The Knitting Mama

Baby's Got a Pink Cast

2009-07-07T11:41:00.001-07:00

Yesterday she showed me her "pretty toes" while we watched Dora the Explorer.

This was just after we got back from the doctor and she did stay fairly mellow most of the day. I carried her around to one place or the other, and the boys entertained her by bringing her toys and coloring books. I've been thoroughly amazed at how strong and brave she is... I remember there were a few times growing up when I experienced a bad fall or got hit by something and was sure I had a broken ankle or arm. I remember crying and carrying on even after the x-rays confirmed it was only a sprain or bruise... but my baby has been so stoic throughout this whole ordeal. Yesterday, she didn't even flinch when the doctor removed the splint to examine her leg. The nurse let her pick which color she'd like for her cast (pink, of course) and Evelyn sat very still while her leg got wrapped up and set. She chatted with people in the waiting room while I checked us out and showed them her cast and the strawberry lollypop she had also received. She'll need to be in the long cast for three weeks, and then a shorter one for another two weeks. Watching her this morning, I really don't think this is going to slow her down much... Earlier today I watched her follow Jamie around the kitchen by scooting on her bottom and then later she used her arms and good leg to pull herself up the stairs. Crazy girl! I'm going to have to keep a close eye on her to make sure she doesn't try to put weight on that leg before it can have a chance to heal.

I Knew She'd Be the First...

2009-07-02T21:47:00.001-07:00

... to be taken in for an emergency x-ray.

That is Evelyn's broken tibia. She fell off the climber in our backyard before dinner and Phil and I figured we'd better take her in when our "tough girl" wouldn't put her weight on it even after being cheered up with corn dogs and ketchup. :( Poor baby...

She was a trooper at the doctor's office though and let them put a splint on - we have to wait until the swelling goes down before they put a cast on it which will probably get done on Monday. Then I have to tell a two-and-a-half year old to take it easy for the summer... Not good.

The bright side, I guess, is that I won't have to run around making sure she's out of the way of the fireworks this weekend. I'm sure she'll be getting the royal treatment with her leg elevated and Phil's relatives all visiting!

Settling into Summer

2009-06-30T20:07:00.001-07:00

You know it's summer when you've spent all day outside, realize it's 7pm already, and end up preparing hard-boiled eggs and watermelon for dinner. (Hey, I made grilled salmon, oven baked potatoes, and spinach salad yesterday... give me a break!) Phil built us these amazing raised garden beds this year...

Those plants in the background belong to our neighbors, and you can see by the posts that a short fence is the next project on the agenda. I did my first set of planting today - and yes, those are string grids because I'm using the Square Foot Gardening method. I did this at my last house and liked it - plants usually don't survive under my care, so it's nice to have a little handbook to tell me what to do. Here's what the lower garden looked like after transplanting the tomatoes from the planter on my front porch...

(Yes, I labeled everything too... I am my father's child!) I found those cool spiral supports at Lowes and I stretched some netting between the arched ones for further support. The back row is where I planted snap peas, the tomatoes, cucumber, and squash. Nathan helped me plant some rainbow carrots, broccoli, lettuce, bush beans, rhubarb, and radishes. I also planted marigolds and nasturtiums because the book told me to. (Shrugs shoulders - I don't know... To add color? Pest control? Whatever... I really have no idea what I'm doing.)

On the upper garden bed I planted pumpkins, zucchini, corn, and sunflowers. Our neighbors are giving us some strawberries for that front row and over the next few weeks I'll stagger plantings so hopefully (fingers crossed) things will continue to grow into the Fall. We'll see.

Evelyn helped spritz the newly planted areas with water, but mostly she was too busy inside petting the watermelon. She was so adorable laying her head on it and sighing about how much she loved watermelons that I had to take a couple of pics...

See why we ended up having some for dinner? So, let's see... Aside from working on the garden, things have been very busy around here anyway... Phil's dad is in town for the next couple of weeks... I've been trading art lessons for piano lessons for the kids... And I've been trying to figure out what in the world is wrong with my washing machine... Nevertheless, I did manage to finish these socks.

And begin a new shawl. It's the Red Dragon Shawl designed by my friend Tuulia, knit in my own handspun!

No, I haven't finished the other one... Why do you ask?

Is There Such Thing?

2009-06-15T16:24:00.001-07:00

... as having too much fun with fiber? Today I dyed some Lincoln wool...

and some Merino I bought from a destash on Ravelry!

That is going to be so delightful to spin... After finishing that 3-ply I whipped out a Romney single from an old Spunky Club shipment. There's a contest on Knittyspin, so now I need to just figure out what to make with it.

Oh, and if you're a spinner, one of my favorite dyers Poppyflower Fibers is doing a giveaway on her blog!

Right now I'm testing out how the batts spin up after they've been in the dye pot. So far, they want to be spun woolen and make a nice lofty yarn.

Today was the second-to-last day of school, so I'm helping Nathan put together a little vase of flower pens to give his teacher... but soon I've got to switch gears, make some dinner, and hurry off to a neighborhood meeting...

What Is It About 3-ply?

2009-06-10T14:48:00.000-07:00

The first ply usually flies, and the 2nd ply I enjoy the feel of the fiber more because I take my time, then the 3rd ply seems to take for-ev-er. I get a bit tired of the same colorway. I start getting distracted by other projects...

Last week I got my Ashford back from Tara. I've been teaching spinning lessons at my house and I let her take it home for practice. Spinning on it again was like visiting with a wonderful old friend. I oiled her and replaced an E-clip. I fixed that clacking noise. That 3rd ply kept staring at me though, so I spun a quick single of Wensleydale to take the edge off...

Then as if it was enchanted by some replenishing charm, the fiber for the 3rd ply refuses to get smaller. I spin for hours and I seem to have the same amount of roving. I tell myself I will not do 3-ply again... Well, at least not for a very long while. But eventually I do finish the yarn and wind it all up into a skein and...

... it comes into focus as a stunning, shimmering 491 yds of fingering weight, heavenly soft Superwash Merino. Perfect for socks... Strong, yet fine. Durable, yet dainty. And I think oh yeah, this is why I put in all that time and effort!

I even had a little leftover which I chain-plied and got an additional 106 yds that I might use to reinforce the heels and toes of the socks. But first, this one's got to be entered in the Fair. It's just too lovely to use up right away... and besides I think I've got more singles to spin.

Seven!

2009-06-01T19:56:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my eldest child, Nathan, turned seven years old.

On Saturday, we threw him the easiest party ever at the neighborhood park. We served ice cream sundaes, and Nathan and I had gone to the store the night before to pick out all the toppings... We had candy, sprinkles, fruit, syrups, and even whipped cream and marachino cherries! The kids were so excited about assembling their treats and playing on the play equipment, and I even got to sit down for awhile and visit with my friends and family. It was fantastic!

