Knitting/Spinning: New Month plan

New month means new classes for the Harry Potter Knit/Crochet House Cup goes up and new planning happens!  Usually I plan out at least 6 projects but with my slowed knitting progress I am scaling back.

For Detention, I am planning to finish the Miss Abbey by Terri Kruse that I am knitting for Carmen in size 2T out of Laines Du Nord Papiro cotton yarn.  It's knitting up relatively quickly and a very easy knit.  I think it's going to be so cute!

For classes, the plan is to knit a couple hexipuffs and get some points in since I have been such a slacker the first 2 months.  These are quick and hopefully I can get 6 of them turned in for lots of points!!

I would also like to spend some time with Pilar, my spinning wheel!  She has been left in the corner for too long!  Time to pull her out and get my fibery goodness going! Need to dive into the stash, play, organize, and find something to spin first!

Happy Knitting!!!

What project are you planning this week?  This month?

Knitting: January round up, FOs, and a WIP!

Hello my blog readers.  The little impromptu break/radio silence was due to illness.  The flu hit our family in several ways.  Started with Little Miss Carmen having a thankfully short stomach flu bug, which only lasted about 3 hours.  Then the following week she came down with the flu and passed it along to me.  She was better within a day of starting the Tamiflu...but took me and my pregnant butt a couple days.  We are thankfully both better but have been catching up with life and work.  

Another reason for the radio silence was because work was being done on our house.  I think I've mentioned before but we are hopefully closing on our house at the end of this month!!  Please send good thoughts/prayers our way for a smooth close...there are lots still pending but we love the house we live in and really hope we are able to close on time.  

Now for a knitting update since that is what this post is going to be about...stay tuned shortly for baby bump update.

Knitting: 

As I mentioned in this post, my knitting mojo is back and with a vengeance.  I'm loving it!  I feel so productive when I'm productive with my knitting and spinning.  Fellow crafters will totally understand what I'm talking about but when you see things flying off the needles/hooks/sewing maching or whatever really, it brings you such satisfaction.

You can also go back to that post for the first 5 finished objects of the month.  Here is the list of the rest. :)

The Momma and Baby Monster is complete!  I love how this turned out!  I really think Carmen is going to love it!  I used the Daphne and Delilah Momma and Baby Monster pattern by Rebecca Danger and some yarn from JoAnne's.  I turned this into an HPKCHC class. Isn't it so cute?

After I finished this, I quickly crocheted up a dishcloth to turn in for the Headmistress Challenge.

Then I plied the yarn that was on my wheel and turned it into a class.

Last class I turned in was all the hexipuffs I knit this month!  I managed to knit 8 between all the other stuff I did.  I think I deserve a pat on the back for that one! YAY!

After getting 6 classes turned in, which is the most you can submit for points and doing all the extras I could for the month of January, I pulled out my Aidez cardigan that I started LAST January and figured out where I had made my mistake and started working on it!  I forgot how much fun it was to knit.  Right now I'm a sleeve away from seaming it up and turning it into Detention for Feb!  I can do it!

Well, that is a quick knitting/spinning round up for January.  I'll be back next week with a planning post for February and HOPEFULLY a finished Aidez cardigan! :)

Happy Knitting!

Knitting: House Cup planning post...new term!!

The new winter term starts on Tuesday the 1st of January for the Harry Potter Knit/Crochet House CUP!  I had been contemplating taking a sabbatical this term, since I'm due beginning of April and the term is Jan, Feb, and March...I'll be in my third trimester and while I was very productive at this time when I was pregnant with CGR...that doesn't mean I will be with this baby.  However, I'm holding out hope that I can AT LEAST meet the minimum requirements of 1 class a month...so I put my name into the sorting hat!  I will hopefully be playing again as a Gryffindor!!

That being said...I need to get my planning all done so that I can be prepared for the new term and HOPEFULLY meet my goal of 3 classes this term...with hopes of more.  I haven't gone through my stash yet and figured out the yarn I have or need for these projects yet, but I have picked the patterns I can focus on once the class prompts go up on the first!  I have a couple other projects that I want to get done but not wanting to post those patterns/projects here since they are gifts.  Also...right now my knitting is all about whatever strikes my fancy that day.  I haven't finished much so whatever I am wanting to knit I'm going to knit...so somethings are getting pushed around in my queue.

