motivation

It's hard to be motivated these days for some reason. I have so much I want to do and end up doing nothing sometimes. My poor Citron shawl has been just sitting there. I think I did a total of 8 row in the last week. Yesterday I was playing with the carder again. It's so fun to put the fiber in and turn the handle to see what comes out. I'm sure I will do more of this today. I want to spin a little of fleece to see the quality of the yarn and how it looks. More and more fluff experiments to come!!

A spinning story of sorts

This story starts with a blended batt made of wool, bamboo, tencel and angelina all carded on a new Ashford 2 speed carder.






Next the batt was spun on a louet S17 spinning wheel and ended up about a worsted weight yarn.





The total yardage from the batt was about 63 yards of yarn. Now what to do with it.






I then found this little pattern on ravelry for a Ribbed Neck Tube by Kate Korotky. The pattern was just perfect for this little skein of yarn. It probably could have be a little longer but this was a trial run for my batts to yarn to knit item. I needed to see for myself how the yarn knit up.

how could I not!!

I spent the last 2 evenings playing with my new drum carder. Over the past few years I purchased different types of fibers to try to spin.. some bamboo, mohair, tencel and wool. I tried carding them by hand but it just didn't turn out the way I wanted... so the fiber has been sitting there. Well it all works up really nicely in the drum carder. I have a lot of the bamboo fiber. When I purchased it , I didn't realize that it wasn't roving or top it is just clumps in a bag. Well it works up really nice in the batts leaving little fluffy silky bits here and there. The batt with green in it is from a few little bags of fleece my daughter gave me for Christmas. I couldn't wait and had to spin that one up last night. The little skein is 63 yards of cuteness. From carder to yarn didn't even take that long and there is a lot more left. I will probable card up more after work and spin that up too and then maybe make a simple neck warmer.. Did I say I was having fun!!(^_^)

Firsts!!

Wow it's been 1 year already. Little Cameron turned 1year old this past week. What a little cutie. I was unable to attend but was sent lots of pictures. From the look of it, he is now the owner of many new toys and clothes. I'm hoping to be able to make a summer visit this year. My goal is to see the grandbabies at least twice a year. They visited me right before Thanksgiving this year and it was wonderful. It's hard when the family is spread all over the country. Happy 1sts Birthday little Cameron. <3>

This wonderful creation arrived yesterday in the mail. We ordered this a couple of weeks ago and it arrived a week later a little beat up from the shipping.. We told the seller and they were wonderful and a new one was shipped out that day. This time it was packed in an extra box and more paper stuff in the box for protection.. of course I couldn't wait to try it. When it arrived I was running out the door to my knitting group. I enjoyed knitting with the ladies but in the back of my mind all I could think of was this brand new drum carder just sitting there on the table at home. It was a little chilly last night and Tuesday night is Cream of Chicken wild rice soup night at Panera bread.. Panera's is right in the same shopping plaza where we meet for knitting so I ran and bought two soups with bread bowls (my favorite), one for me and one for my son and drove home. He had the drum carder all assembled when I got home..we ate soup.. he had a movie already to watch...I'm still thinking that I need to try out the drum carder asap.. but I watched the movie with him.. and then.. took out all this fiber I've been collecting, which really isn't that much to some peoples standards, and started adding this fiber and that. Below are the finished batts.. soft and fluffy wool/bamboo/tencel. I wanted to see what all natural, mixed fiber batts would look like.. On the last one I added some black wool. I can't wait to see how they spin up!!

projects of the day

Projects of the day: Pattern: Knitty's Citron , Yarn: IndieDyer Possum Lace from jimmy beans wool. This yarn is very soft but sheds little fluffy fibers.. humm.. I will probably end up working on this tonight at my knitting group. It is a really simple pattern made up of increases and decreases in stockingnet stitch. Seems like a good knitting group project. I sometimes get distracted at the group on more complicated projects..





I have a few necklaces to work on today. I'm very slow at making jewelry for some reason. Hopefull I will get them finished in good time today. They are for one of my managers. I bought all the beads and findings a while ago and they have just been sitting here. That seems to be the story lately. I just can't seem to get going on projects.

accordion socks?

Last night I put the final touches on the Almost Monkey socks. Maybe I should call them accordion socks. I hadn't noticed that they are the same color as my son's accordion. I really like these socks. They have a good amount of stretch and are really comfy. These socks were supposed to be my BF's Christmas present so I'm glad they are done.. even if they are a little late. I make him a pair of socks every Christmas and he loves them and uses them when our Florida weather gets cold in the winter.





I treated myself to this soft skein of yarn. Fleece Artist Nyloni. I already have plans for this yarn probably a little shawl. There are a few that I would like to make. I just loved the soft color changes and the soft smooth feel of the yarn. The color is Pewter and it has 380 yards.

yarn samples

The finished bunny batt yarn: I was trying for a sport weight but it's more like a fingering weight yarn. 15wpi. You can just see the angora fibers peeking out. My experience with this type of yarn is.. as you knit with it , it gets fluffier and fluffier. 222 yards of single fluffiness. The red yarn below is a 139 yards of wool/mohair singles spun from Brown Sheep mill ends. I'm trying to work out what I want to do with it so this is the first sample.
WIP: The monkey socks are slowing getting finished. I have about 3 more inches left to knit.

distaff day

Yesterday was the annual Distaff Day in Orlando. It was a fun afternoon of knitters and spinners gathered together. There was beautiful fiber, wonderful show and tell, a grab bag of yarnie gifts and just a lot of fun. I picked up these cuties there. A one yard knitty knotty and a shawl pin for heavier shawls and sweaters. I worked on my almost monkey socks which are now closer to the toe and spun about 1/2 of my bunny batts. All in all a great day.

pretty little socks

My first machine knit socks!! I was so excited to learn how to knit them on the machine. These are knit toe up and a standard gauge machine. I knit them on one bed and seamed them up the side using a kind of chain stitch using a loose stitch on the edge of the socks. I also had to graft the toes. This is the pattern . These were my learning socks so they aren't perfect. But now I have the technique down and can't wait to make more. Just in time for the extra cold weather we are having in Florida right now. Wool socks are saving my little cold feet. I think I dragged all the cold weather down we me from Iowa.





I just ordered these fluffy little batts from etsy.com from sdspin shop. They are called bunny batts. The core layer is angora bunny fur. Man I can't wait to have time to spin these. I think I'll start them on Distaff day. It's a local gathering of spinners and knitters in the Central Florida area. I'm really looking forward to going.. (^_^)

home stretch..

Tried my first pair of machine knit socks..They weren't bad for my first pair. They were the prototype so to speak and I will adjust the next pair to work a little better for me. Up to this point I haven't made a pair on the machine and I was a little intimidated, but now that I see how they are constructed on the machine.... it wasn't as bad as I had thought and I would like to make more..





Machine knit... hand knit. There is a lot of hand sewing left to do on the machine knit socks. Still you can make a pair of these in an afternoon. For these I just used left over yarn from another pair of socks. As you can see the monkey socks are moving along. I finished the gussets this evening at my knitting group and now I'm on the home stretch... just the foot and toes left. Did I say these are a Christmas present for the BF.. I make him a pair every year. I know Christmas has come and gone.. but the good thing is .. I'm finishing them way quicker than I did last years socks.. 0.0

Knit faster... knit to this..