new yarn...

New yarn added to the stash. I bought this on ebay from yarn treehouse. I't looked a little more yellow onling but I like these colors too so there was no problem. This is sock yarn and someday I will have time to knit up some socks again. This yarn fades from orange , green to deap yellow. I can't wait to see what it knits up like. Now I have to decide on a sock pattern for it.

Here are the supplies for my next 2 projects.. The two summer sundress (ravelry link). As of now I'm still working on the sunflower doll's hat and dress. All my free time the last few days has been dealing with the AC and looking for a dress for a wedding that I'm going to attend this Saturday. I think I tried on about 30 dresses. I found the dress but now I have to find shoes. Considering that I wear size 5 1/2 that's not going to be easy..There was a perfect pair of Nina dress shoes where I work but I was too late .. someone bought the size 5 1/2.That means I'll be running around again tonight after work.

hello dolly!!

The doll's body is finished. I worked on it yesterday in my free time. I'm using the short dpn's .. size 2 for all the circular knitting. Now all I have to finishis the flower hat, the dress and the shoes.
Something great happened today after work.. I actually mailed out that sweater I just finished that took over a year. That was a happy event. An unhappy event.. when I got home to see if the new air conditioner was installed.. I found out that they only replaced the outside unit... so I'm in the same place I was before but with a lot less money. The inside unit is still bad and still leaks, is rusty and has no heating unit anymore... I was told he was going to replace everything... so at this point we still don't have air conditioning. Well I could put it on and it will get a little cooler in here but at a great cost. So now I have to save money and hopefully will be able to find an inside unit that we can afford.. if not.. it's going to be a very hot summer. [sad face]

wips.....

Summer is approaching in Florida. Right now we are having the most wonderful weather. Low to mid 80's, breezy, sunny on the dry side.. well just beautiful weather..But weather changes here so fast it can get hot and humid pretty quickly . I'm especially enjoying this weather right now because at the end of last year our air-conditioner started acting up and eventually just died. I was dreading the coming summer not knowing if I could spring for a new unit.. between my tax return and a little ( or a lot) of help from my Dad and good connections we are going to get a whole new air-conditioning system tomorrow. I'm ecstactic..!! I can't wait.. it's going to be wonderful to have a nice cool house again...

Projects of the week.. 1. Sunflower doll by Jennie Eveleigh Lamond. I'm working on that now so hopefully I will finish the legs and start on the arms before work. And 2. I just can't help myself .. I have to spin on a spindle every day.. I think I spin all my problems away and feel so relaxed when I spin.. I tend to be a worry wart and think about the same problems over and over ( like that is going to help).. but when I'm spinning they seem less stresfull and not so evil.

the cuteness !!

Time is flying by so fast and all the grandbabies are growing so big already. There is just too much cuteness here. I can't keep up with the knitting they are growing so fast..
















































Since I finished 2 projects.. cough..umm time to start another.. I just had to play with the new fiber that arrived yesterday. There is a whole lot of tencel in it.. It is spinning like silk. That little spindle has a good spin.. it's like a sprinter though. Fast and short. I'm trying to put a little extra spin on these singles hopefully for sock.

And of course I casted on already. These dolls are just too cute. I hope to finish the body of the sunflower doll today. (^_^)

surprises from a far..

I have been waiting for some stuff I ordered from etsy.com and expected that in the mail today.. but I didn't expect this box. It's from my son and was full of Trader Joe's goodies. He sent me shopping bags of all sizes and just a box full of surpises.. All sorts of organic and yummy treats. It was like Christmas here today.




























That was the unexpected box and here are the expected items.. First is the beautiful glass flower spindle purchased from Butterflygirldesigns on etsy. Next is this gorgeous Superwash merino / 50% tencel fiber from FatCatKnits on etsy... I'm going to spin this as thin as I can hopefully for socks. I have to see how much spin I can get after I ply it.. if not it will make a nice lace scarf.. either way I'm in spindle/fiber heaven today... and to top that off I have the day off..in which I plan to spin and knit and eat some yummy goodies with some pomegrante white tea.. woo hoo..!!

ta daaaa...

