My WIPS are Miscontrued!

Ahh, you all thought I only had the five items I listed as WIPS - Ha! These were simply the closest to me at the moment I was writing! Remember Hyrna? and I have Rosebud on the needles. . . and let's not forget Elektra,


and so many one socks it's not funny, and plans and plans and plans for other items. . .

How many of you do this? Oh! I must make that sweater, so I go off and buy the yarn and (sometimes) the needles and then I get the whole package home and it goes in the closet. Do you really want to know what's in the closet? Well, I say let's take a vote on that - one thing in there is the Mitered Mozart remember that sweater? Do you all really want more? And what is one to do with all these plans? I think perhaps it is time to stop buying and start knitting some of these up!

Do any of you out there still cross stitch? I have gads of stuff for that as well. And again this is counted cross stitch or counted needlepoint. Lots of silks and linens and canvases - if there is something specific you are looking for and have patience with me, I may have it. It would just take me some time to locate it in the bins and "the closet".

And spinning fiber - I have gobs of that too. . . and beads. . . so see? Lots of "stuff" in progress!!

Anyhoo - here is the B4 bag, I am up to my 3rd B- Beads! (Bumps, Bobbles, Beads and Buttons!) Now, many of you may already know this, but 6/0 beads just don't cut it on worsted weight yarn. So, all the lovely colors I showed you last week, didn't work with the size yarn I was knitting. So, Ellen, at EarthFaire was so patient with me and I acquired these 5/0 beads: ( and OMG did you see what she has on her front page?? See? This is what I mean, don'tcha just want that shawl????? "Love is a Many Mitered Thing")

So I made it to here on the B4 bag:

Do you like the beads? They really blend in, which isn't exactly what I was originally going for, but hey, at this point it will do. Below is it in total so far, now I am on the hunt for buttons! I guess this bag is a bit more work than I bargained for!



and a traffic jam to Franklin, TN means I made it to here on my Yogo Socks, (four more rows to the heel flap):

After a lovely meal at the Bonefish Grille, Chris and I stayed in Franklin for the night, on the way back we stopped by the Apple store (again) and I have finally ordered by iMac. Chris is confident that the smaller 17" model will fit on my restricted desk space. I do realize I could have gotten a Mac mini, or a laptop, but those options just didn't appeal to me, as I know I am not good with laptops and the mini just didn't cut it for me! Yes, I am spoiled.

I do know we will be purchasing another computer in one more year for Caryn as this is the "big" graduation present we give them. Bryan got a decked out PC too, however, now I think Miss Caryn wants an iMac too. Ok enough blabbing - hope you all have a good week! :)

Trials and Tribulations . . .

Well, the weekend started off on a good note. . . I was armed and dangerous. I had the dimensions of our built into the wall desk.Yes. I was ready, I was on my way I was going to get rid of this old Dell Dimension 4300S computer, I was buying an iMac! Even the teenagers were excited about this, I mean enough so, that they got up at 7:30 am to get to the Apple Store by 10:00 am, so we didn't waste the whole day on Nashville Roads. Wow. So, off we go, and we get there in plenty of time (of course, after drinking coffee and coke the first mission was to find a bathroom, and remarkably that was very difficult in Green Hills Mall). After twenty minutes of discussion, it turns out the iMac will not fit in the space we have on this stupid, stupid built in wall desk. I am up-set. I haven't given up totally yet, though. We may just have to clean out the back room (cough, cough, wool storage room) to make a new "office space". I guess when push comes to shove this is the way I might go. Chris talks about putting a hole in the desk in the kitchen, but that does not appeal to me at all. . .

After the Apple fiasco I drove directly to The Haus of Yarn and bought four skeins of Wool in the Woods:
To make another B4 Bag, this is the current B4 in progress: What do you think of those bobbles??

This is being done in Malibrigo Merino Worsted in Amoroso on size 10.5 US Needles - or 6.5 mm, and will be a smallish bag, that I hope to give my niece for Christmas, filled with fun girly things. I have a problem with the beads tho. Size 6/0 just don't seem big enough and I am really at a loss on what the next size up is! What Color do you like?? These are from the Beadwrangler and these colors are Grey Diamonds, Wicked Red, and Mambo Mauve -


This is what we have all picked out - and the picture above shows the truest color.


