I can't KAL

I love the idea of a good KAL. Of getting together at Knit Night and working on the same project with others; of helping pick out colors; of seeing the progress from each person. And ultimately being jealous of the one person that has unlimited hours to knit, while I'm stuck at work.

I love the idea of KAL's. In practice however, I suck at them.

I participated in a shawl KAL when I first joined my knitting group. 3 inches into the pattern I realized this was not the project for me. And it wasn't the patterns fault; I have it saved and want to make it again a different time. It was the yarn/pattern combination that I wasn't happy with. So I frogged the whole thing.

Fast forward 4 years, and my Mom and I were going to do a sock KAL. We have the same skein of yarn, and we were going to see how it knits up in different patterns. Mom has one cuff on, and I have...the yarn skeined.
We talked about doing a sweater KAL...and I'm sure that will work out as well as our socks.

I am, however, doing pretty well with my Camp Loopy projects. I've been trucking along on my Daybreak Shawl like mg life depended on it. I got a lot of knitting done over the weekend (especially on Sunday while DH went fishing), and only have 4 boarder repeats to go. And I'm super excited to finish it. I don't know how many stitches are on the needle, and honestly I don't want to know;the number is only going to depress me. Hopefully I'll get it done this weekend, so I can move on to the next thing! We'll see how that goes...

Of projects and knitting mojo

November would mark the 3 year hiatus of this blog. Three years! How does that happen? I wish I could update this blog with something exciting, but it's still the same old stuff here. Work, home, garden, knit, repeat.

Work is work, my garden is doing horribly this year, and my knitting is at a bit of a stand still, because I just don't have any knitting Mojo.

But speaking of knitting Mojo, I'm forcing myself to take part in this years Camp Loopy; a online knitting camp hosted by a yarn shop in Colorado.  I say "force myself" because while I'm in love with the projects I've picked, and the yarn I've purchased, and the chatter threads are super fun to read, I don't want to work on anything. When I get home I want to sit on my couch and not do anything. Nothing is capturing my attention. 

July Camp Loopy Project

But I've finished June's project, and I'm a little bit into July's project, so we'll see how it goes! Who knows, maybe I'll even have an update in a weeks time! 

I make no promises....

It's so itchy

I have an itch. A terrible, horrible itch. And no matter, not matter how much I scratch it, it won't go away.

I have an itch to knit baby things.

I don't know where this itch came from. It hit me about a month ago, and it won't go away! I want to knit tiny baby socks, and little baby cardigans, and small little baby toys that will be grabbed by tiny baby hands. And the worst part? There are no babies in my life!

It's almost cruel.

My best friends Katie, who is currently expecting boy #3 lives in Australia, so I can't knit baby things for her. My other best friend doesn't want another kid for a long, long time so she's out of the picture. A acquaintance/friend of mine is pregnant with child #2, but I never saw child #1 wear the cardigan I made for him, so I feel like knitting something for the second kid is going to be a waste of my time. Any other friends that I think would be knit-wroth is not having kids...I'm screwed.

I've been trying to scratch this baby-knitting-itch with other new projects, or by picking up projects I haven't worked on in months or years; like the lace stole I have about 25% done. Or the  worsted weight scare blanket that I've been working on since 2012. But picking these things up only satisfied me for a little bit....and then I want to knit little bitty things again.

Someone knit-worthy, who lives close to me, seriously needs to have a baby soon. I wonder if my Mom would be up for it...

Oh hey, this is still here!

Imagine my surprise when I flipped through my bookmarks today and saw this thing! Like finding a journal from high school tucked under your bed; just not nearly as painful to read through.

When I last left you I was a knitting college student. Now I'm a knitting paralegal. I finished college and am employed at the law firm where I did my internship. It's a great firm to work for, and I love my co-workers. Did I mention that I was hired right after doing my internship? Yeeeaaaah, pretty friggen great.

Does it give me more time to knit and spin? No. Have I finished ANY of the projects that I started at the beginning of the year? No.

In January 2013 I started a pair of socks that had little fishes all over them. They're supposed to be fish-argyle socks, but I refuse to attach a new color for the argyle stripe every 3 rows...that amount of weaving in I'd have to do would do me in. I'll add them as duplicate stitch instead....I'll revisit that thought later.

Remember the Tunic that I wrote about? I'm still on the decreases with that one. That's right, haven't even gotten to the body portion yet! And the thing is already really big at the bottom still. Like wear-it-with-my-little-sister kind of big. The ladies at my knitting group have said that the pictures look like the bottom is supposed to be bigger and flare out a little bit, so like an idiot I'm forging along anyways. We'll see how this develops.

