Summer Fun!

I know in some places it doesn't really seem like its summer but here in Boise school is out, so I am on summer vacation. Although there are no plans to take any trips. So I will have to find some fun things to do around here. Its kind of funny when you only work a few hours a day you would think you would have all the time in the world to get things done. Not so. Now that I have the month of June, July and bits of August to fun things to do. I have made a long list of TO Do's

*Dye and knit a natural dyed tam
*Natural dye Saxon green hat
*Knit mariners socks
*Knit Tamarack socks
*Knit blue hand spun socks
*Spin and weave natural colored shawl
*Weave organic cotton towels
*Weave Huck lace shawl
*Make bobbin lace for Civil War dress
*Spin BFL scarf
*Spin Angora samples
*Write up three patterns that have already been designed.
*Spin for sweater ( Tour de Fleece)
*Knit socks with self striping yarn
*Spin for sweater from Tour de Fleece roving
* Knit cable shawl collar sweater
* Tat some snowflakes for Christmas gifts
*Crochet a doily
*Weave coaster sets for Christmas


Yes, Yes I know its a long list. You will have to keep checking back to see how much I can get done before I go back to work. I will let you know that I have a few of these things either almost done for at least half done. 

I did I just see a UFO?

Call me crazy but I have a plan. OK more like a goal!
I am now working on finishing all my UFO's ( unfinished objects).
For the past month or so I have been diligently working on getting everything off my needles, wheels, hooks, and looms.
What I want to do is get everything all done before school gets out so that I can start with new projects for the summer.
So far I have finished
a crocheted afghan, mini pillows to match.
My February ladies sweater
placing a zipper in hubby's sweater

Things to be finished
Lent scarf KAL
needlepoint seat cover
towels on the loom
gold knee high socks
cream alpaca/silk sweater
green lace weight yarn on spindle
multi color socks

I am really hoping to get this all done by May 20. That day I am leaving to teach at a fiber fair and I would like to go shopping for a new project to start.
So yes I have and will be busy for the next month or so.
Stay posted for progress and pictures.

Spring Break?

Well as I write this blog update its Sunday evening of my spring break. I have been off along with all the kids this past week. There are some really cool reasons to have a job at a public school. Spring break being one of them. So you might be asking your self what did she do or where did she go for spring break? Well sad to say I didn't go anywhere. With hubby being unemployed for 8 months there just wasn't money to travel to the other side of the valley let a lone some where warm. Happily hubby is now employed with a really good company. So while the kids and I stayed home he went off to work. So now you are asking what did I do for the week. Well I busted out as many UFO's ( unfinished objects) as I could. I am happy to say I was able to clean out my knitting, spinning and weaving bags. I am now down to just three things to finish up. My plan is to get them finished up in April so that I can start on something new. I have no idea what the new things will be. I'm not looking at pattern and I am also trying to not think about it until they are done.

This past week I was able to finish:

 a sweater for my hubby ( put the zipper in)

my February Ladies sweater

My spinning for my stash down ( see above)

get caught up on my Lent scarf KAL

weave some towels

make 2 bobbin lace books marks

Spin a skein of cashmere to replace a cowl I knit last year

So now I am down to finishing up an afghan and pillow that was start two years ago for Christmas. A needlepoint pillow and a second knee high sock.

So I guess you could say I really didn't have a break this week, but the good news is its spring anyway.

I need a new hobby like....

Really I barley have time to do all the things I want to when it comes to spinning and knitting and crochet. So what is a girl to do. Learn to Weave!  I recently took a class on double weave with my local weaving guild, and totally fell in love. So I was fortunate able to purchase a baby wolf loom from Schacht. I decided that I would go ahead and get the 8 harness. Other then its a be heavy I am so glad Idid. My weaving guild is hosting a weaving workshop in a week with Robyn Spady. The workshop is called Extreme Warp makeover.  The real reason I want to take the class is to learn to make corduroy. Not to say I won't enjoy all the other things I will learn over the three days. As a matter of fact my husband and I just checked to see if the loom would fit in the car. It did. Yea! 

Because a Baby wolf is a bit pricey, when it got here I decided that I would wait until my workshop. I thought I should see how it works. So here is my first project. The yarn is hand spun, I'm not sure what it is. I know the red is wool and I think it comes from Ashland bay. The grey  I think is angora and wool. Because its grey I'm sure the grey angora is from on of my bunnies. I'm not sure if its from my current rabbit or the last one.  The pattern or draft comes from Handwoven May/June 09. The pattern called for alpaca but I found something from my stash.

My next project that I just finished was face cloths. I used pearl cotton and some thick and thin cotton. As I am writing I washing them to see how they hold up. The pattern came from issue 3 of Weaver's Craft.

