6 days until move

Urgh. This weekend we are moving everything from the kitchen, except mugs and pots and pans and will be running on paper plates. My parents are coming up for the weekend to help repair a huge hole in the plaster in the bathroom (that I caused by pulling the shower rod off of the wall… oops) and clean and just keep me from going insane. Yay parents!

Xmas knitting is in full swing and my mom’s rogue is on the hood and I’m working my way along.  The other projects are top secret, so they will have to wait until after the holiday.

Today I’m home from work this morning because the old apartment complex is painting our front door and I need to make sure miss Haley doesn’t flee the safety of our walk-in closet to go explore Princeton Junction. She has experience outside yes, but the fact that I can’t get a collar on her (she loses control of bodily functions and I don’t want to repeat the experience my sister had) and she isn’t micro-chipped is the major concern.

Cannot wait to move so I can start unpacking and get my life back in order. I hate moving.

The only thing worse than unpacking is?

Packing.

boxes

But the good thing in this? I’ve figured out how I want my yarn organized in the new apartment. I would like to get a cheap dresser with 5 drawers and keep one type of yarn in each drawer.

But inbetween packing and cleaning and painting and everything else:

 

This:

Monte's Autumn Garden

is quickly turning into:

Monte’s Autumn Garden from Pigeon Roof Studios

This is the first part of 4 oz of falkland from Pigeon Roof Studios, my first ever club shipment, colorway is Monte’s Autumn Garden. I will definitely renew this subscription! So far the falkland has been a dream to spin – this is my first time spinning it too!

 

Finished up is some shetland also from Pigeon Roof Studios in the Ghost Orchid colorway.  I need to measure yardage and WPI.  Anyone have any project ideas for this?  I’ve never knit with shetland and have no idea what kind of project it would be suited for. (argh preposition at the end of a sentence but I’m tired!)

Ghost Orchid shetland from PRS

Progress is also being made on my mom’s sweater – I’m working my way up the chart on the front part of the sweater, the back is done, so hopefully over the long weekend I can get the hood started/finished/something.

 

Guess it’s time to pack some more boxes.

 

Since JessaLu decided to be a PITA..

here is that update post

Still missing FO shots but that’s because I found several holes in the first sock of a pair that I was halfway done with the second sock…and I just ripped it all out. I was not in love with the yarn (DiC Smooshy) so I will re-knit the socks again at a later date in yarn that I love.

On with the spinning:

 

These singles:

ashland bay merino singles

Were plied together on my wheel that was just switched to double drive:

schacht ladybug in double drive

The twist has been set, I think I got… almost 800 yards (from 8oz of fiber), but still have more to ply on one bobbin – so that’ll be done later on today.

 

While at Jessica’s yesterday, we switched my wheel from scotch tension to double drive, and I got to play with her drum carder. Here is what I started with:

4 oz Superwash Merino in "Love Struck" + 2 oz angelina

Turned into these:

First batts ever - PINK, now with SHINY!

Cannot wait to spin these up!

 

Also in the mail was the next shipment from pigeon roof studios:

Blithe Spirit from Pigeon Roof Studios

On the needles currently, my mom’s Rogue sweater:

 

Mom's Rogue

I’m almost done chart A, my goal is to finish this by the end of November – so wish me luck

 

I think that’s enough for now… more later

Wow.

It’s been forever. sorry readers.

Here’s what I’ve been up to:

1. Garden State Sheep Breeders Festival: attended and booth worked for our Jessica
2. Rhinebeck sweater: finished
3. Rhinebeck: attended
4. Flu of some variety: survived
5. Stitches east: attended
6. WEBS virgin: NO MORE
7. Drive from hell back to NJ after Stitches EAST & Webs: Survived!
8. Mom’s xmas sweater: started
9. several test knits: attempted, one finished
10. Designers met: 1 (Designer of my rhinebeck sweater works at webs! And she took my photo!)
11. New apartment lease: signed
12. New apartment being painted: started!
13. Cat health issues: somewhat solved – she is okay

So clearly, I have been busy. These microblogging sites such as plurk and twitter are really sucking the blogging mojo away from me! I will try to get a post in tomorrow too – with some photos this time

Tour de Fleece wrap up!

Hello! Since I’ve finally managed to get all of my chores done, I figured I had no more excuses to not do this TdF wrap up entry!

This was my first tour, and I joined two teams on Ravelry: Plurk and LSG but managed to not really post anything on ravelry of merit – I’ve been kinda quiet internet wise lately, plurk and twitter are taking up most of my internet time. Anyway, on with the photos!

tour de fleece wrap up

1. lisa souza lime n violet 50/50 merino/bombyx, 2. lisa souza lime n violet 50/50 merino/bombyx, 3. lisa souza lime n violet 50/50 merino/bombyx, 4. lisa souza lime n violet 50/50 merino/bombyx, 5. lisa souza lime n violet 50/50 merino/bombyx, 6. lisa souza lime n violet 50/50 merino/bombyx, 7. lisa souza lime n violet 50/50 merino/bombyx, 8. lisa souza lime n violet 50/50 merino/bombyx, 9. frecklefacefibers merino/superwash merino in Dixie, 10. frecklefacefibers merino/superwash merino in Dixie, 11. haley is a great helper, 12. frecklefacefibers merino/superwash merino in Dixie, 13. cjkopec juy SAL in Navarro, 14. cjkopec juy SAL in Navarro, 15. cjkopec juy SAL in Navarro, 16. cjkopec juy SAL in Navarro, 17. cjkopec juy SAL in Navarro, 18. Zarzuela’s fibers merino/tencel in Spring Awakening, 19. Zarzuela’s fibers merino/tencel in Spring Awakening, 20. Zarzuela’s fibers merino/tencel in Spring Awakening, 21. Zarzuela’s fibers merino/tencel in Spring Awakening, 22. Zarzuela’s fibers merino/tencel in Spring Awakening, 23. Zarzuela’s fibers merino/tencel in Spring Awakening, 24. Zarzuela’s fibers merino/tencel in Spring Awakening, 25. Zarzuela’s fibers merino/tencel in Spring Awakening, 26. Zarzuela’s fibers merino/tencel in Spring Awakening, 27. Zarzuela’s fibers merino/tencel in Spring Awakening, 28. Zarzuela’s fibers merino/tencel in Spring Awakening, 29. Zarzuela’s fibers merino/tencel in Spring Awakening

So all in all? 19 ounces! 4 from lisa souza, 6 from cj kopec, 6 from zarzuela’s fibers, and 3 of 9 ounces from freckle face fibers!

