Thankful Thursday

I know this is going to sound very shallow and materialistic, but I am thankful for

1) money. My hubby and I are both employed, can pay the bills, and can buy extras without stress. I see a lot of people who are struggling to pay the bills, getting laid off, or having their work hours reduced. I am literally grateful every day that we are not in that situation. (yet).

2) not being materialistic. One of the reasons we can pay our bills is that we don't tend to buy a lot of stuff. Even close members of my family consider me cheap, but I don't like shopping, and I don't buy things unless I really want them. I live in a town where there's a lot of pressure to have the right accessories. People will fall behind on their bills, but buy a new car so no one suspects. I am doing billing today at work and I am staggered by the number of overdue notices I have to send out. It's at an all-time high. One of those customers just bought a new car. Another just bought a boat. I am very grateful that I just don't care what people think.

3) That said, I am thankful for the few things I have bought this year--like a sailboat--that have brought me hours of joy. And I'm thankful to the people who twisted my arm into making the purchase.

And now, I'm off to buy sock yarn. And I'm thankful for that, too.

Thankful Thursdays--the Experimental Spinning Edition

This past summer, the Knitigator VERY generously awarded me a great big honking ball of Crown Mountain pencil roving, colorway Autumn. Isn't it gorgeous?

I immediately decided that such a fine autumnal colorway had to become mittens, to make me feel a little better about the end of summer.

I was spinning this at Spinning Group last week when Carole --after guessing the roving's creator correctly--asked me if I was going to leave it as singles. I had been giving the plying issue some thought--the color changes so quickly that Navajo plying would not accomplish much, and I was concerned that if I double-plied it, the resulting yarn would be muddy. Sharon suggested plying it with another yarn, a solid. Carole suggested white, and I thought maybe brown.

But then the next day I remembered I had two skeins of Lamb Pride in Navy Sailor just sitting around my house gathering dust! Lamb's Pride is a worsted-weight singles yarn that I decided would be perfect for plying, and blue is a complement to orange, so I thought it was worth a try.

Only the first skein I made, the blue bled the orange (not, Paul Simon, "the orange bled the blue") and dulled down all the brights. So for the next skein I pre-soaked the navy. Here are the two skeins next to each other:

The first skein is on the left, the second on the right. When I see them next to each other like that, I'm not sure the presoak is worth the bother.

Swatch? I don't need no stinking swatch. I went straight to mitten:


I am very pleased with the yarn, but I have run out of navy blue Lamb's Pride. So I think the next bobbin will be plied with something lighter, like white or tan, to see how that comes out. Or I might try plying it against itself. So many choices, I just don't know what to do next!

So, thankfulness:
1) Thanks, Kathy! for the fabulous roving.
2) Thanks, Carole and Sharon, for helping me decide how to ply it.

And since I am actually writing this on Veteran's Day, for posting on Thursday,
3) Most importantly, thank to all our Veterans, past and present.

Thankful Thursdays

So Carole convinced me to join in her “Thankful Thursdays.” Unfortunately, however, I am very cranky today and frankly, not feeling that thankful. I feel more like Godzilla; I would like to roar and stomp on a village. Only if I were Godzilla, I wouldn’t trample indiscriminately. I would spread my toes r e a l l y w i d e and selectively stomp on the homes of people who annoy me. I’m making a list in my head right now. Two of the houses are right next door to each other. Two birds, one toe!

So, here’s my cranky list of things I am thankful for, not in any particular order:

1. Horror movies. Horror movies put everything into perspective. Sure, you had a bad day, no one’s disputing that. But zombies didn’t chase you into an abandoned farmhouse. Birds didn’t peck out your eyes. And some freaky creep with foot-long razor sharp fingernails didn’t kill your friends for real in your dreams. See? Things could be so much worse.

2. Beer. When you’ve had a bad day, nothing tastes as good as a nice cold beer. Or wine, if you’re so inclined. As far as I’m concerned, any song about a blue moon is an Ode to a Great Beer. I’m already dreaming about my end-of-the-day Blue Moon, and it’s only 9:30 am.

3. My dog. Because how can you stay mad when this face looks up at you?

P.S. I promise to be sincere and gracious and thankful next week. But you just can't be in a good mood all the time. Know what I mean?

A Spinning Question

Back in the early '90s, the J Crew catalog went through a period of ridiculous color names. For instance, one of the shirts I bought, of a pale blue-grey color, was called "ozone." So in my head, this is the ozone yarn. Except it isn't quite "ozone" enough--the colors are more vivid than pale and opalescent. And the yardage is about 500 yards shy of the yardage I need.

I recently read Deb Menz''s "Color in Spinning." At the very end, she discusses plying your handspun with other colors rather than with itself. I liked the samples she gave and have decided I would very much like to ply this with a white single, to lighten the colors and gain yardage. Wouldn't that be pretty?

But I've already plied it against itself! How can I unply it and re-ply? Will it be a complete disaster of lost twist? Spinners, please help!

Oh! I forgot!

