A Fiber Themed Thanksgiving

Despite what may or may not have happened back in Plymouth at the "First Thanksgiving," it's always good to take some time to be thankful for the good things in your life, because chances are very high that if you are reading this, things could be a whole lot worse for you right now.
In keeping with the theme of this blog, I'm going to focus on the fiber related things I am thankful for, but know this real list is much longer.

1. My family, whether my husband and daughter who give me time to spin, knit, shop, or stalk projects on Ravelry, they are great enablers and supports of my hobby. Maybe someday soon my daughter's fine motor control and attention span will develop to the point where I can actually teach her some fiber crafts. I can't forget my parents and In-Laws who are certainly enablers as they give gifts of fiber, yarn, notions, or money ear-marked for other items (like my wheel- Thanks Mom!), and then just as happily receive my gifts of (sometimes clumsily) handmade items.
2. Books, in a time when they are cheap, readily available and cover topics that would filled a passport if you had to research yourself.
3. The Internet, again taking vast quantities of information from all over the world, and making it available to you in your pajamas. There is hardly a topic that you can't find a blog post, article, or video about. It has certainly helped the learning curve. It also gives you access to just about any item you could think to want, fiber, yarn, notions, or patterns (Ravelry).
4. LYS, despite the easy and comfort of the Internet, there is something to right about going to a shop and seeing all that fiber in person. The wonderful ladies (usually, though I've been in a few shops where men take charge) are always so friendly to everyone who walks in the door. They are so eager to help you find the right item for your next project, or just let you browse and be calmed by the visual and textile stimulation around you.
5. Knitting groups, it's always good to have a close group of friends, but there is just something about knitting friends. You always have something safe to discuss in the beginning, and then form tungsten level attachments as you watch and comfort each other after ripping out those 10 rows for the umpteenth time.
6. Sheep, and all fiber producing animals, we couldn't do what we do without you. Well, we could, but who wants to spend a life working with acrylics when there is alpaca in the world?

I know there is a whole host of other things to be thankful for, but these are the biggies, and all lists have to end eventually.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and no matter where you are, or what your situation, take some time to think about the things in your life you are thankful for.

To Dye or Not To Dye

So I'm back to spinning my lovely silver/grey alpaca for the Kaleidoscope Cardi. The question is, do I leave it the natural silver color, or dye it? The natural color is quite lovely and does have a bit of a sheen to it, but there is always the infinite allure of dying.

Wheel set in the living room with alpaca in progress.

On the bobbin and some knitting au natural.

Keep in mind I have no idea what color I would dye it, and the silver/grey/flecks of black and brown would go well with just about anything I could wear.
Also, my fantastic M-I-L got me some really nice white alpaca, and I know her intentions are for me to dye it.
Plus dying the silver would mean another step.
But I want to hear what anyone out there has to say, although I can't promise to bind my self to any results.

Up and Spinning

Despite everything, I have been able to get my spinning wheel put back together, and I've even spun the orange long wool blend that I got at Trumpet Hill.

It was great fiber for a re-introduction. Everything spun so nicely, at least compared to how I had been spinning before the move. I'm still getting a bit of a "thick 'n thin" look in places, but overall, I got over 200 yards of 2-ply that is mostly a fingering weight out of 4 ounces. I figure that is plenty to make some mittens for my four year old this winter so I'm happy. Now I just need to finish a project or two so I can have time to knit (house drama will hopefully be over by the end of next week, then it's just back to cleaning and organizing, "pre-school" for the Little One, and trying to find a part-time job so I can continue to afford the nice yarns!)

I know I planned on plying with the Merino Nube, but man is that stuff tricky. I just can't get the right amount of twist, it either just falls apart from too little or seems to be going well and then snaps. It's going to take more time and patience than I have right now.

Last Fiber Festival Installment- At least for spinning

That's right. I've spun it all. Ok really I had it all finished before the move, but there are only so many hours in the day (speaking of which sorry for the silence on Thursday, we've had some move-in drama).

It's not a great picture as I took it on my phone, but I did it! And I have just over 400 yards of lace weight singles to work with. Once again, now I must find the right project...oh boy.

It is a very interesting colorway. There is a great deal of black as well as some muddled browns, but then there are streaks of these great jewel tones in teal, orange, pink, blue, and purple.

Any ideas for patterns, I'd love to hear them!

