Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Curse that title line! I feel totally uninspired today, can't find the right caption!

The poppies took the worst time to bloom. It was raining and cold and very windy here.

The following two squares were the hardest to knit so far, not because the pattern was so difficult, but I had no mind to do them at all. That's will power my friends! I told myself I would do two squares a week, and so I did. The only thing which tickles me is, that there are only 12 more squares to go!!! Six more weeks.
# 28 - 40
edited for Judy from Alaska: I'm using Peruvian Collection Highland Wool from elann.com. It comes in many beautiful colors!

# 27 -40


This is 2 oz of Corriedale dyed by Amy in the color " peacock". The other 2 oz are on this bobbin (finished this morning). During spinning this 2 oz the strand broke maybe 5 times when it got too thin, I think that's not too bad. I can't wait to see it all finished and 2-plied. I don't think I can use these bobbins though, because it's pretty full with the single already. I've ordered a plying set, which will get here at the end of June! Is there another possibility I don't know off, because that's a long time to wait! But first I have to spin the second half, which will take another week or so.
It took me only a week to spin up 2 oz. ;o) I can't spin longer than 20 minutes at a time, so I sit down to the wheel a couple of times each day. My pinch fingers get cramps that I almost have to pry them apart with the other hand. My treadling foot gets cramps too. That might be because of the height of the sofa I'm sitting on. Maybe I'm going to look for a chair or something, but I like sitting on the sofa, spin and occasionally look out the window. The dogs are being very good with the wheel around. It really is standing in the way, but they learned to walk around it very quickly. They like the humming sound when I'm working on it, and fall asleep instantly.


Sam still has to take it easy. The limping is almost gone. We went outside a couple of times and we found his big red ball floating in the pool. The wind must have been strong enough to blow it in. First he's always looking for it, and as he found it floating he freaked and barked and ran back and forth to me and the edge of the pool. As soon as he saw that my short sighted eyes have spied his dilemma (cause he ain't ever going into the water, not even for his ball), he started to run to the net and back to me, because - me - idiot - need dog to tell me what to do! ;o)


I fished it out, he chewed it almost to death in a very loving manner. Since it was pierced with his teeth many a hundred times, there was water spurting out the holes. Well, it started raining again, so we went inside. The ball is secured until tomorrow.
Hallo, and thank you Anne for the link to another fiber enthusiast!
Also, thank you all for your kind comments, just have to say it once in a while, it means a lot to me!

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

What beautiful spinning you have, I just love the colors in the roving!

Teresa said...

Hehe..your Sam is very smart! My mother had a German Shepard and she LOVED him so much. She said if you want a smart well mannered dog, get a German Shepard. Of course, I didn't listen to hear and got a cat who's now so obsessed with his stress disorders. He "needs" a tablespoon of soft food at night or else he gets constipated and if we move, he stresses out and pops a blood vessel in his eye.

Your roving is gorgeous! I've got tons of it sitting in my closet right now. I love the peacock colors and how thin it is. I'm excited to see it plied!

Tracy Purtscher said...

WOW that peacock single looks FABULOUS!!!! I thought you had a lazy kate, aren't they used for plying??

Asked Tracy the uneducated wannabe spinner.

Anonymous said...

Hi from Alaska,,, What yarn did you use for your Mosaic squares ? Love the colors. Thanks , Judy from Alaska ~~~

Anonymous said...

Gorgeous spinning! The only suggestion I have re: plying is to wind your singles off onto bobbins (even toilet paper rolls can serve as a bobbin) and ply from those. I've never done this though, and I think you'd lose some twist in the singles by winding off. If you can stand to do it, I'd wait until your plying set comes in!

DAWN said...

Love love love the colorway of that yarn you are spinning, simply gorgeous!! Red poppies are so pretty. Glad they finally showed their faces.

meg said...

wow the spinning turned out great. i love the colorway.

hopefully, sam's limp goes away!

The Kelly Green Rogue said...

I think the spinning looks great! as a non spinner its pretty much like magic and I'm always amazed.

