Baaaaa...

I still don't know "What does the fox say?," but I do know that Old McDonald had a farm, and the sheep on his farm went around "with a baa baa here, and a baa baa there..." etc., etc., etc. I also know that if you knit a sheep hat, it will not say, "Baaaa..."

But everyone who sees the hat will say, "Awwww! That is so cute!"

They will even "Awww!" at it's little, sheepy butt!

And if you knit 4 sheep hats, 

and photograph them in various locations throughout the day,

people will say, "What's up with Pretty? Is she always like that?!?"

To which my friends would answer, "Yes. Yes, she is," with a heavy sigh here, and a heavy sigh there, etc. Not to worry, I'll just distract them all with a picture of my new Grand-puppy...

I hope your day is full of fun and friends who love you, because you really cannot ask for much more. Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

Glory, Glory, Halleluja!

Mine eyes have seen enough black yarn to last me many years;

I've been knitting with this black yarn, and it's bringing me to tears!

Though I carried it with gray yarn, still my eyeballs it has seared...

I'm so glad that it's done!

(I think the cats are glad it's done, too!)

Glory, Glory! and Hallelujah! that this project is finally finished. I don't usually knit with such dark yarns (save for a pair of man socks or two through the years), but I was working this sweater as a sample for a friend, and she picked the color/yarns. :) You know that I love knitting, and I am usually not very picky about yarn, but this black about killed my eyes! I think the final sweater looks good, but I don't know for sure, because I can't even seem to focus my camera to take a clear picture of the whole thing...lol!

Still, I think you can see the basic shape in that photo, and this one shows the texture that came from carrying the gray nylon thread with the black wool:

Overall, I think I like the effect, but glory! Next time I sample knit, I will request NOT BLACK yarn! ANYTHING BUT BLACK yarn! IT NEED NOT BE WHITE, BUT NOT BLACK yarn! Live and learn, and this one is done...well, it will be done after a final soak and block. Then I'll let Lynn know that it's ready for her sample display. :) 

Now, onto the brightly-colored, stripey socks! 

Or maybe I'll just close my eyes here for a minute...they are so very tired. Do you think my eyes could take a nap while I work today? 

I didn't think so either. Oh, well. A good night's sleep tonight then...that's the ticket! Take care of your eyes, and use good lighting when you craft, especially when working with dark colors! 

Knit in Good Health!

Free Fingers!!!

They're Free!

Free fingers...

I couldn't very well sing you "Free Falling," now could I? That would make you worry. Because I fall down. It would make ME worry, too!

In any case, my fingers are free from their captivity, and they are pretty glad to be knitting and typing and just living their "digit"-al lives. :) On Wednesday morning, the doc looked over my X-rays and declared my fingers "well on their way to recovery." He said they will continue to be swollen and sore for another 6 weeks or so, but they are healthy enough to start using them all the time. Cleared for knitting? Well, you don't have to tell me twice! (I actually confessed to the doc that I had already started knitting, even before the clearance...he laughed, and assured me that knitting is good physical therapy, and I should knit as often and as much as my fingers would allow - Yay!!!) I've already finished the first in a pair of socks (that I started while still wearing the brace):

And, after knitting a pair of fingerless gloves (for Dollface, one-and-a-half knit before the cast, the second finished in the brace) with Chroma in Midwinter and a cream-colored alpaca/wool/nylon fingering-weight yarn... 

I've actually knit a third one in the last couple of days!

Can you see the color variation? Yeah, I love the gentle gradient that is Chroma, but after I had knit the second mitt, I noticed how different the colors were on each one...hmmm. So I thought I'd knit a third, and just match it to the closest of the other two...well, do you see what happened? Yep! Three mitts, each totally different in Chroma...lol! So, since Dollface said not to bother trying for a third, and since she liked the first two together anyway, I'm just going to give them to her and call it done. (If I have enough of the cream yarn left, I may make a fourth so I can have a mismatched pair that match hers...kinda...haha!)

