It Continues

Wow. I didn't mean to be gone that long! We had a great Christmas and New Year with our families, although I was very disappointed by the total lack of snow in the Midwest. Now that the holidays are over, I can show you a few projects that I finished:
The Danica scarf, for Chelsea.
This is a sort of cowl, big neckwarmer, accessory sort of thing...technically, it's a mobius.

Now that I am home, the knitting obligations do not end. I am working on a scarf that will be a thank-you gift for a friend who helped us immensely on Christmas Eve:
This is Anne Hanson's lovely La Novia pattern.

I am also working on one last for-hire scarf for a child who wanted stripes:
There will be lavender in it, too - just haven't gotten there yet. No pattern, just making it up as I go.

Since we were gone for over a week, we had our mail held. When I picked it up, I was thrilled to find a package containing yarn! Some time ago, I had purchased some roving and later had the brilliant idea to ask my friend Erin to spin it for me since she has a spinning wheel and I am very slow with my drop spindle. She obliged and now I have this lovely yarn waiting to be knit up:
Thanks for hanging in there during the hiatus. I promise to be back again soon.

Progress

So last night I decided to go ahead and ply the Hot Rocks singles. Unfortunately, the singles broke several times while I was winding them, so I have 4 mini-skeins. And I do mean mini! They look great here:
But here's another picture to show you the scale:
(Yes, I do have a pinkie finger - it just didn't make it in the shot.)

I'd say the yarn came out heavy fingering weight. You know how it is with handspun...thicker in some places, thinner in others.

While the spindle was bare, I decided to try out some of the Spunky Eclectic roving Rosemary sent me a few months ago. It is a wool blend, according to the label. So far, the singles are nice. It's one of those fiber blends that just goes on and on forever, though, so what I think will be a nice little chunk of fiber to spin turns into a long process!

I feel like I have a lot of random thoughts bouncing around in my brain this week and yet, I can't seem to articulate any of them well. I hate it when that happens. It's like I'm right on the verge of saying something very profound, but all that comes out is, "Hey look. I spun some yarn."

First Skein aka I Wanna Be Like Erin

My first proper handspun yarn.

Take That, Anne *cackles madly*

Dear Anne,

This is for you. For all the times you have made me lust after your yarn. Look!! Look at all that greyish, bluish, purpley deliciousness! Miiiiine.....allllllll miiiiiine....muwahahahaha.

Heck, for all I know, you already have this yarn. Here's hoping I made you do a double-take, at least.

Yours in yarny goodness-
Julie

P.S. This colorway is called Moonlight, but it looks like it's not available at The Loopy Ewe at the moment.

I'm At It Again

I finished the Pinwheel Blanket...
I'm close to finishing plain stockinette socks...
And I acquired new yarn. (the other skein is getting its own post.)

Itchy

I need someone to talk me down off a knitty ledge today...I'm so itchy to knit these! However, I would have to buy yarn to do so. Do I need to buy more yarn right now? Uh, no. Do I have plenty of sock yarn in my stash? Uh, yes. But I've had this great idea for colors for those aforementioned socks and I just can't get it out of my head! Waaaahhh!!

I've told myself that I need to finish the second Borg yarn sock and then pick a yarn out of the stash to knit with before I can allow myself to buy more sock yarn.

Hmph.

Sunny Days

The weather has been so lovely this week. Not great for winter handknits, but really lovely in a Spring sort of way. In order to celebrate, I decided to whip up a quick 3/4 sleeved cardigan.



Pattern: Jawbreaker Cardigan, from Interweave Knits Winter '06
Yarn: Artful Yarn's Reality, in Survivor
Needles: US sz 11 for ribbing, 10.5 for everything else

I've had my eye on the Reality yarn for a while, but wasn't sure what to do with it. Then I remembered the Jawbreaker Cardi, which I'll admit didn't do much for me at first - but then I realized it could be what I wanted: a plain, simple sweater with 3/4 sleeves that I could just hack around in. The yarn is a chain yarn, so while technically it is bulky, it is very loose and airy and when knitted up, the fabric is quite light. I realize that the real money shot would be me actually wearing the cardigan, but I couldn't be bothered to make myself look presentable and then figure out the timer settings on my new camera before 8:00 AM. Oh, and yes, I do realize that none of the stripes match up. I didn't want them to and after working with this yarn, I don't think it's even possible.

In light of Spring and new beginnings and all that, I've been thinking a lot about this sweater from my past:



This is an Ann Taylor sweater that I got when I was in college. Bobbles anyone? While the bobbles are a bit much for my taste these days, I do think it's still a pretty sweater. 80% silk/20% cotton. It's in desperate need of a good cleaning, but once I do that, I have big plans to deconstruct this sweater...totally unravel the whole thing, give the yarn a good wash, re-skein it and then consider the possibilities of what it could become. I'm open to suggestion...any ideas?

While I was outside taking these pictures, the kids came out with me and started dancing together. Pardon Ethan's jammies - he wasn't interested in getting dressed yet.