Weekend Update!

Finally! A day off! A whole full day. from the time I get up to the time I go to bed! I may wet myself from excitement. In celebration I will make a long blog post with pics. I will make baked ziti for dinner. I will do laundry. I will spend the evening spinning!

First and foremost.... The SP8 updates. I sent and received my last SP8 packages.

My sender has been not only thoughtful, and generous in her packages to me, but we share the same name, which automatically makes her a VERY cool chick. Check out her blog here. She also apparently works in a yarn shop. I absolutely COVET her job. Here are the contents of my final and very much appreciated package. There was much squealing and "TOUCH THIS!!" involved in the opening. Hubby got that look in his eye as though he were considering having me committed.



-There was a hand embroidered bag. How she knew I've been coveting a little bag that I can keep my traveling sock safe when I stuff it into the purse of doom, I have no idea. She must be psychic. There was also an extra unembellished bag which I will be embroidering myself once I settle on a pattern.

-There were not one but 2! bags of luscious handpainted roving from Capistrano Fiber Arts Studios (By Lori Lawson) purchased at The Yarn Tree. Ms. Lawson, whoever you are, Your eye for color is amazing, and secret pal, you have exquisite taste. On the right in the pic is a kid mohair/merino blend in the "Red Ginger" colorway. On the left is a merino/bombyx silk blend in the "Marrakech" colorway. Please note that the bags were ripped open immediately to be fondled.

Thanks again!


Now to my Sendee. That naughty, naughty girl found me out!!! hehehe. She just got the last package and I'm so excited that she has liked all that I've sent. She is an absolute doll, and adorable to boot! I'm so glad to have met such a strong and intelligent person through this swap. Her blog is here. Stop by and give her some Blog Love.

Now to some REAL excitement. A Finished Object! and a lace one no less. My very first successful lace project. Why does lace have to be so frustrating, yet so lovely and tempting to me. Oh how I love and hate thee, lace knitting.




Sorry for the not so great picture, but this is the Branching Out scarf from Knitty.com. It was knit in Peru DK Luxury yarn from AC Moore. It's a reasonably priced Merino/Alpaca/Silk blend and it is extraordinarily soft. If I recall it was about $5 a ball for 124 yards. I used 2 balls for this. It will soon be off to my Mother In Law for her birthday. Nothing says love like a wool scarf in August. I think I may be reblocking it though. I was half asleep last night when I blocked it and it looks a bit wonky in the photo now that I really look at it.

The real excitement in this scarf was when the Needle-Eating-Dog decided that my size 9 Bamboo Circulars looked really tasty with this scarf still on it. I came home to find the circs missing and the ball of yarn in tangles still attached to the scarf with dropped stitches. The tangle and dropped stitches took most of an evening to fix. NED still won't look me in the eye.

Fyberduck from Craftster.org recently was kind enough to host a Handspun Swap. My swap Partners were Fyberduck and Chipper. Here were my spoils:



A POUND of thick n Thin Handspun merino in the Vineyard colorway from spunky eclectic and an awesome red/with and blue skein with an accompanying Beaded skein from Chipper. I'm foreseeing a shrug and a funky felted bag to be made of these.




From Fyberduck, a skein of boucle made from kid mohair locks. It is gorgeous. So soft and light. I am totally inspired to dig in and wash up the pound of kid mohair that has been languishing in my stash. The second skein was some baby alpaca that hubby has claimed as a hat for himself. It is incredibly soft. It has reinforced my belief that someone needs to start producing alpaca underwear.

Finally a long overdue pic of my best handspun to date. 2 oz of Angora/silk/wool from Wild Meadow Angoras. I'd picked up 2 bats and the MDSW and finally got brave enough to spin them up. I ended up with close to 300 yds of lace/fingering weight.


I had originally thought to enter it in the skein contest at the Fall Fiber Festival. However, when I weighed it up it came to 2 oz exactly on my scale, and the contest minimum is 2 oz. I don't want to get disqualified because my scale is off by a tenth of an ounce or something, so now I am looking for a good lace stitch to make a scarf with it to enter into the Handspun knit item category. I will begin working on a new skein to enter into the skein contest.