Getting Back to Fiberey Art Goodness

Mama's death and funeral really took the wind out of my sails and I'm only just getting back to feeling like myself.
Tom and I went to Huntsville a couple of weeks ago for the Leyendecker exhibit-fabulous!-and I went to the Useful Knowledge Conference sponsored by Little Barn. I attended the Spinning Class for Knitters taught by Merike Saarniit and it was wonderful. Met lots of Ravelry friends there and learned a ton of useful information about spinning...hence, I suppose, the reason they named it the UK Conference. I learend to spin on a spindle-too much fun but have to resist buying a spindle right now-how to make a balanced yarn (tres useful) how to spin from the fold-which I now find to be my favorite way to spin, how to card and blend fibers and a whole ton of other things that I just can't remember right now.
I also bought about $100 worth of fiber...thank you Tommy for your credit card!!! I even ventured away from the neutral colors somewhat-although I did buy one lovely choccy brown and black top, 2 pounds of merino, 8 ounces of linen, and 8 ounces of Tri Color Jacob. They were just too lovely to pass up. I don't know what got into me buying the linen, but I think once i get the hang of spinning it, it will make a very nice knitted summer handbag. I have a lovely pattern from England that I can use for it.
I've decided to use some of my very own blended wools to make a wall hanging. I've chose the linen stitch to do these in as it makes a nice dense fabric with a lovely pattern. I'll have to take a better photo of this when I get a bit more done. I was inspired by some digital artwork I did a few years ago and I want to re-create it in knitting. I'm sure it will be ongoing for some time as I would like to make it a rather large piece.
Pics I am posting are of the wools I bought at the conference and some knitting and spinning I have done recently. I've promised myself to keep up the blog a little better from now on...I hope to keep it.

Sad news for us

Mama passed away on Saturday, February 16th at 12:30 PM in Anderson,SC. I didn't get to talk with her, except to tell her that we were there-but she was in a coma and died an hour after we got there. I will miss her so much.

In honor of my Mama, I knit this hat and am calling it Margarett's Tam. It is knit from the handspun Merino in the Primrose colorway I spun on my wheel about a week ago-knit from the fingering weight singles.

KNITTING WITH MY OWN HOMESPUN

Woooo Hooo...I've spun enough BFL to make this little shoulder wrap! I can't believe how soft it is and surprisingly, for a singles, it isn't wonky when knit up...I'm very pleased.

SPINNING YARN(S)

This week I have been practicing my spinning...and I'm pretty sure I'm getting better at it...at least no more overspinning with all of the curls and skewed yarn everywhere. What a pain...thought I would never learn to get it to resemble real yarn. Anyway, I've spun all of my Tri Color Jacob..wish I had known about spinning thinner because it would have made some lovely sock yarn (wahhhhh) Nevertheless, it's all spun..I've spun a couple of hanks of Merino...yummmmmy soft goodness! I must have more of that!!!!! Also working on the 8 ounces of BFL which is a lovely milk chocolatey brown and 8 ounces of Shetland...which, by the way, is a pain the arse to spin. I must learn a better way for it because all I am getting is a slubby yarn. That may not be so bad, but from what I understand, Shetland is supposed to be a pretty decent wool. It's soooooooo short!! Yikes, I am not able to manage it well at all! I'm saving the Yak hair for when I actually know what I can do with it. I have no clue right now-but I got a lot of it and it's bound to make something interesting!! I should have enough of it for a sweater I think...I have a whole pound of it!!!!

IN THE SPINNING ZONE...FINALLY

I know I haven't been spinning long, but sometimes it just takes that one time to finally have the light go on and then you're in the zone!! I reached that zone yesterday and I have been spinning up a storm ever since....I can't get enough and now I need wool...I need silk...I need all sorts of spinning goodness to try!!! I've spun all of my Jacob, most of my Merino and pretty soon all the BFL will be spun. I tried the Shetland, but I don't really like it for spinning...maybe later when I get better or I'll spin it with something else...too rough and sticky for me though! The Yak is being saved for something wonderful (and further spinning instructions...to be obtained at the Conference in March)

Oh yeah, I finished my Toes Up Socks too...

Garn Studio Eskimo KAL...I'm gettin' her done!

You'd think since I love knitting so much I would be chomping at the bit to do this sweater...maybe it's knit overload from the Holidays, who knows. At any rate, I do love the sweater design and am anxious to really get into it and make it for Pat, soooooooooooooo to that end, I've joined the KAL to do just that!! I know once I get moving along on it, it'll be fun. If I like it well enough, I might make this same sweater in the lighter weight version-just to have, not necessarily for myself.
Ignore my whining about it in the post below...It's going to be fun to knit with others who are making the same. See-I even have the button that proclaims me as a participant. It's official-it's done!!

I've got FO's ....yea!

The mad Holiday rush is over and I surely am glad of it. Now I can get down to some seriously interesting knitting and hope that by year's end I will be well ahead of the game...no last minute, late night knitting sessions to finish gifts that need to be mailed, no knitting the last sock on the way to deliver them, etc. Yeah, right! What would this passion be without burning some midnight oil and all that? In fact, I was up until the wee hours Friday am finishing the little lavender jacket for Misstress Claire Johnson...but such fun and doesn't Mommy look happy with it?

I've also finished my very first Tutorial on Wet Canvas..the Toes Up Sock...and I think it's going well. I have 5 Stars!!!!!! I love these socks so much and they fit like...well, they fit like good fitting socks! I'll be making lots more of these.

Pat's Drops Design Jacket has been started and I don't know about it...it's one of those things that I know she's going to love when I give it to her because she picked the pattern and the wool, but it just isn't all that much fun to knit. It's bulky and the needles are big so it feels sooooooo chunky in my hands. I will finish it of course, but I know me and it will probably be one of those projects that I will only occasionally pick up and work on from time to time. Hope to have it finished by the end of February (see, that's how much I plan on working on it)

Now, back to knitting....