Just Keep Winding

The other night, the Knitting Fates had a good laugh at my expense. The kind of laugh that you remember and re-tell the story for years, to the embarrassment of the humiliated (kinda like annoying family stories). Why were they laughing?
That is what my 1000+ yds of lace weight handspun looked like after an hour winding it. Go ahead. Laugh. I didn't, but I managed not to cry either, or take scissors to it and chop it up into millions of fibery bits to be dumped in Lake Erie. Nope, I just kept winding, by hand. I wasn't going to risk breaking the yarn by using the ball winder. We all know how that works out for me.
Yeah, that's after another hour. Still funny isn't it? Have to say, I did not enjoy "Flying Down to Rio" which I watched while doing this. Very disappointing for Fred and Ginger. They only danced once.
Um, yeah, this puts us at three hours.
An episode of NCIS later. Very excited that it was getting big enough to cover my hand at that point.
And after an episode of "Cities of the Underworld", at which point I stopped for the night.
Picked it back up after my eye appointment yesterday. And that's as far as I got before work.

Much to the amusement of my boys basketball team, I kept winding through their practice, and finally:
A whole big ball of yarn! That could have been wound in under ten minutes if it hadn't been tangled during the washing of it! It only took me like 6 hours. Who needs puzzles when there's tangled yarn? That picture is to show off the computer I finally have in my new office too.
And this is what the yarn has become. The small beginnings of a lovely stole.
Pretty isn't it?

Snow Days and Exasperation

The second storm of the week came through Thursday into Friday, resulting in another snow day on Friday. Snow days, I find, are perfect for getting lots of fibery things done. Example #1: Monday's achievement:
I took that 4 oz of BFL from Tomboy Yarns (links in the last post) and spun it up. Sorry, forgot to take pics of the singles. I then proceeded to finish the knitting of the Aeolian shawl.
Isn't it pretty? Yeah, haven't made it to Ellie's to block it yet, maybe tonight. Have to get a hold of her first. But that's a pretty productive day in my book.

Wednesday, I finally made it over to see Bridget and fam for a belated Christmas. Which means that I finished the Baby Surplice and Aviatrix hat on Tuesday night. Didn't get photos of them on Miss Kathleen, but here's her first blog photo:
Not the best, I'll admit, but it was taken with my left hand while my right arm was holding her. And no matter what, she's adorable. Kaylee of course wanted her picture taken too.
She was most impatient to start doing everything included in her present. Disappointment abounds when you're three. This was the view from my parking spot when I got to work on Wednesday.
Nothing but gray. That's why people get depressed here in winter - there are way too many days that look like that.

Thursday was Rock Day, a day for spinning. So, I opted to ply up that BFL during the football game.
It still needs to be soaked, but you get the idea of what it looks like. Speaking of spinning, that night I opted to soak the Rugby yarn you saw last post too (I got some wool wash from Meagan for Christmas on Thursday).
So now it's done and ready to go. I got about 245 yds of a sport/DK weight. I love it. Now to decide what to make with it. And since I was on such a roll that night, I thought that I would soak the Fire yarn I spun up a while back and didn't wash. And that's when the night went downhill. After one soak, I expected there to be dye in the water - it's a vibrantly red and brown yarn. After two soaks, I was still okay with the bleeding. After three, I was not so happy. So I decided to let it soak overnight, as it was getting late and I was tired. This is what greeted me Friday morning:
Ummm, okay. This should be the last soak.
Or not. Maybe I should rinse it a bit, like 5 minutes. Good, now I'll soak it again.
And after one more soak,
I gave up. At least it's a bit lighter now. Hung it up to dry, figured that 16 hours of exposure to water was enough and if I did much more, I would mess with the integrity of the yarn. But this is freaking ridiculous. I'll probably have to wash the finished item 3 times too.
Yeah, even my hands were tinged by the dye. But onto a happier red thing, the sweater.
I separated the stitches for the sleeves - Wednesday I think, and I tried it on, and it fit! Yay! Now waist shaping can commence. Would've started but I got side tracked by a project I deemed more immediately necessary on Friday. Example #2 of the productiveness of snow days:
That yarn became this headband:
Finished last night actually. Isn't it great? I think so. It's double layered too:
Which means that it's extra warm. And comfy. Yay for semi-instant gratification projects. But this makes wearing a pony tail when it's cold so much easier. And it used not much yarn at all, so I'm thinking that some matching mittens are in order. Eventually. I have other things more pressing - I already have mittens. Maybe later, I'll get a picture of it in use.

So, this was the view from the window on Friday, after the snow had stopped falling.
And then yesterday, Mom went for a walk in the woods and took some spectacular winter wonderland photos:
So pretty, it almost makes me like winter. Almost. Those are for my cousin Krista - who misses the snow. I'd send her some if the post office would let me. We have some to spare.

And now I leave you with a very confused kitty. Knitting pal Debi included some knitted cat nip mouse toys with my Christmas gift, and I introduced one to Maddie the other night. She's not really been exposed to cat nip, and isn't sure she likes these interesting smelling things.
She's intrigued.

