Things finished, and just begun

I've found that I get a lot more knitting done now that J is in school. It probably has something to do with the ungodly amount of time I spend sitting in the car loop in the afternoons. Seriously, getting in the lineup by 1:50 means I'm about 20th in line for 2:25 dismissal. I can't complain too much, though, since it's a nice quiet 35 minutes where I can sit and get things done.

Here's the latest project to come off the needles.



Can you tell what it is? Yep. R2D2 all the way around. I'm not terribly pleased with this one, but it was good colorwork practice. I'm hoping it'll fit hubby well enough to get a little use. I might knit a lining inside to cover up the floats and sort of snug it up a bit, but there may not be much hope for it. It swallows my head, and I've got a pretty big noggin. I am going to cast on another one with one less repeat and see how that does. Yeah, sure, I could probably avoid the frustration of a poorly sized hat by swatching better, but c'mon, it's a hat. I could have finished half of this before I could get an accurate swatch, so I didn't bother, and I'm not upset with the result at all.

Now that I'm done with this, I'm back to working on the eternal socks. I somehow got all wonky on the second sock, and so I stuffed them back in their bag for quite a while and gave them a time out until I could think clearly. I think I've got it figured out enough to complete it now, and although it may not be the most perfect pair, they'll keep my feet warm this winter, and the 'messed up' part will be hidden in my shoe anyway.

This is an old picture of the first sock. I'm half-way down the foot of the second, so I'm in the home stretch now.

I'm starting to compile my Christmas gift list in my head, and I've decided I'm scaling back from last year's effort, yet still plan on making quite a bit.

I, obviously, can't share the entire list here, lest I risk completely spoiling any surprises, but I have a few ambitious things already started. First of all... this yarn, which was intended to be a sport weight, but ended up, even when plied, as a thin laceweight. I originally spun about 800 yards of singles, but then ended up cabling them, resulting in less than 200 yards of a 4-ply fuzzy sportish weight 100% alpaca, which I am hopeful will be enough to complete a certain something for someone. It's drying as we speak, and then I have to decide whether I'm going to knit it first, or dye it first. I want J to choose the color and help dye it. Not sure if he'd get more pleasure out of dying the yarn or the finished product. Here's a really crappy picture of it hanging to dry.



And, finally, I started spinning up some mystery wool today. I have no idea what's in this, but I love the colors. It's amazingly springy to spin after a long run with alpaca. I'm constantly amused by it's bounce. This was given to me by Michele, who bought it to attempt spinning on a drop spindle. I can see why she had so much trouble with it. It's slightly felted, and without a lot of predrafting it can be a little stubborn. Still, it's lovely, and I think the resulting yarn is going to be delicious.

A month in review

The past month has been a complete whirlwind of activity!

We celebrated J's 5th birthday with a party at the bowling alley with his friends, and the coolest army cake ever! Our fabulous friend, Mary, made it for us, despite being extremely pregnant and having an active 3-year-old underfoot. She's amazing!

J had a great time, and so did we. Best part? Not having to worry about set up or clean up or anything in between. We simply showed up, had a good time, and left. How refreshing! Totally worth the cost, if you ask me. Besides, we probably would have spent the same amount, or even more, if we'd tried to have the party here at home, and we'd have all been so crowded. Bowling was a great choice!






The same week as my baby turned 5, he also started Kindergarten. The first few days (ok, who am I kidding? The first week and a half!)was a tough adjustment for him, but he seems to be enjoying it more and more each day, and I can already tell how much he's learning! He's always been smart, there's never been a question about it, but now he's begun sounding out words, he can do math in his head (which is something I still can't do!), and he's become so much more patient and attentive. I can even tell what some of his drawings are! :)

This was his very first homework assignment-- sort of an 'all about me' project.


I'm just proud that he finished it at all. Even that is a big step from last year.

But enough about the J-man, what else has been going on?

