Deep Breaths

Folks, it has been a whirl-wind month for me here. I've been traveling, planning a party, going to work, doing homework (kind of... not always), and trying to make time to sleep and eat at regular times. Sometimes there's not enough hours in the day. But I still made time to make things!

I'm making my mommy some socks for Mother's Day, and I've finished one and a half so far! I'm only aiming for 2, so there's a pretty good chance she'll actually get a pair, which I think is a good goal. I discovered today that I was supposed to put the pattern on the back of the leg after the heel... too late now! This is a horrible picture, but I think the yarn is too dark to photograph well. I'll try harder when the pair is finished. I may need to go buy some sock blockers.

I'm participating in the Jimmy Beans KAL this month, which is a mystery KAL, so I have no idea what it's going to be. The clue this week is really strange and I haven't finished it yet, so this is a picture of where I left off last week. The colors look nice, I think. I guess I'll just keep hoping it turns into something I want to wear/use.







I've also been trying to use up ALL of my fiber from last year's Wool Market. I know this year's Wool Market isn't until June, but I figure I'm going to need all the help I can get to make this goal, so I pulled out the 8 oz of alpaca that I purchased last year, because it's the largest bunch I have to spin.

It started out looking like 2 very large balls of sliver. They turned out to have a lot of VM in them, so I don't think I'll be getting any of this stuff this year, but it's always nice to find out what you do and don't want.

I spun 3/4 of the sliver into singles, despite the VM. They're a very pretty color, I must say.

And I've plied approximately 4 oz of the singles into a VERY fuzzy 2 ply. If I wash it and the VM comes out, this could turn into something nice and soft. Not sure what, yet.









Apparently to make up for the fact that I've been busy and going out of my mind over a certain BRIDAL SHOWER BONANZA weekend, I've purchased a large amount of yarn for cowls. It's really not my fault, I ended up browsing Jimmy Beans because of an email they sent me, and there was a free cowl pattern that looked really pretty, and a bunch of kits they recommended and... well, I bought the yarn, not in kits, but one of each color.

Looks like EVERYONE is getting a cowl for whatever occasion arises next. At least the colors are pretty? I might need some more of the white, though. I'll wait until the first of the month, though. It's gonna be awesome. Ish.

And then I went and visited Caitlin, and she gave me a little bit of a yarn tour near her house (we got lost looking for a yarn store that may or may not have been hosted out of someone's house. We really don't know, cuz we didn't stop, we just kept driving.), and I fell down when I encountered Three Irish Girls in person. The colors were awesome and we're lucky I escaped with only 4 skeins of the stuff.

I'd blame Caitlin for allowing me to go crazy, but we all know that there's no way she could have stopped me. At least I escaped unscathed from the quilting store we visited.

I also worked on a sweater all last weekend, but it's in the other room and it's not going to photograph well right now. Suffice to say I made an impressive amount of progress, but not quite enough to allow me to wear a new sweater during the CRAZY weather we're having.

In future, I would like to avoid all this craziness. However, being realistic, knowing myself as I do... it's not gonna happen. We'll just leave it at that.

Whoops!

Where did March go? I'm serious, it just flew by and now I'm into crunch time. Weddings, pre-wedding events, friends visiting, going to visit friends, oh! and I should really do my homework. And, of course, the day-to-day grind of going to work and actually getting stuff done. Yikes. There's not enough time in the day.

I'm working on breathing deeply (it's hard to do, I've got a cold) and trying to take things one at a time. I should really quit looking at the big picture. It's overwhelming.

Let's look at something I've gotten done, so I can feel accomplished!

I finally found the wherewithal to complete the sleeves! And the sweater is lovely, but taking a picture of myself wearing it has proven unsuccessful so far. This is why I need a roommate.

Oh, and I also finished some fingerless gloves. The sweater was giving me such a finishing high that I decided to start finishing my other stuff. Like the two (two!) colorwork projects I cast on in a fit of startitis. This pair have been languishing for a month or more since I lost interest after finishing the first glove. They're pretty, but I don't like them very much. No more colorwork fingerless gloves for me!







I wish I had some pictures of the fiber from last time, cuz I finished spinning it and it's lovely, but I was cleaning up my house and had to put things away, and I may have put the spun fiber into the homespun box without taking pictures first. I know, I know, tactical error. Let's talk instead, about the fact that I joined a fiber club despite the fact that it's patently obvious that the last thing I need is new fiber to arrive on a monthly basis. And I've got 2 months worth of fiber hanging out in the fiber stash looking at me in a guilt-inducing manner.

