FIbery Goodness

I really need to stay away from Ravelry. At least the Spinner Central forum. All the enabling is killing my wallet, but boy is it fun. Here are a some of my newest fiber purchases. The other six I ordered are in transit and will be posted upon arrival.

This first batt, Fantasy Forest, is from Copperpot on Etsy.

I absolutely love the colors and it is a dream to spin up.
I am doing my best to spin it as fine and even as possible. I am hoping to get fingering weight when plied. I am using the 10/1 ratio. I really would love to get a fast flyer so I can spin true lace weight.
Also from Copperpot, this is Denim and Diamonds. It is 4oz of a 80 merino 10 colonial 5 tussah silk 5 mohair blend with an extra side of glitz.
Online I found some more of the merino/soysilk blend that I bought from Lampspun at Estes last year (the 2nd pic below). Turns out it is called Karaoke Soysilk and it is by SWTC. I decided to buy some more online and also got this colorway, Playful, 4oz.
The original I spun previously is the Rainbow colorway. I purchased an additional 4 oz. I hope to spin this in a fingering wt. 3ply for socks and to use the stuff I already spun up for the toes and heels. We will see.
This is a lovely merino I purchased up at Serendipty in April. The color is midnight and it is so soft and luxurious to work with.
Spun up the colors are quite subtle and striking.
I am also striving to keep this one fine and even using the 10/1 ratio. It is a lot easier to work with than some other fibers I have tried. I really am enjoying it.

So as I mentioned I have a few more items on the way, oh and I joined Spunky Electic's fiber club. Only $16 +shipping to get a monthly dose of fiber goodness. I need to restrain myself a bit since Estes is coming up in a couple of weeks. I just may buy a fleece when I am there and then I should perhaps just maybe be content with my fiber stash. Maybe.

Welcome Summer!

Today is the kids' last day of school, where did the time go? I just took these pictures I thought a couple of days ago, but I look out my window and the wisteria are all gone. They were breathtaking and fragrant while they were here, but alas summer is on the way! But Spring did bring new additions while it was here. I lucked out and scored this Ashford Traditional for a steal from a woman who works at one of my dh's clients. She was gifted it about 20 years ago but never used it, so decided to sell it for lawnmower money. I quickly snatched it up. It only needed a new leather footman piece and a drive band and some TLC. I am hoping to get to it this weekend so I can see how it spins.
Meanwhile on my Lendrum I have been working on this roving from Ashland Bay. I believe I posted the picture of the single previously.
And here it is all plied. I ended up with about 675 yard of worsted/bulky weight. I am hoping to find a cool vest pattern and knit it up this fall.
I did however start this with the merino/tencel I spun. It is the Cream of Spinach scarf. I did only 2 repeats instead of three to ensure I have enough for adequate length. This is my first knit with my hand spun, and I am enjoying it thoroughly.
Other projects have been going so/so. I just frogged the Blue Sky tank last night, it ended up being way too big. I was about 1/2 way done too. :( The Veronik sock just got a heel flap and is being ignored while I spin. It is so busy this time of year it is hard to find time to do it all and I find myself choosing spinning over knitting lately it would seem. Coming up soon: all the lovely new fiber I have added to my stash!

Sound Familiar?

You're from Colorado if:
You'll eat ice cream in the winter.
When the weather report says it's going to be 65 degrees, you shave your legs and wear a skirt.
It snows 5 inches and you don't expect school to be cancelled.
You'll wear flip flops every day of the year, regardless of temperature.
You have no accent at all, but can hear other people's. And then you make fun of them.
'Humid' is over 25%.
Your sense of direction is: Toward the mountains and Away from the mountains.
You say 'the interstate' and everybody knows which one.
You think that May is a totally normal month for a blizzard.
You grew up planning your Halloween costumes around your coat.
You know what the Continental Divide is.
You don't think Coors beer is that big a deal.
You went to Casa Bonita as a kid.
You've gone off-roading in a vehicle that was never intended for such activities.
You always know the elevation of where you are.
You wake up to a beautiful, 80 degree day and you wonder if it's going to snow tomorrow.
You don't care that some company renamed it, the Broncos still play at Mile High.
Every movie theater has military and student discounts.
You actually know that South Park is a real place not just a show on TV.
You know you're talking to a fellow Coloradoan when they call it Elitches,not Six Flags.
A bear on your front porch doesn't bother you.
You've been to the original Chipotle near the DU campus on Evans.
When people out East tell you they have mountains in their state too, you just laugh.
You go anywhere else on the planet and the air feels 'sticky' and you notice the sky is no longer blue.

