Baby knits, spinning away, and dirty fleece

Wow, how time can run away with you! Well, it can me. This past weekend was a blur of spinning and spending time with friends and family.  I'm in the zone when it comes to my spinning lately.  The summer tour spinning goal of spinning 10 minutes a day every day jump started my spinning mojo and now I crave spinning every day.  There were many days in the last month I spent way more than 10 minutes of spinning, especially this Saturday when I think I probably spun for several hours.

Before I go into details about my spinning, let's start with the cutest called BABY KNITTING!  I cast on the first cardigan for CGR aka my baby last week using the pattern  Maile Sweater by Nikki Van De Car and some sock yarn from NHknittingmama.com.  The knitting went fast until I got to the sleeves but I finally joined them tonight and so hopefully it will go quickly and be done by Friday before we head to Ohio.  So far it's looking great though!

CGR's baby cardigan

While I was spinning the brown merino that was pictured in the last post, I realized that I wanted to do a cable ply.  Which means, I'm going to ply two singles together and then ply those two together to end up with the four singles being plied.  Yes, that is very informative I know.  I'll go into more detail as the process goes, but after asking some people on twitter I realized that I would need to add some extra twist to the singles so when I ply them twice they still have some twist.  That meant that I had to go back to add extra twist, so I ran both the brown merino singles back through the wheel this weekend.  I have more room on both the bobbins so I may spin more of the brown onto these singles before I ply them together.

I was also able to finish spinning up the Cormo single I was working on and have moved on to the Corriedale roving.  Here is a picture of the Cormo before I run it back through the wheel to add more twist.

Cormo on the wheel.

This weekend I also spent some time cleaning some of the Black Corriedale fleece I bought at last year's SAFF.  I love this fleece and it's coated so it's mostly very clean!!  I was able to clean 13 oz in 2 hours.  That made me very happy!  With what I had already cleaned, I'm up to a little over 1 lb of clean locks from this fleece.  I have about 3 lbs left.  Once I'm done cleaning it, which I hope will be before the baby comes...even before the Florida Fiber In would be great too, I plan to use this for a cardigan.  Here is a picture of the drying locks.  The tips look a lot more bleached in this picture than they really are but you get the point.  These lock are like jackjack...hard to take pictures of.

Clean Corriedale locks

So, that is a recap of my crafting life.  I feel very productive when it comes to crafting lately.  I'm in the zone!  This weekend, I will be away from my wheel but I plan to bring knitting.  Since we are not checking luggage, I'll probably cast on a pair of gloves for a Christmas gift and take that along.  That is one of the reason why I want to finish the cardigan before the weekend...so I don't feel the need to take it with me.  I might also bring a baby hat since it's a simple knit.  You can't over pack the number of knitting projects for travel.  I will be away from my stash.

Other than crafting, I was able to organize the baby's room closet and you can now see the floor!  There is lots to do but I have time...or at least I'll keep saying that until I don't have anymore time.

Hope you have a great week and a great Labor Day weekend.  I will hopefully get lots of pictures to share from our Labor Day weekend in Ohio with Special K's family!  I'm looking forward to seeing all of them!

Happy Knitting, Spinning, and Travel! 

Not forgotten!

Ok...I swear this blog has not been forgotten! I think I need to start posting more often! It's not like I don't have plenty to share with you guys!

First off we'll start with a cute video of the pups. :) Just because well...they are so CUTE!!



This is part of our routine to go outside. Can you tell Jackjack is feeling GREAT?

Well...there has been lots of knitting....and a little spinning but mostly knitting. First off here is a gift I've been knitting for someone. They are these awesome mitts! You can either use them as finger less mitts or fold over the top and use as mittens! The pattern is the iphone mitts by Julie Ridl. This first pair was done using some NH Knitting Mama Franconia yarn in that Auntie Colorway. This is a Superwash Merino, Cashmere, Nylon base and I love it! These are so comfy and warm.

The color is really a bit more lilac in real life but I'm not a photography genius...I only wish I was. :)

The 2nd pair I'm working on for myself is using some Shelby B's Designs yarn in the Lilly Potter colorway. I'm actually using a similar yarn base called Supreme Sock from Shelby's that is the SW Merino, Cashmere, Nylon. Love these colors and it's knitting up very nicely!

I don't have any spinning pictures but I'll get some soon. I spun up some lovely merino but next up on my wheel is the cormo roving I bought at SAFF! I can't wait!

I'm still considering the Blog365 starting on Dec 1st. :) So...you may get to see and read a lot more from me soon.

Happy Tuesday!!

SAFF loot! Loads of pictures!!!

