spinning!

The past four Saturday mornings I have spent happily spinning away in a class we offered at the shop. Tomorrow is Saturday again, and I am so sad that I don't get to spin! (I'm pouting, but you can't see that)
I know that I told you about my lovely new Suzie Pro, but now I get to show you my beloved wheel in action...



...there I am gleefully spinning away on I don't even know what! This photo was from the last day where we had the treat of spinning a variety of fun fibers...angora, seacell, silk , mohair...you name it!

It was such an inspirational month of spinning In between classes I managed to get so much spinning done, it was quite remarkable!
Anyway, here is a look at everything that I spun up over the course of the last month...





...the purple and orange yarns are both merino roving that I dyed myself. I'm particularly proud of my first singles (the purple stuff); I think I did an OK job setting the twist, but I'll let you know when I manage to start knitting with it! I also spun up some BEAUTIFUL hand carded merino/firestar fluff, that I made into a 2 ply. it is a super soft, light fluffy woolen yarn, that I'm thinking of knitting into a big cowl-y thing...keep you posted there too.




I've been working on some my Crown Mountain Farms superwash merino...which will now be finished before I die because I have a wheel and I'm not attempting to spin 8 oz of fingering weight yarn on a drop spindle! Phew! I am really excited to finish this one because I have promised myself I can order more fiber from the Crown Mountain folks when I do.



Finally, the last thing I've been spinning is some very pretty pure alpaca fiber in a natural brownish-gray colour. I have abot 7 oz of that and have just begun plying. I'm going to make this into a 2 ply, and it looks like it will be close to a fingering weight, and is another soft woolen yarn. I'm planning something lace, and I think I'll get enough yardage to make a reasonable size project! Yippee!



The topic of wheel naming came up in our classes, and got me thinking that my little wheel needs a name. One woman in our class has a vintage Louet (its lovely!) and she's named it Louis, perfect choice if you ask me. I've been thinking about names and like the idea of giving my wheel a masculine name as well...not enough of them out there if you ask me. But making a decision is never easy for me, even at the best of times. I've tried thinking of some of my favourite characters; Mr. Darcy...Omar from the Wire...neither seems right. Someday my wheel will have the perfect name, and until then I'll just call it spinny, or something like that!

a few yarny pics

Most of these colours have already found good homes, but I'm just so excited about them I have to share! The next big challenge will be replicating them (wish me luck)






















So I know that there are A LOT of pictures, but I just can't help myself. Still nothing up on my Etsy store, but I hope to get my act together very soon! I'll keep you posted.

I've just cast on Damson in a lovely gold-y/orange-y colour that I quite like...I've named it Marigold...

nothing's finished...

I did manage to finally take decent pictures of this lovely vest that I knit ages ago...





...the belt was a Christmas gift from a friend, and I think it works perfectly with my vest! It was a completely mindless knit (something I always love!), but I procrastinated like crazy on the seaming; mostly because that wacky little point thing was confusing me...so sad. Anyway, I now call this my elf sweater, and love it dearly. The pattern is from Norah Gaughan book 1 (from Berroco) and is called Kaino. If you want to knit for AGES and never have to think, this is the project for you! I used 5 skeins of Cascade 220 heathers; I'm slowly chipping away at the full bag that I bought on an insane impulse one day. Hooray!

I've been dyeing yarn like crazy, and have my little business up and running-for the most part. As soon as I get the first few skeins up on my Etsy store I'll post excitedly I am sure, but in the meanwhile you can only buy my yarn at the Naked Sheep. I have a lovely spread of yarn photos to post, but alas, left my camera at the shop this evening so I will leave you with these ADORABLE pics of my sweet pup Lucy...








...there was a little sofa type thing in the place of this table that she loved to sit under. When her little "cave" was moved she didn't know quite what to do, so she crammed herself under this tiny table instead! She had just cut her paw quite badly in this pic, so she is acting even more pathetic and hard-done-by.

OH! and I almost forgot! Thanks for the comment on my Tomten...I really love the way it came out, and feel that everyone should knit one! Serious!

a little bit of finishing and a lot more starting

Well, it appears that at moments in life where there is great transition, change or general upheaval the only coping method a crafter such as myself possesses is to buy yarn and cast on like crazy!!
Sorry for that crazy run-on sentence, but I think it was necessary.
I have been buying yarn like its going out of style, and the guilt is building slowly but surely. It hasn't stopped me from lurking on the Sundara site, however. So anyway, I won't show you everything that I've bought (because it's too embarrassing!) But I can't resist sharing a few highlights...

sooo, you know how much I love Pigonroof studios...check out this BFL in "Black Walnut"!






Sweet Georgia worsted merino...




...the colours are ginger and blackberry, I am in love with both! The yarn is super squishy, but was quite pricy too $11.50/50g skein...oh I don't know.

