You smell like Democracy!!

At least, that's what we decided Fidgit was saying when we came home from voting this morning. It only took an hour. Please vote.

And because its been... oh forever since I posted last, here's a couple projects.

This one is a knitted top and fabric skirt i made for small sister back in, oh, July or so... I gave it to her at the beach, and it fits perfectly! It's big enough for a shirt to go under, an d she'll be cute as heck with some leggings underneath too!! ( She does not usually wear the top hat, but because I'm the big sister, I convinced her it was a good idea to protect her super hero identity.)

This one's for me. And Oh My Goodness! I love this sweater, Francis Revisited, the best free pattern EVER and it shoots off the needles, a perfect long, nothing but movies and lazying about weekend project. I might make another one, slightly bigger for lounging. This has also been done for a while... There are a few other finished things, but we'll save them for next time, whenever that may be.

Wet and fuzzy

Here's what I find now when I go into the kitchen....



freak.



In fiber news, spent another delightful dyeing day at my friend's home. I had not dyed anything for a while, and was itching to dye the few pounds of roving I had so I could spin them up. I'd say it was a most successful day!


The VIVID BRIGHT orangeyellowredgreen roving was inspired by Skittles candy (not a huge fan of the purple ones, so I left them out.) This will eventually turn in to a wicked hat or pair of fingerless gloves. Can't wait!

I'm very happy with all the other colors, I was trying to get a range, instead of sticking to my normal, comfortable colors. There are a few not pictured, but then I couldn't surprise you with them later on, now could I? ( And they were dry already and the light sucks in the apartment at the moment... but whatever)

soft is swell

Spinners, have you tried bamboo yet?!? DO IT! It is so soft!!! I found it smooth and easy to spin, I barely had to pre-draft it. The fibers are long, the carbonized bamboo I have is a beautiful, steel/smoky gray. I'm sure that natural colored bamboo would dye wonderfully, it has a wonderful sheen. oh... you probably want to see some now, don't you? Here is the first 2 oz, with the twist set.


About 93 yards, I will be ordering more from Miss. Babs soon!

On knitting, I am trucking along on a sweater that will warrant photos soonish, a few present projects, so no pictures for those until they are given away... umm... I have yarn waiting to get on my needles to make some long fingerless gloves with some natural colors of hand-spun. And for this post's knitted picture, a cowl I made the other day with super wash merino yarn I spun and dyed.
It is a bit big for a cowl, but I'll be able to tuck it into my coat so the looseness is not a problem!
Who wants a Fidgit update?


he's getting bigger! eep!

Fruits of Summer

I finished my Pi Shawl this Tuesday but just now had time to block it out, I have to say, I'm so glad this yarn has been used up! I bought it before I was ready for it, but now I can more than handle lace weight yarn and enjoyed this project. Skipped the usual lace edging in favor of a simpler solution: Yo, K2together round, knit two rows, crochet bind off plus two rounds of crochet. thought my hand was going to fall off after that! I'm happy with the finished project and now only need a pin to secure it!

Went to the farmers market today as well, here's the haul!


there will be fresh guacamole, backed acorn squash, and yummy sautéed summer squash coming to our dinners this week! Not to mention to DIE for peaches, nectarines and the best blackberries I've had in a loooong time.(the bacon is not from the farmer's market. it is from good ol' H. Teeter)


Oh! here's some of my latest hand spun yarn as well! The green is much more greenie blueish, but I was tired of fighting with the camera and computer to try to get something more true to the tone. The red is pretty close, and plied with cotton sewing thread. I love this method of plying, it gives such a neat texture and plenty of room to play. I think the red will become a hat soon..



And lastly, some amazing clouds

Cover your shoulders!

Now I can wear my summer dresses and tank-tops to work and other chilly/more formal places!



aren't you proud, momma?



I also have three newly spun yarns done, they're just drying so more of that to come...

and if you ever watched the cartoon George of the Jungle, remember Super Chicken? His sidekick Fred the Lion? Kinda, not really? Well, let me refresh your memory*:








*clothing animals, unless necessary, is not something I usually support or condone, especially if it's a cat, buuut in this case, it was too good not to, after the idea was kiddingly brought up. I mean, give me something that good, it's going to happen! ( Fidgit doesn't seem to mind either, he just keeps running around like the little sweet spaz he is)

How can you not be happy?

I'm quite satisfied and have lots to show you! First off, a knitting project present for some new friends who are about to have a baby! Little baby E has the coolest room set up, and when I saw it, I knew what I was going to make, a little blanket that he can drag behind him and is easy to tuck around a car seat. ( and if he doesn't like it, it matches the room at least! haha!) The yarn is Universal Classic Chunky, and I have to say, I liked knitting with it a lot, it went fast, is almost as soft as a baby's butt, and it's machine washable (key for a baby blankie, I think).

