Eggplant, while a lovely color, is not ideal for fingers.
The picture doesn't quite do it justice. It really is eggplant color and rather swollen. I only just managed to get my rings off lest they cut off circulation entirely. I think it's broken.
How, you may ask, did I manage such a rich color on the end of my little left ring finger? I very gracefully smashed it with a hammer in a bizarre sewing accident. I almost threw up and passed out and I'm not certain it would have happened in that order. On a related note, my sewing machine is almost surely dead.
No, I didn't hit it with a hammer, just my finger. I was working on the overskirt pictured here and as soon as I finished, the sewing machine started acting up again. The top thread doesn't loop entirely around and catches something instead of drawing neatly up. Time for a new one.
The observant amongst you will note that this little garment has grommets at the top. Here's a better picture.
One of those, and I forget which, is responsible for the redecorating of my finger, which I'm almost sure is broken. Once I recovered from the initial blinding pain, I finished up the grommets and then the hem. I was going to do just one more thing and that's when the machine decided she was done.
The overskirt fits nicely, though, and I'm pleased with the design. Just don't ask me to duplicate it. I'm not sure I could. It's all upholstery fabric and matches my doublet. The ties are a place holder until I can get something new and all it needs now is an underskirt. That should be fairly easy. I'm thinking something pleated or something with a front panel with lace trim, but definitely long. The overskirt is past floor length and should have a floor length underskirt to go with it.
I've taken a break from spinning wool for a bit and finished up a smallish hank of bamboo. It absolutely shines. So, there it is. I've still got a couple ounces to go of it and I have no idea what it will be when it's all spun up. Lace? Something related to China? No clue. It's superthin, though I've not counted wpi yet. I'm afraid. I'm guessing it's something upwards of 20wpi. Suggestions?

A couple small FO's today. First off, we've got two popholders. To be precise, it's really a couple of commercially bought popholders that have been cleverly covered in order to extend their usage. The original fabric covering the thermal batting was becoming worn, so I put together a couple of covers from scraps. The old popholder is neatly sewn in and it is almost as if I have two new ones.
Next up, a pattern test wristlet. I'm working on what sort of pattern to use for Doc's socks, so I'm knitting some little wristlets for the purpose of testing the pattern in the round. This one is not quite what I'm going for, but close. There are three more candidates so far. These are done in a 5-stitch mock rib in Knitpicks Essential on two size one Knitpics circulars.
It's got a weird ridge on one side because I was attempting to finish with both a picot edge and elastic bind-off. The elastic bind-off is too fat for the picot edge to lay flat, so maybe next time I'll just bind off and have the picot on one side. It's kind of like spikes, though, so I don't entirely dislike it.

I ended up frogging the Teddy Bear hat. It was too big. I've decided to just set the yarn aside for now until I come across the right pattern. I'm not convinced it wants to be a hat. I've also swatched for a sweater for me made from recovered yarn. I liked the color of the old sweater, just not the design - at all. The neck was weird, it was too long, and I couldn't push the sleeves up. I'm thinking cardigan. I have a thing for cardigans. It's slightly over 6 sts/inch in stst, so smallish gauge, but it will be a very nice finished project.

Here's a couple of pics and an excuse to show off my baby nephew. There he is in his snakey sweater I made for him. He's clearly elated. Or asleep, it's hard to tell. The other pic is of my brother in the shirt I made for him. I am told that he likes it rather a lot and wears it often. You will see Woody from Toy Story trying to hide his face from the loudness of the shirt. Poor Woody.

Pictures later. Post now.
I've joined "Summer of Socks" (see sidebar). Now, before you go off and say "ooooh, she's a joiner, that one! Can't pass up a thingalong, even if it were the shawl from H-E-double hockeysticks!" I would like to remind you that I decided last year that Summer is for socks. I'll be designing a pair called "Doc's Socks" for Dr. Sanders and I'll also be making a pair for the Worsted-Stocking Knave. I'm not sure what those will be yet, but I know they'll be green. I'm considering lace. >:)
In other news, I've finished one of the Art gloves and very cleverly left the whole KIP bag at Becky's. I assure you it's fantastic. I also started a simple moss stitch scarf to match Iree's sherbet hat and sherbet mittens for my stupid knitting to do when I'm not paying very close attention. Now, since today is tuesday and tuesdays are for spinning, I'm going to make an attempt at setting aside an hour for carding. If I'm lucky, I'll get some actual spinning in as well. I've also got to work on my car, ride a bike, fold laundry, shower, and shave. I hope to have most of this done by 2:00PM. It is now 8:00AM. Perhaps I'm delusional.

