Spinning!

I had my first spinning lesson yesterday! What fun! The two hours sped along. And I was actually spinning! Figuring out how to get the wheel to rotate clockwise and how to stop it was the hardest. My time on the drop spindle paid off though - I took pretty easily to the drafting technique. My husband has created a monster!


My first spindle full of yarn!


The cat saying "what the heck is this thing?"


And I went ahead and added a rib to the bottom of the sweater. I think it looks fine! No more curl and you can see the hand spun yarn! I've actually finished the main body up to the armholes. I have to finish the one sleeve and start the second. Of course, I have spinning "homework" so we'll see how much of the sweater gets done this week!

Typo!

I actually used Addi Turbo's Size 2 on those fingerless gloves!

Sometimes You've Got to Change

Well, sometimes you just have to change . . . This is my new Bejeweled scarf. Yes, I frogged the first version. The feel of the lace weight and the Kidsilk Haze was wonderful, but I wasn't happy with the way it looked. So on to something else in the stash! I think this will look great!




Now, I have a question. I'm thinking of adding a ribbed edging to the bottom of my EZ sweater. I assume I can just turn it upside down, pick up stitches all along the bottom edge and knit a rib. I'd like to straighten out the stockinette curl at the bottom so that the strip of handspun will be visible when I wear it. What do you think?

Jane asked what pattern I used for my daughter's handwarmers. Well, I read several patterns and then just started knitting! Here is what I ended up with:

I used sock yarn and a size 1 circular needle. I also knit them using the magic loop method which is why my daughter thought I was just making another pair of socks!

Cast on 60 stitches, place marker and join in round.

K2P2 rib for 1"

Knit in round until length reaches from just below the elbow to where you would like the thumb hole to start. I tried it on LOTS!

Remove the marker.

Turn, slip one, purl to the end of the row.
Turn, slip one, knit to the end of the row.

Repeat these two rows 8 times to make the hole for the thumb.

Replace the marker, join the row again and knit until you are 1" short of where you want to end.

K2 P2 rib for 1". Bind off.

Pick up 20 stitches around the thumb hole, placing a marker at the beginning of the round.

Knit 4 rounds.

K2P2 rib for 1".

Cast off.

My daughter particularly liked having two different colors! One of her friends even wants the pattern!

Ice Storm

We had an ice storm Sunday that continued into Monday. Crazy weather - lots of people are still without power. Luckily, ours never went out. I thought I'd share a photo of the tree in our front yard and a closeup of the grass. I'm not sure when it's going to melt because the temp is not going above freezing for a few more days. The tree looks a little different than it did with all of its beautiful red leaves!

Secret Pal Goodies!

My Secret Pal has struck again! The package came while I was at work. My daughter called me practically breathless to tell me that I had a package! I could almost HEAR how big her eyes were when she called me! And she told me she would make sure that I took pictures of everything. So here we are! The Holiday Issue from Interweave - I think I'll use some of my new Saratoga Llama yarn to make the neck warmer - I have just enough yarn in the skein. Then there is a lovely skein of Opal sock yarn, a beautiful hand made card and finally, a ball winder!!
The Rowing Cat pulled it out of the box and immediately set it up on the table for me. She ran upstairs to grab a skein of yarn that needed winding, and off we went! We even made my husband get into the act! My daughter was very miffed because my husband was actually much better at the winding motion. He said he just has "the touch . . ."

And here is the beautiful skein all wound and ready to go! I can't tell you how exciting this was. I kept thinking of buying one, but just never got around to it. Now I have one of my very own thanks to my Secret Pal!!

As for progress on my other projects, I finished one STR sock and have just cast on for the second. It really is pretty fabulous yarn to knit with. The skein I bought was the lightweight yarn - I think I'd like to try the medium weight next time just for comparison. And I'm about halfway up one arm of the sweater. I'll probably be able to cast on for the second arm this weekend but will have to get back to knitting the body!

Knitting Progress

Thanks for all the wonderful comments on the lace shawl! I'm just happy it's finally done!

How does it look?? The beginning of the sleeve! I'm taking EZ's advice to start the sleeves while the enless stockinette of the body is in progress. And I get to see how great the handspun from my Secret Pal knits up! I am VERY excited!

And here is the progress on the body - endless, endless, endless!

Here is a picture of the beginning of my Bejeweled scarf (click the button on my sidebar). I'm making it with a mix of Kidsilk Haze and KnitPick's Alpaca Cloud. I think it will be beautiful after some blocking. But there is still lots to go.

And here is sock number one from the Socks That Rock Rocktober colorway. I love the color and have cast on for the second sock.

And my daughter just called to tell me that there is a Secret Pal package waiting for me when I get home!!!!

Lace Magic

Happy New Year! We spent the weekend in Marblehead, MA with Mark's family. Here is the Rowing Cat with her new copy of the latest Warriors book - she loves this series. She is lounging with her new bathrobe . . .

This is a picture of Mark's family at our New Year's Dinner. From the left, Mark, me, Norry, Elena, Paul, Suzanne and Carl. Mark, Paul and Carl are brothers. My mother-in-law Joan must have been in the kitchen when this was taken. Take no note of the wine glass in my hand. I have to admit to a slight hangover the next day. This was actually the eve of New Year's Eve, so I had a day to recover!

And here is a little Lace Magic! I finally finished this shawl after starting it 4 years ago . . . It's the Faux Russian Stole from A Gathering of Lace. I definitely enjoyed making this but I'm not sure I want to dive right into another one just yet! Here is the shawl pre-blocking laid out on the carpet.


And here it is in the sink getting wet.

And here it is pinned out and blocking! I love the transformation!

I can hardly believe I actually made this! Later in the week I'll have some pictures of the progress on my EZ sweater and the Bejeweled Scarf (click the button on the sidebar for the knitalong!)