4th of July and TDF days 2-4

I’m mostly keeping up with TDF pretty well, on day 2 I filled a bobbin (I keep spelling that as boobin) and I started a new bobbin. However the light was bad so I did not keep up with photographs.

the 4th did not go to plan. I got up early in order to go to a job interview (on a holiday, and the call was on Sunday, strange) but before the interview they called and rescheduled because the pee test place was going to be closed. So I changed clothes and prepared for an idle day at home. Then I got a call to go sailing and I accepted that offer, requiring yet another outfit change and some running about to get ready as well. I took pictures this time around though.

We had very little wind and mostly just motored around, if I had brought my spindle I could have spun, maybe.

and we got to swim!

We also saw a large pod of porpises, but they were following another boat so we couldn’t swim with them.

After sailing we tried to grill but it rained, including raining out the fireworks over Colonial Williamsburg. So we cooked at my friend’s house and watched a movie. By the time I got home spinning wasn’t going to happen.

Today I managed to spin though, and the top layer on this bobbin is from today. I also managed to wash 4 loads of laundry at the laundrymat and walk to the drugstore and biglots today.

Tour De Fleece Day 1

So today I prepared my fiber and started spinning

Umm yeah…

I am alive, and I knit, and lately I even spin.

I’ve been living as a pedestrian the last little bit, because my tire decided to do this…

Yeah, that was all tire, we didn’t hit anything. Anywhoo, it broke in Tennessee, getting fixed in Kentucky and I live in Virginia. Complicated.

I still don’t have a job, but I’m working on that.

I haven’t been working on most my knitting, because its hot, but I’m working on some boy socks for a 3rd anniversary present

They were longer, but then I realized I didn’t compensate for smaller needles and frogged back to add stitches in the foot circumference.

I’m also trying to finish this top/vest, with some alterations which I’m now reconsidering, basically its a mental battle between just ribbing in armholes (already done) or short sleeves. Laziness may prevail.

finally I am getting ready for the Tour De Fleece 2011 (July 2nd -24th)

I have some nice merino bamboo I want to spin up

And some very soft, but unpleasantly colored superwash merino (I think) which needs spun up and sold or overdyed.

The new place

I’m in the process of moving into a new apartment, and I have pictures of the place as it looks empty.

the living room and the stairs

Couple views of the kitchen

out the back door

My room

My roommate’s room

The bathroom

All the Things: Part 3, or the WIPs

I have quite a few projects in motion right now, these are just the ones who have seen some work lately, some get carried with me, some need to have instructions at all times and some need to not be seen by certain people.

A baby Olyphant, for a classmate who is expecting.

A blanket for me, with two more colors of wool to come.

A lace and garter mobius scarf for a friend

the knitted top which will be far too warm to be worn anytime soon

and finally a new spindle, a tiny turkish

All the Things: Part 2, or a finished object

I actually finished a project! I finished this shawl out of Zauerball Crazy just in time for the weather to get far too hot for a shawl or scarf, or pretty much anything woolly. In fact it has been in the 80′s for most of the last couple weeks.

This is the shawl unblocked

Blocking

and the Final product

rainbowy!

border, 100% improvised.

overall quite lovely

All the things part 1: or Happy Easter and change

I’ve been busy, too busy to blog, or at least procrastinating in other ways.

First: Happy Easter! I’m currently full of pork, potatoes, cabbage corn and a nice salad. Also Candy.

I have a new hair color as of yesterday. It was time to cover up the faded pastels from my binge of many colors over the month of march or so. This is my hair on my Birthday, but the blues had greatly faded since then.

I covered it up with a nice bright red

and with this I conclude part 1

Going well, and then a knitting fail on a humorously large level

Well first I had a birthday (okay this isn’t in chronological order, just order of how I wanna put it)

I also have been learning to make stitch markers, which is only tricky when you don’t superglue your fingers

and finally I screwed up a moibus

First I cast on (without counting) until the needle was full. That worked except that I cast on about 2000 too many (really) I counted yesterday and gave up at 1000 less than halfway there. Then I did math that told me I needed about 400.

see how the stitches are packed on? it was CRAZY! When I pulled it off the needles it was about 3/4 of an inch wide and went around my neck at least 5 times for this picture.

I started again in some nice green yarn.

I go to the hardware store

to buy a pair of pliers and I come home with this (and pliers)

Its a gardenia, which is my all time favorite flower.

First I put gravely sand from the woods next to the driveway into the bottom of the pot.

Then some potting soil to raise up the plant

Then I put the plant in

Then finally I fill it up with soil and bring it in, where I really don’t have a spot for it.

New Stuff

While my boy was visiting we went to the yarn store…

I got myself this lovely lace, which of course got cast on into a shawl.

He got me this, which I knit into a cushion in less than 24 hours. Its small, but I keep it on my desk to lean on.