Snake River Fiber Festival - stash enhancement

Well I could not attend a Fiber Festival with out a little bit of stash enhancement, now could I. I don't feel a bit bad about all the money I spent either. I asked for money for my birthday and for mother's day. So I had a good bit of money to spend. I course I could have spent so much more but I did have a limit. I'm happy to say I did return with some money. 56 cents. But look at all the goodies I got. The sheep buttons and the figure came from Hartwells booth. If you just have to have some for yourself you can find them at http://auser77444.websitewizard.com/. I now need to spin up some yarn to make a cardigan for the buttons. The picture of the roving is all that I picked up to spin I didn't buy any yarn this time. The two balls of roving pictured in the lower right corner come from the Fiber addict. The right blue and pink ball is one that I have been looking at for about two years. I just love the colors so I thought it was time to get it. The second is a color way that I don't normally look for. But this one was a colorway that we used in the spinning class that I took, so right after class I stopped by Marri's booth and picked it up. Its from Mountain colors and I just love the way it spun up. In my class I used the Navajo playing method so I think I will do the same with this one, when I get to it. The other funny thing is, if you look closely there are two balls of roving that are just about the same color. I bought each one on different days and didn't realize it until I got home and was unpacking them. The one still in the plastic bag is from Greensleeves spindles and it has all kinds of glitter in it. Now let me talk about the two balls of roving below. I was able to meet up with a couple of Internet friends. Yes it was a good meeting and they are who they say they are. When I go to a fiber type festival, the first thing I do is walk around and look at everything, then I go back to and look at the stuff that caught my eye. Well would you believe on the second pass at looking at every thing I met up with Spinnderella her self. Lynn is such a sweet person and it was so much fun to meet her. Plus her rovings were just wonderful. I bought the bright pink one just because it was so pretty. I usually don't go for that color but its just wonderful. The other one is so neat, it has olive green, lime green, pink. purple and all those in between. I can't wait to give each of this a try. But I must confess the rovings in the tall plastic jar will most likely just look lovely in my yarn room for quite a while.

Snake River Fiber Festival- Classes

While I was at the Snake River Fiber Festival I was able to take a couple of classes. This first one was on Plying called Twist and Shout! Plying techniques for perfect yarns by Judie Overbeek. If you ever get the chance to take a class from her I would suggest it. She is a very good teacher. Sometimes the sign of a good teacher is how they deal with a problem student. I'm happy to say that I wasn't the problem student, but I did sit by her. I don't know if this every happens to you or if its just me. But when I take a class it seems there is always someone in the class who has no idea what they are doing. In the class description it clearly stated that you needed to be an intermediate spinner. Now I'm not sure I would call my self that but I do feel very comfortable with what I'm doing. Well this poor gal next to me could not get her wheel going in the right direction for anything. Judie was so patent with her. I do think I was able to improve my plying skills. I plan to work on some of the things I learned in the next few weeks.

The other class I took was needle felting. Now when I signed up I wasn't so sure I really wanted to do this, but I have had several people talk about wanting some classes on the subject, so I thought I guess I better. Well I had so much fun that I can't wait to do more. My end result is this troll kind of guy. I have always had trouble making faces in just about any medium, but I think felt is more forgiving. The best part was I left class with out the need for a band-aid, some were not so lucky.

Snake River Fiber Festival

Well I hope everyone had a great weekend. I sure did. I, along with three other friends went to the Snake River Fiber Festival in Idaho Falls. Its about 4 hours drive from Boise, so not to bad of a drive. I went last year and had so much fun, so I have been looking forward to this trip. This time We decided to go as a vendor. I was able to sell a few skeins of hand spun and a couple of hand painted rovings. These are the pictures of the display that we set up. Over all it was very successful venue for us. We are looking to do a few others in the area in the future

May Flowers

As the saying goes April Showers bring May flowers. When it comes to the Monthly Dishcloth Knit a long, that holds true. This is my version of the knit-a-long. Its kind of hard to see but there is a daffodil on the cloth. My favorite flower, so of course this one was a blast to knit. I used some left over yellow sugar and cream that I had on hand.

