Compliments make my day

So this morning was WW (down another2.4 lbs, thanks for asking!) and while I was waiting outside (they're serious about when they open, 9:30 and not a second sooner, they don't care if it's snowing or not) a fellow WWer asked me about my choice of headwear (I was wearing my Noro Calorimetry) and was very excited to know that there are knitting patterns out there for such cute head bands! She just went on and on about it, in the 2 minutes we were left shivering. That made my day.

And looking out into the wintery wonderland we've got going on today in NE Ohio, somehow, I don't feel like I'm the crazy one for knitting and spinning. And I have been doing both. I've really hunkered down and put some serious time into the long ignored Hidcote Shawl. I know, it's been forever since I've shown it to you.
Look, a different stitch pattern! Finally! I'm now on chart 7 (out of 10 if you were wondering) and the 3 remaining charts get smaller (yay!) even though the rows continue to get longer (boo!). I'm hopeful that I'll be able to get this bad boy done by the end of the month. I'm not letting myself start any major (read: large) projects until this one is done. Quit laughing.

I've also managed to get a bit more done on the Druid Mitten. Still trying to limit myself on this one, I really don't need carpal tunnel or any other neurologic issue to interfere with the knitting.
Love the details of this pattern. Even the bobbles - and I'm not usually a bobble person.

I've also picked up something that was started before Christmas (at point, in a moment of insanity, I thought that it might be a Christmas present for someone, but I quickly recovered my sanity and put it aside) it's a Flutter Scarf. I'm using Jojoland Melody (same yarn as the Hidcote Shawl) and it's so pretty. I'm a little more than halfway done with one half of the plain bit of the scarf - does that make sense?
I'll try to explain. There's a 4 row repeat, that you do 50 times, then you get to do the fun flutter part at the end of the scarf. Then, you go back to where the bright pink yarn is, pick up the stitches and do 50 more of the 4 row repeats going the other way, then another flutter bit. Make sense? I'm looking forward to the flutter part.

I have my first 2 FO's of 2009! The first (the Mittens of Doom) really will get a post of their own soon. The second:
Another striped scarf! This one used Boku yarn instead of Noro - but to the same effect and I love it! It matches my new purple coat. Note in the first picture - the window on the right side. Yeah, it's snowing a lot here today. I managed to crank this puppy out in a long weekend! Granted, I worked a double hockey tournament, so I had plenty of time on my hands. It's also fewer stitches wide, and slightly shorter than the original. And it's the second FO because I wouldn't let myself sew the ends in until after the Mittens of Doom were complete.
Now for some spinning. Yesterday was Distaff Day - a spinners holiday, bet you didn't know that. So before Christmas I got the last shipment of my spindle and fiber club (very sad that it's over) and once again it was fantastic!
Included was a 1.19 oz green onyx spindle, 3.77 oz of "Nans Cottage" superwash merino (which you can see I've already started spinning) and 3.68 oz of "Light Hearted" alpaca top (which if you'll remember, matches the merino and mohair from previous shipments). To all you spinners out there - this is an amazing club for a great price, you should really consider it, and if not the club, check out the store - all of her stuff has been fantastic!
My other spinning is the now plied "Rockin Around".

I'm thinking that it's almost exactly like the Brave Woodsman I showed you, because I got the same yardage. However, I do have a bit more left on one bobbin that I need to Andean ply (or maybe I'll let my good friend Meagan the spinning goddess do it, I'm rubbish at the Andean plying, and this isn't the yarn I want to practice on). Still needs a soak and all, hoping to get all the new yarn soaked and dried this weekend.

In other news, I'd like to send out a big CONGRATULATIONS!! to my brother Paul, who just got hired on with the Painesville Fire Department. He's been working long and hard for this and I'm very proud of him. Here's hoping that this means more time off for visits.

Also, for the first time in my career, I saw a shutout in a basketball game. I didn't think that it was possible, but it is. It was a JV girls game (you now can understand how horrible it was). By the end, you just wished someone would make 1 shot. The refs started calling fouls on my girls just to give the other team foul shots. The varsity game wasn't much better, we won by almost 60. Yikes.

