tom’s favorite mitts.

Apparently Thomas has a favorite pair of fingerless mittens.

It began when I left a pair in progress on the couch and came back to find him using the ball of yarn as a pillow. He had been resting his chin between both balls, but then adjusted to favor the blue-green one.

Then, after I had finished knitting the pair, I brought out the stool to take photos. He joined me.

Or perhaps he just wanted to look out the window.

shop update

I added a few more braids of the Corriedale lambswool from the Great Lakes Fiber Show. There are six total, which is all I have! Also, don’t forget to check out the Sale section. As items get close to their expiration date, I discount them a few dollars.

preview!

While at the Great Lakes Fiber Show this year I purchased two pounds of Corriedale lambswool and I’ve been dyeing it. Actually I might have dyed all of it. Some I’m keeping and some I’m selling. So here is a little preview of what will be added to the shop next Wednesday.

And we’ve been getting some things accomplished as far as the wedding planning is concerned. The location is settled, and that is the Buhl Mansion in Sharon, PA. We also have a theme of sorts… primarily it will be a 1960s cocktail party with a circles and squares decor developing. Color scheme of blue, turquoise, lime green. Invitations have been chosen. The dress has been tried on and determined precisely correct. At Michael’s we found a kit of paper flower pom poms, brought to you by Martha Stewart. I bought the blue kit with additional packets of green tissue paper. They’re fun, easy, and big!! Those will be hanging from the ceiling in some configuration. Things are coming together! I almost can’t believe it! Weee!

sharing and experimenting

Last month when I went to spin at Cosy’s house, she gave me a few jars of leftover dye. The colors were primarily cool colors and burnt orange. I thought it might be interesting to use dyes someone else had mixed and to see what different results I’d get compared to my own Lanaset dyes. And let me tell you – it was different! That burnt orange was something I’ve never mixed myself. The colors were very deep, dark, somber. Mine are usually light and pale.

I used Corriedale top for this dyeing experiment. So far I’ve spun up 4 ounces and traded 4 ounces. There are 8 ounces waiting for judgment. I love Corriedale – that and BFL are my favorite breeds for combed top. It spins into chunky weight yarns so fantastically! Now with my new jumbo flyer on the way, I can make big fat yarns till my face turns blue. Weee!

winter? check!

Boy, we just got dumped on for sure. Yesterday and today has been steady, though light, snow. Everything is white. It’s the kind that just piles up on things, so you can still see all the slats in the deck chair, but it looks 4 inches taller. Maybe a total of 7-8 inches? I must remind myself that I live in NE Ohio and it is January.

But even more exciting are these fingerless mitts that I just finished today. I completed the knitting last night, but I added the extra bits this morning.  Not sure what the inspiration was.  I just started doing some chain stitch and incorporated buttons because I have them.  I’m pleased though.  For a long time I’ve been wanting to try this, but just couldn’t find the right piece.

Cheers! and thanks to Richard who took the photo. He stood behind me and held the camera in front of my face.  Good thing he’s tall.

Yarn = (Main) Handspun/dyed by Gwen; (Extras) Handdyed by Cosy
Needles = US 8
Pattern = Make as you go

shop update

And these are the lovely fibers I was so thrilled with after dyeing on Thursday. My favorites are the two in the top left corner. I wanted to keep them, but in the end I figure it’s better to spread the joy. And I can’t keep everything – that sort of defeats the purpose.

Four will be added to the shop today and I will add four more tomorrow. Doing item listings is so boring. I get really tired of clicking the same buttons over and over. I wish there was a way you could just copy a listing and change the title and photos.

Also, I used natural light to take these pictures. It makes such a difference! Looking at my previously listed dyed top, I can see the harsh shadows and washed out colors. Unfortunately, natural light is unreliable. I’m still working out an alternative plan.

christmas knitting and experiments

This year I’ve decided to knit my Christmas gifts. Yes, I suppose after 3 years of knitting it’s a bit shameful that I haven’t already been doing this. I have no excuse. Why now? Because I’m poor and I have a sizable yarn stash. I think it makes sense. Thus far I’ve decided what to make for my mom and my sister. April – the sister – lives in Florida and will be getting a bag, this one, in fact.

