Friday, September 22, 2006
Happy Friday!
I'm so happy the weekend is here! The weather is supposed to be kinda crappy, but I can deal with that.
A few have asked and yep, I'll be at the Sheep and Wool Festival in Romeo on Saturday. My plan is to be there kinda early, noon-ish. I hope I run into lots of knitter/fiber friends. I'm anxious to buy some more llama for spinning, since the last batch spun up so beautifully. I'm hoping to actually experience the Angora Rabbits this time too, since they so rudely blew off the festival last Spring. I just hope the weather cooperates, cuz it's pretty tough to fondle fiber in a downpour!
I had a great evening on Wednesday, hanging out with my Knitster-Buds at the 'Bou. I really needed to just "hang out" and do the chick thing, and of course my friends came thru for me. Thanks ladies!
I'm looking forward to a little knitting time this weekend, but with the festival on Saturday and a party on Sunday (uh yeah, I still have to clean the house) I'm not expecting to get much done. The second OSW is almost finished, with the recent acquisition of some coordinating silk/wool blend for the sleeve trim and neck edging. I can't wait till it's an FO.
I get my dog back today!! The neighbor from up north that has been watching him for me just so happens to have a daughter in Northville and he's coming in today to visit with her and offered to deliver my dog for me! How cool is that?! I can't wait to see the little guy, but he might not be so happy when he goes back to the ole grind of just dog food. I guess they've been spoiling him silly up north, indulging him in such things as bacon, and hamburger and chicken (off the bone, of course). It will still be good to see my baby again. At 13, he's definitely part of the fam, and it will be great to have him back home.
Have a great weekend everybody, and if you're in Romeo tomorrow, I'll be the tall dorky one drooling over all the fibery goodness the festival has to offer! See ya!
A few have asked and yep, I'll be at the Sheep and Wool Festival in Romeo on Saturday. My plan is to be there kinda early, noon-ish. I hope I run into lots of knitter/fiber friends. I'm anxious to buy some more llama for spinning, since the last batch spun up so beautifully. I'm hoping to actually experience the Angora Rabbits this time too, since they so rudely blew off the festival last Spring. I just hope the weather cooperates, cuz it's pretty tough to fondle fiber in a downpour!
I had a great evening on Wednesday, hanging out with my Knitster-Buds at the 'Bou. I really needed to just "hang out" and do the chick thing, and of course my friends came thru for me. Thanks ladies!
I'm looking forward to a little knitting time this weekend, but with the festival on Saturday and a party on Sunday (uh yeah, I still have to clean the house) I'm not expecting to get much done. The second OSW is almost finished, with the recent acquisition of some coordinating silk/wool blend for the sleeve trim and neck edging. I can't wait till it's an FO.
I get my dog back today!! The neighbor from up north that has been watching him for me just so happens to have a daughter in Northville and he's coming in today to visit with her and offered to deliver my dog for me! How cool is that?! I can't wait to see the little guy, but he might not be so happy when he goes back to the ole grind of just dog food. I guess they've been spoiling him silly up north, indulging him in such things as bacon, and hamburger and chicken (off the bone, of course). It will still be good to see my baby again. At 13, he's definitely part of the fam, and it will be great to have him back home.
Have a great weekend everybody, and if you're in Romeo tomorrow, I'll be the tall dorky one drooling over all the fibery goodness the festival has to offer! See ya!
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
FO, FO, it's off to LYS I go!
I finally have an FO, go check it: Done, done, done, done!
I can't really go to the LYS, since my stash is so large, but I need a little sumpin sumpin to finish the WIP I'm currently on.
OK, Blogger is really pissing me off, since it is refusing to download my pictures in any sort of timely fashion. I'd kick it but I'm wearing handknit socks and don't want to risk snagging them on my USB cable!
(Amazing, as soon as you start bad-mouthing Blogger it starts working)
And because of a suggestion from the owner of Sweet Celeste's in Mt. Clemens, I'm using a carry-along fiber as well. It's nylon and stretchy and gives the silk a little more stability (I hope). It blends completely so it's undetectable.
But, if you notice, the ball on the left is pretty small and I won't have enough to finish the sleeve detail or ribbed edge with the silk, so I'm thinking about using Debbie Bliss Pure Silk for the edging. I'll be stopping by Ewe-Nique in RO tonight and see what they have.
I can't really go to the LYS, since my stash is so large, but I need a little sumpin sumpin to finish the WIP I'm currently on.