I truly have nothing to show for it, but plenty! Heck, just trying to get ourselves back on a schedule after a summer of staying up late and sleeping until 10 or so has been a challenge. I've been knitting and crocheting and spinning, but so randomly as to have no real FO to share except for this pink wig I knit for a coworker's granddaughter.


Yes, I know it looks a little small on my enormous head, but it was made for a 3 year old. I tried to get J to model it, but ewww! It's pink!

I'm almost done with my second bobbin full of laceweight singles. I'm really proud of how even they've turned out. The wheel and I have sort of figured each other out, and we're getting along fabulously! I'm hoping to finish the bobbin this week, then work on getting it all plied up. I have specific plans for this yarn, but those will have to remain a secret for a while longer. I'm not positive on the yardage I've got going on, but I'm thinking that two bobbins full of lace singles will be probably double what I need, so I'm already dreaming of what to do with the rest. :) And, of course, at the same time I'm spinning lace, I'm dreaming of sweater knitting. No specific pattern in mind yet, though. We'll have to see. I promised I wouldn't cast on anything new until I finished the socks I've got going on, but I might have to let myself down on that one. I just can't seem to find sock inspiration right now. I do, however, owe someone special a new Sheldon, and a coworker has requested a pillow inspired by one she saw in a store for $60 or more. Hubby has been sulking for a vest for quite a while, so I might have to give in on that sooner or later, too. And I still have the Star Wars hats that I intended to make last year for Christmas.

Maybe once the temperatures drop below the boiling point I'll be more productive and start crossing some of these things off my list!

Spinning stuff

I finally finished spinning, plying, washing, and skeining the alpaca that Amanda sent me for my birthday last year. I absolutely loved every minute of working with this and wasn't in a hurry to finish.

I taught myself the long draw method with this in hopes of making a light and airy two ply. I succeeded to some degree and this is a huge improvement over my denser worsted spun yarns of the past. Here's a pictorial timeline:







Last week my friend Tracy agreed to sell me her barely used hand carders, and today I spent the better part of the morning learning how to use them. I've pretty much turned my leg into ground beef with the sharp little teeth. For future carding adventures I'll be sure to wear jeans instead of shorts. I'm hoping that as I improve I will stop being so clumsy with them.

I managed to make about 40-50 little rolags, which barely even put a dent in the bag of fiber my parents sent me. I'm so excited to get this stuff started and see how it spins up. I'm going to aim for a very light fingering weight/heavy lace weight with which to make a lacy scarf. Being so new to spinning, there's really no telling how it'll turn out, though.




Tomorrow J will be here again:


Wish us luck!

How in the world...

do you go an entire month without blogging a single thing? Apparently it's easier than imagined, or else I'm a total lame-o blogger. Either is a possibility, but I'd like to think that I've just been so busy that I haven't had time for anything but the essentials around here.

So, in no particular order, here are some of the things that have kept me away from my beloved blogging.

Laura and Doug and baby Sebastian (really, he's not a baby at all- more of an adorably cheeky toddler) drove all the way from Pennsylvania (yeah, I know- they're hardcore like that!) to spend some time in the Florida heat and sun. The last time we got to spend any amount of time together was back in May of '06. Back when J was just a toddler himself and we traveled up there for Fairy Festival and just some good relaxation time.

I've not been nearly as good a host as they were to us, but I've really enjoyed the time we've been able to spend together. We played on the beach a little,



stayed up late drinking coffee, and Laura and I even managed to take in a pretty sorry excuse for an Annie Leibovitz display at the local museum. We both agreed that there was room for a lot of improvement. Sure, the photography was stunning, but the little blurbs with each picture left you with a lot of questions. What was the reason for this photo, the inspiration? Who commissioned the piece? What was the occasion? Etc. Still, it was a nice way to spend an hour or so on a Wednesday afternoon.

On the other end of the spectrum, my sister and nephew, who have been living here for a little more than a year, have finally moved to an apartment of their own. While I'm really enjoying having my house back to myself, and I'm sure they're enjoying having a space of their own, too. It's sure is quiet. Quiet is good, but it's still an adjustment for us. Jonas asks me every night when Steven will be home. *sigh* Change has never been J's friend.

