cosmicpluto knits!

fits and starts

Whew, that flu really knocked me out – I didn’t even want to knit for a couple days, so you *know* I was really ill! But after that the crafting kicked right back in – and hard.

I finally blocked the slip-stitch ridged cardigan I posted about before – now it’s just waiting for some buttons. I’m going to be working on the pattern for this one for the next little while, but the yoke shaping might be a bit tricky to write up!

Although I haven’t had much time with my spinning wheel at all lately, I’m finally getting back into the groove. I’ve got this goal to spin down my stash as much as possible before MDSW (will I see you there?).

So far I wound off some gorgeous teal yarn that’s been sitting on a bobbin for a long while – this was mixed batts that I got last Rhinebeck.

Then I spun and plied up all the grey roving behind the teal there – it was a big fluffy cloud of fibre, also from last Rhinebeck.

I spun it really fast and furiously to a couple episodes in a row of Six Feet Under (which is awesome, but kinda depressing tv-watching) and came up with 460 yards of 2ply, worstedish weight. It goes really nicely with the teal, so they might end up together in something!

All this desire to work through some stash has also resulted in me picking up a hook!

This is my very first granny square – inspired by Joelle’s Giant Granny Square, I’m working up a giant granny square of my own. This is nearly one ball of Noro Taiyo, a little bigger than a foot square, and I’ve got five balls. This goes so quickly! I love the colour changes. Might back it with some fabric afterwards, but we’ll see.

Happy Easter, Passover…or just Sunday!

a spinner is born

So back at Rhinebeck,my travel buddies Cheryl and Andrea both decided on Sunday afternoon that it was high time to look for a spindle and some roving and get spinning! Obviously I was rather pleased, having both of them turned by the wool fumes…buahaha.

With that goal and a tight budget for this whole spinning lark, we set out to find some inexpensive spindles (a bit challenging) and some pretty roving (not nearly as challenging) and I got ‘em spindling on our last night at our Rhinebeck house.

Fast forward a month, and both of them have finished their very first handspuns! I didn’t take a photo of Cheryl’s (I should’ve though, it was awesome) but I did take some photos of Andrea on Wednesday night at knit night!

Plying…which is my favourite part;

Stephanie helping Andrea with Andean plying;

And Andrea’s very first plied mini-skein! She ended up with about 100 yards or so. (From pretty Ashland Bay merino, in case anyone’s wondering!)

Awesome. I love seeing spinners being born.

I’ve been spinning a little bit myself, too – here’s some gorgeous 2ply worsted-ish weight that I spun up from merino/silk batts that I got at Rhinebeck. I haven’t counted up the yardage yet, and there’s another bobbin full that I haven’t wound off yet.

I’ve also finally managed to get a few woven scarves up in my Etsy shop. I’d wanted to get more done for this update, but I figure I’ll just add as I go – lots more to come, and you can always contact me if you have a request!

rhinebeck spoils

It’s late and I’m dying to go to bed, but I wanted to post all the yummy stuff I got at Rhinebeck! So it might have to be point form if I’m going to get through writing this…

L: Teal laceweight cashmere, over 1600 yards, from the Skaska booth. Mmm!
C: Black fingering weight cashmere, 1200 yards (score!) from the Skaska booth as well. A woman at the booth was a little disappointed that Andrea and I bought up all the black cashmere!
R: DK weight wool/silk from Brooks Farm, 1 skein. Probably destined for something like a swallowtail shawl for a gift.

L: a sweater’s worth of pillowy, squishy natural coloured DK-weight merino from Greenwood Hill Farm (I think?). Sort of knits up tweedy – I totally got sucked in by the knitted up samples at the booth!
C: three skeins of sock yarn from Sliver Moon Farm in a gorgeous plum. Seriously, the camera did not want to capture the true luminescence of this yarn.
R: two skeins of yak down/cormo DK-weight yarn from Bijou Basin. This yarn is irregularly spun, cushy, and I love it! I’ve got 300 yards, and I’m thinking something with cables…

And finally, in spinning fibres (do you sense a colour theme here?) -

L: batts from twitchystitches.com – crazy awesome teal/green/shiny goodness. About 180g.
C: smokey grey corriedale mix from Spinner’s Hill – 5 oz.
R: one lone braid of Ashland Bay merino in Cranberry – 4 oz.