Back on Blossom Street

If you love a good read and haven't read the books A good yarn and The shop on Blossom street, then you have missed out. If you have read them then you know that Back on Blossom Street in now in print. Yea! Now I don't normally read romance stories but these books are different. They are more relational. For me I usually read mysteries. But Debbie Macomber has a great talent to tell a store about women and they relationships that they have with other women. My girls that take my knitting classes every week have read the books and have decided that we are the ladies of Blossom street. So next month we as a group will be reading the book and knitting the shawl patterns. This one is the main pattern in the book. It was really fun to knit up but I did have to do some figuring. The designer some times makes things clear as mud. To start off it didn't tell how much yarn to use and what size need to use. So after a couple of attempts I was able to knit this green one up. I used Lion Brand woolease that I had in my stash, I wanted to figure out about how much yarn I would need. This one took about 500 yards on a size 10 needle. Its 26 inches long and 58 inches wide at the top. Of course I could have made it longer but I was shooting for a shoulder length one this time. After you figure out what yarn and size needle to use the pattern is really quite easy. The other shawl that I have started is made with Lorna's Laces Heaven and the color way is water colors, I'm using a size 7 needle. I don't know how many yards I have in the ball so it will be as long as the yarn permits. My girls are also planning to knit the basic shawl that is also in the book, we are going to donate them to a shelter for abused women during the holidays.

Number 13

Well I just counted all of my top down sweaters. This is number 13. I do have to say that I have made more then that, these 13 are mine. I have over the years made some for other people but I must confess that I knit mostly for myself. This one is special as I dyed the roving then spun the yarn. It usually takes me about a week to knit one up. This one took about 2 and half months. Of course most of that time was spent spinning. I have never spun a three ply before. The fiber is BFL and it was a dream to spin. I purchased the roving from Woodland Wool Works. I then used Dylon dyes to paint the rovings. The 3ply is about a 13 wpi. I knit the sweater with a size 9 needle. I did make this one a bit over sized. My plan is to wear this one more as a coat this next winter. I like to wear a heavy sweater instead of a coat on cold days. Enjoy!

Don't you hate computer problems?

Don't you just hate computer problems? I have not been able to update my blog, email or even read through my email for a while as I have been having some issues with my computer. So I need to catch up on things that have been going on around here. Even though my computer is going at a snails pace I have not. I have been able to get lots of knitting and spinning done. But before I talk about all of that I want to share with you my latest box of goodies from my SKP 10. I did get this box last week. So the chocolate is now all gone, but it was good. The glass sheep are just the cutest and they now sit on my bedside table. Also the sock yarn is really nice. I think this is beginning to be a sign that I need to knit more socks then I usually do. On average I only knit maybe one or two pair a year. Thanks so much to me SKP10.

April's Mid month KAL

When I left for Seattle the April mid month KAL was just starting so I decided to wait until I got back to get started. I chose Sugar and Cream's new Tweed color way. Its hard to see but the colors are peach, white and tan. I have to say this one was a bit more challenging then we usually do but after I got the hand of it was fun to do. I have been having so much fun doing these dishcloths I can't wait until the next one. Enjoy!

Seattle trip socks

While I was on my trip with the kids to Seattle I wanted to take a knitting projects that would be easy and very portable. SOCKS are perfect for that. So I took some bamboo sock yarn that I got last month from my Secret Knitting Pal . I was able to knit one whole sock while on the bus on the first day of the trip. I worked on the second sock while we toured the city and also at any time I had to wait for something or someone. I didn't quite get the second sock done before I got home but there wasn't much left to do. I used size 2 needles and they were great to work on. One thing however, the socks are a bit to big for me so I have given them to my daughter who went on the trip too.

Seattle

So we took a trip to Seattle. My husband and I along with 216 teenagers. Let me explain. Our oldest daughter is in band, as you may already know, her band, all the choirs and the orchestra went to Seattle to compete in what's called a heritage festival. We left at 9:30 AM on Thursday and drove the 10 hours to Seattle, arriving at 7 PM. We stopped several times so that the drivers could have a smoke break. Yea! When we got to Seattle we stopped at a mall and then on to our motel rooms. On Friday we meaning the band kids and chaperons were able to see the city. And see the city we did. We started at the space needle then on to Pikes Place. On Saturday the kids competed and then we were off to Pikes Place again. Now the really funny thing or I guess you could say sad thing was my husband and I ran in to the same flasher on two different days in tow different places in Seattle. We saw a drug deal, and were just about in the middle of a gang fight. So needless to say is We didn't really like the city much. A little to big for us small town folks.
We were able to see some fun stuff. Safeco field for one. The boys weren't in town to play while we were there but it still was neat to see the stadium. Pikes place was fun and we did pick up some neat things there.
The really neat thing was all the kids won first place in every class that they competed in. So they were very excited on the bus ride home. Which we started on 12 midnight. But before we left Seattle we took a fairy to Blake Island had a great salmon dinner. All in all it was a great trip and we all had lots of fun, but I am glad to be back home.