In my not so busy time, I've done a lot of crochet and knitting. I don't have a lot to show for it, but you'll just have to trust me. I did finish up Granny's sweater, version 2.0.



This one is sure to fit her, and is a lovely shade of green that I was afraid would look too much like bad '70s appliances, but it's grown on me, and I really do think I like it now that it's done. I've got some crappy pictures of it. It's hard to take pictures of yourself modeling a sweater! Especially while simultaneously spending time on hold with an electrician because you've found out that all the wiring in your house (among other things) is buggy and done half-assed! But that's a story for another day, isn't it?

I've also completed a baby sweater in a lovely purple wool and silk blend. I'm not sure who it's for yet, but there are lots of babies on the way around here. Almost everyone I know is knocked up, so it'll find a home soon enough.

There has been some spinning going on, too. I've been wanting to learn to spin long-draw, and so I spent some time on you-tube watching how-to videos before finally breaking in to my lovely box of alpaca that Amanda sent me for my birthday. Truly, it's the most delicious stuff ever! Starting out, I was pretty uneven and lumpy, but after a few false starts and some practice, long draw seems to be my method of choice for spinning. I love watching the fibers magically draft themselves out into a nice length of single right before my eyes. I'm working on my second bobbin full of this now, and then will decide how I want to ply it. Isn't it gorgeous?


And, to round things out nicely, I've started a sweater just for myself. I almost never make anything for myself, so I'm really looking forward to this one. Knitting friends, stay with me-- it's a crocheted sweater. I know! But it's so much faster, and I really love this one! It's the Genevieve pattern from Inner Child Crochet. It's really lovely, and coming along pretty quick for as little attention as I've given it. I'd like to have it done in time to wear while we're in Tennessee in April, assuming that it'll still be cool enough to do so then. We'll see!

Tennessee. Yes. We are going on a vacation. It's the first time that all three of us will be going on vacation together in ages, and we're really looking forward to it. Of course, J's bursting at the seams at the idea of being able to see ALL of his grandparents in one trip. Let the spoilage begin! (As if he's not spoiled enough at home, right?!)

And finally, to round this whole "what have I done in the past month" post out, I took J to be evaluated by Child Find today for both his speech and his motor skills. The lady that evaluated him was absolutely fabulous. Jonas loved her from the start, and she made every one of his tasks seem like a game. He played along willingly for the entire hour, and the results were pretty much where I expected them to be. As far as his speech goes, he's pretty much right where he should be. Cognitively, he's operating at the level of 6 years, 7 months, which also comes as no surprise. He amazes me with his intelligence and his reasoning on a daily basis. The part that really shocked me was getting a number to put alongside his motor deficits. After doing several different tests, he scored at the level of 2 years, 11 months. I guess I sort of knew that, but he seems to have improved so much over the last year that I sort of hoped that he'd be closer to age-appropriate by now.

We'll have a followup test in about a month with the OT department, and then he'll get started with weekly sessions after that. We may not get much done before this school year ends, but it'll carry over into kindergarten, too.

I was given a stack of paperwork with suggestions on how to get started at home with some of the stuff that he needs work on. The one thing that she pointed out to me that I'd never really noticed is that he doesn't cross over mid-line, which is a fundamental to things like reading and letter recognition. So, we'll start with some exercises that encourage that, and go from there.

And that's a month in a nutshell. I promise I'll try and be a better blogger from here on out.

Handspun, Homemade, and other stuff.

I finally finished spinning up the 2 ounces of merino I've been working on. Yeah, I know! It took me THAT long to do 2 ounces! But to be fair, I only get a chance to spin when the planets align just right and the moon is in it's proper phase, etc. In other words, only when the munchkin isn't around. And usually when that happens, I have about a million other things that HAVE to be done first. So, anyway, I finished spinning my 2 ounces of merino. The color was "forest multi" and it was quite lovely in the bag, burgundy with flecks of pink and green and all sorts of reddish-brown tones.

