We're going camping this weekend! In Hocking Hills! Woo!

I finished the wheel, and got it all put together. I'm working my way through my Shetland Triangle, Due Date: May 22nd. And I'm working through a dishcloth for gifties! Amazingly, we've made it to two Wednesday night knit nights in a row. Hey - we were busy for a while, and then we were sick, and then we were just tired, but we're getting there now. So ha! It's way awesome.

Rae is making this bag, and I'm utterly jealous. Liiiiike, freaking out jealous. Hopefully she won't use it - because I want it, I need it, I'm desperately in love with it.

Did I say that we're going camping this weekend? And that I haven't slept well all week? And that we're going drinking with my little brother tonight? He turned 21 this week, so we're taking him out! We'll hit the liquor store, a bar or two, great times! Annnnd, we made him specialty vodka. Hot dog vodka!!!! Chilli dog shots tonight, baby!*



*Umm, I personally think this is absolutely disgusting. But Rae and Little Brother are terribly excited, and I can't help but get caught up in it..

Last week was stressful. So very very stressful. Work was a nightmare. Until late Thursday, I was certain that I'd be working all day Saturday and a half day on Sunday. But then on Thursday they cancelled my project and my weekend opened up and I decided to take advantage of it!

We had our annual company banquet Friday night. Not interesting stuff, I can tell you that.

Saturday Rae and I went to Innis Woods! I haven't been to Innis Woods in ages. Beyond that, the last few times I went it was just to get some time with a girl away from prying parental eyes. We actually made it out of the car on Saturday, at which point I'd seen more than any previous trips there. We started walking around, took the long path around the very edge of the park and then made it over to the Sister's Garden - which was a delight for our fanciful minds. We played Saturday morning. We invented worlds, countries at odds, and fairy tale peoples. We wrote a children's novel out loud on our "diplomatic envoy" of the afternoon. It was great fun. We have to go back when things are alive.

Saturday evening we saw Slumdog Millionaire. What fun! The vibrant colors and the energetic music combined for a great time. The story was sad at points, but in the end everything played out well and "justice" and "retribution" were had. And the hero gets the girl, which is ever important.

Sunday we slept in and went to Three Creeks Park - what a weekend for being outdoors! All the activity was relaxing, being outside was centering, and the cold - well, was bearable. We had a good three mile walk on Sunday, nearing a jog at points. We're trying to make sure we'll be able to handle the hike this weekend. The week before is the perfect time to start "training", right? Haha!

And I finished finishing my spinning wheel - about time, right? I'm not terribly pleased with it, but it's just going to have to do. I'll work on it again once the weather outside is tolerable. Until then, I want to be able to use the thing! And I'm going to, but not tonight. Stupid work class, taking up my precious free time. Tomorrow, though.

Finito.

Ahh! I finished it! It's way totally awesomely exciting. It's at home right now, pinned to blue foam mats. This evening I get to unpin it and toss it around my shoulders.



I know every first time blocker has got to say this, but I'm just amazed at how much the thing grew! It was such a crumpled tiny mess, then I started pinning it, and it grew a little bit. But then it kept stretching and I kept adjusting the pins and then, magically, it was huge! Ahh! Attack of the Luna Moth Monster! Batman!

I'm hungry today. Physically hungry. My tummy has been rumbling all day. My tumbling was rumbling while I ate my oatmeal; my tummy was loud when I shoved my energy bar down my throat; my tummy yelled while I chewed my bag of vegetables, my macaroni, and my salad. Right now, my tummy is doing anticipatory flip flops while I think about dinner. I just don't get it.

We tried boxed macaroni and cheese this weekend. It was pretty alright, as far as boxed food goes. We also walked down the street to watch the construction men assemble the tower crane that's going to build the new apartment building they finally started. I would lie, and say that we only went to see it because the 6 year old who spent the night was interested, but I'm not much of a liar. We really just wanted to watch them install a tower crane. I could potentially say that I did it for the practical experience, as a tower crane could potentially be related to my work, but that's too much of a stretch.