And finally, the most impulsive purchase of all...5 skeins of Classic Elite Fresco! I couldn't decide between 5 colours, so I just bought them all! Of course, the orange is my favourite...



I've been dyeing to cast on some new projects as well. Sorting through my stash to move it has really made me think about all the beautiful yarn I already have! There is really no more room to store it, and I hate that my pretty yarn is hidden away. So perhaps I am making some sort of new year's resolution (though I don't really like the idea of resolutions...too much pressure). Anyway, you heard it here first; am am going to knit all my most delectable stash yarn! Of course, I have to wait until I finish my mom's oh-so-late Christmas sweater...just 1 sleeve to go...

I did manage to finish the sweaters I was knitting for my little niece and nephew (they are my cousin's kids...does that make them cousin's x times removed? I can never keep it straight!)...and here they are







I could not be happier with the way this Tomten turned out! It was so quick to knit (and the pattern is genius, but we all knew that anyway) I found the perfect toggles at the tiny button place at Queen and Spadina (Torontonians, you know the spot I'm talking about). Making the afterthought pockets was a breeze too; I love that I didn't have to plan the pocket placement in advance. It was so much easier to get the pockets in the right spot!






And this adorable little short rows cardigan turned out great as well. I used vintage mother of pearl buttons that I picked of at the St. Lawrence antiques market.

I know that I titled this post with something about casting on...and I have been casting on like crazy, but at the moment I am pooped. I'll spare you the long list of WIP's and post projects as they are finished, or something...good night folks!

I did it AGAIN

I think I have to give up on posting regularly. I love to blog, but when it cuts into knitting time I suppose I choose to knit more often than not. There has been one other rather large distraction...the boyfriend and I split up about a month ago, so moving my stuff, etc. has taken quite a bit of time and energy.

I'm just starting to get my dyeing stuff set up again so that I can pick up where I left off with Viola. The first little batch of yarn sold quite quickly at the shop, and I'm really excited to dye more! I'm hoping to be able to put some yarn and roving up on Etsy soon too. My little store looks so sad with nothing for sale!

Since I have even more catching up to do that my last post, I'll just show you some recent FO's

this is easily the most exciting; on the weekend my AWESOME father bought be a Majacraft Suzie Pro from the Black Lamb (a lovely yarn shop in Port Hope)! And here is the first thing I spun with it...







...4.8 oz of corriedale roving from Pigeonroof Studios! You have listened to me go on about how much I love Krista already, so I will spare you this time (she's awesome!) But I will tell you how much I adore this little wheel...a lot! I have elaborate plans to sew a cute little bag for it, and have been dreaming of bringing my wheel with me everywhere I go and spinning non stop!

Too bad Christmas knitting is getting in the way of my ambitious spinning goals...



...a Drops short rows baby jacket knit in 2 different colours of Koigu, Indigo Moon fingering weight merino and Dale of Norway Baby Ull. A lot of yarn, but this turned out to be so cute. I have yet to sew on the buttons...horrid un-fun job! You can find the pattern here.



...a Tomten Jacket knit in Cascade 220. I'm doing applied I cord around all the edges a la Elizabeth Zimmermann, and afterthought pockets...perhaps this could be called a Tomten with "the works"

Oh, and take a look at this massive sweater that I recently finished for the shop....



its Wisteria by Kate Gilbert. I used i think 6 skeins of Malabrigo worsted in the saphire green colourway. This thing took me ages to knit, just because of all the goings on at the shop. Now that its done, I think I quite like it

That's all for now!

oops!

Well, I certainly never intended to abandon the blog for so long...almost two months! But I suppose it's no surprise, I am easily distracted at the best of times, and I think that the past few weeks have been quite busy. Anyway, I won't attempt to go over all the crafty things I've been up to...there have been far too many, and I can't even remember half of them.

Here is a short recap anyway...

I've been dyeing yarn like crazy, and am actually in the throws of setting up a little line of hand dyed yarns! This has been quite exciting, and I'm realizing more and more that I just won't be happy if I can't be creative in one way or another. You can count on lots more yarn photos in the future anyway! And here is a look at some of the most recent colours to come out of my dyepot...



...they are, from the top down, blot, marigold and pearl. I'm having such a great time playing around with colours and constantly being surprised by what appears once the yarn is dry (it is almost never what I expect!)

In case you are curious I am not speaking with my paper dolls sweater. I have decided officially to rip out the lumpy yoke, but can't bear the thought of it, so the sad little sweater is buried at the bottom of my yarn trunk. I'm sure I'll get around to fixing it, but likely not any time soon. And thanks to everyone for their encouraging words and messages...but jeez, what a bummer!

In the world of spinning all is well. I plied, set and began to knit my lovely Pigeonroof Studios roving, and it is just stunning! I Navajo plied my singles, which turned out quite well; the yarn is light and airy, yet warm and squishy! I decided to knit it into a hat, which it looking more like a light bulb than a hat at the moment, but I'm not terribly concerned...I think It'll be OK once I am able to put it on my head...





