More Ravelypic Progress

It's not yet afghan sized, but it's getting there.

Day 2



Day 3



As you can see, Indy clearly approves.

Starting the Ravlympics

Here are the results of day one of my Ravelympics project.



I didn't take a picture on 8/8/08 because I didn't get home till midnight that night, and I was dead tired. We knitters know how to party.

I've found that, for now, this project is relatively portable. I'm sure once it gets bigger that will change.

Getting Ready for Knitting Olympics

This year for our anniversary, Nerdy Husband and I decided to get ourselves presents. He got a Playstation 3. I got these



I ordered the swift and ball winder online from Hank's in Gainesville, and on the day it arrived, I walked in to find this.



It was wrapped in Christmas-y gift wrap and came with a very funny card. It just got better. When I unwrapped it, I found a note written on the side from the awesome ladies at the yarn store.



A ball winder and swift. Good thing too, because I had to wind all this.



into this




That's 24 different shades of Cascade 220. What am I going to do with it? I'm basically copying Brouhaha's Curve of Pursuit. It's gorgeous, and my afghan is as much inspired by her work as it from the pattern from Wooly Thoughts.

That being said, no, I'm not going to knit an entire afghan in 17 days. My goals are to knit every day (which I normally don't do) and make an average of 1 square a day, or 17 squares total over the course of the games. I also want to take a picture of my progress every day.

Although I think I may be crazy to knit a worsted weight 100% wool afghan in August in Florida.

Spinning Class

So, I was lucky enough to get a spot in a spinning class at Hank's Yarn. The shop is great, the ladies that own it are great, and Ginger's a great teacher. It's so much fun.

There's this



The Golding Spindle that Ginger was nice enough to let me use. It's amazing, and if I wasn't getting a wheel soon, I'd be investing in one.

It allowed me to make this.



Then, there's the wheel.



This week I'm using the Ashford Traditional. I picked it out because I love the look of the Saxony wheel.

Wheel spinning is easier to do than I expected. I've gotten started with this (the same roving as the spindle).



Which has become this



I also made a few purchases. Going into a yarn store on pay day can be dangerous. But fiber is a lot less expensive than yarn. I seem to have bought them in pairs.

It's Yarn: Nameology

Drumroll please...

I have finally finished Nameology, my Very First Handspun.

After the singles, (see previous posts) I plied.

I made my lazy kate into a tensioned lazy kate with the creative use of a paper clip and some gorilla glue. I put both singles onto separate bobbins and plied away.





(my house isn't really this messy, we've just been cleaning out both of our offices, post on that once our new office is presentable)



I ended up with a very full spindle of two ply.



Isn't it just gorgeous! This picture is probably the truest color.

Then I made use of our dining room chair, since I don't have a niddy noddy.



After a resting overnight, I gave it a quick bath in the morning. Then some good whacks against the tub (yarn's version of a shiatsu massage) and hang up to dry.



It's even balanced enough to hang in an open loop! The strands that are out of place here are because it wasn't hung properly.

The end result:



About 26 yards of a very bulky thick and thin yarn.

It won't grow up to be anything. Its sole purpose is to hang out in a vase in the living room, and be pretty.

Catch Up Post: Random Baby Gifts

So, in early spring this year, there was a small baby boom in the people around me. People at work, ladies at the knitting group, and even our neighbors were popping out babies. Must be something in the water.

Of course, these new arrivals mean: baby gifts. I made a few.

First, three different burp cloths. The pattern is the Baby Genius Burp Cloth, from Mason Dixon Knitting. The yarn is various shades of Peaches n Cream. I used size 4 needles to get a really tight fabric. These are very pretty and absorbent.







Next, some booties.

The "Free Baby Mary Jane" pattern by Lucie worked in Lane Cervina Madrid Solid gives these







So cute and interesting construction.

I also used the Jimmy's Baby Bootie Set pattern, and the same yarn, to make these.



Also cute, but in my opinion this yarn has a bit too much definition for the pattern. It looks a little wonky.

And lastly, a Baby Bib o' Love (again from Mason Dixon Knitting, and in Peaches n' Cream).



I paired up these gifts (everyone got two), and got some takeout containers from Micheals.

This set went to Deborah from the knitting group (recipient of Super Secret Project #2) who had a baby around Easter time.



These booties (and the pink burp cloth) went to our neighbor. I don't know what colors they like, so I just went with lots of color.



That table is our dining room table. Can you tell that this was during exam season? I wish I could say it wasn't always covered by study materials and/or my sewing machine.

And, for this last set I had no cute takeout container, but I did have a model help me out.



Don't be too hard on Indy, he was having a bad face day. I only did this because he kept getting into the pictures I was trying to take. clicky

In other news, May 19th was a pretty lucky day for me, I passed my exam! Which is good because that one's done, but bad because I have to start studying for my next one, which is a bitch.

Field Trip - The Local Needle

Last weekend, our knitting group went to the Local Needle.

We were greeted by Joan (the proprietor) in style. She made a sign, and buttons!



The graphic is the group logo made by Kate, one of our members. Joan is so thoughtful and always makes us feel welcome.

And, she has great yarns. As part of my anniversary present (more on that in another post later) I got to splurge a little.

Here's the take:



First, Alpaca with a Twist laceweight Fino, which will probably grow up to be a lace shawl or stole.



Some Wildfoote for some baby booties. I'm interested to work with this yarn.



Dream in Color Smooshy in November Muse.



And least but definitely not least



Pagewood Farms sock weight in Really Red. Besides being the most appropriate color name ever, it is my favorite of the bunch. It was also damn hard to catch the color on a rainy day.



The actual color is somewhere between the two pictures. It's amazing. Amazing enough to convince me to get some color in my life. I bought two skeins to make some fingerless mitts and socks. I'm contemplating getting some worsted weight for the February Lady Sweater.