I know its seems like all I have been doing of late is weaving but I have also been spinning and knitting. For my February stash down was what might look like a bit of under achievement. But really it wasn't. I chose for this month to spin pagora. I have never spun this fiber and I have to say I love it. I don't really like mohair so I wasn't sure how I would like it.  The grey is 100% pagora and the blue and pink is a mix of pagora,glitz and alpaca. I plan to knit cowls with each of the. They are lace weight and only an ounce. I ended up with about 200 yards each.

I am also doing so knitting. I have finally started my February sweater. I have had some shoulder pain for the pas few months and haven't really done all that much knitting. I did finish a basic sweater for my hubby and its now waiting for a zipper. My February sweater is being knit with red nearly sold handspun. As a matter of fact its the yarn I spun for my stash down in Jan. I am hoping to get this finished in the next week or so.

My plan for the March Stash down is to spin some of my current bunnies wool. He is about to get another hair cut so I'm thinking its time to spin some for myself. I also want to get started on a sweater I have been wanting to spin for.

Stash Down and a bit of the other

 Yea I met my first goal! Spindlicity stash down for January!

 I know I know this picture of my finished yarn its horrible. But I have a reason. My camera is on its way back to the maker to get fixed so I have to use hubby's cell phone to send a picture to my computer. For some reason I can't send pictures on my phone, which by the way has a much better camera. Anyway the finish yarn looks  more like what's on the bobbin. I ended up with 1100 or so yard of a 2ply. My plan is to us it to knit the February sweater. Yes this is my first stash down fiber, and it was complete with time to spare. I have been having all kinds of trouble with my hand so I am just glad I was able to finish it before the month was over. I bought this fiber at SOAR 09 form a vendor that I don't remember who it was nor do I know the breed of wool it is.

I can't wait to get to the knitting part of it, but I first have to finish a sweater that I have been working on like forever. OK its just form November but it seems like it anyway. I am really hoping to get it all finished before my new toy comes in a couple of weeks. I will tell you that its a loom but I'm not saying anything more until it gets here.

The whole weaving thing started when I was having lunch with Sarah Lamb at SOAR 09. We were talking about weaving and I was stating the case that one I don't have room for a loom nor do I have the time. Well needless to say I have been thinking about it ever sense. I took a class a couple of weeks ago. Really it was an intensive with my local weaving guild and I woven on the loom of my dreams. So I now plan to order it in a week or so. I have also signed up to take a extreme warp class from Robyn Spady in March. Well I figure if I'm going to buy a loom I might as well learn how to use it.  So stay tuned to find out which loom I bought and how its going with the whole weaving thing.

On another note I found out this week that I will be teaching a couple of Knitting classes at the Snake River Fiber Fair in Idaho Falls. So if you are in the area of Idaho falls round them please sign up or stop by and say hello.

By the way I am still working on what my goal for February will be I am thinking something exotic keep a look out in the next day or so to find out what it will be.

My 3 day weekend

Sometimes it pays to be a lunch lady. Case in point, three day weekend. Yes no school today so I decided to be totally lazy and spend the weekend knitting, spinning, weaving and watching DVD's. Not all in that order.  I did with the help of daughter number 1 and 2 clean out my studio in hopes that I could make room for a new toy to come. Well after hours of cleaning moving and putting away. Still no room for new toy. So I must now come up with plan B. Not sure what that will be, but something will come up.

I also found out that I sent my working copy of my class list to the Sock Summit committee. So now they know I can't spell or use proper grammar. But hey you all already know that. Anyway I did make the proper corrections and submitted a list to Snake River Fiber fair. If you have been a long time reader of this blog you know I have attending for several years. So I think it would be fun to teach there. So we will see how that turns out.

On a other note I have been trying to get my fiber spun up for the Stash down challenge that Janel Laidman of Spindlicity.com put to all of us. The idea of  The Spindlicity Stash down 2011 is to pick some fiber from your stash and make it into  12 kits and spin each kit during each month of the year. I am about 2/3 done for the month of January.

While I am spinning I have been watching some new DVD's that I have picked up from Interweave. They are How to warp your loom, Spinning for lace and In praise of simple cloth. Look for reviews later this week.

Well as you can see I have lots to get done on my 3 day break so I am off to spin.

Stash down 2011

So I just found out about the big stash down at http://beebonnet.typepad.com/spindlicity/.  The whole idea is to pick fiber from your stash and put them in baggies. Then pick one and spin it during a month. If you are able to reach you goal for the month you then post or success and you are entered into a drawing. If you reach all 12 goals then you are entered in to a super duper prize drawing. I have January's pick out. Its a 1 pound bag of really neat fiber I bought at SOAR 09. I have no idea what the wool its but I'm thinking it will be perfect for the February sweater. So as then say I'm off and running, or spinning as the case may be.

Inspiritation!

There is nothing better then taking a hour or so to clean up one's studio. Not only do you find things your forgot you had but now you can look over all the cool things you bought a while back. Now I can sit and listen to TV while I weave, or look at patterns. Now if only I had more hours in the day to get more done.

Now to get work, spinning, knitting, crocheting and weaving oh my!