Mom lives in Ohio and will wear just about anything I make for her while telling everyone she meets that HER DAUGHTER made it (she’s my PR representative). For her I will make the Handspun Scarf (ravelry/nonravelry) by Monica Gomi. I printed the pattern quite some time ago and when I came across it yesterday while cleaning the Fiber Den, I thought it would be appropriate. For the scarf I will be using my handspun Strings of Jade, which ended up 220 yards – I think that’s my most yet out of 4 ounces. It could have been a little more even, but it’s acceptable. I’m excited to see the subtle color changes as I knit.

As for the experimenting, this two photos are the outcome of a lighting set-up that I tried this morning. Again, cleaning the room yesterday turned out to be a major boon. Some new space was made available that works well as a small photo-taking corner. I had a 300 watt bulb that really made a difference over the 60 W bulb. I’m pleased with the results. I knew that with winter quickly approaching, hours of good sunlight would become scarce. Cheers. Problem solved.

And the yarn is called Rhinos at the Disco. It’s my Columbia locks, handdyed and drumcarded. I also added a bit of Firestar while carding – also an experiment, actually. I spun it thick and then, then plied it with button thread and seed beads.

usual assortment

Sharing some new yarns. As I mentioned before, I really have enjoyed the new Columbia fleece I bought at the county fair. I’m going to take out a few pounds so I can continue to process it myself, but the rest is going to Zeilinger’s to become roving. I love the texture in this! It’s almost so textural it morphs into a single clump.

Here is a Corriedale yarn made from two separate colorways I had listed in the shop. They were each dyed only two colors, so not overly interesting when there are 400 other options available. I decided to take them down and spin them myself. I like the way the colors came together. I’ll probably list this on Etsy eventually.

Yesterday I bought some green ribbon to use as a reinforcement on the back of my cardigan’s button band. Whenever I buttoned it up, the knitting stretched quite a bit making it look like it was too small. I thought having green would be a fun little detail.

as productive as I get

When some people have a pile of yarn or dyed fibers to show off just so we know how busy they’ve been, it is huge. It may cover a couch, dining table, etc. For me, not so much. I’m a slow worker. I get bored easily. I need variation. So, this is as productive as I get…

Here contains assorted yarn, some top, and a bundle of dyed locks in Corriedale, Falklands, or BFL. These will be added to my Etsy shop as I get to it. The main hang-up was just getting the photos taken. My camera battery died and I wasn’t entirely sure where the charger had wandered off to. Also, I have to get the light at the right time of day, which seems to be around 10 am. I got everything reskeined, weighed, measured, and tagged yesterday. It’s fun to have a relatively large batch to look at and make yourself feel good.

I ended up at the Four Seasons Flea Market Sunday afternoon. It has proven itself to be quite the little hot spot for things I’m looking for. I found this hand-held mirror for $1.00 (wanted one for my craft sale table); the buttons were $.25 for the loose and $.50 for the cards.

Also found this cute little bowl for $4.00. He wanted $5, but after a lot of thinking, he gave up. He just asked that I didn’t go on Antique’s Roadshow and say, “Look what my mom and I found at the flea market!”. It was pretty funny. It’s number 441, so now I’m just missing 442 and I’ll have the complete set of Verde Cinderella Bowls! Additionally, I found two Pyrex lids that I needed for $1.00.

sanity: wrapped, rolled and ran away

Things are going to change around here. Not *HERE* as in the blog, I mean here in my life. This week is my last at the museum, so when I return from Pennsic in two weeks, I will be officially unemployed. While looking for new work, I might have all sorts of time for knitting and dyeing and updating and then, once I start working again, I probably won’t have any time for anything at all. This is the first time in my life when I have had NO idea what’s coming next. Plus my car is absolutely dying. I had it towed yesterday, in fact. My first time using AAA in four years. Everything is just going to pieces all at once.

I haven’t been doing a lot of spinning lately. Pennsic prep is one reason. The Folk School of Doom is another. Since I will not be going at all now (they never got my new class schedule. Thanks guys!), any new information in regards to spinning will have to be acquired on my own time, through my own, solitary devices. Meaning: I’m miffed and uninspired. Plus I’ve been getting bored with singles and 2-plies, but feeling helpless in regards to new techniques. Remembering some article about something in a past Spin-Off, I got out the Spring 2008 issue and read the article on wrap & roll yarns. This is what I ended up with:

Jellyfish Tentacles. Handdyed Corriedale. 8 yards total.

It is significantly better than the first coil yarn I attempted in 2006. You can see that dreadful little mess here, in my flickr photostream. Not to mention my poor photography…