Fun Packed Week

Wow, we were busy this week. We has something going on almost every night. We started the week on Monday with the Duran Duran concert. We had 5th row center seats in the pit and about half way through we ended up in front, directly below the stage. I am still unsure who is cuter 20+ years later, Simon or John. I'll post a pic of the concert as soon as A emails them to me and perhaps you can help me finally decide.

Tuesday I had the pleasure of being invited to Christie's house for a swap and pizza dinner. It was so nice to see everyone on a Tues night. Here is Gerri (owner of Knit Knack) modeling a sweater she purchased from Judy.

And here are Betsy, Christie and Cheryl having a laugh.

I almost nabbed this bag right out of Gerri's hands when she walked in the door carrying it. This is the exact Namaste bag that Maddie had been eyeing in the shop.

This gorgeous Stella yarn I purchased from Christie almost matches it exactly. I am not sure what I am going to knit with it, but I do have the DB Bliss book for this yarn so I have lots of possibilities.

As you can see Maddie was quite thrilled when I brought her home the bag, in fact I do believe some jumping up and down and squeals were involved.

Yes, it does bring a little flair to the rather dull outfit she was donning.

Thursday night we had dress rehearsal for the ice show which occurred on Sat. I wish I had taken pictures, but I knew that the glare of the glass around the rink would ruin the shot. It was a ton of fun though and both Maddie and little A did an excellent job. Although little A admitted he did have some stage fright, he was the cutest little Tigger. My SIL came for the second show and sat further up so I hope she will have some pictures to share which I in turn will post for all of you.

In the world of knitting I have been busy working on the Fitted Tank with this gorgeously squishy Blue Sky Alpaca Organic Cotton. I think I am going to have to end up buying another skein though. Shoot, just what I needed, an excuse to head up to Conifer.

I also finished spinning this Merino/Tencel Blend. I Navajo plied it, which was a first for me. It did come out a little bit over-plied so I ran it back through the other direction. I have about 220 yards and no clue what to do with it. It is rather pretty.

Well with the Ice Show finally over, this week should be rather calm. I do have a lot of work to do at our old house. We are putting it on the market at the end of the month, so my hands will be filled with paint brushes rather than knitting needles for a while. And I just had a manicure Fri., so figure.

MS Walk

The MS Walk was a blast. We met Liz and the team at 8am at City Park at the Mix 100 booth where our cool Mix 100 team t-shirts were awaiting us to don. Here is Liz with her sister Hannah, their Mom and Liz's daughter Emma.
Hollywood Henderson told the crowd of over 5000 people about our team and Liz followed up giving thanks to the station for their support. She did a fabulous job, I can't even imagine talking in front of that many people.

There was a great turn out and the walk was a nice stroll around city park at a leisurely pace given the crowds, which was fine with me.

We finished the 3 miles with in an hour, stopping along the way for potty breaks, snacks and pictures.
And greeting us at the finish line was this beautiful view of the Denver skyline.
Thank you for all of the generous donations, they are greatly appreciated. It is not to late to contribute if you wish to do so. I'm looking forward to walking again next year!

Colorful weekend.

What a fun weekend this has been! I started off bright and early Sat. morning heading to the MS Walk. It was a great experience and I will blog about it further on another day. I don't' want to post too many pictures at once and I have lots of other things to share. Friday night I finished the pretty pink pussy bed! Actually looking at it I think I should rename it the furry pink pussy bed. Here it is before felting. And after.
Pablo had little interest in actually laying in it. He did try to nibble the fur a bit though.
With some coaxing (force) he did sit in it long enough for me to capture this shot.
And with in seconds he was done. I placed it in his normal sleeping spot so we will see if he accepts this new bed.
Saturday after the walk Maddie and I headed to Knit Knack and Bliss to knit/dine with our friends. It was the Purple Princess' birthday...well she has claimed to stop having them but we celebrated anyway. Isn't her cake the coolest? Christie was so sweet to get this for her, it was gluten and sugar free carrot cake and unbelievably delicious.
Every princess needs a crown of course.
And here is Leanne wearing Nicole's new purple wig. Sorry princess but I think it looks better on Nicole. You do give her a run for the money though. It was so good to see everyone. I haven't been to knit night in a while since the kids have ice show practice on Tues. nights, so it was great to catch up. I also did a swatch for the shell I will be making with the Blue Sky Organic cotton. I love how soft it is....but more on that later.
And today I managed to finish photographing and posting all my yarns to my stash on Ravelry. Whew, that was a chore, but it is fun to see it all organized. I do have some yarn listed in my sell/trade page, so if you see something you like feel free to make an offer. I think I will go make some tea now and start my shell while watching Iron Chef. I hope you all had a fabulous weekend as well.

Pardon my pictures.