Potential Class projects for next term:

1. a pair of Fingering Weight Baby Mittens for the new baby
2. Daphne and Delilah the Momma and Baby Monster for Carmen’s big sister gift
3. Baby-Love Sling for Carmen for another part of her big sister gift!
4. a pair of Raindrop socks for Carmen
5. a pair of Eviepants All in One Booties for the new baby.
6. an Aviatrix hat that matches booties for new baby
7. an Aviatrix hat that matches baby’s for Carmen

For my potential broom…this may change:
1. A pair of socks for someone special.  This is a surprise so that's all you get.  I'm hoping to have these done before I deliver but if not the person will understand.  Normally I wouldn't say it would take me 2 months to knit socks...but since it's my third trimester...I have a feeling it will. :)

Detention project:
I have been working on a Penelope the Empathetic Monster by Rebecca Danger for the 600 Monsters Strong for Connecticut.  I'm knitting all the pieces and getting it close to seaming up so I can turn in for WIP the first!

I'd also like to start spinning again but not sure where I'll fit it in yet so don't want to put it into my planning quite yet.

Hope you enjoyed these patterns and my planning post! 

Happy Knitting!!

Are you playing in the House Cup this term?  What house?  Do you do planning like this?

A Series of Thoughts: Ravelypmics a threat to the Olympics??

For those of you muggles out there, Ravelympics is an event that coincides with the Olympics that is held withing the forums on Ravelry.com, an online community of over 2 million knitters, crocheters, and spinners.  It's a silly event that encourages people to knit/spin/crochet while watching the Olympics.  I've participated the last couple times and it's fun.  It gives me a goal and a time frame to complete projects and I feel I actually watch the Olympics more because of it.

My last Ravelympics project ready for cast on!

Yesterday, Ravelympics blew up on twitter and the knitting blogsphere because the US Olympic Committee sent an email to Casey and Jess the creators, which was quite disturbing.  While they asked them to change the name of the event, which I'm all for since they have the rights to the Olympic name...their following comment struck a nerve.

We believe using the name "Ravelympics" for a competition that involves an afghan marathon, scarf hockey and sweater triathlon, among others, tends to denigrate the true nature of the Olympic Games. In a sense, it is disrespectful to our country's finest athletes and fails to recognize or appreciate their hard work.

What are they trying to say?  That crafters around the world watching the games and knitting/spinning/crocheting along is disrespectful to the athletes?  Really? When I first heard about the letter, I was sort of just taken aback but wasn't surprised that the letter was sent...then I started reading about the letter on blogs and comments on twitter, so I had to go actually read the full thing, which was posted by Casey within ravelry forums(rav link).  You can also read full letter on the gawker site here.  Once I read this part, I was disturbed.  Not all 2 million people on Ravelry participate but a large chunk of them do.  Currently, in the Ravelympics 2012 group on Ravelry.com there are 7562 members and I'm sure with the press it's getting that number will increase.  Why wouldn't you want to encourage almost 8 thousand people to all watch the opening ceremonies and the games?  I used to not worry about the opening ceremonies until I started participating in the ravelympics.  You can't cast on your project until the ceremonies start so I watched and cast on with thousands of others!

This morning I read a post by Kay on the Mason & Dixon blog and I immediately felt I needed to join her call!  She tweeted Stephen Colbert that if he did a piece on the "Knitters who are destroying the Olympics" that he would then receive a lifetime supply of hand knit socks!  I love her call to action and I'm all for knitting him a pair of socks if he does the piece!  As I've said before and will say again, you just don't mess with knitters because they are really taking over the world and are armed with pointy sticks! 

There have also been calls of action to boycott all Olympic sponsors.  While I don't know if I'll go that far, I am thinking this wasn't a good way to handle the issue by the lawyers for the Olympic Committee.  I hope that no one goes so far as to bother the actual US team about it as this isn't coming from them but let's get this out there because you can't say knitters are trying to destroy the Olympics and get away with it!

Happy Knitting!

EDITED: They issued an apology but this is seriously not a real response.  It says it was a standard letter...umm...just see comment above...that isn't standard! 

And ANOTHER apology this time on their Facebook wall!  They are getting closer...

