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!

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!

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):

Yarn School!

So, I've been meaning to post about Yarn School for some time now, but things got in the way, like illness (stomach virus THEN sinus infection), but I'm back in business now!

Yarn School was absolutely fantastic! I had the best time! Everyone was so lovely and I learned so much. Kansas! The town of Harveyville (pop. 250) was really great and we were treated to the Spookyville parade!


The Harveyville Project, run by Nikol and Ron, is really quite awesome. The school itself was just completely badass and really just amazing. I'm so happy I got to go!

So, the first day we arrived we had a meet and greet. The next day we split up into 2 groups (the Sharks and the Jets - a certifiable knife fight!) and my group went off for dye class; crockpot dyeing, microwave dyeing, handpainting, you name it. It was fantastic.

For lunch, we took a field trip to Wildcat Hollow Alpaca Farm to meet alpacas and buy lots of wonderful alpaca related goodness. I ended up buying some raw alpaca fleece that I ended up washing, carding and spinning (which Deb named Chewpacca, as it really looked like I skinned Chewbacca).

The next day was spent learning spinning techniques, relaxing, carding, etc. It was grand. I had absolutely the best time. I learned such fun things as Navajo plying and spinning novelty yarns, and seriously, I haven't been able to stop since. I'm not kidding. I'm addicted.

I cannot stress how lovely everyone was and how much I learned. The food was absolutely fantastic and I'm already scheming to see how I can go again next year.

I have plenty of more pictures from the event on my Flickr page!

Fiber Fests and Wedding Planning

In the midst of getting ready for the wedding which is less than two weeks away (iieeeeeee!) Marissa and I headed down to Dickson, TN for the Middle Tennessee Sheep, Wool and Fiber Festival this past weekend where I spent far too much money and too a much need break from stressing and thinking about where I'm going to seat people at tables. It was a really nice time! 2 buildings filled with local fiber producers

I also entered a skein into the novice skein competition and took top honors! Ok, so there was only one other entry in the novice category, but still, hooray me!

I also bought a lot of fiber. Fancy that. I'm going to give socks another go with some superwash Merino dyed by a lady from my spinning group. Yay! So excited! I so wish I could just spin and not work on wedding stuff. Ugh. Obligations.







So, dear reader, I apologize for the lack of posts. Once this whole wedding ruckus is over and I have more spinning / knitting time, things will be back in action.

hello, little garden!

This past weekend was an absolute bust. On my hurried way out the door to the spinning guild meeting I haphazardly put my spinning wheel in the back of Mr. Wheezy-to-Be's van without thoroughly securing it. Well, I made my first turn and I heard a blood-curdling wooden THUNK come from the back. The wheel had fallen over. I pulled over to the nearest parking lot to see what had happened and SOMETHING WAS BROKEN. The dowel pin that holds the mother of all had snapped in two, and by the time I realized this, tears were streaming down my face.

I arrived home, 5 minutes later and proclaimed "I BROKE MY WHEEL!" I ran upstairs to consult the general wisdom of Ravelry, and when I came back downstairs, wiping tears from my eyes, Ben was on the phone with a Kromski dealer in Oregon ordering me a new dowel pin and consulting with them on how to repair the broken part. YAY. BEST FIANCE EVER.

So, I made my way to our neighborhood hardware store (yes! we still have one of those!) to buy some Elmer's wood glue, and to our local health food grocer to buy some sandwiches, I noticed a plant sale! Yes! A local organic farmer had some heirloom seedlings for sale! I discussed with them the fact that I was container gardening, and I had had some pretty big containers (kitty litter containers, etc.).

Now I shall present you with the beginning of the Fresh Step Garden 2008

I'm using some giant kitty litter containers with holes drilled into them, and a big paint mixing bucket from Home Depot, which is an idea I got from the wonderful You Grow Girl.

Let's see, I purchased a bunch of heirloom and organic plants from Eaton's Creek Organics. On the tomato front we have: Mark Twain, Manyel, and Large Red. Peppers representing this year are Giant Marconi and Straddon's Select Pepper. I also picked up some lavender, sweet basil, red basil and thyme from them.

Quite happily, I made my merry way to Gardens of Babylon at the Farmer's Market where I picked up a beautiful spearmint plant, some lettuce and cilantro. I was then off to Home Depot where I rounded off the day with a purchase of an organic strawberry and chamomile plant, along with potting soil and additional pots.

It was a good way to calm myself down after the trauma of breaking your spinning wheel (which is fine, and in working order, by the way). The past few nights, there's been a threat of frost, so these fellas have had to stay indoors, but tomorrow night after work, they will receive proper homes!

Most excellent!

The Middle Tennessee Sheep, Wool and Fiber Festival has been announced!

Unfortunately, it's right before the wedding, but I will taking some "sanity time" and head on out there. It's about an hour outside of Nashville, and will need to spend some time with sheep and spinning wheels.

