Californyha nyha nyha nyha

South Park watchers will get the title.

For my birthday this year we decided instead of a big party to get away, just the two of us. It was a wonderful birthday and started out on the right foot when the rental car agent upgraded our midsize to this bright convertable.

The main event of the trip was seeing Blue October in concert. They trail not far behind NIN as my 2nd favorite band and seeing them live is always a treat.


Our hotel was awesome, so many cool little details that made it stand apart from the standard chain.


The view from our room was wonderful as well.


Thursday we went to the beach in Santa Monica and hit a wonderful yarn store, Compatto as well. I bought a couple of gorgeous hand-dyed sock yarn made especially for that store.


On the last day we went to In N' Out and then I spent the afternoon on the hotel's rooftop pool while A worked. It was pure heaven to sit viewing the Hollywood Hills while knitting, drinking the hotel's signature martini the stillo. Just when I thought that life couldn't get better a massage therapist came by and offered me a free foot massage. Ahhh this is the life.

Now if I could live in this house I think A might be able to convince me to move to LA. The more we go the more I am able to invision ourselves living there. Perhaps once Maddie has gone off to college it will be a good time...time will tell.

And I did manage to accomplish a bit of knitting, this is the sweater I am making for little A out of Berrocco Comfort. So far he thinks it is pretty cool. It is knitting up fast and I should have it done pretty quickly.

It's been a long summer

And even though I've been less than 100% I have managed to get some things done. The great news is I fulfilled my New Year's resolution and have completed the Minimalist. I love, love, love how it turned out. I did full length sleeves instead of 3/4, I made it a bit longer and I did a i-cord frog closure.The best feeling is the compliments I have received from non-knitters on it. The frog closure I did with my little hand i-cord maker and then used the pattern from Knitting Over the Edge by Nicky Epstein. The button I received in a swap and I think it works perfectly. I wish summer would be over soon so I could wear it every day. I was actually pleased when it was chilly this week.
Yesterday I finished my Crosshatch Lace socks using my handspun Sherwood yarn. It is a a 60/30/10 Merino/Bamboo/Nylon blend. I had 315 yards and used size 1 needles and ended up with quite a large amount left over. Definitely enough for child's socks.

Now that these projects are finally complete I've moved on to knitting this sweater. The pattern is in a Tahki booklet for Nova yarn. I am using Debbie Bliss eco-cotton. I can't say I'm particularly fond of this yarn it is 10 plies of 2plies and is splitty as can be.

I am however quite please with how it is knitting up. I love the soft blue color. I hope I get it done in time to wear while it is still warm.

This is the fiber I am using to make batts to spin. I had made some for a swap and loved how they turned out so much I decided to card about 27 ounces to do a sweater. The fibers included a mohair wool blend, sw merino, tussah silk, Wensleydale locks and a merino/tencel blend.

I have run them through the carder twice and am pretty pleased with how they turned out. I am eager to see how they spin up.

And lastly this is the yarn I have spun this summer. I bought it at the Alpaca Festival this spring. It is a 80/20 llama/silk blend.

I think I will use it to make the branching out scarf, I have about 540 yards of it to work with. It is fingering weight.

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer and is getting lots of fiber arts time in. Right now I am sitting on my patio and enjoying the beautiful day.

Estes 2009

How quickly the time goes and once again it is time for the Estes Wool Market. This year I went with my friend Anne, Maddie and met Schelli there. The four of us had a fantastic time and thoroughly enjoyed every moment and dollar spent. I just love the Teeswater sheep, aren't they cute with their bangs?This little sheep was getting sheared.
And this baby Shetland named Diamond Lil almost came home with me. My FIL says all I have to do is build a fence and then I can get some, not sure I'm ready yet though but she almost had me convinced.

It was quite entertaining to watch the border collie shepherd the ducks.

Here is Schelli's Ted with a fellow llama. The llama doesn't look too sure about Ted.

This was a small fleece I bought, probably a 1/2 fleece of Romeldale/CVM from Arianna at Aniroonz in Wellington, I love the rich deep chocolate color.

I adore this Jacob from Perry that Maddie picked out. It is only 1 lb 12 oz but enough hopefully for a vest or maybe even a sweater depending on how much of it is grease.

And my absolute favorite is this luscious 5lb CVM fleece from Geri McGilney in Loveland. The colors are amazing and the crimp is divine. The test lock washed up beautifully and I can't wait to get it to the processor's and back.

This is Ellie, a lovely Paco Vicuna from Hickory Ridge Farms. I purchased 2oz of her fleece to add to the 4 oz I bought last year. Hopefully that will be enough to make a shawl with.

So heavenly, once I make that shawl I think I will wear it with everything I own.

This is a 40/60 Bamboo/Merino roving I purchased from Bonkers. It is 4oz. of the Pavoreal colorway.

I also bought 2 oz of silk hankies from Bonkers.

And a couple of ounces of nylon that I plan to blend with some wool I will dye to match for socks.

And lastly these great Wensleydale locks are going to be used in carding projects and maybe I'll try an art yarn out of them as well.

Overall it was a fabulous time and I am still happily in love with my new fleeces. I just love the smell of sheep.

Welcome Sunshine

I think I finally see the sun poking through the clouds, both literally and figuratively. It has been a rough few weeks lately, I've been battling with kidney infections and UTIs and am now finally feeling a bit better. Good enough to work on my socks today. I did a short row heel, which is by far my favorite heel to do. I think this pair is actually going to fit just perfect, not too loose.
Estes is this coming Sat. and I am so excited to go get some new goodies. My FIL gave me a jump started and gifted me this lovely fleece. I have yet to find out what breed it is, I did do a little test wash and it cleaned up pretty nice. Not next to the skin soft but definitely something usable and free to boot!

