Friday, September 29, 2006

Flock and Fiber

Flock and Fiber was great fun! I went last Saturday with my Mom (who I think enjoyed herself) and I came home with Fiber Duck and Ewe Spinster. I got some roving, well...lots of roving actually. Maybe not as much as some, but I bought 1 lb of baby alpaca, not roving, but cleaned already, and some mystery bats, which I am spinning right now.
Well, I broke down and bought a new wheel. I don't yet have pictures of it on my flash drive, so I can't post the pictures... next week for that. Her name is Clothos, in case you were wondering. More tales of that to come. (Erin, do you want a spinning wheel?)

Finally I have pictures of my fir cone shawl up! I finished her before summer, but I haven't posted the finished shawl. Baaad Miriam... The bushes outside my house made a lovely backdrop for these pictures. That, by the way, is the butterfly bush that my Aunt Sara planted to attract hummingbirds. My cat, Mayumi, loves it. She used to bring us little presents all the time. My aunt, for some reason, did not like these "presents."

I also have my next project lined up. I have four skeins of the ultra alpaca from Berocco (that's 400 grms at 215 yards per skein), and I am looking for advice on a project to do. Any suggestions? It should be enough for a sweater for me...

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Spinning

I am currently at Theo's waiting for knitting group, so I though that I would take advantage of the internet cafe here (again). I also have my flash drive, so I can post some pictures of my lovelies for all of you to see.
Currently I am getting ready for OFF (Oregon Flock and Fiber) which I am going to with my Mom. We are leaving Friday, and coming back Sunday, so it should be a fun trip. Like I need any new roving. Speaking of new roving, here is a picture of my spiffin' birthday loot:














In case you are wondering, there is fabric (a rayon blend), blue kid mohair locks, a button tape measurer, baby alpaca roving (4 ounces) a bookmark, some pink fire star, and some mohair/silk roving which is not in the picture because it is currently on my wheel. And of course, chocolate....yummy.
In other news, I just finished the hedgehog from fibertrends, and here is a picture of the cute little bugger: He was so easy to make, I think that this one is even easier than the sheep. Next I want to do the squirrel, cause he's sooo cute. Plus Baxter would probably looove to play with it (Baxter, the cat, enjoys terrorizing the squirrels). Maybe it would distract him from my yarn.




I also have been spinning a lot recently. Ariadne has been getting a lot of use from me. Mom has permenantly claimed Helen, which I am sort of irked about...There's something about naming objects that makes them so much harder to let go of, you know? Helen, in case you are wondering, is my 2nd wheel, an Ashford Traditional, and I have had her for 3 years now. I feel like Mom is enroaching upon my territory.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

More adventures in picture land

Today I had quite an adventure. By that I mean that I walked all over town trying to post pictures.
Yesterday I purchased a brand new spiffy, shiny, etc. flash drive for my own use. Yay! I put my pictures on to said flash drive (I haven't named her/him yet, though I think "Zippy" might work) and today I trundled off to the library to post. My first stop was the Knight Library at the UofO (even though I am not a student there), but to my eternal disappointment, I couldn't find a single computer with a USB port on it. So I thought: "I shall hop skip and jump (not reall, but I did walk) over to EPL (our public library) where I know they have internet and computers." And so I walked (through the rain I might add) over to EPL. Only to find out, upon arrival, that all the computer's USB ports are not functioning and have not done so for the past three weeks. So moping home I came.
I did, however, meet a very nice Bulgarian lady at the bus stop who took out her knitting when she saw mine. I din't catch her name, I had to run and get my bus, but we had a lovely time chatting and trying to make ourselves understood. She was knitting with the yarn circling behind her neck, and she said that this was to keep the yarn straight, and I might have to try it. Though it looks to me like a recipee for disaster (I have cat genes in my blood, and I might just wind up with a knot around my neck).
In other news, Mom has decided that the spinning wheel of mine which she is using is hers; she is now referring to it as "mine." For some reason, this just bugs me to no end. This might have something to do with when she took one of my projects on the wheel and finished the bobbin because she "couldn't find all of hers." It's getting really aggravating.
***
Okay, pictures are still not working (I tried three times now, and took Carolyn's advice). I will try going to the Knight Library again (apparently I need to go up to the 2nd floor) later to add pictures to this post.
***
Edit: I am now in an internet cafe, so here are the pictures I was going to post:
This is me and my new spinning wheel, Ariadne. I have had her for two months, and I love her!












And here is a new scarf I made from Noru, it is a multidirectional scarf. Now I just have to find someone who likes the pinkness.

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Thinking I should update more frequently...

Here is my newest attempt to post pictures. Sorry I haven't updated for so long, I just have so little incentive to do so when I can't show you all my lovelies.
I am currently working on:
1) The snowdrop shawl from the yarn harlot
2) A pair of fingerless gloves for Lorinn out of some Noru yarn (I think it's lotus)
3) The simple knitted bodice pattern with Rowan felted tweed
4) Fixing up my silly loom (which all I need to fix it being s hooks of peculiar sizes)
I think that's it, but there might be more I can't think of right now. I also have a bunch of projects I recently finished which I should post at some point. Just as soon as I get a flash drive and figure out my libraries new internet system. I will give it one more try today though.

***
Post Picure edit (post as in after rather than in the writing type).
It took my about 12 minutes to upload the picture (one singular picture, I will see if it takes longer with more of them)...and that was about the limit of my patience for sitting at the computer waiting. In the meantime I got out my snowdrop shawl (which is getting close to finished) and knit a row. Agh, it now takes about 10 minutes to do a row.
In other news, I am waiting with baited breath to see when my down stuff will come out of the wash. Asher (to whom I shall soon post a link) said that I should wash them regularly and then tumble dry them low. So, that's what I'm doing. I'm a little nervous because my mom has raised me to fear the washer and dryer. I always get this feeling that if its not a heavy cotton that it will fall apart as soon as it falls into the washer. Since I have a lot of things that are not cotton, this is a wee problem for moi.

This picture is of my red flannel coat which I made at the begining of the summer. I have just now been able to start wearing it again, and I am so happy. It's really difficult to find times to wear a full length, lined coat during the summer months. It's nice and roasty toasty warm.

I just tried to post a picture again, and this time it didn't work. Oh well, I will try again tomorrow.
Ta all!