May is really the big birthday month in our family so the weekend before we celebrated with my dad in a similar fashion - by having a picnic at Boulevard Park in Bellingham.

We grown-ups mostly sat around and watched the boats go by, but the kids were full of activity. Nathan kept climbing the trees behind us while I held my breath and tried to hold my tongue as well. Looks pretty sturdy, right?

And I took a nice photo series of the boys playing catch.

I got a couple of pics of the little sis' that day too, but they just weren't as cute as the one I took of her yesterday on our back deck.

Don't you just want to tickle under those arms?

I can't believe Nathan is seven... We bought him a new bike since he had recently learned how to ride without the training wheels. It fits him a lot better too and now he, his dad, and brother can all ride bikes together. I've been back on a fitness kick lately and have been taking Evelyn out in the jogging stroller for walks (Yeah, no, I don't run... not yet, anyway.) I'm hoping we can all go out on some trails this summer - there are a lot of beautiful places to see in the Pacific Northwest!

Dabbling in the Dyepot

2009-05-22T11:54:00.000-07:00

The last couple of days I've been playing with the acid dyes...

Whoa... trippy. Chill out, man... It was just citric acid, I promise. I finally got some decent pics after trying several locations and backgrounds. I have all this white Romney fiber and when the friend who gave it to me told me he had four more fleeces for me this year, I thought I'd better start doing something with it!!! Here's another piece...

I've got to tell you, I was so surprised at how these batts just fluffed right back up... After getting them all wet with dye and water, rinsing, and then stuffing it all in my tiny salad spinner to get most of the water out again I thought they'd be all matted or at least need to be carded again. I'm glad I decided to be bold... These crazy batts will be added to my Etsy shop for spinners. Romney is a somewhat coarse fiber but is very easy to spin, wears well, and is inexpensive compared to the finer wools. I think if I keep dyeing pieces of it with fun colors, they should sell pretty well.

I also had some New Zealand wool roving leftover from making Tandy's yarn. No one bought it at the Valley Spinners sale, so I dyed that too.

Not bad for a day's work... kept an eye on the kids playing outside, listened to some music, spent a bit of time knitting... I've even started teaching private spinning lessons on weekdays. Watch out, Fiber Friends - I could get used to this!

The Rule Is...

2009-05-15T21:53:00.000-07:00

They are allowed to treadle on it if there is no fiber or yarn attached. She was sitting on me so I had Jamie go and get the camera. After having her turn, Evelyn let me ply.

My kate in the above pic was made locally by Tracy of the Eastside Spinners. I hear she's going to be a vendor at Sock Summit!

I was very pleased by the yardage I got with this fiber... The bobbins on the Pocket Wheel are quite a bit larger than my Ashford ones so I was surprised when this one became full before I ran out of my singles. I ended up making two skeins (both fingering weight) - one was about 346 yds and the other was 288 yds.

Pretty! I spun in public today and took the wheel to the park - just loaded it into the jogging stroller along with my little one... It was kind of funny - the moms (except for the ones that I knew) pretty much ignored me, but the teenaged boys wanted to know everything about wool, how it was processed and why it didn't just come apart when I spun it.

Jamie really needed the distraction. Earlier today he was stung by a bee. Actually I think it was a wasp because I didn't find a stinger and they like to build their nests in the eaves of our house this time of year. He just ran in after playing outside, screaming - poor little guy. :(

Fortunately, I have a home remedy for this sort of thing. My mum used to do this whenever my sister or I got stung (or bitten by a spider) and it works well for drawing out the venom and stinger if there is one. Of course, it works best if applied right away and it probably won't help at all if the person is allergic - if they are wheezing or having trouble breathing you should call 911. Here's what I did: I whipped up a quick paste of baking soda and water and applied it directly to the sting. That's it.

After drying his tears, I played him some songs on my I-pod (a rare treat) while we waited for the goop to dry.

We ended up covering it with a small piece of paper towel to speed up the process. Once dry you can lift the solid chunk of baking soda away from the affected area and re-apply the goo. After a few applications, the sting has been soothed and most, if not all, of the venom has been drawn out. Later at dinner, he couldn't even tell his dad which finger had been stung!

What I've Been Up To...

2009-05-04T12:54:00.000-07:00

Spinning this lovely Merino (hand-dyed by Kristin of course)...

I did take a break from the above though to spin up these gorgeous sample batts I received from Laura:

Alpaca with silk noil - it was a little difficult for me get used to letting the "bits" through my drafting fingers, but the result was a lovely 61 yard single. I absolutely love the colors!

Baking snickerdoodles with Evelyn...

Painstakingly placing the needles back into my socks. I took the feet out of them first... Getting out the camera was the only way I could think of to get her to sit still and not run away from the basket where the yarn was still attached.

(This was not the same day we baked cookies.)

I've also been working on designing my own upside down tomato planters... This one is made with crocheted cotton and a milk jug. I'm worried that it won't be big enough.

As the weather around here has been warmer and sunnier than usual, that means we've been spending more time outside - working on the yard and taking the kids down to our neighborhood park. Today there was a re-dedication ceremony to celebrate our new play equipment... A couple of years ago I wrote a letter and organized a petition to our city letting them know we could use more play structures for the many children in our neighborhood who use the park. This year they included it in the budget, and today the Mayor came out to do a ribbon-cutting and the Parks Department brought cake and punch for the kids! Nathan didn't have school because it was a teacher work day and I decided to keep Jamie home too so we could all go.

The new stuff is so awesome - the climber spins around and there can be lots of kids on it at the same time... which is great because the park has been packed over the last several days.

Nathan loves to show off his missing two front teeth. :) It's so exciting when you put forth the effort for something and it actually happens... Look at all those happy kids!

Open For Business

2009-04-24T12:55:00.000-07:00

Hooray - My Etsy shop is open! There's not much posted there yet, but I hope to upload more items this week. Eeeee!

The Outlander DIA Swap

2009-04-23T16:38:00.000-07:00

When I went out to the mailbox today I was excited to find a swap package!

Book-based Ravelry swaps are a lot of fun and this one was especially so. We were encouraged to get to know our swap spoiler and spoilee via email for a few months before putting together their "sporran". The swap was based on the 2nd book of the Outlander series: Dragonfly in Amber. There were trivia challenges on the different sections of the book and swap participants were divided into four Scottish clans. My swap name was Ceili MacKenzie. I spoiled a lass from Clan Murray (Mab) and was spoiled by Mildred Cameron of Clan Fraser. (Silly, I know... but we could all do with a little silliness at times, ye ken?) My goodies were wrapped in some beautiful Ashland Bay Colonial Top (wool):

Mildred (Shelley in real life) had knit and needle-felted a tool bag for my spinning wheel, adorned with a dragonfly!

