She Was Twisted

I spun some new handspun for 3 more dolls:

Pretty! I can’t wait to see them in their full glory. I have one, possibly two more to spin, and then they will be shipped away. Neat!

I actually completed these socks many months back, but never got around to blogging about them. Aren’t they gorgeous?!

These were my first socks knit from a Knit Picks sock blank. I followed the pattern, Two at Once, Toe Up, Magic Loop Socks. A very easy knit! (If you are seasoned in sock knitting.) I’m mentioned before that knitting with a sock blank is the best ever. Plus, you can control the color striping, which is what I loved. Here is what the blank looked like after I dyed it. You can see the beginning of the knitted socks at the bottom:

The only problem I had, is that I did not squish the dyes enough into the yarn. This made it knit up much lighter with white speckles where the dye did not go all the way through. I still love how it turned out, however!

Definitely something you should give a try, if you love knitting socks with simple stripes. I’m on my second pair now. Will post pics of the new socks soon!

I bought a set of  Knit Picks Interchangeable Needles about 6 months ago, and of course, I just love them. The needle case that comes with them, however, has MUCH to be desired. So I set out to make one of my own.

Here is what I did:

I found a $10 wallet that had the perfect lineup of pockets to put the needles, cables and what-nots. Then armored with a big needle and thread, I sewed on a strip of  1/2-inch elastic band for two rows of needles. The sewing part is hideous, due to the fact that I was having to push the needle through thick vinyl, but it does the job. I can tip the case upside-down when it is closed, and the needles tips do not fall out. There is room for many other notions too. Perfect! I just love my case, and for $10 plus some minor labor, you can’t go wrong. Here are some more pics:

Pretty sweet, huh? I dig it.

This yarn is on its way now to become hair on a handmade Waldorf doll. Pretty cool. I blended the wool on my drum carder and spun it corespun over a thin wool binder. I can’t wait to see how it turns out. I will post a link once Theresa has a chance to make the doll.

I loved knitting my last pair of sock blank socks so much that I decided to knit another pair. What is a sock blank? Let me enlighten you!

Here is one of the reviews from Knit Picks:

“Anyone who’s ever hand-dyed sock yarn, or knit from a skein of hand-dyed sock yarn, has been bedeviled by pooling colors. Knit Picks has a new product which takes the guesswork out of dyeing sock yarn. Sock Blanks are pre-knit tubes of undyed sock yarn. You dye the pre-knit tube with the stripes that you want, then knit your socks directly off the tube. Somehow this seems like cheating, but in a good way.” Yarn Scoop

Here is what my blank looked like after dyeing:

Things I love most about knitting socks from a sock blank:

1. You can easily dye stripes and patterns.
2. It is double stranded so you can knit two socks at once.
3. When knitting, the yarn does not twist and tangle the way it does when knitting from two separate balls of yarn.
4. You end up with two identical socks.
5. It keeps your knitting interesting without the need for any pattern repeats.
6. Provides endless mind-boggling for others trying to figure out why in the world you are creating TWO knitted pieces without any yarn in between.

Definitely give it a try. I’m not sure if I will ever knit any other way. Yes, I’m that impressed.

I thought I would use up some of my handspun yarn that has been sitting around for awhile waiting for projects. So I knit up some simple fingerless gloves.

The yarn is called “Parade” and it is 72 yards of bulky Merino/Falkland wool, that I spun into a self-striping yarn and plied with an acrylic thread. I BARELY made it with the yardage, so next time I will make sure to have more yarn before I start. I followed the pattern in The Knitter’s Handy Book of Patterns (Interweave). (I can not tell you how much I adore this book!)

But I think they are quite pretty. Very soft and squishy too!

I’ve created the most ugly yarn of all times. …or is it?

Just for the heck of it, I spun a yarn that I usually make fun of when I see it at the store. I call it “used” yarn. Many people adore the look. Me? Yuck. It reminds me of an old sweater that has been wash way to many times, and is covered in pills and felted fibers. I see these horrish yarns knitted into big bulky scarves, and still, my reaction is not a pleasant one. The term “old hag” comes to mind.

So of course, I had to try to spin one of my own!

I started with raw locks from a Merino Columbia fleece that I’m still deciding if I like. When it was in the grease, it seemed like it had so much potential. Then I washed it, and, well…it got scratchy. Very weird. So anyway, I  solar dyed the locks in canning jars into basic color of cools and warms. Then I teased the heck out of the wool by hand, mixed up all the warm colors and put it into a grab bag. After seeing the colors together, I decided there need to be a “pop” of contrast, so I found some lovely purple mohair locks that I dyed ages ago. I teased these lightly and kept them in a separate pile to add when I pleased.

I spun up the ratty mess into a super bulky yarn, all messy and uneven. I added locks of mohair here and there. The result? Nah. O.K. but not great. The colors are dull and and dreary. The texture is “used” and haggered. So what do I do? I plied it with a cherry read yarn thinking that it would liven up those sad colors. Nope! Not the case. I actually think I liked it much better without the ply, darnit.

So here is my finished yarn. ewww?