I've completed one, count them ONE, skein of yarn that has been on my bobbins for almost a year now. It's boring brown and doesn't have much yardage to it...I think it's because I used most of the roving for something else...oh well. I'm working on "Three Feet of Sheep" roving right now for my Mom. It's a three-foot tube of merino roving, split into 8 differently colored balls. Instead of getting fancy and complicated I'm simply spinning from the top down. So far on the bobbin is a creamy pastel off pink color, a light pink color, a dark pink color, and now pastel purple.  Also on a bobbin is some red/orange/pink merino that I've been working on since Spring; but at least that one is getting done...slowly but surely.

And I don't even want to talk about the other projects that have been in my WIP baskets...since 2012. I feel a bit ashamed about that actually. For 2015 my goal is to finish all the WIP's that I have going right now, and then I'll pull out some of the bigger things that I've been wanting to make. Hey, maybe if I make myself give small monthly updates, via picture progress, I'll actually get them done! Sure that will be easier then posting regular random things....surely.

Hello, my name is Nici and I'm a liar

Remember how I said I would update this more frequently? And you guys would actually hear from me more then quarterly? And remember how posting tutorials might be my thing, so I have to write to you guys? Remember all that?

Yeah....sorry.

I partly blame the fact that there is nothing exciting going on in my life. At least nothing that I feel I should write about excessively. For the most part it's school, work, school, work, home renovations, school, more work, knit (hahahahahahahhaha!!!) and school.

I actually haven't even gotten all that much knitting or spinning done in the last couple of months. Why? because it's nearly IMPOSSIBLE to do so with my current boyfriend. I could get more knitting done with a toddler, or a bag full of wet kittens. If we aren't doing something around the house, then he wants snuggles and cuddles and lovin's. Which I'm totally okay with, but sometimes I just want to knit! I miss my stash.

So I've started going to a knitting group that isn't too far way from my house. It meets up once a week, and sometimes I make it and other times I don't. The last two nights we had date night at the same time that knit group happened, and I'd rather romp around Tacoma having fun and making memories. But if we have nothing planned, I'm planning on being there.
It will probably also be the only place where I'll get any knitting done. Go figure.

I started this tunic a month ago, and I've been knitting the same 8mm ever since then. What I mean is that I keep messing up and having to start over. Let me outline it for you:

1. Swatch to make sure gauge is right, then eagerly grab new ball of yarn to get going.
2. Cast on not enough stitches and run out of tail.
3. Cast on stitches again, have too much tail, but don't care and tuck tail away instead.
4. Knit 8 mm and find out that your gauge is off. Instead of 20sts/4" we're getting 21sts/4"...not a huge difference, until you take into account the 37 3/4" you're working with.
5. Rip everything out, swatch with a smaller needle size.
6. Discover you're now knitting at 19sts/4", say screw it and cast on anways.
7. Knit the small size 'cause the medium size was too big. You want a tunic, not a tent.
8. Knit the first 8 rows, try to untwist the knitting, discover in horror you twisted the stitches somewhere along the way, and nothing is going to untwist them.
9. Rip out everything in a angry, mumbling fury of string.
10. Pick up the 216 stitches you need. AGAIN! and begin knitting AGAIN! in what you're hoping is going to be a correct manner.
11. Check the twist of the stitches every 2 inches until you're satisfied that you're knitting is not twisted somewhere along the way, and maybe this time you'll make actual progress.
12. Put knitting down and don't look at it for a week.

And that is where we are now. I got a row in yesterday while BF was watching a show on Netflix he's been wanting to check out for months. Sitting on the couch with gray yarn in my lap was a nice change. Maybe I should find more intriguing TV shows on Netflix for him to "find".

Speaking of getting knitting done, I have one more hour before BF get's home, and I'm mostly finished with my homework...so if you'll excuse me...*dashes to her stash*

Tutorial and...update?

Seriously, I swear. I just haven't had much desire to do a whole lot of blogging lately, to be honest with you lovely people. And honestly, not a whole lot has gone on around here that would require a update.

I've mostly been concentrating on school work these past couple of months (read, I've been thinking about concentrating on school work but instead sit on you tube for hours before realizing I have something due in three hours and work like a maniac to finish it) And spinning has taken a huge back seat lately. Buggy has even been in the closet for the last few months, just sitting there with some pretty roving on the bobbins.