I also came home with a heck of a lot of raw milk cheese and a couple bars of soap, too! I actually had a bit of trouble shopping on the Saturday since it was so darn busy, I just wasn’t really able to concentrate properly! I more than made up for it on Sunday though

In not-unrelated news, I have a pair of Fluevog Marians, red, in size 7.5 that I want to sell to a good home. After I twisted my ankle, it’s decided to be a bit…reconfigured. So they don’t fit quite right anymore! I’ve only worn them a few times (maybe 3 times) so they’re in like new condition. Yours for the same price I paid, $165 (USD or CDN is fine with me, despite the now rather significant difference!) and I’ll include the shipping. Email me if you’d like some new shoes!
Taken!

uncle!

There will be no yellow jersey for me this year! I’ve totally failed in my attempt at the Tour de Fleece.

Well, to be fair, I did set my sights rather high – recall this photo. I’d estimate that I still have at least a pound of fiber left – and I’ve been spinning hard, dudes. Today (Friday) was the first day off I’ve had since last Monday, and every day that I was at the store, I spun on one of the store wheels.

I made quite a dent in the last week, really, especially with the Woolee Winder…but I’ve still got more fiber! It’s like the neverending fleece. That there photo is of 13 balls of various weights, since several (4) were done on a Louet, which has a huge bobbin.

I did spin a bit today and managed another bobbin’s worth, and I might be able to spin another tomorrow. But that still won’t bring me quite all the way. And then there’s all the plying to do. I’m not that deterred, really, because I still want to finish up this project! It feels like I’ve devoted so much time to it that it would be stupid to stop now. I’ll be spinning until it’s done!

After the spinning and plying (I’m going to do a three ply), then comes some knitting…I’m thinking a coat-type sweater, maybe in a dense, flat stitch like a herringbone. I could even sew a lining or something. It’s going to be a lot of yardage, so I’ll have options!

box bag, berries and bobbins

Man, I don’t know where my crafting focus has gone these days. Well, I guess I actually DO know, I’m just impatient to get back on track with all my various projects! I’ve been a little all over the place with all my various crafts (sewing, cooking, gardening, spinning, and you know, the knitting) that I haven’t been able to focus well on any particular one, really.

I’ve got all sorts of fabric that’s come into the house…

(knits on the left from Wazoodle, organic cotton and some cotton print on the right from Tonic Living.)

I’ve been picking cherries from the sour cherry tree in my yard, although I haven’t done anything with them yet – I’m thinking pie:

A little bit of knitting, just plugging away on the pink Thermal. I’ve got a very new little cousin that I want to knit stuff for too, but I just haven’t managed to get started yet!

I’m feeling very scattered and unfocused. I’ve decided that this summer I’m going to try to take it easy on myself, although I know I might have some projects coming up that will make that difficult! I’ll be working in the store a lot more over the summer, between megan taking time off to have her baby, and denny going away on a couple fun trips. But one thing seems to be helping me focus? The Tour de Fleece.

When I started spinning today I was feeling a bit defeated by the enormous bag of fibre before me, with only one and a half bobbins spun – but I sat at the wheel for a few hours this afternoon, and have managed to up the count to three full bobbins and a bit of a fourth. I’ve got a couple movies recorded on the DVR, and I’m staying in all this weekend, so spinning here I come! I want to spin all the singles before I ply, but since I don’t have quite so many bobbins, I’ll need to wind them off on the ball winder as I go.

One more thing that I think will help me focus a bit? My new project bag – a super cute box bag by rachel m.! We hung out today and she was lovely enough to gift me one. I think I might start a new pair of socks just to keep them in here.

One more summer plan – more blogging. I’m working on it, really I am!

when did it become july?

Well, five days ago apparently. This year has just completely whooshed by (and I know it’s only half done, but still!).

I’m hopping on the Tour de Fleece bandwagon and posting my intentions in the hopes of actually completing my goal!

I’m going to spin this roving up.

It’s a dark brown corriedale fleece that I bought at the Royal Winter Fair last November, and had processed by the (now-defunct) Lindenhof Wool Mill. It’s a big bag of roving, and I want to spin it all up! I think it might just be quick-and-dirty style, 2 or 3 ply (haven’t decided yet). I did start spinning singles today, but I only spun for about an hour.

It’s a lot of roving. I’m going to have to spin right quick if I want to get it done!

(Wheel in the background for scale.)

I seem to think I can bend the time-space continuum, because I’ve also got a whole lotta knitting to do and sewing that I want to get to! It’s going to be a busy month.