The spinners shawl

I have been busy with my knitting again. I started this shawl last Saturday in one of my knitting classes that I teach each Saturdays. I have been wanting to make this shawl for a while and I thought I would just have to spin the yarn to make it. The yarn is hand spun wool at about 12 wpi or a DK weight. One thing that I did learn while knitting this shawl was when knitting a garder stitch lace pattern keep in mind that when you block the project out it will grow. I added a pattern repeat so that it would be a bit longer, well it blocked out quite a bit longer. The pattern says it supposed to be 32 inches long well mine is 43 inches long. Which in the end is fine but I'm glad I only added on repeat instead of two as I was thinking of doing.

Also I had to be flexible with the beads. I has some really neat dark blue beads that I had in mind for this shawl but when I got to the point of adding the beads I found them to be to small. So I went to several different craft and bead stores to find something that would work. The pattern called for me to knit a stitch and then place the stitch back on the left needle and then take a crochet hook through the bead and pull up the loop through the bead whole, then place the stitch back on the right side needle and continue on. Its hard to see but there are three beads at every point. After looking all over the place I was able to find some nice teal green glass beads at all places Walmart. Go figure. All in all it was fun to do from the start of the spinning to the final cast off and blocking. I think it will work really well as a nice everyday shawl to wear with jeans or to wear with something more dressed up.

What's next?

With all this all my UFO's complete its time to start to think of what's coming next, and low and behold what comes in the mail! My March fiber of the month. For some reason this month's offering was late in its arrival. But boy oh boy was it worth the wait. This is 4 ounces of superwash merino in the colorway called Dandy Lion. I think I will spin this for socks for sure. Oh so many things to do and so little time to get them done.

Spinning UFO

Now that I have finished up all my knitting projects I decided to finish up a spinning project too. I have been wanting to do a spin-knit-a-long. And what would be a better project than the Spinner's shawl from Fiber Trends. Well I have now done all the spinning and am ready to start on the knitting. I bought this roving years ago and it was supposed to be merino but I know its not. Not soft enough. But it still is beautiful. I have about 700 yards or so with a WPI of 12. I am planning to add dark blue beads to the outer border. I think it will really set it off.

UFO number 2

With the event of Easter coming I really wanted to finish this shawl so that I could wear it. So with lots and lots of knitting and some frozen pizza for dinner, I was able to finish with a day to spare. The pattern comes from Fiber Trends and its called the landscape shawl. I have made maybe 7 or 8 of these over the years and this one is going to be mine! I used Berroco Ultra Alpaca in a navy blue heather. I can wait to try it out this Sunday at church.

Completed UFO

For the past couple of weeks I have been working on finishing up some projects that I had been working on. The first of these projects is a neat sweater totally done in garder stitch. As you can see in the pictures I used a variegated wool/mohair blend from Alchemy called Lonestar. The neat thing about this sweater is that there is minimal sewing. After completing the front and back I sewed the shoulder seems and then picked up for each of the sleeves. After they are complete I then sewed up the arm and side seems. Its kind of hard to see but there is not collar. Its a simple round neck that is done by picking up stitches and binding off others. The pattern comes from a new book that I just love called "The Natural Knitter"

