*Is it Fall yet???*

Fall is in the queue so to speak (gosh I sure hope so before I melt!!)



Daughter has started her junior year in HS and the annual trek back to Maine for the college guy in a few days. He spent 3 months at sea and has been home for about 2 weeks, thus the sporadic posting, knitting, and spinning. I've been also busy being the box lady...(see why below)



A couple more days and all this and a bit more will be gone and my room will be my own until Christmas....

hmmm...happy and sad. Kinda nervous too, it's his first time driving all the way back alone. Needless to say, I'll be on pins/needles until I get the call/text that he's back.



Box lady, yes that is me. One great thing about working at a hospital, if you are in good with the supply/logistics people, they'll show you the motherlode sekrit place to get your free boxes. I just wanted to jump in and squee...pretty sad huh, getting excited over boxes...but hey, you pay dearly for them, so if you don't mind boxes saying syringes or other medical thingys why not!



Hold yer skirts, the boxes aren't for me.....yet anyways. The college guy needed some and oh, yes, my in-laws are moving to Alabama to be closer to more family. It's a good thing for them, one less thing for us to worry about when it's time for us to move on (soon please job fairy!!). Interesting times, it kinda didn't hit me until I was asked for emergency contact numbers for my daughter..um..er..hold on I need new ones. (thank you Megan!!)



Anyhow, the clothes are almost done, the mending is done (gah, hate mending knit tshirts, what a pain!), and most of the packing is done.

Off to drown my sorrows in some chocolate...on call as usual, so that will have to suffice....

Marvelously Maude

Here she is, sitting here, ready to be spun.

Original picture here as I had trouble getting a good picture and started spinning it at the end of the TdF.

A few weeks later and she's all on the jumbo bobbin, waiting for her hot bath! Well you know after she's wound round and round, tied up and measured!

I knew I wanted singles from this fiber so I used the jumbo bobbin to have 1 long, continuous yarn. My spinning guru taught me to think about "how" I want to spin the fiber, and what I want the end result to be. Still working on the how. (meaning getting more consistent with a weight)

During this spin, I learned that there is an easy drafting end to roving. Could be why some of this is sport/worsted and a wee bit is fingering and bulky. I learned to pull/draft a bit from either end of the roving and see which one pulls apart easiest. Who knew...certainly not me, and it made such a difference in the latter end of this spin. It is so nice not to have to PULL like crazy trying to draft. My wrists would ache!

Some highly energized singles there!

Let's take a closer look. Sigh...not only do I love the colors..

I love the look of "energized" singles. They have a look and feel about them. These singles were 15 wpi and approximately 294 yds.

And then someone decides she needed a hot/cold bath....not just once...

but 3 times! She lost like 19 lbs! um..yards after those! Phew!

Here's where you can see the various weights of yarn here.

I guess "she" couldn't decide which weight she wanted to be...ever have those days ;)


Artsy yarn table shot!



100% Cormo Pencil Roving from GLBLF
Maude Colorway
approximately 275 yds of sport/worsted weight (wee bit o'fingering and bulky to show off ;)
12-14 wpi

It's pretty soft, thanks to having her many baths. ;) As you can already tell, I love the color depth! Sam/Tom(the GLBLF Team) dye some great colors!

It would have been easier to spin had I known about the difference (need to read more, no one's fault but my own) in the direction of the fibers and if I hadn't split the pencil roving in half...sigh...I didn't have a clue, thought that was what one did. In doing this, I also compacted/twisted some of the roving so it was harder to draft. Won't do that again either!

Stay tuned for more from GLBLF , I have some cool gradient colorways and other fibers waiting their turn at the wheel!

What's up Wednesday!

Lots going on around here let me tell you!

I'll start with some Wip's, well the only ones I'm confessing to this week! My goal is really to finish some...it's a goal right ;) I did frog a sock on Friday...sigh it was too hard to get the cuff on, but I ignored that wee voice thinking it'll be all right I'll just upsize a needle...fastforward to the gusset decrease and um..not working. So what does one do when a sock is frogged, start another one!

Charybdis complete with cat butt/tail!

STR Lightweight Pepe' La Plume, wonder if she knew it was a feline colorway (well I'm calling it that!)

Gaenor Shawl

Smooshy in Happy Forest, this green is so nice!! Right now it's portable and an easy to follow chart. (BTW, how do you like my bunge cord chair! It's pretty comfy!)

