Not Much To Report

I started work on my Mohair blend Alpaca Silk shawl. I had a few problems understanding the pattern at first. I thought I was a seasoned knitter and could read and understand just about any pattern I picked up, but evidently I was mistaken.

To go on, sock one for my daughter has been completed and I am working on sock two. Sock two is going much faster than number one as I had many problems with reading the pattern yet again. I’d made two pairs of sock previously with no problems so why I had problems with this pair, I don’t know. Perhaps some patterns are just written better than others. I know excuses, excuses.

Finally, I have overcome the fear to knit a project with my hand spun yarn. I decided to make a simple garter stitch shawl. I am knitting it on a size ten needle as I am going to block the hell out of my finish product to get a lacy effect. We will see how that goes.

Well, other than that not much to report. Until next time Knit and Spin on!

Handspun Garter Stitch Shawl

More Yarn!

Yes, I have been buying more yarn. I finally received in the mail the yarn I am going to use to make my husbands vest. It is a 70/30 silk cotton yarn by Rowan called Summer Tweed. The original plan was to complete the vest by Father’s Day however, I have been side tracked. I really wanted to knit a lace triangular shawl but; I am having no luck with the current Shoal Water Shawl by Fiber Trends. It isn’t really inspiring me right now, I think perhaps it is the color and the pattern is a little complex for my concentration level. With two little ones running around I get too distracted. So, I bought a new pattern. I will post the name of it later as I am too lazy to get up and find out what it is right now. But anyways, it seems to be really simple. It is not a real difficult lace pattern I am not really sure if you’d even call it lace but what I do know is that I am going to mix an Alpaca silk with a Mohair/ blend. I can hardly wait to start it. Once I complete my daughter’s sock within this next week I will give myself permission to start.

To change the subject, I started reading a book I checked out of the library called Keeping Faith by Jodi Picoult. It was recommended by a friend. So far, the book is holding my attention. I love to read good books I don’t care what genera they are in as long as they are interesting. Anyways the book is about a women and her daughter who are going through a difficult time in there lives following a divorce. The daughter, Faith seeks solace in a new friend who may or may not be imaginary, interesting I must say. When I started reading this book I couldn’t put it down. I even missed the new episode of Footballers’ Wives on BBC America. I never miss that show. I went into Footballers’ Wives withdrawal last year when it was the season finale. So that should say something about this novel.

Well, hopefully, I won’t go crazy trying to decide if I should be reading, knitting or spinning with my free time oh yes and worrying about the weather. And, if that is all I have to worry about than my life is pretty damn good. Well, until next time, happy knitting and spinning.

The Sock Part 2

The Shawl Stuff

Life after the Knitting Olympics!

It is been a week since closing ceremonies of the Knitting Olympics. I found myself not wanting to look at let alone touch knitting or spinning for awhile. For a minute there, I thought I burned myself out. I was really scared. But, that didn’t last long within a few days I was back into it. First, I pulled out my Fair Isle vest and worked on it. I am at the point where I can start knitting the steeks. In addition, My Shoal Water Shawl from Fiber Trends was calling my name so I worked on it. Unfortunately, I am at stopping points with these projects as I need to figure out how work the steeks and the math for the stitch count repeat on the shawl. That is ok because I started working on the socks for my daughter, and the 7 x9 square for Warm up America. I did some spinning too. The Spinning is coming along fine. It is not perfect but I am going knit something with what ever I make. Let me say the 2 pound of roving I bought from the Fold is a lot. It seems like the bag is bottomless. And to think that I have 6 pounds of pencil roving stashed in the closet. Oh no! Actually, the pencil roving spins up quickly. Hind sight being 20/20, I would not of bought 6 pounds of pencil roving but the price was so cheap. It was like $8.00 for a pound. I will probably dye some of the pencil roving to make it more interesting.

The books I ordered finally came in. I will be knitting a vest as a gift for my darling hubby. Depending on when I finish, he may receive it in May for his birthday or in June for Fathers Day. Only time will tell. Well, the little ones are calling me so I must say good bye for now.

Until next time knit and spin on!

The Books

The Handspun Yarn!

The Sock!