Favorite Yarn and most disliked yarns

have your ever thought about what your favorite yarn is? Well the question has been posed to me and boy did I have to think about it. I think it might be easier to say what yarn or yarns I don't like. Although my husband says there isn't a yarn I don't like. which I guess it true. But there are some that I would rather not use but if that was all there is then I would still knit or crochet with them. On that list would have to be Red Heart anything. Now years ago I only used Red Heart but over the past few years I have learned better. When I teach a knitting class about fibers and yarns I explain that acrylic yarns are made from plastic so think about walking around with a plastic bag on your body. Not fun.
Now when it comes to my favorite the answer to that question is ... It all depends on what I'm making. I love the the colors of Sugar and Cream for dishcloths. I love lopi and Lopi lite for anything felted. Now when it comes to sweater yarn that is a more tough question to answer. I usually tell people that my favorite yarn is the one I'm working on at the moment. Some of my favorite wools are Galway from Renyolds, Lonestar from Alchemy, Ecco Wool from Cascade, and I really do love to knit with my hand spun. I'm not realy fond of Ella Rae or Cascade 220 because I have made sweater from them and they pill something terrible. I also really enjoy any and all of the Elisbeth Levold yarns. Right now I'm working with Berroco's Ultra Alpaca which is 50/50 blend of wool and alpaca. I also have some Bomull from Marks&Kattens that is a 50/50 blend of wool and cotton, that I have waiting for me to get to.
So you can see I really don't have a very favorite but a few. The big problem is there are so many nice yarns out there to buy that as any good yarn collector will tell you that there is so many yarns and so little time.

SKP 10 is off and running

Wow what a great surprise came in the mail today. My first box from my SKP 10 pal ( Secret Knitting Pal). Its always a great day when yarn comes in the mail and there are no bill a long with it. I'm getting ready to take a trip in April and I was planning on taking a sock project with me. I just might have to use this new bamboo yarn that I got. I also just love the sheep tape measure it will be the one I leave by my bed. Also I have never read Fiber Arts magazine before. It was a really nice one. But what else would you expect from Interweave. Thanks Pal!

What's coming next

Now I'm one of those weird people that can only work on one thing at a time. So I'm usually thinking of the next project while working on the current one. Sense I'm working on a simple garter stitch sweater I have lots of time to think about what's coming next. So here they are. On the left I am spinning some roving that I bought some time ago off of ebay. The listing was merino but I'm sure its not. But it is a beautiful wool anyway, its just not as soft as merino should be. Anyway I'm spinning a 2 ply DK weight for the Fiber Trends Spinner's shawl. I plan to add some beads to the edging too. I picked out some neat dark blue ones that are iridescent. On the right I will be teaching a class at the yarn store I work at coming up in April and this is the shawl we will be working on. I have made this shawl a few times but never for myself until now. I'm using Berocco's Alpaca wool blend. you can't really see in the picture but the color way is a navy blue but there are heather tones of red and light green. I hope to finish up the spinning for the Spinner's shawl the garter stitch sweater and the blue landscape shawl before Easter. So we will see if I can get it all done.

I am knitting too

Will all this dyeing and spinning I am knitting also. Right now I'm working on a sweater from the new book The Natural Knitter. If you have not seen this book its well worth your checking it out. One big not fall is that its kind of pricey. Over 30.00 unless you buy it from Amazon. Anyway this book talks about different yarns and yarn companies. There are in my opinion several patterns that I think are worth my time. The first is the one pictured. Of course you really can't tell. First I'm using Lonestar from Alchemy yarns the color way is Southern View.I have had this yarn for several years just waiting for the right project. I think this sweater is it. The entire sweater is made in garter stitch. You first make the back then the front piece, sew up the shoulders and then pick up and knit the sleeves down. The collar is a rounded scoop neck. The down side is all you do is knit so it does get boring after a while, thus why I'm spinning so much.

spinning with a little bit of glitter

Spinning with a little bit of glitter is a beautiful thing. These four skeins are all single plys that I added some specialty manufactured yarns too. The two multi colored skeins are a wool singles that I spun and then plyed with some Rowan Kid silk haze that I had left over from some other project. The two solid skeins are plied with glitter. The grey lavender color one is a wool silk blend. The pink skein is a blend of camel, silk and angora. If you are a spinner you might try plying some of your left over yarns with some hand spun singles. The one thing to keep in mind is spin your single S as in clockwise and then ply them Z. The reason for this is most professionally spun yarns are spun that way so that when you put the two together they will join the proper way.

