Of Bloggity Note, the Fiber Arts Blogger Button on my site is now hooked up and functional. I have been having a great time surfing through all the inspiring fiber sites. Interestingly, about 1 in 3 mentions a Booga Bag. I suppose they are the #1 rage among knitters at this time, and no wonder - they are soooo beautfiul. I have been checking the progress of Catherine's. She is already working on bag #2! Love the colors - well, I just plain love Kuryeon yarn, too! Must learn to spin an acceptable substitute. I watched a lady at the Montpelier Fall Fiber Festival do that very thing, so I don't really have an excuse, now do I?

Well, back to work tomorrow. I won't bore you with the specifics, except to mention that my particular job can be very tedious and detail oriented. And tomorrow and the next day, promise to be filled with lots of challenges. However, I'm wishing everyone an easy week back to work from the holiday weekend and hoping for the same, even though I am not expecting such for myself.

I found 2 rather amusing quizzes on Quizilla, but did not want to post them, since both had a number of atrocious spelling errors in them. I can understand a typo or two, but spelling boo boos really get under my skin. (My detail oriented personality, again, I presume)

Yuppers, this is what happens when you put off doing a second shoe and don't write down how you interpreted some less than clear instructions. Notice that the soles look different. However, they are finished, for better or for worse, and after all...... when they are felted, who will know?

Goody, goody, goody Can you hear me rubbing my hands together? I am going to my NSLYS (Not so local yarn shop) tomorrow!! It has been awhile since I have made the trip to this particular shop, as it is about an hour and a half away. I know I am going to buy some Noro Kureyon, and possibly some other things. For one thing, I have about worn out my #2 size Pony Pearls - they take such a beating from me what with all the socks I have knit. I generally always have a pair on the needles. The pair I am working on now are of Opal Sock yarn - faux fairisle in oranges, greens, blues and purples. I am doing a 2x2 rib for the cuff. Simple, yes, but I find that my favorite socks have the 2x2 cuff.

I spent a portion of Wednesday evening picking the excessive amounts of VM from some dyed mohair locks I bought back in the summer. My plan is to card it with some plain white merino, possibly with a shawl project in mind. The mohair is dyed in shades of mostly blues and greens, with a few accent colors thrown in for good measure. I have not tried spinning the fiber I have carded so far, so my plans for this fiber may change after I see how this works.

A Different Thanksgiving

Here's wishing that all my friends had a nice, thankful day. We spent most of the day with some gracious friends who invited us to their house for Thanksgiving Dinner. Being the shy person that I am and having never spent Thanksgiving with anyone other than just family, I was not sure how the day would go. But, we had a marvelous time, our host and hostess did all they could to put us at ease, and even send us home with loads of leftover turkey! Some people make you glad to be alive, just because you know them. These are definitely that sort of dear people. It was a very interesting day. They had also invited a couple from Turkey and the man's mother and father, who live in Holland. I always enjoy meeting people from other countries, love hearing about their heritage, culture, etc. We had a royal spread set before us - the traditional turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, salad, mixed vegetables, cranberry sauce , rice pilaf, pumpkin and apple pies, cinnamon bread, fudge and Turkish delight. I may not get hungry again for a week!

All in all a wonderful day.

I may even get to like working with silk after seeing how this turned out!





Not much other news in the fiber category, since the cotton dishcloths are not challenging or inspiring work. The only thing notable about this project is the discovery that cotton yarn sheds all over dark jeans!

Not much fiber news of note tonight. I have been working on my second 2 oz. of silk, now that I have seen how nice it plied and how pretty the swatch I knit from it turned out. I will take a picture to post. I think the silk will turn out to be a scarf one of these days. I am also working on some knitted cotton dishcloths, since some friends have invited us to spend Thanksgiving day with them. I thought several dishcloths might make a good hostess gift (along with a pecan pie and a bottle of wine we were already planning to bring.)

