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.

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.

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

She'll be mad at me for this, but...

When I told my daughter that she had to wait until she was 17 to play Left For Dead, she wrapped it up and asked if she could play this new game instead.

It reads: Lovey Dovey Bunny Hugs. The child friendly video game. Now with no sharp edges. Definitely NOT Left For Dead.

Kids. You gotta love 'em. Really, it's the law or something.

The start of 2012

I knit my first hat.

I used Into the Whirled's Cerulean Dreams club in Romney. I knit it using this pattern but ran out of yarn about 10 rows from finishing so I had to top it off with some Black Welsh.
I'm rather happy with it as first knit hats go. I'm going to wash up and spin a bunch of white and brown llama fleece that I have laying around and use that to make a bunch more hats.

My daughter asked me if I made any New Years resolutions. I usually don't because I inevitably break them and then I feel disappointed in myself. On that note, the following pictures aren't proof of a resolution so much as a reminder to myself of why I don't need to renew my fiber clubs.

All of these are looking into a 22 gallon tub.

22 gallons of randomly purchased braids and bumps.

22 gallons of fiber clubs.

And looking into the same sized container, we see my handspun yarns.

I need more fiber like I need another hole in my head, but once the clubs start renewing I'll get all excited and want to rejoin. What I really should do is not buy anymore until I've gotten a lot of this spun.

Wish me luck getting THAT accomplished.

My first attempt at knitting lace

It's fun to do but something tells me I need a lot more practice at it.

Murphy's Laws updated

1- The husband has found a job. YEAH!
2- He sprang for a new computer for me so I can sell stuff online (windows 7 is so much nicer than windows 2000). YEAH!
3- The microwave is fixed. YEAH!

TIME TO CELEBRATE






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