A drum roll please....at long last a finished sweater. This sweater has been haunting me for over a year. It was sitting there almost complete except for one sleeve. I just hated the yarn for this and after I had over half of the sweater knit my son pointed out that the sleeves seemed to wide for the fitted body of the sweater. And sure enough they were and are very full. But the sweater is finished now and I'm going to mail it to my son and I hope he will at least wear it to work or something... It is definitely not the prettiest sweater I have ever knit but it's finished.

















Another project just 4 rows from completion is this baby sweater that I have been toting around with me every where.. and this too will be finished today..!!


I have just been loving the drop spindle and here is my progress on this fleece. I have one spool finished and the next 1/2 done. That will leave another small ball of roving to spin. I'm using this to practice with. I just purchased a beautiful superwash merino/silk roving that I want to spin next on the spindle. I can't wait..!!

changes..

Here is my current spinning project. Recently I picked up a drop spindle again after disliking spindle spinning for ever.. and now I can't seem to put it down. This roving was purchased quite a few years ago. It was 8 oz. of merino/silk with little bits of different colors that pop up when spun. I spun about 1/2 of the roving on my ashford wheel back when I bought the roving and then gave it to my daughter who knit leg warmers and a hat. She held it together with one strand of Rowan kid silk haze. The result was beautifully soft. Not sure what I'm going to do with it after its finished.

















This little beauty was just added to my stash. I have 2 different shawls in mind that I would like to use it for. In that little ball of yarn there is a tremendous amount of yardage. 880 yards. Well here are my two choices and I haven't decided on which one yet.. First choice is Gail..(pdf) and the second choice is the Aeolian Shawl from knitty spring 2009.. This is shawl is estonian lace and I'm no sure if I'm up to that but I would like to try. Both are beautiful.. I just have to decide on one of them. This will be my summer knitting project.

















Florida weather can change this time of year from day to day. We went from 90 degree weather to 40 degrees two nights later.. back up to upper to mid 80's . From drought to a mega rain storm and this beautiful night sky appeared after the rain. My digital camera couldn't capture the true colors but it's still pretty. (click for the big pic)

















And last of all I'm still working on sewing the zipper in this sweater. I'm dragging my feet terribly. I was able to pick up a separating zipper in the perfect color at Joann's.

how to decide on a spindle..0.0

With much observation of my spinning ... my bf feels that I should invest in a spindle that spins longer... better .. faster... well you know how guys are about tools.. He said .. since I enjoy spinning so much I should invest in the best tools.. for spinning that is.. I know everyone spins a little differently and prefers different types of spindles. Here are the the spindles I'm going to choose from..First... I like to spin from sock yarns to medium weight yarns.. and I do have 2 spinning wheels so as far as yarn thickness I have that covered. I think I would like a 2 3/4 inch whorl some where from 1.5 oz and down.. I think that will suit the yarn I like to spindle spin. Not having seen or tried any of these spindles I'm not sure which I love the best and at this point I want a spindle that I will love..
1st is the Forrester spindle..Purpleheart/Birch Whorl, 3"..58.3 grams






















Next is the Golding celtic ring spindle 2 3/4", 1.3 oz. I've seen these in action.. all I can say is nice...

















Third is the Kundert spindle. 3 3/8" and 1.3 to 1.5 oz.. I have seen some finished product from this type of spindle and its gorgeous. If anyone has used any or all of these spindles maybe you could leave a comment and let me know how you like them.













Today is my last day off before a 7 day work week again.. I plan to play in the soft fluffy fibers and relax... I also need to sew in the zipper of "The" sweater.

bite the bullet..!!

I'm still working on finishing the seams on this sweater. I think this is the worst sweater I have ever knit. That is probably why I'm dragging my feet on getting it finished. I hated working with the yarn and sometimes I was knitting in the dark and the next day I would notice some wierd looking stitches. I did give up on it for a year... felt bad that it was just laying there minus one sleeve and decided to finish it. I find it very hard to work on something that I do not like.. when right next to me I have pretty fiber to spin.. a tote full of yarn and a cute little pattern all ready to go... It's like chewing on nails .. but I continue.. rather slowly.. man I just need to bite the bullet and get done with it..!!

















I started out with this roving.. and it ended up as this skein of yarn. When I ordered this roving there was a mix up in the colors .. this color wasn't really what I had ordered.. It had a little red and a different green... so I guess the finished product didn't turn out like I expected either. I really don't know how I feel about the yarn. Anyway it was fun to spin even if I'm not crazy about the color..

so much finishing to do..

