I think I'm obsessed

About 2 weeks ago, I attended a session with Lynne Vogel of Twisted Sisters fame at Haus of Yarn here in Nashville. The whole class was absolutely fantastic. We learned about mixing colors and fun techniques. Lynne showed Erin and I the finer points of spinning sock yarn, and boy howdy, did I take to heart! I was obsessed! I immediately came home and started spinning up 4 oz. of Hello Yarn's "Peat" fiber club offering, and decided to ply it with some alpaca roving I picked up at Yarn School. I thought 8 oz. of a two-ply yarn should be enough for my giant lady feet.

And was I right!



I managed to get 647 yds onto a 4 oz bobbin! And you know what this means, right? I probably can get another skein of similar length out of what's left on the 2 bobbins! Insanity!

I have arrived! I can spin sock yarn!

I love socks.

It's official. I love knitting socks. I can't stop and I'm hoarding sock yarn. I'm even spinning it. I may have a problem.

The latest project consists of two plain ol'vanilla socks, knit out of Noro Kureyon sock.


The only issue I have is that I have US size 11 lady feet. Some fun patterns aren't geared for my Northern European peasant DNA. I also feel that some variegated and self-striping sock yarn should just be knit plain without any pattern. Let the yarn be the centerpiece, not the pattern. I started these socks over a ton of times because I couldn't decided what to do. That being said, I'm currently knitting some lovely variegated sock yarn with a lacey pattern. We'll see what happens. If it's too tight on my feet, though, it'll be ripped out. Damn my large lady feet!

a cowl in sunshine

The wham bam thank you lamb (rav link) is one of the easiest projects ever, and has awesome results. Here it is, in all its handspun glory:


This was actually made up this weekend for my mother's friend. She was going to get a beret, but somehow I kept TWISTING when casting on, causing many profanities to come flying out of my mouth. Moral of the story: garter stitch cowls make fast and fun presents (esp. when using handspun! oh! the joy!)

Don't mind the wet hair:

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here's the pattern, in case you're interested.

I'm sticking with you

In attempt to beef up my sewing prowess, I made a log cabin pillow this evening!


It's a little clumsy, but I'm pretty pleased!


(I ran out of stuffing).

The pattern came from "The Crafter's Companion" and it was easy as pie. I modified the back, since I was taking the easy way out and was just using some polyfil I had laying around. I'm quite pleased, even though it is a little goofy.

Anything Could Happen

After a sublime heat wave here in Middle Tennessee, my mind is wandering to making nice clothes. It must be noted I have attempted 3 shirts in my lifetime, and they all resulted with less that appealing results. The lovely Hazel Evelyn has been sewing up some fantastic clothes, and all I can say is: I'm inspired!

So, if anyone has any basic or easy (I cannot stress this enough) pattern suggestion for spring/summer clothing, send them my way!

My sweater is almost finished, and I'll have pictures soon. With all the stripes comes MASSIVE weaving in of ends, and that's clearly my least favorite part. Let's not talk about all the semi-finished projects I have laying around that just need that final part.

I've been spinning! I dyed this too!

Cassingle Revival

I've been busy! Lots of spinning and knitting as of late. I'm working on a top-down raglan in which the body is already finished, but the one picture I have of it isn't so hot. I'll try to get a good one up soon.

But yarn! Oh my! The yarn! I've been making lots of that!

This is up in my etsy shop, as is this:

On the post Christmas, knitting for me front, I took some handspun and made myself a cowl yesterday, while recovering from a migraine.

This:

became this:

It's the Wham Bam Thank You Lamb neckwarmer! I cast on 35 stitches, and probably would have been better suited to cast on 30, as this is snug, and not too drapey. But it's warm and it does its job for these freakishly cold days here in Tennessee. I thought I escaped days of 7 degree temperatures when I left Buffalo! I shouldn't complain, though. Any excuse to wear lots of hand knits is a good one.

hooray beret, take 2!

Quick update:

I think I may have perfected my pattern for the perfect amount of slouch. After a few missteps of not decreasing properly (does anyone want a beret that comes to a gnome-like point?) and re-reading some Elizabeth Zimmerman, I figured out how I wanted to do my beret, and here you go!

(don't mind the photo - it was midnight and I was paler than usual, but thrilled with my completed hand knit in all its slouchy glory)

I have another on the needles right now for xmas presents! Hooray!

hooray beret!

Hello my lovelies!

I've been doing a fair bit of dyeing lately, but I must get myself in gear for Christmas knitting! I think I've fallen head over heels in love with the beret. I started knitting up Le Slouch, but I wasn't sure I wanted something that drapey. I had seen the lovely Miss Click Clack's beret's on Ravelry (and her blog) and I am inspired! So great! I knit one up last night, and I'm not totally in love with the Le Slouch decreases, and have decided to stick with EZ's Tam O'Shanter's decrease instructions.

Hooray Beret!

Also, if you're in the Greater Nashville Area, you may want to check out my friend Ruth's trunk show at Queen Bee this Thursday!

	Thursday, December 4, 2008
Time:	5:30pm - 8:30pm
Location:	Queen Bee
Street:	1200 Villa Place STE. 110 Edgehill Village @ Music Row

And now here are some pictures of fiber!




Happy Christmas Knitting!

PS - I'll be back with photos of the poncho my mother requested that I knit her, and pictures of BERETS!

pressure drop

I love dyeing! I can't stop! I got 2lbs. from Ms. Hello Yarn, 2 pounds from the fiber fest, and I've been going to town ever since. I love it! Oh, and I ordered another pound of BFL yesterday, and more dyes.

This is what I've been up to recently:


I think this one is by far my favorite. I'm calling it "Pleased as Punch"! I dyed 8 oz of it (South African Fine Wool) and kept 4oz for myself. The other half is up on etsy. Part of me doesn't want to part with it, but I need funds to keep this addiction going. South African Fine is really nice! It was really nice to spin up.

Here's some more South African Fine, which you find on my etsy shop:


I've also been spinning what I've been dyeing too. Yeah, all my free time is pretty much consumed with spinning, dyeing and going to Trader Joe's (which just opened up here - I'm completely smitten).

This is some Corriedale I dyed and spun up (the first test run in my new, well, old, Crock Pot):


And here's some hand dyed and spun Shetland which is delightfully soft (and will probably be a Christmas present for my knitter sister-in-law):