I have so many things on the needles right now, I need to get a hold of myself! And shake myself up!! Here is my List:

Antique Lace
Yogo Socks
Kai Cardigan
Elektra Vest


This is just what I have next to me in my knitting basket! I hope I will be posting my progess on finishing items next!

Three Skeins of Georgia -

So, I have been spinning. . . bet you didn't know. . . I got a shipment from Wooly Wonka Fiber's as I am in Anne's Exotic Fiber Club. This shipment was for 4 oz. of the most white Cormo roving I have ever seen!! Since my wheel was in a prime spot for moving out bobbins, I started spinning some of it up:

I know, that's not a bobbin, but look at how white that roving is!! Ok, I have to admit, it's not my favorite to spin. It is very soft, yes, and it is very well prepared, but I still end up with itty bitty nups that do pick out, but drive me nutty. I don't think that soft fine wools can be prepared without these bugger's, which is why I sold a whole prepared fleece of Cormo from OVF. I just couldn't stand the nupps, and it feels like I have to practically watch every second or the fiber pulls away from me! I don't remember either of these problems with some hand dyed merino I started with on Tina, so maybe this is indicative of Cormo. I don't know, but here is my spinning so far:


So, the reason I was ready to start this is I had another full bobbin of Georgia ready to ply with it's mate on the Lazy Kate. So, this afternoon, I plied, and plied, and plied:

It's major hot here in KY which is the reason for the half gallon drink sitting next to me! But anyway, I took a shot of my lazy kate after plying the two bobbins and, Ashley, just look how close I came to being perfect! Well, I don't usually get this close, this is pretty dad-gum close, I have to say myself!

So, this resulted in 291 wraps on a 1.5 yard skein winder:

Which equates to 432 yards approximately:

And this is all the roving I have left to do of Georga:

Which I am now trying to decide to either spin the whole thing on a bobbin and center ball ply or try to even it out on two bobbins and ply 'em up like I did today. . . my luck is not so great with the center pull ball, but I hate to waste any of these singles either! Decisions, decisions!

Two Skeins and One and a Half Socks Later -

Hi guys! Did you miss me? I did get a couple of notes from folks so I know some of you are reading (hi Carol and Peggy)!

Caryn and I made it back from the Northeast without a single problem, going out was fine too. I have to say though, that I will never, ever, ever fly through JFK again unless my life depends on it! What a freakin' zoo that place was: the intercoms were paging over each other, and it was packed full of people. We landed at 4:00 and I figured getting something to eat would be a good idea. Well, two cheese and tomato sandwiches and two cokes ran me $21.95! Good Grief!

So the trip was fine, and the weather was great too, almost cold to us the first night we stayed at the lake. The second two days they hit record high temps (90's in Fahrenheit scale) so, we were right at home! Here's a shot of the lake, it was shallow and hard to swim in, and don't ask about our canoe adventure!

We spent a great deal of time "chasing" the loons to try to get pictures. I think that the Loons make the whole experience of staying on a lake that much more special. They have a haunting call that at night seems to almost be eerie! They are unbelievable swimmers and can swim under water for ages, I am not good with distances, but believe me, they swim at least half a football field under water. This was the best shot I could get, they are fast buggers too!


Of course, we went to the beach too, Caryn even went underwater! We can't call it swimming because let me tell ya people it was cold water. I walked in, my feet immediately became numb, and then they simply hurt! In about as much time as it has taken me to write that sentence, so let me tell ya, Caryn is a brave, brave girl! This is a shot of Perkins Cove at one of the inlets at Ogunquit Beach:

What? You didn't think Caryn would let me take her picture did you?

Ok, on to knitting! Here is my progress on my Yogo Socks. Ms. Vicki, I know you were expecting to see two pairs of socks here, but with all the driving (almost 550 miles in six days) and all the family get together's, I didn't have a lot of free time! I tried what another designer called a "Semi" Partidge Heel on this, although I think in retrospect it is a bit too wide for me. These are really thick socks, so I am thinking they may become slipper socks, we'll see. . . bad shot, but great with the color! (Mountain Colors Bearfoot in Wild Raspberry.)
And here is the heel:

Once we got back home, I've been finishing up some spinning:
Georgia is almost finished! This represents 692 yards and I have almost two full bobbins more to ply up! Yeah! This is coming out exactly the way I need it to, I love this stuff! I can not recommend Melissa at Skylines Farms enough! She's got her fleeces (what's left of them) up for sale right now. Talk to you all next week!