Hump Day fiber pron

It's Wednesday and if I'm dragging ass already, I'm sure some of you are too. So here's a little fibery goodness to help get you through your day!

Oh yes, I've been doing some serious fiber stash enhancement. So much so that I'm putting myself on a restricted fiber diet for the next couple of months! I've hit my own personal critical mass when it comes to stash. But just look at all the goodies waiting for me to spin up!



That's some merino-tencel from Fun With Yarn, the color is called Starlite. I loooove her fiber! I also ordered some Wensleydale, in color Baked Spice. (I love that name!)



Some lovely corriedale from an Etsy seller, called "Faded Tapestry"...



Here's some merino from Spunky Eclectic, 8 oz in "Toronto", and the shiny stuff is genuine BMFA merino-tencel in "Bleeding Hearts". 9 oz! The thing is huge.



A sexy closeup of the BMFA merino-tencel...I love the gray and fuschia and purple all twined together.



Yeah, I really don't need to buy any more roving for quite some time. At least until I finish spinning all of this up! (Let's see how long that resolution lasts, shall we?) Oh, and here's my favorite new gadget...I should have gotten one of these ages ago.



That's all for now! Hope that little bit of fiber pron gets you through your day. :)

It's Fiber Friday! And I'm invited.

Here it is...my first Fiber Friday! Complete with photos of my first completed yarn on the Fricke.



That's the corriedale pencil roving I posted earlier, in its completed state. I ended up with two skeins--no idea on the yardage, guessing it's bulky weight. Yeah, I'm real scientific with my spinning so far!





It's not perfect, but it's exactly what I wanted. The pencil roving was a great choice for a wheel noob like me--minimal drafting meant I could pay more attention to what the wheel was doing, how adjustments affected the results, etc. So what's on the bobbin now?



BFL from Sweet Georgia, in Afterglow. Here is what it looks like spun and plied on my spindle, but I think I will keep the wheelspun in singles form, to maximize the yardage.



And I can't neglect to show a couple of pictures of my spindle-spun merino tussah--I just completed a shawlette with this, and will post some photos when I get a chance. This is an extra skein that I'm keeping for sentimental reasons. :)



It's Ashland Bay MT 50/50, in Sea Mist. The stuff was heaven to spin.



That's all from me, folks! Can't wait to see everyone else's Fiber Friday posts. :)

Yarn pron, kitty pron...the best things in life

I'm in a picture-postin' mood today.

I've been remiss in photographing my FOs lately, but here's a pair of socks I completed a month or so ago and actually photographed, though crappily. They're my favorite pair so far, they fit P-E-R-F-E-C-T-L-Y. And they are my first truly successful toe-up socks with short row heels and toes, using misocrafty's technique.



The pattern is Badcaul by Anna Bell. And the yarn is STR in Watermelon Tourmaline. What's that? You like the STR?



My small stash, soon to be greatly enhanced by the Rockin' Socks club. (Front to back is Sandstone, Rocktober and Fairgrounds.)

Kitty pictures!



Look how big Jonesy got...what a big freakin' chooch! Here's a funny picture of him a few months ago, checking out some artwork.



And this one's blurry as hell but it's still really cute.

The Cotton Gin

Not a lot of time to blog this morning, but I did want to show you my new toy.



There it is in all it's glory, my Fricke wheel! Put together by me in about an hour, plus the time it took to run across the street to the hardware store for a wrench. This wheel has been dubbed the Cotton Gin by my boyfriend.

And this is what I spun up on it! Corriedale pencil roving from Crown Mountain Farms in colorway Pueblo--I got about two bobbins' worth.



Before setting the twist...yow!!



I've got a lot to learn, but I think the Cotton Gin is going to be the perfect companion to learn with. Now if only I could create more hours in the day to sit on my ass and spin!!!

Gimme gimme!

What a week it's been. After the MLK holiday, coming back to work was really rough--a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it. I think things have settled down today, and I'm feeling better (sleeping for nearly 12 consecutive hours last night helped significantly. I'm a girl who needs her sleep!)