This is the most recent batch, although it's actually only half of the batch, because I'm awesome at taking pictures beforehand, right? Anyway, it's BFL roving, and I'm not doing a very good job with it, but it's very pretty and I think I'm going to navajo ply the singles, so the color changes stay nice.

See? Very pretty singles. I like them, although I wish I'd taken more time while spinning. I think I was really in a rush earlier when I was spinning. I'll take more time on the second half and see if I like the fiber better.









One thing at a time, guys. One thing at a time. I'll work on breathing instead of freaking out on a regular basis about my schedule for the next month.

Impatient to finish

Folks, I got bit by the sweater bug this week. It was cold and snowy last weekend, and I really felt the need for a new sweater. And then I remembered the 2 sweaters I already have in progress... so I bought more sweater yarn, but I didn't cast anything new on. I started the sleeves on the stripy sweater, but it's going slower than I wanted it to. Because I'm impatient, and clearly starting a new sweater would be faster than finishing the sleeves on my current sweater, right?

Sleeves aren't any fun, as anyone knows. They're long, don't have much shaping, and take FOREVER.  So instead of working on sleeves, I'm finishing the Zombie viXen fingerless gloves.

They look nice, right? I gave them a bath in vinegar so that the dye which has been staining my fingers throughout the whole process. But they are done at last and they look lovely!

Also, I did a little bit of spinning this afternoon. Plying of the lovely 8 oz of fiber that I was working on last week. I turned 2 braids of this:

Into 4 little skeins of this:

I'm beginning to think that I need to purchase a larger flyer and a huge bobbin for plying because I really would prefer larger skeins as an end product...

For my next act, I'm still going to avoid the sleeves! I'm going to spin the last braid from Wool Fest last year...

Wish me luck!

Cranky

Guys, I have to tell you. I've been in a PISSY mood lately. I don't know what it was about this week, but I took Thursday as kind of a combination snow day/mental health day so that I didn't rend someone.

I think it all started on Wednesday. It was snowing all afternoon and carried on into the evening. I went to the Stitch and Bitch group I joined because I felt like I should, since there were only 3 other people planning to come and I didn't want to be lame. But guys! This SnB was waaaay down Colfax, and it was rush hour, and it was snowing. It took me like 40 minutes to get there. And I ordered a beer that I'd never tried before and didn't like it, and I screwed up the pattern of my Zombie viXen mitts... I was not in a good mood, so I didn't fix it. They're still residing in my purse, with a screw up 3 rows back.

PLUS! We were talking about stuff at SnB and I said something about how I'm working on finishing some stuff up, because I have like 9 projects on the needles. And everyone at the table looked at me like I'm a lunatic. I mean, 9 really isn't that much. But one of the ladies was a new knitter, one of the ladies knits mostly baby stuff, so it gets finished pretty quickly, and the last lady might be one of those fictional "one at a timers." I know a couple ladies from the group only work on one thing at a time. Which we all know is crazy. I don't have that kind of attention span for anything. Especially when it starts to piss me off. (I'm looking at pretty much all of my projects right now.)

So then on Thursday, I called in and said I was going to freeze to death if I had to come in and work in my cinderblock office. And I spent the day on the couch, doing homework, checking my work email, and knitting a little bit. It wasn't a particularly bad day, but I still felt pretty grouchy. I made the mistake of going to the gym and biking and then coming home and spinning. My calves were pretty unhappy, for some reason. I did finish another braid of wool fest fiber, though!

This was some kind of merino/bamboo in "Plum" from Bonkers fiber. I got a bunch of braids from her last time, some of which were really nice. This braid I wasn't so much a fan of, though. I think the fibers got felted in the intervening months since wool fest, and it's bamboo anyway, which is kind of sticky in the first place. It was NOT a joy to spin.

Actually, the Plum braid was the second braid of wool fest fiber that I finished. I also did some merino/tencel in "Calendula," which is much brighter than I usually purchase. It was kind of fun to spin, though.








And now I have one more braid of fiber from Bonkers, but it's green and blue and I'm trying to keep away from my color rut. And then I have a bag of batts, 8 oz of alpaca, and 2 braids of merino/silk/bamboo in another strange color for me.

You know, now that I list it out, it seems like a lot more than when I was just looking at it in my closet...

I think the real source of crankiness is the fact that I'm only working on things that I feel like I need to finish, and we all know that I don't like to feel forced to do things. I mean, I have a whole lot of new spinning fiber that seems much more exciting than stuff I bought 8 months ago. But I'll feel bad if I don't finish all my fiber from last year before I go to wool fest this year. And I realize wool fest is like 3-4 months away, but let's be realistic; how likely is it that I'll keep up this pace at spinning? Not very likely, that's for sure.

