Spin.Knit.Kids.School.Repeat

I just finished up the third week of school for the quarter and it's taking it's toll!  I'm beyond exhausted but I'm really excited!

Finished Object #2 in 2011

It's been getting colder here lately.  And I made this just in time.  I actually wore it clipped together yesterday when we ran to the grocery store amidst the foot of snowfall we got and my ears were the toastiest part of me!  The pattern is beyond simple using short rows to create the shape.  Calorimetry is a free pattern from Knitty.com. 

The yarn I used is Sunshine Yarns Worsted Merino in the Fall Kit Color "Plum Spice".  I love it!  The colors are a joy to watch as it all comes together.  The pattern only used up 51grams of the skein, which came out to about 90 yards.

I do still need to find a few buttons for it still, but it so squishy soft I see it being around for a while & making more!

Can you imagine me banging on one of those triangles hanging on the front porch?

I can...well, sort of.

Anyways, last night for dinner I made Broiled Salmon.  It was so good, even the kids ate all of theirs!

1 lb. of Salmon (I bought a frozen, boned, and scaled one at King Soopers...worth it!)
1 tbsp of EVOO
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 small cloves of garlic, minced
1 sprig of rosemary, strip the leaves and chop them up a bit (you can probably use dried rosemary, just crush it before adding to the mix.)

Mix the EVOO, lemon juice, garlic and rosemary up. Place the Salmon on a broiling rack (I seriously just use a cooling rack, like for cookies, and a cookie sheet under it.) then brush the mix over it evenly.  Set the broiler to 500 degrees and then cook 4-6 minutes for each 1/2 in of thickness, turning half way through.  (Mine cooked for 12 minutes total, turning the pan around at 6 minutes.)

Mine sat in the warm oven for about 15 minutes until my husband got home from work before we ate and it was still juicy and delicious.  We had steamed asparagus & garden salads with some light ceasar dressing with it. 

Project 1/12in2011

As part of the 12in2011 group on Ravelry participants pick 12 projects that they can complete with out purchasing the yarn.  My first project that I wanted & needed to get finished was a baby set.

The yarn I used for this entire set is the December 2010 club shipment from Rainy Days & Wooly Dogs.  It is a striping GothSocks skein on the Strychnine base.

I made the Easy Peasy Leftover Sock Newborn Hat first. The pattern is found on the blog Knitty Gritty Thoughts This little hat used less than 20g (17g or 44 yards to be exact) of fingering and seems pretty accommodating size wise.  I can't wait to see the new arrival in it.

Next, I made Magic Slippers from the SockPixie blog.  These were pretty simple and very quick and used up next to no yarn!  These took 42 yards (11g) of sock yarn.

Third, is the matching rattle.  I used Rebecca Danger's "Holly, Ivy & Steve: Three Christmas Hooligan Ornaments" Pattern (available in her etsy store, here, or on Ravelry).  I used the Steve pattern for this particular rattle and he came together really quickly.  I sewed on the eyes and mouth with some black cotton DK weight cotton, just because it was what I had it on hand, and stuffed a little rattle insert in with the body stuffing.

Here's the whole set:

How am I supposed to be patient with the most destructive children on the face of the planet?


Those of you who know me outside of this log, know the trouble I have with this.  I thought this year I would try to be more patient with them.  

But when my 3 year old comes downstairs and hands me a permanent marker and says to come look at the 'masterpiece' my temper hitches up a wee bit. 

The 5 minutes of peace I find while washing dishes is obviously not allowed in my house.  (My husband wonders why there is a tower of them sitting next to the sink nightly!)  Apparently those few minutes that I thought I'd get something done in the kitchen and told the kids to color on their papers quietly so mommy could finish up the dishes obviously were ill-advised on my own part.  They sat quietly for a few minutes and I got to work.  5 minutes later, Char arrives with the marker.  

They were drawing all right!  
Just not in the living room, and definitely not on the paper!


I now have 3 murals in the hallway upstairs, one being on my studio door, as well as a long coiling design trailing down the banisters in the stairs.

Obviously, these were the work of my 5 year old son, Jack, seeing as the drawings were not in the styling of 3 year old Char.  And then there is the fact that he signed all of his work.  Right there in the middle of each is his name.  But he says his sister did it...


Uh-huh...

IT'S 2011!!!!

Can you tell I'm a wee bit excited about the new year?  I've decided that this year is gonna be good!  I've got lots of things that I want to accomplish this year, but I'm not gonna stress out about it.

