No Slowing Down

Despite my best efforts, it would appear that the craziness experienced these past few months just may be my new normal.  Time will tell.

I think my last post left off somewhere after the minions' regular sports seasons and before Zombie.  The Stockinette Zombie retreat was a lot of fun.  I didn't take my Nikon with me so I was at the mercy of my phone as far as pictures go so I didn't take too many and some of the ones that were taken were blurry so here is just a tiny sampling.

Not only was this my first Zombie retreat, it was my first time to Rochester, MN.  It was an interesting little town and though it was cute, I need a little more elbow room; it felt like I was in some sort of video game where all the sidewalks and passageways were connected somehow.  This was all the sky I could see at one time.

The coolest thing by far was meeting so many knitters and there were a bunch that came up to me to let me know that they loved the Hermione's Everyday Sock pattern and that they had made them or were making a pair or were going to make a pair... I even had one woman (@atangledyarn on instagram)gift me with a wee mini Hermione Sock during the designer showcase!  It was good for me to get out and meet people though - as I've stated before, I am very much a hobbit and it can be difficult for me sometimes to stretch my boundaries.

I'm definitely not used to eating out quite so much but I made sure to get a good spot for the USA game!

The vendor market was cool - I met some of the people I have been following on instagram in person and I even met Hobbledehoy and geeked out a bit because I have loved her batts for so long! Here is one photo of my booth - the rest were a bit blurry.

(I'm the one on the right).

This was the haul, most of which was gifted and/or bartered.

 

Honestly, I behaved myself and didn't buy very much - a few skeins of yarn (1 to gift), 2 bags (one to gift), and a bit of fiber (some of which will also be gifted)! One thing I did buy though, was a Downton Abbey bag from BagsbyTerry. I had been coveting one of these for a while and he put up a nice coupon code so I splurged and nabbed one up and it arrived while I was in Minnesota.

 

 

He even put the fun pocket inside with the outer fabric :)

 

This was the Exclusive Zombie Knitpocalypse 2015 colorway.  There are still a few up in the shop.

 

I wanted to knit something simple so I made a garter stitch triangle using 1 skein. It actually blocked out to be quite large given that it was only one skein.

It was good to get home though.

Ever since I got back I have been on the go. Little man's All Star team games started and Little miss has soccer on Tuesday evenings so this has been my view for a while.

This sweater.... I have dubbed it the Princess and the Pea Cardivest. This was a pattern that I designed for little miss and it has been stuck in a bag for quite a while, untouched. The urge to clear our some of the wip's I've had hit and I brought out the green would-be cardigan that little miss SWORE she would wear multiple times, even with the ribbed sleeves. I finished the sleeves and seamed one in and all I had left was to seam the other sleeve and then pick up and knit the button bands/collar. Voila! Completed sweater. Or so I thought.

 

I had her try it on before I sewed in the second sleeve and she immediately started scratching and saying that she wouldn't wear it because the sleeves were tight and it made her itchy. For the record, Cascade 220 Superwash isn't all that itchy. AND, keep in mind we went over this multiple times before I even started knitting the thing and she even had a sweater (storebought) with similar sleeves and she was fine with those.... Pissed. I removed the one sleeve and frogged both arms. I had posted a picture on Ravelry and someone mentioned making it a vest. That's a thought. Little miss and I had a few more discussions (I would rather frog the entire thing and repurpose the yarn than make it and have her not wear it) and a vest it is. I ribbed one armhole and made her try it on. I ribbed the other arm hole and made her try it on. "I'll wear it, I promise." Okay, so I knit the buttonbands and finished the collar today. She needs a wash and a block and then I'll add the buttons - not the really cool ones I got because she only wanted 3 buttons at the top, not buttons all the way down, so I'll save the other buttons for a full cardigan. Maybe one for me. :)

 

Another FO for today was this little guy - Ferdinand.

 

I can only take partial credit for Ferdinand though, this was something little man wanted to make for one of his friends at school so we sat down and worked out what he wanted it to look like and I filled in the details, finishing, and knit some of the main body rows to speed things along. Since Ferdinand will be meeting his new family tomorrow, little man and I thought it was a good time for a boys day out. With this group, trying to take photos wasn't easy...

 

Ferdinand is a fellow Knitter who absolutely loves to cook, especially French cuisine. He is also incredibly fond of gardening so Medwin showed him some of our plants.

 

 

If you remember, Medwin is quite the athlete (he met Roderick on the squash court) and he has also discovered his love for rock climbing. He wasn't about to let his friend fall.

 

 

It was a good time had by all.

 

 

"Am I taller than this plant?"

 

 

"Check out my no 'do!"

 

 

"Is there a fungus among us?"

 

 

"Wasn't me!"

 

 

The boys had fun and Ferdinand showed them all quite a bit about some of the local flora and fauna.

 

The Dreams in Fiber Household had a quiet 4th of July this year. We didn't go anywhere for fireworks and just lit some sparklers in the driveway.