Although I did learn how to make wine bottle lamp shades, so that's pretty awesome. Since I have nothing else to talk about today, I suppose I'll give you all a quick tutorial on how to make one yourself. Maybe that will be a thing for me...a monthly tutorial....ooohhh, there's a thought. Anywho.

To start you'll need the following items:
- An empty bottle (I used beer as a tester 'cause it was easier to screw up)
- A glass cutter + cutting oil (find them on the internet, the cheapest shouldn't cost you more then $10)
- Gas
- String
- A lighter (one of those long ones...seriously)
- A bucket full of water (You'll thank me later)
- Safety glasses ('cause you know, when setting things on fire, safety is our number one priority)
- Marker
- Measuring Tape

That's right, I said gas. You can find the same tutorial using nail polish remover, which I tried, and it didn't work. Maybe it was the type of remover I was using, But I found that the remover mostly bunt too quickly and not hot enough. So that sucked. Feel free to try the nail polish remover and if it doesn't work for you upgrade to gas.

Step 1: Tie the string snuggly around the bottom of the bottle you're going to cut. You want the string on the bottle tightly, but not so tight that you can't slide it off again. Cut the string and slide it off  the bottle.

Step 2: Using a marker and the measuring tape, mark a line around the bottle from the bottom up. This way you'll know exactly where to put the string again before you set it on fire.

Step 3: Soak the string in some gas or nail polish remover. I recommend using gloves when your doing this. Mostly so your fingers don't smell like gas. On seconds though, you might want to wear gloves the whole time you're doing this. Just so, you know, you don't hurt yourself. Then slide the string back onto the bottle over the marker line you created in Step 2.

Step 4

Step 3 alternative: Alternatively, and this is what I ended up doing, slide the string back onto the bottle over the marker line you created in step 2. Take a spray bottle filled with Gas (like the one I used) and lightly spray the string. Once it's saturated, wipe up any gas that is on the bottle with a throw away rag.

Step 4: Put your safety glasses on. Grab the bottle by the neck and hold it over the prefilled water bucket. Taking your lighter (the long one) and set the string on fire.

Step 5: While your bottle is on fire (okay, that sounds really bad) rotate the bottle slowly. You basically what the fire to go around the string. Rotate the bottle until the fire goes out by itself.

Step 7

Step 6: Place the bottom of the bottle into the bucket of water. You'll probably hear crackling as the glass splits. That's fine. Lightly tap the bottom of the bottle, and it should pop right off.

Step 7: Clean the bottle, and use a file to smooth away any sharp edges that you may have. Because I have a glass grinder at home, I just used that to smooth out the edges, so I can't really recommend a good inexpensive alternative.

Step 8: Now the fun and not so dangerous part begins. once you have the bottom taken off your bottle you can use glass paints to decorate your bottle any way you want. I used Gallery Glass paints to draw on mine. They come in little 2oz bottles and can be bought at any Michaels craft store. The best part about these paints is that you can make little window clings with them and add decorations to just about flat surface.

Mind you, after making the lamp and decorating it, I don't know how to turn it into an actual lamp.

Finished Bottle Lamp

I'm assuming you can purchase the set up for the light bulbs at any home depot, or Lowes but I haven't gotten that far yet. So, ya know, you're on your own with that last part.

So I know it says up in that title that there will be an update, but seriously I can't think of anything. I've been on a couple of tiny trips, but other then school work and regular work, I haven't done anything else. \

Hopefully you guys will get a more exiting update eventually. Maybe.

Finally cott-on

Alright, so as plays-on-words go, this one might not be the best. But I tried, okay?

It's time for the Tour de Fleece again, and this time I'm sorta participating. In a nutshell, the Tour de Fleece is a challenge given to spinners all over the place to spin some yarn every day that the Tour de France happens. They spin bicycle wheels, we spin spinning wheels.
You can join a "team" or start your own with friends. In the "teams" you can chat with others people and show off your progress photos. And of course get motivated to actually spin the whole month that the Tour de France goes on.

I'm part of the Rookie team, not that I've talked much to people or even posted a single picture, and a Ravelry friend of mine started an impromptu Slacker team that I've joined with her. So far I'm less of a Slacker then I thought I would be. I spun  a whole 10 minutes on the 29th (the start of the Tour) a whole 10 minutes on the 30th, and a whopping 30 minutes on the 1st. I.Was.On.FIRE! After that my spinning was interrupted by camping vacations, by school obligations, and by general laziness.

