everything I've received so far has been AMAZING). I love this yarn!


On a separate note, Mike recently got crickets for all the geckos--for some reason he got a ton so there were crickets running around and chirping in the tanks for a week or two. Here's Cece watching the last surviving cricket in Ember's tank.


Of course, it was taunting the crap out of her and trying to jump at her through the glass (clearly it was unaware of what happened to the cricket that escaped the leo tank--I found most of it).


I can't remember if I put up a picture of Ember before, so here she is. She's a crested gecko (we have two).


A more personal update: I'm changing migraine medications, and I've been in withdrawal from my last one for over a week, and it's been pretty horrible. I left work at 11am today because I was so nauseous. The lack of sleep has been fun too. I'm determined to go to Sheep and Wool and ignore the fact that I'll likely feel like crap.

Anyway, yesterday I went to Bayview to get an MRI, so I had to take all my piercings out. This is the first time this has happened in at least 6 years, so I took a picture of all of my metal. It makes me laugh.

I'm a terrible blogger

For some reason I haven't been able to get myself to sit down at the computer and post. I think it's the spinning. It's taken over my life. I've barely knitted anything! I want to do a post about stuff I've spun, but I can't guarantee when that'll happen :) Anyway, I thought I'd post some pictures from my Easter break/super happy cat weekend!

For Easter break we get a 4 day weekend (yay Jesuit schools!) and I drove down to my parents house (which took FOUR HOURS--seriously, want to hear me rant about the idiots in the HOV lanes? because I really really can) where I got out of the car, slept a while, and then got back in the car to drive down to North Carolina to visit my brother and sister in law. But before getting back in the car to drive to NC, I saw this in my parents' back yard:


A pair of bluebirds have moved into the bluebird house in the side yard. My dad even bought mealworms for them.

Anyway, as I said, super happy cat weekend. Here's Rocco, my brother's cat.


And this is Vito, my brother's new cat since they moved to NC. He drives Rocco crazy. Which is understandable since he spent a good hour and a half trying to poke at gnats that were outside the window while yelling at them.



By the way, I had the best chicken portofino EVER while we were in Charlotte. Need to go back and get more!!

Then we drove back to my parents' house. Herbie is my parents' cat--he likes to go back and forth between being terrified of me and wanting to play.


Socks is still hanging in there, though it seems that he's gotten so old he doesn't shed much of his winter coat anymore (he didn't last year either). He's still my baby.


Socks has some new playmates (and by playmates I mean cats he chases out of the yard). This is Avery, the neighbor's cat.


After Avery left the backyard this cat showed up. Apparently he's new, since my parents hadn't seen him before. He was perched under the bird feeder. I have named him Mystery Cat.


Back at home. I've been spending so much time spinning lately that it seems to be driving the cat crazy because I don't sit on the couch (and knit) as much. So she spends most of the time I spin randomly poking me in the leg and yelling.


Of course, when she isn't bugging me she's getting into things, including plastic bags. I had to cut this one off of her. She was wearing it like a purse.


On a totally unrelated note, I got some AWESOME knitting pattern books in the mail (and we can thank the Ravelry Rubberneckers for finding the website). I have no idea what I'll make, but I had to have them. One of them has patterns for a Kermit doll and a Miss Piggy doll.


So here's a spinning tease! Perhaps this will prompt me to actually do the spinning post :) This was roving from Dancing Leaf Farm that I snatched up at the Homespun Yarn Party this year. There's also some metallic thread and sequin string in there.

Next Sunday: Homespun Yarn Party!!!

Edit: SUNDAY! Not Saturday! For some reason my brain just isn't computing this fact.

I promise I'm going to try to post more. Really. I mean it. Anyway, I had to throw this up here:



Next Sunday is the 2nd annual Homespun Yarn Party! It's going to be AWESOME! We have over 30 vendors this year, and a MUCH bigger room. Click the picture above to go to the blog and get all the details. I CAN'T WAIT!