In other Knitting Knews, it turns out that I've made quite a bit of progress on the alpaca scarf, even knitting on it a bit while I had the big cast on! So, this morning, it looks like this:

The variegation in the yarn (which I spun myself - squee!), is just so lovely! In the sunshine, it almost sparkles...it is the happiest brown I think I have ever seen!

It makes me so happy that I am taking it on a field trip to That'll Do Farm this afternoon, along with some spinning for a fiber day! If you're not doing anything fun yet, you should totally come on out to Farm Days and see us! (Or you could come to see the alpacas, or the very friendly chickens, or the very hungry goats, 

or the very busy bees, or even the sheep...they have sheep! So fun!) 

It's going to be a great day! Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope that you have lots of time to Knit in Good Health this weekend!

Hi-Ho, Alpacas, Whoa!

So, on Saturday, I went to the Farm. I knew I had arrived at the farm when I saw the farm van...

...and the alpacas (and baby alpacas!)...

...and the steps to the farmhouse!

I love That'll Do Farm! I love the alpacas, and the green, and the bees, and the farmhouse! Saturday was a Fiber Fun Day at the farm, so I loaded up my Little Joe (spindle), and a fiber mix that came from the farm (including alpaca, merino, camel and bits of colored silk)...

...and in I went! While I was there, I saw knitters and a rug hooker, but I was a spinning fool...

...and by the time I left, I had a tall, skinny bunch of singles AND a short, fat bunch of singles. I do not discriminate based on cop* size!

I spun this yarn a little thicker than I normally would, and I've spent the last few days creating a two-ply that is about 12 wraps per inch (DK? Worsted?)...sooooo pretty! 

I have about 71 yards of this two-ply, close to 45g and about 12 wraps per inch (for my fellow spinners and knitters). Here's what it looks like in the skein:

I wonder what it will be? I'm open to suggestions, by the way!

I cannot wait until my next Fiber Fun Day! Until then, I wonder what else I will spin? 

*cop (from wordnik.com)

n. A cone-shaped or cylindrical roll of yarn or thread wound on a spindle.

Auditioning Lace Patterns

So, you know that I am spinning this...

...and it is going rather well. I have spun 90 grams of this fiber...

...into pretty fine singles, then wound them into a pretty large plying ball, like this...

Some of my friends have suggested that I may be slightly obsessed with the spinning. They may be right.

I started with a total of 117 grams (4.1 oz.), and I wondered how long it would take to spindle spin all of it. I started spinning on April 13, and if I keep my current pace, I'll be done in another week or so! I'm excited, because the next step is turning these very fine, thread-like strands of fiber into a 3 ply yarn! Even using three plies, I think I'm still headed for a lace-weight yarn, but it might be a little thicker than my last yarn, which wanted to be a scarf!

So, what will this new yarn want to be? I'm thinking something lacy...perhaps a shawl, or shawlette? (I wonder how many yards I'll end up with...) Maybe it will be fingerless gloves and a scarf? (I am currently spending way too much time looking at patterns on Ravelry, and elsewhere...) I just wonder and wonder what it wants to be...

What do you think? Does it want to be lace, or something else? I mean, I know it's not yarn yet, but looking at the colors, and considering that it will be pretty thin, can I get any suggestions? (It's 100% BFL, not superwash.) Please comment with your suggestions! 

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

(And thanks in advance for your pattern suggestions. I can't wait to have this yarn in hand, and to knit it into something wonderful!) 

Why am I so dizzy?

Why AM I so dizzy?!?

THAT's a loaded question! There are sooo many possible answers...but there's one that I like best, and it has to do with this:

It's a 4oz braid (not sure if it's really a "braid"...it didn't look braided...but it's 4.1oz) of Blue-Faced Lester wool in the color "Crayon Box!" I acquired it from a friend's destash a couple years back, and my recent spinning success had me anxious to break it out, so I did!

I weighed it carefully, then I split the long, thick roving into four, much thinner pieces to spin from...White Cat supervised the whole procedure...

I weighed each bit, and they turned out pretty even: 26g, 30g, 31g and 32g. I'm not sure how I will ply this, but I will ply it. I enjoyed the Navajo ply that I did with the pink, and I think that is my best option for using up every last bit of this beautiful stuff...so I labeled each bunch, and put it into baggies, slipping a tag onto the "start" end of each bagful...