The good news is that I finished the stripy sweater body for the SECOND time. Well, I need to sew up the shoulders, but that won't take long. And then I get to break into new territory and cast on the sleeves! How exciting is that?!

In the meantime, I'm working on these colorwork gloves that I cast on a while ago. I got the kit from Knitpicks because it looked awesome, and it is! But I'm not really in a colorwork mood. Especially not 3-color colorwork. I'm almost done with the first glove, though. Just one more glove and an entire hat before I can kick this kit out of my stash. I really need to feel like I'm making some progress against the stash...







You know another reason I'm so grumpy? I'm not in the mood for anything I have cast on. I'm in the mood for lace. So, theoretically, I could work on the lace edging for the shawl I've been ignoring for MONTHS. Or that other shawl I've been ignoring. But what I really want to do? Is start another one... I'm not going to. Because I'm being well-behaved. But it chafes my soul. Like I said, cranky.

Ideal weekend

I have to tell you, I have had a pretty great weekend. I mean, last week I was kind of cranky. But on Friday night I headed up to Boulder to hang out with a friend and feed my brother dinner (it's the only way I get to see him). Oh, and I bought some fiber, because I was in the area of a yarn shop...

I have to tell you, I'm pretty sure I need to go on a fiber diet. I was doing ok for a while, but I wasn't actually cutting down the spinning stash because, while I wasn't buying any fiber, I wasn't spinning any fiber either. I finished my fiber from last time, though.

Like I said, it's polwarth wool and it's delicious. I really need to start thinking about projects to use up my handspun. I'll think of something.

Want to see some things that I have finished? I knew you did.

These are the Jimmy Beans Downton Abbey KAL mitts. I actually finished them... a couple weeks ago? They're lovely, though. I haven't threaded anything through the eyelets, but they're also not as slouchy as the designer may have intended. Regardless, I think they're marvelous! And the color is awesome too.

I also finished that wretched cowl. It's enormous! But very pretty and I'm sure I'll have a chance to wear it soon, it's been a bit chilly lately.

This isn't knitted, but I'm really excited and proud of it anyway. I made a Bohemian Carpet Bag from a pattern I purchased at the Fancy Tiger. It was more involved than I was expecting, but I really like the finished product. It's got lots of space, too. Holds an entire sweater's worth of yarn. Ask me how I know, haha.

Anyway, today I've spent my time knitting on the stripy sweater I had to rip out, spinning a little bit (the rest of that braid from last time), and baking things. Because who doesn't like fresh baked bread when it's cold?

Warp speed ahead!

Folks, I have to tell you, the holidays were rough. Then, getting back up to speed at work was rough. Then, I got assigned to wrangle 7 different vendors working on the same project during the same week, all on property, in different buildings. It's a little bit out of control, and the stress is giving me heartburn.

But on the crafting front, things are going well. I attended Knit Night at my LYS last week, which was fun in a quiet, old lady kind of way. I cast on some new fingerless gloves (don't judge me), but it took me forever because apparently a) I can't count and b) I can't follow a written pattern. It was a rough night... but the gloves are going to be pretty, even if the yarn did stain my fingers bright pink.

It doesn't look very bright, but it is, in real life. The pattern is Zombie viXen, because I thought the pattern was pretty, not because I'm a fan of zombies... The yarn is apparently Lola-doodle's hand painted yarn. I picked it up at Colorful Yarns in Centennial, because I was overwhelmed by wool fumes and the color was so pretty. I think it'll look nice with this pattern, though.








I got some yarn from the LYS for a chunky lace shawl that I've been eyeing for a little while. I wanted to do a natural color of yarn, and this blend had alpaca in it and it's basically perfect. I'd have a picture of the shawl but it's soaking right now so that I can block it and it'll look pretty for the actual picture.

Then, I attended a Stitch and Bitch in Denver, which was a much rowdier kind of fun. We talked about reusable tampons, why you should never put popcorn kernels down the garbage disposal, and born-again virgins. I think I'll be going back next week. I just worked on this cowl that I've had on the needles for a while, because I didn't have time to go home and get another project, and it needs to get done anyway. It's going to be really long, but that's what I was going for.

The pattern is September cowl, which my sister thinks doesn't really look like much of a pattern. I guess she's not much of a fan, which is fine, because it's for me, not her. The yarn is Galileo, from Knitpicks. It's very shiny, and I like it, in general.








Let's see, then there's the Jimmy Beans Downton Abbey KAL. Which is, you guessed it, another pair of fingerless mitts. Listen, I don't want to hear that you think I have a problem. It's only a problem if it's hurting someone.