"Blog!" she says! I am not your blogging wench! I do not blog for your pleasure and entertainment!
...okay, so I do.
I am totally your blogging wench. You say "blog" I say "how many words?"...or something. Right. How 'bout some content?

I'm working on the Art gloves mostly these days as my bus stop knitting. I took Murfreesboro's Rover yesterday over to campus to get some stuff done. I think I waited something like unto 45 minutes or more. I ended up getting quite a bit of knitting done and walking home so that I didn't have to wait for the bus again. I can walk the same distance in less time than it takes to wait for the bus. While the bus is climate controlled, fairly comfortable, and doesn't require using my legs, it's slow and unreliable. I imagine they're still working out the kinks in the system, but dang.
Anyhow, I did make progress on them and they're looking like they might be gloves when they grow up. I am totally in love with this yarn. Holy crap, the subtle color shifts, the striping, and it's soft! I had to rip the whole thing back because it was too big in the hand and too small in the pinky finger, but this seems to be fitting like a ...nevermind. I'm not going there.
The blue flower is flax. It's one of the few flowers in this world that's honest to goodness blue and not a shade of purple. They're quite lovely and are blooming well this year. I'm tempted to try flax spinning, but there are a couple obstacles. I've been reading about what a chore it is to spin flax, especially as compared to wool. You have to keep the fibers wet. Secondly, where the heck am I going to get flax fiber? I know how to get the fiber from the plant, but I'm not growing near enough in my little container garden to make a garment. Besides, when I do it, I end up with tow rather than the longer, more useful fibers and retting is kind of gross.
I'm working on stash-busting with my fabrics. So far, I've made two rilly sekrit yule presents, and I'm working on some popholders. I've decided on log cabins 'cause I'm hoping to be buying a house soon. The red in the center represents the hearth and what better project to work the mojo for house-getting? Besides, making popholders is good short attention span sewing.
Soon there will be navy sock yarn for Doc's socks and some Knitpicks' superwash for the Worsted-Stocking Knave.

Textile arts are traditionally women's work. Historically, women have done most of the domestic sewing, spinning, embroidery, and weaving. There are numerous references in Egyptian, Norse, and Classical works to women employed in these occupations. Men tended to enter into these occupations when textile production left the realm of the domestic and entered into trade and industry. Men would then become weavers and tailors, but women still spun, embroidered, and sewed or knit items for the home and to sell in a cottage industry kind of setting. These are broad generalizations spanning thousands of years, but it is difficult to find historical references to men engaging in spinning or embroidery. If you find any, let me know.
There are those who would suggest that women have been oppressed by this division of labor. Perhaps in some cases this is true, but there's a part of me that's deeply offended by the suggestion that because women have traditionally been masters of the spindle and needle, we should cast aside these things as symbols of oppression. I say, to Hel with that. Brynhild, described as the greatest of great women in the Volsungas Saga, was as likely to pick up a sword as a needle. The same goes for Gudrun in the same saga. In the Nyals saga, the Valkyrie are depicted weaving on a loom using men's heads to weight the warp threads, a sword as a shed, and entrails for the warp and weft. Athena was born fully armored and carries the Aegis as her shield. She's not only the goddess of tactical warfare, but the goddess of weaving. Artemis, as skilled an archer as her brother, was the Queen of the Nymphs whose primary occupation was spinning. Maidens of Delos would bring spindles bound with their hair to the tomb at the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus.
So, if goddesses and heroines aren't fettered by their "women's work," why should we be? There is no reason to cast off the needle in exchange for the pen (or keyboard) when we can do both. There is no reason to put less value on the skill and industry of what is traditionally women's work because we now do work that was traditionally set aside for men. We can be doctors and knitters, lawyers and quilters, scientists and spinners. I am proud of the women's work that I do. I am proud that I can make thread with my own hands and then make that thread into something. I can make dresses one hour and work on my car the next. I can read academic papers and write on almost any subject one hour and embroider or knit the next hour. I can make lace, compose songs, and wield a hammer or screwdriver.
A modern woman's value is placed upon her ability to juggle children and an occupation outside the home. But to me, that is only a different sort of enslavement. A woman's value or virtue does not lie so narrowly, but rather in her kindness, her industriousness, her adaptability, and her strength of spirit and will. I would put the same values and virtues upon men.