March's dishcloths of the Month

I haven't just been spinning and dyeing roving. I have been doing some knitting too. Here are my two dishcloths of the month. I really love how the bunny worked up. I have made this one before and really like the look. The textured one was new to me and I just love how it worked int he Keylime color way. I believe these were both done with Sugar and Cream yarns. I am beginning to get a large collection of dishcloths. My plan it to give them away at Christmas time with a bar of hand made soap to those who are friends and family.

A new Top down sweater?

Well after I did all that dyeing of rovings for the Fiber show coming up. I was inspired to dye some roving for a Top down sweater. If you have read my blog for any length of time then you know that I really love making the top down sweater from www.knittingpureandsimple.com . So I ordered 3 pounds of Blue Face Leister wool from wood land wool works. www.spinology.com I wanted to make sure I would have enough to make whatever version that I wanted once the yarn was spun. Its kind of hard to see but the color way is navy blue, light raspberry, mint green and lilac. I figure it was a springy color in the dead of winter and it will also go great with jeans. So far I have spun about 12 ounces, so I have a ways to go but I'm really happy with the way its coming out. Its about a worsted weight yarn and I'm making into a 3 ply so that it will wear better then the usual 2 ply.

Fiber Fiber Fiber everywhere Fiber

I know I know I have not updated my blog in quite while. Well I have been busy. I have been finishing up some little things. The first thing I finished up was to hand paint some roving. A couple of friends of mine and myself are planning on attending a fiber show and sale in May and in the next few days I will be helping hand paint some yarns. My part was to paint some rovings. On this picture I have 9 4 ounce lengths. I have to say the first few were fun but by the time I got to the 5th or 6th one I was having trouble coming up with something new. In the pictures of the bundled up hanks you can see the different color ways. It has been such a grey winter that I was defiantly inspired by spring and spring colors.

My hubby's hat

My husband has been bugging me for a while to make him a hat. I saw this pattern in a Woodland wool works catalog awhile back. www.knitology.com . He also wanted it to be hand spun. So of course I did. I bought the fiber from Woodland too and its called Tartan green. The dark brown is some hand spun I had for a long time. I'm not sure what it is but it was the color he wanted. When I finished, it was way to large so I washed it and then put it in the dryer for about 10 to 15 minutes until it fit him the way he liked. So its lightly felted.

One skein wonders

If you have been reading this blog for any length of time,then you know I love to knit and collect great patterns. Well this weekend I bought the neatest book. Called One skein wonders . If you have not seen this book I highly recommend it. There are 101 different patterns that use only one skien of yarn. I bought the book so I could hopefully use up some of my hand spun yarns. There are patterns for hats, bags, shawls, and a how bunch more. In the picture I made a pain of fingerless mits. They worked up really fast and only took about 100 yards. I used some hand spun black with glitter spun in. They are great. I have found that they work great when my hands are cold while I spin. I'm working on some more yarn with glitter in it. I think these will make great gifts for next Christmas. Yes I am talking Christmas already. Yikes.

My last heavy Winter sweater I'll knit

OK so this is the last heavy winter sweater I will Knit! this year anyway. I have been teaching a class on steeking and color knitting. This is the sweater I made along with my class. The pattern comes from the lopi book number 22. I used Lopi yarns through out the sweater. It was really fun to knit up but by the end it was getting a bit heavy to have sit on my lap. Its kind of hard to see but the lower and upper bands are used with a bit lighter grey then the snowflakes. I can't wait to wear this sweater next winter. I'm thinking of getting some black leggins to wear with it.

Feb's mid-month dishcloth

Here is my version of the mid monthly dishcloth KAL from the email list monthly dishcloth at yahoo groups. I used Sugar and Cream in the color of sea side. There for a few days we were what we thought was the early stages of Spring. Well we have had snow everyday this weekend and are expected to have some everyday. Now it not sticking on the ground in the Boise valley, but the foothills and mountains are all white. As a matter of fact the local ski area has gotten a foot. Anyway I chose a springy color because I know its on its way soon. Enjoy!