What do you think of all this?  Are you bothered by their comment?  What do you plan to do to take action?

Knit, knit, spin, knit...repeat!

Hi blog readers!!  Did you miss me?  I feel I have left you all hanging lately!  Life has been pretty busy as usual but that is no excuse.  I'm back and I really hope you enjoy all the catching up I'm about to start.   Since there has been a lot of it, we are going to start with crafting update!  This might be picture heavy and pretty long so hang in there.

The new term of the Harry Potter Knit/Crochet House Cup Spring started back on May 1st and that as usually got my creative juices flowing!

First it inspired me to start working on more blanket squares for Carmen's Barknknit Raising Quilt.  The pattern is the Barn Raising Quilt from Knitalong: Celebrating the Tradition of Knitting Together by Shelley Mackie and Larissa Brown.  I started this quilt Sept 23, 2009, which was quite a few months before Carmen was conceived but I started it with the intention of knitting it for my future baby.  It's one of those projects that I knit in between other bigger projects or when I'm just not sure what I want to be knitting.  The squares go relatively fast and I'm using just random sock scraps from my stash so it's fun to see the colors take shape. Last month, I turned in 2 squares into classes and if I recall correctly are square number 14 and 15 out of 36.  I'm hoping to complete this before we transition her to her toddler bed sometime closer to her 2nd birthday.

 In the Winter term 2012, for my BROOM project I set out to complete a shawl for my SIL for her wedding.  I worked with her on what pattern she liked and what color and type of yarn she wanted.  We looked at a lot of different types of shawls and together we picked the Haruni Shawl by Emily Ross using the lovely 50/50 silk/merino blend Juniper Moon Farms Findley yarn.  This is the first laceweight shawl that I have ever completed.  I have a WIP for a shawl for myself that is still sitting in it's project bag waiting to be frogged and knit into something else but this Haruni is the first one I have finished.  I added crystal beads to the bottom chart but you can't really tell in the pictures.  I'm hoping to get better pictures but you will have to just deal with these until I am able to get better ones.  It came out more beautiful than I imagined and I am so happy with it!  It's delicate and drapes beautifully!  I wasn't able to complete it in time to turn in for my BROOM but I turned it in first day of Spring term for detention.

Completed but pre-blocking.  Check out the spread at knitting that night!

Creative blocking!

Ignore dirty bathroom but this is the best picture I have of the back!  And you can't really see the beads.

The next project I completed was a shawl for my friend Jessie, who is having surgery today.  I cast on this simple shawl using my handspun from MissBabs merino/nylon pencil roving.  The colors were perfect for Jessie aka Tinyant and I used Lala's Simple Shawl pattern by Laura Linneman.  I didn't follow the pattern exactly but that is perfect as Jessie never follows patterns and when she does she uses them more as guides than patterns.  I feel the shawl is just perfect for her!   Carmen and swung by on Saturday and gave it to her and she was so pleased with it!   I'm so happy she liked it and she even blogged about it!  Can't beat a handmade gift being appreciated so much!  I will be praying for her today as she goes through her surgery and thinking good thoughts through her recovery period. 

picture borrowed with permission from Tinyant.  Please check out more pictures on her blog!

The last thing I completed or really started was the Beekeeper's Quilt by Tiny Owl Knits using random scraps of sock yarn in my stash and some poly-fill.  These hexipuffs as they are called are so fun to make!  They are pretty fast and once they are done so squishy and fun!!  I made 2 in one night and finished the 3rd the next.  I calculated out how many I had to complete to turn in for classes and I have to make 3 so that isn't bad and so fun.  I plan to fit three sets of these into classes and 3 blanket squares in to other classes. 

3 hexipuffs and blanket square in progress.

And now onto WIPs!  You thought I was almost done right?  Not Quite!  The first thing I'm working on is my History of Magic OWL this term.  I wasn't able to finish my OWL last term so I'm really hoping to complete this one.   The OWL is to finish 3 pairs of socks.  I have to finish 3 individual socks by the end of this month to be able to get 50% points so I need to focus on them as all I have is almost 1 sock done and the toes of 2 others. :)  Here are some progress pictures.

Bellatrix sock in progress.  Had to rip back toe last night and make the foot longer.

