Hand carders!

Earlier this year I bought myself some Clemens cotton hand carders. I choose these for the fine teeth, even though I will only be using it with wool. I'm not interested in spinning cotton at the moment. I'm having so much FUN! I originally thought it would be tedious, and I might not like it, always having a drum carder in the back of my mind, but I was wrong! Besides, drum carders cost more than a spinning wheel, at least the one I would buy.


(Clemens curved cotton hand carders with FCK Sid & Nancy fiber club fiber.)

I love working with these. It doesn't take as long as I though it would, and I like spinning my little Rollags much more than I like the big batts. With these I also had to learn how to spin woolen, modified long draw, compared to my normal short forward draw with the commercial prepared tops I'm using. It's nice to know both now, and the resulting yarn is quite different. It's more bouncy, and fluffy, has more "air" in it. I am loving this so much.
This was one of my first handcarded finished yarn. I used a gifted batt from Shelby of Spinning Awesome Good, which was just over one ounce.

It turned into this little skein. It's only ~ 50 yds, worsted weight yarn, and it sparkles!

 

Next was some FatCatKnits fiber club fiber, from the famous couples, here is Sid & Nancy. Normally I love FatCatKnits fiber, but these two were not my favorites. So I didn't feel so bad using them to practice hand carding, which was a lot of fun. I know you get it, it's fun alright!



I especially didn't like Nancy, the pinkish/yellow one from this combo, so I used her first.
I made my little Rollags:


this is Sid though:


the resulting yarn:
darker Nancy:


lighter Nancy:


really dark Nancy:


and Sid:


Here they are all together: I chain plied them all. It's enough for a hat for sure. Hand carding does muddle up the colors, but I love the heathered look of them. Close up you'll find so many shades it's a joy to look for them. The yarn itself is a little bumpy, and uneven, and I can't get it thin yet. It's always around worsted weight, but that's O.K. for now.


I still have a lot of Sid fiber left over, since I only did about one ounce.
That's it for now. I've got more hand carded yarn to show, but I don't want to overload your brains! ;o)

♥ ♥ ♥

Juneberry Triangle Shawl

You guys know how to make a girl feel all warm and fuzzy! Thank you all for the warm welcome back!
♥
Last night, just before dark, the pups and I went into the backyard for a last run. I was standing there, Happy and Maggie beside me, when Denny started yapping, and I saw him chasing a bunny from one end of the backyard to the other. He was at least 2 meters behind the bunny at all times, no chance of getting close enough, and he knew it. He whined in frustration while running. Happy, Maggie and I were watching this with open mouths, it was funny.
But really, I'm pissed because of this suicidal bunny. Why, oh why does she have to have her babies in our backyard where there's always the possibility of three!!! dogs chasing her, and her offsprings? Early this summer, Denny found a nest, a badly made nest with two baby bunnies in them. For the next four days I tried to give the dogs space to run, but not go near that nest. The baby bunnies died anyway, with no fault of the dogs I might add. It made me sad.
Yesterday, Denny found another nest, totally inappropriate located out in the open, but at least with some bedding for the babies (no one home yet). Now I have to see that he doesn't dig it out every time we go outside, which is annoying. I don't want anyone getting hurt. Dumb Bunny mom. There's so many places outside our yard for nesting, but no, she needs to have some action in her life. Sigh. ~

O.K. back to knitting. I've finished this shawl back in April! Those of you on Ravelry might have seen it there already. I've got the pattern as a gift from the lovely Virginia. Thanks again! I love this pattern, and really would love to knit it again some day. It was fun from start to finish. Jared Flood writes great patterns.



pattern: Juneberry Triangle shawl by Jared Flood
yarn: Elann Peruvian Highland Wool, cheap wool, but this colorway is a lovely heathery color, which I love
        I used 4.3 balls of yarn = 468.7yds
size: it's not the biggest of shawls: 25" x 53"
needles size: 4.5mm
start-finish: March 21 - April 6, 2012











♥ ♥ ♥

Hi there! We are BACK!

Hallo, sweet readers! Boy, one can really get used to not thinking about blogging at all, but your lovely, inquiring emails about our well being, and whereabouts were enough to stir me back in the right direction. Since September is back to ... (insert the appropriate word here) month, I thought why not go back to blogging, it's now or never. So here we are. I've got lots of photos to share, so during the coming weeks I'll blog more often to catch you all up, on what I've been doing, and the pups of course, which are all well and accounted for. Here we go:


Happy takes his "alone time" with me quite seriously. Whenever I'm in the pool, and he's allowed in as well, he uses me as a island. Nothing else will do. I could not lift his 75lbs otherwise. He's quite content in my arms, big baby that he is.
The other two are bared from being outside, while I'm swimming, because of Denny's tendency to "rescuing me", which always comes close to drowning me. Maggie is just keeping him company to give Happy his alone time, he really needs.Oh yeah, and I hate my picture being taken, but I assure you, I'm smiling as wide as Happy does in this picture.


This year we were able to swim starting in May. Never before. We put up a puppy gate at the stairs, so we could keep the pups from jumping in when we didn't want them too. Somehow they thought the only way into the pool is through the stairs. I'm glad they don't know that it's possible to jump right in too.


Maggie and Denny: What do you think? Is it warm enough to go for a swim?



Maybe later.


I'm sure this is the way in, says Maggie.


Not! It's this way, says Denny.




Aaah, yes! Still cold though.

Well, that was a long Hallo! I hope you are all well, and enjoying your summer, which will be over sooner rather than later.
 ♥

Need a break!

Hi all! I'm going to take a break from blogging, but I'll be back!


(sweet sleeping Happy)

Take care!