It's more muddy spun than I expected it to be, but I still think it's quite pretty, even if it's not so bright.

I plied two singles together to get the final product. Jonas decided he needed to help me with this process, but fortunately, he grew bored with it pretty quickly.

Please ignore the absolute disaster that is my office area. It seems that everything in the house finds a way to land in this little corner at some point or another. I'm really not that slobbish. :)

The result is still drying as we speak. I'm not sure on my exact WPI, but it's quite thin. Somewhere between lace and fingering weight, with the occasional slightly chunkier spot. My only problem with plying them is that I do not have a tensioned Lazy Kate, and my singles, on several occasions, decided to snarl up on each other. Perhaps an indication of overspinning? But my plied yarn was balanced, so I guess all's well that ends well, right?

I know this isn't a good picture, but here's the end result wound onto the niddy noddy.



If I'm doing my math right, by counting the number of wraps on the niddy noddy, I've got right around 125 yards here. Not enough for any big project, but enough to play around with, I suppose. No idea what it'll become. Probably a lacy headband or something. What else do you do with 125 yards? Suggestions?

I guess that as I continued spinning I became much better at keeping my single an even thickness because my second bobbin, despite having the same 1 ounce of fiber spun, ended up having quite a bit leftover after plying. I took that leftover single and practiced Navajo plying. The technique isn't all that hard to understand, but it kicked my butt in a big way. I think with some more practice I could learn to really love it, though.



The rest of my day was pretty busy, too. J and I worked on getting the rest of the vegetable garden planted. I hauled hundreds and hundreds of pounds of dirt, and my back knows it, too. But,with the exception of a couple of pepper plants and a few herbs, the garden is done. Hopefully it will do better than previous years. We intended to get it planted earlier this year, but time has been an issue all around, it seems. Oh well. We still have a few months to get these babies established before the blazing summer heat destroys them completely.

Aside from that, we baked some fresh bread,
and J and dad took a loaf to Abuela while I sat down and did some transcription. I have GOT to finish this before it kills me! I don't know why I'm procrastinating so much.

And one last picture, just because.

In cleaning out their attic, my parents came across a ton of my old stuffed animals and whatnot, and sent them home for me to sort through. Now, it was fun to go through the bags and remember all of them, etc. But honestly! I don't need another 50 pounds of plush in this house! I let J go through them to see if there was anything he wanted before I gave them away, and he promptly picked this!

Wait, it gets better! When you squeeze him, he farts. Of course, Stimpy was in there too, and now also resides in my son's room. Oh well, there are worse things he could fall in love with, right?

Still alive... sort of

A visit to the pediatrician revealed that sweet J-man is suffering from his first case of strep. Poor boy. He was so sick by Monday morning that between puking everwhere, he managed to sleep through the entire doctor's visit, and didn't even stir when they gave him a throat swab, and more amazingly, three suppositories. THAT'S sick.

Look at that pitiful face:

And that's after some recovery- not at his worst.

We're all sick, actually. Hubby was the last to catch it, and he's suffering through the worst right now. It's not exactly happy times here. But we're slogging through, and I'm actually feeling quite a bit better today. Well enough to be upright without the world spinning out of control around me.

Even the dog seems to want to be in on the action. She's got a case of chronic happy tail, meaning she beats her tail against every surface, rendering the tip a bloody mess. Anyone whose ever owned a happy tail dog knows what the aftermath looks like-- an apparent murder scene that would give the folks at CSI a run for their money. So, being fed up with constantly cleaning my walls, floors, doors, and furniture of blood spatter, she is now sporting the latest in doggy fashion.



The E-collar is simply to keep her from chewing the bandage off of her tail. It'll have to stay on for another week or so. The only other option is tail amputation, and while that sounds mighty tempting to me- never having to deal with this problem again, and never having to worry about excited little welts all over my legs, I just can't justify major surgery on a perfectly healthy dog simply for my convenience. We'll wait for her to do some major damage, I suppose.

