For the Love of Fiber

The Week That Was

Just the usual goings-on this week. Taught two classes at Main Street Yarns - the Multidirectional Diagonal Scarf Pattern (my favorite) and a beginner knitting class. Dropped in at spinning Thursday night after my knitting class and we had a good group of people there. Switching locations to Barnes & Noble has really helped our group. Andy went back to Virginia on Wednesday. This time he was only home four days. Bummer. 

Our weather this week has been nuts! We've had 50 mph winds, sleet, rain, snow flurries, and bright sunshine. Temps have been just as crazy. Today is bright and shiny with blue skies. Earl Gray and I walked to the back of our property this afternoon and I took this picture. The white trunk and branches of this tree were a stark contrast against the blue sky. So pretty.

Yesterday was Knitting At Noon at Dorothy Lane Market. We had a great group and lots of finished projects. I bound off my Bermuda Scarf (shawl) and blocked it last night. LOVE IT! The colors are super and I know I will get a lot of wear out of it.

Elizabeth had completed her Arcadia Cowl that she started in a class with me several weeks ago. Love the rich red color she chose.

Karen wore her newly finished shawlette. It's black and very pretty.

Merry had her finished pair of socks which are so super soft. She's going on a craft cruise to Alaska in May and is busily making little things to take with her and wear. She was working on a pair of Fetching Mitts out of alpaca yesterday.

Theresa finished her beautiful white scarf. It's so delicate looking. Pam had her gray one like this with her and Elizabeth was working on one in a beautiful dusty lavender.

Merry has taught several of our gals how to knit a broomstick lace scarf (there are many examples on Ravelry). She decided to make the pattern into a bookmark but then thought - hey - what a cute bracelet this would be. She was right!

Joanne took the cake with this adorable chicken hat for her newly hatched grandson. The pattern is from Hats and Not Hats and you can find the web site here. Check out the pig hat, too. So cute!

We really have such a great group that meets on Saturdays. Some weeks, knowing there will be knitting on Saturday gets me through. Nice to have it to look forward to. 

Here's my Bermuda Scarf (shawl). Not sure why the name is "scarf". Mine is 82 inches across and it definitely looks like a shawl to me. I used Noro Silk Garden Sock Yarn on a size 7 needle. I absolutely love these colors. I found the pattern to be well written and didn't have any problem until I got almost to the end. One step was a bit confusing but I figured it out and all was well.

What's next?

Well, I cast on yesterday for a scarf from Louet knit with KidLin. I  did a provisional cast-on and will do a 3-needle bind-off at the end to join the scarf into a loop. 

And, there's a felted bag in the works. It's the Felted Bucket Bag fromTwo Old Bags. I'm using Cascade 220 worsted weight double-stranded. I'll use the olive green as my base color and stripe it with the other two colors. I'm thinking a custom-made polymer clay button at the end. I'll be teaching this bag at Main Street in March.

Something else coming up in March - Health Fair at Dorothy Lane Market on the 24th. I'll be there with my soaps. It will be a sudsy kind of day!

Have a great week, everyone!  

Knit ON!

A Noble Knit

Well, it's snowing like crazy ------ in Southside Virginia! Mom and Daddy called and everything is covered in white. I saw that they could get up to six inches.

Why can't we get a decent snow here in Southwest Ohio? What a strange winter. 

Knitting yesterday found one of us with a finished project.

Ande finished her Noble Cowl knit from scrumptious Malabrigo. This one is going on my to-do list for sure. LOVE it! Here, Ande is modeling it fresh off her needles. It's a free Ravelry download so go ahead and click!

Andy got back home Friday night and doesn't yet know when he'll have to go back to Virginia. He plans to be home at least this week. He worked on running wire in the basement this weekend and getting all the outlets in place. He just about finished. Hopefully, we'll be able to get the inspector here before he has to leave again for Virginia. 

Busy week ahead. Two classes this week at Main Street Yarns - Multidirectional Diagonal Scarf on Tuesday and Beginner Knitting Part 1 on Thursday evenings. Soon, the weekend will be here again!

Cowl, Scarf, Bowl, And Lashes

Well, we had a couple more poor excuses for winter this week. A few snow flurries, a few dustings. None that covered the grass solidly. Most melted by noon. This week's temperatures are supposed to be in the 40s and 50s. I'm about to throw in the snow shovel for this winter. Sigh.....

I taught the Arcadia Cowl this week at Main Street Yarns. A very pretty pattern. I used Cascade Yarns Baby Alpaca Chunky in Dark Plum on a size 9 needle. It took two skeins but I didn't go into the second skein until the bind-off row. 

Christmas arrived this week! I received my Christmas present from Brian and Eryn, Taylor and Rachael. It is a gorgeous yarn bowl made by Blue Room Pottery. I've seen her ad on Ravelry and admired her bowls. Now, I have one of my very own! Evidently, she had a very good holiday sales season because she was sold out of her yarn bowls. This one was worth waiting for! Thanks guys!

