Knitting Dragonflies

Last year I bought some lovely fiber from a fiber festival. It was so soft, the kind of fiber you pick up and just want to rub and snuggle with. Then I had a day off, and some sunshine, I pulled my wheel out onto the deck, even with a cool breeze and my jacket on it was a pleasure to sit and spin. The Fiber is: Screaming Wild Monkey! A special house blend of 70% super wash merino/15% Banana/!5% Seacell (impregnated with silver) 4 oz. (what ever this means!!??) Did that stop me from buying it? Oh no. The photo doesn’t show the colors, they are vibrant. made by River’s Edge Weaving Studio at  weavingstudio.com It was a dream to spin! I spun it up fairly quickly. After some consideration I decided to try my hand at Navajo Plying. I used this You Tube video from Rexenne on Navajo Plying , she has quite a personality, and the video is very through, even including slow motion. After plying I was amazed at the difference in the color!! Plying in the Navajo style with multicolored single

Enter a snowy day and some friends. We ate and drank, and walked around town. The above is a fountain that is frozen up. And when some of your company likes to knit and do needlework it turns into a perfect weekend. Notice the large bag my husband is holding. This is because my girlfriend “found” a knitting shop that was selling out of all of their spinning fiber. Can you say “visa”? Seriously now, I wasn’t going to even buy any, just “look”. Then maybe just one or two, by the end, I had everything in my bag that she had left. Clockwise from the top 1-Camel/Tussah Silk Top 8 oz., ooooo so silky and lovely, 2- Dark Blue Dyed Corridale 8 oz., 3- Light Blue Merino Silk Blend 8 oz., 4- Corridale, Turquoise 8 oz., 5-Baby Camel Top 8oz (this was the only one I was originally to buy, just made my knees weak) I need to get some seriously spinning done, and today is Super Bowl Sunday! Touchdown!! Get the wheel out! - Knit Fast, Dye Yarn "Life is not about waiting for the storm

The snow is blowing and the schools are already closing. I have been spinning, almost totally done now with my dark brown BFL, and I have been eyeing the stash to see what I want to spin next. I’m fully committed to my sweater now, Iced from Knitty . I’m knitting it with Colinette Point Five, I have located a number of people on Ravelry that have some to sell in case I run out. It is a top down sweater, knitted in the round, (well technically from side to side), I’ve just gotten to below the arms. Had to go outside and play with the dogs in the snow, Penny rolled and had fun. Syd is the speed demon! I couldn’t get a clear photo. Keep warm this week!

  This sketch is the beginnings of my next painting. Next I add shadows. If you build each color onto the next, (instead of mixing them on your palate) the result will be a translucent painting with a glow about it. Well that is what I’m attempting anyway, thanks to Theresa at Blueberries, Art and Life , my watercolor mentor! 3 skeins of wool spun, and I still have more fiber to spin! I have high hopes of having enough for a sweater. Cold here and I’m ready to get the sweaters out! I also have a simple Iris and bamboo painting. In the Sumi-e style. Done in marker. I have to get back to my paints soon. In addition to some morning glories, done in marker and crayons. Go create!

A quick sketch of a tree in my backyard, now minus its leaves. Done with a office supply felt tip marker, a fairly fat one. And finally some fibery progress…. After dithering about after every two rows, I decided to forge ahead on my Iced Sweater from Knitty made with Colinette Point Five. Due to the flash, the colors look pinker than the actual yarn. This is a top down sweater pattern, and after sweating the gauge for a bit. I’ve decided to consider it as a suggestion as to how much “off” I’m going to be, and try to compensate from there. I have no idea if I’ll have enough yarn to complete the sweater. I have 10 skeins of 50 m each = 500 meters or 546 yds. of Cardinal, (it is fairly bulky, I’m not sure if it is considered super bulky). The recommended needle size on the label is 17 and I’m using a 10 to get close to the gauge needed. This resulted in most of my problems, the knit is turning out to be thick and rather stiff. But I’ve decided to think of it as a warm sweater/coat

Sketch was made with standard office markers, while sitting in my back yard. I’ve been working on my computer for the last couple of weeks! It progressively got worse to the point I took it to the Geek Squad. I finally decided on reinstalling Windows myself and seeing if I could “make it work”, saving the repair money to put toward a new computer if necessary. I can say I’ve learned a lot, and am now trying to decide if I need a larger C drive, (cheap and I think I can install it), or keep going until it dies. Hummmmm, close to Christmas and I just bought a new refrigerator! Bottom freezer and I love it! On the knitting front, I’m knitting with Collinette Point Five yarn, a bulky, thick and thin yarn. I must say, I hate knitting with it, but like how it looks when it is done. I’m in the process of making a top down pattern from Knitty Fall 2010 , I love the pattern. It is one of the patterns that was love at first sight for me. Don’t you love it when that happens? Still spinning m

Not doing much but taking care of the recovering dog at this point, and the usual necessary things like work. I did buy an E -reader , it was a spontaneous buy, I had some bonus money that I hadn’t used and was in Borders Books. I am always carrying books around and thought “what the heck?”. I love it, and now can’t imagine doing without it. Hundreds of books in a very small space that can be taken easily anywhere. I looked at them before but thought I would miss having the “book” in my hands. Well there is still knitting, spinning and watercolor books to buy, more room on my shelves for them. I have also begun spinning again. Every time I start spinning again, I wonder at how much I enjoy it, and why did I stop? The fleece is a BFL, a lovely dark brown, I was drawn to it because the color was quite dark, and I thought that unusual. I love the way it spins up. A pound is enough for me to really make something with it (I hope). It is  enough fiber to keep me busy for quite a while

