Maddening

A few weeks ago I went to Hobby Lobby looking for some more skeins for the blanket I was crocheting since I had a gift card. I found one but I didn't find the other. I thought that the other may be exclusive toWal-Mart. Rats.

Today I went to Wal-Mart and I couldn't find the Bernet self striping yarn at all. So, being my wonderfully stubborn self, I went to Michaels. No luck there either. The bad news is that the blanket I was working on for my son I had put down and then picked up again...with the wrong crochet hook size. As a matter of fact, I have no idea what size I was using. So I finished the second skein of the blanket only to realize that it seemed as though it was shrinking in size. Damn, I think it was a J or K I was using and not an I.

Last night I proceeded to frog that part of the blanket. Well, it didn't go well. Can I reiterate my loathing for boucle style yarn? I just *knew* I should have knit this thing. 1 ball of yarn turned into 4 balls of yarn with no end in site yet. I thought I'd just throw awaywhat I did thus far and just start over. That, of course isn't going to happen if I can't find the yarn.

*grumble*

Update

I found some of the yarn at another Wal-Mart. I have 5 skeins. I bet I'm going to be short anyway. Oh well, at least I found some to do something with.

I was trying to get a few things in order...or at least try and find out what plastic bag I stowed them in...for girl child's birthday party coming up soon.

What I realized was I had a small disaster in my "craft" closet. So I organized.

Only to discover that I'm not satisfied with my organization and that my quilting/sewing items are in my garage. Also, I really do have enough stuff to start a small craft store. If I don't start letting the kids into the craft items that I've gotten for them over the years, I will be run over by them.

If you don't hear from me, I have been buried from the stuff in my closet, please send help.

Too Tired To Think Of A Title

...I want to take a bath. It's cold.

However, I've spent the last hour looking at amigurumi. Ah...just what I need...another to add to my crafting. I could open a craft store.


Now, instead of taking a bath, I'm writing to you, my non-existant fan base. I do appreciate you. Leave comments if you are out there. ^-^

A few weeks ago, I got to go here. I think I need to go back. I love hot springs. This place was wonderful. It was like skipping around in 15-20 different hot tubs. I could have stayed there a long time. The hardest part was that I don't think we took enough water...and by water I mean frozen bottles of water. Also, there wasn't a super selection of lunch items there. Next time I want to stay at the resort itself and nose in and out of the pools as I wish all day. On my trip I did happen to take one crochet project. I've been trying to finish it for what feels like forever.


And, I didn't that weekend, but I did this weekend...still with me? I'm not convinced that the recipient loved it too much though. Oh well, he's only 3, with a fondness of fleece. His dad liked it though and I know he was touched by the thought.


Now, back to Pagosa Springs...I found a LYS. What a good idea. I had to buy something...anything...well, not really, but it seemed the touristy thing for me to do.


I found some Noro, one of my favorites. This is destined to be a scarf, 1x1 rib, 2 rows 1 skein, 2 rows other skein. I love how Noro knits.


I also found sock yarn. Interlacements. Now mind you, I can find any of this stuff at home, but for some reason I felt the need to acquire more to my stash. I wonder if I can fit another plastic bin in my closet...


Lastly, to add to my new found spinning wheel addiction, not to be confused with my drop spindles, which are a little dusty, I had to buy this. I'm not super crazy about the colors, but the store had 3 of these and one just wanted to come home with me.


I think part of my issue was that the man I was with was so very supportive of my hobby. Encouraging even, see the sock yarn...that one was his idea...I was fondling them...he said, "Oh, this is a nice color." Sold. I'm not sure if I can take him shopping with me anymore.


That was my trip in a nutshell.


Speeding up to last weekend, again...I finished my girl child's pick of fleece from...3 years ago?


Navajo ply. 2 skeins. There was one full bobbin, and a tiny bit left over. The reason why I didn't 2 ply. Also I kind of just like the colors staying together. It's probably in between laceweight and sport weight. Either way it's pretty, I'm proud. Not too bad for my second try.

Fin

...and...

fin

Turned out pretty good. Navajo ply...not too shabby. I love looking at it.

Especially after hand spinning for about 2 years now. I wasn't sure if I'd like spinning on a wheel or not, but I have to say that I'm really enjoying it a lot. The wheel is pretty low maintenance and doesn't take a lot of work to fold down or set up.

I even twist the skein decently. I'm so proud.

Closer picture of course, but kind of fuzzy. I thought I did pretty good for my first spinning wheel project.

Le sigh...

Commitment

I apparently have commitment issues. I start writing one blog, only to start another one here. Not for any reason other than for some reason I started feeling very vulnerable...not really the right word...I was just too out in the open and it bothered me at some great degree. So I started a new blog for anonymity.