Unfortunately these pictures are not the greatest quality since they were taken on the camera phone. Dh is in San Diego and took our camera with him, but I couldn't wait to post so these will have to suffice. I finished my socks, and love love love them. I am so happy it is cold today so I can wear them!
I also started to make my pretty pink pussy bed. I am using Brown Sheep and fun fur, and am going to pick up around the edge when the base is done for the sides. After that the whole thing will go in the wash for felted goodness. I hope the kitties like it, well I know Nietzsche will care less but Pablo seems to favor cozy sleep surfaces. I know it is not very manly and doesn't match my decor but I am trying to use up some stash, although I did end up at Mew Mew's today to buy another skein of Lamb's Pride. Maddie noted that it looks a lot like the items I knit when I first started knitting. I am happy to report that I have almost depleted my fun fur stash.
This yarn arrived today in the mail. I bought it on ebay from The Special Tea Shop. It is 468 yards of 90% wool 10%nylon blend sock yarn in Orange Cranberry. My two favorite colors in one skein!
And on it's way is another Atenti bag. I need to stop searching ebay for them. Tsk tsk.

As promised...

Here is my exciting news: Maddie and I are going to do the MS walk this Sat at City Park and are honored to be on the MIX 100 sponsored team. They took applications from different teams participating in the walk and chose my friend Liz's sister Hannah's team "I Sold My Soul For Rock and Roll and Now I have MS" to be the official Mix 100 team. We are so excited to be a part of this event. We have done the walk previously but it has been a couple of years since the last one. We are both still $250 away from our goal of $300 in donations so if you would like to donate here is the official team page. Thank you so much to those who have already contributed to this worthy cause.

And for the perspective. Often in life we talk about the "big" things and not sweating the small stuff, and ponder what is truly important. Recently a dear friend of mine lost everything she owned in a house fire. Fortunately her family escaped with only minor injuries. These are the big things, the ones we love. Everything else we possess is fleeting, but our friends, family and loved ones are truly what matter and often we forget what our priorities should be. I can't imagine how incredibly tough it must be to lose family pictures, baby books etc, but I am so thankful that they are all unharmed. If you would like to help them out please send me an email and I can direct you on how. Give everyone you love a big hug and remember what the big things are in life.

Whew, a minute to pause

Wow it has been a busy week. Swimming lessons, ice skating lessons, ice show practices, orchestra camp, field trips, play groups....on and on it goes. But in there I have managed to fit in a bit of knitting. I am almost done with the cuff of my Sock for Veronik. I am really liking the pattern and think it does indeed look nice with the variegated yarn. I did get a bit side tracked the other night and cast on these socks after reading this tutorial. I have been wanting to do the Turkish cast on again and also try two at once on one circular, and the tutorial took advantage of both techniques. I am using some Paton's Merino given to me by Nicole. Socks sure go fast when using worsted weight yarn. I think I am going to make them knee highs, perfect for wearing with boots.
The rest of my spare time has been spent making these stitch markers to go with the newest Cat Bordhi book. I have a lot of outstanding orders to fill for them and have been trying to get them all done asap. I should have some going out Monday! Ugh, I hate falling behind.
I did take a break tonight and whipped up this jewelry set. I bought the porcelain beads at Joanne's today after the orange color grabbed my attention. I paired them with some sterling beads and I'm not sure what the black beads are but I like them.
I also found these cute little critters in the garden dept. At less than $2 a piece who could not give them a new home.
Ooh and look at this cute Atenti purse I found on ebay. It is just the right size for socks, although I have used it as a reg. ole purse for most the week.
And alas I am not the only one who is exhausted. Little A fell asleep the other night playing Xbox (and before I had the chance to make his bed w/ new clean sheets).

Next: as promised my exciting news and the perspective I mentioned earlier.

I saw this on Nicole's blog and couldn't resist old Myer Briggs. Although I must say I am not unselfish, I want all the yarn in the world for ME ME ME!!! Oh and I would be a good politician if it not for all those skeletons. hee hee.

You Are An ENFP

The Inspirer You love being around people, and you are deeply committed to your friends. You are also unconventional, irreverent, and unimpressed by authority and rules. Incredibly perceptive, you can usually sense if someone has hidden motives. You use lots of colorful language and expressions. You're quite the storyteller! In love, you are quite the charmer. And you are definitely willing to risk your heart. You often don't follow through with your flirting or professed feelings. And you do break a lot of hearts. At work, you are driven but not a workaholic. You just always seem to enjoy what you do. You would make an excellent entrepreneur, politician, or journalist. How you see yourself: compassionate, unselfish, and understanding When other people don't get you, they see you as: gushy, emotional, and unfocused

What's" Your Personality Type?