I also (mostly) finished the Luna Moth! I finished the last full repeat, and then the half repeat, and then the edging row. And I'm approx. 30% through the bind off! I should finish it tonight, and then I'll be able to block it - because I bought some foam mats this weekend, and some pins! Woo!

I also retrieved the wheel from my father's house. It still needs to be painted/stained/finished though. I'll probably do that this evening. And it will probably just be the same blue as the stand. Because, well, I'm tired of waiting. And this is the easiest thing I can come up with. Then I get to spin!! Which is way totally awesome for me. Big fun!

Next I'm starting the Shetland Triangle shawl from Wrap Style in some bright blue Lyndon Hill pima cotton/silk for Renee's cousin's wedding. That one I'm really excited for.

I did figure it out! In fact, I figured it out, flew through the repeat I'd just frogged on Saturday night , and the whole next one on Sunday! So I've got one (or maybe two or three) whole pattern repeats, and then the half pattern repeat that forms the edging, then the edging and the last different row, and then the cast off! That's way totally exciting. See? Way excited.

And I'm going to bust out some 'manly' dishcloths. Any idea what a manly dishcloth is? Yeah, I wasn't too sure either. It'll get figured out, though. I'm sure.

So, I'm knitting the Luna Moth with KnitPicks Palette, on a size 6 needle. The other Ravelland projects are using the Palette with a size 8 or 9 needle. That's okay. Hence the extra two or maybe three pattern repeats. Also, having never blocked lace, I'm not sure how much it'll grow and I want to make sure it's big enough. Personally, I'd rather it be too big than not big enough. I guess, right? Yeah.

FFI, Plus

5. If my life had a pause button, I'd pause it _every Sunday morning_.

I only felt like the one. That's okay.

My spinning wheel still is not ready. It was delivered, and I immediately put it together and had some fun with it. I took some yarn we both hated (Lion Brand Wool-Ease, if you must know) and overspun it, then plied the two colors together. Now it's delightful. So the yarn probably isn't that bad to work with, but it was so loose and stretchy and awful to work with. Now it's got a nice firm hand, and it'll be okay to use. I was delighted. After that was finished, I spun a little bit with some merino I had lying around. I loved it. It was delightful. My yarn was a bit over spun, but that's okay.

And then I took it apart to stain/paint it. And that's still not finished. It's just the wheel that's not finished. I was painting it with acrylics, but that was just awful. So I tried to spray paint it instead, and that was retarded on top of the acrylic. So it's got to be sanded down and then repainted. Which should be finished this weekend, and then it's back to learning to spin! Exciting.

I finished my socks I was working on. Which is a darntooting good thing, because there was a sock yarn sale last weekend, and now we're up to our eyeballs in sock yarn. Excellent.

I'm slightly fiascoed with the Luna Moth right now. I frogged back to my last lifeline, and had some issues. I'm using sewing thread for the lifelines, because it's smooth, it's bright red, and it was there. Well, not such a great idea. My stitches ended up dropping into the row below, and I've got a tangle of hunter green wool and Christmas red nylon on my hands now. Most of the row is back on needles now, but it's proving nearly impossible to knit through - the thread is so tangled up in the stitches, they're stuck. Goodness. Well, it'll be okay. I'll get it figured out this weekend. Perhaps.

Wednesday.

Otherwise known as the day I should be spending at home due to the white death, but instead I'm at work. Bah.

Regardless. I'm at work, and I'm working (HA!) and later this afternoon I have to drive to Dublin, the freakin' Bermuda Triangle of Columbus in the snow. Wish me luck.

I made it through another few rows in the Luna Moth last night. They're taking a lot longer now than they were last week. Eh. And!! I decided that for the summery shawl for the wedding, I've got some fantastic bright blue pima cotton/silk finger weight to work with. There are a couple patterns I'm thinking about, but I think it's down to either Swallowtail, Shetland Triangle (from Wrap Style), or Cleite from Twist Collective. We'll see. I'm way excited! Except for the part about Dublin...

Tuesday.