I am thinking of trying some of the modular socks in the Twists and Turns issue of Knitter's Magazine. Anything to do with socks usually intrigues me.

I am back from a perfectly wonderful meeting and chatty lunch at O'Charley's. At the meeting, we saw a portion of the Philosopher's Wool Fairisle Video, which was totally amazing. And I was pleased to note that the lady in the video had Sam the Ram sitting on her table.

A lady in our guild had brought a lace weight shawl she had knitted from black alpaca. It was stunning! She told us she only paid 2 dollars for the whole cone of alpaca. The shawl is probably worth 500, as beautiful and time intensive as it was. She told us it took her 9 months to make it.

And another lady brought some books to sell she no longer wanted. I got a Handspun Treasures from Rare Wools from Spin Off only gently used for 5 dollars! Also, she said Lucy Neatby has a new book. Yes, I want it!!

Tomorrow is my monthly "girl's day out", so to speak. I get up early and drive down to Jacksonville for a lively knitter's guild meeting. We are a boisterous group, a little resistant to organization, much to the chagrin of our president, who tries, tries and tries to bring a little order to the meetings. We are just too lively, too talkative and too excited to sit still for long. It is a great group of ladies, ranging in ages from the teens on up into the 70's, with most of us being somewhere in between. We were meeting at a Barnes and Nobles, until recently, when we felt we had outgrown that location, and now have a nice meeting room at one of the libraries. This affords us much more freedom to roam around and admire each other's projects. I believe that tomorrow we are supposed to have a mini lesson on Fairisle. After the meeting adjourns, the majority of us extend our fun by going out to eat lunch. Oooh, I can't wait!

And, today is wash day. I washed about 7 skeins of wool and the skein of silk, and they are now out on the porch drying. Funny how I put off this task - but it is very satisfying once it is done.

Silk, newly plied, cooling its heels on the niddy noddy, along with a sample skein.

Errrr... so we will try this again, but only one picture at a time. This is the sock picture again. I finished its mate on Monday and am wearing the pair today. I am a little bit disappointed in the way they feel. Usually, my feet do not feel the purl bumps of the socks, but with this yarn, it is happening.



Well, one more day of work tomorrow, then I will be on vacation for the next several days (running through my birthday, son's homecoming, Thanksgiving and the following weekend. ) Hurray!

I have been having some major computer problems over the weekend and was forced to remove the picture of my sock and my skein. Finally, this morning I have figured out what the problem was, but unfortunately, since I have a couple of hectic works days ahead it will be awhile before I will be able to get everything sorted out.

Today I have been thinking about favorites, so here's a list of some of my favorite knitting things:

Favorite Knitting Stitch Pattern Book: Reader's Digest Encylopedia of Knitting and Crocheting Stitches - Don't laugh! I love the slick pages, the various patterns knitted in different types and colors of yarns, the comments about skill level and drape. I also love that it has all different types of stitches, such as cables, lace, fairisle - almost any type you can think of

Favorite Sock Book: Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook. Ah, the visual delight, the dyeing and spinning discussions, the mouthwatering socks.

Favorite All Around Knitting Book(s) for Basic Techniques: The Knit Stitch and The Purl Stitch by Sally Melville. It's not the patterns so much as all of the helpful information and pictures that impress me.

Favorite Finishing Technique Book: Simply Perfect by my close friend and "knitting sis" Elayne. In my book, she's the Knitting Guru!

Favorite Book of Patterns: Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns. I have about worn that one out!

And yes, I have many other wonderful books, but these are the ones I most often reach for.

Favorite Straight Knitting Needles: Swallow Casein Needles

Favorite Circular and Interchangeable Needles: Denise Interchangeable Needles

Favorite DPNs: Pony Pearls

I find I like the plastic or casein type needles much better than metal ones. They are easier on the hands and I have much better control with these. I am too hard on needles to even think about using bamboo ones.