Then I've spun up the plummy roving, the colors are close, but the light pink is a lot less... fleshy... in real life. Not sure what will become of this yet.

And for some exciting colors, a batt and roving (the greens) from Miss. Babs all spun up. Both were a lot of fun to spin, especially the batt. I highly recommend Miss. Babs, she is a super sweet person and ships to Charlotte in a flash! I never have to wait too long to get things from her, I looove it! And her colors are so vibrant and saturated!! I think these two yarns will eventually end up in the same project... any suggestions?

farmgirl me!

Well here I go! First Dani made me join Plurk. Then I found out that her and another friend had joined in with a bunch of other plurkers to help form the Plurkette Hencircle, started by Miss.Violet of Lime and Violet, which I admit I have not listened to yet, but plan on fixing that soon.

So I asked to join the Hencircle, especially after reading what it was all about. A group centered around building a community? Of like-minded, wanting to make as much as they can and spread the good farm girl word and way of living?!? Darn tootin' I signed up!

In the last few years I have made a real push to make as much of what I need as possible. I'm not the best with potted plants, my herb garden died before I was able to reap the benefits, but I might try again later with a slightly more better game plan than "OH! pots! seeds! dirt! I'll plant them and grow them and who cares if I've forgotten to water these things before..." oopse.
Anyways, I did manage to stick to my plan of making my clothes ( minus underthingies and jeans) for a whole summer instead of trying to buy things that were both affordable and in line with my style ( bwahahaha, impossible). Besides, makin your own skirt is SO much more satisfying, you spend less time and money you'd have used up trying to find one that fits perfectly and is in a non nasty color/ non- hoochie mamma length.

Then I went to a pottery residency for 6 months, camped for two of them and house camped for the remaining. In the sticks, with a gross kitchen and mostly dumb people and man o' petes, I was miserable. But i was making, and stocking up on my fiber plans whilst moaning away in clay land ( I did get a whole bunch of awesome things out of it, and a few amazing new woman-friends , so it really wasn't all bad). While I was there I learned what made me happy:

making functional pieces of art, to include knitting, sewing, embroidery, spinning, dyeing and etc.
tromping through the woods
being with real-life human beings who love and care for each other and will for the rest of their lives
my tribe of friends is one of the most important parts of me. I will kick anyone's arse who messes with one of my tribe. really. and I fight scrappy.
I like clay, but do not love it the way I do fibers
I want and need to make something every day. Even if it's one piddly row on a glove (I don't do socks)
Cooking is a must. dinner and baking. breakfasts.
Making gifts for those who deserve it, no matter if it is a birthday or some official gift holiday. presents make a day.
writing notes and letters to people I think about but don't always call like I should. Really, send me an addy and I'll eventually send out a postcard.
Making messes and leaving them there until a project is done. (this also helps me finish things, small space = not a lot of mess room)


My bonuses for being at Cub Creek ( the program) was that I got to move to Charlotte, live with my Amazing man, meet a whole ton of fiber freaks, musicians and lovely people in general, get my fibery groove on, and top it off with a little orange freak-o of a kitty.

I know this has gotten rambley, but that's just how I work I guess. I'm looking forward to the projects, conversations and new people!

That's me in a blog post.

( and a parting shot of my little fuzzman)

he's so cool and yes, he knows.

Plumtastic

Some Corriedale roving I hand-dyed. The pink came out first because I forgot the vinegar, was really supposed to be reds and oranges... oopse... ( it is pretty, but I'm really not the pink type. Something had to change) Then I dumped the rest of the roving into my new giant pot and made a purple color and let the tips of the pink soak up the purple while the rest cooked (with vinegar this time)



And here is something I'm quite proud of, the first skein of yarn from my Cormo fleece I bought raw with my friend Angie last summer. I still have plenty to comb out, and this is about 150 yards... so a ways to go before I get my sweater's yardage done, but it feels good to start on it finally!!

Finished things!

I finally finished the Danish Tie Shawl a couple days ago, wish it were cold enough to wear... though I probably could use it where I work, it is freezing in there more often than not!


And I spun up my Border Leicester roving I had traded for sock yarn and dyed at tvini's house a while back (the first dye party).


I love my wheel and have just ordered more roving so I can have more and more fun making pretty colors and lovely yarns!

Fidget

now he is ours! we love!

Feel goods

So I finally got brave enough to watch The Golden Compass . I loved the books and had avoided this move because of this, but i have to say, they did a pretty good job sticking to the story and getting all the information ( and there is plenty, this is a detail detail kind of story) to the viewers. While I was watching I was knitting, of course, and finished a caplet and made a hat out of my hand spun.