Spring is coming some time

I know in many parts of the US there is more snow then you would want to ever see again. But here in Idaho we have very little snow and the temps are very mild. As a matter of fact we will be in the 50's all week. I even have some tulips and daffodils coming up already. So thoughts of Spring and Summer are coming to mind. So I thought I would get started on some Spring projects. I saw this pattern a couple of years ago and just fell in love with it. This tank comes from the book Cool Crochet. I had some different colors of cotton yarn on cones in my stash so I thought I would use it. However the yarn is on huge cones so I can only work on the tank while in my bedroom watching TV. I really don't want to pack around all the cones when I want to work on it. I did change the pattern some. Instead of crocheting the front and back then sewing it together I decided to make it in the round. I do this by adding and then doubling what my beginning chains are supposed to be. For example if the pattern calls for me to chain 100 for the the back I chain 200 and then join in the round. I will then continue working in the round until I reach the place for the arm shaping. At that point I will separate the front from the back and just work one side at a time until its complete. That way it saves me on sewing the pieces together.

What I did this president's weekend

President's weekend is known for its big sales and great deal on shopping. Well instead of heading to the mall I went with a couple of my girl friends to a Spin-In. We went on Sunday to a small town about an hour away from Boise called Crouch. Now I have been there one other time but years and years ago. This first picture shows what the scenery looks like outside the community center where we were. Crouch it located in a small valley on the other side of the foothills of Boise. Even though its in the mountain you can see that there is very little snow on the ground. At this time of year there should be all kinds of snow on the ground. I know that other places back east are just covered in snow we in Idaho are once again in the middle of a drought. Anyway its was a wonderful to look at the snow on the mountains on the raining Sunday.
There were about 25 spinners, knitters and weavers that attended this Spin-in. One of my girlfriends is just learning to spin so I think she was able to practice and learn some more to help her improve her skills. Of course every time I sit down to spin I learn something new. I was pretty excited because I was able to try out my wheel cart, for my schacht wheel for the first time. I have to tell you if you own a matchless wheel then its well worth the $54 to buy the wheel cart attachment. It was so much easier to get my wheel from the car to the building. Above was the wool that I brought to spin. I wanted to bring something fairly easy to spin because I know I would be distracted watching everyone else. Which I was. I bought this roving last year at the Snake River Fiber Festival in Idaho Falls. The roving comes from Notlwork Spings in Cornish Utah. I paid $8 for 8 ounces. On the bobbin has a little less then 4 ounces and the roving pictured is 4ounces. My plan is to use this yarn, which I will make into a 2 ply, for fingerless gloves/hunters mittens for my husband. I really like how the three brown tones are blending together to make a type of tweed.
Of course when you are around other spinners at a spin-in there is always something to buy. I was able to meet up with my other friend Merri who owns the Fiber Addict ( which you can find the link to her web site on the side bar). I had planned to pick up some fiber from her so I sent in an order to pick up. All the rovings cost me about $42. Each ball is 4 ounces. The pink is a hand dyed Angora,silk, cashmere blend that is 25 grams, but boy is it soft. There was another vendor there where I picked up some fire star in 4 colorways, greens, purples, tropical and reds. I also picked up some white to dye later along with some roving to match. I just love with things match. I also picked up some red Angelia to add to some hand dyed roving that I have in my stash. The orange yarns were part of a white elephant gift that I got at the spin -in. Along with the yarn I got a loaf of home baked wheat bread, and a box of chocolates and a flour sack tea towel. All in all even though the day was grey and rainy. My friends and I had so much fun. I learned some more on my path to become a better spinner, we all picked up some nice fibers and was inspired to make some future projects. I will talk with you later about a mobious idea I have and some hand painted roving I want to make. There was a gal there that had the neatest scarf in a very cool colorway that I plan to copy some time soon. So stay tuned..

