Tag: Roving

Knitting

The Finger, Spin

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is improving.  The original postop dressing worked its way off (thank goodness – it was so big and bulky!) so Mr. iknead wrapped it again for me.  This time it was just right –  not too big and not too tight or too loose.

A masterpiece of finger bandaging.

I crocheted few rows of the Windowpane Scarf last evening,it was slow going and a little awkward, but definitely doable. Maybe I’ll give knitting a try later on today, I’m really close to finishing Clapotis and would really like to get some knitting done on the lonely WIPs that are languishing in the bottoms of assorted bags I have laying around. 🙂

 

SPINNING

It’s been  much easier to spin than knit or crochet with my gimped up finger, so Violet the Spinning Wheel has been put to heavy use this week. This particular roving came from Three Waters Farm and is 100% Falkland Top.  The colorway is Red Hot and Blue.

I’ll be finishing up this particular spinning project today with this lovely stuff waiting in the wings –

This is also from Three Waters Farm, 100% Finn Top.  After spinning brights all spring and summer, this muted purple colorway will be a welcome change.  To be fair though, what you see isn’t always what you get when working with wool.  You just never know for sure what the completed project is going to look like.  It’s like it’s biding its time, getting ready to yell SURPRISE! when it’s all said and done. 😄🤭🎁

Be a yardstick of quality.  Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected. Steve Jobs

 

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Knitting

Knit All The Things, Finish None of Them (A Temporary Situation, I Hope)

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ON MY NEEDLES

Due to an overwhelming case of wanting to cast on all the things, my WIP to FO ratio has fallen so far as to be nonexistent.  Every time I pick up whatever catches my eye in the WIP pile, I swear to myself that THIS IS THE ONE, the one that will spark my stick-to-a-tive-ness and soon it will move from the Land of WIPS into the Paradise of FOs. Yeah, still working on that.

Work continues on the Simple Skype Socks.  Link to my project page here.

This project probably would have been finished if I hadn’t noticed a few rows that were cataclysmically   screwed up.  I finally ended up frogging them completely, after trying for at least an hour to tink them back.  Lesson learned, don’t try to tink on the last leg of a 20+ hour trip.  It’s much more efficient to rip and start over.

Don’t even ask me what this hot mess is.  I think it’s a bit of handspun that I decided keep as a single.  This obviously was a mistake on my part.  I got busy and plied it into a double and we’re all a lot happier with the result.  See?

Found my notes on this hot mess!  Yay!  Organic Polwarth from Three Waters Farm Top of the Month Club in Maple and Hickory.

ON MY WHEEL

This is slowly becoming this –

 I’m working on spinning this lovely roving close to laceweight, hoping to end up with a nice sock yarn after plying – a challenge. This roving is from, you guessed it, Three Waters Farm Top of the Month  Club.  It’s a Blueface Leicester wool and called Living Color.

Anybody can make history.  Only a great man can write it.  Oscar Wilde

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Knitting

Spinning Sunday #1

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Just a little housekeeping…..I have a new website, iknead2knit.net.  Starting this week, that’s where you’ll find me and my blog.  Thanks!

SPUN AND PLIED

This lovely fiber is from Three Waters Farm and was the November 2016 Top of the Month selection, Fall Folderol. It’s 100% wool, organic Polworth Top and spun up like a dream!

Spun and plied –

“I feel pretty! Oh so pretty!” 🙂

WAITING IN THE WINGS

Merry Poppies Colorway

100% Organic Polwarth Top

4 oz.

Three Waters Farm

I plan to get started on this beauty sometime this afternoon….after I finish my treadmill time.  OK, it is what it is and what it is is a bribe. 😉 Whatever works, right?

It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop. © Confucius

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Don’t forget my new website, iknead2knit.net!  I’ll be looking for you!

Knitting

Spinning Sunday

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YUCK

I decided to try space dyeing on the new roving I got from UpTownDesign and since I didn’t really know how to go about it, I hopped over to YouTube and check out a couple of how tos by ChemKnits.  Here’s an in progress look at my first try at it.

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It turned out to be the ugliest yarn ever so I overdyed it with some sky blue Jacquard acid fast dye I had on hand. Much, much better.

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Rinsed, dry and ready to spin:

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Still has some ugly spots, but socks can be mostly hidden 🙂

Live out of your imagination, not your history.  Stephen Covey

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Knitting

WARNING!!! Phat Fiber Spoiler Alert!

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WONDROUS BOX!!!

My Phat Fiber box arrived today full of amazing roving samples mixed with sweet sock yarn samples and a couple of the prettiest stitch markers I’ve ever seen.