I was recently in a swap on Ravelry that included hand spun and hand prepared fibers. These are the batts I made for my partner Linda/Bartons15. I used some SW Merino, some hand dyed by me Coopworth/Mohair blend, tussah silk and some reg. ole wool. I really like how they turned out and think I will have to make some more for myself.

In return I received this lovely package. The yarn is scrumptious and I am eager to knit it up, just waiting for the perfect pattern to come to mind. There is 225 yards or so, time to pull out the One Skein Wonders book. She also dyed the lovely blue wool. I have some BFL that I hand dyed in shades of blue that I think I will ply with this and use it to make little A a set of mittens, scarf and hat. The goodies were awesome also. Thanks for the great swap Linda.

I've also done a little spinning. I am currently working on the Llama/Silk blend I bought at the Alpaca festival. I received a very fast flyer for my Lendrum for Mother's day and am using it to spin this fiber lace weight. I'm almost half done so I should have pictures soon. Now that I'm on the mend I hope to knit with the Arvada knitters again soon, it has been far too long and I miss my knitting gals.

A new spinner in the making

Maddie is on the wait list for Maggie's beginning spinning class this summer, but she just couldn't wait. So the other night we spent some time learning the basics of pre-drafting, worsted vs. woolen, combed vs. top and the infamous inch worm technique. She took to it rather quickly and seemed to enjoy herself, despite the numerous bouts of frustration when the twist would get away from her or the fiber would fall apart.
But in the end she made some real yarn! I have a bowl with my baby skeins, made up from leftovers from a 3ply or fiber I gave a test spin and now Maddie will have her 1st skein for her own collection.

I just finished this luscious blend from Julie Spins. It is 60/30/10 SW Merino/bamboo/nylon. The colorway is called Sherwood.

It is a 3ply, 315 yards, 5oz, 18 WPI, somewhere between heavy fingering and light sport weight. I plan on using it for a pair of socks out of the new toe up sock book, I can't wait to see how it knits up.

And on the resolution road, I have finished one front and am about to finish the other and then there are just the sleeves left to complete my last WIP the Minimalist!! Yay!!

Odds and Ends

Where does the time go? It is almost summer and the days are flying by faster than I can keep up with. So what follows is a bit of odds and ends of what has been happening in my world.

Yesterday was field days for 1st graders. Anthony was quite proud that his class won the tug-o-war battle between classrooms. Luckily the rain held off and all the activities were thoroughly enjoyed.

Basketball has been also consuming a large amount of time in our household. We were fortunate that Anthony was able to score us 5 tickets (very rare to get 5) to see the final game against the Hornets. JR is my boy!!! I love that man. :) Most nights we are snuggled up in our bed with the kids watching the games on TNT. I have no idea why they have decided that they like the 37in. tv in our bedroom better than the 50in. one in our playroom, but so it is. As long as I can knit with out a pair of stinky feet in my face I am good.

Here is Anthony after the game last week, just a wee bit bushed.

I finished the yarn I was making for Maddie. She is going to knit her first pair of socks out of it. She picked the colors and carded it herself. Hopefully she will be in Maggie's class this summer so she can then spin it on her own as well.

I decided I didn't like my yarn hiding in the closet so I bought another set of cubbies. I love that it is all out now and accessible. The closet however remains full of unspun fiber. I am contemplating if I need to take over, I mean trade rooms with Ian when he goes off to college...so much more room for fibery goodness. Perhaps it is better to just knit as much as possible from my stash to ensure he does come home on breaks....I can't even believe this is a little over a year away. Sigh.

This guy followed me home one day.

Sat. I forced/encouraged the Anthonys to go to the alpaca festival with me. It was pretty fascinating to see the animals and talk to their owners. Big A wanted to know if you could eat them and little A wanted to pet them all. Now alpacas aren't the most outgoing of creatures, they are quite timid in fact, but he did manage to pet a few. Big A jokingly called my FIL and told him I had bought two alpacas and was bringing them to his property to live. He reacted amazingly well, stating I need to make sure to come by 2xday to feed them and take care of them. Tempting, but I think for now I will just buy the fiber. I found this lovely llama/silk blend. It is so soft, Anthony says it looks like old lady hair.

I also purchased a 1 1/2lbs of alpaca fiber which to my family's horror I washed in the tub last night. Apparently they don't embrace the wet alpaca smell as much as I do. Man those suckers get dirty, they love to roll around in the dirt and consequently my tub was quite filthy when I was done and the kids lit incense.

I also finished this scarf last night. It is a present for my Aunt' birthday in Sept. but I wanted to get another Wip off my list.

With this one done all that remains is the minimalist, which I have finished the back of. Then I will be free to knit whatever I want. I have so many projects in my queue I have no idea what to knit first.....hmmm sounds like a good contest idea.

And this is just a little gem I found on ebay. I love this bag, it is perfect for a small knitting project and is made from the recycled woven/embroidered garments of the Mayan women. They even make an actual knitting bag. I love the colors and the beautiful workmanship. (and of course the fact it is orange!)

That brings us to the present. Mother's day is on the horizon and I am eagerly awaiting my new very fast flyer for my Lendrum! I am counting the days til the kids get out of school and summer begins. But for now I am savoring each moment as the school year winds down.

Oh and GO NUGGETS!!!!