The ridiculously late Christmas post

Yeeeeah. I'm a little behind. I really haven't been knitting that much because when I get home from work I either want to just sit on the couch and watch tv or spin and watch tv. Spinning is much more meditative for me than knitting (likely because I knit things that take too much concentration), so I've been making a buttload of yarn that I haven't knit up yet. It's just sitting on my table looking pretty.

Anyway, I promised pictures of Christmas gifts, so here we go.

Mom's Scarf (#63)


Pattern: Garter Stitch Loop-Through Scarf by Marci Richardson from the book 101 Designer One-Skein Wonders
Yarn: Three Irish Girls Wexford Merino Silk (wool/silk), in Donegan; about 1/2 a skein
Needles: US #8 (5mm)
Notes: Because the yarn I used is a lot thicker than what the pattern called for, I didn't increase as many times as the pattern called for (I don't remember what my number was, though). I was determined right after Stitches East to immediately knit with something I bought there, and this yarn is the great colors for my mom. Plus she doesn't like really long scarves, so this worked perfectly.

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Candace's Beaded Scarf (#64)


Pattern: This is based on the pattern used in the knitting with beads class from the Celtic Knot Yarn Shop (which is now closed)
Yarn: South West Trading Company Yin (wool/silk/bamboo), in 824 - Desire; 1.25 skeins
Needles: US #5 (3.75mm)
Notions: Size 8 seed beads--a whole lot of them
Modifications: I made the scarf wider than the original pattern--I think I added 2 or 3 bead sections.
Notes: I made this to go with the chevalier mittens that I also gave Candace for Christmas. Since the scarf is knit in two halves and grafted in the middle, that means I had to figure out how to do kitchener 2x2 ribbing. That was perhaps the most obnoxious knitting thing I've ever had to do.

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I also made mom and Candace necklaces from fantastic beads I bought from the last trunk show at Two Busy Beads. Mom's is the blue/green one (amazonite) and Candace's is the pink one (for the life of me I can't remember what that's called, but it comes dyed in many different colors--I knew Can would love the pink).





I also bought a lot of Christmas presents from various shops on Etsy.com. First, I bought a whole bunch of bath bombs from Moon's Harvest. I split them between mom, Candace, and myself. I used mine up so quickly I had to order another even bigger batch. She makes them to order but her turnaround time is *really* fast! I'm particularly fond of Crushed Orange and Diva (black cherry).

I also bought a ridiculous number of soaps from The Anderson Soap Company. Again, I gave some to mom, some to Candace, and kept a bunch for myself. Here's just a few:


I bought 4 bird prints for my mother-in-law from Mincing Mockingbird. I forgot to take a picture of these, but they were so pretty I think Mike and I might buy some for our apartment. I also have bought a ton of magnets from this shop because I think they're absolutely hilarious. I have a bunch of them at work on my cabinets.

I bought Mike a few prints from Misanthropic Cavalcade: Art by Joe Havasy. If you like hilariously inappropriate but really well done art, this is the place to go. The quality of the prints is fantastic, too. I've decided that Mike needs to hang these in his office when he becomes a professor.



I've been buying a ton of other stuff lately from Etsy (since there's still a lot of money in my PayPal account). I plan on listing more later. Hopefully though there won't be a month-long delay this time.

No more dyeing!

I will be closing my Etsy shop on January 31st so I can concentrate on my new job (and be less stressed about juggling a full time job and a business). There's still a lot of stock up there, so if you like it you should grab it now. I don't think I'll be doing much dyeing for quite a while, which is kind of a relief.

I hope everyone understands. It's been a great year and a half, but I need a vacation.

I have a lot of updates to make here, including spinning, awesome Etsy purchases, and Christmas presents I never posted about. I have barely been knitting because when I get home from work I'm usually too tired to do anything other than sit on the couch. But work is good. My personal life is less good, but I don't feel like talking about that. Now I'm going to go to bed and really enjoy sleeping in tomorrow.