Included were some interesting flavored chocolates: Cumin, Cardamom, Ginger, and Anise. These were gone very quickly - yum! I also received some wonderful roasted coffee beans and Central Market lavender soap which I hope to enjoy later. Mmm-hmm. And in the picture below you can see there was a lovely spinning orifice hook in the shape of an treble clef.

Here's a closer look at the fiber... I weighed it and found there were 6 ounces, divided into three 2 oz lengths, perfect for a 3-ply. I braided it up and took more pictures. So pretty!

Tapadh leat (thank ye,) Mildred - I look forward to spinning this up. :)

Oh, and look Mum, I'm gardening!

Easter and the Return of the Sun

2009-04-17T19:48:00.000-07:00

This week has been taken up by things that occasionally need to get done when you're a grown-up and a parent... The refrigerator filter had to be changed, the car needed an oil change, Nathan wanted to spend his tooth-fairy money and also had new lenses fitted for his glasses (they were thoroughly scratched up with average 6-yr-old wear and tear,) Jamie's preschool carpool didn't work out and I ended up driving him each day - also picking up Georgia so I could watch her during a couple of those days, and Evelyn spent a lot of time running around with no pants on because she "had to go pee!!!" (Or, just wanted to sit on the toilet for an M&M while I hunted for the discarded wet garments - unfortunately that's not how it works, kid.)

The evenings have been strange because Phil went on a business trip and he's usually the one who puts the kids to bed, and because I really missed his company after they were asleep. I'm very glad he's coming home tonight because Jamie and Evelyn came down with the stomach flu and I'd like to get to the store to buy some organic electrolyte. Ick.

We did have a very nice Easter. I was no longer incapacitated with that awful cold and we were able to attend most of the church services for Holy Week. Phil's brother came to visit and he helped us dye Easter eggs.

Lots of fun - We had those kits that my grandma had sent and the kiddos really went to town. Evelyn liked using the paint brush, and the boys enjoyed dipping the eggs into the dye cups multiple times. They loved the face stickers too as you can see.

On Easter morning, I spread a tablecloth on the stairs as a backdrop so Phil could take pictures of the kids in their outfits before the "Somewhat After Sunrise" service in the park.

I found the hat at Fred Meyer - it really completes the adorableness, don't you think? I'm glad it didn't really rain (it was more of a sprinkling mist.)

You might have noticed that I recently changed my side bar. I decided I didn't really need the "Works in progress" or "On the Back Burner" sections anymore since most of you who care about that stuff are on Ravelry and I keep track of it there. I also removed the Paypal button that linked to our adoption fund because I really felt uncomfortable having it there. Our adoption agency has given us a few suggestions for raising money and most of them involve sending out pledge letters which also doesn't feel right to me. So far, what has worked for us (aside from keeping our diet to the basics and going without our Y membership) has been selling those baskets. I wish I could get another order by Tuesday for the Valley Spinners sale, but that's not going to happen. Instead I'm whipping up some of those tiny scrap-catching baskets to go with the ones I have left, and hope to make a few other things to sell with the fiber I'd like to destash and a bit of my (gasp) handspun. I also signed up for an "affiliate" program. Basically it means that I'm putting a couple of ads on my blog for companies I like, and they are giving me a commission from any sales that happen as a result of people clicking through to the site. I joined the email list for ChildTrek while we were at GreenFest, and they were looking for people to sign up as affiliates... then I saw a few other companies I liked that were involved in the same program and thought "Sure, why not?" So, if you know anyone who's looking for a nice (lead and toxin-free) birthday or baby shower gift - send them over here for some ideas! I'm so excited because we were finally able to send off the last of our dossier documents!!! This means everything is ready to go to China so we can get our "log in" date - it also means we can start seriously looking at the Waiting Child database. Our case worker said we could get a referral within 6 months - Eeee!

Speaking of handspun, I finished up that 3-ply and named it "Solar Flare."

I was going for sock yarn, but it turned out to be about 184 yds of worsted weight instead. It's Falkland wool, and I had another roving with the same color which I spun into a worsted single today. Right now it's hanging to dry along with this:

This one will be socks. It's 316 yds of two-ply made with that Superwash Merino I dyed myself. It's so squooshy and screams "Spring!" - I love it, the colors are so vibrant! I've been really inspired by the glorious few hours of sunshine we've been soaking up the last couple of days. And I don't think I'm the only one...

A Wiped Out Week

2009-04-08T12:47:00.000-07:00

Last week was Spring Break for the kids, and unfortunately I came down with a nasty sore throat, cold, and fever which knocked me out of it for days. Phil stayed home on Thursday (sweet man) and then took the kids up to his sister's house for a weekend visit so I could rest and get well. I spent most of that time reading the new translation of War and Peace by Tolstoy and sleeping on the couch. Thankfully the kids haven't shown symptoms... yet.

Before the flu hit, I did accomplish several things to share with you. Remember that wavy scarf that I was lever knitting? Done!

I like short scarves because they give me a chance to show off those beautiful shawl pins! Here's another angle - I love how the wave creates a roll on one side.

I don't think this was the best project for practing the lever knitting. I had to keep looking at the pattern which slowed me down considerably. I'm thinking I should choose an easy rib for the next one. Maybe I'll jump on the Noro Striped Scarf bandwagon. (I'm pretty sure I have some in my stash.)

Oh, and I was spinning up a storm on the Pocket Wheel early last week...

This is some Merino/Tencel I bought from Barbara Seeler. It came out to be 347 yds of fingering weight yarn. This was a lot of fun to spin with all the blues, purples, and greens. It's funny but even though those colors are my favorite, the finished product really isn't my thing. I'm setting aside several projects to list in my Etsy shop when I get it together. I really need to get things organized for that.

My new friend Jimin gave me some batts she had made with merino, silk, and angora... I sprinkled them with a little fairy dust (aka Angelina, metallic strands.)

A little sparkle goes a long way, but I think I could have added a bit more. Batts have more nubbiness to them and I wasn't able to spin it as thin as I'd like, but the end result was a lovely soft and smooshy yarn - 123 yds.

After all those blues and greens, I reached for some fire...