Favorite Yarns: Almost any and all!!

There is a little nip in the air tonight. How comforting to come into a cozy warm house after a long week of work, including about 755 miles of driving. I am ready to tuck into some serious spinning and knitting!

I finished a skein of the turquoise, burgundy, red orange, mauve yarn. Very reminiscent of a brilliant autumn. I promise to get a picture up sometime this weekend along with my current sock project (also autumn colors in Cherry Tree Hill superwash merino). The sock looks a little strange, as I am playing with making a narrower heel. Socks always seem to sag and bunch (not sure how they can do both things at once, but they do) around my ankle area. I think this is going to be the solution, as sock number one seems to fit really well - but it does make a sort of odd looking creature.

I am looking forward to the holidays, as my sweet son will be coming home for a longish bit. His Thanksgiving/Christmas break lasts 6 weeks. His school has a lot of international students, thus the college arranges a long break to enable said students to go home. He is always ready for this break (and of course, so are we!)

Yipee!! My spinning videos were waiting for me when I came in this afternoon. I have watched the Patsy Z. one and the Deb Menz Immersion Dyeing and Handpainting Fiber. I will wait and watch the color blending one over the weekend. Both of these ladies make everything look so easy. It really makes me want to create and create and create..... Well, you get the idea.

I have enjoyed so much reading everyone's reports on the KR Retreat. I am so glad it went so well and even surpassed the last one. What a wonderful experience it must have been! I hope everyone came back relaxed and refreshed.

So why does this always seem to happen? Last night I was spinning some handpainted (space dyed) roving. It is mainly turquoise, orange red and deep burgundy, but has some delightful patches of a light mauve which really set off the yarn that is spun. (I know, the color combination sounds hideous, but actually spun up it is very nice) Anyhow, when I got to the light mauve stuff, my yarn broke and the end got buried. Very rarely do I have to cut anything off a bobbin, but I did in this case, thus messing up the very nice mauve accent - I am trying to salvage/recycle that part, because it is essential to jazz up the yarn, in my opinion. But why couldn't this occur with the blues/turquoise/burgundy, of which there is ample supply? Do Murphy's Laws apply to spinning too?

STUFFING: You have grabbed the stuffing. Good work!
Arguably the most flavorful dish on the table,
the stuffing is always the first to run out.
The delicious recipe of bread and spices baked
in with the turkey juices are enough to drive a
person mad. It makes you wonder why anyone even
messes with the potatoes. Now if you can just
get to the gravy!

This heartwarming
ThanksGiving Day quiz has been brought to you
by the players of Ravenblack.


The ThanksGiving Day Feast !!
brought to you by Quizilla

Well, doesn't it look like it is time for me to start knitting again?




The old spinning basket is getting full, plus there is plenty more yarn upstairs. Is it possible that rovings can send out a siren song?

Today went a little better than expected, considering the start I got. First thing, I had a message on my voice mail to call one of my clients. I was expecting a messy problem, but it just ended up being a medium sized one. However, it delayed my departure for work, since it involved receiving and returning a fax. Well, I got that little duty all nicely tied up and got ready to leave when I noticed there was a small lizard on the floor of my kitchen. Not wanting to particularly touch the thing, I tried to coax it onto a piece of paper. It ended up scooting into the living room, where the paper manuever was tried again, this time forcing the critter under the couch. When he got to the back, where I was able to shoo him again, he finally bounded into the bathroom, then the bathroom closet, where he was finally corned and jumped onto my pants leg. I heaved myself up and took both of us outside where he got shaken off. We both sighed in relief. By this time, I had wasted 30 minutes. But, like I said, the rest of the day went okay.

Not Fiber related, but worth mentioning. I tried my first Pork Chop Sandwich (yes, you read right - only in the South) yesterday, and it was delicious! Thin grilled slices of well seasoned pork chop along with grilled onions and mustard on a warm toasted hoagie roll. Yum! Delicious. I even woke up this morning wanting another one.