The next night I plied some superwash Merino wool I had dyed at one of our parties with some black cotton thread. I love it! Incredibly soft and squooshy and light. I am so happy I bought this wheel, we are such a good fit!! I did the thread ply because I wanted something more than a single, but did not want to loose yardage and really wanted to let the colors stand on their own, not next to each other.


Here's a progress shot of the danish tie shawl, i have been neglecting it for a while and am going to sit down and give it some lovin' right after I post this.

Whew!!

It was a busy week last week! So, a little more development on my new spinning wheel. It came to my work, Dani supervised and documented the unwrapping and putting togethering. It was one of the best lunch times EVER! She's an Ashford Kiwi, I love spinning on a wheel to bits already, here's my first large chunk of yarn done:

I've had the rust color for a good while now, I dyed and blogged about it when I was still in good ol' Harrisonburg, VA. The white is corriedale and came with her. I'm quite happy with the 140ish yards I have, the most regular thickness is about 5wpi, but it is thick and thinner.


Thursday I "taught" a little girl how to knit, and learned I can knit from the back side as long as it's a knit stitch. And then I went home and spun more.

Friday Prabir and the Substitutes (myspace), one of Shawn's old band ( and the one he was playing in when I met him, for some Cat's life trivia) came to play and stay at our apartment, but I was getting up early to go to the Dragon Boat Races with Cristi, so I dropped by the bar, said hi, had a drink and went home to bed.

Saturday Cristi picked me up and we headed to the races in which our dear friend May was rowing. There was some knitting

Lots of sweating and hydrating

some cheering ( they are rowing back to the load in/out spot, the race pictures were way to small and you couldn't see the right boat anyways. sorry) more sweating

some crazy lady spotting

check out that fun fur fan! She kept putting it away whenever I went for the camera, she may have suspected our amusement... and then we sweat some more.

After the majority of the races we left, ate mandetory icecream that immediatly mealted all over my hands, lemee tell ya, there's nothing like melting icecream cone to make you feel like a five year old all over again.

And after recovering in the car's AC we made our final stop at the Davidson Needlecraft Center and both picked up some half- off yarns and I also widened my embroidery floss palette. It was a most lovely day! I just wish I had more pictures... especially of that fan! haha!

It was a good day and then the Alternative Champs (myspace again) show was that night and it was awesome funny and rockin'! I'll leave you with a photo of part of their costumes... and one of my favorite shots I took that night. ( they dress up every show as something different, this time it was 70's style preps. it was interesting. )


Sunday was recovery,and the traditional thrift store exploring. I had some major mojo and found an almost complete collection of Make it Yourself: The Complete Step-by-Step Library of Needlework and Crafts. It is an encyclopedia-like collection of 20 books and I found 13 of them! for 80 cents each. Score!

and now Monday's almost done.

~whew~

Darcy

now, what could be in here??








a wheel?! for me???





and I get to paint her and make her the prettiest thing with two treadles?


YAY! YAYAYAYAYAYAY! YAY!!!



Laters :)

Myrtle Beach

So last weekend we went to Myrtle Beach to visit some of Bf's friends and go to the beach, have a vacation, go to the Hard Rock Cafe's new amusement park, and generally have a good time.

The first night we went to a "Mongolian Style" grill... the food was good, but they had the weirdest combos in the regular buffet lines. By the end of the meal we all broke down and started coming back with very odd combinations of food. Here's my last plate:





canned peaches, some fluffy orange cake stuff and one of those nom nom good sugar dougnuts and a piece of crab wrapped in bacon.

and here is Bf's last plate:




thats right, bacon wrapped crab and chocolate pudding.


The next day we went to the amusement park, rode the Led Zeppelin ( highly recommended) and saw the magical mystery tour bus, it was a decent park, but needs more rides. We were glad that we had free tickets, other wise the story may have been different.

Then there was beach time and we met a new jelly friend. it was lovely to jump in the ocean again, I love it, but not enough to live there, eventually the sand would drive me crazy. ( as it would end up no doubt, in allll of my yarn. yeucky-doo.)


in all the vacation was awesome, plus the three kitties who decided to adopt our bags as beds were pretty darn sweet.



I knit a little on the way down and up on Pi, which is growing steadily, I have about an ounce left of yarn and am hoping that it will be done soon! The tie shawl is also growing, it tricked me into thinking it was finished so I pulled it onto some waste yarn last night and alas, it needs at least a good 5-7 more inches to be finished. :( boo.

there will be more very exciting news later this week! VERY exciting news. Stay tuned for the awesomeness that will occur!!!!!





Oh, and I should mention it was the second weekend of biker week and we saw all sorts of butts in thongs on the backs of those crotch-rocket/ ninja speed bikes... it was... interesting. We stayed as far away from the traffic as possible and it all worked out in the end. Minus the dumb old traffic we got stuck in for a bit on the way out.