Long story short, I don't care who you are or what your gender may be. More people should join me in my fabric and fiber goodness.
You will be assimilated.

(x-posted to Siamese cat, Zen Jail)
Feminist article that started this tirade:
King, Kathryn R. "Of Needles and Pens and Women's Work." Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature. v.14 no.1 (Spring, 1995) pp 77-93.

Okay, so I'm a lame-o with no pictures today.
My machine seems to be working just fine now and I hope, hope, hope, that I can keep it around another 5 years before it goes phlooey.
The dress was fabulous. Holy crap and go me. I hadn't ever done that level of alteration to a pattern and not only did the final product fit, but it was flattering besides. I finished a little pillow for Iree, a Yule present for "L," and Kell's Mock Croc socks. I had made progress on the Art gloves and made it all the way to the pinky, but it fit weird when I put it on, so I ripped the whole thing out. It's small, so it should go quickly when I cast on again.
I've about decided that the stuff I've been spinning for the warp is too thin. It's about 22 wpi, and if I'm using the wpi as the number of warp threads per inch, 22 is just too much for a first weaving. What I may do is send half of my Hickman County wool off to be mill carded and spin some thicker stuff from that. Since this brown is such an uber-doober laceweight, I can make lace with it. Crazy, no?

She's a sad tomato.

I have a New Home sewing machine that I bought about 8 years ago or so and it's been acting up. The top tension breaks, especially on the zigzag stitch, it gets tangled up around the bobbin case, and it rattles. headdesk -and at a time when I've got an impending deadline. Of course, to be fair, when have I not got an impending deadline? Oy. So, I take the thing in to the shop and the lady tells me that they can clean and service it and that should help, but the end is nigh for this little machine. Better start saving now. Geez, I hate planned obsolescence. I want something that's going to last me twenty years or more. Mom's singer is likely older than I am and still running. She's got one that's muuuuuch older than that, I don't know who manufactured it, but it's the foot-pedal kind that folds down into the table. I'm tempted to start using that one. I don't want an uber digital thingamy with 9,000 stitches and a computer that's smarter than my cat. That's not saying much for the computer (or the cat), but I don't want a computer in my sewing machine at all. More parts = more stuff that breaks. I feel the same way about my car.
Simple Pictures are Best. (Amazon link)

I am a naughty blogger - and a honey bear.

I've been practicing an ancient art, passed down for thousands of years from crow to crow. I am honored that they have chosen to teach me this very ancient and revered zen practice known as "ooh! shiny!"
I am easily distracted, but I have pictures!
So, here are a number of various UFO's, including the muslin for a sleeve for a garment I'm constructing completely from scratch. No pattern, nothin'. I'm totally making this up as I go along and I hope it doesn't suck. Up in the left corner is the flower basket shawl. I've actually made a little progress on it, but it's not much to look at right now. What can I say? It's an unblocked lace shawl.

