no you didn't-

Oh, but I did. I knit LD a pair of motorcycle gloves! And he likes them. I kind of like them too. I tweaked the "Knucks" pattern from Knitty.com just a tiny bit. I added a few vertical rows of purl stitches on the hand part, kinda looks like stitched seams.

Knitting motorcycle wear......makes me giggle every time I think about it!

I've also been spinning away on my Minstrel spinning wheel. I'm so happy with the double drive, I find I have much more control over the amount of twist and speed of uptake- I can actually get the size/type of yarn I want rather than going with what the wheel wants to do. A Kiwi is a wonderful first wheel, but you really can outgrow it's capabilities.

I have no idea what the yardage is, but I love the color, and it is Rambouilette wool, very soft and fluffy. No idea what it will become, but I'm sure it will be lovely.

I've been knitting also! Still working on a "corset tee" by Annie Modisett, I'm about 2/3 done with the miles and miles of k2p2 that makes up the body. I'm going to try to add sleeves of my own design, and I think with sleeve I might actually wear this sweater in public. The yarn is a cotton/silk blend, loverly stuff. Between k2p2's, I made this cotton "Heartbreakingly Cute Baby Sweater" from Mason-Dixon Knitting by Gardiner & Shayne and superwash wool baby socks for a new baby on the way for a lovely woman at work. She has a 2 year old daughter, equally lovely, and I made Miss E a pair of socks as well. I'm planning on making myself a pair of argyle socks using the same yarn/colors. Love the pink and green!

And finally, I've been drop spindling some handcombed Rambouilette/Alpaca blend, having scoured the wool and washed the Alpaca myself. I love the idea of doing the whole process from raw fiber to finished item- just really love the idea of it.......but the reality is that it just takes too durn long! I have nothing but awe and admiration for the hundred of generations of folk who had no choice but to shear, wash, card or comb and spin their fibers. I'm just not planning on losing my link to KnitPicks.com any time soon. Too many projects, too little time!

and sometimes, I knit...

hand spun, hand dyed corriedale. Motified version of Gentleman's Sock in Railway Stitch from 'Knitting Vintage Socks' by Nancy Bush. LD is particulary fond of these socks, to the point of showing them off to friends. seriously!

You never call, you never write......

sorry.
Let me explain.
First of all, I am a complete, self admitted inconstant blogger. My life has 2 phases, either NOTHING is going on and I'm swallowed up in depression and self pity and, well, who in the world would want to read anything that someone in that conditions would write!? The other phase is when EVERYTHING happens at once and though I have a billion things I'd like to blog about, well, I'm so durn busy that I think about blogging, want to blog, but can't pull myself away from whatever else is going on. Occasionally I have actually even forgotten that I have a blog.
I've seriously kicked around the idea of only posting pictures and not even making an attempt to be witty (hey, I said "attempt", I didn't say I was sucessful!) and I really think I may start doing that. So here are the first two pics, and anyone who know either myself or LD will at once understand why I haven't posted recently:




and:

Your IQ Is 105

Your Logical Intelligence is Below Average Your Verbal Intelligence is Genius Your Mathematical Intelligence is Above Average Your General Knowledge is Above Average

A Quick and Dirty IQ Test

hee hee hee..... I just love these blogger tests. They are like crack to me. I tend to 'test' well, and sometime have to fight myself to actually answer the test honestly rather than pick what I know is the 'right' answer. This one surprised me a bit. I expected math to be horrid- obviously I stumbled on the correct answers for the math questions, and I've never been mislabeled as a genius in anything, but the thing that cracks me up and keeps me coming back for more are answers like- logical intelligence: below normal -that is just too funny. Even more so because I don't really know what 'logical intelligence' means! ......'scuse me while I go peruse a dictionary!

First FO of 2007

Handspun silk, slightly altered "Christmas Angel" pattern from the 2006 Daily Knitting calendar. I'm going to continue to tweak this pattern to see if I can make her look more like a fairy. The head is a needle felted bead, I think on my next try I'll add a couple of pointy ears and make the skirt less bell shaped. I have just enough silk yarn left for one more. After being left alone all night on New Years Eve (the dogs were only alone over night- the same amount of time they are on their own Monday thru Friday during the day!) this is how Bailey and I spent most of our New Years Day. The little prince looks so happy/relived/comfy I just want to make a sandwich out of him and eat him up!

Gatherin' Wool

Attended The Wool Gathering fiber festival in Yellow Springs yesterday. I took my Tour De Fleece bag and told LD when it was full, I'd be done. There was literally nothing of interest for him at the festival, but he kept me company and held my bag when needed like a champ.





Happy Day!






I scored some cool stuff:

a pound of merino top, half a pound of textile grade hemp sliver, a couple of ounces of very pretty mohair curls, 4 oz of a gorgeous Alpaca roving colourway (I have had NO luck dyeing muted colors like this) with just the slightest amount of angelina blended in for a tiny amount of sparkle. Gorgeous! and a couple of cute little finger puppets. I was very proud of the shopping restraint that I showed. Even saved enough money to pay for dinner out of my fiberfest fund.


This guy had so much character:

His owner said he was annoyed at being kept inside the tent, so he kept humming and sort of stomping back and forth- very comical. You could see it in his eyes that he is quite the character. What can I say, I've always had a thing for 'bad boys'!


I wore my homemade spindle pin:

but didn't run into anyone else from the Yahoo Spindlers group.


Never been to Yellow Springs, so after filling up my goodie bag, LD and I went into town to check it out. Wicked, wicked cool. What an artist's haven. If I were independently wealthy and/or a bit more talented, I would make Yellow Springs my new home.

Now THAT is what silk should look like!

This:


not this:


In trying to poke around at the cocoons to avoid touching the icky stuff, I ended up matting them together into a sad mess. Done. Stick a fork in them. I've enough pride to know I'm beat.
-but I couldn't stay sad for long, because just look again at what arrived from the marvelously talent Carol of http://www.silkworker.com !


Gorgeous incredible handpainted silk top! The colourway is Trumpet Solo, and when I saw it on the website, my heart dang near skipped a beat. Complete lovely silky goodness. I'm spinning it on my favorite drop spindle, my Lambsy Divey All Day Lollipop, spinning it fairly fine, hoping that when I Navajo ply, it will be lace weight-ish, and will then be knit into a shawl/wrap. Don't know what pattern yet, I'm just enjoying the spinning. Happy happy spinning!