Thursday, February 24, 2011

Monday, February 14, 2011

It's Been Quiet

I don't have a whole lot to show today, due in large part to the migraine I had last week that knocked me out for days.

First, I've finished half of my Camilla mitts.


I'm pleased with the actual knitting and the colors of both the Koigu and my hand dyed brown. Unfortunately, it's too big for my hand.


It is especially baggy at my wrist. I'm considering several possibilities, the top one is finishing the pair and gifting them to someone with larger hands. Who knows, though, blocking may help if I stretch them a little lengthwise. The other option is to knit the second one on US 0 needles and see if that fits better, and if yes, re-knit the first one. I'm not as fond of this option.

Second, I started a new project last Tuesday because I needed a simple project on large-ish needles for my headachey-migraine state. I chose the eternalism vest from KnitScene winter/spring 2011. I'm using my Malabrigo in Hummingbird. This is a remarkably quick knit. In less than a week I'm more than 50% done. I've gotten several inches further from when I took this picture, which was just a few hours ago.



The Malabrigo is wonderful to knit with. I found it's extraordinary softness very comforting last week in my semi-vegetative state.

My final crafty item is some pictures of my painting. Below is the color wheel that I painted, for which I mixed all of the tertiary colors.


Last night I was feeling fairly abstract, so I put that impulse into my first abstract painting.


My photograph doesn't do this painting justice, but it gives you an idea of my mental state.

Other than a little bit of knitting and an abstract painting, the only news I have is that Westley has been officially tagged. We went to the bet today and he got microchipped. I'll be sending out the registration paperwork tomorrow. I'm off now to wash dishes, which piled up alarmingly last week.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

I Totally Forgot

I won the first door prize at the Spin-In and got to choose my gift-y.




It's a lovely felt vine/lanyard/scarf-ish thing.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Whirlwind

Oh spit, I just realized that I forgot to take painting pictures, and the batteries in my camera are dead. Oh well, you'll just have to be entertained with the pictures I did manage.

First off, Damson is done!!!


I finished it Thursday and wore it Friday and Saturday. I got many compliments on it both days, especially Saturday at the Newport Spin-In. I'm still working on getting an action shot, which will now be more difficult with the dead batteries.

In order to prepare myself for Saturday's spinathon, I cleared off the bobbin I was working on. I've been working on the roving I got last June in Elgin after the wedding. I used the opportunity to try out Navajo plying. I do love a three ply yarn.



This is about half of the 100 grams of roving. This cleared up my wheel for a new spinning project. I got out a top that I bought at the store in town, dyed by Dicentra Designs. It's 4.1 ounces of Blue Faces Leicester (less-ter) in the colorway "Twig."

I rode out with Kelli and got started spinning up "Twig." I had every intention of not purchasing more fiber, since I have plenty and I haven't really been spinning. That's why I brought the Dicentra roving. It's pretty and exciting with the color changes, so I would be less tempted than if I had just brought the green from above.

My resolve lasted for several hours. Then I found the Danger Zone. It was a bin of little one ounce baggies of luxury fibers for $3 each.

Sigh.

I walked away with two ounces of a silk and camel down blend. I took the Dicentra off the wheel, put on a fresh bobbin, and got to work (cause it doesn't count if it goes home as yarn, right?). I spun up the first ounce on Saturday, started the second, finished the second on Sunday, plied it back on itself for a two ply, wound it off, and counted. I ended up with 188 yards of the prettiest yarn I've made yet.

Here's one ounce of the fiber:


The first ounce spun up:


And the finished yarn:



It really does look just like spun gold, and yes, my arm hurts from patting myself on the back. Two ounces in two days, plus I've got the spinning bug again, so my fiber stash should start to shrink.

My resolve returned right up until the last half hour of the spin-in. That's when I found the mawata.


What is mawata? Another name for it is silk hankies. Individual silk cocoons are stretched out onto a square frame, and then individual layers can be separated and spun into silk yarn. I bought one ounce, which gives me a surprising amount because silk is such a light fiber. I'm looking forward to playing with this.


And finally, my SpillyJane Camilla mitts keep marching on. I'm having fun doing the colorwork, and feel more confident about doing the Whale Watch Hat (ravelry link) from New England Knits.


Just one more thing to add. Mom sent this to me, and I'm in love. Too bad I'm in such a small place (and can't bolt things to the wall).

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

How'd I Do?

It's officially February (I flipped the calendar last night so I wouldn't forget). I told you at the beginning of the month that I was going to get a whole mess of things finished up and out of the way so that 2011 can be a great creative year. Let's see how I did.

First off, the things that actually got finished (in order no less).

The brown and blue dress is done. I don't have pictures because I can't find my excavation equipment to get it back out of the closet.

My plaid coat is finished and is quite warm, too.


The ladies at my ASG meeting commented on how well I got the stripes to line up across the coat. I'm rather pleased with that, because it involved a lot of extra time on my knees measuring and placing the pieces very precisely.

My Valium Bandit, started on October 30th, is finished.


It's large and also quite warm. I like to snuggle in it during movies, and I'm not the only one.


I wrapped Westley in it for a photo, thinking he'd get up (and out of the prime couch spot).


That'll teach me to expect things of my cat.

Finally, my Handy Knitter's Carry-All Tote is finished.


I used it today as my bag and got a compliment it at the bus stop. It is quite large, so I used Wes for a perspective shot.


The next category is for things that *almost* got finished.

My NaKniSweMo sweater from November is in this category. I've got the body of the sweater done,


(there's Westley sleeping in "his" shawl)
I got the collar of the sweater done,


but when I went to attach the collar to the sweater the collar was much too big. By about 6 inches, so not really fudge-able. So I put that aside to rip and re-knit. I still have plenty of winter left.

Damson came out of hibernation for an impressive rally.


I've only got 12 rows and the bind off left for this. I should be (hoping to) able to wear it this weekend.

The third category are projects that got a little bit of work done on them. For this I have my thesis, for which I have not picture because that would be boring.

The final category are projects that didn't get worked on at all. I didn't work on the maroon sweatshirt. I meant to, and I got it out, but when I tried it on it wouldn't close around my hips, and I'm not thrilled about the whole idea of turning a frumpy pullover sweatshirt into a strange and frumpy cardigan sweatshirt that doesn't even fit. So I put it away.

Percy also got no love from me during January, with the exception of being fished out for a picture.


Now that January is over, my Finish-it-up-itis is clearing up and I feel a definite case of Startitis coming on. To that end I've already got my yarn wound for my next new project: Camilla by SpillyJane.


The top yarn is Koigu Premium Painter's Palette Premium Merino (KPPPM), and the bottom is Knit Picks 100% merino fingering that I dyed myself with Jaquard Acid Dye.

I'm also going to be starting the Eternalism Vest soon, using the Malabrigo from my last post.

Not too shabby.

I was going to post about my painting, but I think I'll save that for later. I'm just going to leave you with a picture of Westley's wound from the FIGHT he SNUCK OUT and STARTED with Gray Cat.