The personal challenges I set for myself were 1) spin cotton, 2) try core-spinning. I started working on the cotton first and after failing miserably at my wheel, I tried it on one of the spindles (after running to the Slacker group and asking for advice and getting a link to some instructions of course). And I'm happy to say that it actually works. 

I also spun up two core-spun yarns, and they turned out pretty nicely. One of my Ravelry friends was amazing enough to send me some over-twisted core yarn and a small batt to play with. I loved the colors of the bat and was kind of disappointed when the core-spun yarn didn't turn out quite that pretty. But after I realized that I could pull the batt apart into two color sections I liked the colors quite a bit more.

The second core-spun yarn is the Norwegian wool that Mom dyed for me, flecked with some blue felting wool. They are little packets of wool that Michaels sells for felting projects, but they worked great as accept colors. I even threw some beads onto the core thread and incorporated them into the yarn.

I even finished a spinning WIP and am plying it right now. I'd like to think that I was rather productive during this tour. I've learned some new techniques, I've seen some amazing yarns, and I've met some new friends. And hopefully next year's Tour will be just as productive for me.

What the Early Learning Center has taught me...

During spring quarter I'm working at the Early Learning Center on the TCC campus as part of work study. It's basically a day care center while parents go to classes. Here is what I've learned so far:

1) Children apparently run on ranch dressing.
2) 2-3 year old's have an amazing imagination
3) 2-3 year old's suck at following directions when there is more then one child within a one mile radius
4) Ranch is a bitch to get off plates
5) Children can put away more cheese then a dairy can make.
6) My hair is free-game for "beauty" treatments.
7) Anything solid can be used as a brush...anything. (can you say blue crayon scalp?)

 I work in the toddler room, which is usually my favorite age group. At 2, kids are imaginative enough that they can entertain themselves, smart enough to understand when you tell them something, but still small enough to need cuddles and stories.
But they're such a handful at times - like when they get that crazy hair up their arse - that it makes me question if I ever want to have to deal with that for the rest of my life. Yeah, I know they won't be 2 for the rest of eternity, but the older they get the more obnoxious children get. I mean dear god...some of the kids at the ELC..dudes...why? Makes me want to smack the parents to be honest.

On a non-childcare related note, I've also learned that:

1) Having a minimum of 2 hours of kill between school and work let's me get homework done.
2) I should always bring a novel to read.
3) My paralegal teacher is ridiculous
4) There is no point running for the bus...I won't make it.
5) Wearing comfortable shoes is important
6) Don't eat lunch
7) There are always leftovers in the kitchen
8) My paralegal teacher is ridiculous

Oh, and I haven't gotten a lick of spinning in since the quarter started. Fuuuuuuu----

And now I'm sore

View of the mountain
from the car

I went hiking with a friend this past Sunday. He's always wanted to go, I had nothing else planned, so we packed some snacks, drove to the location and then hiked 1.9 miles to the top of this mountain. It was amazing.

The trail we were on is well known and there were a ton of people going up the mountain as well as coming down from it. The trail goes back and forth so there are some steep points, and some that are nicely leveled. Throw some large rocks in and you have a trail that will give you a workout without killing you.

The ledge we
stood on

Naturally my sneakers were not equipped to handle the snow and slush that was on the trail, and I think I may have stepped in a puddle at least once...maybe. My toes became ice cubes after a while so I'm not sure. But it was so worth the view from the top of that ledge. So.Worth.It.

It's made me appreciate Washington even more. I've always known it was pretty, but I've never had the chance to see just how pretty it can be.

Now both of us are sore. But again, it's so totally worth having seeing that view for myself. And I'd totally do it again in a heartbeat. We've made tentative plans to go again, but thanks to Washington weather, a lot of it depends on whether it will be raining on the weekend or not.Time to invest in some good hiking boots me thinks. =)

Madrona! (and blog pimping)

Madrona comes once every year to the Tacoma area, and Mom and I have made a point to go every year. It's only 20 minutes away via bus, so now that we know about it, it would be ridiculous not to go.

We usually just go for the market place, where all kinds of venders offer their yarns and rovings. I love it because most of the time there will be one or two people that own the animals so not only is the fiber less expensive, but you get to talk to interesting people. And if you ever have a question, vendors are always more then happy to chatter your ear off with the answer. We get passionate about our work. =)

My "haul" from this year is in the corner over there. It's not much (surprisingly) but it's all fibers I haven't worked with before. The Romney is one lovely pound of raw fleece, so I'll get to experience the joy of washing it myself. Mostly to get some of the dirt out, and the lanolin. That should be fun.

