Sp-bingeing

I have been on a spin-binge. It started a couple weeks ago with the purchase of a drop spindle (of doom) and some nice fiber from the Trading Post in Pendleton with a specific project in mind. Okay- I want to make a large shawl out of it. I have about 5 picked out and I'll just go with the one with the closest yardage to what I actually get from my almost-pound of fiber. But that's close enough to a plan that it's keeping it interesting. When I need a break I spin a couple ounces of something else that's been in the stash for a while, freeing up some space and having enough to make a hat, not that I would because I have issues knitting with my own handspun. I'm really hoping that this laceweight changes things for me.

I also had the awesome opportunity to take a class from Abby Fraquemont! Yay! The class was also at the Trading Post (it's quickly becoming my new happy place) I had a very weak few moments (I've had a very rough week and somehow convinced myself I needed more fiber, even if it means packing my lunch for the next month) and basking in the afterglow of the class, I got her book and a couple of her famous batts in addition to the freebies that came with the class. I also got another pretty that I have flirted with a few times at the shop...so in total I did a little damage, but not that bad. Plus she signed my book and my new spindle.

In other news which I think is pretty darn awesome, I have been published! There is a brand-new magazine called Spool and if you're like me and do all sorts of needlecrafts, then you should totally check it out. Or if you only knit, there's tons of stuff in there for you, too!

Anyhoo, you can buy a single issue or subscribe to the magazine (it's quarterly) at www.spoolmag.com. And check out page 10- it makes me look like a real writer!

Just...things.

So there's a few exciting things that I'd like to start with...

1. You can now buy my Forget-me-not Shawlette pattern from Patternworks! Woot! I feel like a real designer now (I know I've got a long way to go before I'm a Designer with a capital D, but Patternworks is a start!)

2. I finished my Wasabi Citron and put hundreds of awesome beads on the cast-off edge. I made it one section larger and then beaded the cast-off but those are the only changes I made. Since I've had a couple weeks from hell, there is currently no picture of me without swollen red eyes, a swollen/bruised nose, blue and green acid dye all over me, or really strange hair. So you'll have to wait until I can pull myself together enough to look human for the time it takes to snap a picture. Anyhoo, Wasabi is number 6/10 for 10 Shawls in 2010.

3. I hate this damn chemo cap. The yarn (Berroco Pure Merino or something like that) has had an insane amount of knots in it. When I spend $10 for 98 yards, I have certain expectations of a yarn. Lots of little knots is not in there. Plus the pattern in smarter than I am. Dern you, Ysolda!

4. I started Haruni from Knitty in a yarn from Imbued called Sexy Paige Green. Naturally, I am beading unnecessarily for the sake of bling. I kind of love it. Depending on when it gets finished, it will be shawl #7, #8, or #9. This means that I have no idea what to do for my 10th shawl, and I would love your suggestions!

5. I *almost* finished my rug hooking before I ran out of fabric. I sent my last scrap in to the store where I bought it in hopes that they can match it and hook me up with another few inches so I can finish this and stop holding Laurie's frame hostage.

6. Pretty new handspun. It's 70% merino/30% bamboo from Frog Tree Fibers. 4 oz, just short of 200 yards. I absolutely HATED spinning it and plying it was downright painful. But I took it off the niddy-noddy and fell in love. Isn't she pretty? Her name is "Ravishing".

That's all for now. I'm beat and heading to bed with my Grayby (Gray Baby Madeline). Have a great day!

The Answer We've All Been Waiting For!

The mystery crocheted item from a few posts ago is.....

A plastic bag holder! If you have pets (and the poop-duty that goes with it) you understand how important plastic bags can be. They're also some ofthe more hideous things you can have laying around the house. So while this isn't the most beautiful hand-made item in the world, it's one of the more functional ones.

It started with mine that I made a few months ago in efforts to convince myself that nothing bad will happen if I knit my own handspun....

My mother saw it and had to have one of her own, which is the crazy one I just made with some of my first handspun. If you like this handspun, you can find some of it in my etsy shop (over on the side of the blog). I spun the etsy shop yarn a couple years after I spun this particular batch, so it's a much nicer yarn. I just made this so I could stop looking at the yarn in my stash while it taunted me as I worked with everything else in my stashroom.

