Tour De Fleece Day 2

For the second day of the Tour, I didn't get as much done.  I did spin some on the second bobbin of singles though.  Here's what I finished up today:

Not as much as yesterday, but that's all right.  I just want to spin a little bit each day during the Tour.  So far, so good.

Knit on...

Tour De Fleece Day One

I decided to spin for the Tour De Fleece this year.  I have neglected my spinning some while I have been working on other projects such as weaving and painting, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to dust off the old Ashford and spin the rest of the Yarn Geek's Bob's Favorite Bird.

At the end of day one, this is what I spun up:

One bobbin full of singles.  I still really like this colorway and find it very nice to spin up.

Knit on...

What Can Happen in Six Months?

Wow, I didn't realize it had been so long since I last wrote a post on here.  It's been an interesting six months, with many things that have happened, but I think I'm just going to catch you up with what all I have been doing recently.

After I wound up in the boot from tearing the tendons in my foot (hard to believe that was already a year ago!), I noticed I was having an issue with knitting and my hand hurting, so I wasn't able to knit very much.  I did do some scrapbooking, some knitting for as long as my hand could stand it, and some spinning.

In the past 6 months, I have only knit a couple of things.  First, I knit one sock, which I just finished this weekend:

 

I also have been working on a jacket out of the yak fiber that DF brought me from Nepal:

 

 

 

So, not a whole lot of knitting progress to post about.  A couple of weekends ago though, DF and I went to the sheep and fiber festival and I decided I would get a loom.  I picked up the 15 inch cricket loom and I have been cranking out the woven goods ever since.  First, I wove a scarf as a practice piece:

 

Then, I wove a scarf out of some hand spun corriedale wool:

 

After I finished that scarf, I tried my hand at a bag:

 

Finally, I tried my hand at some plaid colorwork:

 

Right now, I have another bag on the loom:

 

 

So, I am cranking out the woven things now, which makes me feel like the fiber arts have returned in my life.  I was missing playing with yarn, and now I have a way to do that again!

 

Oh, and this weekend, DF and I decided to go to the beer cheese festival.  Yes, they really do have a beer cheese festival.  We ate at least 17 different types of beer cheese and cast our vote for which one we felt was the best.  We saw lots of different vendors that were not beer cheese related, and then we saw that we were walking on Beer Cheese Blvd:

 

I think we are officially beer cheesed out now.

 

Knit on...or weave on...



Something Different

And now that all the knit gifts are done, I decided to work on some cross stitch.  This will become a very ornate butterfly.

Knit on...

Ruffles, Tiny Ruffles

So I have been on a ruffle binge as of late it seems. This scarf was knit out of premier yarns starbella flash. Of the two ruffle yarns I have used so far, I prefer the bernat ruffelina. I still have one more ball of flash left so I will be making one more ruffled scarf. Right now though I am working on wanderlust from the new winter knitty.
Knit on...

Afghan of Fuzziness

Behold the completed afghan with my queen sized bed for scale.  This used 10 skeins of lionbrand homespun yarn in 5 colors.  Thanks to an awesome Thanksgiving day sale the thing only cost me 15 dollars to make!
Knit on...

Two Ruffled Scarves

I knocked out two more Christmas presents this week. I hate to admit it, but I actually liked working with the bernat ruffelina yarn. It wasn't nearly as annoying as I figured it would be.
Knit on...

Two Big Socks

Hey, look!  I finished the second stocking!  Hm, now what do I knit for the next two days?

Catch Up

There's been a lot going on since I last blogged.  I have been knitting up a storm and managed to finish up some projects that have been on the needles for a while. 
The reason I have gotten so much done is sad though.  On Saturday,  my grandmother lost a long fight with pneumonia.   She passed away peacefully and I am thankful for that.
So this week I am with my parents getting ready for the funeral.   While here, I have been knitting a pair of Christmas stockings.  Here is the first one.

First Progress

The opening night of the Olympics led to the back spiral being knit on the In the Pink shawl.  Here is what was completed day 1:

I have now knit way past this and have completed the two side wings, the triangles that connect the wings to the center, and am now on the border that is knit around the length of the shawl before beginning the edging.  One thing I have noticed now is that the shawl looks like a giant blob and is not photogenic.  Probably will not post much the rest of the week given the crappy shots I will be getting, but I will post once I get some edging done and can take a better picture of the shawl as a whole.

Over all, it's an interesting knit and a very odd construction.  I am enjoying working on the shawl though and I find that I am not losing interest in it.  I say that now, but the edging is coming :oP

Knit on...

It Begins

I sat on Friday night with Renee, eating pizza and quite possibly the most awesome milkshake ever and watched the opening ceremonies of the 2012 London Olympics.

Why I chose Singapore to take a picture of, I'm not sure, other than I was getting tired and was starting to pack up my things to head home.

I have been knitting furiously all weekend and I made some good progress on the shawl.  More on that tomorrow.

Knit on...

The Olympics

I look forward to the Olympics more than I do any other sporting event.  I love the non-stop TV coverage and I look forward to the stories of the athletes who have trained their whole lives for these events.  I cry, I cheer, and I celebrate each victory whether it be a Team USA winner or any other country on the planet.  It brings us all together and I love that about the events.

Tonight, the opening ceremonies will be broadcast starting at 7:30 PM EST on NBC.  I am going to go over to Renee's, where we will have Olympic-themed food and yarn.  When the opening ceremonies begin, so does the Olympic knitting.  Turns out that we are both knitting the same pattern, so that will be fun to have someone to talk to about the same thing while we bawl our eyes out at the grand spectacle that is the opening ceremonies.

