1 Back 1 Gold and next 2 sleeves

Well I have received my first GOLD in the Ravelympics for spinning this!

So I am on to the knitting. As of Saturday night I have finished the back. I really love how the color progression is working out.

Next I plan to do the sleeves. When I knit a sweater that has to be sewn up I usually really hate the sleeves. Not sure why I just do. So this time I'm thinking if I do them next I will knit them faster and then when I get to the two fronts I will be excited for the finish.

So far I am a bit ahead of where I want to be so as long as there isn't any energies I should be able to finish in time. So far I have had some serious shoulder pain while I was spinning. Its better now but I am being more careful to take breaks in the knitting.

Stay tuned.

Let the knitting begin!

OK so I have been spinning like a mad woman. As you know I am working on a sweater for my Ravelympic's project. During the opening ceremonies I started to spin a huge mount of Shetland roving. I ended up with 13 skeins of 3 ply yarn at 11 wpi which is exactly what the pattern calls for. So last knight I cast on and cast on and cast on. Well it really took 4 tries to get the right gauge and size that I wanted. I am at gauge but it way to big so now I am knitting at the same gauge but making a much smaller size, which in turn is turning out to be the size I need. Stay tuned.

Monthly fiber clubs part two

So today I thought I would post pictures of some of the fibers that I have been spinning. This first one is a new fiber for me to try. Falkland. Until this came in the mail I had never even herd of this. basically its fiber from sheep that are on the Falkland islands. Its a very soft fiber and it was a real joy to spin. I would say its very similar to Merino. Crown Mountain Farms sent this back in January. They send what they call pencil roving. Which means its thinner they average roving which of course makes it easier to spin. The color way is called Awakenings. I started spinning on Jan. 1 and a spin in at a friends house. I am trying to use each of the Crown Mountain fibers to make socks this year as its time for some new socks. I chained plied it or you might no it as Navajo plied. Which by the way is not how the Navajo ply their yarns, so I think there is an effort to change the name to chain plied which it what it is anyway. It came out to 264 yards and its about a sport weight.

This one is the February Crown Mountain Fiber of the month. This is again a new fiber to me called Finn although I have herd of it before I haven't had a chance to spin any. This is a nice fiber and its not as soft as the Falkland but its still soft. I think it would work great for sweaters.

The colorway is called Shiva/shake. I again chained ply it and it came out to 348 yards and its a thicker fingering weight. Just perfect for socks. Now I just have to get to knitting. Maybe after the Ravelympics are over.

Crown Mountain Fibers oh my!

So this year I was able to subscribe to a couple of fiber clubs and I thought I would talk a bit about them the first one is Spunky fiber club. Although its not really new to me as I have been getting the fiber for years and years. I do really love this one as I never know what I am going to get and I don't know what the colors will be. You can still sign up for it by googling spunk fiber club.

Again this year I was able to sign up and pay for the Fondle this fiber club. I really like this one because not only do you get the fiber but also a pattern for each month. So you get enough fiber to knit whatever the project is. I really love Susan's colorways. I think you can still also sign up for this one too. Google Fondle this fiber club and you can go from there.

The last one is Crown Mountain Fiber club. I met the owner of Crown Mountain at SOAR and just love now only their colorways but their attitude. So far I have loved everyone I have gotten. This one you will get 4 ounce of a different breed of sheep which is fun because some of the ones that are coming up are new to me.

As I complete the month's fibers I will post pic of them. So far I have spun but haven't knit the Fondle this for Jan. its a great pattern but I just haven't had the time to get all the knitting done. I am hopeful I can finish it this next week.

I have been able to spin both Jan. and Feb. Crown Mountain fibers. My plan is to knit socks with the yarn. Because the colorways are so cool I am thinking they will be basic vanilla socks, but we will see. I will post about them later.

I also am working on a fleece study. I have over 50 different wool and other fibers that I plan to work on throughout the year. So be on the lookout for both the fiber clubs and the fleece study.

Get Ready for some Spinning!!!!!

I know I haven't been blogging much of late. There are a couple of reasons why. First my computer was beginning to slowly die. So it was really hard to get a whole lot done on it. Second my camera died right after I got back from SOAR, so I couldn't add any pictures. Well I am happy to say I have both a new computer and a new camera. Now the hard part learning how to use them. I don't have much time as its about time for the Ravelympics to start.
For those who don't know what that is. Its a group of people who plan to either knit, spin , crochet or weave during the Winter Olympics. As you know they start this Friday night.Yikes. My local knitting guild is also holding a contest and party. This Friday we as a group will meet at one of our local Knit shops and watch the opening ceremonies and cast on whatever project we choose. There will be some great prizes for those who are able to complete the project that they chose to knit. There are also tons of prizes that will be given away on the ravelympics forum pages on Ravelry.

So what project have you chosen do you ask?
Well I plan to spin and knit a cardigan. Yea I know I'm crazy, but if you have been reading this blog for a while you already know that. I was able to barder some wonderful shetland roving from a girl friend. She has her own shetlands and I have been wanting to spin some of it for a while now. I love the natural colors.





I think the dark, medium and light shades are just wonderful. I have been wanting to knit this cardigan for a long time. As a matter of fact the pattern comes from Ashford's yearly magazine called Wheel. This pattern in in the 2006 issue. Its a simple garter stitch pattern and I think the knitting will go fast.


I also have some really cool sheep buttons that I plan to use for the cardigan. You will have to wait to see what they look like.
This past week I started on sampling. I spun a 3 ply light worsted weight yarn and was able to get perfect gauge.



I can hardly wait to get started. I haven't been knitting all that much because I don't want to get into something big because starting on Friday 6 PM Mountain time I will get started on this project. I figure I will have one week to do all the spinning and then a week to get all the knitting done so that I can sew up the cardigan during the closing ceremonies on the 28th. I will keep you all posted on how I do.