But this post isn't all bad. In the time that I've been home, and able to sit up straight, I've managed to finish spinning my first ounce of really pretty roving, and I think that I did a pretty darn good job of it, considering I'm still such a novice.
Lookie!

Now to spin up the second ounce, and get them plied properly.

Back on my birthday I was given a rather hefty gift certificate to yarnmarket. I was holding off, trying to decide what I might like to spend it on. I mean, it's not every day that I have a whole lot of yarn money, and I didn't know if I should blow it all on one extravagant piece. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that if I were to buy a sweater's worth of extravagant yarn, it'd only get an opportunity to be worn maybe once a year. So, instead, I got sort of a pupu platter of sock yarns to play with, a half pound of pretty roving, and some new needles. I've always wanted to try bamboo needles, but I'm not a fan of DPNs. So I got myself some Crystal Palace bamboo circs in size 2 and 3, and also an Addi Turbo in size 1. I was afraid I might break a size 1 bamboo too easily. I can't wait to try them out. I think 2008 will be the year of socks for me. :)



Here you see all the goodies- sorry the picture sucks. It's been not so sunny lately. I've got Tofutsies in "stand on your own two feet" (the bluey-purple one) and "tenderfoot" (the pinker one). There's also Maizy in Chameleon, which is totally out of my usual color scheme, but I love it. Two balls of Regia Landscape Earth, and Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Les Fleurs. The Regia and Lorna's look to be quite similar in color, which they did not appear to be on the website. I love them both, but probably would have chosen a different color if I'd had a true idea of how similar they are. Oh, and don't miss that big old bag of fluff in the back! That's Cherry Tree Hill potluck roving. I can't wait to play with it. :)

And that is all there is to report from here. Haven't done a whole lot of knitting or spinning this week due to all the germy warfare going on. Hopefully that'll change soon enough.

Finallly! The post about the wheel!

I know I promised this ages ago, but I just haven't had a free moment to sit down and blog it properly. I'll try and sneak it in here before the munchkin wakes up.

So, the wheel I got for Christmas is an Ashford traditional, and it came completely unfinished. At first I felt a little out of my league having to both finish AND assemble something. I'm not the handiest person in the world. But I really loved the idea of being able to make it mine and mine alone through all the work and detail put into it.

Of course, that lead to the second problem-- my complete inability to make a decision. I couldn't, for the life of me, decide what sort of stain I wanted to give her. I mean, sure, it can always be stripped and redone, but that's not something I'd want to do any time soon. So I oogled the literal 100's of choices at the hardware store, and finally, taking cue from my SIL, who also received a wheel for Christmas, decided to just leave it natural and apply a coat of natural wax to protect it. Besides, the natural wood is so beautiful, I don't think I'd like it covered up.

Here it is, fresh from the box and awaiting my attention.


And here it is after a bit of sanding and applying the wax- I used a product made from beeswax, carnuba and orange oil, so it was a really pleasant chore. Some of those stains smell so bad I don't know how anyone could stand them!


Next, I set to work on the actual assembly, which wasn't as difficult as I thought it might be, even with J-man assisting. It only took a few hours from start to finish, and that includes multiple breaks for playtime.



I'm only a little jealous that J got to try it out first. I don't know what it is, but there's something about spinning wheels that totally captivates him. I guess maybe it's just that it reminds him of a pirate ship, but I'd like to at least fantasize for a moment that maybe it's some latent genetic call to the fiber crafts or something. I couldn't resist letting him take it for a test drive. If you remember back to when Michele and I went to the Florida Fiber-In a few months ago, the day was completely ruined by some old crotchedy bag that snapped at him when he was still a good 10 feet away from her wheel because he 'looked like he might touch it.' We ended up having to leave because of his meltdown and honest-to-god fear of even being in the same room with her.

Don't worry baby, Mama will let you touch this one. I took an ball of yarn from my stash, tied it onto the bobbin and let him have at it. He spun the entire thing with a fairly consistent rhythm, too. That's my boy.



Isn't she beautiful?