First I just wanted to say, SAFF was a blast!!! We drove up on Thursday and arrived to a nice dinner with my friends Judi and Caroline from my weavers guild. We then went out for a beer at this brewery that has a small bar in it with live music. We missed the music but the beer was YUMMY!! The brewery was called Pisgah Brewery. (if I'm wrong I'll correct later)

Friday we woke up and after some yummy breakfast headed down to the Fair. We shopped a bit, then volunteered at the Fleece Show and Sale, where I purchased half a gorgeous black Corriedale fleece. Pictures to come of that. Then after we got some lunch we shopped some more! Friday night was the Fiber in at the Holiday Inn near Asheville and it was so much fun to meet loads of ravelry people! I also won a prize. You can check out a quick video of it on my youtube.
Saturday, was the Barknknit meet n greet where I met lots of lovely fiber people that listen to the podcast or read the blog! That was FUN! It was so great meeting everyone and handing out the goodie bags. :) Hope you enjoyed them. We then shopped some more and headed home for a lovely evening of wine, knitting, and spinning. I managed to finish my Corona sweater that night too! I love it! What do you think?
I got to wear it on Sunday and I got lots of compliments of how great it turned out! You can see my barknknit shirt peaking out. :)

Sunday was another day full of shopping! We started the day by going to brunch downtown Asheville and ended the day at dinner downtown at an indian restraunt. It was yummy food.

So...I've talked about shopping but now the pictures and details of it. :) Ok...here we start with a picture that makes me very happy. :) It's a group picture but it is missing some things like the fleece, gifts, and other fiber. But it's this pretty!

Not really sure where to start but this first one is from Shelby B's Designs and it's the Lilly Potter colorway in her sock yarn base that is Superwash Merino, Cashmere, nylon blend. (There will be an interview with Shelby posted in the next podcast)
Next up a Unique Sheep's Verve sock yarn in their Gradience series. This yarn series is awesome and all their colorways are great Can't remember the color way but I'll update when I have the yarn near me. (You will be hearing more about them in the podcast as they are one of our new sponsors and I got an interview with Laura!)
Next, we have my Knit witch purchases...no I didn't spring for a yarn bowl but it was REALLY hard not to get one! ;) First we have her Celestial Sock series in Sagitarious. I'm a Gemina/Taurus but I loved this colorway.
Then we have I think this is Michealangelo colorway fiber. Yummy!
Next we have my Miss Babs purchases. First here is some Superwash Merino/Nylon pencil roving....love these colors.
And some yummy sock yarn in Falling Leaves colorway. This is totally the represenation of the weekend! The leaves were this color!
Then I had to pick up some Gale's Art in her new BFL twist series. It's a black and white roving that is overdyed. It's awesome! I can't wait to spin this up!
Then I met this lovely lady from Ozark Carding Mill, LLC from Oklahoma and I got some GREAT video that I'm going to post the podcast soon! But I want to send her some fleece to process but figured I should try out some of their fiber to see how I like it! This is some pin drafted Romaldale. Very soft and pretty!I also met some lovely people at this Cormo booth...will have to post their info later as I dont' have it on hand. I also confinced them to enter some fleeces in the Fleece Show!
On sunday I met the owner of The Soap Shed who was so nice and informative...this one in the picture is the Dirty Dawg Shampoo Bar! It smells great!! I got an interview with him that should be in the podcast next week! Also on Sunday, when shopping with H3dakota, I found the buttons! I could have bought so many but I settled on these...which was really funny because it totally matched the fabric of the chair I had loved sitting in at Judi's place. :)
The owner of the Clay Cat also graciously gave me this shawl pin as a thank you for mentioning her on the podcast. If you want buttons or shawl pins made I will post her email soon but she will custom make buttons for you if you want. Well...i hoped you enjoyed the run down of most my purchases. Some are missing as I said because they have already been gifted. :) I'll post pictures of my fleece soon too. I'll also update the missing information tomorrow when I get a chance to pull out the loot again.

Also...if you contact any of these wonderful stores or people please let me know I sent you their way.

Happy Spinning, and Knitting!

PS...I missed my hubby and puppies so much! They were all So happy to see me when I got home!

Heading to SAFF on Thursday!!

Sorry for the lack of posts but I have been preparing for my SAFF (Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair) trip this weekend. Monica, Angela, and I are leaving as early as we can on Thursday...let's just say I plan to leave my house at 6am. :) We are all very excited! I can't wait to inhale all those fibery fumes and meet new people!

Friday I will be wandering around all day looking at fun stuff. I am volunteering at the Fleece Show and Sale for a couple hours around lunch but otherwise my plan is to check out all the vendors! Friday night there is a Fiber In at the Holiday Inn across from the airport from 8pm-10pm...there are door prizes including some donated by me. I am donating a set of Barknknit stitch markers and a Dog Tag.

Saturday, Barknknit Podcast will be having a meet n greet. It will be held at 11am near the Sheep to Shawl event. Please come by and say Hi! I'd love to meet you all! There will also be goodie bags! Check out this video for a preview of the fun stuff.

Sunday, my goal is to pick up anything that I had not been able to purchase yet and see more vendors. Please feel free at anytime to stop me and say hello! I will have either my Barknknit T-shirt on or if I finish my red Corona! :)

I will be taking video and recording while at SAFF so go subscribe to the podcast to hear and see fun stuff!

Hope you have a great weekend...and please say a prayer and think good thoughts for a safe drive and fun weekend!