 

I do have a few other things I've been working on. I finished one sock and am nearing the end of another sock (different pair), I have made progress on a blanket wip that has been languishing for a while and I've been doing a bit of spinning in honor of Tour de Fleece. I'm not on a team, I've just been spinning more - or trying to. This is my Gryffin colorway in Pencil Roving - it's destined for an nply.

 

 

I'm a bit further on it now but there is probably a little more than an ounce left. Given our weekend plans I doubt I will be able to spin more until the first part of next week. Little man and I will be doing the Color Run tomorrow. I have been battling some sort of tendonitis/fasciitis on my left lower leg and I'm just now walking normally again after I completed the 5K at the Zombie Retreat so after tomorrow I imagine it will be another couple of weeks of pain. Yippee. Could be worse though. At least it's not my spinning leg!

 

Hopefully I'll have more FO photos for next time along with some colorful shots of our run tomorrow :)

Progress

I thought I would show you my lovelies...

 

It looks like my venture into tomato growing might actually work! Ha!

 

 

I have some of each of the 4 varieties growing so far. I'm keeping my fingers crossed though (as to not jinx it too badly) because I have yet to actually harvest one... Upon closer inspection I found little Adipose checking things out for me as well.

 

 

For being a blob of fat, Adipose sure loves his veggies! He's an active one, that's for sure. When he's not tending to the garden, he likes to climb trees and play a little basketball - his favorite game is "best of 5" against little man.

 

 

 

I couldn't quite get a full frame on him during his acrobatics but I got the dismount...

 

 

I wish my adipose was this cute.

Adipose was actually made back in March but I never got around to photographing it. Not sure why, but there you go. I thought I would get caught up on other project photos while I was at it. As I mentioned earlier, I began little man's shawl right after I finished little miss'. His was finished last Thursday during Knit Night. It felt so good to be able to go to Knit Night once again - I don't think I made it since last February or March due to baseball and soccer schedules... Thursdays are mine once again - for now at least :)

 

 

Speaking of little man, here he is with this year's participation trophy.

 

 

I don't know what my deal is but I have felt rather spastic ever since Summer Break began as far as my crafting is concerned. I am having trouble focusing on what I want to work on and as a result, I have began work on this and that and this and that... Part of it is that the Holidays are coming right around the corner. You crafters out there know what I'm talking about. Knowing that I wont have as much time to create once school resumes in the Fall has sent me into a sort of tail spin and I have been planning out Holiday gifts and tentative schedules which has provided me with daily headaches. It's been awesome. In an attempt to not have to think too hard (and bring about more/bigger headaches) I have been trying to keep the projects I have actually started rather simple and mindless.

 

Take these for instance. I bought this yarn many many years ago now and made 2 scarves out of it in fact (though I don't think either recipient actually wears them, oh well). I still had a bunch of leftovers and since late Spring/early Summer is my selfish knitting time I thought I would make myself a thicker pair of socks using the leftovers. I was going strong and knit about 6 inches worth and decided that the yarn didn't want to be socks. Instead, the yarn chose to be a fun thicker pair of arm warmers (aka: a mindless tube instead of a mindless pair of socks).

 

 

 

Well, 1 arm warmer - I have to CO for the second. I'll do that later today after I get more done on little man's back to school socks. I want it known that I am starting the minions' annual back to school socks IN JUNE and not August; fingers crossed that the other WiP's don't lead me astray.  So right now I have back to school socks, selfish knitting, Holiday Knitting, weaving, cross stitch, quilting, spinning, designing, what feels like a gazillion other WiP's, and dye plans all floating around my head in addition to all the other work/Mom/domestic stuff I get to do. It's no wonder my head always seems to hurt lately.

 

I did mention spinning though, didn't I? I have ONE more sample to spin from the Phat Fiber Box I received maybe 2 years ago now.  Is it 2 years or 3 or 1? I don't remember and it doesn't matter anyway. The end is in sight and I have no idea what to make with all the mini skeins. Here's the most recent 3 that I spindled during the week my SIL and her family were in town.

 

 

I'll take a photo of the complete Phat skein haul once I finish the last fiber sample :) Maybe inspiration will strike once all the skeins are hanging out together.

 

Here's a random view of my porch garden - perhaps it will inspire you somehow.
 

Spring Woolens

This is a busy time of year for the Dreams in Fiber household; Baseball is still going on, school is winding down to a close, and we've all been doing our best to get all of the rest of the various "stuff" done.  I've accepted that my existence is one giant WiP.  Of course it doesn't mean it makes the unfinished To Do list any easier to look at at the end of the day...

In the few spare moments I've had, I have managed to work on a few things AND take pictures of them.  Here they are in no particular order.

Mittens for little miss!

Yes, I started these in January with the intent that she could wear then this past Winter.  Yes, I finished the first mitten mere days after casting on.  Yes, I finally managed to finish the second mitten in May.  Ahem.  Well, we are ready to go for the upcoming Winter....

Container Gardening!  