Tuulia and Kristin gave me this gorgeous Falkland wool for my birthday (my, I certainly do have generous friends!) I have one skein of this spun up in a 3-ply and a whole other braid of it to play with so I don't yet have pics of the finished product. I have a project in mind for this, but we'll see how the 2nd skein turns out.Yesterday I went over to Kristin's house to learn how she dyes fiber. This is something I've resisted for a long, long time. I'm not a person who likes mess, and dyeing sounded messy. Plus it's another hobby with more things to buy: dye, citric acid, gloves, a dyepot, etc... But my friends are master enablers and somehow (thanks to Kristin) I've ended up with both a dye pot and now mini-jars with samples of each color to experiment with. She put me to work choosing fiber, heating water, sprinkling dye, and keeping an eye on the timer. And I came home with the Superwash Merino that I'm spinning right now!

Wow, I'm so proud of myself! (Thanks Kristin - and Tuulia. It was a lot of fun!)

And I'm so proud of my 4-yr-old too...

Jamie was looking at all the items in my basket (taking things out and putting them back is a common game in this house) and found a couple of needles that I had recently used for a demonstration. After playing with those awhile he asked me if he could have some yarn. I gave him the Superwash Lambs Pride leftover from the Oh Honey Hat. After playing with that for a few minutes, he said "So Mom, are you gonna show me how to do this?"

Earth Hour

2009-03-27T11:32:00.000-07:00

This Saturday, March 28th there are people all over the world participating in Earth Hour. For just one hour (starting at 8:30pm wherever you are,) participants will turn off all electrical devices to save energy and demonstrate a commitment to conservation. We participated last year and spent the time playing board games by candlelight. It was so fun we were determined to do it again before the next one... Funny how that never happened. Anyway, I hope you'll join us in celebrating our beautiful planet and participate tomorrow night!

Another one...

2009-03-26T16:20:00.000-07:00

I finished another skein yesterday...

It's BFL again, a worsted single (so fun to knit,) and 105 yards. Yay! And the wheel keeps on turning... Nichole came over to spin with me yesterday and showed me where to oil my new wheel. Now it spins even smoother than before... how is that possible? Will I ever spend time knitting again? Something will have to be done with all this yarn... What if I run out of fiber? (Thankfully that won't happen anytime soon - we call it our "secondary insulation".)

And now, a word from our sponsors... (Not really. I just think these patterns are awesome and they were designed my my super talented friends...)

First off, Tuulia finally released her Tailored Sweater Tutorial for a top-down sweater with sleeves that look set-in (but aren't,) can be used for any size/shape person and with pretty much any stitch pattern. It comes with a pattern for a sample sweater, and a spreadsheet so all you have to do is enter your measurements and your gauge and it tells you how many stitches to cast on. Buy it. It's totally worth the $25 for this amazing 32-page PDF tutorial. You will never need to seam a sweater again!

And then, for those of you who knit wool soakers for baby bottoms... Pamela just finished revising and improving her Perfection Pants! Knit your own perfect-fitting baby pants -- now with an updated, beautified, clarified, but still chatty and loads o' fun pattern. It's available in her Wooly Wonder Shop (as well as on Ravelry) for the recession-adjusted price of $12... They're wonderful and practical, and you can see more pics here.

Carry on, have a lovely day... I'm going back to the spinning.

The Newbie

2009-03-24T14:05:00.000-07:00

I got my hands on a Pocket Wheel this week and I think I'm in love...

I believe I am the 3rd owner of this wheel as it was made in 2007 and my friend, Jimin just bought it refurbished last week. She has an old wrist injury that acted up while using it and she decided she needed a wheel with a higher orifice. I had told Jimin at the Guild meeting that if she decided it wasn't for her, that she should most definitely sell it to me because I didn't mind at all that it was a refurb. (All of us who have been on the waiting list for months were just seething with envy when she showed up with one!) Since she lives just down the street from me, she brought it over on Sunday and I couldn't be more thrilled. This Pocket is beautifully carved and looks like something you'd find on an old ship - sometimes it even utters a bit of a creak. It treadles smoothly, yet has a rough look to it at the same time. I've got it in mind to give it a good pirate name - not that I'm in the habit of giving names to inanimate objects, but because it just seems fitting... and well, now that I have two wheels I'm beginning to realize they have very different personalities. Perhaps this one should be called something like Pocket Pete, the Dread Pocket Roberts, or Murray the Pirate Wheel. My Ashford Traveller (Charlotte?) is not amused. I've only had it 2 days and I've already spun 5 skeins of yarn. The bobbin in the above pic is holding a beautiful Allspunup BFL fat single that is at this very moment sitting in a bowl of hot water. It turned out to be 145 yards and I love that all 4 oz fit onto one bobbin! Here's a close-up:

Last week I spun these two Superwash Merino fibers (also dyed by Kristin) together...

and got 810 yards of this...

Wow, I'm glad I took the risk - I wasn't sure how well these two would go together, but it's gorgeous and I have enough of it to make the Revontuli (Northern Lights) shawl!

And now, to be totally random... I've got to show you some photos I took of Jamie the morning before "Crazy Hair Day" at school.

What a character!

Something Colorful

2009-03-14T20:29:00.000-07:00

With all the gray skies and gray yarn, I was yearning for color and here it is!

This is some Superwash Merino dyed by Kristin of All Spun Up. So lovely to spin... I have another roving of hers that is the same fiber and all different colors. I'm thinking of plying them together for even more color explosion... This one has more purples and greens, and the other has more blues and reds so it should make a very interesting yarn indeed.

Tandy's yarn was dry by Thursday, so I skeined it up all pretty and placed in the Martha Stewart box that Evelyn's dress had been sent in.

Tandy was quite happy to receive it, but the irony is that she's got a wrist injury that is preventing her from knitting! She said I could keep the rest of the fiber though so I'll be bagging it up and selling it at the Valley Spinners Sale next month.

Last night I finished up a hat for a baby shower I was attending this afternoon for our preschool director.

The daisies were improvised from a design I found in Stitchionary: Vol 3. I paired the hat with a super cute Mally leather bib I found at our local eco-baby-boutique. Well, that's two baby hats down... Five more to go! (I think that's right...)

Stickin' to It

2009-03-11T13:50:00.000-07:00

Today is Day Three of Binky Wars (cue ominous music.)

A couple of nights ago, Evelyn forgot to ask for the binky when she got tucked into bed. I followed Phil downstairs and we wagered bets on how long it would be before she realized it was missing. He expressed that he thought she was way too old for a pacifier anyway. I remembered that Jamie was done using his before Evelyn was born, and that when she was born he was younger than she is now. Hmmm.

Now we had tried just going to the Only-in-Bed Binky before... The plan was we would put them in a bowl on the counter until it was naptime or bedtime. The trouble is that no height is out-of-reach for this kid. She just finds something to push on over and climb on... and if that's not high enough, she'll find something else to put on top of it, and within five seconds she'll be up there and down before I can even have a freak-out about it. So we started hiding the binkies... but then she got even better at hiding them from us. Way too clever. Phil and I decided perhaps she wasn't quite ready to give them up and therefore we gave in.

