Friday, November 30, 2012

Handspun Friday - Quackenbush

When Quackenbush was colorway of the month at FatCatKnits, I bought 12oz of it. I wanted to do different plies, but use the yarn in one project. I decided a scarf it should be.

Here's the fiber: 12oz Polwarth - Quackenbush
FatCatKnits- Quackenbush-12oz-Polwarth


regular chain plied:
FCK-Quackenbush-regular chain plied

FCK-Quackenbush scarf-6x130 inches-Polwarth-chain plied

3-ply:
FatCatKnits-Quackenbush-3-ply

FCK-Quackenbush scarf-6x130 inches-Polwarth-3-ply

hand carded chain plied:
FCK-Quackenbush-handcarded-chain plied

FCK-Quackenbush scarf-6x130 inches-Polwarth-hand carded chain plied II

FCK-Quackenbush scarf-6x130 inches-Polwarth-hand carded chain plied

2-ply:
FatCatKnits-Quackenbush-2-ply

FCK-Quackenbush scarf-6x130 inches-Polwarth-2-ply

Here they are all together:
FatCatKnits-Quackenbush-12oz-570yds

Well, the resulting scarf was REALLY really long. 6 inches wide unstretched, and 130 inches long!
I used the Berlin scarf pattern by Purl Soho. It's just Brioche stitch, which is awesome!

FCK Quackenbush scarf-6" x 130"

FCK Quackenbush scarf-6" x 130"

FCK-Quackenbush scarf-6x130 inches-Polwarth-5

Once again, a fun project.

♥ ♥ ♥

Monday, November 26, 2012

A Gnome and other stuff ...

Hmmm. I didn't mean to, but I ended up knitting a few Christmas gifts anyway. I'm still at it, so today, to distract you, I'll show you something else.

This morning we woke up to a little snow. It's not much, but we'll take anything we can get.

November 26-morning

My birthday flowers this year, where two potted plants. Look at this wonderful Amaryllis! It had only buts when I got it, and right now, it has all FOUR blossoms all opened up. I took this picture earlier, because I was so amazed at how beautiful they are. The little white blossoms from the other one (which I don't know the name of) smell really strong.

birthday flowers-Amaryllis

My DD went to Vermont for a week and had fun felting this gnome with a friend while there. He's nameless, but so cute. I especially like the beard on it, but am still amazed that he was done just with fiber and a felting needle, not even wet felting!

Hannah's felted gnome

And this is what awaits me every night, when I go to sleep. The three Musketeers waiting for their Good Night treat. This photo was taken a year ago, but it still looks the same every night.

Maggie, Denny, Happy in my bed 2011

Well, I better get back to work. See ya! ♥

Friday, November 23, 2012

Handspun Friday - Metro

The fiber is from Greenwood Fiberworks Fiber Club June 2012. It's 4oz Polwarth. I wish I had more of it, but oh well. Greenwoodfiberworks-fiber club June2012-Metro-Polwarth-4oz

I wanted to use my hand carders, and decided to rip the braid into pieces, like this: the color runs were a little short.

Greenwoodfiberworks-fiber club June2012-Metro-Polwarth-4oz-1

Then I arranged the pieces into color groups, and hand carded them.

Greenwoodfiberworks-fiber club June2012-Metro-Polwarth-4oz-5

Greenwoodfiberworks-fiber club June2012-Metro-Polwarth-4oz-4

Greenwoodfiberworks-fiber club June2012-Metro-Polwarth-4oz-3

Greenwoodfiberworks-fiber club June2012-Metro-Polwarth-4oz-2

The resulting yarn, which I spun semi woolen, and chain plied, looked like this.

Greenwoodfiberworks-fiber club June2012-Metro-Polwarth-4oz-185yds chain plied-1

Greenwoodfiberworks-fiber club June2012-Metro-Polwarth-4oz-185yds chain plied-6


When Kelly asked me to test knit her new hat pattern - Stormont, I grabbed my Metro yarn and knit it right away:
Metro yarn - Stormont hat by Kelly Ashfield

What a lovely design! Unfortunately, it didn't use up all my yarn, and I wanted to use it all in one project, so I ripped it back to the prim, used that and just kept knitting, until almost all the yarn was gone.

handspun Metro hat

And that's the story of "Metro".

handspun Metro hat

handspun Metro hat

handspun Metro hat

♥ ♥ ♥




Wednesday, November 21, 2012

How something fun can go wrong quickly!

