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Rhinebeck purchases!

knitting, new york, spinning 1 Response »

Nov 012012

Considering that I’m on a paid vacation right now (called being on Notice for termination… yay layoff!) – the purse strings were a little cinched for Rhinebeck this year – well that and omg all the yarn/fiber that I have… not much in the way of purchases this year!

I went in looking for a nice bulky yarn for a tunic sweater eventually but never really found anything that I wanted next to my skin. So I wound up making two purchases, both spinning fiber.

First stop was a sushi roll batt from Into the Whirled. It was nice to see Cris – saw her last at Maryland Sheep and Wool but not during the summer like in years past.

Chromatic Composition on Falkland. I’ve spun from a few batts before but never from Cris. I can’t wait. I think I’m going to navajo ply this for a neat gradation yarn.

My second fiber purchase was from Cormo from Foxhill Farm:

I’m not sure if this will see a trip to the dye pot or not yet.

And that’s it! Hopefully in the upcoming days I’ll have a few FOs to talk about and of course a review of Sandy and a pattern/yarn combo that we did with Picnic Knits!

Not much progress friday…

knitting, life, work 5 Responses »

Mar 092012

Okay since last time… I think I separated the sleeves on Effortless. Buttons are still not on Dark & Stormy as it needs to be re-blocked. Zipper is still not ordered for Oranje – I need to re-block, measure, and order the damn zipper; then install said zipper. We ended up not dyeing any fiber last weekend (maybe this weekend?).

Things that have happened:

Subbed my first class at the gym on the 27th of February. I forgot to mention this last time.
Spun a little bit of American Silk Sheep – a breed our friend Val has brought into existence. It’s lovely.
I’ve really started to ramp up my job hunt. My current employer is the process of a merger (waiting on approval from the fed) so I’ve begun looking around at what is available – being proactive instead of reactive, yknow?
Went dancing until 3 am last Sunday morning. Whew.
I signed up for another Les Mills certification – this time is BodyStep.

BODYSTEP™ is the energizing step workout that makes you feel liberated and alive. Using a height-adjustable step and simple movements on, over and around the step you get huge motivation from sing-a-long music and approachable instructors. Cardio blocks push fat burning systems into high gear followed by muscle conditioning tracks that shape and tone your body. Like all the LES MILLS™ programs, a new BODYSTEP™ class is released every three months with new music and choreography.

Not much else is going on. I think I’ll do a WIP round up this weekend and hopefully get those sweaters re-blocked. I want an FO photo shoot for those ASAP.

FO Friday: Spinning!!!

spinning 3 Responses »

Aug 262011

FINALLY, some spinning progress.

I don’t have this first one in a pre-spinning photo for some reason. I purchased it at SQUAM in 2009 when we went to help Jesh sell her spindles:

It’s approximately 400 yards, navajo-plied. Fiber is 100% superwash merino in the Michelle colorway from Kim at The Woolen Rabbit. Kim was at the table next to us and goodness she had Beatles themed colorways – I bought at least 3 braids from her. It was lovely to spin!

Next up is this fantastic merino/tencel blend from Tamara at Spincerely. I love Tamara’s merino/tencel – Sadie, one of the other moderators of the Ravelry Welcome Wagon sent me some of her fiber to spin as a custom spin job and I was hooked. I got to meet Tamara last year at WOOL and she is just wonderful.

Here’s the before shot:

LOOK HOW SHINY!

And the after:

Approximately 188 yards, navajo-plied, of 50/50 superwash merino/tencel in the Stained Glass colorway from Spincerely.

Here’s what is currently on the wheel:

This is the August Luminosity club shipment from Pigeonroof Studios. It is a 50/50 baby alpaca/superfine merino blend. I have a little less than 2 oz left to spin out of the 8 oz, so I’ll be plying that this weekend hopefully. I kinda overdid it last weekend on all the plying so my wrists were causing me great pain, but a week off seems to have helped. Now I can’t wait to PLY ALL THE THINGS.