This time, the only option was cold turkey: No binkies, no more, not ever. We knew this wouldn't happen without some royal payback and considering that I'm home with the munchkin all day I wasn't exactly looking forward to it. (Imagining major meltdowns at the grocery store and toileting "accidents" of epic proportions...) Now you might be from the camp of parents that see no reason why I should remove the binky in the first place... She'll grow out of it, right? Part of me feels that way too. And besides, when she doesn't have it in she puts all sorts of other things in her mouth. On the other hand she is forgetting about the binky more and more during the day, she doesn't really suck on it anymore (she just sort of plays with it,) they are expensive to keep buying and the places she was hiding them couldn't necessarily be considered sanitary. And then, our family dentist has been giving me some not-so-subtle hints. Nope. It's time. We've decided we are done with binkies. I threw out the ones I could find and we settled in for a long night. (Mama 1, Evelyn 0)

She stayed up until almost midnight, getting up every 5 minutes to insist that we were forgetting something and that she would not go to sleep until she got her binky. (Mama 1, Evelyn 1)

We did not give in and she did go to sleep. (Mama 2, Evelyn 1)

Evelyn came downstairs the next morning with a binky in her mouth. (Mama 2, Evelyn 2)

I used stealth to remove it from the table when she was eating breakfast, and buried it under a banana peel in the trash can. (Mama 3, Evelyn 2)

Evelyn went on a playdate without a binky and came back with another one in her mouth... Aw snap, I must have forgotten about that one in the diaper bag! (Mama 3, Evelyn 3)

I asked her to hand it to me, and instead she led me on a crazy chase around the house - laughing and squealing until I caught her, and then she flipped the switch to screaming tantrum mode... After which I had to fortify myself with more coffee and couple of Tylenol. (Mama 3, Evelyn 4)

Deciding it must be naptime, I put her to bed - without the binky. I taught her a little song I made up just for her... about how we love the binky, but that she's a big girl and doesn't need it anymore. I tell her a story about how the Big-girl Fairy came and took away all the binkies from the big girls so they could give them to all the tiny babies. This story makes me a little sad... Not sure if that's because I'm sort of lying to my kid, or because my little girl is growing up. Nevertheless, she puts her head on the pillow and I close the door. (Mama 4, Evelyn 4)

Evelyn gets up 5 minutes later to tell me that she's a big girl and doesn't need naps anymore. (Mama 4, Evelyn 5)

And so it continues... She's found several pacifiers over the last couple of days. I am convinced she has a secret stash of them somewhere, but they will be depleted eventually and I am certain we will prevail in the end. In the meantime, I guess I need to come up with strategies for getting things done around the house with a child who doesn't take naps but gets super grouchy without them.

The Purge

2009-03-09T16:25:00.000-07:00

I've been blogging in my head and taking plenty of pictures... but I know that doesn't really count for beans if I'm not posting it here. There have been plenty of things going on, mostly to do with the adoption process that would probably bore you but caused a great load of work and stress for me... Thankfully that's over with (almost) and I can get back to more knitting. Which is good, especially because there are a whole bunch of babies on their way that I haven't made any hats for.

But I've also been working on simplifying my schedule for next year. Jamie is starting Kindergarten in the Fall and it's now time for registration, so it got me thinking about what I want to commit to. Right now I volunteer in a crazy-person capacity, and that just can't happen if I want to a) stay sane, and b) drop everything and go to China when our referral arrives. So... I'm already down to one committee at church, I'm dropping MOPS next year, I'm off the BUNCO list (yeah, major sacrifice there,) I'm only attending one spinning guild (as opposed to three,) and two knitting groups (one once a week in the morning, and one every other week in the evening.) I still have some decision-making to do. We were going to put Evelyn in preschool, but then I realized that she probably won't be going to Kindergarten in two years because her birthday is late September. She seems like such a big girl now...

Isn't that cute? Her Great Grandma and Great Aunt Nancy sent that dress and matching purse along with some goodies for Easter - it's so adorable! I really don't know what to do about the preschool thing - she's certainly smart enough and wants to go, but that means more money and volunteer time. We'll have to think about it some more before tuition is due.

Some of my knitting friends are doing a silly project that they've fondly named the "Fug-a-long". A ball of "fugly" yarn is being passed from person to person and we're trying to see how many mini-projects we can get out of it. When I got the fug (which was not all that fugly in my opinion) and my watch band broke that very afternoon, I knew it was destiny:

I whipped this out on Friday evening, and passed the ball-o-fug to Brina on Saturday when I had some friends over for Late Night Knitting. I was so proud of myself, what with all the shaping involved... until today when I noticed how fuzzy, pilly and nasty it looks. I guess I'll be knitting another one soon - out of hemp, maybe? Something a little more durable.

I was actually spinning on Saturday night and when it hit about 11pm, we all started screaming and jumping up and down because I was finally done (DONE) with Tandy's yarn!!!

That is 1391 yards of alpaca and wool, half carded by hand, half by drum carder... almost 14 football-field-lengths of oatmeal-colored yarn. Almost a year of my life... (Well, okay I took a lot of breaks and was an unfaithful spinner... but I also learned my lesson: DO NOT agree to spin someone else's yarn - offer to teach them to spin instead. I really love you, Tandy... I made you 91 extra yards, so please don't ~~you dare~~ ask for more.)

Let's see, what else is new? Nathan is making a leprechaun trap for school and Jamie has been keeping me quite entertained in the afternoons...

Yesterday after church, Phil and I went outside to do some weeding and clear out some blackberry bushes. I planted daffodils and tulips, but today they are covered in snow.

So unfair. Despite the weather, Spring Cleaning at the Kent household has commenced... I've been posting things on Craigslist and hope to have a few destash items on Ravelry soon. This was the first to go...

After spending weeks warping this loom, I started weaving. And it was all wrong!!! To get the pattern I wanted, I would have had to rethread most of it which was just not going to happen. I rarely lose my patience, but this weaving thing was sucking the life out of me and it wasn't worth it. (Besides, I do have a couple of other looms in case I lose my mind and want to try it again.) So I put it on Craigslist and a nice lady named Betty came the next day to take it away, warped and everything - I wish her many, many moons of happy weaving.

And now... I'm going to go spin something colorful.

Oh, Madrona

2009-02-18T15:13:00.000-08:00

I would have blogged about this sooner, but my brain had to defrag for a couple of days. There is so much information and inspiration to be had at Madrona - and so much excitement... You come home exhausted, overwhelmed, delighted, brimming with new knowledge, and warmed by having spent a few days in the presence of people who understand your relationship with wool - people who don't look at you oddly when you pull out those needles and yarn after ordering lunch or when you sit in the hotel lobby with your spinning wheel, but instead come over to touch your handknits and talk about the newest fiber trends. These are people I feel more than comfortable with - it's like being among your own tribe and it's wonderful! This year I drove down to Tacoma with Pamela.