And I post this one only because Jonas insists. He's very proud of his photography skills--meaning he managed to get my head in the picture. :)


Here's the picture of my very first handspun, ummm... yarn. There's a definite learning curve with spinning. Of course, I never expected to sit down and be an immediate pro, so I don't feel bad about this uneven, over- and under-spun mess at all. Of course, I don't think I'll ever find occasion to actually USE it, either. But that's ok.

I've already begun spinning up the few ounces of roving that I picked up at the neeldeworks show, and it is much more consistent. I think it'll make a decent sport weight yarn once plied. I'm thinking perhaps a lace patterned (but certainly not laceweight yarn)scarf might come out of it. I guess it depends on my final yardage. I'm not sure if I even know how to calculate that.

Still on the lookout for books through the library to help me learn more about spinning. I've done some internet searching with limited results, and so I'm going mostly on instinct and what feels right. Anyone know of the knittinghelp.com equivalent for spinners?


I've only had a chance to actually

Christmas Recap

With the final hours of the year trickling by, I figured I had better try and squeeze in the Christmas recap. And holy crap! What in incredible Christmas we all had!

Of course, Santa and the family was more than generous with the gifting to the J-man. Between the Hot Wheels and the Planet Heroes and the Legos and the puzzles, my house is starting to look more like a Toys R Us research lab.

We did Christmas morning here at home, opening gifts from family out of state, and of course, reveling in the spoils of Santa. J was a little upset that Santa only nibbled at the humongous plate of cookies that he and Steven decorated together, but he got over it quickly as he dove into the goodies left under the tree.

He got all sorts of cool stuff, including this really neat Black and Decker drill and flashlight set with a battery pack that slides off-- Just like Dada's tools!

And here's the picture proving that he's way too familiar with the world of vet med:


Yes, he IS looking in the dog's ears with the flashlight. The picture I don't have to share with you is the one of him using the drill to "clean" the poor dog's ears. And sweet Kelli- she just stands there and takes it. She's perfectly content so long as someone's touching her.

After we opened all of our gifts at home, we packed ourselves in the car and headed over to my parent's house for round two where J was, once again, thoroughly spoiled. The whole time, I sat wondering where in the world all of these new toys were going to go! Some of the hits of the day (aside from the Planet Heroes, which he lusted after for months), were his Smart Cycle, and a giant flatbed Tonka truck complete with a battery operated bulldozer. The thing is about 3 feet long, and super cool.

He played so hard and for so long that around 5 pm, he actually fell asleep standing up. Yeah, I know, I thought that was only something done in cartoons, too. But sure enough, he did, standing right in the middle of the back porch, and when he did, he crashed, hitting his head on the table on the way down, and he slept until nearly 10.
Can you see the bump on his forehead?


The day was full of excellent goodies, and the kids were overjoyed and surprised by everything, but the biggest surprise of the day was mine. You see, when making my Christmas wish list this year, I included such useful things as a new set of headphones (Thanks Mom! They're great!), a new travel coffee mug to keep my car from having the aroma of week old spillage (thanks Jess. It's the best one I've ever used, right down to the clip that holds it to my purse handle!), a subscription to Interweave Knits (which I also got, thanks to Mom), and various other little stuff that I really needed and wanted, and never would have bought for myself. But at the end of the list, and more as a joke than anything else, I asked for a spinning wheel.

Yeah, I know, that's pretty steep, and more than I would ever want or expect anyone to spend, ever. I should have known that if it was on the list, and Dad had even a glimpse of it, it'd end up under the tree. But still, it took my breath away as the paper was torn from the box, revealing this:



Oh my goodness! It is the most lovely and wonderful thing ever, and I'm completely in love!

Of course, before I could play with it, I had to finish it and assemble it, and that my friends, is another post entirely.

You know, my SIL got one, too. She received hers almost a month ago, and how she managed to not spill it to me in all that time amazes me. She's a stronger woman than I!

I'll leave you now with just some of my favorite shots from the holiday.





Happy New Year everyone.