Gather, all ye who wish to learn

I just had a flashback to my Israelite Prophecy class. Anyway, I do have sort of an announcement.

As of now, I am on a yarn diet. I intend to buy no new yarn until MDS&W. Roving does not count. Etsy trades not initiated by me don't count either (though now I generally would rather trade for roving).

This is in reaction to the ridiculous amount of yarn I've amassed in our tiny apartment. Everything I bought at Stitches this year is still in plastic shopping bags piled in various places because my stash shelves are really full. I made this decision after I ordered yarn at 3am while half asleep from the recent Blue Moon Fiber Arts online sale. When I woke up the next morning I thought, "What the hell did I do that for?" (well, the answer is of course 'the prettiness' but due to space constraints it's still completely ridiculous).

I'm also going to try to bust through as many projects as possible. This'll be interesting given the vast decrease in knitting time due to the new job, but perhaps I can be better about planning projects, since a good deal of my current knitting time is spent staring at yarn trying to figure out what to make next.

Also, I think I'm wearing the fingerprints off my thumb and forefinger from spinning. I've been spinning every day now, and on Thursday I went over to Spinster Yarns and Fibers for a lesson. According to Andrea I've pretty much gotten the hang of it and I just need to practice. She had a lot of good tips, and it's nice to see someone else do it before you try it yourself. She definitely helped me a lot with my joins, and I'm dying to try Navajo plying, but I only have one bobbin at the moment.

Anyway, I better show off my newest FO, for Helping Kids at Hopkins:

Munchie (#62)



Pattern: MMMMM aka. Mr Mighty Munchie Mouth-pouch Monster by Joan De Lurio (available at this etsy shop)
Yarn: Dark Horse Fantasy (50% acrylic, 50% nylon), in #2 (lime) and #105 (deep purple)
Dark Horse Lovely Lash (some kind of synthetic), in #216
Needles: US #8 (5.0mm)
Modifications: I didn't change this one too much. I did 4 legs instead of 5, mainly because I got tired of making them, and I did fewer rows of novelty yarn--the Lovely Lash is so fluffy that you really don't need that much of it to make it super furry. I also changed the inside mouth-seam to a 3 needle bind off.


Apparently this is how Elvis *really* died:


While I have your attention, I'll throw in some more spinning stuff. This is the yarn I made with the rest of the roving that Karida gave me. I'm hoping there'll be enough for a neckwarmer.


I also tried my hand at plying (since I only have one bobbin I wound the yarn into a center-pull ball and pulled from both ends). Doesn't look too bad.


When I got home on Thursday afternoon after my lesson at Spinster I spent most of the evening spinning. I'm getting a lot more consistent with my tension/drafting.


I spun all this while watching the Muppet Christmas Carol. I love that movie.


Ooh, I also made the most awesome batt at the batt station at Spinster.


The picture totally doesn't capture the awesome--it's a blend of undyed merino, white 'icicle top' (some kind of synthetic), blue/turquoise mohair, and a crapton of light blue angelina (the super sparkly stuff). Carma named it "Unicorns and Butterflies." I can't wait to spin it--but I'm totally terrified I'm going to screw it up. I ordered a few batts from Sugarbee Studios (i.e. Politically Incorrect Yarns and Fibers), so maybe I'll try those first.

I have more to show (awesome Etsy trades) but those will have to come later this weekend. I really should try to go to bed earlier than normal since I have to be awake and lucid at 8am starting Monday, but I really want to keep spinning. Crap.

FOs I can't show you, and spinning!

I have a number of projects that I've just finished but I can't show you because they're Christmas presents. I do have one I can show you, though.

Winter Wreath (#61)


Pattern: Knitted Wreath by Julie Weisenberger
Yarn: Rowan Kidsilk Haze, #634, a small portion of a skein
Needles: US #5 (3.75mm)
Modifications: The only thing I really changed was the wreath form. I couldn't find a 6" wire form, so I made one out of coated electrical wire, tape, glue, and ribbon. Pictures below.