Defining 'Goal':

Emvious Photography: Jax's First Emergency Room Trip

Check out Jax's trip on my Photography Blog!

Well, since I've been MIA for a bit I should probably update what I've done lately:

May:

I finished my MIL's scarf/stole/shawl thingy.  I used 2 skeins of Sunshine Yarns Classic Sock yarn in Mulberry Spice and Sweet Clementine. (-2)

I was asked to weave a scarf for a friend after she'd seen one I'd done in the same yarn. Woven using Sunshine Yarns Classic Sock in New Moon Alice.



I spun this yarn and knit a Haruni:
Spun from 2 Sunshine Yarns SW Merino Rovings.  Un-Birthday Party and Patronus.  I spun these on the new lace flyer I got and ended up with around 880 yards of 2 ply fingering yarn. (-2 +1-.5 = +1/2)


Picture of the yarn preknitting:


I spun this yarn for a friend.  Sunshine Yarns SW Merino in Blood Red, spun into a 2 ply sport weight 300 yards.  She made this into a gorgeous shawl.



In June I finished:
Char's Birthday Boheme.  Made with Sunshine Yarns Worsted in Ever After.
The pattern is written for sport weight, with sizes up to 18 months.  I was able to modify using some tips from other project pages to make a 4t using worsted weight yarn.  She is very happy with it.  (Please don't pay any attention to the mess in the background!  The kids' toybox was confiscated and redeposited in the middle of my office floor.)  Buttons are by BlueManateeButtons on Etsy.  (-2)

In June I also started 2 pairs of socks...brilliant me made each on a set of DPNs instead of my usual 2 at a time using magic loop knitting.  So I  have 1 of each.

Skew:  Sunshine Yarns Classic Sock in Alice (WIP 1)

Rivendell: Sunshine Yarns Classic Sock in Forest Mist. (WIP 1)

And spun this yarn:  Sunshine Yarns SW Merino, Potronus, 2 ply light fingering, 500 yards.

Yesterday was the mystery challenge.  One of those do as much as you can in 1 day sort of things.
One person from each house and year is chosen to participate.  I was that person for the Slytherin 4th years.

I spun the Sunshine Yarns Tonks from the earlier post and knit it into this little baby hat:

Then I spun some yarn for a present, the Gaia's Colours top I mentioned before:
And then I knit up some little baby mittens to go to a friend:

Well, it's being posted late but I did spin on Days 3 & 4. 

Day 3:
Bonkers: Funky Greens (Merino/Tencle blend) into a 2 ply worsted/bulky yarn

Day 4:
Spinning today coincided with the Harry Potter Knitting/Crocheting House Cup Quidditch Mystery Challenge that I was chosen to participate in for Slytherin 4th years.

Here's the spinning that was done for the projects:
Gaia's Colours Fibre Arts: Samovila Top (50 Merino/50Tencel) in Pollack, 2 ply worsted yarn

Sunshine Yarns SW Merino in Tonks spun into a crazy thick and thin

Well, it doesn't look like much yet, but 2/3 of triangle is finished!

The Tour de Fleece is a project on Ravelry coinciding with the Tour de France for spinners. 

Here is my Day 1 spinning:
1/3 of Love Triangle

Spring quarter finished up a few weeks ago and I've got 1 more week before the Summer quarter starts.  So I'm getting caught up some customs spinning jobs, some weaving jobs, and house keeping.  Spring cleaning was taking forever with classes still going.  But now, I'm down to 2 rooms to clean out.  Alot of what is left is still clothes and stuff that needs to get sorted out for Goodwill or to go to friends (or keep - there is no way Goodwill is getting my handknits...I'll eventually have grandkids!).

May kinda took me by surprise it was just starting and now it's already gone!

We're heading into wk 9 of the quarter at school.  3 left until Summer break, it's only 3 weeks, but it's a big break for us!  Let's just say I can't wait!  I'm so ready to be done with this quarter so I can actually feel like I'm accomplishing something again.  Well I guess that's only true for half of my classes. 

Over the last week I have started feeling like I'm making some progress though. So it's not as bad as it was a couple weeks ago when I was drowning!

So let me think on what was accomplished this month craftiness wise and I'll get to that later tonight.

Alright, I've put it off long enough...


Yarn In includes purchases and trades that came in.
Yarn Out includes finished objects, yarn I sold or traded out.
Limbo Yarn includes yarn that is currently being used.