This is about how much wool I can hand card in an hour (thieving cat placed for size comparison). It comes out to about an ounce and a half, and that's at a leisurely "I'm not going to injure myself" pace. I've been working at about a hank of yarn a week, but missed last week due to washing machine woes. You see, I forget that I'm 115lbs soaking wet and not all that strong. When my washer broke down, I very cleverly tried to move it myself so that I could get to the back to disconnect it. It weighed about 200lbs according to the scrap yard scales. The new one, a Kenmore Heavy Duty, cost me $25 and is much much lighter. Anyhow, I had hurt my shoulder moving the old one and there was no way I was carding wool with a hurt shoulder.
So, this week's hank was about 1 7/8 oz and a bit coarser than usual. One of the types of wool in my big box o' sheepy goodness is a bit coarse, but most of it is rather soft. I just happened to get a bunch of the coarse stuff this time around. I wonder how much of this I'll need...
Anyhow, I think I've figured out a way to calculate how much warp I'll need.
1. Measure wraps per inch of thread to be used for warp. I figure that's about how many threads I'll need per inch.
2. Measure about how long the intended fabric is going to be. The dimensions for the himation that I'm going to make are my height in width by twice my height in length. Add about two feet.
3. Multiply wpi x (fabric length +2ft) and that's how many yards you need for warp. Go basic algebra skills!
So, here's the brown hat I've been working on. I'm at an impasse on this one, I'm afraid. It's worked on Knitpicks size 4 circulars and now I've come to the decreases. 'Cept I very cleverly don't have any size 4 dpns. Beckoo of the Hill People says that 3's should do just fine, but... I'm afraid it's going to look funny. I'm setting it aside until I can pick up some size 4 dpns. Oh - the yarn is the Teddy Bear roving that I spun up into a 3-ply and it's turning out to have this sort of wood grain pattern that's really cool. It looks terrible in anything but stst and plain ribbing, so here it is in stst and plain ribbing.
More homespun yarn. This is the rainbow soysilk/wool blend that my sweet husband gave me for Yule. I originally wanted to knit a pair of gloves on 0's, but I decided on 1's because I have a zillion of them. The yarn is very fine and these will be lightweight gloves, but they're going to be gorgeous. I'm seriously in love with this yarn. It holds my attention quite well because it changes color every so often and makes with the purdy stripeys. There's no way I'm ever ever ever going to be able to make two gloves exactly the same with this yarn, but I'm at peace with that.
I'm making progress on the Mock Croc. As you can see, I've turned the heel on sock #2 and seem to be plodding right along. Next pair in the queueueueueueueueuue is a pair in navy blue for Dr. Sanders. She wears a size 7 shoe, so I figure that the circumference should be about 8 1/4" and the length of the foot about 9 1/2". I'm only guessing because her feet live in Nashville. That's the best working measurements I've come up with so far. So, as soon as the Mock Croc are done, these are immediately next.
After that comes the next promised pair. Those are going to be huge. Not nearly as huge as my dear and darling husband's foot sweaters, but still huge. You see, for Bardic Olympics this Ostara, I made a sock certificate. Remember this? Scroll down all the way to the bottom and read the last two sentences. Now guess who won the sock certificate. headdesk
Do not name the well from which you will not drink.

Quickie update today. Right now, I've got three things on the needles. One thing for each level of stupid.

1. Plain Brown hat in Jesspun yarn (stupid level: extreme)
   
2. Kell's socks in Knitpicks Essential, black (stupid level: moderate)
3. Flowerbasket Shawl in Knitpicks Shadow, lost lake (stupid level: minimal)

There's been a lot of hat knitting lately, but I'm making progress on the socks as well. The shawl is kind of crawling along, possibly because my stupid level hasn't gotten to minimal for some time. Today is tuesday, and tuesday is for spinning (so the Harlot says and it sounded like a plan to me). I'm thinking that I'll be doing some spindle spinning today so that I can have more yarn for the warp. I've researched loom design and it seems to be coming along rather well. I've about decided on a warp-weighted loom. I think it's probably the simplest design with the best means for keeping tension. I don't have a picture of my design sketches (pencil doesn't photograph well), but I think it's a good design and will be functional when it's put together.

Yes, I know, I've been Jessica-no-postey for eleven days. I think my brain 'sploded. Here are some pics of recent FO's to tide you over 'til I pick up all the little bits of brain scattered about the state of Tennessee.








