Lots of knitting and spinning!

I haven't blogged lately - I think about it- get distracted and don't get back to it - but, I'll have several in a row, I'm sure -

An easy one, of course, is all the knitting and spinning to get caught up on!

I don't even remember where to begin. Mom's birthday was March 17th - so I made her:

It's a pin cushion, wood sunflower box - a kit I got at The Fold in Marengo by CiDDesigns - it's cute and uses scrap sock yarn!

Then I also made her this - inspired by Jen (Knitting Like Crazy) - who made one and I thought it was awesome!

I also made Bree this quick scarf (all the kids are wearing what I call the 'indoor' scarves!)

Then, since I hadn't knit her socks lately - I had found this conjoined creations flat feet tye-dyed yarn at Gene Ann's in Barrington just her color way - the pattern is Twisted Tweed - As usual, they are almost knee socks and I felt like they would never get finished (plus I ended up redoing them 3 or 4 times so they would fit)

Then, I started these socks from Cookie A's new book called Glynis - I am using a super wonderful, fantastic, phenomenal yarn from Zen Garden's Harmony Club called "Be Mine" or as I like to refer to it as Chocolate Covered Cherries - It is merino, cashemere and nylon - 450 yards... And I ran out of yarn with 20 rows left on the 2nd sock - how in the heck do I use up 450 yards? I dunno. But, I know Val has some of this and I'm going to beg, bribe and offer up some other yarn to get enough to finish! They're gorgeous!

I've also been taking regular lessons at The Fold on my Ladybug Spinning Wheel - I know have completed a couple of things - I have realized I need to spin thicker! (2 ply sock weight isn't going to do much - as you need 3 ply for socks) - But, the first is corriedale wool in two tone browns (med and light)

And the 2nd is a two color polworth wool - one a rust/burgundy which was a beast to spin with as there was alot of vegetation and 'nubs' in it - and an awesome blue-jean blue that spun like a dream! It's too fine by itself - I will need to double it or run something with it to knit - but, I am, if nothing else, consistent! haha - I also learned NOT to ply at night with dark colors - you cannot see the amount of twist you're plying - and my first skein is uneven - but, ok, I learned. I have a ton of yardage though (4 oz of each color) -




While at The Fold last week, I came home with about 20 different kinds of wools and other fibers at sample amounts to get a feel for spinning other fibers so I know what they're like if I want to purchase in qty! I think I'll make a notebook with my samples and notes about spinning them - I'm looking forward to the BFL, Ingeo (Corn), the blends and all the different breeds of sheep wool!

I think that's the result since my last blog post - but, I'm sure I'm missing something - more to come!