Knitwith Homespun

Yesterday was the Spin-In at Irvine Park. I had a really good time. One other person showed up and she brought the wheel that I am thinking about buying so it was a double treat. I took my Spunky Eclectic stuff with me but I decided not to use it. I opted for the Superwash Merino in Lemon Lime in the center pull ball. This is a one pound ball and will take me some time to spin. I figure if I spin every day and get a nice even single, I can ply the three bobbins together and make something really nice. The singles are very soft and looking very even. This way, when I get to the September Spunky club stuff, I should have plenty of practic under my belt and I will be much less intimidated about screwing it up.

This is the full bobbin that I spun up yesterday at the park and at home. I am working on the next bobbin and I believe I should fill up yet another. I only have 4 so I hope that is all I need seeing as how I don`t have any more.

Next are the pictures of the Majacraft Rose that Karen had. Oh my goodness is it pretty. It has so much more to offer me than this Ashford Traditional has. The bobbins are bigger. The drive band is elastic. There are sooooooooooo many more ratios to choose from. The footprint is much smaller. I will be saving for one of these and I can`t wait til I have enough!

Blogging: I am tired to death of this blogging software. It was free and it was worth every penny! I don`t get e-mails when I get comments, and I can`t file these things under categories, and it`s getting on my nerves. I will be installing and setting up new stuff on my other domain and testing it there and then I will move it over here. At that time, I will archive this blog and start fresh. Does anyone have any thoughts on what blogging software is good? I am not talking about Vox or Blogger or sites that you blog on, but software you install on your server and use yourself. Thanks.

Spinning: Saturday is the Spin-in in Irvine Park. I am very excited to spin with other people. I know for sure there will be at least one other person so I am going today to the park to scout where to set up and I will post instructions in the Ravelry group at Upcoming.org where I intend to be waiting for the hundreds of spinners and knitters (ok 2).

Also, it has come to my attention that I blogged about the Alpaca that I bought in Malta, Idaho. I promised to take pictures of this roving and I never did. Here they are!

Knitting: I have casted on the Natalie Coat from Big Girl Knits and I am really excited! I am knitting a sweater for myself! I frogged the gray basketweave cardigan (1.5 skeins of Lion Brand Wool Ease) that I started last year and has been sitting since and I am using that yarn for this project. I only have about 5 rows of the front left side done so when it starts to shape up, I will take some pictures of it.

I get my roving and fiber from many different places and I have a HUGE stash of fiber for spinning. I am afraid to use it because it is all so pretty (thanks Boogie) so I don`t want to ruin it like I have been. However, the most success I have had is with Merino and from this reseller on Ebay. I just bought some more from her and I am thrilled to death! The reason I am posting this here, is because the roving was so incredibly easy to use. It is practically already pre-drafted and it is sent to me in a center pull ball. It allows me to spin effortlessly and without worrying about drafting and joining. For a beginner like me, that`s priceless. This roving I got today in the mail is a 1 pound ball and it`s merino. It was $20. Awesome! I can`t wait to spin it. The orange yarn pictured is the previous ball I bought (1 ounce). The green (my favorite color that my SIL hates) arrived today. This orange and this green are all my favorites completely.

Here is the picture I promised of my orange handspun. It`s much smoother of a ply than the purple. It`s not perfect in any way, but I like it. Bella wants me to make her something with it. I think all I can do is a headband with it. What do you all think?

I did it! All by myself! Noone showed me (in person). I found videos and instructions on the internet. I bought some roving on ebay from The Special Tea Shop I was very very very pleased with this. I bought two different colors of roving each superwash merino and nice colors. I bought about an ounce of each for about $1 each. I loved this seller and am linking to them because the roving was pencil roving and it came in a center pull ball. It was super easy to spin this way. I will definitely buy more stuff from them. I spun them both up (for easy spinning) and plied them as my test yarns. The purpley color is pictured here. It`s very pale and not very pretty but it spun very very well and easily.

The singles were mostly even with not a lot of overpin. I was pleased with it. You can see in this picture the folds from the plying. The orange singles plied much easier and were much more evenly spun singles. The folds are much smoother in that yarn but there are more bumps in it. The ply is better in the orange (which I`ll post pictures of tomorrow when light is better.) Unfortunately, the orange is only about 50 yards and I don`t have enough experience to know what the weight is but I`ll figure it out when I post the pictures.

I am very very happy to have figured this out since I am very lousy at wrapping for an andean ply and I tried buying a tool that you wrap the yarn around and it got tangled (yet again). I can`t go around tangling all my singles cause that will just make me mad! I also tried making a center pull ball and plying a two ply with that and that was awful and tangly. So, two ply is not the way to go for me. The navajo ply has been ok so far but I`ll keep you all posted.