An ugly apron and two popholders, prizes for the Bardic Olympics. A lovely dancing lady won the apron for "best Music" and Iris won the popholders for "most melodramatic."








Iris's old toybox, repainted.

I have discovered a potential flaw in my himation plan. Aside from my carding woes, there's the matter of the garment itself. I was raiding my fabric stash today to see if I had any suitable fabrics that would work as a himation for this year's Ostara gathering. I found a mustard colored fabric that was nice and heavy, a blue cotton print with a pretty border (the Greeks were all about the border decorations), and a pale green with tiny little eyelets in horizontal stripes. I figured that in spite of the differences in fiber content between the mustard colored fabric and well, wool, that the weight of the fabric would be about the same. So, I wrapped it around myself as one does with a himation and I came to the realization that not only was it too long, it was also too heavy to be walking around in and it wouldn't drape right. Nevermind that it's mustard. This does not bode well for a handwoven woolen garment. I tried on the blue cotton print and it worked just beautifully. The borders really set off the garment, it draped perfectly, and I had exactly the right length. The green cotton worked about as well, but I'm not as fond of the color.

So, what does this mean for my wool weaving project? The classy ladies of ancient Greece probably wore linen. From what I know of linen, it can be woven quite finely and drapes about like cotton. It's also a pain to spin and expensive to come by. Most folks wore wool. It's easier to spin, cheaper, and can be woven into a very heavy and warm fabric if need be. There are also very fine woolens that are softer and thinner, but still quite warm. The stuff I'm spinning is about laceweight, so it's going to weave up nicely, but how is it going to drape? Is it going to be too heavy to wear? Should I wash the lanoline out to reduce the weight?

Fleece: 1
Jess: 0

The two lonely little skeins (at least they have each other), the rolag to the right, and a spool and a half not pictured here is all I've carded so far. Each skein is about 2oz, give or take. The pile of sheep fuzz in the background is, according to my bathroom scale, still 4 1/2 lbs.
I am seriously considering sending it off to a mill to be carded. The only problem with this is that they have to wash it to put it through their machines or else it will gum up the works. Normally, I wouldn't object to this in the least except that I want to keep the lanoline in the wool because it makes it water resistant. So, I'm carding it by hand.
headdesk
A drum carder! A drum carder! My kingdom for a drum carder!

None of this process was mechanized before 1700. As I cry into my wool, wishing I had a drum carder, I think about those that went before me that didn't even have the possibility, however remote, of obtaining such a thing. For me, it's in the realm of possibility. For them, it was not. I thank the Gods for modern technology, but it's good to remember where we came from. This is hard labor. Sometimes I think I'd rather be digging ditches than hand carding wool. It takes about ten hours of work, by my estimation, to make about 2 1/2oz of two-ply spun wool on the spinning wheel. I'm getting faster, but if I charged you per hour for just the skein of yarn you would think I'm nuts for charging that much, even at minimum wage.
The trireme, a ship introduced to the Greeks in the 8th century BCE, 150 of which defeated Xerxes 2nd invasion fleet in the Battle of Salamis in 480 BCE, has sails. Here's a picture of a reconstruction. You can get something of an idea about how big the sails are by looking at the people rowing in the picture. In ancient times, those sails was made from fiber that was entirely processed by hand.
I'm getting a drum carder. As soon as humanly possible.

Edit:
One hour of solid work- and I mean solid not doing anything else and really working hard - produces about 2oz of carded wool.
I have blisters.

Pictures!