WITB!

knitting, life, spinning 8 Responses »

Aug 222011

This past week, I had the glorious opportunity to spend a few days with some really good friends up at JessaLu’s house. Sharon and I drove up on Tuesday and met up with JessaLu and Jessica and headed out to knit night where we got to see Diane and Tina along with a few other people. We had a great time getting some knitting and spinning done and then headed out to Baba Louie’s for a great pizza dinner.

Do you think we have a small Stitched By JessaLu Problem?

We were staying in the pop-up camper in the back yard – it had HEATED beds! Amazing. Makes me want to reconsider camping. On Wednesday, we hit the roads around Great Barrington, going to a farm stand then heading over to JessaLu’s FIL’s house to sit by the lake. It was fantastic. A simple lunch of sandwiches, cookies, and did I mention, GOAT CHEESE, from the local farm stand. OMG. I was in heaven. That evening we had a small cookout in the back yard, made all the food (read: guacamole, tabbouleh, a fantastic salad, corn, burgers, and squash). We settled in on the back porch for some spinning and girl talk. What a great way to spend time with friends.

Sock in progress

Thursday it rained – a lot. So we stayed at the house and spun until Jessica had to leave us – it was so great to see her! We spun some more and then grabbed some Thai food with R, JessaLu’s hubby, in GB. And we got stuck in a HORRIBLE rain storm after we got ice cream at SoCo. We grabbed all of our stuff out of the camper and ran into the house. It turned into a great little sleep over – spinning, sangria (for me!), and Bride and Prejudice kept us gabbing until 2:30 am! It’s been a long time since I’ve had a girlie sleep-over and it is exactly what the doctor ordered!

Adult Spinning

Friday arrived and we were back on the road with a few stops before heading back to NJ. Sharon wanted to see Webs for the first time and I was more than ready to make that happen! We got there and her mind was blown!

WEBS!

After a stop at a local coffee shop for a biscotti and latte, we were back on the road, this time to Albany to see Our Diane. We were treated to a lovely dinner and great conversation and had a truly awesome visit with Diane, E, and Mia.

the only downside to this fantastic trip was that my front fender decided that it didn’t want to be on my car anymore so Sharon and I had to bungee it back onto the car and keep checking it on the way home from NY. The car is now in the shop and I get it back after $450 of work on Tuesday. This is all well and good since there are only 11 sleeps until my weekend in Pittsburgh!

I’ll share my WEBS haul and my spinning progress from this past week hopefully tomorrow.

Knitting update!

knitting 3 Responses »

Jul 142011

Here’s what I’m working on:

I’m on the toe of the second Gush(ravelry link) sock – being knit out of Fiber Optic Yarns Kashmir in the Raspberry colorway. Tiny toe pic:

Color is god awful in that photo.
I’m also restarting a pair of Dawn Gnot socks for the KAL over at Crafy Detour - I test knit this pattern and had half a sock done with a miscrossed cable which I ended up ripping out completely. Will be restarting the sock once Gush sock #2 is done.

I’m trying to also finish up my February fitted pullover - I’m on the front left neck shaping so hopefully soon.

Next sweater up is an oranje. Did you see Daniele’s completed one? Stunning. Mine will be in pink, lime green, and black instead of Orange, white and black. I’m calling it my Watermelon-je. Can’t wait to get started.

I’m hoping to get some fiber loaded into the shop tonight and also get some spinning done this weekend. It’s about time right?

Spinning FOs! Note the plural!

spinning 1 Response »

Nov 242010

After a marathon plying session – much like the one at WOOL this year (“still plying”), I have two new skeins of lovelyness to share!

two new skeins of handspun!

PRS July club shipment - Squall

First up, approx 540 yards of superwash merino from Pigeonroof Studios:

This was the July shipment of Krista’s regular fiber club, the colorway is “squall”.

540 yards of fingering weight Squall

Krista’s superwash merino is such a pleasure to spin – I always like to have some in my fiber stash!