This one however...is a stay-at-home knit! Why, because just watching the tv can through my count off...lace newbie here...
Wandering the Moor

Only a newbie would have 2 shawls OTN too! hmmm

Dishcloth mania will be starting...you'll be seeing many done for our Knitting Guild charity knitting this year.

Plus, sign ups for the Revenge of Dish rag tag start Monday. I hope to be on a team where no one flakes :( we did finish though, eventually!

Other news..hmmm hubby is still travelling on/off for work and hoping for a promotion soon. Please send new job hunting vibes. In this economy, we are really thankful to be employed....however, for my sanity, pulease let him get a promotion. Pretty pulease!

My son is currently en route home from Singapore where he spent 3 months on a Navy supply ship. It was part of his college requirement. He'll be home less than 2 weeks, than back to school. Wonder if I'll get the interesting version of the trip or the "clean" one ;)

Where's the fall huh...I...want....fall....tired of being cooped up in AC all the time! Besides, then I can wear my handknits. How about you? Aren't all of you about tired of this heat wave!

Friday's Mail

Little did I know that these socks allowed me to win these lovelies! sKnitches Ravelry group had a Summertime KAL. You just knit whatever project you wanted in her yarns! I'm usually the one giving away yarns for our Sock-a-Month KAL's (currently on SAM 10!) so it was a nice surprise for me.


Love both of these colorways.


First up is Sock Tryst which is MCN fingering. Some of you may know her regular Big Tryst yarn, the sportweight version.

The colorway is Brood, with raspberry and tiny sections of brown. This will be a shawl I'm sure of it, nothing like cashmere around the neck :) It's so very soft!!


Next up is Syncopation in Boys and Frogs

I think it's a neat colorway and will make cute socks, or a little something for a wee one. Decisions, decisions... Thanks Sam!

BTW, she's going to be having an update sometime this month. If you want to know ahead of time just look on the left sidebar here and subscribe to the newsletter.

Ten on Tuesday

This week's topic -- 10 Things to bring on Vacation

1. Money - cash & credit/debit cards nowadays I guess. I used to use traveler's cheques, but had a hard time cashing them. Does anyone still use them? Oh..if you are going out of your country, then I guess you better get your $$ changed to the currency needed. (can you tell I've never done that...well yet ;)

2. Clothes - for whatever climate you'll be visiting (please don't be like me and pack a ton! I always overpack and don't use half of it. Either that, I end up doing laundry and didn't need all the darn clothes anyways!

3. Chargers - for cell phones, camera's, GPS (if driving), Ipod/mp3 player & computer if you are bringing one.

4. Camera - if you wish to document the trip :)

5. Book/magazine - to read when relaxing or traveling. Well you know as long as you aren't driving ;)

6. Snacks - at least for the trip. Sometimes the pit stops you make don't have "healthy" ones...who am I kidding, I ate like 2 Krystal burgers ;) If we go to Maine, there are many places that are visited..oh..yeah we were talking about snacks LOL!

7. Shoes - comfortable ones! Well depending on where you are going...

8. A list of places to visit - could one be a yarn or fabric store?? huh? Ok, maybe historic or fun or ??

9. Emergency kit - can include a tiny sewing repair kit, first aid stuff (band aids and the like), medicines to help you feel better if you eat or drink too much....plus for other stuff we won't talk about ok!

10. Oh how could I forget! My knitting! Bet you thought that would be the first thing huh! As usual, I pack more than I could possibly knit...oh well, one may want choices right!

Hope you had a laugh and if I helped you remember something, good!

Look what's in my garden!

A pair of Gnomes, garden ones at that!

Hehe...no pointy hat or beard though!

They have a pair of heels, not a bad color match either!


Of course we gotta have the toe pic! Um..er..they do look a bit strange though ;)

As you can see, I'm a bit "particular" with self-striping yarns, I really can't let them be, I "have" to make them match as much as possible.

Of course, JSSBO!


They loved visiting my garden

Gnomey Socks
sKNITches Syncopation in Garden Gnome
2.5mm circular, ML of course :)
3 x 1 rib with afterthought heel in Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in Bark (I really didn't like the base of this particular skein. I have a few other skeins of this brand of yarn and like the base. This is way too skinny for me! Oh well, it works for the socks though :)
Knit for SAM 10 and sKNITches Summertime KAL oh and just to wear too :)

Happy August!