The other three are 4 oz each. I've never worked with either cotton, Jacob, or Finnish wool. So that will be awesome. With all these new fibers that I'm trying out, I'm thinking that maybe I should start keeping a journal of some sort. Just so I can keep a small sample on hand to remind me of what the fibers felt like; and why I love/hate it.

On different news, the construction directions for my flip-top mittens were used by a very lovely designer in her own mittens. They are Dr. Who inspired Tardis mittens and are just too cute. I'm really tempted to make myself a pair...even though I don't wear mittens. So, you guys should check her out.

Now I think I'm going to go and finish the first sleeve of this darn baby sweater. It's part 2 of the beginning sweater class tomorrow (I'm teaching) so I might want o have something presentable before class begins. Ugh..baby sweaters.

Dyeing to spin

Nuked Masham

Nuked Merino

I decided to dye some roving today. So as soon as I got home I pulled my stash bin out from the closet and pulled my Masham and Merino wools out.

Fear of ruined counter tops or floor had banished me to the car port during the summer, but with family members still asleep I crafted myself a little  work station in the laundry room. I put my jersey-rug down on the floor first, followed by a large double layered piece of cardboard, and then the cling-wrap...which clung to itself marvelously.

I let the masham wool soak in a bath of vinegar and water first. The roving had been tied off every few inches because I was hoping it would give it a tiny bit of a tie-dye look. I'm sure I've failed miserably with that. Oh well. I turned the single string of merino roving into a braid and while I dyed the masham I let the merino soak.

Colored Masham

For the masham I dabbed the wine color on with a sponge brush. At first I thought about putting it down in particular spots, but then just dabbed quick lines down the roving. If the color went away I bunked the bush back into the cup, and then continued down the line. Mom still had some purple in the little squeeze bottle she had provided, so I simply added more. The purple I gently sprinkled all over the roving, not caring where it landed.

Double-sided Merino

While the masham was being nuked in the microwave (pot? cooking? PAH!) I worked on the merino. This time I started with purple, and liberally squeezed it all over the braid. The color didn't bleed through to the other side though. So with purple all gone (what was in the bottle at least) I changed to the wine color. I added it into the bottle, turned the half dyed braid over, and squeezed the red onto the still white side. So now there is a purple side of roving, and a red  (well pink is more accurate really) side of roving. I have no idea what the inside of the braid looks like though...

Both rovings are drying right now. And I can't wait to spin them up. I've never used masham wool before, so it should be interesting. And of course, I'm very excited to see what the colors will look.

Merino unraveled

There is still a 4 oz braid of merino sitting in my stash bin. I wonder what wonderful colors it will adopt.

Edit: I unwound the merino braid earlier this morning (02/06/2013) to let the roving dry faster. And I just had to share with you all how amazing the merino turned out; in my opinion at least.The purple and pink are made wonderful little speckles all over the white roving. I can't wait to spin this up and see what happens with it. The Masham is quite lovely too.

Masham and Merino drying

Back to Basics

Drop spindle, white Corriedale

Sometimes, it's nice to get back to the basics.
Even though Buggy has a lovely chocolate brown Corriedale on its bobbin, I decided to work on a drop spindle project for a little bit.

I started this for the Ravelenic Games back in July, thinking I might actually finish it within those 2 weeks...on top of the 5 knitting projects I had picked out. Hahahaha, yeah right.

So it's been sitting in my basked, waiting for me to pick it back up, to finish the second half of the roving, and ply it together with its sister.

There is something even more relaxing and satisfying about spinning on a spindle, I think. Everything is done by hand; supplying the spin, adding the twist, handling the fibers, coaxing the roving into the perfect thickness. Of course you still do the same thing with a wheel. You still have to hold the roving, you still have to draft it out and make sure you're getting the right thickness. But I feel like a spindle is more of an accomplishment. Kind of like hand sewing versus sewing on a machine. You still need to know what you're doing, but the machine makes it easier. For me, a spinning wheel makes spinning easier.

It also gives me a new appreciation of the way things used to be done. Before spinning wheels were invented, and before spinning machines came to be, this is how people made yarn and fabric. Until the mid-1700's rural households still helped make a majority of the textiles. Merchants would give them the raw materials, the families would spin and weave them for a little bit of money, and the merchants would get back usable fabric. All done by hand. How crazy is that? It wasn't uncommon for women to take a spindle with them when they had to trek anywhere so they could work on the go. It makes me feel connected somehow.