Today is a day of finishing up.. I probably wont finish this baby sweater today. I'm going to try to add a couple more inches. I need to knit 4 " from the under arm and then knit the edging. This was knit all in one piece and the sleeves were knit in the round to the finishing is minimal on this. Next on the list of finishing today is this zip up sweater. All the knitting is now finished and all that is left is the sewing.. There is quit a bit of sewing though.. Then last on the list is plying my skein of yarn. I liked the singles but I'm not liking the yarn plied as much... Oh well.

a day off..!!

Yay I have the day off today. I was supposed to have yesterday off too and I had so many plans. I was going to wrap up all my Easter gifts and have them ready to send out in the mail today. I had planned to finish this sweater that I'm knitting for my son and I'm on the last inch of the collar. There is just the front edging left and the finishing. I was going to do all the laundry yesterday ( because I worked 7 days and just about wore all my clothes)... Because I had planned to get all that done yesterday .. I was going to mail out my Easter gifts today.. Well all that didn't happen. Late Tuesday I got a call from a coworker asking if I could cover her shift because her baby sitter was unable to watch her son.. There was no one else that could do it.. so I said yes. It was an early shift so I thought well I can still do all my stuff in the afternoon.. As I was walking out the door ready to head home I checked my phone and my other job had called and left messages.. so I listened and 2 people called out.. there was not one else available to help with closing the store.. so I drove home, ate and ironed my pants and ran out the door to job #2... I guess that was that... So today I basically have to do all the stuffed I planned to do yesterday that I didn't get to do.. and some. So much for sending out the Easter gifts .. doing all the laundry and cleaning up seem to be the order of the day. I'm just about finished with laundry and plan to finish spinning my little sample yarn.. I would like to finish the sweater too. Thats next on the list. Little Abby is having her 3rd birthday in May and I just purchased the cutest pattern for a little sunflower and lady bug knit doll. I can't wait to finish everything up and start making them.






















Some fluffy alpaca fleece I'm going to spin up just to get rid of it.. and I just couldn't help spinning some of the fiber I orded from etsy.com the other day.. I might ply it with a natural color.. I don't know yet..

more goodies.!!!

I finished spinning the last of the mill ends last night. I used up some of the shorter ends spinning singles in a medium weight. In the next picture are my goodies that just arrived in the mail from my etsy shopping binge. I bought a new WPI /orifice hook and 4 + ounces of hand painted corriedale wool. The wool is from sunset fibers and the hook from aspinnerslair. Both items are very pretty..Now I can gauge my yarn a little better. (^_^)

The spindles I just purchased were also from etsy.com. The seller is ghstworks if you want to take a look.

thick and thing..

I'm spinning up the rest of my mill ends but trying for a bulky yarn.. or maybe I'll just use it as a single. I don't know yet. I kind of like it better thicker too. This will be good practice for a more even thicker yarn.

















Every day I spin a little on my new spindle.

















Here is the finished product. A total of 558 yards.. brown sheep mill ends at about a sport or dk weight . (below are all the books I don't have time to read. They have been sitting on my night stand forever.

not again..

This is the last skein I planned to spin of the mill ends. If I spin more it will be thicker because all the rest are short lengths of fiber. With the 2 skeins I ended up with 558 yards. I have no idea what I would like to use it for yet. I bet you are glad I finished so you don't have to see it again. hehe

















The last few days I have been making some necklaces after work in the evenings. One for each outfit. (^_^)

a spinning binge !!

OOO dear.. I'm on a spinning binge. With all the knitting projects I'm trying to finish I can't keep my hands off the fiber. On the wheel is the fiber that resembles a skunk. I'm almost ready to ply skein #2. On the red spindle is the wooly mammoth. This is a raw alpaca fleece I got a while back that I wasn't exactly happy with it. It was mostly skirting and it was supposed to be "clean". After much teasing and two washings it still has a traces of veggetable matter and some twigs. The color isn't what I expected either. Well any way.. I'm going to see if I can spin up a few skeins and be done with it... I love the spindle by the way. That makes spinning something I don't really like actually a pleasure. The picture down below is more of the falkland top that I received as a sample... I'm going to have to purchase some of that now. It's gorgeous. It has such a pretty sheen after it's spun...