FLASH YOUR STASH 2K7!

All Handspun:




Random stash that hasn't made it into any semblance of organization yet. It lives in a big quilt bag.




Lotsa Sockotta



Cones and oddballs



BAGS O YARN



Mmm Wool





The pitiful little sock yarn stash



Alpaca!





Cottons and summer yarns



Mohairs and silks




I'm a bit embarrassed to admit this next bit, but this is about full disclosure, right? The novelty yarn stash....




Aaaaaaaand I'm Spent.

Retirement.

******YPF WILL BE DELAYED UNTIL SUNDAY FOR THE ANNUAL FLASH YOUR STASH EVENT!!******








In other news. My father retired yesterday after 33 years of slogging away on work for the federal government. He was given a huge retirement lunch at Legal Seafoods in Crystal City (Holy freaking yum. And I hate Seafood). My mother and I went with him. I got to visit with my fathers buddy Mike of whom I am very fond.






Dad was given a STACK of awards. Seriously, it took my parents, Mike and I to carry of the awards to the car. My mom was presented with a bouquet of the most gorgeous jungle roses. Dad seemed so overwhelmed the whole time. Retirement is such a huge thing. Just think about it, never working again. Dad summed it up simply.





"I fooled them long enough that they will now continue to pay me for the rest of my life."





Congratulations Dad. I love you!





Yes my knitterly friends, that is the (barely finished in time) Wool Peddler shawl wrapped around me. And yes, that is my Mother's Kiri shawl.

I'm Back!

The wireless is up and works in every room of the house. Come to find out that all of the time we had been using a wireless connection, we had NEVER been using our own, despite our fervent belief to the contrary. My deepest apologies to whomever we were piggybacking onto in the neighborhood.



The install yesterday took up a major portion of our morning. There was no phone, no internet, nothing. We decided to be lazy. I spun, the kids watched Invader Zim dvd's and hubby just hung out with us. I swear the Verizon guy kept looking at me funny whenever he'd see me happily spinning away on my wheel. I was able to complete this:







3.5 oz of Ashland Bay Merino/tencel. Approximately 180 yards of sport-DK 2 ply. It was so easy too. There was no guessing or trying desperately to maintain a pace and keep the flyer moving. Oh my little Lendrum, how do I love thee. I'm seeing a lace scarf for someones Christmas present.



Naturally, since I was done with the Merino I moved on to this:









Fleece artist wool silk bought from Stitches East. There is only 2 ounces, and I was thinking of spinning a really fine 2 ply with it. Then I thought back to some recent threads on knittyboard about maintaining color repeats by navajo plying. So I'm spinning a bit thicker (and a bit more confidently. Something about drafting out only a very few fibers at a time still makes me incredibly nervous) , and will navajo ply it to make a lovely trim or some very small project.



I also went to the LYS Friday afternoon with my friend who is learning to knit and just completed her first scarf. (I suggested it, don't stone me, I know scarves are lousy first projects, but it was a skinny scarf with chunky luxury yarn. She got so confident 3 inches in that she started doing a garter/stockinette stitch pattern. I'm very proud of her. She's doing a Booga Bag next.) I picked up a ball of baby ull to make some baby socks for a coworker. (Don't drink the water where I work, I swear you'll end up pregnant) when I noticed something new on the sock yarn shelf.




Scarlet Fleece Totally Tubular in the Cottage Garden colorway. Oh how I wish there had been a second skein to make a pretty spring Kiri. Sadly, it was alone, and it is destined to become socks for me. I've been really happy though that my LYS seems to be bringing in more independent and smaller yarn distributors. Only a few at a time, but something is better than nothing. I really hope she continues to bring in small and local producers. I love my LYS, but she typically stocks yarn from the major companies. There is lots of good stuff in there. An excellent selection, but sometimes you just crave the unusual, and I'll enjoy supporting the LYS and getting unusual and unique yarns there. (I found out as we were checking out that there had been 2 skeins of this, but one of the employees took one to knit the store sample. Luckily she works when I work, so I won't be able to go into the shop, steal her skein and run away laughing maniacally.)

Computer Revolution My Arse

The blog has been quiet this week. Computers are to blame. Fully to blame. Let's tell a little story.

Late last year my computer gave up the ghost. My son, who was abusing his computer, as in, taking pieces apart and leaving keyboards, mice and other bits strewn across his floor, lost his computer to me. My mother, Who bought him the computer felt this was unfair. I didn't. My dad, to save himself from mother-daughter strife gave me a computer he had built. It sat for a while until the boy got a bit more responsible. We recently found out that there was Fiber Optic service available in our area. This was wonderful news since our Internet speeds were patchy at best and our wireless connection even more so. We Put the boy's computer back, and set up the new computer. Now we can't get a connection at all.

I'm now posting from my laptop. Also new (to me at least, dad upgraded and gave me his castoff laptop.) I haven't been able to get a reliable connection.

Computers hate me I think.

I'm hoping to Keep the connection up to at least get a yarn porn post up tomorrow evening. With any luck the fiber optic service will work out the issues on Saturday. I apologize in advance if I miss YPF this week. It's not for a lack off effort, I assure you.

In knitting news, The Wool peddler shawl crawls on. those garter stitch rows just go on and on and on and on and on........

35 more ever increasing rows until I get to the lace pattern. I'm desperately trying to get it done before dad's retirement party on the 29th. I'm not holding my breath.

I also picked up Knitting Vintage Socks at the bookstore last night. It's taking all I have not to cast on for a pair of Gentleman's Shooting Socks. I'm trying to use it as a reward to myself for getting the shawl done. Maybe I'll bribe myself with a trip to the LYS.