Glad to hear Sam is doing so well.

sgeddes said...

I love that peacock color. What you have already spun with it looks so nice!

The ball story makes me laugh. Sherman has a stuffed duck that he just carries around and he will often fall asleep with it in his mouth.

hakucho said...

I love the color of your Corriedale. It's beautiful!

Anonymous said...

That bobbin is holding really pretty yarn!
Willpower is what gets me through the end of every knitting project - without willpower, I would never finish anything!! 12 more...you can do it!!

Kris B said...

The peacock color is spinning up nicely. When in a pinch I've used toiled paper rolls to help out with plying.

I'm glad to hear Sam is getting better. What a smart guy he is.

Violiknit said...

Oooh, that roving/spinning is so pretty! I love seeing those squares; it's so exciting that you're almost done!

Anonymous said...

What a great picture of Sam. I'm not sure I realised he was a Shepherd?? Did I?? My German Shepherd, Vudny, was the black and tan type, she was beautiful and noble. She was not a good swimmer, she swam with her fingers way apart and her head up out of the water, like my mother really!!! The Peacock spinning is so beautiful!! I am not sure of the correct terms, but the twistiness and the colour mixing is gorgeous. I can't believe what you can make from an amorphous muzzy collection of starting wool. (See I don't know any of the terms. Is plying one???!!!)

Anonymous said...

Oh, those greens are so pretty, and what a smartie Sam is :-)

T-Mom said...

Wow, I'm behind. I'm impressed at how fast you're going with the Hepburn sweater! And the peacock spinning looks just beautiful--I bet it knits up really pretty.

I'm glad Sam's leg is better. Taenzer pulled a shoulder muscle a couple of times chasing frisbees and had to be leash-walked for weeks because as soon as you let her run, she'd re-injure herself. it's awful to see them hurt!

And aren't they funny about their special toys? Smart boy, Sam!

eyeleen said...

I love the colors of your new handspun.

It's good to hear that Sam is feeling better.

Anonymous said...

The spun wool is a gorgeous colour! I have never spun and I truly admire the skill involved. Perhaps I'll have a go one day - in the meantime I'll just drool over talented spinners and the wonderful yarns they produce :-)

Anonymous said...

Your handspun is just gorgeous. I love those colors.

It's too bad we can't swap dogs for a bit. Since I'm pretty much confined to my couch, my girls are just aching to be walked and play fetch (it's been six weeks since we did either). My current lifestyle would suit your Sam perfectly. :)

Strickfimmel said...

Das Garn ist toll geworden! Superschöne Farbe und so dünn gesponnen. Sieht Klasse aus. Da werde ich richtig neidisch. Und die zwei neuen Quadrate sehen sowieso gut aus. Sam sieht auf dem Foto so aus, als ob er kein Wässerchen trüben könnte. Sehr schönes Foto.

knititch said...

oh i am mad about that mosaic knitting you are doing. it is so lovely. and it must be great fun at least most of the time.

Opal said...

I just love that Corriedale!

Anonymous said...

wow look how much you've come in your spinning, and how much I've missed since the move!! You are doing wonderfully.
I love that Sam was making sure you knew what to do heheh Come on mum get the net and get my ball out, its not rocket science :)

Cloudberry said...

Wonderful colours on the yarn you've spun!
Have a great sunday :)

Abigale said...

The Corrie is just breathtakingly gorgeous!

Go ahead and spin up the second bobbin just try to make sure that it's about the same amount of yarn on both.

You might be surprised, You might just be able to get all of that onto one regular sized bobbin - plying kind of compresses the singles in a different way, and I've been known to fill my bobbins up when plying until the yarn is actually touching the flyer!

If it really is too much to get onto one bobbin, then you can just fill up the one bobbin as much as you can get on it... Skein it off, and then make another smaller skein. I'd do it all the time before I got my big wheel. Ashford bobbins will hold about 100 grams though, so it's still a decent sized skein.

Abi

Abigale said...

Oh - I started to post to ask you about the IK.... What is it in there that you want so bad? I'm guessing the Flower Basket Shawl.