Thanks to some mature trees spread throughout the front and back yard, our lawn is cloaked in shade for a good chunk of the Spring/Summer/Fall.  This doesn't necessarily help me out when I have grandiose visions of large gardens full of veggies, herbs, and flowers, but it does provide me the opportunity to get a little creative with my problem solving.  Problem: the minions and I want to plant flowers and things with no sunny spots.  Solution: containers that can be moved to sunnier areas throughout the day and handmade container hangers!

I kept looking at this fence behind our deck and thinking that it needed a bit of color.  Then it hit me.  Why not kill two birds with one stone and do some stashbusting while creating a colorful little corner full of flowers that the minions can pick out as long as they do not require full-sun.  It was a cheap project - the plastic containers were only $.16/piece and I already had the cotton.  I sat down, whipped up a quick crochet pattern to meet my plastic pot dimensions, and slung them on the fence.  At that point, it occurred to me that perhaps they should probably be a little more stable given the wind and such, so I just made another tie at the bottom.  4 are shown here, I've made 6 so far and have another 4-6 to go.  

Spindling!

The new greenish skein in the lower portion of the bowl has been added to my spindle-spun collection that will ultimately be turned into an all-spindle-spun project. -- I have a bunch of smaller fiber samples that I am spinning on my Turkish spindle.  I'm not done spindling these though.  I should probably start at the beginning...  

The hubby hit one out of the park this year for Mother's Day and surprised the hell out of me in doing so.  I should add here that I was not surprised that he would/could hit one out of the park, it is just that, earlier in the year, the hubby and I had come up with some low-key Mother's/Father's Day gifts for each other - random, practical, and not too exciting - so I wasn't expecting it.  Fast forward to back in April: the hubby came home from work one day and asked if I wanted any wool - a lady he works with has sheep (well her husband does anyway...) and they just throw it away after they shear them.  "Are you crazy?  Of course I want it!  How much are we talking?"  We are talking about 40lbs worth (and I could've taken more) of a Suffolk-blend that I skirted in the snow/cold and took up to a local mill to be processed.  Suffolk is a down breed and isn't really bread for fleece but they crossed these Suffolks with something nice because the wool was very soft and fluffy and of a nice micron.  Some of it will be turned into roving that I will spin, some will be spun into either Fingering or Worsted Weight yarn, and some of that yarn will be blended with Alpaca, Llama (the hubby scored me a llama fleece as well), and/or nylon for the Fingering weight yarn.  I have been wanting to create a natural line for quite some time now so this will be a good test/foray into what the mill can offer and what I would want to carry.  I digress.  Back to the story.  

In the conversations involving the logistics of obtaining the Suffolk fleece, the hubby casually asked me "How much fiber do you need to make something?"  I was rather taken aback by this because whenever I bring up something Fiber-y, the hubby generally gives me the polite glazed look that I give him whenever he gets too in-depth with baseball.  I didn't want to lose his interest by immediately going into too much detail about the finer aspects of spinning so I generalized it - 4oz will get you a smaller project, 8oz will get you a scarf, 2 lbs will get you an adult sweater..... 

Turns out he was fishing for info as to how much Qiviut he would buy me.  Yes, I said the "Q" word.  The glorious, luscious, insanely soft, insanely warm, and insanely priced, Qiviut.  The hubby got me 1 pound (POUND, not oz) of dehaired Qiviut fiber for me to spin and then make something with.  Qiviut fibers are very short and I don't have a high-speed flyer on my wheel to spin it with so I will be spinning all of it on my 0.6oz Turkish Spindle.  It will just draw out the whole process so insatiably :)  Knowing that I have a bunch of spindling to do, I decided that it was time to bust out my medium-weight Turkish Spindle and get to work on some of my remaining fiber samples.  I don't want to screw up the Qiviut!

Here are the wee spindle-spun skeins thus far.  I think I have another 5 or 6 samples left to finish up and then I'll figure out what to do with all of them.  

  More Knitting!

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was dyeing up prototypes for a series of Limited Edition skeins that will be released later this year.  As part of the In the Spirit Series, I dyed up a self-striping colorway called Yukon (inspired by Yukon Cornelius) and since I already know how it will stripe on sock yarn, I wanted to see what it did dyed on an Aran weight and knit up into a hat.  This will be for little man, he just doesn't know it yet.  I have another Aran hat on the needles for little miss...  The other colorways in the In the Spirit Series are:

All Aboard (Inspired by Polar Express)

Under the Tree

Dreaming of A...

Yukon - in skein form

Dyeing!  More prototypes - these are inspired by the Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

 

Left to right we have: Tarrytown, Midnight Rider, Object of Affection, and Schoolmaster.

Weaving!

I have begun my journey into the realm of weaving.  It's rather addicting, this weaving thing.  I foresee more of it in my future.  This scarf was woven on a 10 dent read with 72 warp ends, all using a Superwash DK base dyed by a friend of mine.  I have a Silken Sock scarf on the loom now in one of my inspired by Dr. Who colorways...

I will be shipping out the first Camelot Club shipment soon so I will have photos of those skeins and the accompanying pattern so stay tuned for that.  I am going to do a little work on that To Do list...