The first half of my wheel came in the mail yesterday - my niddy noddy, and a pound of fiber. The actual wheel itself is scheduled to be delivered on Thursday. So it's not here yet. But that's okay. I'll go home Thursday, put it together, and spin some. And then some more on Friday. Saturday morning I'll take it all apart, and go stain it. !! And I'm going to work on refining the PVC swift with my little brother, too. So, exciting.

I'm taking a class for work right now - it's every Monday night for three months. And they're awfully boring. Last night was especially rough - so after the first break, I pulled out my emergency sock. You know, the one I started a month ago and still haven't made it past the arch expansion? Yep, that one. I worked on it while focusing on making eye contact with the instructor (I've never knit in a meeting/class before, so it was a new thing!) and now I'm almost finished with the arch. Ten more rounds, and I get to start the heel. :)

And the Luna Moth - I think it finally clicked. I knit two rows last night, and I only needed the chart a few times. That's way exciting for me. I'm about halfway through my 3rd repeat. I might get a summery shawl finished in time for the wedding at this rate!

Today is my birthday. Which is a very important day in the bubble in which I live. :)

And, because it is my birthday, I bought myself something special. (Ok, so really my dad's birthday money bought me something special.)

Isn't is lovely? It's an Ashford Kiwi. And I'm going to finish it with one of these colors. Aren't they lovely too?! I think I've settled on the Antique Jade, but I could change my mind when I see these in person.

Beyond the excitement of the new wheel, I'm also way totally excited about the loaf of bread I baked last night! (I bake bread. Fairly frequently, actually. You kinda have to when your partner can't eat wheat products.) I used a sourdough starter, and a white rice flour mix. And, magically, the taste and the texture was exactly that of English Muffins. Love in loaf shape.

Today is a whole new day. I wouldn't quite say a whole new world, but the hope and excitement traveling over the air waves makes it feel as such.

Watched the inauguration on the fellyvision yesterday. Rae says she watched all day long. I only got to see about an hours worth, but it was enough. Yes, I cried, but just a tear or two.

I haven't knitted in ages, it seems. I decided that the Gail was too much lace much too soon. So I dropped back to the LunaMoth. I like it. I'm working it up in Knitpicks Palette, a hunter green. I was hoping to finish a shawl in time for Rae's cousin's wedding, but hunter green isn't such a great spring wedding color. Maybe I'll zip through the rest of this one, and start another simple-like shawl with the alpaca. But that would require some knitterly ninja focus.

Which I definitely don't have right now. Largely because I've been reading the last few days. Over the weekend, I read The Friday Night Knitting Club; it was okay. I'm glad I didn't buy it, because I'll never have the desire to read it again. To be honest, I wouldn't have read it the first time if it wasn't about knitters. ... Not that it was a bad book, because it wasn't. I've definitely been exposed to worse books. (Notice I didn't say I read them; I didn't. I promptly put them down.) It was a light, fluffy read with very little focus required. It was good for the moment. I also got a knitting mystery book. I'm intrigued to see how that one turns out. And I'm reading the Golden Compass, which has been on the to-read list since high school. And we're working our way through the Lemony Snicket series. We bought them because I thought Renee would enjoy them, but turns out I like children's lit too! They're also light and fluffy. I will say, though, that the style has gotten droll and too repetitive. I think I've finished book 9 or 10, and I'm about done for a while. And we picked up several small business starting/owning/managing/accounting/etc books that I'll need to work my way through, taking notes and such.

Maybe I won't get to that second shawl... :)

My new fiber came in the mail yesterday. I opened it at work. I had to! There was no option. And I'm so glad I did, because it's entirely delightfully and squishy and amazing.

I think the BFL is my favorite, right now. The color is spot-on, exactly what I was hoping for. The 8 oz bag of it is awesome to look at. We touch-tested them last night. Rae likes the merino/tencel best, and I don't blame her. It's way shiny, and way squishy, and slick feeling. The bamboo is similar, but not quite as slick. The BFL, my favorite, is just as squishy but it has more grab to it. (Well, it's not superwash and it's not mixed with a slick plant fiber so that makes total sense.) And I appreciate the grabiness.