(Phil and I had celebrated Valentine's Day the weekend before - we went to a restaurant for dinner - alone. It was verra nice. This past weekend he was up at the mother-in-law's house with the kids and the rest of his family for a Valentine's dinner. Such a mighty good man.) Pamela was taking classes with Cat Bordhi and Lucy Neatby. I had lined up "Knitting with Speed and Efficiency" with Stephanie Pearl-McPhee and "The Nalbound Edge" with Amelia Garripoli. (I also had the opportunity to chat with Judith MacKenzie McCuin, but we'll talk about that later.) The above pic was taken at the banquet where we heard Elsebeth Lavold tell

her story of designing knitwear that resembled the viking carvings she collected and photographed. This was fascinating! During the dinner, Pamela finished a pair of little socks...

... and Nichole finished her beautiful fitted cardigan.

Earlier that morning, Stephanie had taught the class about "lever knitting" (Irish Cottage style) which I thought I had tried before, but it turned out I had the yarn wrapped in not-so-efficient places. We did a few timed trials and learned about the difference between the ladies who used to knit prettily and daintily (careful not to show their palms which was considered vulgar, and not with the goal of productivity which would be the job of the working class) and the women

who carried loads on their back and would churn out a pair of socks a day or some such

craziness. She even showed us a video of the world's fastest knitting competition and guess what they were doing? Lever knitting. With the old-school 14-inch long needles! With one of them

tucked under one arm!

Now I started seriously knitting after the release of Stitch 'N Bitch by Debbie Stoller... The thing to do around that point in time was to grab the circular needles and roll that way anytime you knit anything. It's still the trend in these here parts - and is getting even more popular with the two socks on two circs method and the magic loop technique. I was pretty sure that knitting with straights was a thing of the past... But is it? As you know, I'm a consistent knitter. I knit a lot.

However, I don't knit a lot of big things and I don't have a lot of time as a mom so I tend to lose interest in longer projects - especially if they have large sections of stockinette. My successful projects are small - bags, scarves, hats, socks, etc. The only exception to this has been the lace stuff I've been working on, but that's because I concentrate on a small section at a time and keep track of what I'm doing on a chart. Now Stephanie knits even more than I do, but the volume of her output is amazing. She knits a lot more finished product with less time, and I want to be able to do that... so it makes sense for me to practice what she does.

Scott and Rita, friends from the Eastside Spinners were in that class with me - We studied the way The Yarn Harlot held and moved her hands, tucked a straight needle under the arm, took a collective deep breath, and gave it a try. As I was getting the hang of this (right hand relaxed, tensioned correctly,) it occurred to me that I was working with the only pair of straight needles I owned. If I was going to give this an honest go at home, I was going to have to (gasp) buy more needles. Inconceivable! But then the knitting fates smiled upon me, for when I went to the registration table after lunch - I saw that I had won a door prize!

Sweet! An entire set of long straight needles. They are plastic which means they are somewhat bendy, but they'll do. And if I learn to knit faster on these, then I'll consider investing in something like this. The above pic is the beginning of a Meandering Scarf, knit with my very own handspun. This will be my first practice project. Stephanie also taught us ways to speed up our own styles of knitting, and I managed to improve my English-style knitting time from 23 to 33 sts per minute by the end of the class - I think I knit a bit faster than this, but my hands were shaky. (By the way, Stephanie knits about 70 sts/min.)

After lunch (during which I met some lovely knitters by the names of Susan and Jacquie,) I learned some nalbinding techniques from Amelia.

I don't know why, but for some reason this class was held out in the open near the lobby where it was difficult to hear the directions and there wasn't enough light for needlework - not to mention all the lookie-loos who came by to ask us what we were doing. Amelia had prepared us some great handouts though and provided us with tubes made with her knitting machine and her own handspun to practice on. I'll have to get an adequate picture of this later because it was just too dark. (I was sure to mention this on the feedback form. I felt badly for Amelia - there were several students that packed up and left early!) Nalbinding is a series of loops/stitches made with one needle and this craft came along way before knitting, but we were learning how to use this technique to add a decorative edge to knitted garments. We added a few rounds of this at the top of our "cuff" and then started doing some decorative stitching around the outside of the knitting. It was an interesting technique using twisted strands of different colors - I can see using it on mitten cuff or along the edge of a hat.

After class I hurried off to get my books signed and was able to get a cute photo taken with Cat Bordhi. She was super nice - I hope to take a class with her sometime. Lucky for me, she's a local. I hoped I could get my Viking Knits books signed later by Elsebeth Lavold, and I was assured that it would most likely happen.

During the banquet we listened to Elsebeth (who is beautiful person with a beautiful soul - you can see it) and admired all the gorgeous handknits everyone was wearing. Of course, I had forgotten my Swallowtail shawl at home but it's just as well because it would have paled in comparison to these beauties...

... and there were so many more!

But do you think the fun was over after that? No way. First we went up to the hotel room where Nichole showed us the stunning skeins she had dyed in Judith's class.

Then she and I grabbed our wheels and the other gals grabbed their knitting and we headed down to the lobby to hang out until the wee hours. You won't believe this, but Gladys Knight was staying at our hotel and one of her backup singers came up to us and needed some knitting help! Before we knew it there were musicians and roadies lining up to check out what we were doing and one of the guys even sat down and worked a few rows. I kinda wished later that I had participated more in the teaching, but I was having fun chatting with Amelia (who was drop-spindling) and I was blissfully spinning this merino/silk blend that I had picked up in the market...

I did explain how my wheel worked to a few members of the crew and later to some drunken wedding party guests. We didn't get to bed until around 2am, but we still had to get up early and find coffee before Pamela's class. I took my wheel to the rotunda and plunked myself down next Syne Mitchell who let me try out her Baby Wolf loom. Here's a pic of Rita checking it out later (while Scott was looking at looms on Craigslist!)

Nichole had the unbelievably amazing job of assisting Judith MacKenzie McCuin during the entire conference and therefore had been present for all of her classes! She came out during the break to ask me if I wanted to sit in on the last hour of class. Judith remembered me from the workshop I took at Shiori's house last year and I was allowed in to listen to her talk a bit about the history of Ramboullet sheep and different ways to wash and store fleece. Later, I told her that I was helping to plan programs for Valley Spinners and asked her if we could set up a time for her to come and speak to our group. I held out a copy of her new book to sign and she told me about an apprenticeship program she's starting up for instructors. Right up my alley.