Pfew. Can’t wait until next year.

On other fronts? We’ve temporarily suspended the house hunt, focusing on saving some more money.  I recently joined weight watchers and hope to see some real success on this.

This coming weekend I will be attending my first W.O.O.L. gathering and I could not be any more excited! Now to figure out what fiber to take with me

Recently off of the wheel:

lisa souza superfine superwash merino in wild things

Next up?

sereknity superwash merino in "pink lemonade"

Knitting is still going on, I think I’ll work on my swallowtail shawl a little this afternoon if I ever make it to the grocery store during the huge line of thunderstorms that are battering NJ today. Earlier we were under a torndao warning. I got a little anxious about it and had to go sit in the bathroom with haley. Hah. What a wuss I am

More hopefully tomorrow.

Ten on Tuesday: 10 favorite sounds

1. Haley’s purring
2. Haley’s meow
3. nephew’s giggling
4. frogs at night during the spring
5. crash of the waves of the ocean while i’m sitting on the beach
6. music
7. my sister’s singing voice
8. the whir of my spinning wheel when I am spinning
9. i apparently have a thing for white noise
10. the radio call sound for KYW News Radio 1060 AM in philadelphia – very comforting to know you are back in your home area

[Ten on Tuesday] – 10 Favorite Places to Eat

Super quick post here, hope to get a huge tour de fleece update soon!

1. Maggiano’s – Chain
2. Alexander’s – Pittsburgh, PA
3. Angelina’s – Pottstown, PA
4. Veracruz – Pittsburgh, PA
5. Bridget Foy’s – Philadelphia, PA
6. Vincenzo’s – Pottstown, PA
7. The Bagel Factory – Pittsburgh, PA
8. Main Street Pub – Bally, PA
9. Teresa Cafe – Princeton, NJ
10. Thomas Sweet – Princeton, NJ

A Starbucks and Yarn Swap?!

This is a really neat idea!  The signups end today (June 3) but go head to the Ravelry group: A Starbucks and Yarn Swap and check out the details.

Here are the guidelines:

Sign Up Begins: May 27th

Sign Up Ends: June 3rd

Matches Sent Out: June 5th

What Will Go In The Kit

$10 Sbux Gift Card
One hank/skein of yarn
One small projects pattern (i.e. wash cloth, fingerless mitts, coasters, ect.)
One set of Stitch markers

Dollar Amount:
Minimum of $20 – Maximum of $30

Duration of Swap:
Two (2) Months

Swap Ends: August 7th

Participation:
All participants will need to check in weekly. There will be a weekly check-in thread posted. Passes will be given to those on vacation and if family emergencies come up, but any absences must be communicated as soon as possible. After being absent for two weeks with no communication swappers will be dropped from the swap.

If you do decide to sign up, tell ‘em Sairy sent ya    it also doesn’t matter if you are non-US – people from Canada and the UK and other places have already joined

Busy busy busy busy busy busy

Okay, time for some knitting content.

My time lately has been sucked up by doing test knits for Yarnissima. I can’t post any photos. Which is a shame because these two socks? STUNNING. So instead, some FO’s and some spinning

First off, socks:

Digitessa by Yarnissima (Rav link): I’m more than half done.  I have both socks started, one is finished, and the second is at the start of the gusset increases.

Digitessa sock #1

Second:

another pair of Firestarters by Yarnissima (Ravelry Link). Us 1 (2.5 mm) Addi Lace Turbo, Yarn: Dream in Color Starry in Happy Forest

Firestarter socks by Yarnissima

Third: (Insane) Shur’tugal Socks done for the Socks that Rawk group KAL (Ravelry Link)

Yarn: BMFA Socks That Rock Medium Weight in colorway: Rook-y

Needles: US 1 (2.5 mm) Addi Lace Turbo

Shur'tugal socks

So, that’s a lot of socks.  Also, a sweater:

Pattern: Rogue

Yarn: Cascade 220 in Aspen (7 skeins)

Needle: Us 7

Rogue Sweater

Now onto some spinning FOs

First, January club shipment from Zarzuela’s Fibers:

First 3 ply attempt, 6 oz, Corriedale

That’s only one of the hanks.

Second:

Singles for the FreckleFaceFibers spin-a-long that started May 1!

FreckleFaceFibers Merino 64s in "Isle Caribe"

Merino 64s in the Isle Caribe colorway. This is eventually heading to Ashly.

Best get back to my test knitting and finishing up these singles. I want to ply this yarn soon!

I’m excited to say that Jessica asked me to get involved with Summer of Socks this year. I’m just thankful my sock mojo came back (I guess as well as the blogging mojo!).

Also, I’m looking forward to going to W.O.O.L. this year, once I recover everything from my stolen wallet, I get to reserve my spot!

Tonight we are going to go look at some condos in Princeton since we are desperately trying to get out of the rental environment.

I leave you with a cat photo:

Haley

Summer of Socks 2009!

Quick! Go check out Jessica’s blog for all the necessary deets!