And tonight, I have a date with The Yarn Harlot at a Borders out in Brentwood, TN! Let's hope it's not too bonkers and I can get in the door (this is a notoriously small Borders).

captain easychord

spring has finally hit tennessee! i think! today was absolutely gorgeous! growing up in the snow belt, spring was such a rewarding season after 5 or 6 months of grueling cold and soul-crushing snow. since the album came out, i like to celebrate the change of seasons by putting on stereolab's sound-dust and celebrating the lovely change of weather. this is a quintessential spring album for me. it's funny how some songs or albums are tied so strongly to parts of our memory, like the time i was driving home from class during a blizzard and leonard cohen's "avalanche" from "songs from a room" just happened to be playing. i can't listen to that album during the summer, but i digress. anyway, i have fond memories of having the windows down on my car, listening to this stereolab album, driving to my job at the archives and saying hello to the niagara river and lake erie on fine may mornings (when spring usually hit in the homeland). definite plus of living in the south: having spring 2 months early!

i had to get away from the dishcloths! i am happy to report i am up to 30! yes! only 10 (or so) to go! so, i spun this past weekend with the roving i picked up from etsy. behold!


It's about 208 yards and a merino colonial blend! Oh so soft and squishy! I love it! I have absolutely no idea what I'll do with it, but I'll sure it'll come to me. Eventually.

It was so nice to spin again and get away from cotton. Don't get me wrong. I love me some cotton, but everything in moderation, including moderation.

big dreams for a one-trick pony

oh dear. this weekend.

i think i am reaching near burnout status on those dishcloths.

i was having a hard time starting them, doing YOs. come on, now. the first half of those things are the easiest part and i was messing it up. it was time to take a break. so, i spun some lovely silver alpaca roving i had, and proceeded to get it all over my black shirt while watching My Favorite Year with Peter O'Toole.

so, i managed to get some crocheting done. let's play what's wrong with this picture:



could it be that i forgot the hdc (half double crochet) border on the right hand side? could it be that i was so engrossed in "pride and prejudice" on masterpiece theater? correct!

on the wedding dishcloth front, they are coming along. maybe once my crochet skills get less wonky, and can contribute some of those to mix it up a little and save my sanity.

friday binges

hello, roving. you will be at my house soon. all 8 oz of you:



in other craft related news, my crochet skills are improving by leaps and bounds! so, i tried to crochet a heart for mr. wheezy-to-be and it ended up looking like a malformed kidney. i'm a beginner. i seem to have gotten the whole single and double crochet ruckus down, and granny squares are my friends. best friends, even.

so, this weekend, it's back to the regular old dishcloths. the garter stitch knit dishcloths. as much as i may want to procrastinate, i must keep on keepin' on, or i will have some very disappointed guests at the wedding shower, and no one wants that. i could tell myself i could practice my crochet and CROCHET the dishcloths, but we all know that i would lose valuable knitting time in the process, and time is of the essence, blah de blah blah.

must focus.

but once that roving comes, though, all bets are off.

the hubris of a man!

after last night's violent storms, i stayed home from work today, because i had a hard time falling asleep with the weather radio going off every fifteen minutes and the fact that 3 fronts moved in during one evening. it was a bad time for the tennessee, arkansas, kentucky and mississippi. mr. wheezy-to-be and i saw a wall cloud outside our front door about a mile away as the tornado (luckily) lifted over nashville. unfortunately, when it landed, it did some serious damage.

i'm from the snowbelt. i'm not used to this. i'll take 6ft of snow over this any day.

on a happier and non-dishcloth related note (GASP!), i plied up some singles today that i had spun up pre-genius-idea-of-knitting-44-dish-cloths. i picked up 8 oz. of some awesome romney/mohair mix at a local fiber fest back in october. mind you, i could have kept plugging away with the goold ol'cotton, but i didn't want to push it for fear of massive burnout and backlash, which could involve me staying away from natural fibers altogether and knitting with acrylics for 2 years. *faints*

no one wants to see that.

it must be noted that i really want to spin sock yarn. i tried to make some nice 3 ply earlier, but only came up with 265 yards. that, dear reader, will not cover my large size 11 lady feet. so, i split up my 8ozs as best i could, and spun away on the highest ratio, having a grand ol'time.

so, today i two-plied. i was happy as a pig in mud as i was counting how many go-rounds i had on my niddy-noddy. "111! that'll totally make a pair of socks!" (i must also mention here i'm terrible at math). so, i came up stairs, plugged in the numbers in the magical inches to yards converter, and then started crying. ok, i didn't cry, but i lifted my fist in utter sadness and yelled "THE HUBRIS OF A MAN!" it's on't 216 yards, folks. i know i could knit little booties, but i like knitting proper socks. le sigh.

so, i've washed it, and it's currently drying in my shower as i type this. photos to follow. i think the mohair will spice up the romney nicely.

anyone who can suggest how many oz of wool i should get to make around 400 yds of 2 or 3 plied sock yarn would be my new best friend. ok, maybe not, but i'd send you a dish cloth.