Secrets Revealed

Like the new look? I'm trying to feel festive - it's just not computing that it's December and that Christmas is really almost here, so I'm trying to do everything to get myself in the Christmas mood. Even if that means making my blog look a little garish.

Anyway, I promised some knitting updates. And some secret knitting can finally be revealed. So in the last post you saw the Scurvy Pirate Mittens. Here's the close ups.
These were so cute and fun to make. I used Smooshy "Midnight Derby" again, held single this time, with more of the Swish DK in white. And despite all my worries, they fit!

Next up was my birthday present to my brother - a Notre Dame hat.
Sadly, I didn't get any "action" shots of this hat, but it fit - not as well as I would have liked (which probably means that sometime in the future I will make another version of this to satisfy myself). This was my first attempt at designing my own pattern. Just a basic hat with some colorwork thrown in, so it's not like I attempted to climb Everest the first go-round. But I'm pretty pleased with it.

And now we move onto the pink hat. That's right, I made a pink hat for my little brother. I figured since he's been in warm climates for the last few winters (South Carolina, Okinawa and now North Carolina), he might like to have a hat to wear around home while visiting.
It's the Turn a Squarae hat pattern from brooklyntweed. Love the pattern. And it's amazingly quick and easy. An action shot.
I won't show the first picture I took - it's not nice, and this is a family blog.
Both the Scurvy Pirate hat and the Pink Hat in action. What you don't see pink? Neither do I, but Tommy does. (PS - all he wants is a jolly roger hat - why can't he have a jolly roger hat like C4?)

I did manage to finish my Thanksgiving socks in time to wear on Thanksgiving. I don't have photos, because I forgot to take some while they were in use, but maybe next post. And then after those were done, I had a whirlwind of a weekend of selfish knitting. Yep, instead of working on Christmas knitting, I knit for myself instead.

I cranked out these Iro Mittens in like 24 hours - so fast and easy. And more than one person has mentioned how much they like them.... hmmmm....
And then in a little over 24 hours, I managed to make another Turn a Square.
This one's for me, to match my Noro Vacation Scarf. Love it. It's so pretty. Might go back and rip out a couple stripes to make it shorter - haven't decided yet. Right now it's a bit long, but it fits over my ponytail easily. We'll see, I may just leave it due to the amount of knitting I still have to get done in the next 21 days!!!

Pretty presents to show and then I'm done. My second shipment of the spindle and fiber club came. It's amazing, again.
That's 3 oz of mohair in a colorway that perfectly matches the merino I got in the first shipment, some silk in "Bright Peacock", and the class whorl spindle. So pretty.
Now I just have to get my gift knitting done, and finish at least one of my spinning projects so that I can play with my new stuff. There just aren't enough hours in the day!

A Fibery Friday

Wow- I haven't done 2 posts in the same week in a while. Look out - I'm getting wild and crazy. But I have stuff to show off, so here goes. As I said in my last post - I was a bit tired of working with the Alpine Targhee, so I started a different spinning project - yeah, I'm that fickle. Remember that nice "Fallen Leaves" merino I showed a few weeks ago? I started that. I thought it was appropriate (even if it is a little bit close to being team colors for a certain hated football team). Haven't gotten much done, the gift knitting comes first - but here it is:
I like it. I think it'll end up being a very nice 3-ply worsted weight yarn. We'll see how many yards I get, but it should become something pretty and fabulous for next fall.