Monika

♥ ♥ ♥

Handspun Friday - Truffula Trees

This was my second Nest Fiber Studio fiber I've spun. It's so colorful, I just loved it.


I've decided to make it a 3ply yarn. Got 243yds of it, and it's on superwash Merino.






This yarn has been gifted, and was very well received. I hope to see pictures of what she'll make with it some day.

On another note, I have to show you my latest favorite cookies! Gluten free bacon bits & chocolate chips cookies!


Next time I'll bake these, I have to add more bacon bits (home made), because  I burned some of the bacon, so there was less in the cookies. But I like the chocolate/bacon taste. Don't ask me were I got the recipe, I can't remember at the moment. :o) Doesn't my coffee mug look greedy at my cookies? I have to watch that one!

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

♥ ♥ ♥

Cameo

It warms my heart, when strangers are concerned by the lack of new blog posts! Thank you so much! Last week was a little hectic all around, and I just could not muster the will to write and post a new blog post. But fear not, I'm still here, I'm well, and I have lots to show!

Lets start with my latest finished object, the Cameo shawl.


It's knit with my handspun yarn, called Brad (golden brown) & Angelina (blue), which I've shown you earlier.



I had to add a few more rows of the lace part, because I wanted to use most of Brad's yarn, to get to the lighter part for the picot edge. In the end I still had to break the yarn and remove some of the golden part, to get the lightest yarn for the edge.



I love how it turned out.









I've also finished TTL Mystery Shawl Summer 2012 clue# 3:

Not much to see, but it's some leaf lace pattern. I can't wait to finish this shawl and block it, to see how it looks. I like the color very much, but it's still going to be a gift.

And I know I've shown a similar photo of Denny before, but he's been doing this sleeping on his shawl thing, or other wooly blankets a lot lately. Must be the combination of being wet a lot, and the A/C in the house.




Well, that's it for today. Must go, lots to do.
♥ ♥ ♥

Handspun Friday - Koi

Today we have some variegated BFL fiber dyed by Jennifer of  Nest Fiber Studio (shop updates are like a feeding frenzy, one has to be really fast to get some of the fiber).  Isn't it lovely?



I turned 4oz into chain plied yarn, 302yds of yummyness.





We've received the second clue of TTL Mystery Shawl 2012 one day earlier. I don't expect to be able to show the next two clues stretched out like that. Can't wait to see how this shawl looks finished. I love knitting with this yarn. It's Wandering Cat Yarns Continental Cat in the colorway Lilac. So nice and soft.

 

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!
♥ ♥ ♥

Thank you!

I tried to make someone happy, and gifted my Shipwreck/Longest Night crochet bag, and what do I get for it?
Valerie turned it right around, and sent me this beautiful yarn! It's Baby Camel/Silk blend, something I've never tried before, and it's sooooo soft. The color is Pine Forest, lovely! It's not even in their shop yet. I hope they'll decide to have it in the future, because everybody should knit with this yarn blend at one time.



The pups got a present too. I'm not sure they deserve it, but they will still get it.

Thank you, Valerie, you shouldn't have, but it's very much appreciated!

♥ ♥ ♥

Do you know where my vacuum is?

I was visited by Vertigo this past weekend again. I could deal with it better this time, since I knew what was going on, but it still was not a fun way to spend ones weekend.

We've been having rainy days, which is good, since it was way too hot, and dry before. The pups adjusted to the change in weather, sleeping curled up mostly, like Denny here.



I know now why he chewed a hole into this shawl last year, because he likes it for himself. He's dragging it around like a security blanket. And no, the vacuum is not broken. I just thought test knitting was more important, than lugging that thing around.

In other news, the Robin parents are back, renovated the nest, and are going for another round it looks like. How often do they breed in one season?

I've been test knitting with this yarn, because of Vertigo I didn't finish it this weekend, like I hoped I would.

The yarn is Madeline Tosh Merino Light in Amber Trinket and Flashdance. I've been knitting with it for the first time. It's nice.

I've also got the first clue of TTL Mystery Shawl 2012 done. Not much to see yet. It's going to be a half circle shawl, that much we know.

Handspun Friday - Brad & Angelina

This last round of FatCatKnits Fiber Club was themed Famous Couples. April installment was Brad & Angelina. I've chosen Polwarth/Tussah Silk blend as my fiber base. Lovely!



I've got 5oz of each colorway. The warm colorway is Brad, and the cold colorway is Angelina.

I decided to spin it as two ply for a shawl. This is Brad, 4oz, 435yds, 2ply. I took out the grey parts, and spun it as some kind of gradient.




This is Angelina: 517yds, 2ply


 



I'm maybe halfway through with knitting this shawl. It's Cameo by Paulina Popiolek. She's got several nice shawl designs. The knitting on this shawl is on hold right now. Two days ago, I've got another Stephen West test knit (shawl), which I'm working on right now, and today we'll get the first clue for the TTL Mystery Shawl KAL as well.
Busy, busy!

♥ ♥ ♥

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

FYI: Do you remember the story about the "bagel tree"? Yesterday, Denny was circling the young trees in our backyard, with his nose up in the air. I don't want him to bother the local wildlife, so I went to investigate. I thought he might have found a bird's nest in one of those trees, but as I was looking closely, I found an English Muffin, half eaten stuck into a branch fork. I took it out of the tree, and rewarded him with a treat for finding it. I sure would like to know the source of these carby "treats" turning up in our garden via squirrels, which is on a regular basis. It's just that I find pieces often before the dogs do, and remove them.

Happy being happy!


Maggie waiting for me to play with her.


Denny, watching our house guests from far.