I have not worked on my Firestarters for a couple of days since I`ve been spinning like a crazy woman (I have spun other stuff to get my rhythm back). I haven`t spun anything since before I went to North Carolina. It`s felt good to do it but I will get back to my Firestarters tonight. I am about to turn the heel on them and that`s very exciting too. Looks like both people that read my blog will be busy the next couple of days!

Tomorrow is Isabella`s birthday. It makes me a little weepy every year just because she is such a gift to me and my husband. We tried for 10 years to have kids and we were blessed with one wonderful child who lights up our life. It was a long hard road to get here and it was worth every tear and every heartache and they were very severe. Today on my hike, my iPod played a song that completely echoes my feelings on the subject and I will post the lyrics here now for your benefit:

From the first time the doctor placed you in my arms
I knew Id meet death before Id let you meet harm
Although questions arose in my mind would I be man enough
Against wrong choose right and be standin up
From the hospital that first night
Took a hour just ta get the cars eat in right
People drivin all fast got me kinda upset
Got you home safe placed you in your basonette
That night I dont think one wink I slept
As I slipped out my bed to your crib I crept
Touched your head gently felt my heart melt
Cause I know I loved you more than life itself
Then to my knees and I begged the lord please
Let me be a good daddy all he needs
Love knowledge discipline too
I pledge my life to you

Just the two of us we can make it if we try
Just the two of us just the two of us
Just the two of us building castles in the sky
Just the two of us you and i

Five years old bringin comedy
Everytime I look at you I think man a little me
Just like me
Wait an see gonna be tall
Makes me laugh cause you got your dads ears an all
Sometimes I wonder what you gonna be
A general a doctor maybe a mc
Haha I wanna kiss you all the time
But I will test that butt when you cut outta line trudat
Uh uh uh why you do dat
I try to be a tough dad but you be makin me laugh
Crazy joy when I see the eyes of my baby boy
I pledge to you I will always do
Everything I can
Show you how to be a man
Dignity integrity honor an
An I dont mind if you lose long as you came with it
An you can cry aint no shame it it
It didnt work out with me an your mom
But yo push come to shove
You was conceived in love
So if the world attacks and you slide off track
Remember one fact I got your back

Just the two of us we can make it if we try
Just the two of us just the two of us
Just the two of us building castles in the sky
Just the two of us you and i

Its a full time job to be a good dad
You got so much more stuff than I had
I gotta study just to keep with the changin times
101 dalmations on your cd rom
See me im
Tryin to pretend I know
On my pc where that cd go
But yo aint nuthin promised one day Ill be gone
Feel the strife but trust life does go wrong
But just in case
Its my place
To impart
One day some girls gonna break your heart
And ooh aint no pain like from the opposite sex
Gonna hurt bad but dont take it out on the next son
Throughout life people will make you mad
Disrespect you and treat you bad
Let God deal with the things they do
Cause hate in your heart will consume you too
Always tell the truth say your prayers
Hold doors pull out chairs easy on the swears
Youre living proof that dreams do come true
I love you and Im here for you

This is a good song dad how much am I gettin paid for this

Will Smith

I don`t know if Will Smith wrote this or not but it is a wonderful wonderful song that I love to hear when it comes on my iPod. Bella loves it too and sometimes asks me things from it. She says “Did you sleep one wink when you brought me home?” I say nope! I came in and touched your head gently. She is a love and I am very grateful for her.

Ok I am working very very hard on this circular hood/scarf from Little Box of Scarves. It`s easy and a quick knit. I have a huge problem though and I need someone`s help to make this decision. You can see that it`s a long circular project. I have done 16 rows or so at this point and it`s 1/3 done. My problem: it`s twisted. It`s not a mobius but it`s twisted. What do I do? Any ideas? Do I start over? Do I leave it?

Opinion Polls & Market Research

Ok so I don`t update my blogroll or the links on the left too much but it`s on my list of things to do. However, there is a good link there showing my hiking stats. Well, I haven`t been hiking much since Bella got out of school and I started back this week. I was hiking with my SIL and we saw the Willow Trail was open so we decided to take it. This is what the trail looked like in March when the closed the trail for 6 months. They close it for the development and habitat restoration of some bird species (it would be good if I knew which kind but I don`t). The trail is scheduled to open on September 15 but it was open yesterday and we took the trail.

Here is what we saw. When we went through yesterday, it looked much spookier and darker and scarier. We kept thinking the spider from Arachnophobia was going to drop down and get us. Of course, for my hike yesterday, I didn`t have my camera so I went back today just to get these shots before too many people have gone through the trail and it lost the look.

All through the park there are these trees that drop off cotton fluff and there is a high concentration of this stuff here in this trail. That is why I wanted to take these shots. There is so much stinkin fluff there it is really overwhelming. The combination of the fluff and the spider webs that are in there are amazing. I experimented with some HDR (I never tried it before) so that we could see the detail and the amount of the fluff. Here is my set on Flickr if you are interested. There are a bunch of them and I like quite a few of them.

