mitered mittens

Seems like everyone is knitting mitered mittens from Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitter's Almanac. I love how this pattern looks in handspun. I chose some yarn I spun from Poppy Flower Fibers (Falkland in the Emi colorway). It was spun woolen for warm, lofty mittens. I followed the modifications Kathryn Ivy posted for a gusset thumb. They were a fun, quick knit. Watching handspun knit up captivates me, I really love knitting with it.

once in a blue moon

There was a blue moon on New Year's Eve. Whyboy and I stood outside, shivering and looking at the moon. He has always been drawn to the moon. It was one of the first words he learned to say. He would look up in the sky and say "moon." As his vocabulary developed he would also announce the phase. We were both born under a winter moon.

To celebrate the moon, I started spinning "Winter Moon" the November 2008 installment of Enchanted Knoll's Happy Hooves Club. It is lovely and sparkly. It looks like the moon dancing on the snow in our backyard. Last night the moon was so bright, it illuminated the back yard, and I thought of these batts. They are a lovely, smooth spin.

My birthday was this week. This combined with the start of the New Year puts me in a reflective mood. I am grateful for my family and my friends. I am thankful that I have a creative outlet, and am able to play with fiber. I am thrilled that people actually are interested in reading about my fiber and life adventures, thank-you.

I don't make resolutions. I plan to start 2010 as I mean to go on....laughing, playing, eating well, exercising, knitting, and spinning.

handspun socktober

The Snobby Spinner's group in ravelry was having an informal "Handspun Socktober" SAL/KAL for the month of October. I started with this beautiful BFL combed top, 'Prism' from Freckle Face Fibers.


Spun it up as a heavy fingering/sport 2 ply:

Cast on 52 stitches for toe-up socks, 2 at a time, using David's Toe-up Cookbook on ravelry. I used green Dale Heilo for the toes and heels, because I wasn't sure of my yardage and I liked how the green brought out the other colors.

Knit along rather happily, loving how the yarn surprised me along the way. This was perfect baseball knitting (we will not discuss the heartbreak of Boston's early exit). Bound off using Elizabeth Zimmerman's 'sewn bind-off' from Knitting without Tears. I finished on November 2nd...but I was watching the October Classic, so that is close enough for me.

end of summer

My friends and I took our annual trip to G's cottage in Door County. There was much laughter, singing (Bohemian Rhapsody was a favorite), knitting and eating. We enjoyed coffee by the water (her cottage is on Lake Michigan), both mornings. We went hiking at Whitefish Dunes State Park, and Cave Point. What a way to spend the last weekend of summer, the weather was glorious!!

I have been in a serious spinning phase.

'Dingo' Polwarth, spun from fiber dyed by David at Southern Cross Fibers. Navajo plied, light worsted weight. I love the colors.

Alpaca Merino, dyed by Jen at Laughing Rat Fibers. 'House Finch' colorway, she over dyed brown merino, the depth of color is lovely. Fingering weight, 2 ply. I gave this to my friend Kate, just because it reminded me of her.

'Adelaide' merino, from David at Southern Cross Fibers. 2ply worsted/dk-ish. I am knitting this into a lovely scarf for myself.

grammie rosie

I am missing my grammie today. She passed away 4 years ago, and I miss her, almost daily. What I miss most is how she made me feel. I always felt special to her. She was always interested in what I was doing; who I was becoming. As a child, I was always at her house. As I grew older, our relationship evolved. I lived close to her until I moved away from Maine. We spent many hours together. She would tell me stories of her life, we would look at old photos, and we would talk. I knew most of her friends, and she most of mine. Strange, I don't know hardly any of my friends grandparents. People enjoyed being around her. Her eyes sparkled, and her smile let you know how happy she was to see you. I miss those eyes.

Often she and I would go shopping. She was always up for an outing. She enjoyed sitting in the mall, while I shopped. When I would return, I would almost always find her chatting away with someone..."well they just started talking to me" she would say. When I was in college (OT school), another student, who I had never met, made it a point to tell me that she met grammie a church retreat, and how much she enjoyed meeting her.

She was always willing to go on an adventure and try new things. She loved sushi and Thai food (both of which she tried in her 80's). In the summer she would go camping with us, and rarely turned down a chance to travel. Her motto was "I'm 80, who is going to tell me no"

She turned 90 the summer before she died. She fell and broke her hip, while making her bed. She came through the surgery fine. I called her to talk, the night after her surgery. We were joking about me not making my bed, and how she was too nosey to die....that she would be around till she was at least 100. She laughed, and then said "no, it's ok, I'll go when it is my time." The next day she had a heart attack and died. I am grateful she didn't suffer and remained fairly independent till the end. Her mind was sharp, and spirit was young.