Hedwig sock!

Dumbledore sock!

For my BROOM this month, I'm spinning.  The goal is to spin the equivalent of 30 mins a day for the duration of the BROOM time with a minimum of 8 oz spun.  I started some laceweight with some lovely merino/bamboo/nylon I had in my stash!

not a lot of progress...need to catch up on this!

Well, I think that covers pretty much all my crafting right now.  I hope you enjoyed this long post and all the updates!  I hope to be back soon with more posts!

Happy Crafting!!!

FO: Calligraphy Cardigan

My Calligraphy cardigan has been completed...and worn practically every day possible since!!  And I do not exaggerate that I can't stop wearing this!  It's super comfortable and I feel goes with EVERYTHING...even though it really doesn't but who cares I LOVE IT!   If you are friends with me on most social network sites, you will have already seen these pictures but I wanted to post to my blog as well. 

Pattern: Calligraphy Cardigan by Hannah Fettig
Yarn: Hand spun and hand dyed by me from wool that I purchased from Warren in WI and sent to be processed.

Yes, me and my girl are very silly!! :)

The hand spun yarn was a bit thicker than the called for gauge so with the help of Jasmin from the Knitmore Girls Podcast, I was able to change the numbers proportionally to fit what my gauge was and the fit I feel is perfect!!  I'm not sure I can explain exactly what we did but if anyone wants to know I can do a post about it. Thank you Jasmin for all your help and Congrats again to your family on your beautiful addition G!!

Happy Knitting!!!

My OWL is complete!!!

My Transfiguration OWL is complete!  I spun 1516 yards of DK weight and dyed it all up in 3 months! YAY! I'm so proud of myself!  This is the most yarn I have spun in one go and most I've dyed up.  The spinning isn't perfect and neither is the dyeing but I did it and I can't be more happy with how it came out!  I can't WAIT to cast on the cardigan and wear my handspun, hand dyed, hand knit cardi!

started out as fiber in a box

Turned into lots of yarn

Lots of yarn!

cooling after heat setting the dye

And here it all is!  All pretty and dyed up!

LOVE IT!

I'm so happy with it and I now don't feel so intimidated by spinning for big projects that I might just have to start another project like this because I have other cardigans that need handspun yarn! :)

It has been turned in to the House Cup group and just waiting for it to dry so I can cast on!  However, probably won't cast on until after I finish these socks I'm working on for Carmen and maybe one more gift but it's going to be very hard to resist!!!

Happy Spinning and House Cup!!

Spinning in Public.

I love to spin at any time I can whether that's at home or in public.  I enjoy the relaxation that spinning yarn brings me, however, I do get a lot less weird looks at home than I do in public.  People often stop to ask how it works or just comment on the wheel itself.  I don't mind this at all as long as I can keep spinning while they talk. hehe!

At last night's weekly knitting meet-up, I brought my wheel because there was no sign of rain and I spun spun spun!  I'm almost done with what I hope is the LAST single for my OWL!  If I can finish it up and get it plied by the end of the weekend then hopefully I can get it all dyed up Thanksgiving weekend.  It needs to be turned in by Nov 30th so I don't have too much time left.

Hope you all had a great Tuesday!

Craftmania!!!

I've been meaning to post for about 14 days now but every time I think about it I'm no where near my computer!  I had not mentioned on my blog yet about how I joined the Harry Potter Knit/Crochet House Cup group on Ravelry.com.  I don't even know how to describe it other than AWESOME!  It's a Harry Potter themed challenge that in my opinion promotes productivity in your crafting.  If you want to learn more, go over to the group and read the homepage information.  Sign ups are not open right now but you can join at anytime and play as a NQFY (Not Quite First Year) and learn the ropes.  I played as a NQFY back in late July and through the break month of August.  It was a great way to meet people and learn about how the classes, OWLs, Quidditch, the houses and much more.

The Sorting Hat, yes there is a sorting hat, put me into Gryffindor for the Fall 2011 term! I am very excited to be a Gryffindor and have really enjoyed all the fun stuff that we've been doing in our House even though I know all the houses are pretty great! I've met so many great people both in Gryffindor and other houses!