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That little pouch on top? This is what it
held:

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A handmade soap and those stitch markers I told you about. I love these!

In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous. Aristotle

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Knitting

Still Not 100%, Spinning

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Still enough under the weather to forego treadmill time today, so I decided to show off a couple spinning projects.

ON THE BOBBIN

Corriedale Cross Roving from Eweniquely Ewe Fiber Creations, dyed with Jacquard Acid Fast Dye, Lilac

More Corriedale Cross from Eweniquely Ewe, dyed with Jacquard Acid Fast Dye, pink

Great fiber, great customer service!  Two thumbs up!  I still have some undyed roving, I’m thinking green this time.  After all the gray weather, I need some Spring!!!

Never grow a wishbone where your backbone ought to be.  Clementine Paddleford (is this a great name or what??)

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Knitting

WIP Wednesday, Will It Fit?, He Has a Sensitive Side

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OFF THE NEEDLES

Nuthin’.  Zero, zilch, negative.  Projects?  Yeah, I got ’em, just none finished.  The weather forecast is for a big ice storm starting tonight or tomorrow, if it happens, projects will FLY off the needles.  Just you watch.

GOT A SHOEHORN??

We have an ginormous igloo style dog house that I’m donating to one of the rescue organizations here in Little Rock.  Cool, right?  So, next on my to do list today is try to fit this ginormous igloo into my Nissan Versa.  I think it will fit if I put down the back seats.  Maybe.

FLASH: 

The rescue lady just called and she will pick it up in her truck tomorrow afternoon.  All around good!

FIBER FLASH

This lovely stuff is from Greenwood Fiberworks, hand painted Polwarth, in Rosewood and the best part?  I have four of these beauties and whatever they decide to be, it will be mine, mine, mine!  I’m thinking socks, but Rosie Rosewood may have other ideas.  Don’t laugh – my wool talks to me all the time.

REAL MEN WEAR PINK

Babydaddy got cold over Thanksgiving and donned the pink Snuggie for a while.  I think it goes really well with the rainbow sock toe this particular pair of Jaywalker socks ended up with when I ran out of yarn and had to wing it.

The Ladies Love It!

BY THE BOOK

Here’s my current read:

So far – Awesome!

Linking today with Ginny’s Knit A Long.

You have to take it as it happens, but you should try to make it happen the way you want to take it.  Old German proverb

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Knitting

Phestival Phun, Phorget The Photos, If I Were a Knitpicks Cable

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WHAT I DID AND WHAT I DIDN’T DO

Remember all the photos I promised of the Fiber Festival?  Didn’t.Take.One.  As a matter of fact, my camera didn’t even make it to the festival.  That’s right, after being obsessive about making sure I had the camera, it never even made it to the festivities.  I remembered it about the time we pulled into the parking lot.  I suppose I could have pressed Mr. Iknead into going back and getting it, but the festival and the camera were about 20 miles apart and I just didn’t have the heart to ask him to go back and get on that cold and rainy morning.  But……..

MY PHESTIVAL TAKE AWAY

Prepare to be awed:

This, my friends, is a bag of beautiful baby alpaca.  It feels like buttah.

It’s from Whirlwind Ranch in Lebanon, Missouri and cries out to be fondled.

Here we have “Raspberry Ice”, domestic wool top from

Diamond B Sheep Farm of Greenwood Arkansas

More from the Diamond B – 100% merino, just waiting to become someone’s favorite socks.

More Diamond B merino, which hasn’t decided yet what it should be, given the amazing possibilities.

A wool, Angelina, silk noil and faux cashmere batt from you know where.

Can you see the little sparklies?  I learned that those are called Angelina.

A wool, Tussah silk and bamboo batt, from my favorite Arkansas sheep farm.

All this fiber and I stayed within my budget (give or take about five bucks).  This should keep Violet and me spinning for a while!

IF I WERE A KNITPICKS INTERCHANGEABLE CABLE

Where would I be?  All I know is that all my lovely interchangeable cables are missing and I’ve pretty much exhausted all possible hiding places.  I’ve looked in every bag, basket and drawer in the knitting room, I’ve called my housekeeper, I’ve called Bigmommy and even enlisted St. Anthony.  No cables.  They may have been abducted by aliens, since I’ve ruled out someone breaking into my house, sneaking into the knitting room and taking off with a ziplock bag of cables.  Sigh.  They’re sure to turn up now, since I ordered a new set last night.  Sigh.

 Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.  James Baldwin

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Knitting

WIP Wednesday 9/25/13 and Happy Birthday

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Happy First Birthday, Sprout!