...unfortunately I haven't had the time to devote to much of my own knitting, as I've been working on two identical shawls for my mom to give as gifts. I'm knitting both in Tanis Laceweight superwash merino. The yarn is quite lovely, and you know how I feel about her colours, but I think that superwash merino just doesn't make a very appealing yarn for lace. Of course I only came to this realization after I was half way through the 2000 yards that I'm knitting! I have decided, however, that laceweight yarn should be more luxurious; I want silk and cashmere and all those other goodies, not superwash merino! Of course I have quite a lot in my stash that I still want to knit, but I think I'll be taking a break from lace weight for a little while anyway.






Sadly, I do not have a picture that will do either shawl justice. The gifting date passed before I could finish either; one was completely knit, but needed to be blocked and the other was just partly knit. I don't think I'll ever get to block the first because the receiver was so happy to get it she doesn't want to give it back! The pattern I chose to use is Bridgewater from the Made in Brooklyn book by Jared Flood, but I knit the shawl as a triangle instead of a square, and I'm glad I did because I'd be knitting until I died otherwise! Oh, and the colours are Sand (can't seem to get away from it!) and Olive.

I have managed to start one big project recently (though I certainly don't need to) and it is my first ever granny square blanket! I have no control when it comes to combining colours, so I finally settled on these eight shades of Cascade 200, some heathers and some solids.







I'm still quite smitten with this project, and have been doing my best at weaving in my ends as I go, but man, what a crappy job! It takes longer to bury the ends than it does to make a square.

planning ahead

Over the past few weeks I have been attempting to plan and begin my Christmas knitting. Every year I get caught in the all too familiar trap; Christmas season arrives, everyone else is planning and finishing gifts and I realize about a week before the 25th that I want to knit everyone a sweater! It has never ended well. Usually one or two people get their gifts, the rest have to wait until I finish them sometime in June (and they are lucky if I DO finish them). I think that makes me a terrible gift giver...hmmmm....yes it does!

But this is the year that I plan to change all of that. I've already cast on a sweater for my mom, and a shawl that I hope to give to my sister! Woot! My dad is the most difficult family member to knit for. Not because he is at all picky, in fact he is happy to receive anything I make. The problem is that I want to be knitting frilly pretty things, and he is just not going to go for that...obviously! I THINK that I'm going to knit him a plain and simple sweater, but construction is yet to be determined. I have a bag of beautiful Cascade 220 in a beige/green colour that will do the job nicely, now I just have to decide what to make.

I start to run into trouble after I cover my immediate family, and begin thinking that I should knit for everyone else and their brother. I would love to make a bunch of vanilla socks, and just hand them out around the holidays. It sounds great right now; I'll use up a bunch of stash yarn (awesome) and I'll always have a good travel project at hand. But I know better than to think I can pull that off!

Right now, all I can report is that the sweater I'm knitting for my mom is moving along nicely. It is very plain, which has allowed me to knit it while watching TV in the evenings. the pattern is Sally, from the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Collection and I'm knitting it in Henry's Attic Prime alpaca. I picked this yarn up when I was in L.A. a couple years ago from Wildfiber in Santa Monica (a lovely store, by the way). At the time I was totally in love; it felt great, each skein had 600 yards of sport weight yarn and came in a lovely selection of natural colours. I grabbed a bunch of it for sweaters and it has sat in my stash ever since. I love knitting this yarn, but I have to say that it is VERY scratchy, certainly not the soft delicate alpaca I thought it was. The colour I'm using for Sally is "Nutmeg",



but I also have 1 skein of black and 2 skeins of "Fawn" that I recently overdyed this colour...



I am seriously hoping that the colour I'm knitting now came off a very prickly alpaca, and my other colours will be softer, because I planned to knit them into shawls, and no one wants a prickly shawl!

I've also been doing a good amount of spinning. Pigeonroof studios has been all-consuming of course, and I'm almost through spinning the 4.1oz of corriedale in the "Collision Course" colourway. So pretty. I have yet to decide how I want to ply it; initially I wanted to go for a 2-ply, to maximize yardage (as usual). However, I need to work on planning ahead, why on earth did I not split the roving into quarters before I started spinning?? I don't predraft at all, so I just dove in, winding the singles off my spindle when it got too full. I'm almost finished spinning and I'm going to end up with three balls of singles, not as simple when one wants to make a 2-ply yarn!






One more thing before I go...I've been having great fun dyeing roving! I still am just guessing at what results I'm going to get, and so far I've only tried painting them. Here are my latest attempts...



...the blue is a baby alpaca roving. I had expected it to be much darker than it turned out. And the reddish braid is mohair. I LOVE this one and was even more surprised at the way it turned out. Before I stuck it in the pot to steam it was covered in pink...where the heck did that go?!