Happy is a dog who can entertain himself for quite some time. It's always fun to watch him. But this time, he scared the $#@&%# out of me. Thankfully, my son came to the rescue. You see, Happy got a twig logded in the back of his mouth, which stuck really tight between his back teeth. DS reached in and got it out, even though that meant getting his hand chewed up (no blood, just teeth impressions, but still very hurtful. I did that once with Biko, who had the same problem, and boy did that hurt!).

It's always something, isn't it?!!!



Monday, November 19, 2012

Before another day goes by without a new blog post, I thought it's time for a little puppy love again.
By the way, Thank You all again, or the lovely birthday wishes!

I'm so glad we have the basement for the dogs to play in, when it's nasty outside. As you can see, not everybody is up and running. Maggie rarely stands still, so she's another blur in the picture. Denny just managed to get the ball away from her.

August 2012-basement playground

He isn't at all cocky about it.

August 2012-basement playground

August 2012-basement playground

And then he was too lazy to get it, and just kept on snoozing.

August 2012-basement playground



Sunday, November 11, 2012

Happy Birthday to me!

I wouldn't have mentioned it at all, but I just wanted to show you this lovely Happy Birthday cub cake music box.


I'm off now, celebrating!

♥ ♥



Friday, November 09, 2012

Handspun Friday - Trickster

I'm trying to spin the monthly fiber from the clubs I'm in within reasonable time. So here is one of the two colorways of the Southern Cross Fiber Club of October. I was in the  mood for colorful, so it jumped right on my wheel as soon as it arrived.

Trickster: 2-ply, 199yds, Polwarth. It's enough for a hat at least.

SCF-October 2012 fiber club-Polwarth 110gr-Trickster-2-ply-199yds

SCF-October 2012 fiber club-Polwarth 110gr-Trickster-2-ply-199yds

SCF-October 2012 fiber club-Polwarth 110gr-Trickster-2-ply-199yds

SCF-October 2012 fiber club-Polwarth 110gr-Trickster

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

♥ ♥ ♥

Thursday, November 08, 2012

Wednesday, November 07, 2012

Paintbox socks!

It's time to wear socks again! I've pawed through my sock drawer, finding a few with holes in them (always at the bottom of the heel), and retired those, but they were replaced with new ones immediately. One can never have enough hand knit socks, I tell you!

I fell in love with this yarn, when the Ladies of Wandering Cat Yarns showed it off, and was lucky to get it as a gift!!! I had to cast on right away to see how they would knit up.

WCY-Transitions Alley Cat-Paint Box-merin-nylon-460yds-gift from Rhonda

With yarn as colorful as this one, no elaborate stitch pattern was needed, but to stave off boredom, I added a little texture to the socks.

Wandering Cat Yarns Alley Cat-Paint Box socks done

I really like how they turned out, and they wear very well. I've already washed them several times in the washing machine, and even put them in the dryer once, and they still fit wonderfully.

Wandering Cat Yarns Alley Cat-Paint Box socks done

yarn: Wandering Cat Yarns-Transitions Alley Cat-Paint Box-Merino/Nylon-460yds-gift from Rhonda - 1 skein

pattern: my own

♥ ♥ ♥

Monday, November 05, 2012

Precious

Back in August my DD Hannah went to New York for a short trip, and brought me back a little souvenir.
I've been meaning to show you this precious little gift for a while now, but forgot until today.

gift from Hannah-picture with a pull out calender from 1937

She found this picture at a flea market, and snatched it up for me.
The wonderful thing is, this is an old calendar from 1937. There's a little ledge to pull out at the bottom of the picture.

gift from Hannah-picture with a pull out calender from 1937

There is still some paper left in it, on top is the month June. Isn't that cool? Gifts like that make me incredible happy!

♥ ♥ ♥

Friday, November 02, 2012

Handspun Friday - Candy Corn

Back in Spring 2010, I dyed some Norwegian fiber, in several colorways. This I called "Candy Corn".

Norwegian-4oz-dyed by me

I finally took it out to spin it, but it was a little squooshed together from being stuffed into a box with other fiber. It's also a bit on the prickly side, O.K. a lot. I might, maybe, stand it as socks on my feet, but definitely not near the skin anywhere else.

Anyway, as I already told you, I love wielding my hand carders. And I filled up a basket with my rolags. What fun that was!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA


While I wasn't crazy about the colorway, I really like how the finished yarn came out.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

It's 4.4oz, 2-ply, 272yds.

No matter how long it takes, eventually I'm spinning up all my fiber. It was refreshing to spin something else, something more rustic than the usual fiber bases.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

♥ ♥ ♥