So, wherever you are, go cheer your country's athletes and give them love.  They have all overcome many obstacles to get where they are and they are in for the challenge of their lives.

Knit on...

Weight Loss Update

Since I didn't give an update last week, I thought I would give you one this week.  I'm now down 7 pounds from when I started 5 weeks ago, so I am thrilled about that.  Better yet, I was able to get into an older pair of jeans again, so now I have two pairs I can wear without being uncomfortable. 

I am on a tight budget, and this means I can't really go out and buy new clothes.  When I started gaining some weight, I was annoyed because I had all these nice work clothes that were getting too tight.  So, I got some new clothes for my birthday and Christmas. 

Now that I'm dropping inches, I'm glad to be able to get back into those clothes again.  I'm still a long way from getting into the ones from when I was at my lowest weight, and honestly, I may never get into some of those again because I am not running myself to death this time and don't intend to go into the 150s the way I did before, which everyone, including myself, agrees was verging on freakishly thing for a nearly 6 foot tall frame.

So, I'm just plugging along.  I feel good and my body appreciates getting much healthier fuels now.

Also, I am now done with Eat and Run.  The book was fantastic and I can't wait to make some of the recipes in it.  I think first up will be making my own rice milk since I have cut out milk from my diet (was starting to upset my stomach.  Can still do cheese though, so I am not a complete vegan as of yet).

Knit on...

One Down, One To Go

I finished one of the peach socks now and I'm already working on the second one.  Nice thing about using larger needles is that the socks are flying off them quicker than they normally would if I was using traditional sock weight yarn.  So, now that I have one of the socks done, I am contemplating putting some non-slip soles on them since they are slipper socks for my grandma.  Have any of you out there used those suede soles that they sell in craft stores before?  I never have, so if Grandma consents to having them on the socks, I will be trying them out for the first time.

Anyways, here's a finished sock shot for you all:

Knit on...

The Peach Begins

I started working on the peach socks this weekend for my grandmother.  I decided on a size 3 needle for these as the yarn is heavier than a fingering weight, but not quite sport weight.  It's not as bad to knit with as I thought it would be, and it is very soft, which was one of the requirements my grandma gave me for this pair:

I'm going to try to knock this pair of socks out quickly as I want to have them off the needles in time for the opening ceremonies of the Olympics.

Knit on...

Finished Socks

I finished the pair of Nutkins this weekend, so I am very happy about that.  I always enjoy having a new pair of socks to put on my feet and these turned out just lovely despite the crummy picture I took of them:

I loved knitting with this yarn and I really do like the colorway on it.  The yarn was Malabrigo Sock and I forget what the colorway is called.  It's blue and black, which is all I could tell you now that the ball band is long gone.

Now, on to the peach socks...

Knit on...

A Decision

I have finally made a decision on my olympic knitting project this year.  I knew I wanted to use the new Patons Lace yarn I picked up this weekend at Hobby Lobby, so I went in search on Ravelry and found the pattern called In the Pink.

After seeing how well some peoples' finished projects looked, I chose the pattern.  Here is what it looks like on the Ravelry pattern page (link above) (oh, and it's a free Ravelry download pattern, so check it out) :

I think this will be an epic knitting olympics project.  I honestly do not know if I will be able to finish it in time, but I am sure going to try.  I think it's going to be fun though and I'm looking forward to it.

Knit on...

Sock Progress

I am trying to finish up my paid of Nutkins this week so that I can work on the slippers for my grandmother before the knitting olympics start up and I'll be hunkered down with one project for a couple of weeks.

So, here's the progress on sock 2 of 2:

It's coming right along, and as you can see, I'm past the heel turn now and am in the home stretch.  I made a lot of progress on this while watching the IronMan Championships on TV on Sunday.  I enjoy watching the recap from this event almost as much as I enjoy watching the Olympics.  They profile several competitors and their stories are always very inspirational to watch.

Knit on...

A New Book

I have been waiting with anticipation for a book to be written by Scott Jurek.  For those of you who have no clue who he is, Scott Jurek is an amazing ultramarathoner who fuels his body on a completely vegan diet.  Since I live an almost vegan lifestyle, I was very interested in reading his new book Eat and Run to see how he does such incredible distances while not consuming any animal protein.

My copy arrived on Saturday and I am now reading a little bit each night before bed.  I'm enjoying the book so far and everything about what he has done is absolutely amazing and inspiring.

So, if you are a fan of the book Born to Run, go out and pick this one up.  If you've never read a book about running before, pick this up and read about one man's journey to ultramarathoning dominance.  You won't be sorry you did.

Knit on...

Yarn!

So this weekend I went out on an old lady date with Renee and we decided to go to Hobby Lobby as I was in need of a very specific yarn color.  My grandmother asked for a pair of soft slipper socks in peach yarn.  I don't have any peach yarn in my stash, and since these will need to be machine washable and smooshy, I decided to go look at baby yarns as they come in the color range and meet the requirements of care.  I found the yarn I needed and then we moved on.  While at Hobby Lobby and admiring all the whimsical crap that they carry, we came across several baskets full of yarn that were all on sale.  I was surprised to see Patons Lace on sale for $3.89 per ball.  So, I grabbed a couple of balls in a tan and peach colorway.  I honestly think this may have been a subconscious move on my stasher self to make sure I now have some kind of peach colored yarn in my stash.  So, anyways, here's the haul:

Peach worsted weight and two balls of Patons Lace.

Knit on...