(mostly) FO's

I've been in a little bit of a knitting rut lately. Don't tell the secret spook endpaper's but it's all their fault. So I decided to stop stressing about the mitts and to devote some time learning to spindle. I stumbled upon this wonderful website while at work which answered a lot of questions I had. After the spindle began to wobble with all the spun alpaca goodness on it I wound up my first ball. Then onto the next. I used the same fiber - more alpaca cream colored. This time, after the first couple inches, I did a much better job of keeping the fiber the same thickness. Though, I still do better with the park and draft method, mostly cuz I cant keep the darned thing from spinning in the opposite direction and undoing all I've done. I also think I'm still spinning thicker than the spindle can handle b/c it wasnt long before it was wobbling again. So I wound up my second single ball.



Here I am winding up the second single. Using a little ceramic cup I made this past summer works perfect to hold the spindle while I wind. Notice the even thickness!!















Here are my first two singles. The one on the left is the very first - you can see all the varying thicknesses. The one on the right is much better except for that first couple inches when I started it - thats on the top right of the ball.
I think I'll have to get a heavier spindle to ply the yarn. I'm considering using a suggestion I saw on the Ravelry boards and plying it w/ colored thread so that it doesnt get super thick. But that's for later, first I'll do some more spindling practice.




Onto (nearly) FO 2!
Finally started some holiday knitting. Here is the beginning of my lace snowflake star ornament. The Emily Oaker cast on took several tries and I'm still not comfortable with it, so I may eventually switch to another method.










It knit up super quick though, so that's good.
This is what it looked like when I went to bed last night after 1 hour of work.













And here we are tonight after only 2 hours work. It's almost all done! It just needs to be starched. Despite the icky beginning - its not even easy to knit off of the EO cast-on, I like the pattern and am hoping to make roughly 40 of them by x-mas to give away as ornaments to my family. Wish me luck! (thankfully (or not!) I'll have quite a bit of boredom time to knit once I get to the parents house on dec 20th).

Drop Spindle Fun

Uh oh, a New crafty/fiber endeavor!
So my new fascination with spindling started when Amanda started talking about getting her FIL to make her a spindle. I didnt know what it was and she directed me to this very helpful knitty article. I thought they were super cute and was intrigued. THEN I saw a girl on the 66 bus spindling while riding the bus! (clearly, it was a sign from the fiber goddess) And it looked super fun. When the lot of us went to Rhinebeck I looked at all the pretty spindles, but I wasnt sure which one would be right for me. I also know nothing about roving, so I didnt buy any fiber. I found a Golding drop spindle starter kit near the end of the day but it was a large portion of my budget, and I had already spent most of it on yarn. Lucky for me Danielle mentioned that she had several spindles she could loan me if I wanted to try it out AND she had some alpaca roving she'd be willing to give to me since she's allergic. Yay! Sadly, I havent seen Danielle since Rhinebeck, but she saw Catherine last weekend and then I saw Catherine tonight for some random knitting.
I was all excited to get the spindle and fiber before the holiday weekend and boy was I ever pleasantly surprised. I hit the fiber jackpot! I was expecting one bag of alpaca, not a bunch! And in so many colors! There's creme, black, solid grey, brown, and brown and creme heather!
After a quick tutorial from Ariel, I was off and running. Well, kinda. I'm not very good and my end product is all different thicknesses, but I'm sure I'll get better with practice.



Look at all that fiber goodness!
Thanks Danielle!!















Here is a real live alpaca at Rhinebeck. Cute!

















This one was a prize winner and a bit of a prima donna - she didnt want to look at anyone!










I'm not super worried that I'll give up knitting or stop buying yarn or even blow all my monies on a wheel because I'm not really interested in making my own yarn. I just like spindling for the novelty of it. Its tiny, portable, and cute. Another technique for me to master (its my thing, I like trying new techniques (in lots of disciplines), mastering them, and then moving on - keeps my brain hopping!) and maybe a little fun side hobby if I get any good at it. Because I have soo much extra time that I can now add side hobbies you know (;{ Maybe I'll get lucky and someday even have a beautiful little spindle to call my own, even if I never get into it as much as knitting they are ever so cute! And it kinda gives me street cred in the gansta fiber life. Just kidding!
I'm so excited I've nearly forgotten that my little sister got engaged (she's 22. they've been dating ~7 mos) and I'm in the wedding but clearly not important enough to her for her to tell me before she told all the rest of the family and her friends and even started checking out reception venues for the past two weeks. Yeah. Ouch. And now that my mom has an official almost grandson to be she has no need of me. Which is clearly why she doesnt call anymore and is too busy to talk to me when I call. Anyway, lets just move right along b/c its obvious that that is a sore spot right now.


Alpaca fiber saves the day!