4 FOes and 4 Potatoes...New Mexico Style

Even though the hubby has been in New Mexico the past week (and also has plans to desert me again on Tuesday night until Sunday night....arghhh!), I was amazingly able to finish 4, count'm 4, finished objects. I can't believe it. It's mainly due to these factors:

1. Spending time with "my fiancee" Jackie and her kids....saving my sanity and getting lots of knitting done while the kids play.

2. Since I've been putting Ben to bed by myself lately (and that takes at least 2 hours!), I've felt like I've been neglecting Tim. So, I've been trying to spend time with him at night instead...we've been watching some good movies together, having popcorn and...that means... MORE TIME TO KNIT!

and

3. I'm trying to do well with my weight loss, so I've been spinning (yippee!), which burns a bit more calories than knitting. 4 hours of spinning is pretty good movement exercise...now, if I had a double treadle (like Ericka), I'd get even more calories burned!

Wanna see my FOs???

EXHIBIT A

The Angel Sweater by Oat Couture:



Knit for a sweet little girl of friends of ours. I LOVED knitting this. I used 3 skeins of KP Elegance in the "Wild Rose" colorway...this yarn is wonderful....slightly shiny from the silk and exquisitely soft due to the baby alpaca. If you haven't tried this yarn, you have to! (I think it's on sale now on the website) This only took me 8.5 days to knit and it was fun, too.



EXHIBIT B

Sweet Leaf Toddler Hat by SleepyEyes:



The pattern for this I am finishing up right now. It's almost done and it will available FREE here on my blog in pdf form. The pics on my pattern of this show Jackie's little sweetheart daughter as the mdoel, who I love to pieces. Melt-your-heart adorable. You'll have to download it and see!

EXHIBIT C

PicSock by SleepyEyes:



Another pattern that is SOOO quick to knit that I'll have on my blog for free early next week. It's my own handspun! I used 1 oz. of Ashford Bay corriedale in fushia for this and did a navajo 3 ply. The yarn is slightly bulky...or a heavy worsted weight. It fits my Canon Powershot ELPH perfectly and has a nice wrist strap on the side. (You can't really tell how cute it is with this pic and I couldn't take a pic of it with the camera in it, you know?)

EXHIBIT D

Two Handspun Yarns

This should probably count as two FOs, but one of the skeins is small, so I lumped them both in together. The first is a single ply fingering weight that I spun from Oceans of Fiber's Cotswold Lambie Mohair Locks in Aqua that I was given by the fabulous HollyEEQ herself (!!!) for my bday. I can't tell you how much fun I had spinning these locks and I was finally able to get over my spinning slump! Yay!!!



I'm trying to order more of this, so I can make a lace scarf with it. The color is AMAZING!!!!

The second is a brand new batt from "i-love-her" Amy of Spunky Eclectic. She sent me this batt in colors that I am calling "Sour Watermelon"....bright pink and even brighter green. And WITH SPARKLES!!!! I had so much fun spinning this and I alternated the colors as I spun, so they'll come out to be self striping.



You can't tell how sparkly this yarn is from the picture, but believe me..it's awesome! Again, I'm not sure how many oz. it was, but I got 119 yards of 2 ply sportweight from it. It's my baby!



I'm currently spinning lovely Heather's fiber....forgot what colorway it is (Heather???) in a 50%/50% lambswool and angora blend. You can get some from her Sereknity shop...it's SOOOO soft!

It's a bit more challenging to spin since the angora fibers are so short and I've had to predraft very carefully and then do a short draw draft as I spin....only moving my fingers 1 inch at a time. But, it'll be totally worth it because the halo this yarn is getting is beautiful!!

Did I show you the gorgeous Sereknity yarns I bought from Heather on Wed night?? The top one is her Sock Options superwash merino in "Seriously Citrus" and the bottom one is, I think, called "Belladonna" in a soft, laceweight kid mohair. I have been drooling over them since that night. YarnGasm!



(I've also just started spinning HollyEEQ's bamboo roving in the colorway, Bali Hai...pinks and apricots. It's my first time spinning bamboo and I'm LOVING it! It's got a shine brighter than tencel and silk....and even spins more easily than tencel and silk. When I was drafting it out, it was like bright, sparkling ribbons of butterfly wings....oh! It's so hard to describe. Cayli recommended this bamboo to me [and gifted this roving to me for my bday] and I'm hooked!)

Now, you're asking....what about the podcast? Yes, I'm still in the works on that...and since hubby has been away and going away again, it's very hard to find time (QUIET TIME) to record it. I promise to get it up soon.

Speaking of hubby, I have to tell you that he's had a funny (but annoying) experience while out in New Mexico. He's working for NASA at the moment and they are very strict about having "clearance". He wasn't able to get a certain level of clearance in time (it takes a LONG time apparently), so he just has a badge. This badge doesn't let him go anywhere except where he is working....meaning this one room. So...say he needs to go to the bathroom....know what he has to do? Ask someone with "clearance" to go with him. They actually have to stand outside the door (and that's not so great if you've been eating a lot of yummy Mexican food). Same deal if he wants to go smoke or even go into another room to access another computer! Jeez!

I wonder if he dropped a pencil and it rolled out into the hallway, he'd have to go and get someone to come out with him to retrieve it????

Wanna see some Potato Heads????

(Ben and I have been playing with these the past week....they are SO much fun!)

Pirate Potato



Lady Potato



Darth Vador Potato...he's missing an arm



And, my favorite, Transformer Potato, who is named, "Optimash Prime". Do you love it???



Will finish spinning and working my mom's lace shawl....oh, and the podcast. Lots of stuff to do and hope I can get some done while Ian is gone this week. We'll see. If only I was the one who was traveling....all those wasted hours waiting in the airport could be put to good use!

Have a great day everyone and wish me luck this week!!!