The first month of term, which a term spans three months, was September and I was very proud of myself for how much I have accomplished that month!  Since little miss CGR was born I haven't felt like I have been very productive when it came to knitting.  I was finishing projects but I was also easily distracted and just didn't feel focused with my knitting.  The House Cup has brought both to my crafting.  Some may be surprised at this but I am a big planner!  I like to make plans and lists and research things.  I may not always implement them the way I intend to but I start off with a plan. :)  So, the house cup is perfect for this.  When the class prompts come out the first day of term, I have managed to read them and put together a plan for that month.  Then I get started!  Last month I did great!  Here is a picture of all the things I was able to turn in and which class they fit into.  My OWL project is a three month project so it won't be complete until November.

If you are looking for some focus, fun time and great Harry Potter fun...go check out the Harry Potter Knit/Crochet House Cup group!

Go Gryffindor!!!  ROAR!!

Happy Crafting!

Baby Coma...and the birth of Mama Barknknit

I've talked a little about what I now call my baby coma before but when Carmen was born, I swear it took all my brain power to just take care of her and heal that I feel now that I was in a daze most of those first couple weeks.  We were nursing around the clock, changing diapers I felt every hour but I'm sure it wasn't, rarely getting more than 15-30 mins of sleep at a stretch an hour or two were amazing times and also getting to know this little girl who had joined our life...as well as letting others get to know her.  This took up a lot of time and mental energy.  I look back on this time, which was most of my maternity leave and was like why wasn't I doing this or this...but in the end I just know I was learning to be a mom and that was the most important thing I could have been doing with my time. 

Now, almost 7 months later, I've been regaining my identity and it has also forever changed as well.  Sadly, I have lost friends in my journey to motherhood and I've come to grips with that.  I realized that I am who I am and I happen to like myself.  I know not everyone will like me and life is too short to worry about those who just don't get me.  There are plenty of people out there for them to be friends with as well as plenty of others for me to be friends with as well.   I've said sorry for anything I did that was unintentionally mean and slowly working on righting my "wrongs" but I not going to say sorry for being me and for putting myself and my family first and why should I.  They are not saying sorry for being intentionally or unintentionally mean to me.  If they can be who they want to be and be rude, mean, sneaky, and just plan unfriendly, then why should I have to say sorry for being myself.  Anyway...I'm getting WAY off topic here. I didn't plan this post to go into this but anyway...it's there and I'm not deleting it.  This is my space...if you don't like it as I say about my podcast...there are other blogs you can read.

So...as I've been getting back to: Knitting: which I've managed to do a lot of lately; Podcasting, which I've gotten 3 episodes up in the month of June! Dog training/walking: which I never really stopped doing but have started trying to run with Abby and generally doing the things that I enjoy.  I haven't given my wheel Pilar much love lately but hoping that the Tour de Fleece fixes that.  You can also join me and other podcasters and podcast listeners in the Team Sasquatch group on Raverly for Tour de Fleece!  My goal this year is to spin a min of 5 mins a day during the Tour.  Wish me luck!  I just hope I can finish some of the project on the needles before the start of it.

Back to the topic at hand, as I begin to plan out this blog and my podcast and figure out what I want to do, I realize that Barknknit doesn't really cover everything anymore.  I used to be all dogs and knitting.  Then I started spinning but that still fits and now I'm a mom.  A mom who just wants to be the best mom I can be.  I also want to be more of a natural momma than I thought I would be.  I am into breastfeeding, babywearing, and I'm not against co-sleeping and now I'm diving into the cloth diapering world.  As I learn more, I want to share more and so where does that fit in.  I'm really not sure who all reads the blog, I know tons of people listen to the podcast and I've gotten good feedback about adding the Carmen's Corner, but I think I need to add more.  I haven't decided exactly what that will look like but you will find out when I figure it out.  In the meanwhile, my name went from just plain ole Barknknit to Mama Barknknit as being a mom is a huge part of who I am now.  I was always a mom to my furbabies but that role has grown and I'm very excited about what life still has in store for me.

Hope you enjoy my thoughts as I really do plan to use this blog space for more than just pictures and incorporate more of my thoughts and ramblings that exist in my head, which is a bit crazy and I'm ok with that!  I love who I am.  I hope that you love who you are!  How can you expect others to like you when you don't like yourself?

Happy Day!