OK, Blogger is really pissing me off, since it is refusing to download my pictures in any sort of timely fashion. I'd kick it but I'm wearing handknit socks and don't want to risk snagging them on my USB cable!
(Amazing, as soon as you start bad-mouthing Blogger it starts working)
Here is a picture of the second OSW in progress, with the pain-in-the-butt Sari silk.
And because of a suggestion from the owner of Sweet Celeste's in Mt. Clemens, I'm using a carry-along fiber as well. It's nylon and stretchy and gives the silk a little more stability (I hope). It blends completely so it's undetectable.
But, if you notice, the ball on the left is pretty small and I won't have enough to finish the sleeve detail or ribbed edge with the silk, so I'm thinking about using Debbie Bliss Pure Silk for the edging. I'll be stopping by Ewe-Nique in RO tonight and see what they have. I mentioned Sweet Celeste's and if you are in the area you should really go check it out. The store owner (Kathleen-I think) is really nice and extremely helpful and her shop has a lot to offer. I was in Mt. Clemens for jury duty and was fortunate enough to stumble across her shop on my lunch. A great way to make the best of the situation if you ask me!
Hi to Marj, Jen, Amy, Kelli and Chris who recently left me comments. Have a great day everybody!
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Almost a month!
I can't believe it has been almost 30 days since my last post. I know they say time flies when you're having fun, but it ZOOMS by when it's not so fun. Hopefully that's God's way of just getting me thru the crap and rushing me ahead to better times.
Now onto happier thoughts!
First of all, my baby girl is 11 TODAY!! Firmly planted into double digits now, she's growing like a weed and skillfully making her way thru the joys of Middle School. I think it's harder on me especially when I see school calendars listing DANCES on them as part of their activities. Dances? In 6th grade? C'mon, surely I'm at least 3 or 4 years away from that stuff aren't I? {sigh} I need my vitamins, and my glasses so I can fill out my AARP application. And turn that music DOWN for crying out loud! Yikes, I sound like my parents.
We spent 10 glorious days tucked away in the woods, and had a wonderfully boring, calm, relaxing time. I don't mean boring in a bad way, but more so in a way that there was no hustle bustle of city life, and it was fantastic! The kids rode dirt bikes, shot bows, we went fishing, and just generally hung out. I slept in till 10 or 11 EVERY day, and life was grand. On a somber note though, my dog ran away and I was really worried that something bad happened to him. I kept hearing stories of coyotes and large birds that could make off with a Sheltie of his size and I thought I'd never see him again. I was hoping that somebody simply picked him up, since he was clearly a house dog, and that because he didn't have tags they would just give him a good home and he would be well cared for and loved, even if not by me. We had to drive home, without him, which was really hard, since he's been with me for all of his 13 years of life, save the first 6 weeks before I got him. As luck would have it, and because I blabbed to EVERYONE in the woods about my missing dog, we got a call the day after we came home, that in fact, a logger guy picked him up and was caring for him and searching for his owner. Thank goodness I have such a big mouth, because in his beginning door to door search effort, the first house he went to knew about me and my missing dog. The rescuer said he was in rough shape when he found him, and I haven't figured out yet how many days he was in the woods before being found, but the rescuer brushed him, bathed him and extracted a porcupine quill from his chest. He is in the care of a neighbor up north, until I'm able to get back up there to pick him up. Darn job. Always in the way. I hope he can tell me about the whole porcupine thing....
I have been knitting, some, but not nearly as much as I expected while holed up in the woods. I made the OSW from Glampyre and realized it fit my daughter PERFECTLY, which was not my goal, so me and Kermie had a chat, and now it's the right size. I made it from my handspun llama, and will take a pic as soon as I'm able (I'm currently in possession of the digital by the way, but that is probably only temporary-in case anyone was checking). I am starting a second OSW with the sari silk I bought in AA, and holy crap, does anyone else have a horror story about this yarn? I had to really work at getting it untangled and couldn't wind it from my swift on to the ball winder, so I wound it by hand, and it kept separating. Like it didn't have enough twist. And now as I'm knitting with it, it's STILL separating. There's gonna be a gazillion knots in this stuff by the time I'm done! I'm not even sure I have enough to make the whole OSW with it, but I was going to attempt it anyway. The colors are beautiful, but it's really tricky to work with.