Exciting things are happening! If all goes well and UPS does not pull a fast one on me, my spinning wheel should arrive tomorrow. It's a Fricke S-160 double treadle, and I absolutely cannot wait to get it home Friday afternoon, put it together and start spinning!! I even joined the local spinning guild, after attending their Distaff Day celebration (my friend Claudia from the Intown Knitters Meetup took some great pictures, I'm in there spinning on my spindle.) I can't believe that I've gone from being someone who said she'd never, EVER take up spinning because it would just turn into another addiction, into a person who will in 24 hours have her very own wheel! Actually, yes, I can believe that. Because I have no willpower, really. I'm all id. Me want, me get.

Speaking of no willpower, I also joined the Blue Moon Fiber Arts Rockin' Sock Club. I pre-registered months ago, and went back and forth about whether or not to actually pony up when the time came. I did, but then after the whole bank fiasco they had where everyone's payments were refunded, I took it as a sign that I should save the money. But dammit, I couldn't help myself, so I went back and paid. I'm trying not to beat myself up over it and ruin the enjoyment of it! I want the anticipation of a surprise package in the mail every couple of months, the excitement of getting a pattern and color that's completely new to me, and to be a part of the community of other knitters in the club. And despite the part of me that wants to buck trends and do something different from everyone else, I've loved the patterns and colors from last year's club and don't really care that I'd be knitting the exact same socks as hundreds of other people!

So that's what's going on, and a cookie to you for reading it! Pictures of my new baby will, of course, be posted soon. And I might even have an FO to show off as well, out of my own handspun no less!

(And I almost forgot--I have to mention that I finished watching Six Feet Under this week. Ooooh, that show. I cried like a baby during the last episode of the series, it was just that moving and powerful. There are so many inspiring and important messages that I've taken away from watching it, lessons I've learned about life and death and what it means to be human. "You can't take a picture of this, it's already gone." I can't recommend it highly enough.)

A long overdue update

I am a crap blogger. I know it, you know it. For someone who spends as much time reading other people's blogs as I do, you'd think I'd be more enthusiastic about keeping my own updated. My excuses are threefold:

a.) I have no computer at home. Any blogging is done undercover at work.

b.) I am lazy. When I have free time, I'd rather spend it knitting or spinning than taking pictures of what I create...but I'm trying to change that.

c.) There are a billion blogs out there already. Who wants to read my crap? My pictures aren't even that good! But then again, I created this one, so I suppose I might as well update it right? I'm going to go with that.

Anyhow, just because I haven't been blogging doesn't mean my life hasn't been full of things that people might--just might!--want to read about. Sadly this post will have little to no knitting content, but I promise in the near future to post about my knitting and recent plunge into the world of spinning. Promise!

But for now, a little photo travelogue of my trip to the United Kingdom in November! I went to visit a good friend of mine who I met back when I was an exchange student in Tokyo back in college. While she was at work I spent some time exploring London on my own, seeing the usual sights.



Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey...all that good stuff.



Trafalger Square...



Finding this place pretty much fulfilled a lifelong dream of mine. I've had a crush on Jeremy Brett since I was ten.

My friend and I visited Highgate, which was one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. We spent hours in both sides of the cemetary, looking at all the graves and meandering pathways.







A park in Highgate, we ate lunch on a bench by a lake and a rat named Lemmiwinks kept sneaking out to see if we would drop our food for him to steal.

We took a day trip to Bath to see the (what else) Roman baths, these are my favorite photos from that city.



Mmmm...pasties....



It was a lovely grey and rainy day!



Our other day trip was to Dover to see the White Cliffs...which I'm sure are far more impressive when it's actually sunny out. But we did get a few moments of sunshine while we were atop Dover Castle.



Look! There is some knitting content in the last two pictures! My Clapotis accompanied me on the trip, as well as a hat made from my first handspun. That's right--I succumbed to the spinning sickness! Next post will have some pictures of what I've spun up, as well as lots of wheel anticipation. If you're still around, drop me a comment so I know I'm not just talking to dead air! (Not that I wouldn't do that anyway...but a girl likes to know someone's listening!)