I have an Eye Candy Friday:

An Avian Mystery

The week before before Memorial Day, I looked out my kitchen window and saw a robin's nest. She had picked the worst possible location for her nest--opposite my kitchen window (where every time I used the sink I frightened her) and in an overgrown Carolina Silverbell right next to the door we use.
We tried to remember not to use that door, to use the back slider instead, but often forgot. Every time we opened the door, she would fly off in a great rustle and flurry.She had three eggs. She had no baby daddy and frequently had to leave the nest to eat.Two days ago I realized I hadn't seen her in about 12 hours and went to check the nest. It was empty. No eggs, no babies, no cracked egg pieces on the ground around the nest.
I told my husband I was afraid another bird, or a critter, had stolen our robin's eggs and he hopefully suggested that maybe she had flown them off to a safer, calmer nest.

Is that possible?

Stuff I Haven't Finished

I've been on a real knitting and spinning kick lately, probably because my house is strewn with the carcasses of half-completed projects. There are five unfinished sweaters, one of which shall be frogged; two unfinished pairs of socks; and one unfinished shawl.

Right now I am focusing on the shawl, because 1) there are so many more shawls I want to knit and 2) every time I put it down I forget the (very easy) pattern. It's the Handsome Triangle from Victorian Lace Today, in teal silk:


I did finish one pair of socks, my first Noro knitting! It is unfair to say that knitting with Noro sock yarn is like knitting with steel wool, but the stuff sure isn't soft. The colors, however, are luscious:
On the spinning front, I have been a tad intimidated by the two one-pound bags of roving I have sitting in the living room. So instead, I bit off something I could chew and spun up a 4 oz bundle of Spunky Eclectic merino/silk in the Dinosaur color that I bought at Spa. I got about 400 yards of mostly sock weight yarn.
After I finish up the shawl, I am going to finish my Siena cardigan, which needs only its buttonbands and collar. Only its buttonbands and collar, people! I could have been wearing it MONTHS ago, if not for my own startitis.

I am counting on you all to keep me honest. Going to NH Sheep and Wool this past weekend (sorry, camnesia) made me all the more aware of the dire situation. I'm not saying I can't buy anything until I empty out my house. I am saying I can't pick up anything new until I complete the old. I must start to finish things. Maybe this could be a new, reverse sort of startitis?

Finished Object Semi-Roundup

I've actually done more than what you see here, but one's being frogged and another was frogged and is now in the finishing stages--only put on the back burner for last minute Christmas gifts THAT STILL AREN'T DONE.

First off, Bianca (Interweave Knits). Back when I got my spinning wheel, Toni from The Fold very kindly included a ton of some kind of springy, super-soft wool and silk slub blend. I spun it up but was concerned I wouldn't have enough for a sweater. Except I really, really wanted to use it for Bianca, so I did have to add a few colors. I call this my Neapolitan sweater because it reminds me of the ice cream quarts.

I love it. It's a very comfortable, Saturday sort of sweater, except it's more flattering than most of my Saturday sweaters. I ended up removing the buttons and fastening it with a pin instead. I have lots of pins so why not use them?

Next, two little bears. Back in October, my boss and his family went up to New Hampshire for the weekend. They stumbled across a sheep and wool festival, and they had heard me yammer about them for years so they stopped and walked around. Anyway, long story short, their daughter picked out a beautfiful bag of roving for me. The bag had three balls of blue/green merino and one snowy, fluffy ball of 100% brushed mohair. I thought it was so sweet of her to think of me that I wanted to make her and her little brother something from it. So I made bears. It's the Snowflake pattern from "The Knitted Teddy Bear" by Sandra Polley (great book, great way to use small balls of yarn). I made both bears (barely!!) from the one 3 oz ball of mohair. It was crappily spun but hopefully the kids haven't noticed.


left: boy bear; right: girl bear











I loved, loved, loved the Debbie Bliss Vogue Knitting book that came out this fall. I made the cabled vest shown on the cover and have the yarn on order for another sweater in it. I had to substitute yarn for the vest (Jo Sharp Ultra) and had to play a lot with the gauge. The Jo Sharp blows up like a puffer fish when you wash it. The first time I knit the vest it was huge (thank you puffer fish) and now on the second knitting it's a little small. But there will not be a third knitting. Lesson learned: wash your swatches.

I actually think this one looked better a little larger than a little too small, but if I knit it again (a possibility) it will be from Como, the specified yarn, and there will be no gauge fudging.

Lastly, the diagonally-cabled sweater from the fall Interweave Knits. I made some adjustments to this, because the sweater as shown on the model appeared to be ill-fitting. I shortened it, added waist shaping, made the shoulders slightly smaller and shortened the sleeves. I did not make the shoulders small enough. Otherwise I am pleased with it and wish I had not gotten foam insulation on the left breast the very first time I wore it.



FYI, apparently the only ways to remove foam insulation would be very damaging to the sweater. I'm hoping it will just sort of eventually wear off.

Did I mention I got a new camera? Perhaps you can tell that I am still learning how to use it.