My Bermuda Scarf,that seems more like a shawl to me, is underway and growing. LOVE these colors!

I had another interesting road spotting this week - or rather a parking lot spotting. I stopped for lunch in Centerville at Chipotle and as I got back in my car to leave, this girly car was backing out. Wonder if the owner has to curl those lashes everyday?

Still loving this Tuscany Shawl!

The weekend is on its way! Yippee!

Happy Valentine's Day To All My Knitting Peeps!

Happy Valentine's Day to all my knitty friends!  

Hope the day finds you knitting to your heart's content!

(Card courtesy of Hallmark.)

A Bit Of This And A Bit Of That

As I ride the roads almost daily for work, I never know what I'll spot. This pick-up truck was heading north on I-71 from Cincinnati with a bed load of chainsaw art. And, for the record, the truck was really tilted at this precarious angle! 

We've had a couple more poor attempts at snowfall this week. Earlier in the week, we had a dusting. The snow was so wet, it didn't even stick. Some was visible in the grass, the rest was just slush. Friday afternoon and overnight, we had more snow and this time, it just barely coated the ground in
white. Today, it's melting fast due to the balmy 24 degree temperatures. This winter's weather is such a disappointment for this lover-of-winter-and-cold compared to last winter. I was in seventh heaven as the ground was white for weeks and weeks with a fresh coating every few days it seemed. There's always next year. Sigh......

We had two very pretty finished projects yesterday at Knitting At Noon.

Donna finished this beautiful cowl from the Malabrigo Book 3. She knit it out of Malabrigo Twist. It can be worn as a scarf or wrapped around the neck twice and buttoned as a cowl. What a rich gorgeous red!

Carol modeled her newly finished Prismatic Scarf. So pretty against her black sweater! Carol was working on another nice scarf - One Row Lace. This is a free Ravelry download if you're interested.

Even the slight bit of snow we've received has brought out tons of birds! I spotted two hawks in the trees along our property border. No doubt, they were scoping out my birdfeeders. The Red-Bellied Woodpecker is a regular.

Behind him, you can see the Mourning Doves all hunkered down on the garden fence trying to stay warm.

The Starlings have been terrible this week! They raid my feeders and eat anything I put out there. They're so agressive to the other birds and to each other. I'd just as soon they stay on the ground!

Hope you all have a great week! Until next post, KNIT ON!

Tuscany Shawl

Here's my Tuscany in all its glory.

I wish I could capture its true color for you. In this picture, it looks so much more orange that it is and also much lighter. 

The particulars:

Yarn: Nuna by Mirasol. This yarn is 40% merino wool, 40% silk, and 20% bamboo. The shawl is light as a feather and still nice and warm.

Needle Size: #6 circulars

Pattern: is from Amy Singer's book, No Sheep For You and can be found here.

Gotta run - Bermuda is waiting!

Huge Handspun Hank And Hank, The Shop

Remember my harrowing experience with the huge hank of handspun?? Well, here it is. All 1,123 yards of it. I have a much smaller bit on the niddy-noddy ready to wash. Question is - how in the world am I going to get this large hank into a ball? Martha had a grand idea (if it works) to set up several swifts in a row and put the loop around all of them. The idea is that all of them will turn together and we'll be able to wind the yarn onto a ball winder. I might take my swift over to her house and try this idea out. I won't be untying any of the strings I have threaded through and around the yarn until we're certain it will work. Sounds like something that we should sell tickets to. A hold-your-breath kind of event. So, stay tuned!

Today while out and about on work appointments, I found myself in the vicinity of Hank, a yarn boutique, a relatively new knitting shop. Vicinity is putting it mildly - the store was right in front of me. 

Hank is located in the Hyde Park area of Cincinnati. Hyde Park is a wonderful area full of places to see, shop, eat, etc. The area reminds me a bit of Cary Street in Richmond, VA though not as congested. So much to see you can hardly drive down the street because you're too busy turning your head from side to side.

I've been wanting to visit Hank for awhile now but just haven't had the chance. So, today was meant to be. First off, I loved their sign! The building was attractive - on a corner with three sides of windows.

The inside of the store - so spacious with tables and chairs where knitters can gather and visit and work on projects. There was a blocking table, walls of needles and accessories, shelves of books and patterns, and lots of samples knitted up. Kathy and Robin, in their beautiful handknits, were working today and were very welcoming. They introduced me to the store by telling me that everything was arranged by yarn weight and pointed out where I would find the lightest to heaviest yarns. 

I enjoyed talking with both of them and definitely helped pay their rent this month! I encourage all of you to visit their web site. This would be a great road trip for a knitting group or just a few friends. Visit Hank and all the shops in Hyde Park.  Call me - I'll meet you there!!! I've got to remember to discuss this on
Saturday with my Knitting At Noon group!!!