New Year, New Knits

This is a knit heavy post - can't help it, there hasn't been much else going on around here. Lots of snow - most places got a snow day today (my school wasn't set to start up til tomorrow so it's a non-issue, but Mom got another day off). Where to start? How about a Christmas present?
You saw this in it's early stages, but never finished. The Entrelac Button Cowl for Mom, out of the Redwood Forest Handspun. It turned out better than I imagined, and Mom really likes it. I don't think I showed the matching headband ever.
It's the Quant pattern, from Knitty. It also turned out well, but I would do it differently if I made it again. And she's going to kill me for this picture, but as my sister would say "Whatevs."
And since the project is such a big hit on Ravelry, I'm working it up in commercial yarn so that I can write it up and other people can make one. How crazy is that? People also seem to want the pattern for the Gameday Hats (the fade away hats that Mason and Paul got for Christmas), so I'm going to work on that too. I didn't get the gauge right on either of those prototypes, so another one has to be made.
Anyway, that's the start of the cowl with some Noro Silk Garden. I was trying to add an I-cord edging to it, but I don't like it, so I need to frog and start over. The good news is, it goes faster than the handspun version (thicker yarn and bigger needles and fewer squares will do that).

Another little knit that was finished before Christmas but never featured, my Blue Multnomah.
Made specifically because it's school colors and therefore will match everything I wear to work. It debuted the first game in the new gym, to many compliments. Too bad there were entirely too many people in the too small gym, and I had to take it off after a while. I used some yarn that I got at KotS, the woman who does all the spinning lessons has also started dyeing yarn to sell on consignment there. You can also find her on Etsy.
It's heavier than a fingering weight, probably more of a sport/DK yarn, so the dimensions of the scarf are different from the first one I did, and it's not as soft as the Malabrigo used in the first (but is any yarn as soft as Malabrigo?) I love it all the same. Gorgeous blues, I'm a sucker for blue. I'm also on a kick for knitting these little shawlettes. I love them. Want to make every pattern I come across on Ravelry. Trying to restrain myself - not very successfully though.
That is the start (and a few charts in) of an Aeolian Shawl(ette). I couldn't help myself. It was after Christmas, and I needed to start something new, and wanted lace... it just kind of happened. But it's going so fast. That's not even all of it (I worked another 28 rows after the photo was taken yesterday), so I only have 18 rows left before binding off. That's record time for me and lace. In laceweight, with beads. I never work that fast.
See the leaves? (I'm such a sucker for leaves in my knitting, why is that?) See the beads? Not too noticeable, just a touch of bling.
And the nupps? There aren't that many of them, but they're still fun. I'm hoping to get it done by the end of the week, then I can show you one of my Christmas presents in use (blocking wires!). I know you're all excited - please try to keep it under control.

Wow, this is getting long, and I'm not done yet. Guess there's been more knitting than I thought. I'll try to go fast with these last ones. So, BFF Bridget had a little girl - Baby Kaffaween as her big sister says (Kathleen if you don't speak toddler), so I needed to knit something pink and adorable.
The Baby Surplice by Elizabeth Zimmermann. You really can't go wrong with EZ for a baby knit. It's DK weight yarn and worked up really quickly - haven't been able to gift it yet - can't be infecting the household with my icky cold germs, but I'm hoping to get over there this week. It still needs buttons, and I'm contemplating an edging (the first one didn't work so it was ripped out). So stinking cute. And the delay in gifting meant that I could work up something with the leftover yarn.
The Aviatrix Hat. Also, so stinking cute. Oh my goodness, it really is the cutest little hat. Worked flat - which is always fun, and quick, would have been quicker had I not been watching a movie I'd never seen before. Still have to do the other earflap, and find a button, and then it's done too.
The photos I get of her in the ensemble may be too cute to post, they might just overload the system. Moving on to something less cute, I finished a sock. It feels like it's been forever since I finished a sock.
It's the right foot (yeah, this pattern has a right and left foot) Slant. Really cool pattern. Would go faster if there weren't so many twisted stitches, but it looks cool so I can't complain. Moved on to the left sock on Saturday - halfway done with the leg (but it's a short leg). Other projects consumed me the rest of the weekend though.
Like a sweater for me. Been waiting to cast on a sweater for a month or two - as I now have 3 sweaters worth of yarn in the stash (I usually only have 1), so I thought I better get to it, now that Christmas knitting is done.
Doesn't look like much, but that's the neck and shoulders of Ingenue. Using some Valley Yarns Williamstown (purchased at WEBS on vacation). I got to the point where you separate the sleeves, but haven't done it yet. That's the moment of truth. I'll be able to try it on to see if it fits. Eek. Much of the knitting got done at the hockey tournament on Friday night. What can I say - there weren't any injuries. And stockinette in the round - so fast!
That's what the neckline will look like when it's done. It gets folded in half and hemmed to give it some stability. Never done anything hemmed in my knitting. Good times. And that wasn't even the only think I did this weekend (I really should get out more, I'm thinking). I got some spinning time in, finally.
That's 5.4 oz of Romney (new to me fiber) in the colorway "Rugby" from Feeling Sheepish. Really good spin. Nice long catchy fibers.
Did some nice fine singles for a 2 ply. Started on New Year's Eve, and finished Saturday. Than plied it yesterday after lunch with the Perry bunch ( I couldn't resist).
Will take it off the bobbin and give it a good soak today - unless my wool wash is still at Ellie's, which I think it is. Never mind. Anyway, plied it up while listening to the Steelers game. Happily, they won, but others that needed to lose didn't, so no playoffs this year. Oh well. We still got more than anyone else.
Alright, I think that's it, and if it's not, it can wait til next post. This is crazy long.