Just for fun, I’m going to knit it up. Just to see. Maybe seeing it in stitches will help.

More to come.

Let’s see how many P0*RN hits I get from that title.

I was too lazy to drag out the camera only to find that the batteries were dead again, so I utilized the web cam instead. (Very handy, I might add.) I finished the left and right front of my Rambling Rose Sweater! Woot, woot. It is insane that after almost 3 years of working from home with my kiddos in my care, I would go back to an 8-5 office job and find myself with some knitting time every day. Alas, the lunch break is a wonderful thing. So next up we have the 2 sleeves, then I get the join the whole darn thing and work the yoke.

I’m still EXTREMELY skeptical about the sizing. Since it is mostly lace knitting, it will change shape quite a bit once blocked. However it is going to take a lot to convince me that this puppy is going to fit an adult size Small, without looking like a naked body, painted purple Catwoman suit. (Come on boys, you know what I’m talking about.)

Did I mention that this is my very first adult-sized sweater? Yep, it is! It will be a major accomplishment if I can actually pull this off.

O.K. so I’m a complete dork and I fell off the earth for 7 or  8 months. Yes, I am a bad, bad blogger. But I had some good reasons:

Say hello to the new addition to the family – our little Maxton. He’s a keeper. He’s 7 months old now, born on March 18, 2008. Big brother Evan is finally adjusting to the family status change.

So in the spirit of those of you with babies out there, I thought I would share my birth story. If you are here for knitting and spinning content only, you might want to stop. I’m getting a bit side tracked here.

So here is my story: it is quite the interesting one.

To begin, let me quickly give you the events of Evan’s birth. I go to sleep and wake up at 5 am to feel my water break. Induced by 8 am, epidural by 11 am, baby born by 3pm. Fast and easy. Minimal pain. So I was calm and cool about this pregnancy all the way through. Evan’s birth was a good one, and I was just hoping for Maxton to go the same. But that would make for a boring world, wouldn’t it?

March 17th, St. Patty’s Day: I go to sleep at about 11:00 pm. I have had NO signs of going into labor before this. None.

I wake up around midnight with tummy cramps. I’m thinking, oh wow, my stomach is upset. So I get up to, umm, relieve myself if you know what I mean, and I go back to bed. 20 minutes later – the same thing. Back to the toilet. Then again, and again. But this time I am in agony. Hurts like hell. I’m starting to freak — are these contractions? Or are my intestines spazzing out? I seriously couldn’t tell the difference. Crap, what do we do? I let it happen a few more times until my system is cleaned out before I go tell Brian to get ready to go to the hospital. We are in the car by 2:00. The contractions REALLY start up. Like every 5-10 minutes. Poor Evan is in the back seat not knowing what was going on. The car ride is agonizing not only because of the contractions, but also because I start to feel the pressure. You know, THE PRESSURE. Oh crap, I’m going to have this baby in the car!!!! I keep this to myself, however, because I don’t want Brian to be under any more stress than he already is. I’m just praying that we can make it.

Well we do. We get to the hospital, and my contractions are so bad and close together that we have to stop several times in the halls, lobby and elevator for me to lay on my side on the floor to get through a contraction. I know the maids thought I was out of my mind. We get up to the maternity ward, and the nurses want me to sit down to check in. HAA!  I tell them to get me in NOW and let Brian check me in. They get all annoyed and take me back to the little room to check me. I’m in so much pain that I can’t figure out how to get the damn gown thing on. Not to mention that I can only function for a few minutes before another contraction hits. I continue to fumble around in this room, ALONE for what seemed like an eternity. I can hear all the nurses laughing and talking just outside the room. I go out there and yell at them, “is someone coming to check me?!” Again, all huffy, puffy and annoyed they tell me “Yes” go back into the room (you crazy impatient lady.)

When the nurse finally gets there, she checks me:  9 cm dialated, 100% effaced. Oh shit, she’s going to have the baby. Now the nurses are not laughing. They toss me on a strecher and wheel me down to the labor room. No time to call my doctor. The doctor already in the hospital will have to do the job. They can barely get the IV in me because I’m thrashing around so much, and it suddenly dawns on me — I’m not going to get my epidural, am I?  Nope. No ma’am and no how. The baby is coming now.

Let me tell you, laboring naturally is the most painful thing I think any human being can ever endure. Looking back, of course, it seems like no big deal. But at the time, OH MY GOD. Luckily, it only took 4 or 5 pushes and he was out. Maxton was welcomed into the world at 3:18 am.

So let’s do a quick recount:  Labor pains begin at 12:00 midnight. Check in to hospital at 2:30 am. Baby born at 3:18 am.  You do the math.

Not only did I survive, but also I am extremely proud that I did it 100% drug free. That is a major accomplishment in my book.

And look at the end result! Could he be any cuter?? Let’s have another look, just to be sure:

Yep. I believe Maxton is officially cute. Worth every minute.

Next up: I promise to actually write about something crafty. I have much to catch up on, so bear with me.

Thought I would capture the moment in pictures. giggle, giggle. Every time I look at this picture, it cracks me up.  ..not that my pregnant belly should be funny or anything.