And February is Fini!

YIPPEE! Month TWO is complete, and I can now move on to March. The lovely NZ Perendale I posted earlier about is plied, washed, dried, and waiting for use. The 100 or so gr/3.8 oz turned into 500 yards of 18 wpi tasty stuff. I'm really looking forward to knitting with it, but I've got one important project to finish in the next few days first. Then, I'll think about the Perendale,

but more importantly, WHAT WILL MARCH BE? I might be on the road the last week of the month, so I'm not sure how much fiber to take on. I've got some gray E. Friesian I'd like to blend with black alpaca, but that could take more time than March. I'll dig through the bins and see what catches my eye.

January Spin Down, Voila!

I was gone for this past week, and wanted to add photos of my completed Stash Spin Down for January.

Again, it's the Sincere Sheep discussed in the previous post.

I have no idea what I'll do with it, but with about 170 yds of 7 wpi there are some options.

I spun singles at 24 wpi.

Spinning my Stash Down 2011

After considering adding some pressure to my life, I've decided what the hell, and I'm going to seriously work on clearing out the stash bins. Janelle Laidman's Spindlicity Stash Down 2011, here I come!

For January, just under 4 oz of Sincere Sheep Blackberry fiber I purchase a fews year ago at Black Sheep, with no plan in mind. I had spun some nice green Sincere Sheep some months prior, and liked it so much, I wanted more(of course). Well, did I do anything with it? Of course not. While this Blackberry is not quite as soft as the green was, I still like it, and well, it's purple. And, I have some light worsted natural colors that need some companions for knitting, so, off we go.... now to make my committment public.

C'est la vie

oh well, last time here was July.... I kinda thought I could just play catch up, but that's not going to happen. Too much knitting and spinning since then.

I did just finish more items for Afghans; I sent off mittens and a sweater last month, and after the Xmas rush I'll send these off.

I've been digging in my "small amounts" of handspun basket, and now have a bag of yarn I can continue to use for Afghans projects. Some are leftovers from larger projects, some are just samples of fibers I wanted to try out. All together, or combined with other commercial or handspun yarns, they make for warm items for kids who need to keep out the cold. I really enjoy knitting them up, and knowing they'll go to a really good purpose.

On a non-charity level, I recently finished up my first Anne Hanson/Knitspot pattern, Cite. (I just can't find where on my keyboard to get that accent I need.) I knit it from some Toots fiber that KC passed on to me- it's got angora, so she needed to cast it aside. There are clumps of angora scattered about the skein, which I kind of like. I made the larger size, but don't know where it will go yet. I wanted to send it to KC, but for obvious reasons, she can't wear it.

I just started my third attempt to use some Butternut Woolens yarn I bought years ago at Black Sheep Gathering. It's a lovely lavender, Aran weight, and so far I've tried a cardigan, a cabled vest, Bramblewood, and now, I'm giving another try to a vest, but not a pullover. I've only just cast on, so if I get more than 10 rows into it, then I'll start to take photos.

it's hot, but I like Afghans

so here's another little project that I just mailed out to Afghans for Afghans.

I had about 150 yds of leftover Shibui Sock yarn, which I figured would make a nice sturdy little pair of socks for someone with cold feet. It's the "Father and Sons" pattern- Rav it until I remember how to add the link. It's been so long since I posted here.....

I do have other projects to show, but another time. If you've got leftover yarn, make some fun little socks for Afghans- or anyone that could have cold feet this winter!

Mary Scott Huff class project

Finally adding my little report to the class mentioned below-

It was a great time, the room was packed with people, many whom had been in the morning class on hats. As I imagined, Mary was thoroughly entertaining, and yet was able to get in lots of teaching. We dove into making this very cool picot/hemmed edge for the mitten; it's pretty much the same thing I did on Constance's cardi, but the process was just a little bit different. Same result: a clean, cute hem, but not for heavier weight yarns, in MHO.

I brought 4 colors of Nature's Palette Fingering Weight, and this is all I've managed to do so far, since I'm preoccupied with my "big project".





I suppose I should turn the image but I'm too lazy. It's called "Queen of Hearts", and I've still got an inch or so to go before I launch into the thumb.





"The Big Project" is what I'm obsessing over. I'm knitting it on #3s and 2s, using Toots LeBlanc Blue Face Leicester/Pygora lace weight. Yup, it's taking a while. It will be the "Footlights Cardigan" from Popknits. I cannot say how much I adore the yarn; but I will say it knits into a very very very soft fabric, and the pygora provides just a teeny little halo, especially once it's been rubbed a little. Believe me, I'm rubbin' it!

I'm currently on the second sleeve, waiting for what should be my last skein. Of course, I didn't have enough. I purchased the yarn at least 3, probably 4 years ago, and lucky girl that I am, my buddy KC also purchased ONE SKEIN at the same time! And, she hasn't used it! And, she's sending it to me for my Bday! I'll use it to finish the sleeves, add a bit more length and then pick up a bizzillion stitches for the little ribbed edging.

No current photos today, but here is what it looked like a while back:



Apparently, this is going to need some heavy vertical blocking, so I'm kind of unsure about the length. I have to decide before I can pick up all the edging stitches- once I do that there's no going back. I may add one more lace repeat then call it good.

I've got some sweet little antique buttons KC gave me for an earlier BDay gift, and I think this will be the perfect project for them.

Mary Scott Huff class coming up!

I'm quite excited; I rarely spend the money to take classes, so this is treat!

Next week, Mary Scott Huff is coming to Wild Purls, our great little LYS, to teach some classes and sign her new book, "The New Stranded Colorwork". I signed up for a "Sassy Selbuvotter" class, which should be a true challenge since I haven't knit colorwork for eternity. We'll be doing a mitten pattern called "Queen of Hearts", and are supposed to bring a DK weight yarn in 3-5 colors with needles to result in a gauge of 6 st/in. Well, I want to use some of my Nature's Palette fingering weight stash- so that works out to size 1 needles. Now fingering isn't exactly DK weight, is it? Maybe I should ask..... oh rock the boat a bit, right?

Rather than posting a photo of my box of NP stash, I'll just leave a link to her website- and make sure to read her blog- it's a hoot!

http://www.maryscotthuff.com/

okay, I'm adding this a few hours later- I read an old review of NP fingering on Knitter's Review, and a gauge of 6/in resulted from #5s! SO, I've knitted a little swatch to see if I can get that, and if I like the fabric. More later.