I finished the first oz of the colored fiber last night, and then wound it off onto *gasp* our new ballwinder! I'm currently designing (just in my head) a way to create a lazy kate that works well with the ballwinder. I've got some ideas. I'm splitting the second half into quarters to spin it, and I just started that last night. I'm still enamoured with how pretty it is!

So, my favorite thing about spinning - the dyed top I've used the most is all brightly colored with intense contrasting colors. In fact, when Rae first saw the ball of the Louet, she said, "That's ugly. You're never making me anything from that ball of clown barf." Which is totally HIGHlarios, because now every time she sees the finished skein she asks me what I'm making for her. I can't wait to see it knitted up. So see the complete transformation from ball of clown barf to beautiful cowl. :)

I did sit down with the lace on Tuesday. And that involved ripping it all out. And then I knit back to where I was again (but it didn't involve any tinking at all) and started the second pattern repeat. That didn't go so well. Turns out, I'd been purling my yos and my knits together on the way back when I wasn't paying attention. So I ripped out another 2 or 3 rows, and soon I'll be ready to start the second repeat.

I didn't spin at all on Tuesday. I was very proud of me.

Wednesday was knit night! And I took my spinning. Well, I took socks too, but. Those are boring right now. They're perfectly in the middle of the lace and spinning on the need-to-pay-attention spectrum, and apparently I don't want that right now. I did work on them when I was at the dentist yesterday morning, but. That hardly counts.

Okay, one last time - ahh! My yarn is so pretty! I'm somewhere between 2/3 and 3/4 the way finished with the first half of the dyed merino. That's exciting. I ordered more fiber from Spunky Eclectic to finish the stuff - some dark BFL to ply with it. And then I ordered more top, just for fun!! I got some white merino/bamboo, some white merino/tencel, and a handpainted Romney. So, in addition to lots of spinning, I'm going to have to do some dying. I think I'm okay with that. :)

I hope my package gets here, like, tomorrow. Woo! Except that since I'm working on the lace again tonight, it's not like I'm going to finish the whole 2 oz of the merino anytime soon. Eek!

Ha!

Yes, ignoring the lace!

Until tonight, damn it. I'm going to sit down and work on it. Yesterday, I spun some of my next roving (uhh, which I'll tell you all about); tomorrow is knit night and there is no way I'm going to take it with me then. I'll take socks to work on. Or the wrap, or maybe even the bag I hate. So, tonight the f*ing lace.

The spinning, oh my goodness! I'm using my latest spindle (I say that like I've got a collection - really just 4, and only two of them are usable (by me) and one of those is annoying) anyway, I'm using this

spindle (which is entirely delightful and utterly awesome) and a lovely .9 oz weight. I've got 2oz of roving I picked up in Tennesse - it's blue, red, blue, orange, yellow, red, etc. I'm spinning it at about ... say, a light lace weight, maybe. I'll have to get out the WPI tool. It's so skinny, and it's so pretty, and it's really been pretty consistent. I spun for a few hours last night, watching tvontheinternet, and The History of India on PBS. Then Rae got home (from her first day!) and she made me stop. And by that, I mean it's good that someone fed me.

It's really pretty. I ripped the roving into two pieces, lengthwise, to work with. I'm going to aim for spinning the two sections of the dyed roving, and then one more piece of either some white that I have, or maybe purchase some natural color fiber, and then do a three ply. Ohh, and I think I'm going to buy some bamboo! Yikes!

I totally finished my first complete skein of handspun! It's 4 oz (uhh, give or take a bit), 159 yds, and entirely delightful! I think it looks like fall in the Jellico Mountains. It took entirely forever to finish. The first 1/3 was spun quite some time ago, and it ended up a light dk weight; the last bulk of it was spun over last weekend, and it's a heavy worsted/light bulky. I'm working on finding a project for it; probably a textured cowl, or short scarf.
And now I'm way excited to get into my second skein! I've got about 2 oz, I think, of a very bright roving that I'll likely ply with a bright white. Definitely.

