wips on 9/30

 Autumn is in the air, yes even in sunny Florida. Our temps are finally going down a little. For some reason I get energized this time of year and dive head first into projects. In the above picture I dyed some blue face leisester with wilton icing colors and then mixed it with natural fleece at about 50% and then added lots of bamboo nibs which ended up to be a pretty lavender molted effect. Thinking to take a different path I tried to spin it as a thick single, maybe a medium thickness, which I did. I liked the result which was lavender and white with little bamboo nibs popping out here and there and then to finish it off I plied it with a comercial yarn. I ended up with a nice surprise.

 At the Florida Fiber in I purchased a bit of fiber and was saving it for a rainy day, but my daughter had to go to the store and I offered to watch Jayden for her. He is very attached to his mom right now and to distract him I asked him if he would like to make batts with me. Of course he did all tears dry up and we blended these 3 pretty batts. Stary Night, Camp Fire and Blue water. You will find these in my esty shop in a day or so along with a few other surprises. 
And finally.. yes.. I turned the square. This hat is the first of my holiday knitting to be finished. I better get going a little faster!!

getting there.. and finally!!

 Most of the baby knitting is finished. The baby block blanket, 2 diaper covers, matching hat, owlie sleep sack and matching hat and handspun angora baby booties. There is a sweater and baby socks on the list still to be knit and then it's on to holiday knitting.

 It has finally arrived!! Final Fantasy 14. If you didn't know I've been a beta tester for the game for a few months. Most of the time it was rather frustrating because the software was incomplete and laggy and just would disconnect at the worst times. Little by little it would be fixed as the beta testers would post there comments on the game play.. basically we would whine about everything that didn't work and ask for things that we would expect a game like this to have. It was fun. Well the game is released now and I would like to get past level 16 and see other parts of the game finally. I think it was a rushed release and they are still fixing stuff but all in all its a beautiful game with beautiful graphics and music. 

When I finished the baby booties the other night I hadn't picked out the baby sweater I wanted to knit yet so whipped up a Turn a Square hat for my son. I think he will like the colors and the fact that it's an over sized version. He likes big hats . This is such a fast knit I might make one for all the men in my life. (^_^)

SALE.. at the HoboKNitSHop...!!

I can't believe I caught another bug. Some yummy green tea helps. I think I've been run down from not sleeping as much as I need to. Well being home sick gave me time to work on my Esty Shop. I'm having a sale plus destashing some handspun yarns. These are just some of the items I have for sale. Take a look. I also finished all the baby items I was knitting so I have to take a look at my queue to see what I would like to knit next. That could take quite awhile. (^_^)

ooo the fiber!!

 I've been a busy girl this last week. Only 11 weeks until the new baby arrives so knitting as much as I can on baby items. I finished the baby block blanket and I'm  on the last few rows of the Owlie Sleep Sack. I finished spinning the luscious angora yarn for the booties. I ended up with 72 yards which is more than enough to knit the booties. I'm going to use the pattern for angora booties in Last Minute Knitted Gifts. They are worked in a double knit stitch that is fun to do. The angora yarn turned out so light and soft I just can't wait to start knitting the booties but I just washed the yarn and it's drying. I'll be able to start the booties tomorrow. 
This weekend was the Florida Fiber-in. I was only able to make it to one day of the event. I had wanted to go Friday night to sit and spin and look at all the vendors wares but my car died and was being fixed that day. I was happy to make it there Saturday for all the demos and other fun activities that were going on and of course to browse all the beautiful fibers.. This picture is my fiber booty. I wanted to buy it all. So much eye candy. Tomorrow I'm hoping to have time to card some pretty batts for my etsy shop. I'm also going to have a sale and sell some items that have been there for a while.. So keep an eye out if you are like me and love fiber and  spinning. I'm also going to de-stash some handspun yarn that I just never seem to get to use.
I really enjoyed the Fiber-in. It's so wonderful to be surrounded by so many spinners, knitter and fiber lovers. I could do that every day hehehe.

New projects weeeee

 Piling up on the baby knits. I started the Owlie baby sleep sack the other day and then realized I didn't read the pattern right again and  had to rip out 3 rows which wasn't too bad.

At my knitting group I got excited when Adelle pulled out  a cro-hook and was working on a scarf. I had never seen cro-hooking before. She gave me a little demo of how it was done and I looked up some patterns online. Just to try it out I started a dishcloth. (making a dishcloth is always a good way to try something new) I think I'm hooked.  What fun. It's part like knitting and part like crochet and the end result is a double sided fabric. I also just happened to have a cro-hook at home. I think I bought one when it was on sale at walmart.. who can pass up a sale even though I had no idea why you would need a hook on each end. I also lucked out on the yarn which was on sale at Joanns for $4.97 for 608 yards!! This will make many many dishcloths. If you haven't tried cro-hooking give it a try.

I can't believe it is actually finished!!

 Yes.. it actually happened.. I finished this baby blanket before the baby shower with time left over for a few more knit items. It's not my favorite item I have knit but not too bad either. The yarn is a soy blend and is better suited for a more drapy garment. I think a yarn with a little more body, like wool, would have been a better choice but the blanket is very soft and silky so I don't think the new baby will mind. 
Time to cast on the next project. I'm not sure I will ever get to my holiday knitting list this year. At least I'll have fun trying. (^_^)

colorfade project

Yesterday I worked on projects as I'm recovering from a virus or something and felt a little better. Some quiet knitting and a little spinning, tea and soup and crackers. There was just a little left to spin of the singles and then ply them together. I did that and watched some movies. I'm happy with the results. 156 yards of 10wpi, light worsted. Now I need a nice little pattern to use it.

Wear your knits!!

 I love when I see my knits being worn by friends and loved ones. It's a happy feeling. (^_^)

a little here and a little there

 This is the progress on my current projects. I have spun half of my batts and started on the second half. After both are spun they will be plied together. I'm hoping the out come will be something pretty.


The baby block blanket is about 3 more colors from completion and then I plan to add a crochet border. I work on the blanket a little everyday and it slowly adds up.

a make over

This cute little cat sweater was knit in around 1990 or 1991  from a pattern in Family circle or some other craft magazine that I still have tucked away somewhere. (this makes me want to find it).. Seems like things just keep coming back. This little hat is so like the sweater pattern. One of the trendy shops in the mall is selling it.

I guess by now you have noticed a little blog make over. Not sure if I like it or not but its done and can be changed. The background photo is of some shawls I have knit in the last couple of years.

lovely colors...

Having a little bit of trouble posting today... blogger changed the format and I can't seem to get my text and pictures where I want to them to go.. oh well. Anyway I started a project two days ago inspired by the latest issue of spin off magazine.  So I carded my  dyed fleece with first about 50% white Blue Faced Leicester, then about 25% then maybe 10% then non at all and the last was a mixture of light teal and purple. I also made a little batt of 50% angora and 50% light teal. This batt I'm going to spin for the specific reason of making some little angora booties for the new grandbaby due in early December. 

Every day off I do a little organizing or cleaning.. chores finished for today and the spinning is about to begin. I have also been knitting a few rows of my baby block blanket every day. I need to finish this soon!! I have a few more baby projects that I have to knit before the shower.
The last picture is a picture of yarn I spun from a dyed roving I purchased when I visited New Mexico. This is only 1/2 of the roving I still have the other half to spin. It is a lace weight single.