I'm going to go lay down and knit now, while I can still move. We joined a gym this week. I went to the "Gentle Yoga" class tonight. If that was gentle, I'm terrified of the intermediate class. Utterly Terrified.

Yarn Pr0n Friday the Tenth

And in honor of St Patrick's Day, I present you with 900 yard of gorgeous laceweight Irish Linen from DZined purchased at Stitches East.

Progress photos!

I figured I should show some progress photos of the things I've been working on.





First is the Moderne Baby Blanket from Mason Dixon. I'm working this in SWTC's A-Maizing. It is sooo squishy, and machine washable. We are not NEARLY as far along with this as we should be. The miles of garter stitch makes me twitch a bit. I knit on it when I have to think about other things, like helping the boy with his homework. Hopefully there will be lots of homework between now and June when the baby is due.







The lace leaf pullover is off to the frog pond for a second time. I've started it twice. I've just never been really happy with it. I think it's time to Put the yarn away and look for another project for it.





Finally is a new project. The Wool Peddler Shawl from Folk shawls. I'm making this in Plymouth Yarns Suri Merino. Soooo soft. It's hard to keep knitting and not just stop to pet the yarn. This is going to be a really casual shawl for me to wear with jeans or toss around my shoulders when I'm reading in bed. All the garter stitch is daunting and boring, but I know I'll be rewarded with lace if I just stick with it.





It's starting to get warm out and about time to start thinking about a nice summer top. I'll be searching the stash for light summer yarns and searching the net for some cute summer top patterns. Any suggestions????


Finally, we get to see the reason why I get to buy yarn whenever I want. This is what Hubby brought home today.



He has a serious problem with records. The problem is, he just keeps bringing them home. There are several hundred in the house already and he just brought home this HUGE pile today. I will forgive him this batch for one reason though. he brought me an America's Top 40 4 record set meant for play on Armed Forces Radio, complete with cheesy military PSA's and Milli Vanilli. I'm 12 again. And Bon Jovi seriously rocks.

Jaywalkers complete!

I finally finished the Jaywalkers. They have been OTN since November. I actually took them on the cruise with me. Believe me when I tell you, you will get no knitting done on a cruise. None. Not even any pictures with your sock posed tantalizingly on sandy beaches.

It just. won't. happen.

I knit these from Koigu on size 2 DPN's in the smallest size. they fit my ginormous feet like a hug, although they are a little bit less than stretchy when you put them on or take them off. I'm kind of digging the pooling too.

Yarn pr0n Friday the Ninth

Really, is it possible to not adore malabrigo?

I Think Not.

The management would like to apologize to no pictures of spinning or fiber carding on the recently acquired toys. However the management recently decided that it would be a good idea to have a tetanus booster if it is to play with sharp objects and dirty sheep fluff. (The management tends to be clumsy.)

Who knew that a tetanus shot could make you feel like the day after a Lou Reed heroin bender?

The management is still a bit woozy and is going to have a bit of a lie down now. Hopefully we will be posting spinning pictures soon. Very soon.

It's Here! It's Here!

The wheel and carder came in today. I promised myself that I would get home from work, have restraint and leave them in their boxes until I got some housework done.

Who am I kidding????

I put the new babies together instead. The Girl saw the plying head and immediately informed me the I needed to start spinning funky yarns to turn into garments for her.

What I find most interesting is that I tried the wheel before I bought it, however actually sitting and trying to spin on it is like relearning everything. Time to bring out the practice fiber again and make cat barf for a while. Once I finally get the hang of this wheel, there's a sampler pack of Spunky Eclectic's Almost Solids and a copy of Color in Spinning just waiting to be played with.

Yes, Virginia, there is knitting karma.

I have been working on a pair of Fiber Trends felted clogs for my friend Beth's mother. Beth is the sweetest, dearest person I've met. She has a warped sense of humor and puts up with me. She is an incredibly good friend. Many years ago, Beth and I tried to learn to crochet. It was a failed experiment. We both suck at crochet.

When I began to knit, I offered to teach Beth and she passed. I never bothered her about it, and she always listened to my ramblings about yarn and fiber with interest and patience. She occasionally commissioned items (and paid handsomely, I might add), but never showed much interest though until I showed her those clogs. Yesterday I was instructed on our lunch break that I was to bring needles and yarn and teach her.

Today I went to work armed with a leftover ball of Lamb's Pride and a set of needles. I cast on for her, and showed her to knit. She caught on quick.

I cannot describe how incredibly proud I am.

As luck would have it, something screwy happened with the power in our building and we were stuck with no way to work all afternoon. So we passed the time chatting and knitting. I mentioned needing to drop by the yarn shop to pick up some needles. (I'm learning that entrelac is the one thing I can't stand on circs. Even when I knit backwards. it makes me want to stab something.) She said she'd join me there, and after several times through the shop to pet all the goodies, she selected a pair of bamboo straights and 2 skeins of Classic Elite Duchess in light pink to make herself a skinny scarf. As her official pusher teacher, I bought them for her. I cast on some stitches for her in the parking lot, and sent her to pick up a good "Learn to Knit" book from Borders.





I was so filled with the knitterly pride that I almost forgot the voicemail I received from my mother telling me to stop by her house. I remembered at the last minute, and what did she have waiting for me, but this:

It was very unusual. Usually she'll pick up a vintage pattern book or two. Maybe some yarn if she goes on vacation. Never whole knitting books. Especially knitting books that have been on my wish list. If that's not the knitting gods at work, I don't know what is.

Yarn pr0n Friday the Eighth

This is how you know you have your hubby trained.

You send him on vacation with explicit instructions and a map to the LYS in the city he is visiting. Not only does he actually go, but he takes his buddies with him to pet the yarn. Then he brings home this:






Aracaunia Magallanes. 2 skeins. Yum.