Gale's Art BFL in Grape Vine

Second up is some BFL form Gale’s Art that I purchased at MD Sheep & Wool this past May:

156 yards of navajo plied Gale's Art BFL in Grape Vine

I spun this across the braid in order to get the longer swaths of color so that I could navajo ply it – I ended up with 158 yards of lurvely stripey goodness:

I am currently spinning some of the superwash BFL that Sharon and I dyed – it is glorious. I’m thinking of doing a coupon code for this weekend on etsy. Stay tuned here and at the etsy shop!

Hopefully my current spinning will be finished up over the weekend, I just need to remember to pack my niddy noddy and the ball winder!

Happy Thanksgiving for all of those that celebrate it!

Uncle.

knitting, life, spinning 7 Responses »

Oct 142010

Sometimes you need to know when to quit.

There was no way I was going to finish the christening shawl by today. The edging alone has 1200+ stitches. Needless to say, I’m back to the sock commitments that I need to fulfill and hopefully will have the Zur Lederhos’n socks out to Yarnissima on Monday.

I’m further along than this photo shows. The shawl is now slated as a Christmas present. Hopefully M can wear it for her first holy communion or her confirmation or something.

We (Sharon and I) finally got the etsy shop up and running. Come check out our yarn and fiber selection: Stitches ‘n Rows. We also had our first vending experience at this year’s Schuylkill River Fest in Pottstown, PA. Here’s our little booth:

And a visitor to Sharon’s CPW:

We had beautiful weather and our Cheeky came out to demo spindling and was a great sales person – we thank her for this!

Currently, I’m spinning some superwash Merino from Pigeonroof Studios, in the Squall colorway:

I have some 50/50 baby alpaca/superfine merino on another bobbin and I need to take a photo of that as well.

But, mostly I’ve been knitting on socks and spending time with these two:

I love that they hang out on the couch together!

Rhinebeck is this weekend and I’ll be there on Saturday only. Come say Hi if you see me!

Yay Wedding!!!!

life 7 Responses »

Oct 042010

Yesterday we were fortunate enough to witness a beautiful wedding between our Jessica and HWJF! We drove up to Mohonk yesterday morning and the weather was perfect, well, except for a frigid breeze on the mountain!

The beginning of the hand binding part of the ceremony with Mr. B. Their hands were bound using a shawl that Cookie knit from yarn that Jessica spun that was a blend of Corriedale (or was it Cormo?) and angora bunny (yes! stitches!)

And exchanging rings:

oooh shiny!

It was a beautiful ceremony. I managed to not cry (I’m shocked – I cry at everything these days). We moved to the porch of the mountain house for the cocktail hour. They had a live band playing all sorts of music and there was a SQUEEZE BOX! Love!

Then we moved to the dining room for dinner. The band played music from Elvis to some random jive to the Beatles. And check out this awesome cake topper:

(sorry for the blurry photo, best I could do with DH’s phone!)

Congratulations again to Our Jessica and her hubby. Yay Wedding!!! Enjoy your honeymoon!

It’s that time again . . .

Uncategorized 2 Responses »

Aug 052010

photo snagged from the fearless leader, Tina

Wrap-up post on Monday!

Ten on Tuesday – Camping edition

life, meme, spinning 2 Responses »

Jul 202010

Trying to remember these ten on tuesday things!

The topic for 7/20 is 10 Things to Bring on a Camping Trip.

But I don’t do camping. I hate being outside, I hate bugs, I hate sleeping in a tent.

So how about 10 things I’d rather be doing instead of Camping?

Sleeping at home in my own bed with my kitty.
Knitting in my house.
Spinning in my house.
Cooking in my house.
Using the facilities in my house.
Being in my house.
Having a few panes of glass between me and icky bugs.
Washing my hands with soap and water at an actual sink.
Baking cupcakes.
Anything other than camping.

The latest shipment for the Pigeonroof studios fiber club arrived yesterday so here’s a pic of the lovely superwash merino roving from Krista in the Squall:

And I’ll leave you with a shot of the thunderhead that was building when I left the gym last night:

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