Handspun Friday - River Rock

Some time ago, I got this fiber as a gift from Preita. I was able to pick it myself from her Etsy store (doesn't seem to exist anymore).



River Roch - Polwarth - 4oz

I loved all the colors in it, and how it turned out spun up. It was a little hard to work with, pre-drafting was in order, but in the end it all worked out fine.



chain plied - ~ 330yds

Thanks, Preita!



Yesterday a little box was in my mail box, from Germany. Look what was in it! Lovely 100% Alpaca, dyed and sent by Bea . There was some chocolate and Toffee too, but it never made it to the photo shoot. The colors are lovely, and this is going to go next on my spinning wheel! Thank you so much, Bea!



100% Alpaca

Bea has many wonderful designs on ravely, one is this spinning bag, which I'm supposed to test knit. Bea has graciously given me time as long as I needed to get it done. I really want to have one of those bags, but it's a little daunting.
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It's been really rainy and dark here the last few days. The pups do what's best in this situations - sleep.

sleeping Maggie - she's changed position on the towels - she's so sweet when she's sleeping


sleeping Happy - my sweet boy, highlighted in a low sun beam (obviously this photo was taken on a sunny day)


snoring Denny

They all like to sleep in the open crate during the day at some point. Here he's pressed his nose into a weird position, which made him snore like he's afflicted with sleep apnea.

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There it is again, the next weekend coming up! Hope you are all having a good one!

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October socks - Sockstravaganza

I used last weekend to finish up my October socks. I was waiting on Friday for some yarn to arrive for the Buttonwillow wrap, but it didn't. Which was a good thing, because then I decided to finish off this pair. I've had half a sock lying around for some time now, because between casting on, and actually finishing them, I did a couple of other projects.



These socks were the reason I bought the book "Brave New Knits", because they are on the cover. I liked the orignial colors, but I don't like to copy, so I changed the colors a bit. I added a third color, the natural white, because I thought the red color would pop more.



I've come to enjoy knitting cables lately. I especially liked the left and right cable bands, flanking the big middle one.

On the back leg there was ribbing, which was very annoying to knit. It looks really good, but I could not memorize it, I could not get into a rythms knitting them, because the ribbing was not the same old (k2, p2) or some such. Anyway, once I reached the foot, it was plain old stockinette stitch on the bottom.



Can you see the heart shape in the color work. The original had an open heart, I just added one red stitch at the bottom tip, to close the heart, and I like it much better that way.




They turned out a little too wide around the ankle and foot part. I usually knit my socks with 64 stitches on the leg, and 60 stitches for the foot part. These were knit with 72 stitches throughout. I must say I needed the width with the colorwork, but further down they are loose, and I made them a few rows too long too. So, I might give them away, or hope they'll shrink a little in the washing machine.


pattern: Sockstravaganza by Kirsten Kapur from the book "Brave New Knits"
yarn: Elann Sock it to me 4-ply (discontinued) and I'm not sad about that. Not the nicest yarn to work with.
needle: 2.25mm

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Ha!

Everybody and their Aunt is in Rhinebeck this weekend, and I'm getting a new water heater installed on a Saturday afternoon! How lovely.

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Ginny is an artist when it comes to dyeing fiber. I love her work. It's so much fun to spin her colorways. One of which is Day's End Dawson. I love browns, and blues together. This one I've got from her Etsy store.



4oz BFL







I've got 490yds of 2-ply yarn. I spun it from brown to the blueish part, with a little shawl in mind (pattern not yet specified).
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Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!
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Happy 1st Birthday, Maggie! (Margret, Mrs. Thatcher for short)

And YES, she listens to all her names. But she knows, when we call her Margret, she's done something bad.

As I'm writing this post, Maggie is sleeping under my desk, bringing tears to my eyes. It's not because I'm sentimental, or moved by time going by so fast. No, it's because she's blowing wind, sounds and smells coming from her belly, after she ate, God knows how many, apples from the ground outside in our backyard. She's putting members of the skunk family to shame, and she's not even trying.
Meanwhile the boys, one on each side of the room, have their noses pressed to the screen, of open windows (Coincidence? I think not!). I feel like getting up, and joining them, if it were not for the hot air coming in, and foul smells, and hot air, don't do it for me either. So lets be brave and move on.


(Last time we saw Happy between her ears, this time ...)

Maggie's one year old, and with us almost as long. She's a petite dog, but well proportioned. She's a weird dog, with lots of personality. I'm glad she's with us, and that she's got her own quirks.


(tired after running like the energizer bunny) (Denny made this bed of towels for her, but why sleep on a sofa, when you get a place like that to sleep on?)




(What? Don't you know there's nothing better than leaning on a chair?)