I'm a little late joining the KAL, because it took FOREVER for my yarn to come in. It's this month's color of the month from Lorna's Laces, which is "A River Runs Through It" on their Sportmate base. I really dig the color and the yarn both.









Then there's many things to catch up on.

I finished the body of the laceweight sweater to the armpits. It does, as I suspected, take a LOT of time to make any kind of progress. On the other hand, the pattern is quite enchanting. And would be more so, if I could quit crossing the cables the wrong effing way. I don't want to talk about it.

You know what else I don't want to talk about? The fact that I finished the ENTIRE BODY of this sweater, sewed up the shoulders and started getting ready for the sleeves and then tried it on. Turns out it wasn't going to fit the way I wanted it to. So I... Ripped. It. ALL. OUT. That wasn't painful at all. And then I had to order a couple more skeins of yarn so that I'll definitely have enough.

But let's DO talk about these adorable little stitch markers that my parents got me for Christmas. Well, they didn't arrive by Christmas, they arrived several weeks later. But they were shipped from Israel, and they're adorable little vegetables on wheels! I thought they were Cinderella carriages when I saw them on Etsy. I find that I am enamored of the fact that there's a little artichoke on wheels. And a bell pepper on wheels. And an eggplant on wheels. It's just so cute!

OOH! And we can talk about the precious little counting bracelets that I made. They're definitely cute. And I love using them. Even for the stripy horror sweater. I found that the original counting bracelet that I made wasn't... working. The beads had holes that weren't big enough for ribbon or something with a higher coefficient of friction. So I found these slightly more grown up version of pony beads. Well, I think so, anyway.

Oh! And we can talk about how I spun half a braid of polwarth into these fabulous singles! They're very pretty, and the braid has more colors in it than the ones shown here. But I really love polwarth wool. I don't know what it is, but it's got all kind of qualities I enjoy. Like, it's squishy, and easy to spin. It feels nice when it's done, too. I like it.

Ok, well that's a lot of pictures. I hope you like them! I'll try to do this more often than once a month so it doesn't happen again, though

Are the holidays over yet?

Peeps, I am TIRED. The holidays are exhausting. I've had to drive home every weekend since Thanksgiving, because of various activities going on.

I guess that's kind of a lie because one weekend I drove to Breckenridge instead of home, but the point remains the same. Lots of driving, lots of gas usage, lots of freaking washing and then packing back up. My apartment is suffering from neglect, but I really don't have time to deal with the piles of stuff right now. I did manage to clean out the fridge last Wednesday or Thursday... I don't really remember.

Accordingly, my crafting time has suffered as well. I can't drive and knit at the same time, and the lack of sleep as a result of sleeping in different beds has meant that I'm too tired even to knit. It's kind of tragic. I didn't even knit any Christmas presents this year. I couldn't think of anything that people would want/that I wanted to make. Maybe next year I'll be more inspired.

I have made a few things, though. I found some Laura Nelkin designs that were too pretty to put off. Therefore, I knitted up a Ribband and a Mudra cuff.

Don't tell me you don't think the Mudra cuff is pretty. I made it with a sample of yarn sent to me with a bigger order, and some beads that I took FOREVER picking out. Because I'm indecisive and Caitlin wasn't there to help.














The Ribband was the result of some leftover sock yarn from a Haruni I made a couple years ago, and more beads that I took even more time picking out... seriously, I need someone to follow me around and help me make decisions. Admittedly, I probably wouldn't listen, but at least I'd have someone to argue with.







I also got it into my head to try and copy the row-counting bracelets I've seen online. They're not really that expensive, but I'm not fond of any of the colors I have seen, and they looked like something I could do myself... it turned out to be harder than I thought, but I did it anyway!

I hope it doesn't fall apart the first time I try to use it... I have very little faith in the beading thread that I used. If I were to try again, I think I would look for beads with larger holes, because that's where I really struggled.

Contrarily, since I don't really like carrying my spinning wheel up and down three flights of stairs when I try to take it places, I've been in the mood to spin. Rather than bringing it all over the state with me, I agreed with myself that I can spin when I'm at home. Maybe my spinning bug was the result of some fiber that came in the mail last weekend...

Merino/angelina sparkle batts from Gritty Knits. They're luscious. And soft. And green. We all know how I feel about green, right? Haha...

Anyway, I spun 2 oz of the pretties into singles this week. I wanted to spin more, but I ran out of time because I had to pack again... The singles look nice, though!

Know what I'm looking forward to next weekend? Not having to drive. I'm going to sit around in my pjs and craft ALL WEEKEND LONG.