That was when Pamela got out of class and it was time to go home. It was over - wahhh! Until next year, Madrona friends. Good times and happy knits!

The Unwilling Model

2009-02-03T14:17:00.001-08:00

This afternoon I had Jamie sit still on the stairs while I took pics of the Train Knitalong Hat, but he wasn't happy about having to take a break from eating his lunch. I couldn't get the kid to smile...

Well, maybe just a little...

The yarn we were given on the train was Knitpicks Swish - it's superwash wool. I liked the softness of it, but I did not like how the teal color dyed my bamboo needles. :(

This hat was a fast and easy top-down beanie cap with a slip-stitch design.

I'm slowly moving along on the Outlander Shawl...

I can't really stretch it out without taking it off the needles... and considering it has well over 400 stitches at the moment I'm not going to do that. I can't wait to block this baby - it's going to be stunning!

Madrona is only two weeks away and I got into Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's class "Knitting for Speed & Efficiency." Eeeee - I'm so excited!

Gotta Love Free Samples

2009-01-28T15:48:00.000-08:00

Here are those samples from Abstract Fiber that Gabi and I got at the station in Portland. I wanted to spin them very fine to get the most yardage out of them...

Each sample was about 0.5 oz of Merino wool. The one on the left was called "MoodRing" and was the one I selected because of the reds, blues, and purples. I was able to get about 114 yds of laceweight, but it's not very even. I got sort of impatient with the plying towards the end. The thing about spinning is that you've got to relax or all your tension or agitation will show itself in the yarn. I was interrupted a lot during this one, which cannot be helped when you are a mother of small children. I'm sure I can find something to make with this - it's so pretty!

The one on the right is Gabi's "CraterLake", was spun first, and turned out to be a more evenly plied 86.5 yds. The fiber and color combos were lovely, but I usually buy my rovings locally from my friends who have a talent for dyeing. I'm sure I'll keep this company in mind though, expecially when I'm in Portland.

Speaking of local dyers, I just finished spinning half of Kristin's most recent spin-along fiber: 70% SW Merino and 30% Alpaca.

I experimented with chain-plying (also known as Navajo-ply) and the texture looked outdoorsy to me so I took it out onto the porch.

I don't really like it - the colors were so vibrant in the roving and now they look quite muted. Also, my inexperience with this method of plying made my yarn come out really bumpy and I only ended up with 149 yds of worsted weight... Rustic can be good, but this is a little too rustic for me. I think I'll 2-ply the other half. This fiber was dreamy to spin and I'm so glad I have another 4oz to enjoy...

Not much new going on with the knitting or weaving since I've been spinning more in my free snippets of time... but I did finish a tea cozy for us!

So Much Fun!

2009-01-26T14:45:00.000-08:00

Saturday I was on the Yarn Train trip to Portland, and we had such a fantastic time!

Gabi and I sat together for most of the way down - we were late getting onto the train because I helped Charisa check everyone in and then had to run back to the parking lot to pay since the attendant wasn't there when we arrived. Laura, Nichole, Gabi and I found relatively close seats at departure but since the knitters filled almost two train cars this year there was quite a bit of shuffling around so people could visit during the ride. Charisa got us started on a hat knit-along and gave us each two skeins of yarn which we could either keep or trade. There was chocolate in the bag too... smart woman. :) I was happy to get the chance to wander and visit a little with some people from last year too - Morgen, Ialuixh, and of course the dynamic duo Pamela and Sarah. (They brought "other Pam" who was cool too.) In addition to all those wonderful people, there were some of the Snohomish County Cohorts there - Jen, Tina, Alyson (who had an announcement to make - Congrats are in order!) Barb, and Andrea whom I knit with on occasion. Oh yeah, and Tuulia and Kristen... and well, a lot of other great people. If we weren't in high spirits already when we got on the train (it was 7am afterall), we sure were after 3.5 hours of knitting when we arrived in Portland and were greeted by even more knitters in the Pearl District! Susan from Abstract Fiber brought us all a free sample of her gorgeous hand-dyed fiber and a scarf pattern - Wow! With a map and instructions to return to the station at 5:30pm we split into smaller groups and headed out into the city.Our posse decided to hit Whole Foods first and get some lunch and snacks for the ride back - Yum! Then we headed over to Knit Purl for our first yarn shop stop. I have a pattern for a linen-stitch scarf that I got from Churchmouse Yarns at the Stitch & Pitch game last year that requires 3 skeins of Koigu sock yarn. This place has an entire wall of Koigu so I thought it the best bet for finding complimentary colors... It was difficult to choose, but with a little help from my friends I picked out a very nice combo. We showed our special Yarn Train name tags to get the 10% discount and went downstairs to enjoy some delicious lavender shortbread cookies! (Have you ever tasted lavender? It's good!) I watched Tuulia walk out of there with several skeins of Kauni - can't wait to see what she makes with it!

Our next stop was Powell's Books, but I really didn't have any on my list to buy and we all had bags that would have had to be checked in so Laura and I sat in the entryway with the baggage and our knitting while Gabi and Kari (Kerry?) explored the bookstore, and Nichole headed over to Buffalo Exchange. There was the sweetest Irish family that stopped by to chat with us. Their little girl was fascinated by our knitting and wanted to touch my scarf. It was so cute.

After awhile we ended up paging Gabi who was lost among the children's books and walked together to Knit Knot Studio. Elizabeth, the owner is such neat lady - she's always finding local artists who will make things to sell in her shop so she has very unique shawl pins and jewelry on display beside her yarn. I was hoping to find something in her sale bin, but ended up drooling over some Noro Silver Thaw instead... Noro can be pretty scratchy, but blended with angora and nylon this yarn was super squishy and soft.

It was time to make our way to Dublin Bay - This was my favorite of the three yarn shops last year, and my budget was running low so I knew it would be dangerous to go in. Before I left, Phil explained to me that the key to not buying stuff is to look without picking anything up. (Snort.) If you have ever watched people in a yarn store, you would understand the absurdity of that statement. Don't worry, my dear husband was being facetious - he knows yarn budgets have to be less like "rules" and more like "guidelines" anyway... I didn't go totally overboard, and I tried to not even peek at their awesome selection of celtic brooches and pins, but I did purchase another skein of Fleece Artist Peter Rabbit and a laceweight skein of Lorna's Laces. Ouch... At 20% off and no sales tax though, I just couldn't resist. Could you?

Tricia, the store owner had laid out quite a spread (fresh fruit, homemade cookies, scones, pastries, hot cider, and coffee) and it seemed many of the Yarn Train gals had convened here at the same time so we all just sat around the coffee table and knit for awhile.

