Category: Knittastic!

I didn’t do my knitting test the other day – instead, I got caught up in reading “A Breath of Snow and Ashes” (by Diana Gabaldon, the latest in the Outlander series) again. I’m really enjoying the book, and I’m up to p. 600 out of almost 1000. I hope to have it done before school starts.

I’m going to leave it behind for the afternoon though. First, I am going to work on Jenn’s baby blanket, which is so close to being done it has hurt to let it just wait during this whole hand ordeal. If I’m having a hard time with the large needles, I might have to set them aside to try the Crusoe socks from Knitty. I’ve got some Koigu calling my name, and I learned last fall that sometimes I am better off with smaller needles. Plus it is always nice to have socks on the needles – you never know when you might need a take-along project!

Now if I could just settle on a design for this site, while I work on creating one myself. Don’t be surprised if it looks different every day for awhile!

Daysies came over and picked me up this morning and we headed off to get Elaine in her new Hyundai! Whee! (Her SUV drives so nice and smooth!) We met up with Hanna for lunch at Cracker Barrel. It was fun to have lunch with the girls!

After lunch, we headed off to Twisted Yarns! Kathy’s first trip to a real yarn store! What fun! And Janet was there, so I got to show her my Multidirectional Scraf that she inspired. She even took a photo with her kick-ass camera phone! (She is right though, the colors aren’t quite true, but I’ll take more photos of it later.) It is Mountain Colors 4/8s wool in “Pheasant”. I had bought the yarn to be in a felted purse, but realized later that it was too beautiful to felt. She posted last week that she was making a second scarf in that yarn and that pattern, and I realized it would be the perfect thing to use my yarn for. It is sooooo soft, I love it!

After we conquered Twisted Yarns, it was off to Yarns 2 Ewe to see the Koigu. They made the mistake of saying in their last newsletter that they had 34 colors in stock. I simply couldn’t resist that. We had a lot of fun, and I managed to make it out with minimal damage.

Now we’re going to get Daysies working on her first non-scarf project, a Sophie purse!

I haven’t broken out the “test” fiber that I have to give the wheel a spin yet, but I did open up a ton of browser windows on the laptop last night while looking for information. Since I need to get ready to register for classes in the morning (wow, is it that time already?), I need to close all the windows. Here is what I found:

– Twosheep: blog with helpful information on spinning that means nothing to me yet. I’m sure in a month or two I will know what she is talking about.

– Wikipedia: Spinning Wheel. In case you ever needed some basic information.

– Joy of Handspinning: Preparing to Spin – first I need to figure out what to use for a leader and then I need to get it on the bobbin, and then… well, then I guess I get to spin!

– How Your Spinning Wheel Spins – tips that will help me figure out which bobbin to use when along with other things.

– Open Directory Handspinning Links – maybe next weekend I will have time to go through some of those.

– SpinOff has helpful PDF files.

– Spinning from the fold – snagged from Natalie, who made some beautiful yarn using this technique.

– I Can Spin. I can do it. I can do it. I think I can, I think I can… Oh, wait, where was I? Oh, yes. I Can Spin has videos on how to spin.

Now I need to figure out when I am taking Chemistry II, Biology II, Trigonometry, and (hopefully) Photography next semester so I can be ready to hit the keyboard as soon as registration opens in the morning. Wheee! (Is it Christmas vacation yet? I’m suffering from midterm-itis today.)

Katy, Claire & I went to the Kid N’ Ewe sheep & wool festival in Boerne, Texas today. We met up with Julia while we were there and spent the entire day surrounded by fiber, yarn, and spinning. It was a wonderful, wonderful day. I’m so glad we got to meet up with Julia – she is an amazing knitter and a fabulous woman. I see a roadtrip to Austin in the not too distant future to see her again. And Tara too! No trip to Austin would be complete without Tara time! (Julia has promised me a link on “knitting backwards” so I don’t have to turn my shawl so often when I start my Entralac knitting someday. Just what I need! No turning is a good thing!)

I didn’t end up with any Brooks Farm Yarn, much to my dismay. The colors they had today in the fibers I wanted … well, it just wasn’t meant to be. It’s ok, they have a website and she said to e-mail if I had any questions. They were very helpful, and the yarns are so beautiful and SOFT – I highly recommend them. (I needed 3 skeins, and it seemed like every color I picked only had 2 skeins today.)

I did end up with something else though. (At a much better price!) *squeal!* I hope that Mac and Natalie will have some tips for me. Any websites I should check out to get started?