I didn't manage to get pictures taken yesterday afternoon because I got distracted and then my camera battery went dead. So, there you are then. I did, however, manage to get pictures today. The gods have blessed us with superb weather and it looks like it's going to continue for a while.
Let's see, where shall I begin?
Ah, yes, project HN.
I finished this yesterday at the house of Dragonfly & Butterfly Awakening. Unfortunately, as I mentioned before, it's too small for it's intended 6'3" husbandly-type wearer, so I'm setting it aside until the right person comes along.
Knitted on sz6 straight needles in Phoenix soysilk in green and black. The pattern is a 4 stitch knit, 4 stitch purl vertical zigzag with several mistakes intentionally left uncorrected.
Mock Croc socks. Still plugging along on those, though now I have one finished and one started, it should go fairly quickly. Here they are, pictured next to my primroses, the first in my garden to bloom.
Next, there's the bath scrubby I made for all the little soap slivers we get after the big bar gets used up. It's made from leftover bits of Sugar&Cream cotton and is shown here hanging in the shower. It was knitted on size 4 straights in the Bicolor Tweed stitch from 365 Knitting Stitches. This was started and finished on March 2.
Then, there's Coronet #2 for The Boy. I finished Coronet #1 for Miss Rhiannon back in November and gave it to her for Yule. The Boy saw said hat, thought it was groovy, and wanted the Crazy Hat Lady (me) to knit him one for a few pennies. So, here it is, on size 8 bamboo dpns, just as before. I'm hoping perhaps I can weave in the top a little better this time because it came undone on the last one.
Spinning: It occurs to me that I'm going to need some drop spindle-spun yarn for the warp. Stuff spun on the drop spindle is stronger because it has to support the weight of the spindle and therefore better suited to be warp threads. The brown stuff on the bottom right is some I've spun using my drop spindle and I've been thinking about using that for my warp threads for my himation. I'm considering also using more of the Peaceful Pastures lamb. I haven't decided. I do know that one of these days I want to purchase a drum carder. It takes me six hours to card enough wool to make two and a half oz. of yarn. I'm getting faster at it, but still, that's ten hours all told to make yarn from raw wool. I have a greater appreciation for the scarcity of garments before any of these processes were mechanized, but dang. Ten hours. After I get my electric guitar, I'm saving my pennies for a drum carder. Still no loom, but I'm not in a huge rush for it, so it's no biggie. I'd like to have my own ball winder as well, but I have one that I can sometimes use, so the absence of a ball winder isn't nearly so painful as the absence of a drum carder.
Oh! I nearly forgot! I finally finished the Zebra swallowtail handkercheif. There it is. The image is traced from a photo and stitched mainly in satin stitch, with the outlines backstitched. It goes with the West Virginia White I finished earlier. Truth be told, they are going to two different people, but I think of them as a set. I finished this one last Saturday, I believe.

Okay, Beck, I'm on it. I'll take pictures this afternoon, but here's the skinny:

1. Finished project HN today (ran out of yarn). It doesn't fit it's intended wearer, but it's a scarf, so it'll fit someone, non?
2. Finished one Mock Croc sock (though not until after February was over). The other one is one inch - Reason one why March is for making mates.
   
3. Finished the sherbet hat for Iree to match her adorable sherbet mittens. She now wants a scarf and a sweater and and...
4. What flower basket shawl?

I have also discovered that it takes me about ten hours to make about two and a half oz of two ply sportweight-ish yarn. Six hours of that is carding. I'm making the big eyes at the husband to card wool for me. Hasn't worked yet, but he's gonna fail that will save eventually.