What I love about this store is the atmosphere - it's so comfortable and home-like. There are photos, and books, and maps of Ireland on the wall. And well, it's just full of exquisite yarn.

At 4:30, our small group decided we'd better get a bite for dinner if we were going to make it back to the station in time for check-in. Pamela and Sarah had told us about a little Italian cafe a couple of blocks away (Via Delizia) where we ordered delicious panini sandwiches and the best mocha I have ever tasted... Talk about atmosphere, this place was amazing - check out the tree!

And our server was fabulous! He schooled us on Italian pronunciation and we teased him about having to bunk over at his studio apartment if we missed the train. When we all got up to leave (after some heavy tipping,) we were like "The only thing that could have made this more enjoyable is if you had sung us a song." And I kid you not, the guy belted out in his best Frank Sinatra voice Fly Me to the Moon. We started to sing along and by the end the whole place was clapping - like something out of a movie! We laughed and giggled all the way to the station while the Portland sky sprinkled us with snow... It was the best.

After checking in, Nichole and I ran to save seats for the rest of the crew... (I think I felt the need to work off the whipped cream and drizzled caramel served on that mocha!)

We traded stories to catch up with one another and I worked on these socks that I had started on last year's Yarn Train excursion... (finished them up on Sunday.)

The day seemed to go so fast, but was packed with memories I'll take with me always. I love those gals, and couldn't wait to tell Phil all about our adventures! Toward the end of the evening we had a "Show and Tell" session and I took a pic of my new stash laid out on the train seat.

I apologize for the blur... It was a bumpy train ride. The next morning I held the angora Peter Rabbit skein out to Evelyn - She cradled it to her cheek and said, "Wow... that's so nice."

That's my girl.

Half-Warped

2009-01-22T10:39:00.000-08:00

The last few days have been exciting around here what with the inauguration of our new President! I was volunteering at Nathan's school on Tuesday, so my friend Cheryl DVR'd it for me and I went over there after lunch to watch it with her. I had never watched an inauguration before, but what an interesting and inspiring time in our history - I'm so glad to be a part of this. Kerri's got an awesome "I pledge" video on her blog that pretty much sums up the energy level I feel right now. Very exciting - did I say that already?

I've also been pretty busy since Saturday warping my loom - I had the opportunity to take an informal class with Syne Mitchell of Weavecast and I forgot how warping takes hours. I really should have tried to warp it before the class, but I was glad to receive pointers that made it a bit easier. Here's a pic of Syne helping Jane measure out her warp on a mill:I spent all that day planning my project (a scarf,) measuring out my yarn on the warping board, and threading that yarn from the front of my 4-harness table loom to roll onto the back beam. I did take a lot of breaks to check out what the other weavers were doing/learning since we were all at different stages. In this photo, Amelia is helping Marie thread her handspun onto a rigid heddle loom:

I learned a few new things, the most useful being what the lease sticks are for! This week I've been working on rethreading the warp from back to front, first through the heddles according to the pattern I chose out of my Handweaver's Pattern Directory, and then through the reed, tying it up to the front. I do find peace in rhythm and repetition, but I'd like to become proficient and confident enough to warp my loom without too much rethinking and double-checking. I was going for accuracy over speed and was happy to find I had only crossed one thread incorrectly out of 220. Still not done, but I've had a lot of other things to work on.

I wanted to finish up the Oh Honey hat before I went with my friends on the Portland Yarn Train this coming Saturday.

I went last year and it was a blast! About 3.5 hours of knitting and socializing on the way down, a few hours of wandering around the Pearl District of Portland visiting yarn stores and Powell's books, and then 3.5 hours of knitting and sharing what we bought on the way back to Seattle. Obviously I don't plan to purchase much this year, but I'm really looking forward to spending time with friends. I haven't seen many of them in quite awhile and it'll be fun to take a look at their recent projects. The one nice thing about cold weather is that it is perfect for wearing handknits! Last year we filled one and a half train cars, and this year we are doing a knit-along on the train. I can't wait! I do feel sort of bad for leaving Phil with the kids all day for two Saturdays in a row, but I'm sure he'll make up for it with a couple of hikes this summer. ;)

I've been faithfully spinning Tandy's yarn and have over 500 yards done - Today I'm taking a break from the natural white/gray though to spin some luscious SW Merino and Alpaca hand-dyed by Kristin. Tandy's project was going very slowly as I was carding her wool and alpaca by hand, but then my friend Barbara Seeler and her Patrick Green Supercarder came to the rescue. I took the kids over to Barbara's house last week where she won them over with cookies, juice, and an assortment of toys while she and I took turns feeding the fiber into the drums. I now have huge fluffy batts to spin from and things are moving along. I'm hoping to wrap up this project within a couple of weeks. Tandy is going to use the yarn to design a cardigan or jacket and I'm sure it will be beautiful...

In other exciting news, we got our paperwork mailed off to CIS (Homeland Security) so that's another step for our adoption completed! We just have to wait for their approval to come before sending our dossier to China. I'm gathering the last few materials for that right now. I'm also in the planning stages of setting up an Etsy shop. I'll probably sell handspun, but I need to build up some inventory by spinning more of my fiber stash. I dare not knit baby hats because there's this new law that goes into effect next month and I certainly wouldn't be able to pay for lead/phthalate testing. There's a petition for reform and clarification here if you are concerned for small businesses and makers of handicrafts that could be adversely affected by the new regulations - I encourage you to check it out. The way it is now written, even people selling at craft bazaars would have to pay somewhere around $495 to test anything intended for children ages 12 and under. This step toward protecting kids from lead and plastic toxins is an admirable one, but there's got to be a better way to do it.

Moving on...

2009-01-15T14:14:00.000-08:00

Thanks for all the kind comments on yesterday's post. I especially appreciated all the hugs as my faith in humanity had fallen a few notches... I should have been prepared for a little negativity I guess, but I wasn't expecting it and it tore me up. So, I had a good cry and went to my knit group last night to relax and clear my head... And things started to look up again.

Charisa brought in some old magazines to de-stash, and one of them was one I've been keeping my eye out for. Then Tuulia brought me a beautiful skein of handspun yarn to make into something to sell.

I didn't know what to say. It's gorgeous.

And then this morning I found a ladybug on my basket.

Ladybugs are a symbol of good luck in the adoption community - how cool is that?

The ball of yarn in the above picture is a skein of Lambs Pride Superwash that is currently being knit up as an Oh Honey hat.

It uses an Estonian cast-on and has a lovely unique stitch pattern. I'm really enjoying working on it, although I think I may rip it and start over to make the ribbing a bit tighter. I just started the hat this morning so it looks like it'll finish up very quickly. Now Evelyn's down for a nap and I think I'll work on some spinning.