Preview

I just got off the phone with my FIL who told me great news!!! Royd is officially on his way home! Right now he's waiting to catch the first of three planes over the next few days. I expect that if things go well, he should be here on Monday. Now, I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that the weather cooperates and that I can make the drive to pick him up from the airport. If not, he'll be catching a train. The rest of the weekend I'll be sitting tight until I get word on his arrival flight. It's hard though, cuz I can't sit still. Well, I'm off to go do something busy. I'll leave you with a few shots of what I may be spending time with this weekend. See you in a couple weeks!

A Little Something

Sometimes you just need a quick, yet highly satifsfying project. Hence my latest FO. Pattern: Norwegian Star Hat from Hats On! Yarn: Knitpicks Wool of the Andes, Natural and Mist Time to knit: 3 days No blocking required! It fits perfect too! Anyone have any ideas to minimize the jog between rounds? This is my only complaint about the hat, but it's really quite small. Seeing that I can make my stitches in colorwork look all neat and pretty, I've decided to rip out Anemoi and redo them. I discovered that I just need to slow down and enjoy the process of each stitch instead of wanting to see the pattern emerge faster. I also have been squeezing some spinning time into each day. I took the Optim off the wheel since it was seriously slow going. I wanted fiber that would not require too much work and allow me to relax. I pulled out the roving I had previously mentioned and am having a blast. Isn't it just lovely? It's called Plum Honey and the colors are entertaining me way more than they should. Well okay, I've wasted enough time this morning. I really need to get back to the cleaning. Royd's R&R is suppose to start this weekend or next week and I've got a million things to do before he gets here. If I don't post again this week, I'll be back in a few. Have a great week everyone!

Acceptance

I'm a packrat although I hate being one. Clutter drives me nuts, yet cannot get rid of things. Recently I started going through stuff and just dumping it. It felt great! Everything I've gotten rid of hasn't caused me to look back once. I even went through the yarn have been trying to sell what I will probably never use. Well, last night as I was sitting down to spin and looked at what was in front of me. Thread. Honestly, I do not have the time or commitment to spin thread. This morning I came to the conclusion that it's going to be a long time before I have those two things. Why hang onto it when someone else enjoy it? Since I know quite a few of my readers spin as well, I'm going to give y'all a chance to take some wool off of my hands. Seriously, what's below is just a drop in the bucket, so don't feel bad. :) Here's the important details. All roving is untouched unless noted. Shipping is included in my price (within the US only). Payment is by Paypal only. International buyers ask for a shipping quote please. All wool has been stored in ziploc freezer bags away from children, cats and potential nasties. First come, first serve. Email me if you're interested and include your Paypal email addy if it is different. Email is ericanuckols AT hotmail DOT com Purple and White Mohair/Wool Roving -1 pound -$14.00 Natural White Wensleydale -1 pound -$15.00 Natural Brown Shetland -8 ounces -$9.00 Purple and Blue Merino Tencel -4 ounces -$13.00 Autumn Merino Tencel -4 ounces -$13.00 Multicolor Mohair Roving -8 ounces -$10.00 Superwash Merino, "Good Vibrations" from CMF - about 4 ounces -$7.00 -these are my leftovers from a pair of socks

A Bit of This and That

Thank you for your suggestions! It was quite interesting to see what everyone had to say. In the end I went with Ariann, as it was also the most popular one. Here it is on day four and it's fourth attempt. Being that it seemed such an easy knit, I kinda made alot of errors. Inability to follow directions, unhappiness with the selvedge stitches, dropped stitches, and casting on for the wrong size. Now, we're doing good. In the past month I haven't touched the spinning wheel at all. It's a shame since I keep ordering more fiber. I used to have lots of time in the evenings to sit down and get lost in the rhythm. Then a little baby I know has decided that he doesn't need any sleep and it's often after 9:30 before I get anytime to myself. Since I am usually knocked out by 10:30, it just never seems like much sense to bring the wheel out into the living room. Instead, I pick the knitting up and try to squeeze a few rows in while watching the news. Last week I received some gorgeous fiber in the mail. I just happened to be at the Yarn Wench site looking at colorways when I noticed that she was in the middle of updating. Yeehaw! Everytime I get an update notice, everything I like is always gone. Man, it was hard not to buy a bunch of it up. I was good and settled on one. (Sadly I can't get pictures today since my camera battery died and it'll be a few hours until I can try again. Boys are sleeping, so now's my chance to post.) Yesterday I took advantage of naptime and managed to finish plying up what was on the wheel. It's two ounces and 150 yards of Crown Mountain Farms' Heat Wave, Navajo plied. I'm still debating whether I like it or not and if I should finish spinning it up. You'd think that the brand new roving would have landed on the wheel next but it didn't. I just can't decide what to do with it, so to satisfy the spinning urge I'm working on some Optim, from this post. (No pictures of that either. Sorry!) Well, my time is limited, so I must make the most of this precious time. I'll leave you with a picture of what I have to deal with when someone is awake. Obviously, I'm not spending that much time on the computer lately!

