I realized last night that I never posted pictures of my mom's scarf when I finished it! Bad knitter :P I just love how it came out. It's a short keyhole scarf made with some damn expensive wool and silk yarn that is delicious to work with and wear :)
My mother loved it - YAY!
The ends actually are the eame length if you pull it through all the way...she just did a quick job for the photo op :P
Took some pictures last night of the two skeins I spun and described in yesterday's post.
The alpaca/suri alpaca skein for my Aunt.
The crazy mish-mash skein I made from my friend's leftover singles :)
I'm in such a good mood today.....how can I not be when I picked this up on Saturday morning!
I can't believe I actually FINALLY have a spinning wheel in my house!!! I am borrowing/ renting it from a friend and I think I am going to buy my own when I get my tax returns!
This is my first bobbin of wool singles on the wheel. It's a bit uneven, but it's different than a spindle, so it's going to take me awhile to get the drafting down pat. I LOVE pedaling it, though...definately a single treadle gal :P
My first two-ply yarn completely spun and plied on the wheel :) I LOVE it! It's about 80 yards...I can't wait to knit something up with it...or maybe it will become part of my brown wrap I'm working on :) Think I filled that bobbin up enough? LOL
Then, I cheated just a LITTLE bit and used the two brown bobbins of singles I had left over and plied them with a thin grey wool my friend had left on another bobbin to make this amazing three-ply yarn :D I have 58 yards of it and I love it so much! The grey is very subtle, but it just gives it the most interesting movement to the yarn :) So...I didn't spin one of the singles, but I spun the other two and I plied it...that's pretty close to being all mine :P
This was all done on Saturday afternoon, a few hours after I picked up the wheel in SF. Yesterday (Sunday), I made a totally awesome fun skein of yarn from all the various leftovers my friend left on the bobbins she sent with the wheel. I don't have a picture yet, but it's white and brown and dark brown and has a bit of pink silk winding through it and oh gosh, it's just such a fun skein. I know I didn't make it, just plied it, but I don't care...it's fun!
Then, yesterday I also spun some light brown suri alpaca on the wheel (oh my gosh, what a dream to spin!!!) and then plied it with the dark brown alpaca I spun on my spindle, measured it (30 yards) and skeined it. It's my Aunt Helen's christmas present...just a little bit late, but I know she's gonna love it! It's not a ton, yardage wise, but she can make some little something with it...the cuffs on a sweater, a pocket, something like that :)
I am SO IN LOVE with this wheel spinning! *happy spinnng dance*
Two recent yarn acquisitions....I just want to pounce into a pile of it all!
This is some delicious thin alpaca yarn I won on eBay. I got 8 skeins. It's called "Indiecita" and it's all-natural, not dyed. It's a very orangy brown with some greenish tan brown plied in with it. Pure heaven. I have a lot of it, so I need to come up with something extra good to make with it!
This is my Knit Picks order I was cheering about below :) The squat green and orange skeins are alpaca and silk (70%/30%, I believe). Super soft, delicious stuff, it's called Andien Silk. I have two skeins of each, but I couldn't find the second orange for the photo shoot :P The larger skein of orange and green are both Superwashed wool and nylon. I bought it to maybe make socks out of...green and orange striped socks :D The three stripey skeins are sock yarn called "Dancing" in the colorway "Two-Step," which is cotton, wool, nylon and elastic. It's a lot of oranges and greens and blues and I think it's gonna make some amazing, self-striping socks :)
Finally...how am I gonna make the socks, you might ask? Well, using the Magic Loop method, of course :D My sweetie got my the booklet on how to do it for Christmas, so I am all set to go!
Hey there! Hi there! Ho there! You're as welcome as can be!
I got my yarn from Knit Picks and it's yummy and delicious and I have to take a picture soon to share :D
*soft alpaca love*
I finished my mother's lace scarf for Christmas and blocked it (my first time blocking something!!!) and it's wrapped up and ready to go. I forgot to take a picture of it before wrapping, so I'll have to take one when she opens it. I sur ehope she loves it!
I'm also knitting a dishcloth with the Breast Cancer Awareness ribbon on it for my Aunt who is in remission from Breast Cancer. I'm almost half way done and expect to finish it tonight :) I am having weird ladder issues when I change from purl to knit for the ribbon part. Ah well, I'm hoping it will come out in the washing/blocking :)
Yay! Holidays!
Other good news: A friend of mine is lending me an Ashford Traditional spinning wheel!!!! I am just gushing with excitement to have a wheel in my home to practice with and try out to see if I want to buy one. I'm getting a large tax return this year (I think) and I would love to spend some of it on a wheel, if I decide I like using one and can justify the purchase :)
Still left to do for Christmas knitting:
1) Finish the dishcloth
2) Finish spinning the alpaca yarn for my Aunt Helen.
3) Knit a nose cozy as a joke gift for my Butch :) :P
I can do it! I have Thurs and Fri off, so I have a 5 day weekend and the presents for my Aunts won't be given until the week after Christmas sometime anyway...so I can do it!
*feeling like the little engine that could*
I want to make these amazing cabled fingerless mittens...here's the pattern. However, I wasn't sure if I liked the yarn she made them in. I've also been wanting to try some of Knit Picks yarn because I love their patterns and needles and well...I just wanted to try some :) I found some alpaca blend yarn in a similar weight and bought 4 skeins....and some closeout sock yarn for when I start trying to make socks :)
7 new skeins of yarn on it's way to me! Yay!!!!
Yarn = love.
I realized I never posted a picture of my Fiber Arts center! It is a bit different from these pictures now, but you'll get the idea :) Basically, that messy shelf in the middle is now neat and tidy in a wooden tray and the fiber to spin is in plastic zippered bags all uniform and matching. Still need to hang the spindles from that shelf, but I got cup hooks a bit too big and haven't taken then back to OSH yet to get the right size :)
I LOVE my fiber arts center...did you notice that the lower shelves holding my yarn pull out?!
I also realized I never posted a picture of the cables purse complete, with lining and handles attached, so here you go :) I think it turned out AMAZING!
*Happy crafty beyatch dance*