I have been working diligently on my Firestarters from Yarnissima and I love them. I got over a little hump with them as a beginner and I think it will now go much more quickly. Let`s go bit by bit on these……

First, my plan was to knit these on two circular needles at the same time. I cast on using the figure 8 cast on on two needles and started my increases for the toe. I got to the part of the pattern which calls for the cabling without the cable needle and it tells you to shift stitches from one half of the needles to the other. Well if you have another sock in the way, you are screwed so……I took one sock off and put it on two circulars (since my one 32″ size 1 was occupied by the other sock). Ok, explanation done on why there are two socks in one shot.

Now we come to the cable looking part. This is where I had some trouble figuring it out. Not because the pattern is written poorly but because I am a doof. The first couple of times I did the technique, I dropped the back or front stitch depending on which stitch I was working. After the next couple of times, I was able to do it without checking the details and without dropping the stitches. I think the more times I do this technique, the better my pattern will look. I will continue to post pictures for anyone who is interested to see if they end up looking better or not.

Next, I bought these wonderful and fabulous pattern row markers. I want to show them and I am using them with this pattern to help me keep my place. While you are knitting your pattern, slip the first marker on your needle or your work (whichever you prefer, but you won`t want to stretch your knitting so I would recommend placing it on the needle. Then, on the next round, you insert another marker but by attaching it to the bottom of the previous marker with the clasp that is shown below. Cool huh? I love these and they are pretty. I may have to get more though so I can use patterns with more rows in them.

Well today I have a lot to say. Maybe it`s because I got too much sleep. Maybe it`s because I`m a freak and can`t shut up. Maybe I have noone to talk to (not true). Maybe the people I have to talk to don`t listen……interesting…..

First, I have been collecting yarn all week and last week from San Francisco and stuff that came in the mail. Here is a lovely shot I really like that I have edited in Lightroom (my new favorite toy). Now this collection of new sock yarn poses a problem for me because I am in the middle of a pair of socks that may suffer from second sock syndrome. I will pick it back up later, though, because I do love these yarn colors.

This brings me to my second issue having to do with my waving lace socks. Look at this toe! Seriously! What the heck happened here? I know what happened and I`ll explain. I love to knit my socks toe up. However, having come down from the leg on this sock, the toe is finished last. Well when I got to the toe, I have to do a kitchener stitch to finish and I suck at that. Also, when I got to the end I added an extra round of stockinette (which the pattern didn`t call for but I didn`t realize until it was too late). Then the kitchener stitch which is probably my best one to date.

So, now on to my next pair of socks. With all this sock yarn piling up I can`t possibly wait to start them. I will use the pastel Lorna`s Laces yarn and the Firestarter pattern from Yarnissima! I am sooooooo excited to start this sock I can`t even tell you all. Isn`t it beautiful? I think so.

Next is my project bag (which I had to buy two of because Bella wanted one just like it for her “purse”.) I have a big knitting bag which fits all my needles, a couple big skeins of yarn (or 8-10 sock yarns), pockets for all my gadgets and trickets that you need for knitting. However, this bag is far too big to haul around and since I was hauling stuff around all summer, I realized I needed something much smaller. Hence, the project bag pictured here. What I keep in it is my current pattern or book, yarn cutter acceptable for plane travel, stitch markers, reading/knitting glasses, yarn, needles and/or anything else my pattern calls for. It has made my knitting and traveling much much easier to handle.

Next, I got my Ravely Summer Camp Swap package yesterday and I have yet to take the pictures or describe it`s contents. I will do that tomorrow simply because I am sure you are all bored with me at this point.

Ok, watching tennis and signing off!

I need to blog more! This is something I am very aware of. I have, however, determined that I am writing for writings sake because noone reads this, except maybe Susan (my sister). Hi Susan!

This week has been very very hectic. Bella is back in school and today has a playdate with Sam. There are several problems with this (and this is why I said yes):

1. I haven`t done ANY housework all summer. Therefore, my house is a wreck. (Already halfway remedied). I need the pressure to make sure I do something. If I didn`t let people come over because I was embarrassed by my messy house, poor Bella could have no friends. I got over it.

2. Haven`t yet completely unpacked from any trip. That`s right, 5 trips, no unpacking! Laundry is EVERYWHERE!

3. I NEED to knit and spin! I can`t help it and the yarn is piling up. It`s really a matter of keeping things tidy that I knit. Nothing we can do about that.

4. It`s Bella`s birthday! She`s turning 7 and wants a party. I swore I wouldn`t be one of those parents that gives their child a party every year but I can`t help myself. I think we will have it at the park. Her birthday is still a couple of weeks away but this way, she can invite more friends. Good plan? I think so.

That`s pretty much it for me. No pictures really except this one of the Golden Gate Bridge which I am particularly proud of. Enjoy and have a great weekend!