Class projects

Even though the month of February is beginning to wind down I have been working on a couple of projects for classes that I'm teaching. Durning the first two Saturdays I taught a class on how to steek a teddy bear sweater. Well everyone has been able to get there sweaters complete. A couple of the gals are finishing up the ribbing. Our plan is to donate our bears to the local police department, so that they in turn can give them to children that are in crisis. I plan to get a picture of all the bears at once add to the blog to be looking for it. Now that we have learned to steek we are tackling a big project. We are all working on a Lopi type sweater. Each gal chose her own pattern and we are now working through the color work and steeking if they chose to. I'm working on a pullover. I know I know its a bit of a cop out when the teacher of a steeking class doesn't do a steek. But I like pullovers better then cardigans.. Anyway the pattern I chose comes from the Reyonlds Lopi Book #22. This pattern comes it two forms. A cardigan and the pullover. The pullover is done in blues and oranges. The cardigan was in whites and tans. I chose greys to blacks.
My other projects that I started so that I could show my beginning Knitting class how to read a chart. This is the shawl on the cover of the Victorian lace today book, recently out by XRX. If you have been reading my blog for a while you know how much I love this book. I have a rule I don't buy a book unless it has three pattens that I would like to make. Well this book has only two things that I would not make so I bought it the minute it showed up at my local yarn store. I decided not to use the yarn called for in the pattern. Which was Rowan Kid silk Haze. Which is a lovely yarn that I have used before. But the problem I had was the only store that carries this yarn in my area I refuse to shop at. They have terrible customer service and I know for a fact as it happened to me, they photo copy patterns and sell them at full price, without checking with the designer. Anyway I chose to use Alchemy's Haiku. The picture doesn't show the color very well but its more of a lime green then yellowish. By the way the pink yarn on the bottom is part of the provisional cast on, it will come off later.

Comfort Spinning

Friends of mine on an email list that I belong to were talking about comfort spinning a few weeks ago and that www.serenity-farms.com owned by Cary Smith was the best comfort fiber there is. Well that must be proven! So when she offered some bumps for sale I just had to order a few. Well as you can see in the picture I haven't spun them up yet but I can tell you that they are might nice and I just know they will be a comfort to spin. So I think I will added them to my stash until I need a little bit of comfort in my day.

Fiber, Fiber and more Fiber all over the place

Fiber, Fiber and more Fiber. I have in the last couple of days been flooded with fiber. Oh Yea! First in the mail came my Fiber of the month box. Amy at Spucky Fiber has done it again. This months offering is called "Walkabout". Her inspiration is the beautiful contrasts in color of Australia. From the Blue Blue skies to the Reds and rusts of the desert of the outback. I can't wait to spin this up to see how it turns out. By the way its 4 ounces of a nice and soft wool. My second box came from Woodland wool works. With some of my tax return money I was able to order some parts for my Matchless wheel, bobbins, whorls, a kate and some fiber. In the picture from the top at about 1 o'clock its called Karaoke which is a soy silk/wool blend. The color is called Mermaid and is on sale right now. At about 4 o'clock and 11 o'clock is 8 ounces each of Wensleydale handpainted. At 4 o'clock its called Oregon lakes and at 11 o"clock its called Fiesta. At about 6 o'clock is 8 ounces of colonial wool in the color of Tartan green. My husband as asked for a toque hat and I plan to spin this for the hat. I was also able to pick up some other great sale wool that I didn't add to the picture because of size. I picked up some Targee, Jacob, merino, Romney, some Blueface and some Wensleydale in white that I plan to dye in a sold color to match the handpaints. If you are in the need to add to your fiber stash you might want to check out Woodland at www.spinology.com they are great to order from and have some wonderful fibers.

Feb's First Dishcolth

Here is my version of the Monthly KAL dishcloth. If you look real closely you can see the nine little hearts. Again this one was fun. I used Sugar and Cream. The color is baby pink, the color is a discontinued one but I think is perfect for this time of year. I was able to pick up some more of the sugar and cream colors at my LYS's Big Super bowl sale this past weekend. So now I have at least one ball of every color in their pallet. Of course they are coming out with new ones So I guess I need to make another list of must haves.

Crochet!

I haven't talked about crochet in a long time. I have been crocheting for about 20 years. I did stop for a time as I could not find a pattern that I liked. I do on a a regular basis crochet baby afghans and regular size afghans. First let me start by saying that I was able to purchase a complete set of Palmwood crochet hooks from Bryspun. If you have never seen these hooks then you don't know what you are missing. They are, in my opinion, the best on the market. They are very smooth, I think smoother then the Brittany hooks. Plus they are just gorgeous. I'm currently working on a baby afghan. I'm using Caron one pound ball in a cream color. This pattern comes from the Leisure Arts book called Quick and Easy Afghans. This one takes about 14 ounces of yarn and uses a size K hook so it works up really fast. I'm trying to get a head of baby items. It seems there is always a new baby on the way and I want to get a bit of a stock pile ready so that I don't have to stop whatever I'm working on to make a baby item. I'm planning on also making a pink and then a blue one.