Yooo-hoooo! It's Me! I'm Catching Up...

(L-R: Patti, Eileen, Julie, Sharon and Me)

Hmmm...I thought I'd blogged more recently, but realized I hadn't. I'm finding it harder and harder to divide my time between Ravelry, Facebook and Blogging. A lot of people say that blogging is outdated. Is that true? I know that at least around 200 people are checking out my blog daily, but WHERE ARE YOuuuuuuuu, lovely people??? he he

Anyway, I wanted to share with you my FANTASTIC trip to NETA (New England Fiber Arts) Spa weekend and my recent finished handspun yarns and projects. Ready??

Since beginning spinning about 5 years ago, I've tried to attend the NETA Spa weekend. (I think I've only missed once.) For those of you who don't know about this great event, I'll explain. If you knit or spin or work with fibers in any way, this group is for you. On usually the last weekend in February, the group (who mostly only converse online over the Rav group or Yahoo group) meets in Freeport, ME at the Hilton Garden Inn/Hareseeket Hotel for a Thursday - Monday (or Friday- Sunday) weekend of shopping (wonderful shops around Freeport), visiting the yummy vendors at the hotel (where you can buy the most unique fibers, yarn, patterns, spinning wheels, spindle, looms, glass buttons and other accessories), chatting, eating, spinning, knitting, crocheting, weaving, and perhaps having a Spa treatment (at the Hareseeket Hotel or nearby Spa) - pedicure, manicure, massage, etc.


(L-R: Ericka, Kerrie-Ann and Sandi in our knitting/spinning corner of the hotel.)

It is totally worth trying out, if you've never been. You don't have to be a NETA member (though it helps because you get updates on what's going on, when/where to book your hotel room and how to win prizes, etc.) to go. If you want to pick a day, you can just go over to the hotel, shop and sit and work on your projects with the hundreds of other knitters/spinners/weavers/crocheters.

I love it, not only because it's a mini vacation, but because you'll see the most amazing handcrafted clothing, accessories and items all in one place! Everyday, you'll say to yourself, "Oooh, I LOVE that shawl!" or "Where did you get that YARN??", etc. And, the best part is, no one looks at you like you're crazy and back away from you screaming! LOL! Everyone is happy to share what they've made and let you touch it and answer as many questions as you want to ask. Sometimes, they'll even let you try it on! Or take pictures of them in the item! Woo-hoo!

This year, I think that the Winner of the Most Ogled Knitted Item in our group was Amy's Shetland Tea shawl from "A Gathering of Lace" book (pages 39/40) in oatmeal, pinks and natural white. What was most surprising, was that this was Amy's FIRST knitted lace EVER!!! (Yes, you may hate her. She's okay with it.) Not only was it beautiful, but it was knitted perfectly and it was the most flattering color on Amy. Now...if only I'd taken a picture of her with it on. Damn it.

I only got a pic of her WITHOUT the shawl. Ugh.


(Britni and Amy at Spa)

I had the absolute BEST time this year and even got to exercise on the treadmill every night, go to sleep early and wake up early so that I could spin, knit, spin and SHOP! Yay!

Heather even sold 7 of my Dreamscape books and 1 Lisha Lace pattern! Yippeeee!

Now, if I don't start showing off my loot and finished handspun...plus FOs...I won't ever be done before the end of the day. So...the rest of this post will be short and sweet - with pictures! ; )

1. Spunky Eclectic's booth (Amy's in a whirl...she's so busy!)



2. Heather/Sereknity's booth (Heather is wearing my Persephone beret in her Sweet yarn!)



3. Items I bought...mmmm.


(Della Q spinning bag and lovely sportweight Angora/merino for a sweater/shawl for me!)


(Spunky silk purple scarf for Donna, Spunky Targhee and Spunky bfl/silk fibers)


(Alpaca Obsession merino and bamboo with nylon sparkle fiber for Hilary)

I also bought some glass sheep stitch markers for Jackie and Donna, a glass needle threader for me, 2 skeins of gorgeous Sereknity yarn ("Margaritaville" in Classica for me and "Envy" in Worsted for Jackie) and a little more fiber.

HANDSPUN GALLERY

1. Spunky Ecletic's BFL/Tussah Silk (I created a 2 oz, 2 ply, 100 yard, worsted weight yarn in "Cotton Candy" colorway)



2. Spunky Eclectic's Targhee Combed Top (4 oz. 2 ply, dk weight, 195 yards in "2010" colorway)



3. Alpaca Obsession's Alpaca with Angelina Sparkle (3 oz, single ply, laceweight, 300 yards, in "Faded Jade" colorway)



4. Enchanted Knoll Farm's Superwash Wool/Nylon/Recycled Sari Silk/Sparkle (3 oz, single ply, fingering weight, 280 yards, in "Birthday Party" colorway)



5. Enchanted Knoll Farm's Superewash Wool/Recycled Sari silk/Sparkle (3 oz., single ply, fingering weight, 300 yards, in "Blue Jay" colorway)



And, FINISHED OBJECTS!!!!