I spent the morning dyeing some more fiber for the G.C.E. (Great Carding Experiment). This time, I dyed some green and blue to mix with the gray. I didn't dye a great amount, as it is very humid here (raindrops just in suspended animation, waiting for the command to go ahead and fall!), so I figured drying time would be a problem.

It is getting so dark here, it would be nice to take a nap. Hmmm..... have to think about that.

Oh Goody ! For my birthday, I am getting to order some tapes by Victorian Video. I have picked Spinning Wool - Basics and Beyond by Patsy Zawistoski and the color tapes by Deb Menz ("Fiber Dyeing - Immersion and Painting of Protein Fibers" and "Fiber Preparation and Multicolor Blending Techniques"). I can't wait until they get here.


And I am learning to play with pictures!




And just to prove I can do it again, this is the silk I am spinning.

Wishing all my KR buddies a great and relaxing time this weekend at the retreat! I will be staying in this weekend and trying to summon the energy for another full week of work. Holiday months are always the hardest, as even if I take vacation time (which I plan to do), I still have the same amount of work to do regardless. So I have to squeeze 4 weeks work into 3.

I promise my posts will be more fiber oriented and therefore, more interesting this weekend.

No fiber news today. (Unless you count last night's dream in which I carded wool all night long - and I actually was tired when I woke up! Now that simply had to be a dream. Whoever has enough time to work on fiber stuff until they are tired??)

Peculiar, but I am not sure how much I enjoy spinning silk. Yes, the colors are absolutely fabulous (hand dyed roving ranging from magenta, turquoise, lavender, copper, red, bright blue, olives, golds) and the heavenly soft stuff just seems to flow through my hands, but it seems that I get tired of spinning it very quickly. I wonder what undercurrents are at work to cause me to feel this way? Am I just so accustomed to working with wool that I have already become set in my spinnerly ways?
Or is it frustration that I am seemingly unable to maintain that uniform quality in the single that I so desire? Or am I spinning to an entirely different cadence? Somehow, it is just not as comfortable or relaxing. Maybe it is time to make a new friend, though. I know it will knit up as a wonderful scarf.

Much thanks to Catherine for prodding me on my clog journey. I have started the second one. And I love the picture of hers she has posted on her blog, Bossy Little Dog (see link at right).

Fibertherapy. What I love about knitting and spinning, aside from the obvious of handling luscious, fibers,yarns and seeing a project through to completion, is the journey itself. A chance to meet talented fiber enthusiasts - both in person and through fourms and blogs. Everyone is so willing to share their ideas and enthusiasm! It is so much fun to chat and to browse through pictures and take virtual journeys into all kinds of projects. And speaking of virtual journeys, my knitting always takes me to unexpected places. While I never expect to make a trip to Europe (unless I obtain a huge surprise windfall), I can easily transport myself to Italy, Germany, etc. by using some yarn that was made there. And pair that with needles from Australia, New Zealand or India, and I am a veritable world traveler. And my journey today is taking me to the Orient, as spinning silk evokes those particular senses, even though the Interlacements roving was obtained from Barbara at Stony Mountain Fibers

Second Shoe Syndrome. I guess there will not be clogs in Christmas stockings this year. I have completed clog #1 and am already dreading doing clog #2. Which is kind of odd, since I have knitted dozens of pairs of socks without ever getting second sock syndrome. I think attaching the extra sole to the clogs about did me in. First, I did it wrong and attached it to the opening your foot is supposed to slide through. Then I had to frog, and ended up with a whole needle full of stitches that were on the needle backwards. And to top it off, the needles I were using had too short of a cable, and I had to scrunch all that bulk up into a small space.
But, I do want a pair a clogs very badly, so will suffer through the process at least once more with a little more wisdom.

Pictures of the Great Carding Experiment follow.

Here are what the skeins look like and here is a photo of a knitted swatch.