Wrapping up projects

The summer has been very good to me, even if I have not told you about everything. I have finally moved into my own place which I am loving to no end. I have no extra spending money, but I have a roof over my head, food on my plate, electricity, and stash to fill my needles. I am so thankful I had built up my stash over the years. I now have stuff to keep me busy until I have money to refill the stash.

With that, comes the finishing up of projects that have been sitting around.

1) The Pi Shawl from Elizabeth Zimmerman's Almanac that I changed up just a bit.

And the obligator close up of the detail:

I am also knitting up a storm on that fabulous fair isle yoke sweater Elizabeth created so many years ago that launched her Opinionate Knitter magazine! While I don't have any pictures right now, I hope to once I get the body attached to both sleeves which are already done and ready to go as soon as I have enough on the trunk.. I am sooo excited about having it done and ready to wear this winter.

My fair isle sweater is being much more of a pain. The sleeves are being very difficult. I have now had to switch to the double pointed needles, and anyone who has done fair isle stranding on double pointed needles knows how easy it is to make the stranding on the back of the material too tight. So it is coming along, but it is not something I am relishing picking up at the moment. I am even contemplating undoing the sleeves and reknitting them from the cuffs up. Am I willing to put up with the facing around my arms and get the sweater done faster or shall I continue with the sweater as is and risk NOT winning Best in Show at the fair next year? Choices, choices! I am beginning to see what I must do to get it done to my liking, but it is a very hard decision to make. My last experience with sleeves and facings was NOT good (Baby Norgi) but for reasons that were beyond the pattern itself.

I guess I will decide when I finish my fair isle yoke sweater and have a chance to model it for you!

A hard lesson learned

In my overwhelming desire to keep things on the cheap side while I save for the first month's rent, I decided to take the cheap route in touching up my hair ( yes, I dye it regularly) rather than going to the salon. I picked up Loreal's Natural Match in Deep Auburn ( there is a reason for this information) and promptly applied it yesterday afternoon. BIG MISTAKE. My hair turned PURPLE. Not a pretty dark auburn, but PURPLE... my younger sister started calling me Barney and it was totally stripped of all its moisture. Today, with a baseball cap firmly planted over all my nasty purple frizzy straw, I made my way to the salon to see what they could do about rescuing my hair. Over $100 later, I walked out with very dark, but manageable dark auburn hair that i can live with... perhaps it is not as gorgeous as the color I was shooting for, but stripping the deposited color was not an option, nor was buzzing the entire thing. I might be my own girl but I'm not as brave ( or crazy) as Britney Spears. My comfort in this is that the color will fade gradually with time and I can go back to my old lovely shade already picked out at the salon. I have to congratulate Loreal for choosing to pick up the tab on what has turned into my most expensive day at the salon, but the emotional damage has already been done.. Never again will i trust my locks to their coloring stuff.

Lesson: If you are coloring your hair, just go to the salon. It's worth the extra money in the end.. oh, and pics to come soon!

Et Voici!

My Own Place..

After entirely too many years at home because I couldn't afford to move out of my parents house, I am five weeks away from moving into my own apartment! I am so giddy with the excitement that my head is spinning, and I have not gotten much sleep as a result.. oh well, I can always catch up on that later!

I have been very lucky in having access to so many yard sales and thrift shops. They have allowed me to put together a fantastic apartment with just about everything I will need except a TV. I'm sure you will all agree that they are entirely too expensive these days and if you don't get a flat screen TV ( who has the money for them?), you end up with a massively heavy CRT with a 2' bootay on it. I am NOT carrying one of those up 3 flights of stairs! What to do?? still not sure, but I'll think of something.... in the meantime, I'm telling everyone what to get me for housewarming presents! LOL

In the realm of knitting, I have been busy on just two projects lately: a pair of Trekking socks for me, and a handspun baby sweater a la EZ. It IS the patter from her almanac, and the yarn was just screaming for it. I'm sure you'll agree.

