back on the wheel!

remember this yarn?? gorgeous.  i knit (one) sock with is and it was absolutely delicious!  i had fully intended on knitting another to complete the pair, but i plyed the rest with this instead: (it’s my artistic a.d.d. kicking in…)

the result?

it’s all that beautiful gray bfl i’m so very fond of but about half way through plying - most likely when the coffee kicked in - i realized the brown (olive) was spun in a z twist.  what the smack??? i remembered that i had actually spun that bit on my drop spindle back um… last winter?  oh well.  what’s done is done.  i will say this though, it made for some highly energetic yarn.

after that mess, i decided to spin some singles of pure merino and kettle dye each separately, then ply them.  spin, dye, ply.  salmon & olive (i know.  i can’t get over it.  i’ve tried different amounts of dye, different dip methods, dry wool, soaked wool.  WHAT’S THE SECRET???)

keep in mind, both hanks were still damp in the above pic.  hubs took one look at the pair and nearly lost his breakfast.  horrid combo!  well, i did my magic twist-the-two-hanks-together and voila!  cupcake! he agreed much to his surprise.

so… that was my morning.  spinning dyeing and plying.  all done before i had to pick alizah up from school.  i also knit the most darling “tip-toe” anklets you’ve ever seen for mae but we never got pics.  she’s passed out in my bed next to the dog and as far as i’m concerned, she can stay there.  i’m beat!

xo

Update on Friday, August 12, 2011 at 10:51PM by pinkbrutus

awake, but dark… lord how i hate these pictures BUT, i may not get another chance like this!

THE TIP TOES!

these are dark gray & she absolutely loves them.  i’m working on some now in a slightly different style & with some of my handspun yarn.  one down one to go.  maybe we’ll get good pics tomorrow… 

knitty gritty

alright.  i’m SO close to finishing my brown sweater - as in about 14 rows close but i’m too lazy to take a picture and it’s dark out now anyways and the dog has been barfing from eating MORE bread dough so… tomorrow.  i swear it.

i babysat again today and mae had the brilliant idea to play dough.  at our house, that means mix up flour and water and make REAL dough to play with - hence the dog eating it again.  he’s so stupid.  the boy thinks dogs just don’t remember what they ate that made them sick.  lord.  the girls had a splendid time though!

sticky hands!

and i’d like to announce sock completion!

i know…. whoopty doo.  people knit socks every day and don’t expect a round of applause.  i’m just not one of them.  now, boy?  carl?  are you out there?  knit some damn socks!

i squeezed in some spinning time the other night ta-boot.  i haven’t sat at the spinning wheel in ages.  it felt good.  100% bfl - 4oz of it.  then i kettle dyed it (or half of it) and now that it’s dry i’ve knit up the sweetest little self striping swatch i’ve ever laid my eyes on.  the yarn is spun single ply worsted in DK weight for those who care about such details.

what to knit? i’ve got about 250 yards here. i’m sure it’ll come to me but i’m open to suggestions, too.

i’d also like to point out (while i’m here) that i have FINALLY caught up with all the “extra” blog duties.  my 31 days of photastic fun has finally been updated and my 31 days of lists.  my butt fell asleep on that one. yikes! now, i think i’ll make my way downstairs to see what all the fuss is about.  hubs finally got one of those nerd headset things for online gaming.  need i say more?  didn’t think so.

xo

dye olive!

olive green, i hate you.  oh, and i love you because you’re complicated and hard for me to wrap my mind around so - i’ll keep you.

yep.  all of these lovely reds, golds, and browns produced by the same dye.  olive-freaking-GREEN.

my last post shows the ONLY green produced by the “green” dye under the jar picture.  i have yet to recreate that moment.  more practice is in store for me.  until i get just the right mixture to make that green sing i’m going to enjoy the rich hues it’s giving me now.

also, i knit up a 3 cornered hat - pattern by miss ez

it’s actually quite small… knit for maybe a 2T  i love it though and think it can be worn quite pirate-ish.  i think i need one in my size now!

mae quote of the day:

mae: “did those guys cut our basil?”

mom: “no, why?”

mae: “i know those guys did it last time!  when those jerk offs were homoing our lawn!”

extra credit.

since i haven’t been to find the time to sit still and quietly in what seems like months, i’m doing my extra credit now ;)

first, a conversation i eaves dropped on tonight between the girls while they were playing “mommy and baby” in the back seat of the car:

alizah (baby): please can i have a drink?

mae (mommy): what do you want?  water?

alizah: no, water doesn’t taste like anything.  it’s bland.

mae: i know, it always tastes like that!  do you want milk?

alizah: yes, please.

mae: did you just say “asshole?”

alizah: no!

mae: “asshole” is a bad word.  don’t say “asshole”

alizah: i didn’t say that!  i don’t know what you’re talking about.

mae: get down and give me push-ups!

mae has a knack for surprising us. however, nothing can beat the other day when she  happened upon a toy gun she won at the fair last summer.  she and alizah were in the living room and out of no where mae grabs her toy gun, walks up to alizah, points it at her face and says in her most serious voice, “open your mouth.”  we all exchanged confused glances for a moment before hubs broke the silence with his typical i-can’t-believe-she-just-said-that bout of laughter finished with, “that’s probably my fault.  who knows what i’ve been watching lately!”

yes, this is my life.

since i’ve been neglecting my blog space something awful, here are some of my favorite moments from the past couple weeks that i haven’t shared yet:

children’s museum trip with mare and her fellas!

luckily for mae, in one trip she got to play with her friends AND “meet” her two heros.  she loves star wars so very, very, very much (and was darth vader for halloween last year) so seeing vader’s actual clothing was the coolest thing EVER next to meeting bumblebee!  she stood there for about 15 minutes watching him turn slowly.  on our way home she was deep in thought and sort of asked herself out loud, “i wonder what bumblebee be is doing in town.”

i’m sure this is terribly boring, but adorable to me.  this was mae’s first taste of warm air on our way to florida…

around the house: evil

AND NOW, for the interesting stuff!  HA

i promised knitting updates so….  hand spun first.

i have two hanks of this gorgeous bfl & merino that i’ve spun.  undyed, springy, soft, and waiting for the perfect project to come along!

corriadale and merino… i spun some mustard and gun-metal together, REMEMBER??? then plyed it with a solid puple-ish fushia.  i actually sort of love the way it turned out.  this will be a shawlette someday if all goes well.  no pattern on this one - eek!

the market bag is SO close to completion.  this is knit using the undyed bfl & seafoam merino i spun some time back… it’s a good thing i ended up spinning two hanks of this, too!  the bag is deceptively large!

and, a sneak peek at the new pattern being written (coming soon)

these two pieces will merge into one… both knit with malabrigo worsted (YUM)

now, it’s time to put my feet up and enjoy this (temporarily) quiet house.

xoxox