And then I started spinning. Oh. My. Gosh. Soooo fun! Every color change is like a new piece of adventure, and I can hardly stop myself once I start! This photo represents the first 5 grams (or so), but I have spun my way through about 15 grams at this point!

I'm spinning it slightly thicker than I did my last yarn, and I'm using the 41g spindle, and I am having a blast! That means that my knitting time has been a little more limited, but I'm ok with that. There is still knitting time. There will always be knitting time. And spinning time. And crochet time...hmmm, if I keep up all this crafting, I suppose I'll have to quit my job eventually! But not anytime soon, thankfully. :) 

I'll try to bring you spinning updates, but I get so wrapped up in my spindle that I just forget to take photos...it's just mesmerizing. It's therapeutic. It's meditative...well, until a cat tries to help anyway! lol!

Until next time, thanks for stopping by, and Knit (and SPIN) in Good Health!

From fluff to finished, first time!

Some of you will remember this post about 18 grams of fluffy fibers that I started to spin on my pink, top whorl, resin spindle about a month ago...

Well, I spun and I spun, and I spun up some more. 

Then I plied it all up, 'til my shoulders were sore.

Then I wound it, and washed it, and hung it to dry,

And I skeined it up nicely, and admired its plies.

Then I thunk and I thunk, 'til my thinker was sore...

I had to knit it up, but what was it for?

Turns out, it's a scarf of beads and light lace - 

To be worn in warm weather, close to the face...

The beads, how they sparkle! The colors, how pretty!

But it's still much too cold for light lace in my city. :(

So, for now, there it sits, as I wait for warm weather -

As cold, gray and rainy makes me don dumb, ol' sweaters...

Still, I long for the days of warm, sunny and breezy...

Days when no part of my body will freezy!

I'll adorn my bare neck with some light, beaded lace - 

To be worn in warm weather, close to my face.

I must say, I am a little bit excited to wear this one! I'm also a little bit excited that the weather seems to be (finally) getting ready to make that beautiful turn from winter to warm...it's such a beautiful time of year! Walks and outdoor knitting, and fiber festivals, are all in my very immediate future! Perhaps I'll purchase more fiber to spin this year...? I think I am getting the hang of this!

What are you looking forward to as the weather changes?

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

Suffering Fluffy Brain

From the Urban Dictionary, a brain fluffy is (apparently) the inability to focus. This is a condition I am all too familiar with the last few years. I've blamed it on being a woman in the middle of life. I've also blamed it on the brain cells that were strangled by worry while we raised two children (who turned out very well, by the way...what was I worried about?). And, while I was at it, I've blamed my fluffy brain on being too busy, being too bored, eating too much, working too hard, and doing too many things at once...the blame game is nothing new in my world. So, why not add another thing to blame? This time, let's make it something pretty...like THIS:

I've taken out my spindles again, and I found the fluff that came with them (two 18g bags of superwash merino, nylon, and some shiny stuff thrown in for good measure, one bag with each spindle), and I've been spinning my little heart out! The yarn is coming out very fine and thin, and I am more than halfway done with the first 18g...

The first bag is a gradient...white to pink-and-white to pink. The second bag is just 18g of pink-and-white, so I am thinking I will either spin both and make a 2-ply with the two sets of singles, OR I will spin each bag, and Navajo Ply (chain-ply) each one to itself. The Navajo Ply is a 3-ply, so I would get less yardage, and a thicker yarn...I'm still deciding. You know what? It's giving me more fluffy brain!

Considering that this is the first time I've taken out the spinning since 2010, I think I am just going to keep spinning, and not worry so much about the plying decisions today. Overall, this yarn is coming out WAYYY better than my first couple tries, so I'm just going to enjoy it. =D Bonus, my spindle matches this lovely fiber!

Thanks for stopping by, and I now return you to your regularly scheduled knitting (or spinning, if you prefer).  What gives YOU fluffy brain?

Knit-and-Spin in Good Health!