Today, checking up on the knitting blogs I browse...Mouse had this.



What a great little button. So true.

So here I am back. Why? Because sometimes I think there are people out there who read this. I suppose, there are others like me, who want to be read, yet at the same time don't. It's a weird thing. I am the queen of indecision.

Counter Clockwise

Actually posted on 09/25/07

Okay...now in reverse!

Plying turned out a little more challenging than somehow my brain had envisioned. My lead was technically too big, the wrong material, and too long. When the yarn caught, I had a thread like catch. It broke at least 3 times. Then Navajo plying...it's fun once you get the rhythm down, but frusterating trying to initially start. I think that the biggest problem was that some how my bobbin got tangled and there was a thread holding the thread I was drafting down, which caused breaking.
Tomorrow, hopefully, a FO.

The Mission If You Choose To Accept It...

Actually posted on 09/24/07

Yes, yes Imbrium and I...shopping together we shouldn't. So D, E and get up bright and early at 8:00 am and eat breakfast, get dressed, the usual. I fuss and make panicky gestures and complain that it's 8:30 am, we leave at about 9:00 am. We arrive at Shuttles early...9:40 am. D suggests that we just drive around and look around for 20 minutes before the store opens. I fuss...what? I could be late, I could get lost. He rolls his eyes in a loving way...you know, the way that says, "My girlfriend has *completely* lost her mind." So, we drive, down the street, turn around realizing that this is highway 93 and I'm now heading out of Boulder. D jokingly says, "Yes, there may be a line" to my sort of anxious state of being. We drive into the parking lot again to which I exclaim, "OMG! There IS a line!" He laughs, "Please don't make me have to fight an old lady over a spinning wheel okay? That'll be so hard to explain, 'I'm sorry ma'am but, I really need to have this wheel, because if I don't get one, I'll have to go home with HER.'"

I park the car, jump out of the car, and throw the keys on the drivers seat, all in one smooth movement. I then race up the stairs...there's a line! We wait...all of the lovely ladies...open, open, open...the longest 4 minutes...EVER! Imbrium isn't there yet, but I know she'll show up soon. The door opens, they make noise that there is a cake somewhere in the store and welcome welcome, thanks for waiting. I enter the store and 3-4 spinning wheels stare at me. Sweet. Who works here? I can't tell. In most LYS, I can't tell the employee from the patron. I finally find a woman walking by in an apron...I stare her down and she asks me if she can help me...why YES you can! Yay!! She indicates that I'll need to talk to another woman, who just wandered off with another customer...rats...but wait, she'll go let her know. YAY!!! The right person comes walking back within a minute, and leads me to the back to open a box which happens to be sitting on the floor...was meant to be! I ask another employee who happens to be standing nearby, if they have swifts, and she fetched one for me...plastic.

The other woman is busily showing me the bits and pieces and making sure they're all fine. They are. Can I leave the box here while I go grab some other items? Yes. Super! She goes and places an oil bottle in the box while I'm gone. I'm looking at books, and sort of lost, this is a big store, when I get a tap on the shoulder. Imbrium! Made it at last. Want to see?! Of course! So I lead her to my box. I can tell she is impressed that I made her get up early on a Saturday to go to a store where she is not allowed to buy anything, just to see a box.

We nose around the store...we talk about the various rovings and how some are beautiful and must be acquired, and how some just look like clown vomit, but you can't stop staring. I offer and insist that I buy some of the beautiful roving for her dedication to coming out and supporting my emotional purchase. She says really, no need...oh yes...but...you have no choice...blah blah...those fun conversations you know? In the end...I purchased 7.5 oz. of the roving and acquired about a yard and a half of it to practice with. My drop spindle project will soon be the wheel project, but I first need to know if I can spin lace weight yarn on the wheel successfully.

I also found some lovely cashmere and wool blend yarn. It's going to be a fingerless glove pattern, once I find a pattern. I'm picky and I can't decide. Maybe I should just make a scarf.

I found more lace weight yarn for the lace I'm going to make for my mom. I wanted to make her a shawl...but I don't think she'll wear it. I'm leaning towards table runner now. I know she has tables, and she'll use them there. Imbrium keeps encouraging me that really, I ought to make something for myself.

Sadly, the store did not carry and Noro. So my need to make thousands of self striping scarves for random people, or at least myself, see there's a thing for myself, has to be put on hold. They didn't carry Malabrigo that I could find either but they did carry this, and I purchased some because C wants mama to make some toy mice.

