candy stripes

Last night I had some nervous energy... which I put to good use and finished my lifesaver candy sock yarn.. although it no longer looks like lifesaver candy..I should probably rename it.
380 yards of hand dyed handspun blue faced leicester... I think this is the best skein of yarn I have ever spun. The yarn actually has a nice sheen to it that is not showing up in the pictures and is very soft. Now... I need to find the perfect sock patten for this lovely yarn.. I have a few patterns in mind.. I could make another pair of 'Vog on... or maybe Jaywalkers.. or Broadripple.. any way I'm still looking at sock patterns today... and there so are many.. I'm welcome to suggestions.. (^_^)

the unexpected..

My lifesaver candy fleece is life saver no longer.. this outcome was very unexpected... I had pictured something very different in my mind.. instead I have 240 yards of very colorful tweedy sock yarn.. I was aiming for a more solid stripe combo.. it has a lot of over spin.. I tend to spin lightly and found it hard to put extra spin on the singles... all in all I'm pleased with it and I have 2 more strips of roving to spin and ply which will give me about half the yardage of this skein.

progress... just a weee bit!!

One spool finished and 3 more to go.. I used 2 strips of the roving.. and will use 2 strips for each spool.. that give me to color repeats on each.. I know they wont match exactly there will be a little bit of difference in the yardage on each strip.. so I can hardly wait to ply to see whats going to happen..















Not much progress.. just a weee bit.. each row is taking longer and longer to complete and I'm on my 3rd repeat of chart 1 with 2 more repeats to go.. omy!!.. yes yes yes.. I know.. I'm knitting on horrible OLD straight metal needles.. with the sharpest points ever.. I don't think they make them that pointy anymore... the danger!!!... I LOVE them and will use them as long as the stitches will fit.. then I'll have to change to a circular... This yarn is so fine.. it's kind of a challenge just to knit with it ... for me anyway..
















A little Bassa Nova to spin by.. (Samba de una nota)

the prism

This little prism of color was on the kitchen floor today.. it really reminded me of the fleece that I just dyed and started to spin today. (baby toes)
















Here I separated it into thinner strips ... this picture was taken at night so the colors are a little off..
















And here it is .. the project of the day.. I'm really loving this so far... I'm hoping it will stripe after plying the way I think it will stripe.. that would be awesome..!!

cRazy sTuff...continued..

Start here....
















The set up....




















cooked and rinsed ... to be continued..!!

cRazy sTuff!

Project of the day:.. hum this could be a good idea or a bad one.. I'll know which in a bit..















Progress: My icarus shawl..(scroll down for the picture).. it doesn't look like it , but there is a whole lot of knitting there...this yarn is really fine and I'm using size 3 needles.. crazy!!!!... I have hit the first big color change.. yay!!.. I think that is what has been keeping me going.. what I don't like is that the stitch markers I'm using are creating a gap in between the stitches where they are placed.. and I'm not going to rip... I refuse.. so before I knit any more I'm going to make some fine stitch markers with some nylon beading wire and crimp beads...I think that should work.. also slipping the markers I'm using now so many times is starting to irritate my fingers... These were my preferred lace markers until now... I think this yarn is just too fine for them..

OOO baby

More baby knitting for me.. I made this little crochet sun hat for Abby. I think I crochet a little tight.. I went up a couple hook sizes and uses a thicker crochet cotton. I used J&P Coats Luster Sheen which is a sport yarn. I think it will fit but be a little too fitted.. I would have liked it to be a bit bigger.















Remember this..???.. I think I'm going to make a another for the new baby on the way. Maybe in a pretty green or cream soft wool this time.. I've been digging through my old baby knitting books and found a few nice patterns from the 80' that I think I will make also. This baby is due in January so it will need lots of hats and sweaters to keep it warm.. (^_^)