It has been a week since I last posted, and a lot has happened in that week. I haven't been able to get much knitting done, mostly because I've been distracted by babies and beautiful weather. I was out today in just a sweater and t-shirt and was only a little bit chilly. Either I'm better adapted to the cold, it's really warming up (the weatherbug says 38 degrees farenheit, but I don't believe it), or it's a combination of the two.
Oh! - babies! If you haven't heard yet, Saturday the 24th at 1:20 in the morning, my nephew Thomas was born. He weighed 8#9oz and was 22" long. Dad, mama, and baby are all doing very very well. I still can't get my head around the fact that my baby sister is a mama, but I'm very happy for her. She's going to be a great mom.
The last several days, it's been gorgeous outside. There's a warmness to the sun that wasn't there before and you can tell that the earth is about to burst forth into spring. We're right at the point now when it's no longer winter, but not quite spring yet. Mostly I can't wait for the flowers. I can't wait to plant in the garden and get my hands in the dirt again.
See how I am distracted?
First some spinning updates:
I've started spinning the wool I got last week from Peaceful Pastures and I have decided that I really really for real tho' want a drum carder. I just don't have the spare $300-$500. Perhaps in the future, non? Hand carding is some hella hard work and I've started to get blisters and scrapes on my knuckles from it. I don't mind terribly much because I'm trying to do it little by little, moving from one part of the process to another so I neither get bored nor suffer injury to my poor wrists. The end result is beautiful, though. The yarn is naturally variegated and soft as well. I spun up a small one-ounce sample of the yarn first, but I spun it entirely too tightly. Not even washing relaxed it. So, I adjusted the tension on the wheel and came up with something usable the second time around.
In other spinning news, I finished a ply of the bamboo I've been spinning on the drop spindle. It's a nice break from the plain brown wool I've been spinning on the spindle for what seems like forever. You can see in this picture how there's still a little frost outside, but the sun is quickly melting and evaporating it away.
Now on to the knitting. I did manage to finish one Mock Croc sock. Here it is. Since March is for Making Mates (and tomorrow is the first of March), I'm still doing alright. I want to hurry up and get these done, though, because I want to make a pair of socks for my former doc. She has a multitude of medical problems including metastatic cancer and lupis and can't get insurance. She's really in a bad way right now and this is one way I'm able to offer her comfort. I can't really send a whole lot of pennies, but I can make a pair of socks. Once the Mock Croc are done, it's off to the LYS for some navy blue sock yarn. It's her favorite color.
Moving on, Project HN, the green and black soysilk scarf is...well, it's getting there. I have eight stripes done and a ninth started. I'd like to be able to do twelve total, but I'll go until I run out of one or the other colors. I do like how it's turning out and how the soysilk knits up. I'm going to work on it some today so maybe I'll have another FO for February. Here's hopin'.
No progress on the flower basket shawl since last time. I've set it aside to focus on other things. And by "focus" I mean "be completely distracted by new wool, babies, and sunny weather."

It came! It came! It came!

This is the wool I ordered from Peaceful Pastures and it came today. They're a farm out in Hickman and they also sell meat. I'm all about buying locally when I can, so I'm thinking about also buying some meat from them. The only barrier there is the amount of freezer space I have.
It occurs to me that I am easily distracted by shiny new wool. I have yet to actually knit anything with anything I've spun. I did manage a gauge swatch with the rainbowdey soysilk/wool and I'm planning a pair of gloves from that. This here is intended for a woven himation and I can't wait to start spinning it. It's super soft. I'd make things for my new nephew out of this it's so soft. I've also got some bamboo fiber on the drop spindle and some wool I got from the Knaughty Knitter on the wheel. I've almost spun all of that up and when I sit down to it again, it should go pretty quickly.
But it's February for Finishing and I've finished one entire thing. There's been no progress on the flower basket shawl since last I posted, some progress on the scarf, and some progress on Kell's sock, but nothing yet finished. Becky, you are totally kicking my butt.
headdesk
I need to focus.

I never did post a picture of my brand new nephew's snake sweater. I've already listed it as finished, so it doesn't count for February for Finishing, but I did sew on the buttons today and finally take a picture. He's not here yet, but it should be any ol' minute now. I'm making progress on the other stuff, but haven't finished anything yet. My fleece is on its way here. I'm very excited, though not as excited as I am about little Thomas's birthday. I'm getting a nephew!
Nothing else of note, so I shall get back to knitting like a fiend.