(She just loves leaning. I Love them both.)



That's her, telling us, "Throw the freaking ball!" Totally obsessed she is.

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It's also Thanksgiving Day today, and there's Turkey in the oven, there will be yams, and Apple Pie (made from scratch, no yucky filling from the can).

Hope you are all having a wonderful Monday!

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Happy Birthday!

October is a month with many birthdays in our family! Today it's my DS's birthday. For that occasion I baked a cake, Sacher Torte to be exact.


(this photo cracks me up)

We all like it. I'm not good at baking beautiful cakes, but they taste good.
I cut it in half once and filled it with Apricot jam.

Everybody wants a piece of it!


(I asked Happy to smell the cake. He usually does not jump up on the counter like somebody else we know.)

Some want it more than others...


(I pushed it out of his reach.)

If you don't get it from the one side, try the other ...



That was close!

Wish I could share this with you!



This cake really NEEDS whipped cream.

Gyllis

I was lucky to be a test knitter for this scarf. Gyllis a new Stephen West design.











I've used Wandering Cat Yarns Jungle Cat in the colorway Vampire's Kiss. One skein, with a little left over. But only because I decided to use a contrasting color for bind off (also some WCY but Twinkle Cat).

That's how much was left over.



And just because I have so many photos of them, here's Denny soaking up some sunshine.

I've cast on my October socks and have turned the heel on the first sock. I had to put it away for a while, because I've got a pattern for mittens, I promised to test knit.
This is the cuff of my Sockstravaganza socks by Kirsten Kapur from the book Brave New Knits.



Even though it was a cold, and rainy weekend, we managed to play outside, and I didn't forget to take the camera for once. I was playing with some settings, took over 100 photos, but kept about 50 of them, and even those didn't all turn out as well as I hoped for. Anyway, there are always some photos I like, even if they are not totally in focus etc.

Here's Maggie, with Happy growing out between her ears, waiting for me to throw the ball, what else.



Here you can see how much Denny enjoys playing nowadays.



One of the most beloved toys is this tattered rubber Frisbee. It's Happy's favorite for sure, but Maggie gets it away from him whenever she wants it. Sometimes all three of them tug at it. It still flys well too, even with the big hole in the middle.



Happy is avoiding a collision. I could not stop him from jumping into the pool though. Here he's wet, and on his way into a corner of the back yard, where he plays with the Frisbee by himself.



Here you can see his bum sticking out from his special corner. I tell you, every one of them has some weird thing going on. He just rubs the Frisbee into the dirt, and digs it out again, chews it, and slaps it around.



And here he's joining us again, to play some more.



I better get back to do some more test knitting.

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September round up

This month I've spun more than in August, which always makes me feel good.



I haven't shown you all of the finished yarns yet though. There are not enough Friday's in one week!
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I didn't mean for this pair of socks to be my September socks (for my personal sock club), but I didn't get to knit a second pair, so they'll have to do. They are mens socks for my DD's boyfriend.
I started out with stripes changing each row, and got bored, so I changed it for the foot part. I was really glad when they were done.
The reason for so many pictures is Maggie's curiosity. See her nose growing?









I've already picked out the pattern, and the yarn for my October socks. Just have to find the right size needles, and I'm good to go.

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And in chorus with the gang, I wish you all a wonderful weekend!!!





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WIP's

I have three works in progress at the moment. I'd like to work on all of them at once.

It' s been ages since I've knit something out of Knitty. Not that there was nothing I liked, but somehow I never got to anything, until I saw Apis Dorsata I had to cast on right away, and it's so much fun, that I put it away, because I want to savor the fun of knitting it. Does that make sense?

I don't have an updated photo, that's just the beginning, but I'm further along now. I'm using Wollmeise!!! here, in the colorway Fratello, which came as a sock kit from Yarnissima.

At the same time I was waiting for the book Contemporary Irish Knits by Carol Feller to arrive, because I saw this shawl/blanket called Dangan (scroll down a bit until you see that golden shawl/blanket on stone) in it, and I really wanted to knit that one as well.


I'm using Fishermen's Wool, I've had in my stash (bought for another blanket, which I never made). It's not exactly my favorite yarn though. It's low twist, easy split, and it smells sheepy.

I was knitting mostly Dangan the last few days, when yesterday, I got the message that I've won a prize in Through The Loops Summer shawl KAL. I could choose two of Kirsten's beautiful patterns, boy was that a hard choice!
In the end I choose Andrea's mitts, and Huarez hats. So, last night I've cast on Andrea's mitts, and finished one. That's a fast knit!

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And here are some photos of the pups. Another of Denny's nick names is Q-Tip, because he's licking the others ears clean, whenever he feels like it.