That lace shawl? I sat down with it last night. Only got through about 6 pattern rows, but I had to tink back at least halfway through each row. Plus, I spent 45 minutes trying to figure out why the row I was on didn't match stitch count, etc. I feel like I've spent forever on it, but really I haven't. I'm just a slow lace knitter right now. I'll be starting the second repeat tonight. We'll see how that works out. I think I've got it figured out, though.

The lace, though, has definitely increased my urge to spin. It's way easy to ignore the lace when I've got some some delightful roving to play with!

January 2nd, the day we all say, "Yes! Of course! I will go to the gym! I will stop eating! I will stop smoking! I will stop buying designer shoes!"

So, those aren't actually my goals for the year. Mine are, I think, not in any order:

1. Finish a kitting project that requires commitment. Afghan, lace shawl, sweater, knee socks, and such would all count.
2. Buy a house. Well, okay. I'd like to own a house by June, 2010. So, be well on my way to owning a house.
3. Write a business plan. Perhaps start a business. Renee and I would really like to have somewhere to employ ourselves. Or, at least, her.
4. And, of course, go to the gym. ;)

That lace shawl - not coming along at all. I think I might have to frog and start over. I was doing okay, but then my chart got jostled and I'm not sure what row I should be on... eh. :) I've got all year, right? Those socks? I've only knit about 3 rounds over the last week. That bag? I still hate purling. I might never finish it. But the spinning - I picked that up again yesterday. I feel that I'm doing better than I was when I stopped before. So there's one positive thing.

The madness is mostly over. For this month, at least.

It seems as if I'll be heading down to Knoxville once a month for a while. Rae and I went down in November, right after grandma's surgery. Then we went down the weekend before Christmas, and spent a couple days down there. We found a yarn store - that was delightful (and expensive) fun. Rae decided she wants to start knitting Estonian-styled lace. We grabbed a skein of Alpaca with a Twist for her to work with. And, of course, I picked up some more sock yarn. Pretty stuff. We ended up not going out while we were there. We were just so tired - after the drive, and handling Grandma, and surviving the Walmart, goodness.

To be able to help Rae with her lace, I started my own. (Just to get a little jump start on the learning curve.) Well, okay. So I started a lace shawl a month or two ago, and it's languishing in the basket right now. But this one will be different, I promise! The repeat for this one is 30-some rows, twice as long as the Luna Moth. The horizontal repeat is a little longer too, but I can't tell you how much. This one didn't come with real great instructions! But, it's the Beginning Lace Knitter's KAL for January - so I'm sure there will be plenty of help along the way. I'm about finished with the first repeat (I think 7 are suggested, or maybe five) and it's delightfully beautiful. Also Aplaca with a Twist, in a light slate blue. I bought the yarn at Heavenly Creations on Friday, and I wanted to immediately go home and take a nap with it. Mmm.

What else is there? I've got a set of delightful socks OTN right now - a dark blue, with an easy little lace pattern on top. The first is finished, and I'm still working on the toe of the second. My Twisted wrap is still in the big project bag - I think it's close to finished now, but it's been a while since I've touched it. I need to look up the finishing instructions to see if I need to keep going. I'm still working on my pretty bag, but the stage I'm at right now is all purling, and I'm not so much a fan of that.

I got a swift for Christmas! My little brother made it for me from PVC. It's perfect. So I'm going to splurge on a ball winder now. I started winding a skein of Cascade 220, and half way through I decided that, although I enjoy ball winding, I really want a winder. So that's exciting.

But really, I think that's it. Christmas is over, I like yarn, I've debated on New Year's "goals", and Grandma goes back for another heart surgery sometime in January. Oh, and John wants me to make socks for his girlfriend. Ha. We'll see about that.

I haven't been spinning at all, lately. We were both sick all last week, which meant I hardly even touched a knitting needle while Renee knitted practically an entire blanket. Eh, okay.

I started making dishclothes. I knitting one, but it hurt my hands too much. So I started crocheting them instead. I made a star one, and a circle, and a regular square. Then I did a square one with a pattern stitch. I started a tawashi one last night (an open square with 4 linked rings inside it) and it's interesting like. They've been great with my entire lack of focusing ability right now.