While Buggy will probably always be my go-to piece of equipment if I want to make yarn, I'll still use my spindles for sometimes projects. For when I want to get really into my spinning, when I want to handle the fibers as much as possible, or when I want to make something incredibly fine. Floss anyone?

Minecrack

My BIL purchased a game on the xBox 360 called Minecraft. It came out first for the computer, and I watched a few videos about it online. It looked incredibly boring. Your character pops into a world with nothing on him, and you have no tutorial that tells you what to do (a bit like a metaphor for life I suppose).

DH convinced me to play it with him, and after my initial "this is stupid" reaction,  I played by myself. And oh my goodness is it addicting!

I spent the first ten minutes hacking away at dirt and trees, shoving into my (I'm assuming) pants pocket on the way. Then I accidentally pulled open the "crafting" menus and found out that I could turn my blocks of wood into planks, which could become a crafting table. Since I had nothing else planned with the wood, aside from maybe stacking it attractively in a corner,  I figured I might as well.

With a crafting table placed in the middle of the woods, I walked around to explore. I came across a bunch of cows, pigs, and sheep, and hacked away at them with a block of dirt until they died. Hey, I needed to eat! Then it became dark and I came across a funny looking green creature. I thought that maybe it was a strange mythical animal, and approached to whack it with my dirt....and was promptly blown up...and lost all my dirt and wood. =.=

So I started again. And was killed by a zombie.
So I started again. And was killed by a spider.
So I started again. And this time I dug myself a little hole in the ground and sat there as soon as the sun went down. I was not going to die again!

All this happened a week ago.
Since then I have made myself weapons and armor, I have figured out how to mine for iron and diamonds. I have even made myself a cozy little house with a basement right next to my old hidey hole. Which was blown up because I forgot to close the door and a darn green thing followed me down. >.>

Minecraft, I have learned is a lot like Legos. Only it's on the xBox. You're given a world of materials that you can shape into anything you want! But in order to really enjoy the game you need a project. You need to want to make something otherwise you'll get bored after a while. The only thing holding you back is your own imagination....or exploding green things...and zombie...and spiders.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go back to playing. I left cow in charge of the house, and I'm sure that he and sheep are going to tear the place apart...and that desert to the left really needs a gigantic obsidian castle in the middle.

Oh come on!

While I sat in the school library today, arguing with a school laptop, I glanced up and saw a girl sitting across the way, moving her hands in a very familiar rhythm. Even though her backpack was in the way (out of which hung a bright pink strand of yarn), and she was sitting at an angle to me, it was easy to see that she was making a hooking motion with her right hand. In her lap was a mass of pink and I got so excited to see someone else doing something crafty in public that I almost got up to talk to her.

And then she lifted up her left hand, presumably to untangle herself from the pink. And in her left hand she held a loom....

COME ON!! D=<

Suffice it to say I hunkered down even more on the couch and didn't move. Instead I argued with the dumb laptop a little more and studiously ignored the loom of lies. By now, you lot probably know my thoughts on looms and the lies it produces. If you don't know, go read this entry. I've ranted about looms before.

*grumbles* Looms....knitting....pah!

Thoughts of a designer

The ground was covered in frost, crunching softly underfoot. Frozen puddles blended in with the walkways, making them hard to see and dangerous. The morning air bit at fingers and noses; breath came out in puffs. The coffee in my cup had been brewed a while ago. The splash of half and half the barista had added wasn't enough to mask the bitter taste of coffee left standing too long. But at eight in the morning it was the best I could do on campus grounds.
Swirls of steam curled out of the cup as I carefully popped off the top. And then, I saw it...

GLOVES! Oh my god I need to make some gloves with swirled designs all over it. Like steam rising off the cuff or something. And then I plopped the top back on and pranced off to class.

And that is pretty much how my brain works most of the time. Especially when I think about designing something new, or when I decide I want to try a pretty new pattern. My mind is kind of all over the place like that.
In other news I'll hopefully publish a new pattern in the next couple of days or so. My testers are taking entirely too long in my opinion, so I might just publish it without waiting for the last three people to finally get it together. I suppose I shouldn't be too miffed since they are doing this for free, but for goodness sake, even with Holidays it should not take someone over a month to knit a pair of mittens or fingerless mitts. Ridiculous...

