Spinning and Knitting update

I am still plugging away at this scarf and it is going better now that I switched to the harmony needles. I have used a lifeline after every pattern repeat, but of course I haven't needed it. I probably have about 24 inches knitted and I will go till at least 48, so it will probably be summer when I finish, or maybe next holiday season, and I will have one finished gift. We will see........

Both of these skeins were navajo plyed to maintain the different colors, but now I am spinning with the goal of 3 plying to blend the colors, in hopefully sock weight.

This next skein is 210 yards of sock weight on the bottom of the next photo, and I hope I have enough yarn when I am finished to do a pair of socks totally from hand spun.

If I run short, I will find some coordinating color to do the heels and toes to stretch the hand-spun. I might have to do research to see if the Seacell/wool makes good socks. Anyone have any information about that?? I think I like the blended look better after all, so I will have to find a project for the skein on top which is thicker and more stripey.

Hat from Homespun

This is a really sweet hat I spun and knit! The gray is merino, purchased at Shuttles, Spindles, and Skeins in Boulder this fall.

I used the Navajo ply on the fly technique and it sooooooo soft. The white stripes, my own creative addition to the pattern, is Brown Sheep wool combed top which is from my very first spindle spinning. Actually, the original spinning was so bad (thick and thin) that I re-drafted it to achieve some fairly consistantly even yarn.
This hat was a gift for my hairdresser, Lee, who is so atypical of male hairdressers: married, 4 kids and plays ice hockey! He loved the hat and showed it off to all his clients when they came in. My buttons were busting with good feelings at this..... and considering what I have been going through lately, it was so nice to be appreciated for my skills and talents.

Lethargic

I am not in the mood for much these days. News of the economy and my personal state of affairs are dragging me down. I am not really happy with a few of the projects I finished and am reconsidering them as gift items. Not a problem with the projects themselves, but maybe my choices of yarn. As it turns out, I sent them anyway, and the giftees will have to deal with them.

The top one is bamboo, which would have made a better scarf than a cowl. I love the buttons I found, though. The second one is from my first hand-spun. The fiber is from Creatively Dyed and it is Sea Wool purchased while at Rhinebeck this fall.

I did add the buttons to my BSJ and made some thumbless mittens on a string to finish off the gift ensemble. I changed my mind about doing booties, since the baby will be born in January and will be in footed onsies for the most part. Come on baby boy Johnson.....I am now ready for you!

On Black Friday( the day after Thanksgiving), I went over to Joann's to see if I could get into some trouble and to get buttons for several projects. I ended up with sock yarn for 4 pairs of socks in mid weight for a total of about $30. The yarn is Patons Kroy socks, jacquards in four different colors. Not that there was any fear of running out of socks to knit, but now I have built my stash even further. I started a pair in the summer moss color

with my new book: 2-at-a-time SOCKS by Melissa Morgan Oakes which I purchased from Knitpicks to conquer the technique. It works! I am now working my way down to the toes and it is going well now. At first it was a bit fiddly, until I got the hang of it, and I can see both socks progressing very well. I used my basic plain pattern and had to adapt the technique to my 56 stitch pattern, but it wasn't too difficult since I have made enough socks now to understand the basic architecture of socks. My only major frustration is that the sequence of stripes on the two balls are wound opposite from each other. When doing two socks at once, I only found this out after several inches had been knit on each. Next time, I will rewind both balls before knitting so this doesn't happen again. I let it go this time.......

Now I will have unmatched but coordinated socks. Not ideal but these socks will be for me.

Be Back Soon

I promise that I will begin posting again soon. I just haven't felt like it. Holiday doldrums, I guess.

My computer is back home

Just a brief word for now. I am back up and running and have lots to post about, but not now. I am too tired from reloading everything back onto my computer. I sent it back to HP and yes, they replaced the broken thingamajigs (yes, that IS a technical term), but they also wiped the computer clean, like it was brand new.......just like when I purchased it almost 3 months ago. Unfortunately, only 2 of my 4 back up disks would work to reload my files. I think most of my photos are intact, except for scans. I lost most of my documents, including my resume, and Gary's resume, and many downloads. Only part of my music files transferred to I-tunes. Tomorrow, I will be phoning HP to see if I can recover anything from the two disks that wouldn't transfer. Any ideas from out there would be appreciated........ I HATE COMPUTERS SOMETIMES. ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY DON'T WORK AS PROMISED.