I'm going to spin tonight, though. I decided. I'm going to start on that ball of Louet again, because I think I miss spinning. And I think I've got a better conceptual idea of what's going on, at this point, so it'll be good to get my hands started at catching up with my head.

Yep yep.

The holiday season has officially started. Thanksgiving (my personal favorite) is over. (Umm, and it was entirely delicious. And completely gluten-free. And homemade, down to the stuffing bread and pie crust. I'm very proud of it.) Our Christmas shopping / producing is nearly complete. We've still got to felt all the bowls, and Renee just started a blanket for her great-grandmother last night. I got a late start on gifts for my relatives. ... Okay, so I wasn't going to do anything for them. But then I grew up a little, and decided on presents for anyone under the age of 10. Which means I'm gifting for little girls. I decided I'd knit them coordinating hats. Luckily, one of the girls is technically a Johovah's witness, so her present doesn't actually need to be finished until after the holiday (but it would be nice to finish early). I think I'm going to make them all Republic Hats - one hot pink, one bright teal, and one a nice purple color. Easy, doesn't require much thought, etc.

I actually started a Lifted Twill hat for one of the girls, but. It just requires a little more focus than I've got right now. (Especially if I'm going to finish in time!) Since I'm doing a simple hat, though, I might knit some little wrist warmers to go with them. We'll see.

I finished my Renee's-family-christmas-swap gift. I drew one of the boyfriends, ha. I knit him a scarlet and grey hat based on the Turn a Square pattern. I love it- it's warm, and soft, and I might need one that's not Buckey themed!

Since last week, I've learned to ply. Which means that I'm making yarn. Not at a breakneck pace, mind you, but still making yarn. My own handspun, which I think is entirely delightful.


And now that I'm making my own handspun, I have an entirely different view of it. I purchased a small skein of some handspun over the summer, and hadn't the slightest clue what to do with it. It seemed to precious to disturb. Well, now it's not. And it's going to turn into wrist warmer things, or perhaps a cowl. Because the process of handspun (from roving to singles to plied to knitted object) is now to delightful to interrupt. I'm going to work with it this weekend.

And I'm going to take this ball of fiber (which has gotten considerably smaller since this photo!) and make more of these singles.

Then I'm going to ply the singles together, and make some more of this!!

Which, I promise, is much prettier in person than this poor photo makes it look! And I've got two skeins of it now. And I'm going to finish two spindles worth of singles next time and try to make a little larger skein. And to ply a little differently! Ahh!

Beyond that. Thanksgiving is here. My little brother is coming over. We're eating turkey sandwiches, and probably watching crappy tv. Or something. And he's bringing his new girlfriend who is *gasp* 6 years older than he is! (Last time we were at Dad's, dad kinda freaked out about the age difference, and how you don't want to trap yourself, and older women want to settle down, blah blah. We laughed. Mom was 4 years older than he is (so he knows from experience) and Renee is 10 years older than me. Ha!)

Big weekend...

Raeface and I went down to Tennessee this weekend to see my grandmother. She had heart surgery last week, so we went down to visit her, etc. We ended up getting to take her home from the hospital on Saturday morning, so that was exciting!

We always have a good time in Knoxville. The gay bars there are absolutely hysterical. This time moving to Knoxville was on our minds, so we started deciding who we would be friends with. And making up stories. And watching all the ladies interact. Turns out that lesbians are the same everywhere. And we wouldn't be friends with many of them - much like here! Ha!

Anyway. Grandma is doing fine. Obviously, she tires easily and is a little grumpy, but that's what happens when they crack open your chest.

That's a long drive to make over a weekend, though. Which is a disheartening thought, especially since someone really needs to start making that drive once a month or so. Not that she's in bad shape, or anything, but someone needs to visit more than once a year. Seriously. And, since I want her land, I should be the one to do it. Crikies!

Umm, spinning, oh my goodness. There wasn't much time this weekend, but. I picked up some new fiber on Thursday, and a new spindle! and .. well, there need to be photos. I'll get those soon.