Yesterday, I received my long-awaited football bonus. I placed an order for a spot in a spindle and fiber club way back when, after I had gotten my 2-a-day paycheck, as my present to myself. It was originally supposed to arrive mid-October, but the woman who makes the spindles and fiber and what not was a few weeks late delivering her son, and things got a little delayed. Anyway, let me just say that it was worth the wait.
That right there is what came in the package. 5 oz of merino in the colorway "Sunday kind of love" which is, seriously, my colors. Love it. And that spindle,
is a 1.39 oz rosewood and jade spindle. So gorgeous. And it spins really really well. How do I know? Because also included in the box was a ball of pin drafted hand-painted cormo. Luscious is all I can say about the cormo, it's so freaking soft and squishy. I had to spin it up. Couldn't help myself.
Very pretty, I'll probably Navajo ply it tonight. We'll see if I get enough yardage to do a little coffee cup cozy.

So that's what I did last night, instead of finished my Wicked socks. I've got a couple inches of stockinette and the toe to do, so that will get done tonight too. Wow, I may even be able to blog over the weekend if I have a finished object to show. Seriously crazy.
Keep your fingers crossed for my volleyball team that plays today in the state semis and tomorrow evening in the finals if they win, and for the football team who is playing tomorrow night (the team we're playing has 8 players committed to D1 schools, and it's been said that they could probably win the State championship in any of the divisions, including Division 1 - so I'm thinking that tomorrow night will be my last football game - just saying.)

Noro is my anti-depressant

Sorry for the delay in the presentation of the fibery goodness. This week has not been the best. My car started making a horrible noise late last week and I took it in to get fixed on Tuesday. It's now fixed, but my bank account is broken. Anyone know where you get to get that fixed? I'm already working, any other suggestions?

So, anyway, Tuesday I needed a bit of a pick-me-up after I got the quote on my car. And since my bank account was broken and I couldn't order the pretty yarn that was in the Loopy Ewe's Sneak up (first time in weeks I've wanted to order stuff and I can't - because that's how my life works) what did I turn to? Noro of course. I started some Noro socks using the 2 socks at one time on one big long circular needle (a circular needle has the two knitting needle points attached to one flexible cord, thereby allowing you to knit in a circle). As of right now, they look like this:

I'm doing a knit3, purl 1 rib. Nothing fancy. And they kinda look like some Hokie socks at the moment. But this is the ball of yarn that will eventually become the rest of the sock:So it won't stay Hokie-ish for too much longer. Sorry Krista. But onto the haul from Saturday. Clockwise from top right, 2 oz of gray angora from Sheephaven Hutchworks, 2500 yds of hand-dyed alpaca lace-weight yarn from Briar Rose, 100% baby Suri alpaca from Stargazer Farm (that's only one of three hanks I got) and 4 oz of a 50/50 blend of alpaca/llama roving from Midwest Fiber Company. And here's the spindle I got:It's from the Rouge Lucette, it's .9 oz and made from curly koa wood, which is only found in Hawaii. And it's currently holding some Corriedale roving from Squoosh on Etsy. Which I'm loving.Not bad fro my first ever fiber festival. And so, we move on to the knitting. This is where I'm at on the previously unblogged sock.It's just a plain stockinette sock, therefore it will be known as the Plain Vanilla sock. Out of some very not vanilla Stone Barn Fibers "Adrianna" from the Loopy Ewe. It's very pretty yarn and works up really well. I've also started some Christmas knitting (I know, hard to believe I'm attempting to get an early start for a change) but since recipients or those close to recipients may or may not read the blog, they will go unblogged to maintain the surprise that should be Christmas presents.

Okay, for a reward for my knitting muggle readers who made it this far into the post (the term "muggle" comes from Harry Potter, all non-magical folks are referred to as muggles, therefore, it's been adopted to be used as a term for those who do not belong to a particular sub-culture) some sports related updates. My baseball team is playing in the regionals today down in Lorain, against a team that no one has ever heard of, Maple something. They played a game Tuesday against Beachwood that didn't count for anything and managed a come back from 9-1 to a 13-11 win. The win, if they count it, gave them a new school record for most wins in a season. Yay them.

The LAX team played Rocky River in their first play-off game on Tuesday and they won. Which means that we play the hated US team today. I will be attending that game. Track ran at Navarre yesterday for the regionals or whatever level they're at. And that's it.