Holy cow, that is cute. I have got a seriously cute kid.
Oh! erm, knitting and finishing and...right, got distracted by the cuteness. Sorry about that.
So, here's the sherbet hat and sherbet mittens, all finished and in use. (I think I've already said this, but...) It's made from microspun and some fluffy thing from Yarn Bee stranded together and knit on #7 bamboo dpns. Note the pompom. It's huge. I asked her what kind of top she wanted her hat to have and she picked pompom. She even opened up my handy-dandy knit patterns book and pointed to it so as to make sure I got the right one. The girl knows what she wants. Well, as you can tell, she really likes the hat and mittens her mommy made for her. I totally score good mommy points.
So, we got some cash from the father-in-law as a late Christmas gift and what do I do but go to the Knaughty Knitter - on accounta 'cause. I got some Northern Lights roving in a colorway called "Teddy Bear," a 100g skein of Opal in a blue that translates to "Dreamcatcher," and Iris decided that she wanted some yarn, so she got a skein of pastel acrylic/viscose. She was very excited about all the different yarns and wool and had to show me everything. She even decided that she wanted to pay for everything (with my money, of course), so she gave Miss Meredith the dollars and I used it as a math lesson. Teaching moments are everywhere.
So I already started spinning the roving and it's a bit coarse, but spins very very quickly. I've already got one skein of about 1 1/4 oz., 100yds, 3-ply, and one half ounce single all spun up. It's kind of a brownish-grey with some cream and white and really does remind me of teddy bears. I'm even considering knitting a teddy bear from it, though I've not made my mind up about that yet. I will post pictures when I get the chance.
Well, it's off to bed for me. Little bit has school in the morning.

I am weak. I cast on something new on the 1st of February. I am ashamed. It was the new sock from the 6-sox list, "Springtime in Paris," but I ended up not liking how the fabric was turning out, so I ripped it out completely. So far, I've finished bupkis other than a dice bag for my sweetie made from his underwear. I have, however, made progress on a couple things and other than my brief infraction I've been moving right along. Here's a list of the knitting uFo's 'cause the complete uFo list is entirely too intimidating. the complete uFo list is also in the sidebar, but I try not to look at it too much, lest I hide under the couch and cry.

• Mock Croc socks for Kell
• sherbet hat for Iris
• flower basket shawl

Three things. Okay, three knitted things. I'm easily distracted by shiny objects and actually have about a dozen other things that I ought to finish as well. But there's my knitting uFo list. The knitted list is totally doable in the month of February and if I finish other objects, it's a bonus.
So, here are some in-progress pictures. First, the Mock Croc socks. I'm about a pattern repeat away from the heel of the first sock and if I bust butt on it, I can totally get it done before the end of February. I just need to remember not to try and knit while I'm watching other people play video games. I turn into a drooling zombie that can't knit even the simplest lace pattern.


Second, the sherbet hat. I made a pair of sherbet mittens for Miss Iris because she lost her yellow ones I made for her. I know, they had a string between them, but she lost the entire jacket they were strung into. I haven't got a picture of those and can't really take one right now because she wore them to school. They're not stellar, but they're cute and she likes them. After I finish the hat, I'll be making a scarf to match. All the yarn is in various colors of Microspun that I traded to Becky for some fat quarters. I'm not sure what I was thinking there, but it's stash and I'm using it. It's stranded with some pastel fluffy thing from Yarn Bee - also stash. Iris and Kell are the best people to make things for. Both of them are very excited about their things I'm knitting.

Thirdly, the Flower basket shawl by Evelyn Clark. I made a rather terrible mistake involving a dropped stitch and ended up ripping the entire thing out, but I was only a few repeats in and recovered quickly. I'm now five pattern repeats in out of an intended twelve. I'm not entirely sure who the recipient is going to be, but I'm rather enjoying the process. It's a simple knit and the lace pattern seems to follow a logical progression of sorts. I barely have to glance at the pattern to know where I am and what I'm doing.

I've also got some embroidery in progress, Gretta's cocaine Katie pants and a butterfly handkercheif. For some reason, everyone seems to like the butterfly ones best of all. Fortunate for me, there are enough varieties of butterfly to keep me interested. I try to depict real butterflies as best as I can because they're more beautiful than anything I could invent. I'd like to do a black swallowtail eventually and Miss Kell wants a tiger swallowtail. Iris wants a hanky of her very own as well, but I don't know if I'm going to make her an embroidered one. I may just pick a fabric she likes and hem the edges. We'll see.

So, anyhow, I do feel like I'm moving along and I'm pretty hopeful about February is for finishing. I'm not entirely sure what's on the docket for today's needlework. Perhaps hat, perhaps shawl, perhaps sock, perhaps, perhaps, perhaps...Sorry, slipped into Cake for a minute.