My newest cast-on --- Bermuda Scarf (Ravelry link here). This looks more like a shawl to me and, therefore, it's fair game! How I love to knit shawls!!! I cast my stitches on the needles on Saturday and here it is so far. I'm using Noro Silk Garden Sock Yarn. This is super FUN to knit but you can't doze or drink while knitting this one!

Andy hits the road for Virginia again tomorrow. I had him snap a picture of me in my Tuscany Shawl before he went to bed tonight. I'll post it tomorrow with the yarn info. 

Until then......KNIT ON!

Lot Of Fiber Stuff Going On

Another week zipped by. Andy returned home from Virginia Wednesday night and will go again this coming Wednesday. So far no snow here - only lots and lots of rain. Wonder if this is all the winter we're going to get?

We had a great group at spinning Thursday night. We started meeting at a Barnes & Noble a few weeks ago. The first night, the manager was thrilled to have us. The second night there were a few more of us. He was still OK. Then, Thursday night, there were eleven of us - a few knitting, six of us spinning on wheels, and one spinning on a drop spindle. The manager came over and said "Oh, you're getting bigger. You don't want to get too much bigger or you'll have to find another location - we can only have groups of 10-12."  There were only a few other people scattered throughout the cafe area so there was plenty of room. Most of us bought drinks and some bought supper or snacks. A few of us shopped for books and /or magazines, too. I think we're pretty good for his Thursday night business. I so hope we don't have to relocate - I like it there and it's quite a bit closer to several of the spinners. Plus, we've thought this over and over and can't come up with another location. Guess we'll just have to wait and see. 

I finished plying the Coopworth and Silk roving. It was 8 ounces and I thought I'd NEVER finish it! I couldn't figure out how to get that large amount off my bobbin. It was way too much for my normal niddy-noddy. So, I figured I'd wind it off onto my swift. Bad idea! The tension from the yarn made the swift collapse inward tight as a tick. You should have seen it. It was UGLY! The yarn was super tight in places and hanging and twisted in others. Andy suggested I wind it all back onto the bobbin. I told him NO - that would just put me right back where I started. I finally remembered a very large niddy-noddy made by Nancy's Knit Knacks I bought years ago. I went down in the basement and found it. It winds a hank of yarn that measures four feet around. Between the two of us - Andy slowly turning the swift in reverse and me winding the yarn onto the ginormous niddy-noddy - we got it done. I washed it and now it's hanging to dry. 

Now, I have another problem. The four foot hank is much too large to fit on any swift I know of to wind the yarn into a ball on the ball winder. So, I guess I'll be winding by hand unless someone comes up with another idea.

I ended up with approximately 1,123 yards of laceweight yarn. It's gorgeous! Actually, it will more
because I still have some on one of the bobbins that I need to ply. 

After the Coopworth & Silk fiasco, I headed to Dorothy Lane Market for Knitting At Noon. While there, I
finished the Arcadia Cowl for a class I'm scheduled to teach at Main Street Yarns in Mason. I've washed it and it's drying. I'll post a picture with the particulars soon.

Marsha and I both sported finished Tuscany Shawls. Here's Marsha modeling hers. This was her first real lace project and she did a fabulous job! As you can see, she's tickled pink with the finished product.

I've decided that red is one of the hardest colors to photograph. Marsha's shawl in on the left in the picture and mine is on the right. Mine looks pink but it's really a rusty red.  Marsha's is a deep red. 

Merry also showed off a finished shawl with the most interesting shape and such a pretty color.

Marsha completed her colorful Drop Stitch Scarf. 

We had lots of projects on the needles today. There were socks and scarves, a sweater, boot toppers, hats, etc. When I finished my cowl, I immediately cast of for the Bermuda Scarf with Noro Silk Garden Sock Yarn. This scarf looks more like a shawl to me. Several of the knitters at Knittin' at the Lake had knit this and theirs were absolutely beautiful!

Marian is not only a knitter but she's quite an accomplished quilter, too. Here is a Santa wall-hanging piece that she brought to show us.

Andy worked today hanging the lights in the basement. They look nice - so much brighter. He's had a time finding a Lowe's that has enough in stock - he had to try three stores. Then, when he gets them home and unpacks them, some of them are broken and he has to make another trip to the store. What a hassle.

Our oldest, Brian, was in Denver, Colorado last week for a class for work. The class finished on Friday and he was going to stay over and go skiing but changed his flight and made it back to Virginia Friday. WOW, did they ever get the snow! Looks like they could share!

Gotta run! Want to ply the rest of that yarn and also maybe start something new. I also want to work a bit on Bermuda. 

So much to spin and knit and so little time......  Sigh......