Wednesday, February 29, 2012

It's quite ridiculous how fond I've become of these little squares.

And, because I can't work on just one (or 4) things at a time, there's this.


Several years ago I started an afghan but didn't get very far because I wasn't happy with the way it was turning out, so I'm unraveling it and turning it into nalbinded dice bags. I figure it's good practice until I'm ready to make mittens or a full sized bag.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Spinning and crocheting.


If you're a new spinner and you've wandered in here, take some advice. Spin with what YOU think would be comfortable. When I first started spinning, I had a spinning teacher tell me to not even try a wheel until I'd been spindle spinning for a long while. She said the wheel was too difficult and too fast. I've heard many spinners repeat this phrase, but I wish I hadn't listened to that part of the lesson. I believed her, knowing that she knew more about it than I. Now, after having my wheel working, I am spinning much better yarn than I ever spun with a spindle. Everyone learns differently. If you think you would enjoy a wheel better than a spindle, then by all means learn on a wheel. I still love to spindle spin but I've learned more about how to make yummy yarns on a wheel than I did with my spindles.

That being said, the above pictures shows how addicting N-plying has become.


I was given a bunch of baby/fingering yarn in pastel colors. I'm not a pastel kind of person but I didn't want this yarn to go to waste so I bought some matching yarn and started in on Attic 24's Summer Garden Granny Square afghan.

Here's a crappy picture of the first few 3" squares.


These things a freakishly addicting. I have no idea how big/small this afghan will end up. I'll just keep crocheting until I run out of yarn.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Well I'm nothing if not persistant

Or as my family likes to call it, stubborn.

After my last post, I figured out what I was doing wrong with my N-plying so, I decided to give it another try.

I plied two small skeins of New Scarecrow.

And one full 4oz skein from Spinfusion called Viola.

I also finished my Monarch Paws scarf
It's a little wonky but I still like it.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

I've been a little busy

My spinning wheel FINALLY works.

This is Fiber Fancy's "New Scarecrow" in Merino and Tussah silk. I took it off the wheel to try N-plying because that's what I'd like to do with this yarn. Needless to say, I won't be ruining this pretty yarn with my N-playing (s)kills. For some reason, I spin even thinner on the wheel than I do with a spindle. My automatic spin weight seems to be fine lace for singles, which is annoying the heck out of me. I'd love to get some nice squishy worsted yarns.

I've set aside this scarf in order to try one a little less attention intense.


This is my Monarch yarn knit in the Cat's Paw Lace Scarf. I hadn't realized how much the tension had changed until I'd laid it all out like this. I probably should knit an entire project in one day so my knitting isn't drastically different in the middle. Hopefully with blocking it won't be so drastic.

And lastly, we lost a member of our family two weeks ago. It's taken me this long to be able to go through the pictures of him.
His younger years.

R.I.P. Echo aka old puppy.
14 years