I used a dark colored ribbon (eggplant actually) so that it blends in with the door and you just see the leaves.

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On Saturday I met Karida at the Borders in Columbia and bought this:


So now I'm spinning! As you can see, that first attempt there kind of sucked royally. It looks like the wheel is pooping.

Oh, while I was at Borders buying spinning books, I found this:


Oh wait, it gets better!


Jesus is a coin bank!! And he sheds glitter on EVERYTHING. How could I resist the glitter Jesus bank?

Anyway, here was the first attempt at spinning (the roving is Neighborhood Fiber Co. Corriedale Roving in "Truxton Circle"). It's only about 4 yards, and it's pretty bad, but it looks a whole lot like Colinette Point 5.


And here's the second attempt. This one's a little more even. The roving is the autumn pack from Soup to Knits. There's about 25yds.


I spun more today but it's still drying. On Thursday I'm going to go to Spinster and Andrea's going to teach me how to spin for real. It'll be awesome.

Now I'm happy!

I've been slacking on posting this because I've been running a lot of errands for the past few days (a lot of getting non-knitted Christmas presents squared away so I just have to concentrate on the knitted ones now), but...

I GOT A NEW JOB!!!

I was trying to find a picture that would capture the excitement I was feeling, and this is what I came up with:


Yeah, I think that'll work :) Though it's way funnier if you know those people

Starting December 15th I'll be working for Loyola College. Bonus? It's only about a mile from my apartment. I'm hoping to walk to work once it stops being freezing/pitch black at 5pm (I'd be walking through very nice but dimly lit neighborhoods).

Now I just have to shorten all my new pants.

As an aside, these were the runner up photos. Funny, though not jubilant enough. But still funny. God I miss college.



In that first one I'm headbanging. But I can't for the life of me figure out what I was headbanging to. That one's from our rock star party, and I'm Prince. And the last one was from my bachelorette party, where my friends had set up a very dirty Lord of the Rings themed ring toss. That's all I'm going to say about that.

Mittens and updates

I went down to my parents' house for Thanksgiving this year. There was a lot of eating, a lot of shopping, and a lot of knitting. And a lot of their cat staring at me from around corners or furniture. I also got about 12 inches of hair cut off--it's a short bob now, and my head feels soooo much lighter. Of course, Amy and I seem to have differing opinions on what "easy to manage" means. I define it as washing my hair, letting it air dry, and brushing it. She defines it as blowing it dry with a round brush and using a curling iron. Well, this should be fun.

I ended up buying a lot of new (nicer) work clothes and shoes, since the yarn shop outfit generally consisted of jeans, a tshirt, and tennis shoes. I looooove these shoes. And they're actually comfortable. And they're BURGUNDY.


Anyway, back to knitting. I knit most of these mittens while I was home.

Gypsum Mittens (#60)


Pattern: Lola Flip-Top Mittens by Laura Nelkin (another link)
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock Lightweight in Gypsum, about half a skein
Needles: US #2 (2.75mm)
Size Made: 7.5" circumference (next to the biggest size)
Modifications: I changed the decreases at the top of the mitten because I prefer to do them symmetrically. It doesn't make a huge difference, but I like it.



As soon as I bought this yarn from Dip Cindy I knew I wanted to make these mittens. I'm not sure why it took 7 or so months to actually start them, but I did finish them quickly. And it gave me an excuse to dig through the button stash. I love the button stash.


I put up the Christmas tree today and started wrapping presents. Luckily, Cece didn't wake up until I was done wrapping, but she did come out before I could clean everything up. So yeah, if you get a present from me and the bow is flattened, it's because she was rolling around on them. Sorry about that.


I also fully expect all of the sequined star ornaments to be on the floor in the morning. She seems to like those.