Summer Crafting Todo List

My crafting has forsaken me...or I have forsaken crafting.  Not sure what has happened but my creativity is all ideas and no action.  What to do about this but create a to do list!  Since I wasn't sure where to put this list and if I make it public maybe I'll be more motivated to finish more of it...here you go!

General Crafts:
1. Build three of these chairs for our porch. I know I definitely want to make one for Carmen and then 2 adult sized ones for SK and me.

Spinning:
1. finish the polwarth fiber that I have currently on the bobbins
2. spin up the black Corriedale locks that I cleaned before I had CGR into about 2000 yards of lace weight

Knitting:
1. Frog all project on the needles that I do not plan to finish or have not worked on in months!
2. Organize yarn stash
3. CO a project for CGR
4. CO a sock (believe it or not I do not have a sock on the needles!!)
5. CO a cardigan for me!
6. Finish at least 20 more squares for CGR's Barknknit Raising Quilt

I think this is all I have for now.  As I finish I'll cross it off and if I get so inspired I will add to this list in the coming weeks and months.  I would like to get most of the stuff on here done by the last day in August.

Happy Crafting!!

My first attempt at Cabled yarn.

This past week has been full of plying yarn and re-plying and adding twist and so on!  I have taken a bunch of pictures so we'll do this with pictures! :)  For starters, what is Cabled Yarn.  The definition I got from this site is as follows: "A cabled yarn is simply a plied yarn that is plied back on itself. In its most basic form, a cable yarn is 2 - 2 ply yarns which are then plied together."  There is more details about how this is accomplished on the site referenced but I will tell you how I did it.

We'll start with talking about the singles.  I first spun up two singles of brown Merino clockwise or with a Z twist. Which by the definition found on this site means "This is twist that is inserted into the fibers when the drive wheel is spinning to the right or clockwise"  To view a picture of detailing this click here.  I then over twisted it by running it back through the wheel clockwise to make sure there was lots of twist.  This is requires when it comes to cable plying yarn.  I also spun up a single of white Cormo and a single of  white Corriedale.

2 brown merino singles, 1 cormo, and 1 corriedale

After making sure these have plenty of twist, I plied together the two brown singles the opposite direction, counter clockwise or S twist and plied the two white singles together as well. The S twist is the opposite of the Z twist where when the twist is added to the fibers when the drive wheel is spinning to the left or counter clockwise. We will call these the original plies.

Brown Merino original ply

 I figured since I was over-plying them that I would not have to run them back through the wheel, so I started plying a white with a brown ply clockwise on my wheel...ummm...boy was I WRONG!

Under twisted original plies, over twisted yarn

So, after a good conversation with my spinning mentor/adviser/friend Jasmin from the Knitmore Girls podcast,  we decided that I now have several yards of pretty yarn to show off but I need to run what's left of the original plies back through the wheel before plying the rest together.   So...back to plying I went.  I ran a bobbin of each of the original plies back through and added twist...again we are plying counter clockwise to add twist to the original plies.  After making sure these had plenty of twist, I started back plying the original plies clockwise for the final cabled yarn.   This was much more productive!!  I finished plying the two bobbins of original plies last night and am VERY happy with the results.  So, far with the two skeins I set the twist last night, I have about 250 yards of worsted weight cabled yarn!

Successful, cable plied yarn!

I was originally hoping to be done with all the plying before heading off this weekend to the Florida Fiber In with Manda, but I just wasn't able to finish.  So, I'm bringing all my bobbins, some singles left to ply, and the other original plies with me so I can finish the rest of the yarn.  I am really hoping to have about 600 yards when I'm done so I can make the Lady Kina with this yarn but we'll see.  I'll let you know after the weekend.

Speaking of weekend, Manda and I are leaving to Orlando as soon as I get of work on Friday and we'll be in Orlando at the Florida Fiber In until Sunday!  I'm looking forward to meeting new people, and all the fibery goodness in store for us this weekend!  I plan to get lots of pictures and some audio to share!  So, look forward to that!

Have a great weekend!  Happy Spinning and Fibery Fun!

Travel, Yarn Store, Hospital, and clean fleece.