To celebrate her 'Joie De Vivre', I'll leave you with this happy yarn, colorful like my grammie. Stormy Sea, dyed by Gale's Art, 250 yards of worsted weight, 2ply. Destined to be mittens for my niece and my friend's daughter:

tour de fleece

I decided that my goals for this year's Tour de Fleece would be to spin a 4 ply cabled yarn. I have been reading Judith MacKenzie McCuin's Intentional Spinner and Amy King's Spin Control . In addition, got some tips from HokieKnitter and working4yarn on ravelry (one of the many reasons I love ravelry is the ability to ask questions of other fiber freaks).

I picked fiber from the stash, fulfilling another goal of spinning from stash. The sparkly batt is an Enchanted Knoll farm raised batt in 'Monster Mash' (cotswold, targhee, sari silk and angelina), and my spring sheep share from Foxfire Fiber and Designs in Aster (wool and mohair blend). I thought the combination of fibers would work well together, and the purples complimented each other. Plus, Josette and Barb are two of my favorite fiber folks, I liked the idea of their wools combining in a happy yarn.

Next I spun 4 bobbins of singles. This was hard, because I spinning mojo was not in full force, due to an ear infection and such. Once the singles were spun, I plied them into a 2 ply with lots of twist (recommended by the books and the spinners mentioned above).

I then cabled the 2 bobbins of 2ply. In Judith's book, she recommends using a fast take-up and allowing the yarns to snap together. I love how the yarn looks. It was a multi step process, but taken a step at a time it wasn't bad. I will do it again. It makes a very strong yarn. I am thinking cabled mittens for me.

I started spinning last June. My goal for this year is to become more technically proficient in my spinning and to try new things. I may make mistakes along the way, but I will learn more from the mistakes than staying in my comfort zone. My next challenge, core spinning. I'll keep you posted.

out and about

I am off on Wednesdays, during the summer Whyboy and I are out and about. Today we went to the Henry Vilas Zoo, so Whyboy could checkout the gila monster and green tree python. It is a much smaller zoo than the Milwaukee zoo, but it is in town, and free! We go there a lot. Whyboy was thrilled to see the gila monster and the green tree python. We took pictures of the gila monsters for his cousin, she doesn't believe they exist. The anaconda's were very active, which we have never seen. We stopped at the 'zoo store' and Whyboy picked out a stuffed green python.

After the zoo, we headed to Lakeside Fibers, another one of my favorite LYS's. I wasn't looking for anything in particular, but they had a bunch of Mountain Colors Bearfoot sock yarn. I love Mountain Colors yarn, the colors are so rich and the yarn is yummy to work with. I couldn't make up my mind. I was chatting with 2 knitters who were visiting from OK, trying to pick out colors. I finally decided on Copper Mountain and Glacier Teal, checked out and filled my punch card. Since I now had $20 to spend, I also bought Larkspur Bearfoot and some more Mini-Mochi in Flame Rainbow. While I was shopping Whyboy was chatting away with the store clerk and his snake. He decided to name the snake 'James' and told her all about various snakes and reptiles. The clerk thought he was 'cute', which was nice. Whyboy is intense, and a bit hyper-verbal, especially about subjects he in interested in (reptiles, dinosaurs). Sometimes I wonder what people think of him when they meet him for the first time.

After stopping for some groceries, we arrived home. I finished my cabled yarn. It is drying as I type. I decided to start spinning some Blue Ring Octopus lambkins merino roving from Enchanted Knoll Farm. I love spinning lambkins, it is so soft and drafts like a dream. Planning a bulky yarn to knit something for Whyboy. I made pesto, and got dinner ready (whole wheat pasta, green beans and pesto). Whyboy has T-ball tonight, and he wants turn his room into a 'jungle' so 'James' feels at home.

biking and spinning

Yesterday, my spinning mojo finally returned. I am participating in the Tour de Fleece on Ravelry. I have been in a bit of a slump, and not spinning as much as I hoped to. Most of this is due to being knocked out with an ear infection, and being on antibiotics for 3 weeks. I am finally starting to get my energy back. I cranked some Neil Young (Everybody Knows This is Nowhere), finished the singles and started the plying, for a 4 ply cabled yarn. I will discuss the full process in a later post.

This morning, we headed out to bike the Sugar River Trail. A nice level trail built on an old rail bed, through the rolling countryside.

We stopped for lunch in Monticello,WI, at the M&M Cafe. It is a little diner with great food. The pie is supposed to be wonderful, but we were saving room for ice cream. Whyboy always needs a bit of encouragement to finish the ride. After lunch, we headed across the street to play in a local park.

On the way back to the trail head, we stopped to take pictures of cows. Whyboy peddled hard on the way back....ice cream is a powerful motivator.