Imma be a teacher!

I went on a mini job hunt the other day, stopping by all the local businesses I frequent to see if they were needing any help. So far nothing. Then again I shouldn't have expected any different since the holidays just wrapped up, so a lot of places are letting their seasonal employees go. But when I stopped by my LYS (local yarn shop) I was told that she does need some instructors. So after a lot of thought I decided to give it a go; if it doesn't work out I can always just tell the owner that I'm not cut out for instructing people.

I'm getting stuff together to teach a color work class, and I'm getting excited and nervous all at the same time. There is no date set yet, and I pretty much get to decide what day anyways, since the owner told me to get back to her with what time would work best for me. But while I'm browsing through patterns I can't help but wonder what people would want to practice with. My first color work project was a pair of Totoro mitten for my little sister. Mittens...so I'm not exactly the best person to come to when it comes to simple projects. But I'll figure it out and hopefully come up with something interesting. I can always practice on my sister-in-law I'm sure...she knows the basics, how hard can it be to teach her how to knit with two color at the same time?

No-Years Resolutions

Every first of the year I make resolutions; work out more, eat healthier, drink less, make more friends (I hate people so that usually doesn't pan out), be an overall better person.
This year I didn't. I did not make a single resolution. I never keep them anyways, so why the hell bother? And so far, I'm doing better at my no-years resolutions then I do any other year.

For example, today was the third day that I struck up conversations with total strangers. Now if you know me, you'd know that I hate talking to strangers. Maybe it's a combination of being told "don't talk to stranger" when I was little, and classmates teasing me for my accent when I first came to America (children can be incredibly cruel) that has deterred me from taking to people. But so far, I have struck up conversations on three separate occasions, with three separate people. Mom even asked "what's wrong with you?" today when I proudly announced I talked with someone for nearly 10 minutes in line. Lines are amazing places to talk to people.

School is going...well? I feel like I haven't learned anything yet,. Then again it's only been three days. I should probably give it a little more time, huh? OH! I did learn something actually; I now (sorta) know what all the stuff in a legal citation means. Like when they have the case name and then a bunch of numbers and abbreviations. Yay for learning. =3

Bug has been getting hardly any use out of her. I spun up some very pretty roving that BIL got me for Christmas (well, I picked it and ordered it, he paid for it) but had to stop because I only have 1 bobbin left and I need it to ply together some Targhee I'm working on. That should be my hint to buy more bobbins I s'pose.

Damn...you're all still here

So the world didn't end on the 21st. I wonder how many people crawled out of their underground bunkers on the 22nd only to realize that they are now in major debt. Poor bastards. My sister and I in the meantime spent the "end of the world" playing Skyrim; a ridiculously addictive fantasy video game where you have special powers that let you absorb the souls of dragons.What I especially like about the game is that while there is a central story line that you follow, you can always tell people to f- right off, walk in the other direction, and do side quest for the next week that have absolutely nothing to do with the main story. It's great. So that is how my little sister and I would have perished if the world would have ended; fighting video game dragons.
Look on the bright side, with all the end of the world dooms day prophesies that haven't passed we can all turn to our children and grandchildren one day and go "You know...I survived the end of the world..TWICE!" They'll either think we are the coolest people in the whole WORLD (only to then realize that everyone "survived" and that we're not actually special and awesome), or they'll think we have gone completely mental. Either way I'll get to hit people with my cane when I'm older and no one will think anything of it 'cause I'm crazy grandma. It's a win-win situation.

School will start on the 2nd, which I am terribly excited for but dread at the same time. One of my online classes already has the "classroom" open, with an early assignment already posted. Being the go-getter that I am, I already did the assignment and leisurely read through the other responses. My conclusion thus far? half my classmates are idiots that need to revisit middle school grammar. =.= It simply never ceases to amaze me that people who have only used English for their whole lives still can't spell properly, or form a coherent sentence.
This of course makes me wonder if my traditional classes (sitting in a classroom) are going to be any different. Gods I hope so. Otherwise I might have to throw books at people. I simply don't have time or the patience for any more Courtney's in my studies....that reference will only mean something to like 5 people, who have heard the story of Courtney. And I'm sure those people don't even read this blog.