And while nobody correctly guessed what it was, Laurie did submit two pretty good guesses and has been letting me borrow her rug hooking frame, so I'll be making her one anyway! I'll even try to make it within a reasonable amount of time :p Here's my first ever rug hooking to show off Laurie's awesome frame that I am trying to be done with as quickly as possible- only a little bit more left! I'm also getting pretty close to finishing my Wasabi Citron- hopefully I'll have some finished pictures for the next blog posting. Only half a giant row and a beaded bind-off left! Yay!

Spinning Clouds, Dropping Spindles

Like the rest of us, I simple can't resist when yarn store has a sale. Today I even went in with a mission: I needed a drop spindle. I am twenty days away from taking Abby Franqument's class- "Getting more done with Spindles" and just the other day it occurred to me- I can't get ANYTHING done with a spindle. I told this to Nicole who whipped out a spare spindle so fast it nearly broke the sound barrier, and she showed me how to do the "park and draft". I was not amused. I quickly regretted having signed up for Abby's class and wasting a space where a real spindle-spinner could have made herself a more efficient crafter. I learned to spin on a wheel and it might just stay that way.

But today I woke up and the sun was shining and the drywall was not so wet and I decided: today I can do anything. And there's a huge sale at the Trading Post. So an hour later, I was fondling fibers, yearning for yarn and letting Seasilk whisper sweet nothings in to my ear while I shopped (you want me to get nekked? Here? But there are others, sweet seasilk. They might get jealous) I didn't get the Seasilk, but I did some sparkly deep red Sterling & Silver sock yarn and about 2 pounds of fiber. I got 13 oz of this pretty stuff that I think looks like a cloud...

14 oz of this pretty blue thing....

and 5 oz of Falkland to destroy with my new Bare Bonesies drop spindle (and now I know when they call them DROP spindles).

So how was your labor day?

When it rains, it pours (in the kitchen)

I haven't had the best couple days. I keep trying to be a little ray of sunshine on my blog but the truth is the past few days have sucked pretty hard. On Fridaysomeone pushed a door open on my foot and tore one of my toenails off of my foot. I got 4 stitches under my toenail from the torn skin and then had my toenail glued back on top of that. I was told to keep it up as much as possible for the next few days. So I chilled at home, workedon a chemo cap and went to bed early. I woke up at 2:30 am to what sounded like a thunderstorm...in the kitchen. I ran downstairs to see water pouring down through the light fixtures and collecting in the ceiling and under the paint on the walls. My brother had come home and decided to shower at 2:30 and while turning off the water, managed to break the faucet right off. He couldn't turn the water off and it kept on pouring water, but this time inside the wall instead of the shower. My peaceful night of foot-up-as-much-as-possible wasn't going so well. I managed to turn off the water and stop most of the laundry room waterfall and we went to bed and waited for the plumber. He came, he sawed, he conquered, and he left. I went to Broadripple for a little retail therapy ($20of beads from the Bead Angel, one of my new favorite places ever!) Got back home, poured a nice bubblebath so I could soak my nasty foot, grabbed a trashy murder mystery and a glass of wine and jumped in to a freezing cold bathtub. Our water heater apparently committed suicide sometime during the time where our kitchen had been a rainforest. Oh joy. Got out, dried off and curled up with a heating pad to warm up. Cast on a new lace pattern with shiny new beads, worked a few inches, and called it a night.

Got up and cleaned a little more (drywall damage leaves quite a mess!) and then went to my G-ma Darling's for lunch. There's something about the drive out to the country with my Joni Mitchell CD that makes the crap melt away. My G-pa has a huge garden with lots of flowers around the outside and the butterflies are breathtaking. I snapped a few pictures for you guys so you can see my happy place...

That's all for now...I've got a chemo-cap that is smarter than me. Somehow I've got 20 more stitches than I should. Maybe I'll just put it away for a couple days and knit some more on the Wasabi Citron. It's more friendly anyway.