So our starting total was: 120 skeins respectively
January = 132 skeins
February = 119
March =  127

Yarn In: 

For the Store: 
10 rovings arrived for the Jacob's Fan club spinning!  (9 of these have left already!) 4 batts and one custom spinning order also arrived.  Weaving: 3 skeins arrived for 2 different orders.

For Me:
1 = trades/gifted
8 = my purchases (3 were destash facilitation)
3 = Clubs/Prior Purchases/Customs (Sunshine Yarn's Earth Day Kit/ FFtC Fangtasia x2)
3 = Blankie Scraps/Minis (sets) - these don't really count toward my total, but while I'm at it...

Yarn Out:
26 = Finished Objects
(MIL's scarf as of yesterday =2/ Unbirthday Hat =1/ Monkeys = 1/ Doomsday Bag =21)
9 = Sold / Traded / Gifted
5 = Sent out for blankie swaps

Limbo Yarn:
- 7 are the Wicked Sweater
- 2 are Anemoi Mittens
- 2 are 2 pairs of socks
- 1 Montego Bay Scarf
- 1 Butterbeer Citron
- 1 Owlings


End total: 127 + (-38+12) = 99  (I'm under 100!!!  Wait maybe I need to go recount! And destash for what is coming in!)

Here's the take:
Arriving with my roving order for the JFC spinning:
Bella, Edward, Jacob and Emmett (< he was part of the custom order) all in Sunshine Yarns Classic Sock. Birthday $$ from the folks spent well!

My Destash Facilitation:
More Sunshine:  Crookshanks in Twist, and O.W.L.'s & Wolfsong in Classic


Blankie Minis:

Other Arrivals:

Here's a kinda slouchy beanie that I've had hiding out in my purse being worked on here and there.  "Unbirthday" by Sunshine Yarns, a colorway of which I don't know if I'll ever have enough!

I plan on eventually writing up the notes on this project, once I actually have time to sit still long enough with it in my hands to do it.

Wow, if that came up in a search I'm sure I'd get some "what the ____" 's !

Anyways, the "Like A (Monkey) Virgin" socks were finished last month!  A record 12 days of knitting, with school taking time away, these are my fastest socks yet!  And I love them!  They fit wonderfully, the colors are great, the yarn is great...(wait, how could I not love the yarn...it's Sunshine Yarms!)

Here they are:

So you want to spin...I can help a bit as long as it's on a wheel.  Spindling was not for me!  I have uber-respect for those who can do it, it just wasn't working for me.

So this is what you got when your roving showed up:

Start splitting the roving.  You can be as thick or thin as you want dependent on your desired finished product. This should start out pretty easy at first.  The roving will split easily in spots where it 'wants' to split.
Now you are ready to spin.
Fray the end of your lead on piece a bit then overlap the start off the fiber and the lead.  Let the twist take.  As you build up some twist, pull small amount out from the fiber end of the piece you are working on and then let the twist slip up this part.  This is drafting!
Keep this pattern up. Get some twist gathered up, slip a little of the fiber out, let the twist travel up, and let the bobbin take in the spun yarn.  You're spinning!

Now when you get about 6 inches from the end of your current piece you need to get a second piece ready to go.  Pull a bit of the fiber out of the next piece and lay it against the end of your previous piece.
Start spinning again and let the twist take in the new piece while continuing the drafting process.  Then you just keep going.

School has been a time hog lately!  I barely have time to do anything outside of the large format, lighting, and darkroom classes I'm taking right now.  I've been spinning away as well, so very little knitting time has occurred.  BUT...I do have a few udates to make as well as an info post for piing coming up soon!

Yup that's right.  April 1st we had snow and hail, so I cast on another pair of socks!  I cast on Cookie A.'s Monkey pattern.  It's a well loved pattern that I never even thought of making, since there are only 11,500(ish) pairs out there according to the Ravelry pattern pages. The pattern is free, published in Knitty.

Plus the April Sock Knitter's Anonymous group on Ravelry is having their Cookie A. month this month and we decided to have a side knit-a-long for "Monkey Virgins."  Only those who have never knit a pair of Monkeys qualify for the SKA Sockdown Challenge with Monkeys.

After scowering pictures of FO's on the project page I thought I wanted a mostly solid color, but then I found the perfect yarn and it just sort of clicked!

My "Like A (Monkey) Virgin" socks have been started! They are being knit in Sunshine Yarns Classic Sock in Red Queen.