Saturday, September 29, 2007

Reappearance

It seems my dear Tech Support has insinuated that I am one of the world's worst bloggers since I managed to disappear from the blogosphere for so long. However, I have been doing other things. To wit, knitting. Some spinning. A bit of weaving. Warping, un-warping, re-warping. Getting my started-to-be-woven piece cut off the loom and called a sampler by my friend and instructor and re-warping yet again. (I swear, this weaving business can kick your butt like you wouldn't believe.)
I did manage several knitting finishes in amongst all the weaving agony.

Behold, the Horcrux socks:




I also finished the christening gown/dressy dress set for my friend Angela's baby girl, Ella. Alas, I didn't have enough sense to take a picture before packing it off to her. The booties turned out too small but I've been assured the rest of the outfit does fit and I will get to see Ella modeling it in person at her baptism this Sunday. I will try to beg a good photo then.

I have finished up a sweater for Bridget, the Merry sweater from Elsebeth Lavold's Designer's Choice no. 11 in Hempathy (the green is not showing well in the pic. I tried Photoshopping it but I do not have the luck and experience Dear Tech Support has with this so imagine that the green stripe actually accentuates the other color stripes and doesn't really look all weird, washed out and blue-green in tone. It doesn't in Real Life). I also finished Josie's sweater, a cute little pattern from Plymouth.


Merry. In all it's strange green-striped glory. Honest, it's not that much blue in that green yarn.


Josie's cardigan. The little buttons will go on the front. The yarn is Cotton Classic from Tahki Stacy Charles and is the first cotton I've ever knitted with. I quite liked the feel of it. And the orange color is much brighter in person. (Yes, I know I need to improve my photography skills. Techie is working hard on that, too. Yet another reason I fall behind blogging. I have so much on my list, I seem to keep putting the blogging at the bottom.)

I've done a bit of spinning lately. I'm continually amazed at how much I enjoy spinning, either with my spindle or on my wheel. I did finish another pair of plain Regia socks in blues and a skein of homespun but they went off to be part of our local fiber guild's (the Indigo Guild) exhibit at a local library. I do hope I get the socks back soon. I don't want cold toes.

Spinning exhibit no. 1:


100% African wool, hand-dyed from Black Bunny Fibers. I think it looks like a Creamsicle being spun up. It has a very nice, soft hand and is keeping it's loft and letting me control it very well. (I haven't any delusions regarding my spinning abilities. I'm still the veriest beginner and I thank the roving for cooperating.)
Spinning exhibit no. 2:


Blue faced Leicester. My fave roving. I love BFL better than any other I've tried so far, including my merino/silk combo, though it WAS a close call there. This was also snatched from Black Bunny Fibers before anyone else could get it. Now this roving decided to play a prank on me. It took a hike halfway through it's spinning. I almost filled this bobbin and put it and my wheel away when Tech Support arrived the last of August with the hubby and kids for a visit. Afterwards, I couldn't find the other half of the roving to finish my spinning. I was pretty devastated. First, because several people asked me if I was certain I actually had another 4 ounces of this roving (in that tone reserved for people whose memory and senility is being questioned. As if I'd forget what roving I have stashed. I've not been spinning long enough to lose roving, people. Yarn, yes. Roving, no. I'm still working on that.) Second, because it was actually spinning up to a gauge I wanted. And I had a project picked out for it that it would work for. My first time for that to occur as a spinner! Of course, I knew there was more of this somewhere in this house!
Now the strange thing is that I searched everywhere 3 different times. Through every bin, every box, every huge ziplock storage bag solution container I owned, the closets and the shelves. Nowhere to be found. So I pulled the bobbin off the Louet and started the Creamsicle yarn.
Guess what I found in the roving bin the next morning? And now don't you think the roving bin was the first, second, and third place I checked during all this frantic searching. Oh, yeah. This roving may think I don't know it went time-travelling or slipped into an alternate dimension for 3 weeks but I do. That's the only explanation for it's disappearance and re-appearance in a place that had been thoroughly and completely searched 3 times. It's now safely ensconced in the WIP bin on the bookshelf where I can keep it in sight at most times until it's all spun, plied, knitted, and felted into baby booties. No more slip-sliding away.
The only other great news is that I finally got my Ravelry invite. I'm HokieKnitter and I've managed to actually make more progress getting stuff on there than here. Which isn't to say much but hey, I'm trying. After all, the month of October doesn't include a trip to Richmond for a Human Right's Seminar (left me foaming at the mouth a bit. The war between civil rights for those with mental disorders and their civil liberties and the prevention of violence has become the Hot Topic after April 16th. My contention is why is there even a label "mental illness" still existing? Medical science has proven these diseases are neurochemical. You can't take your brain out of your body so why isn't it all under "physical diseases". It's in your brain, after all. Let's get out of the 15th century. See what a rant I could go on?) It also hopefully won't include me falling ill with a nasty bug and taking 9 days to recover, thus losing 9 days I could have being doing something useful with.
So my October resolution to Techie Support Gal is to attempt to be a better blogger. You may have noted though, amongst all the photos I included, that all those sweaters are knitted but not seamed together. Er, I seem to have developed a following-through problem. So we'll see how this goes.
Next update: Rogue progess. I promise. :-)






1 comment:

Eileen said...

Well, I have to tell you I am impressed with the peach sweater. I don't know if I've ever finished a cotton garment in my life. And the buttons are PERFECT - OMG, they are amazing. You have come far, my elder protege - Love, Yoda