Friday, August 24, 2007

back to blogging

I had kind of given up on this blog, mostly because I'm always too lazy to upload pictures. But now my internet at home is working so I can now theoretically put pictures from my camera up on Flickr. Also from talking to Jill and Jason this weekend have decided to get back into it. I've been pretty busy with knitting recently, but don't know if I'll be able to go over everything.

This last weekend I volunteered with Jill, Jason and Kim at the Fabulous Fiber Fest at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. I had to work on Friday, but I was there all day Saturday and Sunday. I mostly did spinning. I spun singles from some Chasing Rainbows Dyeworks Merino/Tussah (80/20) Roving in magentas. I plied the two together the next day. It's the first time I've really spun with colors that weren't carded together so it was fun to see the different sections of color and how they combine together. I worked a little on the Mystery Stole and on Sunday used the drum carder on some SnowBeast fiber that I dyed. I had dyed it green at the GLASG dye day and it had gotten a little felted. So I carded it and added some sparkles in to it. I also made an attempt at spinning a bulkier yarn. I used some natural Indigo-dyed merino that Marguerite from Stick and Stone had dyed. I wasn't entirely sucessful. It's pretty uneven and I had hoped to use it as a single. I'm not really sure. I have two hanks of it now, but haven't decided if I should go back and ply them or just try to set the twist into them.

I made a few purchases at the show. At Carolina Homespun I bought the new Cat Bordhi book, New Pathways for Sock Knitters (love it!), some Nature's Palette to make fair isle socks from More Sensational Knitted Socks and a couple skeins of Malabrigo to make a shrug. At the Lisa Souza booth I got some sock yarn, some Superwash roving to make sock yarn and some Merino/Tussah roving (50/50%). I'm pretty pleased with my purchases over all. I had a lot of fun just helping out and I felt so productive having so much dedicated spinning/knitting time. It did feel like the carding took up a huge chunk of time though. There was a lot of quilting stuff and fabric, which almost tempted me into quilting. I missed out on some great classes. But I did get a few opportunities to talk to Michael Cook and I sort of talked to Judith MacKenzie McCuin. We also had some lovely meals with Mariko on Saturday and Sunday evenings. Always such amazing Japanese food.

I managed to finish the Mystery Stole 3/Swan Lake Stole on Monday. I haven't blocked it yet, because I don't have the energy. It's so tempting to buy blocking wires! I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. I like it, but sometimes I'm not crazy about the design. It was definitely fun to knit, but the wing does look kind of weird. Now that I've finished that, I can go back to the lace shawl I started from Victorian Lace Today. I can't remember what the name of the shawl is. It's hard to get momentum because the rows are so long. I seemingly can only knit two rows a night. I started a pair of toe-up socks out of Panda Cotton yarn and have been working on that primarily. It's my first time using a short row toe. It's pretty obvious how different my gauge is for working back and forth and in the round are. The toe is quite a bit looser, but it's only apparent on the bottom side.

I need to start some baby projects soon. I think I'm going to knit the Pinwheel sweater from Elann.com. I need to find a good yarn for it though. I'm thinking about buying some acrylic from WEBS but I'm bummed that I missed out on the good close-out colors of Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool. I wanted to buy some to make a sweater from Fitted Knits.

This post already seems too long. Maybe if I post more often they can be shorter and not too cumbersome. Tomorrow is the archive beach trip that I tried to organize. We're going to El Matador beach in Malibu. I'm hoping to do some boogie boarding (my first time!). I'm also planning on picking up some cream puffs from Beard Papa, because you can't go to the beach without cream puffs! I decided to get the messiest, stickiest things to eat on the beach. But first I have to go to the Spinning Guild meeting in the morning.

Okay, more soon, and some pictures hopefully!

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