I didn’t get all of my fleece spun up. But I made good headway. I foolishly thought I would be able to return to work and spin up over a pound of fleece! Well a girl can dream. Dogs sleep, I spin… I finished the Parrot Fish BLF 4.6 oz, approx 260 yds, yellow and turquoise mix. I like the colors, this is the first roving that I have spun that was bi-colored, and I am pleased with the result! The BFL from Orion 4.4 oz, ? yds, I have approx 11.6 more oz of this fleece to spin up, but the good news is that it is lovely to spin and I will have enough of it to knit something with, I’m hoping a sweater. I think  the deep brown of his fleece is unusual. Not much else to report, a visit from family this weekend, so we were all busy. My brother’s new girlfriend knits! Say no more!! Get the preacher! I have been playing around with watercolors a little, having some fun. Here is a sample of colored pencils with a bit of watercolor wash.  I really have been wooed by watercolors. I

Well if I’m not knitting, then I love to look for patterns, magazines and new knitting tools. Here are some of the latest I have come across that caught my eye: First I had to buy these: -From rycrafty.etsy.com stitch markers, made out of little ball and chains, in all different colors! They slide so easily on my needles, and you can remove them and use them for row markers if you need to. She has a variety of colors and a large and small size, I love them! -I found this Portable Lazy Kate from Ogledesign.etsy.com , perfect to take along. -From Jessica at How About Orange.blogspot.com these cute knit fonts, free! She also has a variety of other cool free downloads on her blog. -YarnPlayCafe.etsy.com has fun knitting theme tote bags, reasonably priced. These would be a cute gift for anyone. Who doesn't need another tote bag? She blogs here -I am always looking for a good hand cream, my hands are always cracking and bleeding. Davesgarden.com gives us his r

Drop over and take a look at the new Spring/Summer Knitty 2010 ! My favorite pattern? I can’t decide yet. A wide variety from socks to shawls, easy to challenging. Below is some beautiful core spun yarn from urbangypz's photostream on flickr! She has an etsy shop UrbanGypZ . This beautifully spun yarn makes me think of spring! I’m still struggling with my core spun, I’m not sure that is for me, I’m going to go back to traditional spinning. We have been busy at my house, painting and getting a new privacy fence! While visiting my Dad, I got sucked into Genealogy world! I have never done any research like this. And it is fun and very interesting. I feel like I’m turning into quite a sleuth. The stories we hear about family and are they true? Tracking down records and more records. I can’t imagine how time consuming this was before the internet! I’m teaching  a 7 year old little girl to sew. Any hints would be appreciated, so far we have; made a tote bag, a cat bed, and a

I've gotten some wonderful gifts in the mail recently!! Thank you times a thousand!! From my Doppelgänger, Vicki at Dragonfly Soars I received a package full of LOVELY fiber!! I can’t wait to get spinning with these! The braid is BFL from Girlontherocks.com , I love the turquoise (i just painted my living room a lighter shade of this color) and the golden yellow mixed in. The green batt is a super soft batt of blended wool and soy silk from Ogle Design.etsy.com , a perfect spring batt to spin, this green color with a little blue added really puts me in the mood to get out in the garden. From Paula The Quilter , I received five skeins of excellent wool to dye! I’m not sure what colors these want to be yet, but I’m ready to get my pots out! The sun is out today and I haven’t done any Solar dyeing since last fall. Hummmm… I got a huge package of glitz and angelina to add to my spinning from Jane on ravelry!  Thank you Jane!! Great for you to add a lot of sparkle or ju

During the grey rainy days of winter here. I have found one of the best activities that chases the blues away is spinning. With not much energy to think about a big project, spinning is a mindless, and rewarding activity. Here is my girlfriend spinning, this is her first try on a wheel. She is a master at the spindle. So it was no surprise that in one day she spun about 4 oz of a mixed batt up. Spinning with her hat made of spindle spun. Before After This came out beautiful!! I’m working on spinning some persimmon roving from Paradise Fibers. I actually got a lace shawl out of the corner of my closet and started on it again. Get your knitting needles out and get going. Technorati Tags: spinning , spin , spinning wheel

St Elisabeth of Hungary , spinning for the poor, on a castle type wheel with a distaff. I am fairly new to spinning. I had a variety of spindles and enjoyed playing with them. I was torn whether I wanted (or needed) a wheel or not. Spindling is relaxing and fun. Now when everyone has so many demands on them and less time, I was worried that a wheel would just make me want to “go faster”. Similar to the difference between a sailboat and a speed boat. But that didn’t turn out to be true. When I am especially stressed or have a constant stream of thought, I often have trouble concentrating on my knitting. I can be blindly knitting along and not paying much attention to the pattern. Resulting in frustrating frogging, and cursing due to mistakes. These two also curl up and sleep when I spin. This is when I especially enjoying spinning at my wheel. I have heard it compared to meditation, and I agree with this. The spinning of the wheel and its’ rhythm. The sounds of the

As you know I have been raising silkworms, or trying to. It started with the idea of raising them for their cocoons, and eggs and then dyeing them to spin. Along the way I became charmed by these little hairy babies. Lifting their heads up,every time I opened the container to feed or check on them. Little piggy fellows, peaceful and sweet. My tale is one of many mishaps. I was so excited when my 1000 little eggs hatched, right on schedule. I had my mulberry leaf supply and fed them, hungry little squiggles. I checked and fed them , removed old leaves and then……one evening a cold snap came, I didn’t have the heat light set up. In the morning I had 1000 dead silkworms. Damn.. Discouraged but determined I set out with 500 more eggs. I had a thermometer in the shoe box, and a heat lamp. The eggs hatched out in 3 days. But by this time the mulberry leaves are browning, so I bought the mulberry mush. I carefully cut and place little clumps around for the little cuties to eat. They qui