I Think a Fairy Just Came By and ......

I think a fairy just came by and pricked me with a spinning needle!! Honestly I do and I think I will remember it's sweet sting for years to come. Wait, maybe I'd better give you a piece of the story just before this.

I'm pretty sure this fairy thing has happened before in my life just with different tools. You might know what a dream catcher looks like - a circular hoop with a web in the center? I'm kind of like that but what seems to get caught in my web are new skills. I get ahold of an idea or something I want to learn and before you know it I own every tool and book required to master the thing. It has long been a part of my DNA and I'm putting the blame on those darn Fairies!!

So, all that said, I've been eying with a bit too much interest the idea of spinning some wool into yarn. It's just so darn pretty and the idea of peacefully pulling fluffy roving into small straight lines and then plying it into yarn sounds like something I'd love to try. The one draw back is knowing that it will mean more tools and time. I'd love to just test my hand it first. So when a friend keeps adding all those lovely photos of her spinning I just stare and drool. I commented this morning on her work and I thought I'd share her response:

That's how it starts, Diane. A gnawing need. Then every fair, museum, park you go to for about a year, you mysteriously stumble upon the one person spinning. Around the corner of an old farmhouse in Prospect Park, Brooklyn; in the early morning sun in an out of the way house at the Cooperstown Farmers Museum; under an awning at the NY State Fair between livestock and the midway; in a hithertofore devoid-of-spinning-materials yarn shop. In tracing your genealogy you learn one 17th c. someone paid his family's transport fare by weaving sails for the British navy and so you know someone in that family did a fair amount of spinning as a livelihood. It's in your genetic code, your blood; it's insidious. You buy a drop spindle and a little bit of roving. You pull and twist and experiment, and before you know it you're sending off to New Zealand for a brand new wheel. Folks you thought were your friends egg you on, damn the expense! ... Not that it's addictive at all. lol Chances are there's a spinner near you, closer than you think possible!

I'd love to have you over. Nudge you on over to our side! :)

Did you feel it? That ever so sweet prick from the needle administered by a wee tiny Fairy? Yup, me too!! Who could resist? I'm thinking, Not I!!

Blue Bottomed Bag

Oh, I’m so excited about this project. I have visions of finishing several of these useful bags. I bought two colors last week, got them photographed, read all the post on Ravelry and printed out the pattern (in duplicate – so I would have no excuses about it being at the other place!). Yup, I was P-r-e-p-a-r-e-d with a capital “P”. Until I got to work this morning and realized, as I pulled the calendar page off, that it was TODAY!!! Oh, man!! Everything was left at home except my camera (of course) and my extra copy of the pattern. After my lunch meeting I finally got around to looking through my office for an appropriate skein of cotton, hoping that I had something here that would work. Yup, she shoots and scores – Ultra marine blue cotton by Omega called Sinfonia bought before Christmas from the bargain bin. Four balls each with 218 yards gave me way more than I needed. A quick call to my daughter even brought me the loan of her needles for the day. So here is this afternoon’s work on my first bag, which you can see is a bit different. I decided to make the bottomed version I found on Ravelry and finished the base off before it was time to pack up and head home. I’m going to start the sides this evening with the regular pattern stitch and hope all will go well. I didn’t make a swatch of this piece because size didn’t seem to be an issue so I hope it continues going well.



One comment I saw often in the Ravelry comments and blogs was about knowing what row you are working on when you lay the piece down and return. I wondered how others marked rows and tracked their pattern. With only four pattern row repeats I’m wondering if it’s that hard? How is everyone else doing? I saw that 18 had signed up!

EDIT: The Ravelry project for the bottomed bag is here, and here is her blog post for the project. She used the direction for the bottom of this bag. For my bag I cast on 41 stitches and knit in garter stitch for 3 1/2" before picking up stitches around the edge and working in stockinette stitch for 8 rows. I'm sorry not to have included this yesterday and didn't mean to make you search for it.

I picked up two

I stopped by the chain store yesterday to buy my new KAL yarns. Couldn't really find the colors I'd had in my head - I really wanted tangerine and a turquoise. So, unless I get a chance to head up to the yarn store, these will be what I'm going to start with. Both are Cotton and the Paton's is merchandised - fancy word for polished a bit!! Can't wait to see what everyone else choose.

Realy one of the coolest!!

I found this on a friends blog, and thought it was the coolest thing. It's all knit and one of the best little movies I've ever seen!! MUST WATCH!!

Tiur Sweater Progress

This is the new work on my needles. I'm really enjoying doing this sweater even after a bit of a slow start. Here's what I'm going toward:










I'm knitting both sleeves at the same time, in the round. That's why I had a slow start. I first began on just one sleeve, working on DPN's, but found I really didn't get a good and even back strand between needles. Some areas of the design have 6-7 stitches to carry across, and it really was causing some pulling. So, mid work, I knit that first sleeve onto a long cable needle. After several rows of magic loop, I still had the same problem.. the strand was either too long or to too tight. I finally went into Ravelry (spelled LOVE!) and into the Stranded Forum and searched for an experienced knitter who was on-line at the same time. Voila!! Two sets of messages, a confirmation I could steek them, and away I went. I set the first single sleeve aside, and cast on both sleeves, with a ten stitch steek on either edge. It worked like a charm, and here is the work, mid pattern.


So here's where I am now. I've just finished the sleeve caps and bound off the top edge. If you look closely (at a bad photo... sorry), you can see the two steek edges on either side of the pattern area. This sleeve has a lovely picot edge that will be turned under at the hem. So now I'm off to start the body. I'll wait to block and cut these until I'm sure of the sleeve opening. So, it's off to storage for these little girls.

Oh, one of the girls at Ravelry mentioned the hat box. It's actually a pin cushion/sewing organizer. I just love pretty things.

It's her Birthday .... and She's throwing a Party

One of the great gals on Ravelry is throwing a Birthday Party Contest and she's inviting us. Simply jump over to Phoe's blog and follow the directions. Be sure and take time for read back thru her archives while you are there. Here is a bit I know about her: She's a California born knitter now living in England. You'll find that's she's loaded her blog with some wonderful knitting, recipes, and photos. She's got a great writing style and a good sense of humor also. Oh, and she's turning the big Three O = 30!!

Head over there to register for the contest and stay long enough to make a new friend.

Knitting Acronyms & SKO's

Well, I've got one. As she's a doosy. My Significant Knitting Other, or SKO's as we like to say. I'm like one of those rotten and blessed people who have daughters that knit. Daughters who are yarn obsessed. Daughters who get "it".

- They know that when I say I'm going to start a new project that it might be on needle for a while.
- That starting a project at 11:00 at night is meaningful.
- That buying an extra set of Addi's and another two balls of yarn is required when faced with a long, unexpected Doctor visit.
- They reward me when 'enough books' turns into a new "I've got to get this one" purchase.
- They aren't disappointed in me when I can't find something new at the LYS, and force them to pick something instead.
- We nearly agree that a project is finished, even it the buttons aren't sewn on yet.



Yup they get it, and they are my SKO's. They are good things, even if you have to birth them.

How about you? Who fills the role of Significant Knitting Other for you? Reward your SKO today (because tomorrow you may need an alibi to go shopping!)