Corona

The first project of the new year is now complete, and just in time for some cold weather heading this way. I started Corona in November and worked on it while watching The Walking Dead and trying to catch up on that show.  I also made it through season 4 of Game of Thrones while working on the sweater.  It's always nice to finish up a tv project like that.  Without further blabbing by me, here are some shots of the finished sweater.

A New Year

Hey, everyone.  Well, it's the new year and so to prepare, I spent the last couple of days organizing my stash and getting everything wound and put up.  While doing this, I made a horrible discovery. My beloved wool had been attacked by a tiny creature.  At first, I thought it was a moth that had done the damage, but after grabbing a skein of cascade 220, I caught the little bugger red handed.

Carpet beetles.

I had never heard of these before, but after googling for what the tiny creature was in my skein of yarn, I now know just how destructive their larva can be.  So, please join me in a moment of silence for the fallen yarn.

12 skeins of knit picks palette yarn that was part way knit into a fair isle vest

2 skeins of cascade 220 heathers in a lovely lavender color

1 skein of malabrigo lace yarn in a deep blue

1 skein of dragonfly fibers squishy lace in browns and blues 

2 skeins of unmarked wool 

Close to a third of my stash was wiped out.  I have now put all the wool yarn in plastic sealed tubs and the part that couldn't fit in those is now in ziploc bags.  If I can give one piece of advice, it would be to look at your stash often.  Check it for tiny invaders.  That way, you can catch them early and not take as big of a hit as I just did.

If you suspect an invasion, freeze your yarn for 48 hours.  Let it thaw, then repeat the freezing so you can kill any newly hatched larva that survived the initial freezing.  Store your wool in sealed containers and keep an eye on it.

On the bright side, my stash is now organized and stored much better.  May 2015 bring no more vermin!

Heart Throb

I decided to do some spinning this weekend as well and got the finished yarn skeined up last night.  It still needs a bath to set the twist, but overall, I am very pleased with how this turned out.  It's about 180 yards of a light worsted weight yarn, navajo plied.  The roving was from Knitted to a T that I purchased at the 2011 Sheep and Fiber Festival.  I am working on spinning through some of my older stash right now to make way for some of the goodies I purchased at the Sheep and Fiber Festival this year.  The roving was a merino/bamboo blend, but I am not sure what the ratio was since the tag didn't have that information on it.  Here's the yarn:

Knit on...

Wind in the Willows Clue One

So I joined the Wind in the Willows KAL from The Unique Sheep and got my first clue in my email box yesterday.  I went home and finished my run, then sat down to work on the clue.  I had some trouble starting out since anything that lacey on tiny needles in the round gets a bit wonky at first, but overall, I like how it turned out:

Bad picture from early in the morning, but you get the idea.  I can't wait for this to get big enough that I can get it off the DPNs and onto my Karbonz circulars since the points on those are much sharper and will make this much easier to do.  Plus, I won't get the laddering that I am getting a little of in the first clue.

Knit on...

Finished Boneyard

I finished the boneyard shawl on Friday and blocked it out on Saturday after returning from the Sheep and Fiber festival.  I had a good time at the show and came home with a gradience colorway from The Unique Sheep so I could participate in the Wind in the Willows KAL that started on Friday.  I just got the first clue this morning, so I know what I will be knitting tonight.  Anyways, here is the blocking boneyard shawl:

It's still wet in this picture, so it lost all the shimmer, but I am very pleased with how it turned out.  I'll try to get a better picture once it is unpinned.

Knit on...

Boneyard

So I continued my sick knitting on Monday by working on a new project.  I found some Pattons Metallic at Michael's on Saturday morning (about 5 hours before the crud invaded my lungs) and was enamored with the feel and the sheen on the yarn.  At first I thought I would use it for a biased scarf after watching Joan at work make her version of Totally Biased.  I started working on it and decided it needed to be something else, so I searched through patterns on Ravelry.  When I saw Boneyard by Stephen West, I decided it would work lovely with the yarn and be a good knit given that I have enjoyed everything else he has designed that I have worked in the past.  So, without more blabbering, here is the shawl in progress:

Knit on...

New Socks

Well, I came down with a respiratory infection on Saturday night, so I have had a lot of time to just sit around the house and knit given that I haven't felt like doing much of anything else.  I finished up the weaving on Sunday that I posted about already and today, since I had to take off work, I sat on the couch and knit the second sock of a new pair.  Here's the finished sock:

It was the same dye lot, but the socks look very different to me.  Since I don't care too much about my socks really matching exactly stripe for stripe, I'm not too worried about it.

Knit on...

Weaving

Hey, everyone.  I actually finished some weaving this weekend that's been on the loom for a while now.  I finished the mate of the red Christmas plaid scarf, and without further ado, here it is:

I crocheted a border on the scarf to hide the long ends that hung out on the side for the color carries.  I really like how it turned out.  I also rather adore how it looks with the red scarf:

Now to figure out what to weave next...

Knit on...or weave on in this case...