I also found this lovely cotton, which of course can't be a solid color, it must be a varigated color because I like color movement when I'm knitting/crocheting. So this cotton is destined to be a dinosaur for J, because he too found the book of knitted toys that I was hiding in the cracks of my couch and exclaimed that mama should make him a dinosaur. Well, haha...Christmas is taken care of...if it's anything like last year, I will be knitting until 1am, freaking out. However, unlike last year, I will not be trying to see if the wet felted slippers fit on sleeping feet or if I need to quickly knit another pair.

Oh, and the swift...I ended up going with a wooden one instead. Lucky for me Imbrium noticed that after I paid, while I was waiting at the car for my keys, as D and E had wandered to the grocery store, that there was a piece missing. Luckily it was in the basket where I found the swift.

I love mail

Actually posted on 09/17/07

After playing a nerve wracking game of, "Where In The World Is My Wallet," I received a nice surprise in the mail. I love mail.

A top whorl drop spindle, a present to myself. I fell in love with it after seeing Margene's from Rhinebeck last year. Since I won't be attending Rhinebeck this year, nor possibly any year in the near future, I thought I'd order myself one.

Today is Monday...5 more days until I can get a spinning wheel.

Open! Open! Open!

Actually posted on 09/13/07

Remember those commercials of once upon a time? I think it was a Mervyn's commercial where a woman stood eagerly at the locked door waiting for the store to open and the sale to begin. That's me right now, although the store is not Mervyns. Ever since Imbrium introduced me this glorious item, I have been obsessing ever since. I haven't hand spun in months. In fact my poor little drop spindle has been decorating my basket of remembering, where I keep my keys and other items I shouldn't lose, for months now. So last Saturday she brought her spinning wheel that we had joked about at Estes 2 years ago. The jist of the conversation was that we should get them and the controversy was that we didn't really have the funds nor the room in our respective homes.

I must acquire a wheel I have decided. I've spun on a spinning wheel exacty 2 times. I think I'll do okay without lessons. I'm brave. Besides the place where I would like to go is about an hour or more away from me and to be there by 6:00 pm I'd have to leave work by 4:30 pm and find a sitter for the kids. Oh well, I can learn from the internet right? Haha. It's more the aintenance stuff about spinning wheels that I am unsure of.

The store I want to go to will be having a sale soon...but not as in this weekend soon...rats. So I have to wait. Well, not really, but I should wait. So in order to keep my excitement to a mere crawl, which isn't working all that well, but I'm trying, I'm hand spinning. Like I mentioned before I haven't spun for a few months now. Since last Saturday I've been trying to spin every day. So much so, that I noticed that I haven't been putting enough spin in some of the yarn I've been spinning. So today at lunch I wound it off of the spindle onto my niddy noddy and I am respinning it...if that is possible...I guess the better term is that I am adding more twist to what I have spun. Kind of OCD of me dontcha think? I mean I could have left it alone and just plyied it when the time came, but something kept bugging me that perhaps it would pull apart or something. Want to guess the percentage that I most likely place the yarn on the drop spindle on to a bobbin when I get a spinning wheel?

Sadly, I must admit that my UFOs are greatly suffering due to my interest obsession with spinning. After finishing the baby blanket for M and C, I started a blanket for my friend's kid E. I had this yarn in my stash, I had originally purchased it for a co-worker who had purchased socks from me for his new nephew. I thought he might be interested in a blanket, after all he had mentioned it in passing, and really who am I to give up a chance to buy some yarn? However, my co-worker was recruited and I didn't hear from him again. So, I thought this yarn would look nifty using a wave crochet stitch...and it does! I was so excited about this stitch I had to make another one. This time for my son because the only blanket he has made by me is the one I made before he was born. I was convinced he was going to be a girl so it's white and pastel with a baby blue border.

Now I swore I would never crochet with a boucle type yarn again, but here I am...and this time oddly enough...it's not turning out nearly as horrible as I thought.

Eh...

Actually posted on 09/06/07

So...summer. Girl child took swimming lessons. Boy child loves water. We swam, went to the zoo, we went to the aquarium, we went to the park. It wasn't a lot, but is was a tiny v-cation. Maybe one day I can take them elsewhere, but for now we'll just nose around our places. During this time until this post...I just could't find myself motivated to blog anything.

As for knitting. I finished a blanket. My friend M and C enjoyed it for baby J. It was smaller than I hoped, but after knitting on size 7, I think, I didn't want to to it anymore.

It's my own take on a log cabin pattern in a self striping yarn, very soft.

School now is back in session. It soon will be getting colder. I can't really determine my mood other than just sort of meloncholy.

I'm working on 2 kid blankets, for my 2 favorite toddlers, a pair of baby socks, I want to start a pair of felted clogs, and I'm thinking about knitted toys. Oh my old blog is here.

I've also finished 2 Noro scarves.
They are so addicting to make. I want to start another one.