Oh! here's a random thought.
When you look at Mayan calendars, they were usually carved into stone, right?  Could you guys imagine being the poor soul that screws one of those calenders up right before he's done? Like one chisel stroke too far to the right? one notch too many in the tree looking thing? Would you tell someone? "Sorry High Priest, I sorta messed up our calender." Or do you just leave it and then move to a different city? start living off the jungle and never return...make friend with a jaguar...integrate yourself into their society and become King of the Jaguars...

I need to stop reading fantasy novels.

Le spinning update

Honestly though, it's more of Le-I'm-bored-and-need-something-to-do-while-the-alpaca-washes post. But that's a long title.

I got a surprise day off from work today, and spend the majority of it doing absolutely nothing. Didn't even bother calling my future college to check on something. Whoops. I can always do it tomorrow. Might make the husband take me up to the school to find some stuff out...after all, he's gotta be good for something.

I'm doing far more spinning these days then knitting. Mostly because I have nothing of interest to knit while I'm at work and Thing 2 is napping. And I'm getting kind of tired of knitting fingerless gloves and socks; imagine that. The stole I'm testing for mom is interesting and keeps me entertained for a while, but because it's lace in every row, and there are 205 stitches (or something like that), it's not a project I can put down easily.
But all the spinning is making me even better at what I'm doing. It's made me turn out things like the pictures below here. "Soot" was a "I wonder what it will look like if" kind of yarn. I held two chunks of roving together and drafted them out together. The beaded one was pretty much the same thing, with the added element of "how will it look with beads?". Mom liked it so much I'm making her her own skein; out of merino =D. There are a little over 950 beads in the yarn. No, I did not count, I used the tiny bit of math skills I actually picked up from the last class. Math...who'd have thought, right? The pink/orange/yellow yarn is what was left of the Targhee/Silk blend I purchased. I wanted to play around with some of Mom's dyes, and that is what I got. It was also an attempt at making longer color sections in a yarn...I'm hoping it actually turned out that way. But since I won't be knitting it up, and have in fact put it into my Etsy shop *cough*shamelessadvertisment*cough*, I can only wonder and hope that it did what I wanted it to.

'Desert Diamond' 2-ply
with cotton thread

'Soot' 3-ply fingering weight

'Sun set' 3-ply
fingering weight

I'm not sure what I'll work on next. I have enough roving from ParadiseFibers to keep me going for at least a little while. I might focus on knitting for a little bit too. Give Buggy a bit of a break...poor wheel. But I really wan to work on some of the alpaca fleece first. I've never spun alpaca before, so it should be interesting. Especially since it's still in lock form. =3 I also want to make the beaded yarn again in shades of blue with blue and clear beads. Maybe I'll flip a coin.

What's with all the lace?

I can't spin anything other then lace. Seriously.
It takes real effort to make a fingering weight single now. And you know what? It sucks.

BFL challenge

It started as a personal challenge with my spindles: How thin can I draft out before the weight of the spindle will be too much. Turn out, with the BFL (blue face leister) that I used, pretty darn thin. I made a 3 ply lace out of the first half. 3-ply, using the chain method. For those of you who don't spin, that means I took my single strand of hand spun yarn, turn it into 3 strands, and then twisted them together.
I'm not going to lie, I was excited. Like really excited. It meant I was good enough at spinning that I could make a super fine single. Need something to floss with? done!
Now, I thought it would take me a little to get such fine spinning done on Buggy (the wheel). After all, my feet are now controlling how fast my fibers are being twisted, and that can take some getting used to. Yeah....no. The first yarn I spun on my wheel was lace.
Now why would I be complaining about that? because making art yarn with lace is flipping hard!You try to shove beads and flowers and texture onto yarn that's as thin as a needle and see how well you do.
So instead of working at making yarn thin, I have to work at making yarn thick And frankly it feels strange. I hate letting a lot of fiber slip through my fingers. Which might just be my frugal mind going "you're wasting money!" Who knows.

Currently I'm working on a fingering weight single that I'll ply together with thread and beads. And it's taking some serious effort to make the single fingering weight...there are far more lace section in it then I would like, but oh well.

Mom's Targhee/Silk

Tomorrow I'll also be dying some roving of mine that I have. It's 4 oz of wonderful Targhee/Silk that has been in my stash since February. It used to be 8oz, but I spun half of it for Mom. Lace of course. xD Since the fibers were natural, she'll be using her own dyes later on. I can't wait to see what she comes up with.
For the other half I've picked out some yellow, orange, and red colors from her, and will figure out how I want to dye the fibers tomorrow; and even want colors I want to use. Pictures will be posted for sure.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have some yarn to argue with.