SourCherries

The Lace Phase Continues...

I'm continuing with the lace knitting- mostly prompted by a KAL at my LYS- CDA Yarn and Fiber. The owner and I are doing the Aeolian Shawl from Knitty together. It's really not a very big KAL since it's just the two of us, but it is definitely spurring me on to get some knitting done.

This marks the first time I've ever knit with beads and while I love the sparkly, I'm not loving the tediousness of adding beads in every few stitches. I'm hoping that the outcome will be worth the effort. I just finished the transition chart today. I had extra time due to having had a wisdom tooth out today. Fortunately for me, my wisdom teeth come out easily, so after a little ice I'm already eating solid food.

Oh, and, a picture of where I'm at so far.

I'm using Alpaca With a Twist Fino and size six needles.

So...

I suppose I should dish on what I've been up to besides spinning. Not much really. Early in March we went to the ocean. It was lovely, even for that time of year.

You can see the whole set of photos over here. We had fun and will probably be headed back that direction at the end of the month for camping or something. We take an extremely casual approach to trip planning.

I've been working on the knitting slowly and steadily and seem to have settled on lace as the project of choice. Both of the lacy scarves from this post are finished.

Lace Ribbon Scarf- from Knitty. I love how this turned out. Optim is delicious!

This is the Peacock Tail and leaf Scarf is from Nancy Bush's amazing book "Knitted Lace of Estonia". I seriously want to knit everything in this book! Also, by the way- Cashmere is pretty amazing stuff too.

And, then because I can never resist a simple triangular shawl that can be knit from one skein of sock yarn. I made an Ishbel too.

Pattern: Ishbel (my ravelry project page) by Ysolda
Yarn: One skein of Malabrigo Sock in Tiziano Red- and when I say one skein I mean every last inch. I literally used the skein ties to finish casting off with because I had run out of yarn.
Size: The larger of the two sizes offered.
Needle: US size 6

Oh, and can I just say, the Malabrigo Sock yarn is addicting. I pretty much want to go out and buy every single colour available.

Okay, now I feel kind of caught up again with the blogging. Hopefully I'll stay that way (which of course I know will never happen, but it's a nice thought).

It's Happened!

Certain people can feel free to tell me 'I told you so', because I've finally felt the need to open an Etsy shop! I hope everyone likes it :)

Hey, it's Spring!

Plum Buds

Blues and Greens

Blues and Greens

I just wanted to let everyone know that I survived the MRI (which of course, everyone knew I would). Thanks for all the helpful hints and tips. It's nice to know that I'm not the only one who gets nervous about such a silly little thing. I got enough anti-anxiety drugs to make me sleep all day long yesterday, and all night. And, J should get boyfriend of the year award for standing up and massaging my feet through the entire hour long test which is what really seemed to help the most. Now, onto funner and fiberier things. The basket of handspun above is what I've worked on so far the month of February, blues and greens. My favorites.

Valium Anyone?

I've had migraines for pretty much as long as I can remember, only this winter they've exploded and I feel like I've basically had a headache every damn day. I've finally caved and restarted my migraine meds that I've been on in the past which make me pretty much so stupid that I can't knit anything but 2x2 rib. This means that I will be doing a lot of spinning, but whatever... I have a lot of fiber I need to use up. Anyway, today I went in for an MRI just to make sure there's nothing serious going on (I highly doubt it, but I have super good insurance so I might as well use it). I spent about 30 seconds with my head in the machine before I completely freaked out- I'm definitely claustrophobic. So, I rescheduled and opted for oral sedation, only now, thinking about the utter panic I felt in that 30 seconds I'm wondering if a valium is going to do it for me. I mean, I've gotten to watch several people undergo MRI's (I get to monitor patients down routinely as part of my job) and they seem to tolerate it without any problems, so logically I know it's no problem, but I definitely want no part of it- my hands are starting to sweat just thinking about it. Gah.

Handspun Destash

I'm doing a very small handspun destash through my trade/sell page on Ravelry. I just wanted to put a little shout out so folks would know I was getting rid of some stuff :)

The Last of 2008

I did  manage to squeeze in one final project for 2008. The previously mentioned Habitat Hat. This marks the first time that I have spun yarn with a specific project in mind and I couldn't be more thrilled with the outcome. A perfect way to finish off 2008. J was even so kind as to go down to the lake with me and pose for photos reminiscent of my Koolhaas hat from 2007. We missed our annual Christmas Eve walk due to weather, so New Year's Eve it was.

 

   

The yarn was spun  from CVM roving into a three ply. Four ounces yielded approximately 190 yards of yarn at 12 wpi. CVM is a new favorite for me- very bouncy and springy and while not as soft as merino, definitely soft enough for next to skin wear.

I also finished up my 'Hive' yarn. It's super sunshiney, just like I imagined.

 

I hope everyone has a lovely start their New Year! 

Handspun Habitat in Progress

Handspun Habitat in Progress

It's taking up all my attention right now. Can't blog. Must finish.

Making Some Sunshine

New boots- an early Christmas gift from J that I needed due to the incredible amount of snow we got in the last two days. It ended up being right around 30" in twenty-four hours. Ridiculous. My house seems practically buried.

So, needless to say, I'm staying inside (except for the three hours I spent shoveling yesterday) and spinning up my own dose of sunshine.

This is 'Hive', dyed by Hello Yarn. I'm spinning it into a traditional three ply that I hope will be around worsted weight, because I find myself in desperate need of some sun-shiny mittens.