1. Lego Man for Ben (Some Assembly Required pattern with Cascade 220)



and



2. Hat for Ian (Ann Budd's Hat pattern with Rowan Lima in a goregous deep green, 881, I think)



3. Log Cabin Square Pillow (Log Cabin pattern with Noro Kureyon- 226 on back, 250 on front)



4. Persephone Beret (My pattern with Sereknity Sweet yarn in "Floozy" colorway)



Whew, I'm beat! Off to do some bellydancing, hula hooping and then have some lunch!

What have YOU been up to??

Rainbow Swallowtail Shawl

After only 2 weeks of lovely knitting, I have finished the Swallowtail Shawl! Woo-hoo!

I have to admit that I was copycat knitting off of Jackie's beautiful Swallowtail. After I saw how utterly gorgeous hers came out, I bought the yarn on the spot and went rummaging through my Interweave Knits magazines for that issue.

Wowza....what a knit!

DETAILS:

Yarn: Kauni Effektgarn 8/2, colorway EQ (rainbow), 150 g ball (660 yards) plus 10 yards.
Pattern: Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn Clark
Needle: Addi Turbo Lace, size 7, circular 40"
Finished Size: 26" (neck to bottom tip) x 70" (left tip to right tip at shoulders)
Time: April 26 to May 9, 2008
Fun Level: A - (Superbly interesting, very beautiful, clear and well written pattern, and simple charts to read from. Only negative thing...the nupps. Though, they were stunning in the finished shawl. Doing the purl 5 together, though, was not fun.)

Here is the lace shawl BEFORE blocking:



Here it is looking so darn pretty blocking on my bed:



And a final look at a close up of the lace while blocking:



I could just stare at the shawl allllllllllll day.

After frantic finishing on Thursday night, I soaked the shawl overnight (in a mixture of a squirt of SOAK Aquae, a capful of Suave conditioner and 2 tablespoons of white vinegar) and squeezed out the excess water on Friday morning. Took me around a half hour or 45 minutes to block the shawl (after taking a spin in the washer to get out the remaining water...the shawl...not me) and I left it to dry for at least 4-5 hours. I was able to bring it to my Friday Night Knitting club at the yarn store...which was great!

On the way to the NH Sheep and Wool Festival on Saturday, Jackie and Lora had an agreement to take "fake" shots every time I got a compliment on my shawl (of course I wore it there!). By the end of the day, (we stayed there about 4 hours) I'd gotten at least 20 compliments on the shawl. It was wonderful! I hope I inspired other people to make this shawl, just as Jackie did for me ; )

Before I stop blabbering on about this truly fantastic shawl (not only to wear, but to knit), I have a few details that I changed or tips I'd like to share with you about it.

1: I knew that I needed mine to be MUCH bigger (for the bosom, of course) than the recommended size and ended up adding 4 extra repeats to the Budding Lace 2 chart….18 instead of 14 repeats. Because of this, on the first row of the Lily of the Valley Border 1 chart AND the Peaked Edging chart, I had to fudge the stitches. Because these first rows are primarily knit rows, it was easy to add the extra stitches needed. When doing this, I STRONGLY recommend adding an equal number of stitches on the left AND right sides of the center line. I almost made the mistake of adding more stitches on one side only. Please don’t do this.

2: Also, when you are on the Lily of the Valley charts, make sure that you are only purling together the 5 stitches of each “nupp” when on the wrong side row. A few times, I lost stitches due to purling of one (or both) of the yo’s from the previous row along with the 5 stitches in the “nupp” area.

3: On the Lily of the Valley charts, I blindly went along knitting equally on both sides of the shawl, without looking at BOTH sides of the chart. The flowery-line parts should MIRROR each other on each side of the center line, not be the same on both sides. I had to rip out 22 rows of lace (eeeeek!) because I realized I’d done the same lace knitting on each side…and wondered why the left side was always coming out a bit “off”.

4: I used 1 full ball of the EQ 150 gram ball, plus (after an emergency call to Jackie) about another 10 yards (or less) of the same yarn, same color to finish the last 6 rows…4 rows of lace chart and 2 rows of binding off.

5: It seems that ending your shawl (or other project) with a contrasting color truly enhances the beautiful look of your knitted item. Jackie’s shawl started with red and ended with orange and a few rows of the red - very stunning. Here, I ended with red and a 2-3 rows of purple…and I love it.

6: I used Tpins and blocking wires for the shoulder area to make it straight and the Yellow Flower head pins for pulling out the points. This works the best for me every time.

Whew....!

Now that I'm done with that shawl, I still have to finish my Leaf Lace Lipstick Shawl and my second Forest Canopy Shawl in the Silky Wool. BUT.....since I need a tiny, tiny break from those shawls (after finishing so many this year already)...I decided to do a quick and pretty lace knit while I'm taking that break.