New House= New Craft Space

So we moved back to New York after a year in Virginia and moved back into our three bedroom raised ranch house, so it's not exactly new, but it has double the square footage that our apartment in VA had, so that means I get my own crafting space.

I'm going to be moving into the third bedroom with a cutting table, sewing desk, and my spinning wheel. This does leave room for our current futon (and hopefully a sleeper sofa eventually).

It's going to be a while until I can get fully moved into it because my husband's computer is in there currently and has to get moved downstairs first, and that's a whole different conversation.

BUT we are moving in the right direction. My husband put up a shelf with all my crafting books and some of my handspun yarn. :)

The fiber will not be staying there, but I got caught up in the moment and had to put it somewhere. I've got knitting/spinning on the left, quilting on the right, and a mix of magazines in the black holder in the middle.

There will be another shelf on the other side of the room, with a peg board in the middle to hang yarn cakes on, as seen on Pinterest.

It's going to be a process, a long one, but we're on the way. :)

The Stash is Growing, and WIPs are increasing...

So I still haven't gotten my wheel up and spinning yet, but thanks to my M-I-L and my own shopping, I have two pounds of new fiber! She got me 8 ounces of white alpaca, 4 ounces of Malabrigo nube, and a full pound of BFL! I also got 4 ounces of bright orange Corridale mix fiber from the LYS. So far the plan is to ply the orange and nube together and make some mittens for the little one.

:-D

I've started the Kaleidoscope pattern. I'm only about 12 rows in, but things are going well.

I am also working on the Abalorio shawl from Malabrigo Book 4. I'm not using Malabrigo lace yarn, and well, not all lace is the same. I am using Cascade Alpaca Paints Lace instead, and the gauge is, well, loose to say the least. It's not a huge deal, and still looks nice, but it does make for a less recognizable pattern. It is also looking pretty small. I am only about half-way through and working on 200+ stitches, so we'll see how it comes out.

Withdrawls

We got into our new house last Tuesday. The movers emptied the boxes wherever  there was space. I have been spending the bulk of my time sorting through all of our things to see what we do and don't need, putting things away, and reorganizing the things we are keeping (for the record, the DH has sold a spare mattress box springs set, a spare set of snow tires from a car we traded in two years ago, various baby things, various kitchen things, replaced a broken toilet seat, put up some curtains, attempted to hang a shelf - he would be done with that, but one of the bracket screws overlapped with a screw in the stud so he has so fiddling to do there, and went back to work on Monday). Not to mention taking care of the little one. Needless to say that there has not been much time or energy for knitting, and (tear) my wheel is still in its box from the move.

I have been able to start a new pair of socks. These are for me this time, imagine that. I had gotten some Patons Stretch Sock a long time ago, but it was packed in Virginia and came out in New York, so now that I have it, and know how to knit socks, I'm working on a pair.

And I did make it to one of the two LYS's here in the Capital Area, Trumpet Hill. Wow! It's a tiny, but it has some great things and GREAT prices. I got 4 ounces of locally grown and dyed fiber for $9, can you believe that! And it wasn't even the least expensive fiber there, though the other fiber was much courser and I still have plenty of Cotswald and Jacob left to knit.

I did make it through the beautifully dyed wool/tencel blend from the fiber festival before we moved, so those updates will be coming soon. And I do intend to check out the other LYS soon. Hopefully I will have more to say next week, and more time to say it...

Handspun Hat

I finished it. Here is a finished item from hand processed, hand spun, hand dyed yarn.

Well this hat has sure been a process. The hardest part by far was figuring out a pattern and more specifically a gauge for the final hat.

I started with just the Raspberry Lemonaide and was having issues even with size four needles. I figured there wasn't a ton of use for this brightly colored yarn outside this project so I finally decided to just ply it all together, figuring that the worst case scenario would be that I would have to un-ply it. But once I had it at a heavier weight, that is a 4-ply yarn, things worked out much better.

I do need to watch my over-spinning as the yarn was quite stiff and there were several times that I held the yarn and let the hat untwist in the air to release some of the tension. Perhaps if I had finished the yarn first that may have helped the situation. Although, I do like the slant of the stitches. It gives it a look of intent instead of just a stockinette stitch hat with a short rib boarder and interesting colors.

It was a fun experience, and now one of the items from my list on September 28th is done...too bad I've started about three more since then.