Nose, meet grindstone.

Okay, with less then 1 month before school I've got to pull all my workbook stuff together and send it off!  It's (almost) all there, just sitting in a basket.  I'm going to haul it all over to the shop and pull it all together.  And hopefully make it look pretty too.
I will leave you with this pretty picture of nature dyed BFL.  This is the final final project yarn.  (I'll post about my headache with that later)

Yup, that color came from nature!  Isn't it pretty?  I used an Alum mordant and a log wood bath.   I played with a few other natural dyes too, but again, save those for a nother post (I don't have pictures of it all yet)

So, off I go to gather all my workbook stuff and get ready to go somewhere quiet with a lot of space to organise it all!

~Kara

Blarg

I hate words. Plain and simple. Even writing this blog is difficult at times.  I thought if I started writing, it would get easier.  But it doesn't.  Or, at least it hasn't yet.  See, I've read over that bit before this 3 times trying to get the words in my head out... This is becoming a problem as I try to complete my workbook.  All the skeins are done.  The final project yarn is done. Edit: okay I lied.. I still have to dye it, and there doesn't seem to be any time in the next 2 weeks...  The essays, the paragraphs, the write ups...  not done.  Because no matter how hard I try, what I write doesn't sound right.  It's choppy.  I'd do better in point form, but it asks for paragraphs, and pages.  And proper form when indicating where I got my information from. good gracious.  I've never taken anything above grade 12 english.  edit: that was 11 years ago.... This essay stuff sucks.
I'm gonna throw myself a little pity party here for a bit, and then hope that tomorrows a better day for the putting the words together in the thingies they call sentences.....

~Kara

QuirkieCraft: Giveaway Time!

Check it out!  Sheep Blue from QuirkyCraft is giving away some fabulous things on her blog.  She's just opened an etsy full of great things, and to celebrate, she's spreading the crafty love!  Go check it it out! :D

QuirkieCraft: Giveaway Time! Come one, come all!: I've been wanting to do another giveaway to thank all my followers for their unending support and comments and what better opportunity than ...

Almost There

Firstly, has it really been 10 days since I last posted?  Sorry about that!  Here's a pretty yarn picture I offer in apology.



Now on with it!
 Yesterday I set out to ply my beautiful BFL singles in the sun.   Now, that looks like very close to the same amount of yarn on each bobbin, right?  The one maybe has a little less, but not much right?



WRONG!  After  a while (when the sun began to hide and supper needed to be cooked, I moved inside) I looked down and noticed this:

Really?!  There was that much more single left on the bobbin???


This is how it ended.  With one bobbin nearly 1/2 full, the other completely empty.


I hate when that happens.  But I ended up with 640yards!  Now, how much is left on that bobbin?  Probably another 200.  That's a lot of yarn!  Look at how pretty it turned out!  A little thicker then I had intended, but hopefully that doesn't make a crazy difference in the Belinda shawls second layer...




Speaking of the Belinda shawl, I finished off the first layer!  It still needs to be blocked, but I'll wait for the second layer to be finished.  Look how much more yarn I have left!  Matching hat?  Mittens?  Fingerless gloves? Leg warmers?  Who knows.... Something though!



Now just to figure out this nature dyeing again! That beautiful white wont be white for long!

~Kara

Like I really need another project...

But seriously, how could I not participate in this mystery knit along?
Lethal over on rav started this KAL, where she tweets one row a day, every day at 11am.  So I cast on my 29 stitches and knit the first two rows.  They only took me maybe 8 minutes.  That's not much time, so I can totally do it!
I tweeted this picture of my progress, I'm not sure I chose the right yarn, but it's the only yarn I have enough of.  We'll see how it goes!


~Kara

Tour de Fleece - 2012

Is it to early to start thinking about it?  I don't think so!

What I'm thinking about is the two teams I'm going to captain, and my personal goals.  I've got Team Craftster.org and Team Look-in-a-Book.  And of course  I'll be joining Team Hopelessly Overcomitted as well.

Here are my goals:


1) Spin 12 oz of merciboo top into a serious lace weight.  Like,  craykray lace.  Practically sewing thread. or like 2 strands of sewing thread together crazy lace.  Because I'm nuts.  I might even buy the lace flyer for my Traveller...

2) Spin my way through a book.  I'm also heading up the team Team Look in a Book!  Where the goal will be to spin my way through one of my books, but just a sample of each technique... I just have to choose a book...

3) Spin some cotton on my tahkli.  I have ~4 oz of cotton that's been sitting for a long time.  If I get through it, I'll give a go at the camel and yak I have too!

Yup, Hopelessly Overcomitted.

You can find the Tour de Fleece Rav group here.  And the Team Craftster thread on Craftster here.   Of course there will be a thread for both my teams in the Ravelry group, but for now the teams cannot be posted until the moderators clean up the 2011 threads.  Soon, as I see there are just a few more to go through!

What about you?  Are you going to take on the Tour de Fleece this year?

~Kara

today's contemplations

So I'm sitting here, with a sick kiddo sent home from school.  Seems he's caught the sinus infection I picked up sometime over Easter.  Of course the others are home too, but none the less, having that extra sick kid puts a different feel to the day.   It kind of slows things down.  And oddly enough with things feeling slowed, it gives me a chance to think.  Mostly I'm thinking about my final project.
I picked up the shawl again last night and knit for a couple hours, only putting about 10 more holes in the darn thing.   That pretty much set my decision to change directions, yet again.   So now I'm going to spin up the BFL in basically the same weight as the grey long wool, and knit up some of these Legwarmies.  The fibre's almost all prepped (just a bit more flick carding), now just to get my wheel set up and ready to go!  Shouldn't be long now.

So while I sit and think about my final project, I'm going to share with you a scarf I knit.

This is the Helix scarf from the pattern published in Spin Off, spring 2011.  I knit it with a merino possum blend yarn from New Zealand.  It was a fairly mindless knit, but took forever!  I suppose that is what happens when your needles are a size 2....   I'm going to send it to my Grandma.  Hopefully she doesn't read my blog regularly.  That would ruin the surprise of a scarf in the mail!

I'm also going to share these two gorgeous and unique drop spindles that were made for me by Blacksmith over on Craftster.org.  He came along onto the fibre boards and wowed us all with his wood turning skills, and I just had to have one, so I sent him a message and we set up a trade.  Well he sent me two!   I sent him a skein of yarn and some fibre on return.  The solid one is just so interesting to look at, and spins a nice heavy yarn.  The open one spins forever! It also give a heavier yarn, but not quite as heavy as the solid.  I love them and can't wait to sit and spin on the deck with them this spring once it finally warms up.


Okay, off to finish that prep... or just veg and cuddle with my sickie.

~Kara