I Got Nothin'

So, who wants to bet that y,all thought I'd have either a pair of mittens or a sweater to show today? Well, neither is going to happen. First, after I had finished the first of Anemoi, I had put them aside. I had really wanted to finish Arwen. I was so good too! For five days I worked on nothing else and was content. Ecstatic actually at the prospect of a new sweater to wear. I got as far as needing to start the left side of the hood and something happened: our President. Okay, usually I don't get political and air my opinions of things on this blog. But this situation really upsets me. I won't get into it, but let's leave it at this: I'm pissed. So pissed, that I couldn't find the energy to knit. Yeah, it takes alot since knitting is my stress relief. After a couple days I felt better and wanted to pick up the needles again. By this time though I had no desire to work on Arwen. Or Anemoi. Or anything else I've got languishing. So, this is what I've been doing instead. Lots of swatching. Here's the rundown: 1. Two top reds--Valley Meadows Superwash. I'd casted on for Lucy in the Sky with another yarn but didn't like how it was looking in that color. Riiip. I dug this out and thought it was perfect. Wrong! I can't get row gauge. Sure, an easy fix but after about a ball of yarn it was clear I was going to run out of yarn. Riiip! 2. Purple Irish Wool. Just playing with an idea of a Zimmerman Norwegian sweater. Now that I've got the gauge, I can look at other colors and daydream. 3. Green Highland wool. This used to be the Ribby Cardi. Now, it could possibly be Ariann. 4. Ecru Rowan Denim. This could be Saffy. SO.... I can't decide. I really want to do Lucy because the sweater is completely me. It's the type of sweater I would buy at the store and wear until it was falling apart. I hear y'all saying "Go buy more yarn!" Recent examination of the stash reveals 16 sweaters worth of yarn. Hmm. I may have a problem. No more yarn purchases. *sigh* Dear readers, this is where you come in. What should I work on? Ariann or Saffy? Both are ready and waiting your input. I really can't decide!

First Socks

I finished up the first pair of socks for the new year just a few minutes ago. Pattern: Latvian Socks from Folk Socks Yarn: Superwash Sunshine Yarn in NSS Olive Can I just tell you how glad I am to have these off the needles??? If you remember, these were suppose to be a Christmas gift, but due to some yarn snapping issues I didn't. I ripped back the foot of the first one and redid it for my size and then finished up the second to match. They're beautiful, but I sure am worried about them wearing out very quickly. I guess I won't be wearing them around the house without slippers. With these finished, there are only one pair left on the needles. They're basic ribbed socks in cotton and I'm not really in a hurry to get them done. With the new year, I'd like to step back from the socks a little bit. Not completely, just enough to allow time to work on other things. Speaking of other things... (the colors are nowhere true, but trust me, they look great together) Look what I started!!! After a few days of ignoring them, a lightbulb kinda popped on and I sat down to tackle that cast on once and for all. I found that the particular type of tubular cast on made a huge difference. I tried about five different once before settling on the Italian method, as described here. It took me a bit to get this one down, but it was well worth it. The edge is now stretchy and will fit over my hand. Then there's my progress on Arwen. I finished up the left side yesterday morning and plan on casting on for the right this evening. I've called a popcorn and movie night after dinner, so as long as Marc is cooperative, I should be able to get a bit done. Here's to hoping!