New Tricksy

So, what can I report? I finished the second Spiraling Coriolis sock on Monday.

That brings my Weekly Sock Project total to date to: 14 socks. And this is week 11. Yay me. I started a sock on Tuesday with my Noro sock yarn. Ripped it out yesterday and started a new one. Pictures when there's more to show.

If anyone out there would like some snow, we got it cheap. Free in fact - you just have to pay for shipping. What a deal! Yeah, it's not going anywhere anytime soon. And if it does, there'll be major flooding. Hmmm. Not a very nice trick Mother Nature.

On Sunday, I did in fact learn to spin. I know, like I need another obsession. Oh well, got it now. Meagan is teaching me to spin with a top whorl drop spindle. She is graciously letting me borrow one of her spindles and donateda sild cap to the effort. Here's my first ever bit of spinning.

And I still got like half of the cap it go, it's the never ending silk cap I tell ya. And then on Monday, her mom came for a surprise visit and they invited me over to play some more, and I spun a little bit of wool that Debbie donated to the cause. I couldn't get any good photos of the wool bit, sorry about that. But then at SnB on Tuesday night, under their supervision, I spun up the white "practice" wool that came in my spindle kit from here.

That wool was much easier to work with. I'm not good enough to draft while spinning, I have to park the spindle between my knees to pull out some more fibers every spin, but I'm assured that it will come with practice. So here's some pictures of what else came with my spindle kit:

That's a batt of hand dyed wool in the colorway "Erin" (very appropriate for this time of year) that I ordered as an extra to match what I was getting in the kit so I'd have enough to knit a project with, and an unrolled batt of the turquoise that came in the kit.

That is a picture of some of my "bird's nests" - aka, how you prep the batt so you're ready to spin it. The green and the variegated came in batts like the unrolled blue one above.

Did you get all that? There'll be a test, so study up. And here's a photo of my "It's Spring" (or at least it will be in a few months) present from Mom.

Isn't she so pretty? And perfect. Thanks again Mom.

Snowed In (aka Dude, where's my car?!@$#%)

So we got snowed in, again. The "Major Winter Storm" as the news people have been calling it. All in all, about 2 feet of snow. Plus the drifting. There's no predicting that drifting. And the snow is heavy. And my arms are sore from the shovelling I did yesterday that you can't tell I did today. And I have to go out in a little while and shovel some more. And I'm whining, I know, but I'm particularly annoyed at my sibling right now. The snow blower that was purchased for my dad is in someone else's garage. Why? Because said sibling who will remain anonymous, never went to pick it up at the store. So, I am a snow blower, and my dad is a snow blower, and my mom is a snow blower... you get picture. Maybe putting this out there for all to read, will motivate said sibling to follow through and get the dang thing. That being said, there will be no more snow once snow blower is delivered, because that's just the way my life works.

Alright, whining over, for now. Moving on to knitting. I finished the second Merino Lace sock on Friday.

And then proceeded to finish the first Spiraling Coriolis sock that same night. Isn't it just the most prettiest thing you've ever seen? I love love love the colorway. And I'm just about halfway through the second Coriolis sock due to the inability to do anything but stay inside or shovel yesterday. Happiness.

In other happy news, I'm supposed to go over to Meagan's house today to learn how to spin! Very excited. Can't wait to have something to show. Now, I just have to get out of the driveway...Seriously?!?

Snow Day Boredom

Almost all of NE Ohio got a snow day today. Why? Let's see, the 1/2 inch of ice last night might have something to do with it, not to mention the continuing precipitation that occurre dthrough the night that accumulated a few inches of snow, or maybe it was because of the power outages or the amount of spin outs that took place in the early morning hours. Maybe.

So that meant no work today, and no staff meeting. Which gave me an excuse not to leave the house. Which is, normally, fine by me. But today, I'm feeling restless and bored. Not wanting to knit or blog or scrap or anything. Hmmmm. Perplexing. So, after a few hours on the computer (there's really only so much time I can spend on Ravelry, and I spent more time today than ever before) I decided that I needed to do something. So I looked at my current WIP's:

(That's the Merino Lace socks, the Mystic Waters shawl, and a Tomten for Elliott.) And I felt completely uninspired. I was feeling like I could work on the shawl, but really didn't want to have to think and focus as much as it requires, so I thought and I thought and I thought.

And then it hit me... start a new project. What? Like I don't have enough already? I've come to the conclusion that the reason I'm not wanting to work on the sock is because it's boring. I love the color, and the pattern and think they work great together, but the pattern isn't enough to keep me interested. I will finish it this week, of course, but not today.

Now comes the dilemma - what new project can I start that will be entertaining enough, and come from the yarn I have in my possession? Why, another pair of socks of course. I decided that I needed some very gorgeous handpainted yarn to stave off these snow day blues. So I cast on for the Spiraling Coriolis from the New Pathways book, in my Zen String "Mount Monadnock" yarn. No pics because I'm only a few inches into the toe, and it's not that exciting yet.

So it's been a while since my last post, let's get up to speed. Went to see "The Other Boleyn Girl" this weekend with a bunch of pals from SnB and mom. It was good - I feel for it like I feel for the Harry Potter movies, they're good but the book has so much more. Such is the limitation of the movie medium. Have spent several mornings with a new knitting buddy, Meagan, from SnB and am having a lot of fun with her. She's even tempting me into spinning, we'll see how it goes. And I got my haircut yesterday. I don't like it. So don't expect any shots of my that include my head any time soon. And that's about it. My brother and nephews came over on Sunday before the movie and I leave you with some shots from our photo shoot.