I’M INTO POTS

Oh my gosh!  What a difference seven days makes!  First pottery throwing class was last week and I admit it – I wasn’t sure that that whole wheel thing was for me.  I did promise myself that I’d give it four weeks and if I still wasn’t feeling it, I’d go back into the morning handbuilding class.  Well, yesterday’s attempt at the wheel was totally different, something clicked inside my head (in a good way) and it was so cool!  The clay stuck to the wheel, just like it was supposed to, centering the pot on the wheel was a million times easier and by the end of class, my hands were beginning to know what to do to cone the clay up and down on their own.  Nothing post-worthy yet, but I may go to the Art Center today to practice more, besides, I have a pot that needs to be glazed and I’m thinking black.

GRINS AND GRANDS

I ran across this photo when I was looking for something else on Flickr.  I don’t know how I missed it because I love it!  My son, Jordan, and his niece, Susannah.  Isn’t it sweet?

ON THE NEEDLES

Les Miserables from Cynthia Parker, Hand Held Knitting in Fayetteville, Arkansas

Using

I’ve also started on some Christmas knitting, which, for obvious reasons, must be kept under wraps until then.

TOPSPIN

My roving FINALLY arrived and this is what it has become –

Mixed undyed black and white roving from Fire and Fluff, this may further morph into socks, but I’ve still not decided for sure.

Linking with Tami Amis and Frontier Dreams.

Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.  Mother Teresa

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Knitting

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

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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

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Knitting

Up and Running Once More

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A BUMP IN MY BLOG

We lost our internet Tuesday evening and all day yesterday.  Very frustrating.  I’m way more invested in the internet than I thought.  No e-mail, no google, no blog, no nothin’.  I see if I ever decide to go ‘net free, I’ll need to be weaned off, no way I’m going cold turkey!  It comforts me to know, though, that I’m in the same boat with probably a zillion others.  😉  Oh, I almost forget to tell you the reason.  Our neighbor was having fax issues, ATT came out, fixed his fax feed and didn’t bother reconnecting what he had to disconnect.  Jeez.

SOFT STUFF

The alpaca roving that I ordered from Dyeing for Color finally arrived and has exceeded all my expectations.  It’s like spinning a cloud.  I’ve knitted with alpaca yarn but have never actually seen and been able to fondle roving.  I keep petting it.

These babies are staying in their bags until two seconds before I spin so I can continue to marvel at how soft and clean they are!  I’m beginning to feel that their destiny is to be sock yarn.

ON THE NEEDLES

No knitting to post today.  Oh yeah, it’s out there, lots of WIPs, very few FOs, just not quite camera ready and besides that, I’d have to go through the house, gathering up each room’s project.  Yeah, I work on different projects in different rooms.  Don’t judge me 🙂

POT PROJECT

When we had that little snafu with the internet, I was in the middle of posting a pottery WIP so I had to postpone until today.  This is a molded bowl and I can’t wait to get it out of the damp box and get it out of the bowl mold.

It still needs some work, as you can tell.  That may be a good project for tomorrow.

Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities.  Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.  Gloria Steinem

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Knitting

Sort of Bluesy

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BLUE ROVING, BLUE ROVING

I know it’s red rover, but I have blue roving and am excited to share it.  It’s from Three Waters Farm, who I found on Etsy.  The colorway is Rainy Day and it’s 100%   Blueface Leicester, a joy just to touch and even more to spin.  I see now what all the excitement is about.  I’m afraid that after this, anything less than BFL is going to be totally unacceptable.   Look how beautiful it is –

I’ve been dropping broad hints for a couple of weeks that my life would be perfect (not that it’s not pretty darn close already) if I just had a spinning wheel.  I’m not sure if Mr. Iknead has picked up on them or not, knitting, spinning and their accessories are not exactly what floats his boat, but since most of what makes me happy makes him happy, getting one is not completely out of the question.  Anyone have one they’d like to donate???  Here’s a little bit on the niddy-noddy – I’m getting better with the spindle, the thickness is getting more consistent, but I have no idea about plying-can that even be done on a drop spindle?  I’m calling what I spin artisanal yarn, which makes all its flaws sound really expensive and something I worked on  for hours getting just right.  😉

MORE BLUE

Mr. Iknead found this little guy yesterday while he was working in the yard.  I’ve never seen a blue tailed skink this small, I think it looks like a piece of jewelry and I’d wear it for sure!

Growth itself contains the germ of happiness.  Pearl Buck

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More links to Three Waters Farm

www.etsy.com/shop/threewatersfarm

www.ravelry.com/people/threewatersfarm

www.facebook.com/threewatersfarm