Sock and gratuitous close-up:

The colors just SCREAM summer, don't they??? I love the punches of magenta and lime, and as conservative as I usually dress, I can definitely see myself wearing these.. go figure! Here is the baby sweater yoke, it is top down and it's the second one I've made with this pattern. The first is for my little nephew due in October. No lace... but this color was screaming for it. Such a pretty color for a little girl.

Successfully Enabled!!

Isn't it amazing how someone could enable you without even trying?? I went to my guild meeting on Sunday, taking along a baby sweater I am knitting out of handspun.. Nothing else.. I definitely traveled light that day. Well, all around me are all of these beautiful single drive Ashford Traddy's... it was too much for me to take, so I went up to my LYFS today and ordered the blasted thing. Nancy ( I love her to death) looked at me like I was an alien from another world when I told her I wanted to order it. She couldn't understand why the DD wasn't working... well, the damn bobbins are too hard to take off, I HATE having to constantly readjust the drive band when I change bobbins, and I'm afraid my sister might break something because she has an even harder time taking the bobbins off than I do.

So now, I'm cleaning up my items (including all 12 bobbins for the DD and hi speed whorl), and trying to figure out how to advertise it best. Perhaps I'll sweeten the deal with a whole huge fleece I will never get around to spinning, as I'm trying desperately to downsize my whole stash of stuff before I move this summer... Finally, a place of my own!

To save.... or to indulge...

I am stuck with an awful quandry. I have been lusting after a standard flyer assembly for my Ashford Traddy double drive for over a year now. The bobbins change faster, the other kits are less expensive to buy, and the standard bobbins are cheaper (should I decide to buy more of them rather than keep the DD bobbins I already have. The other side is that this is money I would otherwise be putting toward my down payment for a condo around here. I need $15K give or take. Do I use some of that extra paycheck coming up next month or stash all of it in savings? Please, help me make up my mind!!!!

MD Sheep and Wool Candy

I told you all I would have pictures of my finds when I got my camera. Well, the camera came home today, and it's fabulous.. love it already... Some of my spoils I have already spun up, of course and it's fabulous stuff! Enjoy!

This merino has been screaming Pi R Squared shawl to me since I saw it at Misty Mountain's stall. And it's such a nice neutral, I could wear it with anything!

Gratuitous close-up for drooling purposes.. I also found my hand cards.. a fabulous pair of Howard hand cards at 120 psi.. they are pretty much flat faces, but work beautifully.. none of the others really called to me... go figure, they were also the cheapest!

I also found some beauiful red heathered top at Misty Mountain and some yummy green, yellow, and blue merino at Ohio Valley Natural Fibers where I also found the hand cards.

I really don't know what the red wants to be, but it was screaming at me. This has to be the best quality merino I have worked with to date.. it's spinning like butter, but be warned you can't handle the top too much without it felting slightly on you.. definitely worth it though...

Maryland Sheep and Wool goodies

I had a BLAST yesterday at the sheep and wool festival. I didn't actually get much for myself, but I did a great job of enabling a friend into a new Sonata and two pounds of yummy wool. Made me feel like I bought a lot more. I wanted to say thank you again to Misty Mountain Fibers in Gettysburg for helping me to successfully avert a huge catastrophe and making me a very happy girl. Your thoughtfulness will never be forgotten! I will definitely be back for more merino! I was also able to find the most amazing set of Howard hand cards (120 psi) and some very yummy painted merino roving and just had a ball.

I promise from now on, I will have many more pix up... I have finally broken down and bought a digital camera, camera dock, and memory card! I hope this will last me a good 5 or 6 years... with that in mind, does anyone want a cheap, barely used Canon Sure Shot 105 zoom S 35mm camera ? make an offer!!! I think I might have put two rolls of film through it and just realized I couldn't afford the film habit anymore. It has pretty much been sitting since then, waiting for a loving home. E-mail me if interested!

Also, I have news on the naming of the wheel. Thank you to all who submitted ideas! After much thought and trying out of names, I have decided on Caroline, after my best friend! I couldn't think of a better way to honor her!