A Blogging Deficit

Dear blogging world, I have no abandoned you. I can't imagine how many blog entries I am now behind on in my RSS reader. Too scared to look. I do peek on Ravelry now and then and keep up with everyone's projects. I find it so inspiring. But miss the details of the blogs. Maybe in October I will get to catch up.

OCTOBER - can you believe it! 2008 is flying by. My year of lace is almost up. What will next year be - I think the year of the sweater. I am feeling a definite sweater mojo kicking up.

So much to catch up on - and I won't do any of it justice.

First of all - I have wheels.

4 to be exact.

Yes, Four. Not expensive wheels mind you, but they do add up!

It was either a matchless or my 4 babies. I went for the quantity.

I need to name them - but basically - they are:

1> My Kiwi - my office wheel. She was so easy to start on. Took her out of the box, built her and was off and running right away!



I have a bobbin and a half - and that is just because I only got to spin on her a day before I took off on a three city tour.

Side note - Can you believe I went to Dallas, St. Pete/Tampa and New York and didn't visit one yarn shop. That proves I was very BUSY!!

But here is a single spun on her:



So fast and easy!!

2. Hitchhiker - this is my favorite wheel I think. My travel wheel. I used him first and had a hard time. I went back again - and did a bit better the next day but it still was rough. But go figure - I came back from vacation and can spin just fine on him. And I love carrying him on my shoulder anywhere I need him. With a baby around - he's great - I just take him out at night and carry him away in the day. Take down is seconds.



And in travel mode:



3. Spider Chakra - I wanted to be able to spin cotton and silk, but didn't want to spend a lot of money. She's not pretty, but I'm having fun with her. But wish perhaps I had waited for something more portable.......



Ok - I couldn't figure out cotton yet - so I wimped out with some unspun Icelandic. I'll get back to cotton......one day......

4. And lastly - my lazy girl plying electric wheel.



Won't win any beauty prizes, but it spins FAST! Once I'm done with the joy of spinning, I want to ply fast and get to knitting. This works perfectly for that goal. Parts are cheap to - if anything get's broken and needs fixing.

When I'm less tired, I will have to blog more on my entry into the world of wheels. I will just say I can't thank Shiori, Marie, and Nancy enough for introducing me to spinning. I LOVE it!

Only one project to blog on before I wrap.

My Onda Shawl. It combines several loves - shawls, Koigu, Feather N Fan, Green, Purple and Pink.



Once I started knitting it - I couldn't put it down. First of all to move to another Koigu color, then to see how the blended, and lastly I wanted to wear it.



I wanted a green base - but The Needlecraft Center had mostly purples in stock. But I managed to work in a bit of green - yay!



I need a photography lesson to do a better job taking pictures of it. I'm not doing it justice.

Well - I am a good hour past when I should be in bed, so I'll stop now. But you see why I'm not blogging or reading blogs. Between work and travel - there has been so much to do!

Happy Knitting/Spinning Y'all.

Edit - Stacey and Doreen told me my sad photo skills is not doing the Koigu justice.

So - a few more pics....

Anticipation, Anticipation, is making me......

Stalking the mailman. My wheel(s) are on their way. Yes, WHEELS!!!!!

The lady at the Woolery was like "um, may I asked why you ordered more than one wheel"? So - why. Well - I had budgeted for Matchless, but then I thought. Hmmmmmm - I can get a less expensive wheel for a couple of other tasks. Plus - since wheels hold their value pretty well - I can always sell it and get the Matchless later if it was a mistake.

Soo... I ordered....

Well - I'm going to string it out a few blogs. Why should I be the only one waiting?

Let me get caught up on a few other projects.

First of all - I wanted to knit Jada a fall sweater. I found this cute pattern in the One Skein book, that had never caugth my eye before but this time I fell in love with it. I roamed around Cottage yarns for an hour searching for the perfect yarn. I decided on Malabrigo, where I should have started but didn't because I didn't think it was Chunky enough.



This project is full of colors I love - and for a baby it's pefect. Squishy soft, colorful (she won't get lost!), warm, loose, moveable, easy to take on and off. Plus - it was a fast knit.



See - fits her perfectl - ie. a little loose with room to grow! I decided to crochet the buttons with advice from Doreen and Jenny. I had a fruitless search for buttons, but they were right. Crochet buttons were perfect - I don't have to worry about lead in the metal buttons I was looking at and/or a choking hazard.



This is my favorite project in a while. It makes me want to make sweaters, something I've never wanted to knit before.

So - I stareted another one - Victorian Baby Tee - for Jada with Serendipty Tweed.



I love the color, the lace and the garter bands. I also love the neckline of the sweater. This is going to be another favorite project.



I'm working on a ton of lace scarves for Christmas gifts. My gift of choice this year. Not sure if I will make it on all of them. I get a little bored....

Have you seen the newest knitting magazine out? I am in LOVE with so many patterns in this little gem.



I'm not a fan of the DB yarns, to pricy with too little yardage for me. But she knows how to make an attractive patterns. Her sloucy beret is on my short list of fall projects. Just working on the perfect yarn for it....

Look at these little friends in our yard/garage:





Sorry for the blurry picture on the last one. I was trying not to get to close, he was a bit jumpy. Ha, Ha, Ha :)

What's up with Coat's and other company tring to get exotic on us? The Auntie Lydia line has come out with a Bamboo Thread - that looks exactly like a high price lace yarn. For $2.49!



So - of course I got some to experiment with.

I'm currently obsessed with My Onda shawl. You take 7 Koigu colorways that vary from dark to light or really anyway you want them to - and blend them.



I'm knitting each section obsessed with joining in the next yarn - I'm so excited to see them together. I think this will be my travel project over the next few weeks while I visit Dallas, St. Petersburg FL, and New York in order. Lots of plane, airport time to hopefully get her finished. And she will be a great conference shawl for the next batch of conferences I will have to travel to.

Let me end with some pOrn - of the yarn variety.



Camelspin, Vintage, Pure Luxury. Yum.

Next blog - I will be spinning. Squee!

Jaywalkers

I have two jaywalkers on the needles. I now know why these socks inspire such rave reviews, they are very easy but so fun. I made one following the pattern and one with a fore-thought heel. An idea I got out of the Sensational Knitted Socks: by Charlene Schurch (get yourself a copy here: http://www.amazon.com/Sensational-Knitted-Socks-Charlene-Schurch/dp/1564775704). I like the heel - I need to knit a bit more to see if it fits as well as the after-thought, but theoretically it should.

The pink socks are made with Fleece Artist yarn, and the blue are made with Koigu. It's one of the wildest Koigu color's I've seen. More stripy than I expected, but fun.

I'm rockin and rollin on these, so hopefully I'll have one each very soon.