Spin A Yarn for Ewe

when Mystery Stole 3 is ready to start and you have no lace yarn? At least no lace yarn you can imagine knitting the stole in? You over dye what you have. Now don't get me wrong, I loved the original colors, but I just couldn't see knitting lace with it. Here is the skein before.


Here it is after a trip through the dye pot. It still has shades of color and I love it.

I am not sure about the beads but to me that is a much easier thing to find around here then lace yarn I like.

Should be fun. Anyone else in on this besides Amanda and her Mom?

Yesterday I finished the hat. I had just enough yarn, Rowan Cashsoft Baby, left over from something I knit that I can not even remember. I think it came out cute. It is the Peapod Hat.


I have a progress shot of the Kimono Shawl. Now I know that lace in progress is BORING! but I thought I would show it anyway.


I also decided that baby sock was not going to defeat me. I found a basic baby sock pattern used those numbers and the magic loop book and this is what we have so far.

I think the heel looks right and we are moving on to the toe. The hardest part of this method is getting the stitches on the needles right after you knit the heel flat. After that it is smooth sailing. Gina mentioned 2 circs for socks which I have tried and I really don't like it. I get it but it is not my favorite same goes for double points. Know how to use them just don't really like them. Good thing there are so many methods so everyone can find their favorite.

I have been sucked into Mystery Stole 3. It sounds like fun and since lace has become an obsession I get a new pattern to try out. Of course since I have NO lace yarn in stash it will mean buying some yarn. The pattern also includes beads but I have those supplies already. Now to find a yarn that goes with the beads I have. I am thinking dark purple.

I think the mojo has been restored since I conquered the sock!

Wow, was that ever a great vacation. It was our first family vacation with my parents and brother. The 6 of us had a blast. The ranch was nicer then we could ever of dreamed and the people working there were the best. North Fork Ranch definitely gets my highest rating on everything. Here are some photos to show you how beautiful it was.

This is the view from our cabin's front porch. Every morning they would run the horses in from the pasture and that was so much fun to watch. Seeing 30 horses running full speed down the road is just not something you see every day here.

This other is a shot from the other side of the river from where we stayed. The South Platte river runs right through the ranch and has some of the best fishing ever. I am not a fisher-woman, I mean I like it alright but if there was something else to do I would choose that instead. Here the fish are so huge it makes it really exciting even for me. My biggest trout was 19" long and about 4lbs and hopefully he will be even bigger when we go back next year. Yep, we are making plans to do it all over again because it was that much fun.

I also did tons of riding while we were there which was great as the trails are some of the most scenic I have been on and the horses are great. Not duds like I feared plus the great wranglers made it even more fun. (Click on any of these for bigger versions including our wrangler in the riding one.)

Now knitting for me did not go as well. I brought some sock yarn and my magic loop book to try some baby socks for my cousins shower that is coming up. I got the heel turned on the first one a realized they were HUGE! I mean like for a 6 year old not a baby so rip is what I did and cast on with fewer stitches which seems harmless enough but since I have never done socks this way and now not having a pattern or a clue what I was doing I ended up with a very funky looking sock. I am now on the hunt for a magic loop baby sock pattern, not toe up. Since the sock thing when so badly I cast on for a cute hat instead and am almost done with that. I needed some instant gratification knitting to get the mojo back.

I am so excited about this bag that I just had to share. I have been looking for a new knitting bag lately. Now don't get me wrong, I love my Jordana Paige bag ALOT. So much that the new bag had to live up to it with features like pockets to keep stuff and shoulder straps. I had to have straps which took some bags out of the running. I also didn't want to spend a ton of money and it had to look great. I of course looked at these but decided I rather spend the extra $$$ on yarn instead. I thought I had found the perfect bag on EBay but then decided those shoulder straps were too important to over look. To Etsy I went and found this.

Actually it was done in a different fabric but Theresa made it in the fabric I wanted instead. It has VERY nice detail and stands all on its own without anything in it (A feature I like.) Look at the inside.

She used the outside fabric as trim on the pocket and I got it with a detachable bag that matches. It is a large bag and now that I have seen how nice it is I might go for one of the smaller ones in a different fabric.

Sorry for the enabling but I just had to share.
Her shop says she is going on vacation for the month of July but you really should check out her stuff when she gets back!

I finished the first bobbin of Nightshade. I really like the colors of it. I am spinning it fine and hopefully will not end up with a wiry end product. It is a coarser wool but a dream to spin.

I have also been working on both shawls but by splitting the time the progress is less or at least seems like less. Oh well, they are both so fun to work on and I am really in no hurry to finish either.

We go on vacation this Saturday for a week so I should have plenty of time to knit or maybe not.

Well, I just couldn't put off the allure of the handspun yarn any longer. I cast on for the Diamond Fantasy Shawl. I forgot how much I love knitting with handspun. I really love it. The pattern is also really fun. It does have pattern on both sides but really nothing big. Maybe not something I can totally memorize but fun anyway and WAY faster then the almost cobweb weight Kimono Shawl which now has 3 chart repeats done.

This is what have so far after about 30 minutes. The great thing about this pattern is the edging is knitted on as you go and it is knitted from the tip up which will be great for me since I have a limited amount of yarn.

I also started on the May Spunky Eclectic Club fiber, Nightshade. The colors are really lovely in this sliver and I am enjoying spinning it even if it is not the softest of wools, Coopworth. Once I get a bobbin done you will see what I mean.

I finished the merino/bamboo roving last night. It is now a very beautiful 2 ply with 350 yards to the 4oz of fiber I had. I am going to use it for the Diamond Fantasy. Should be enough for a small version and there should be about 15 yards of extra when I ply the rest of the leftover single.

Here is a close up of the color. It is basically pink but has hints of orange with some white mixed it. Should make for some nice lace.
It has the nicest shine to it and is very soft. I think I want more merino/bamboo.

I am plugging along on the Kimono Shawl but I only am getting about a half a repeat done per day (its 24 rows long) so it will be a long process. This other shawl should be a fun distraction as the yarn is heavier and the pattern is so different.

I am not sure what to spin up next as I currently have so many nice batts/rovings sitting around. Maybe I need to find a project and spin for that instead of just spinning to spin which I do a lot of.

I really have not much progress to show on anything. I am spinning the other bobbin of merino/bamboo for my hopefully thin enough yarn for the shawl and getting 6-8 rows done a day on the Kimono shawl. Gina asked how it was to spin and I have to say it is like buttah. Very smooth and very soft. Like silk but not as sticky. Leah asked if I was going for 2 ply and I am. That is why I keep hoping it will be thin enough. I think I have it right but we will see. So since I have no progress photos I will distract you with these.

I got my May package yesterday from Holly. The Batty Babes Club. Wow, is all I could say when I opened the package.

And then there is this one that has a shine that is hard to describe. The photo does do a pretty good job of it though.

I am thinking that I may spin them both and ply them together for maximum yardage but that greenish one makes it harder since I love the color in it just like it is. Decisions, decisions.

Have a great weekend.