Knitting

Spinning Sunday

April 19, 2014 mud&stringLeave a comment

WHAT’S NEW?

Hurray! It’s here! With our tax refund this year Mr. Iknead and I gifted ourselves with some things we’d been pining after for a while. I gave myself an Ashford blending board and on my first trial run, I could see.what a difference using it is going to make in my spinning adventures. Mr. Iknead has chosen to go with upgrading to an iPad Air. Can you guess what this means? It means that I’m getting his old iPad and my blending board! Two happys at once! I love it!

Here’s what’s currently on the bobbin

Super wash Merino dyed with Jacquard Acid Fast Dye, Sky Blue

Everyone should carefully observe which way his heart draws him, and then choose that way with all his strength. Hasidic saying

Knitting

Reduce Reuse Recycle Confession

April 8, 2014 mud&stringLeave a comment

REDUCE REUSE RECYCLE

I ordered some lovely superwash merino and was pretty much bowled over when I saw it had been mailed in a cereal box. I’ve never thought about doing that but it makes perfect sense. So I’m a little slow getting into the reduce, reuse, recycle mindset. I have great intentions, I just forget sometimes. Remember, I’m a baby boomer, we were proud to be able to throw things away and never considered what it might cost us in the long run. But, then, we never thought gasoline would top a dollar a gallon either. Those were the days, my friend.

The hardest thing to learn in life is which bridge to cross and which to burn. David Russell

Knitting

WIP Wednesday 4/2/14, Booklove, Leak Be Gone

April 2, 2014 mud&stringLeave a comment

PLUMBING UPDATE

Our plumber rocks! The leak I mentioned in my last post is history! As it turned out, he found the leak, fixed it and only charged us $145.50. If you’ve had to call a plumber in the last ten years, you’ll know we got off easy, fix-wise and money-wise, with no fuss and very little muss. What a relief!

BOOKLOVE

I’ve finished one book, Benediction, by Kent Haruf and started two others, an ebook, God’s Hotel by Victoria Sweet and an audiobook, Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen. I wasn’t too sure about Benediction, it took me a bit to see where the author was going with the story, but I got involved before too long and ended up enjoying it very much. I like it when at the end of the book, there are still some loose ends, not everything is tied up nice, tight and neat. Real life seems to always have loose ends!

ON THE NEEDLES

Woodlands Scarf in the found merino, Papercut, both of which I’m liking a lot. I tentatively started a new pair of socks using my first Yarnbox yarn, in a new pattern, Leaf on the Wind, but ended up frogging after deciding that my choice of both pattern did not do the yarn justice and vice versa.

Yes, the photo is upside down but it just took me an hour to figure out how to insert a picture in a post on the iPad. I’m not up for another hour of frustration today.

I’m linking with Tami and Frontier Dreams KCCO, please pay them a visit. Oops, I almost forgot Ginny’s Yarn Along!

Skill to do comes of doing. Ralph Emerson

Knitting

WIP Wednesday 9/4/13, Yarn Along and Spinning

September 4, 2013 mud&stringLeave a comment

ON THE NEEDLES

Today’s entry is the CEY Ruffled Tank, which lacks only the ruffles to be finished. Actually, I’m pretty proud of myself today. I sat down this morning and did the part of completing a project that I HATE – the mattress stitch. This is a real accomplishment for me as I can think of at least a couple of projects that are entirely finished – except for putting them together. I dislike it so much that I’ll put something that I put a lot of time and effort into on the back burner, never to be seen or worked on again. Maybe I should go unearth something and finish it while I’m still congratulating myself, on that cloud of optimism that comes with finishing a dreaded task. Nah. Tomorrow. Maybe.

CEY Ruffled Tank

in Knit One Crochet Too Kettle Dyed, in Seaside

SPIN OUT

I’m getting better at it, I can see it. My long anticipated roving arrived yesterday and after a period of oohs and aahs, I decided on the natural gray and white BFL to start and this is what resulted:

Is this beautiful or what?

Before spinning, mixed BFL

Nutmeg Merino

Copper – Colonial

This lovely fiber came from Fire and Fluff and you can bet I’ll be paying them another virtual visit soon.

BY THE BOOK

Here’s what I’m reading at the moment –

Orphan Train

Linking with Tami’s WIP Wednesday blog, Frontier Dreams KCCO and Ginny’s Yarn Along. Pay them a visit, they’re always a treat!

Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will. Zig Ziglar

Knitting

The one where she’s been

April 7, 2011 mud&stringLeave a comment

looking longingly at her newest sock project, but having to work instead. Why do I make myself miserable like this? Because hope springs enternal that I’ll get a few minutes free, even if just long enough for a few stitches. Knitting refreshes me like nothing else. There’s probably a scientific study about knitting and endorphins but all I know is that it’s a mini-vacation right here in my office.

Here’s a little eye candy –

This beauty is Arequipa, 65% superwash wool, 20% alpaca and 15% nylon. Strange, no color number or lot. Never noticed that before.

This picture really doesn’t do this justice, but you get the idea. It’s a Yarns on Stage Limited Edition Silk Sock, 70% merino superwash, 2o% silk and 10% nylon. Colorway is Parakeet.

Tomorrow, we wind.

Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome. Booker T. Washington (1856-1915)