Last weekend went by so fast!  Most weekends do...Friday night we flew up to Ohio to visit Special K's family.  The weekend was great but went by so fast.  Here is a quick recap of the weekend.  Saturday, we went to the Festival of Arts in the town that Special K grew up. It was so cute and lots of good food, craftiness and fun.  We walked around and I got to meet one of Special K's friends he grew up with that is a knitter.  I'm working on getting her to spin. 

Favors from the baby shower

Sunday, I thought we were going to go back to the Festival but turns out that my MIL had different plans such as throwing me a fantastic surprise baby shower!!  I had no idea they had been planning this or that it was actually the reason why we flew up there in the first place!  The baby shower was awesome and again lots of yummy food and family time!! 

Guests at the baby shower

The rest of the weekend was spent with family.  We stayed with SK's grandparents and it was really nice spending time with them especially since Papa has been sick. 

Standing outside Natural Stitches

Our last day was Tuesday and since SK got to go golfing on Monday I insisted that we stop at a yarn store on the way to the airport.  I had called around and asked for references and the one that I picked was Natural Stitches.  The store had a lot of room and lots of inventory!!  They had this wall of cascade with every color you could imagine!!  They also had some awesome steeler yarn but Sk didn't want me to buy it.  I did buy two things:

Tosh sock in Tart

Malabrigo Worsted in Polar Morn

We managed to get to the airport on time even though we got a little lots in Pittsburgh.  This was the first visit we actually drove into Pittsburgh so it was awesome to be able to see the city!  Love all the bridges.

Tuesday when we got back, we went out to dinner for SK's dad and by the time we got home it was after 10pm.  I was pretty tired and went to bed as soon as I could.  Since then, I managed to get a head cold which is now taking residence in my chest.  This is actually the first time since I've been pregnant to really be sick so I guess I should say I've been lucky.

Yesterday, we had our Tea and Tour of the Baby hospital we are delivering at.  It was great to see the area and to know what we are supposed to do.  The rooms are nice too!

Today while Special K was off golfing with his dad, I finished scouring the black corriedale fleece I bought at SAFF last year.  I'm still planning on making it a Cardigan...right now there are two patterns in the running.  I'm going to spin it up from the locks and then decide which to knit.  I had this fiber drying outside but then it started raining so I moved it in before SK got home. :)  He normally doesn't like wet fiber in the house but we are both stuffy and this fleece is nice and clean so that house doesn't smell that bad.

Fleece drying on table.

Well...hope everyone has had a great week.  I'm postponing recording the podcast until my throat gets better.  Hoping that is before next weekend....which is Florida Fiber In weekend!  YAY!!

Happy Knitting, Spinning, and Weekends!!!

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! 

Shalom Redux completed and Spinning, Spinning, Spinning!

he weekend has gone by fast!  Since I posted yesterday, I spent Saturday evening knitting the Shalom Cardigan, spinning, and watching Trueblood with my friend Catie.  We had a great time!  I was able to finish the Shalom Cardigan by Meghan McFarlane, weave in the ends and sew on the buttons!  And for those of you keeping track, it was knit in 7 days!! I beat my goal of knitting it within 14 days!  YAY!  It came out so much better this time. I think it fits great and doesn't bunch in the yoke.  It is now blocking and will soon be worn at work in the arctic called my office.

Shalom Cardigan completed

After I finished the cardigan, I pulled out the spinning wheel and continued spinning the merino.  I'm making good progress and today I finished the first of four bobbins.

Merino bobbin completed

This morning I was up early!!  Special K went golfing with his dad at 8 so he was up early.  I was hoping to sleep in today but I couldn't get back to bed after he got up at 7:15 so I just stayed up.  I had coffee and a scone and started recording the podcast.  I was having difficulty recording and my friend called to see if I wanted a bagel, so I took a break. :)  After I got back from my bagel break, I finished recording the podcast before Special K got home for the family fantasy football draft.  I went over to my sister's house and took my wheel to watch the chaos over there while they drafted.  That was where I finally finished the first bobbin.

Spinning at Tammy's

The draft was entertaining...:)  Afterwords, I came back home, edited and posted the podcast and now plan to go back to spinning. Have I mentioned lately that I'm really enjoying spinning?

Well, I hope you all had a great weekend.  I'm off to spin!

Happy Knitting, Spinning, and Podcasting!