The Hippo Sock is still around, and I just finished the gusset decreases and pick it up here and there, when I'm frustrated with the OSW. I swatched the yarn I got online from Perchance and have decided to try the men's sock pattern from Knitty. They may be somewhat thin, being knit on 6's, but the colors are great and it's a nice pattern too. At least I won't hear SO say "You want me to wear thick wool socks in the summer?!", since these will definitely be lighter weight. I have yet to revive his sweater, but still keep thinking I will. I'm not sure what really caused that project to stall, except it's just kinda boring stockinette. I'm knitting the sleeve first, in the round so I don't have to seam it or purl at all. I'm early enough into it that I may do a purl stitch as a fake seam like I read about on YH's site during her gansey knitting.
I'm so far behind on reading everyone's blogs too. I feel so out of touch. I'm hoping to be caught up soon, and then I can see what everyone has been up to, without me. I'll try to ease back into it all, including blogging, so thanks for hanging in there with me.
Have a great day!
Now onto happier thoughts!
First of all, my baby girl is 11 TODAY!! Firmly planted into double digits now, she's growing like a weed and skillfully making her way thru the joys of Middle School. I think it's harder on me especially when I see school calendars listing DANCES on them as part of their activities. Dances? In 6th grade? C'mon, surely I'm at least 3 or 4 years away from that stuff aren't I? {sigh} I need my vitamins, and my glasses so I can fill out my AARP application. And turn that music DOWN for crying out loud! Yikes, I sound like my parents.
We spent 10 glorious days tucked away in the woods, and had a wonderfully boring, calm, relaxing time. I don't mean boring in a bad way, but more so in a way that there was no hustle bustle of city life, and it was fantastic! The kids rode dirt bikes, shot bows, we went fishing, and just generally hung out. I slept in till 10 or 11 EVERY day, and life was grand. On a somber note though, my dog ran away and I was really worried that something bad happened to him. I kept hearing stories of coyotes and large birds that could make off with a Sheltie of his size and I thought I'd never see him again. I was hoping that somebody simply picked him up, since he was clearly a house dog, and that because he didn't have tags they would just give him a good home and he would be well cared for and loved, even if not by me. We had to drive home, without him, which was really hard, since he's been with me for all of his 13 years of life, save the first 6 weeks before I got him. As luck would have it, and because I blabbed to EVERYONE in the woods about my missing dog, we got a call the day after we came home, that in fact, a logger guy picked him up and was caring for him and searching for his owner. Thank goodness I have such a big mouth, because in his beginning door to door search effort, the first house he went to knew about me and my missing dog. The rescuer said he was in rough shape when he found him, and I haven't figured out yet how many days he was in the woods before being found, but the rescuer brushed him, bathed him and extracted a porcupine quill from his chest. He is in the care of a neighbor up north, until I'm able to get back up there to pick him up. Darn job. Always in the way. I hope he can tell me about the whole porcupine thing....
I have been knitting, some, but not nearly as much as I expected while holed up in the woods. I made the OSW from Glampyre and realized it fit my daughter PERFECTLY, which was not my goal, so me and Kermie had a chat, and now it's the right size. I made it from my handspun llama, and will take a pic as soon as I'm able (I'm currently in possession of the digital by the way, but that is probably only temporary-in case anyone was checking). I am starting a second OSW with the sari silk I bought in AA, and holy crap, does anyone else have a horror story about this yarn? I had to really work at getting it untangled and couldn't wind it from my swift on to the ball winder, so I wound it by hand, and it kept separating. Like it didn't have enough twist. And now as I'm knitting with it, it's STILL separating. There's gonna be a gazillion knots in this stuff by the time I'm done! I'm not even sure I have enough to make the whole OSW with it, but I was going to attempt it anyway. The colors are beautiful, but it's really tricky to work with.
The Hippo Sock is still around, and I just finished the gusset decreases and pick it up here and there, when I'm frustrated with the OSW. I swatched the yarn I got online from Perchance and have decided to try the men's sock pattern from Knitty. They may be somewhat thin, being knit on 6's, but the colors are great and it's a nice pattern too. At least I won't hear SO say "You want me to wear thick wool socks in the summer?!", since these will definitely be lighter weight. I have yet to revive his sweater, but still keep thinking I will. I'm not sure what really caused that project to stall, except it's just kinda boring stockinette. I'm knitting the sleeve first, in the round so I don't have to seam it or purl at all. I'm early enough into it that I may do a purl stitch as a fake seam like I read about on YH's site during her gansey knitting.
I'm so far behind on reading everyone's blogs too. I feel so out of touch. I'm hoping to be caught up soon, and then I can see what everyone has been up to, without me. I'll try to ease back into it all, including blogging, so thanks for hanging in there with me.
Have a great day!