I'm knitting Spunky Eclectic's Mountain Scarf (or Scolf) in the Water Nymph colorway. It's a super fun, garter stitch type lace knit and I'm loving the texture of it. The colorway is gorgeous and I've been waiting to knit this for a while.

Wanna see??



Well, off to bed after all that sharing....Happy Mother's Day!!!! (see what lovely flowers I got from Ian!)

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!!!

Spunk-a-licious!

CAUTION....had too many pics to post, so I had to choose only some. Sorry! Hope they all come through...



What can I say about a day spent at a fantastic yarn store with a to-die-for view and....best of all....Amy Boogie of Spunky Eclectic?



SpunkyTastic!!!!!

Melissa, Lora and I started off at Donna's house (Blogless, Koigu Donna) and headed to York, ME to the Yarn Sellar to meet the fabulous Julie, Brenda and, YS owner and sweetie, Patti. (Ericka and Chris met us there before leaving for Lisbon.) Here we all are before leaving...with Donna holding a basket of Heather's Sereknity Sock Options yarn.



(l-r...Lora, Roger (Patti's hubby aka Bruce), Patti, Donna, Melissa, Me and Julie)

After stopping for a quick lunch, exchanging cell phone numbers (thank GOODNESS we did!), getting lost a couple times and then finally meeting up at a Dunkin Donuts/Mobil gas station (to refresh ourselves with waters, coffee and candy...namely, PEPPERMINT PATTIES...hint hint...wink wink....), we were on the home stretch to Spunky Amy's.

Donna made a very impressive, race car driver's sharp and short right turn into the parking lot at once when we screamed, "THERE IT IS!!!" and, I think, ralllied rather well after her heart stopping for a second or two. (and saying, "You are FIRED as the copilot for the next trip!" to me....which, of course, I've heard before, right Laurin?) Sorry, Donna!

Here is the view from Amy's shop...



Impressive, isn't it????

After getting a huge hug from Amy's adorable, squeeze-her-face daughter "Medium Boogie" (not to be confused with "Baby Boogie") and Amy herself, we all rushed like a mob into the shop. Although the size is small (especially for about 10 of us at once), everything is arranged very nicely and you know exactly where to go for what you want. Not only does she have YARN! and FIBER!!!, but also spindles, spinning wheels, spinning equipment, and her own handmade pottery, which is gorgeous. It was just like at SPA, we all kept going back in for more! Go outside, go back in, go outside, go back in....it was a vicious cycle of horrible monetary proportions. shiver

Wanna see pics of the store?? (of course you do!)

Exhibit A: The Yarn



Exhibit B: The Fiber



Exhibit C: The Spindles



Exhibit D: The Pottery



And, you know what else???

Melissa and Lora learned how to spin on the drop spindle!!!! Woo-hoo!! (Ericka and I thought to ourselves, "He he...we've corrupted MORE knitters!"...or at least, that's what I think we thought!)

Here I am giving Melissa a hand, though she was really a natural.



And Melissa and Lora succesfully spinning! (Lora, you are awesome at the S twist!!!!)



Most of the time, we spent on the porch, knitting (welll, I talked....mostly...shocker) I think I was getting a little too "photo happy" because Brenda and Julie looked at me like THIS:



And the lovely Patti...



I thought Chris and Ericka looked so cute here together...dont' you? Busy knittin' away....



I think we spent almost 3 hours there and it was the most relaxing and fun time I've had in weeks....I even got to draw chaulk pictures on the driveway with "Medium Boogie", which was almost more fun than knitting! (gasp!) Here are some pics that we drew together...



Boy, it really made me want to have a little girl....boohoo...but, no, I'm happy with my video game playing boys : ) Maybe I could just borrow Medium Boogie or Jackie's Little One sometimes....right?

On the way home, and Donna's trunk stuffed to the brim with yarn and fiber, we stopped for dinner and it was delicious! We had a waitress, Jamie, that rivaled Famous April for friendliness and that "je ne s'ai quoi" that we look for when dining and knitting. It was a long ride home and though I tried to give Donna subliminal messages on the way...(saying "Yaaaarrrnnn" instead of "Yaaaawwwnnn")....she wasn't really fallling for it. Damn it.

So, you ask, what are the treasures that you took home??? Well, here are some of the things I got....some are gifts and I didn't take pics of them. Wanna see????



(l-r) "Nuclear Flower" sportweight, "Walking on the Sun" laceweight merino, "Your Majesty" skinny sock, and "Killer Tomato" skinny sock.

Plus, I got "Pulsations" in green to knit up Amy's new "Pulsations" sock pattern...see HERE and a couple rovings for spinning.

All in all, it was a FANTASTIC day, although I missed everyone who couldn't make it. I'm sure we'll go again, though.

Oh, let me leave you with THE WALL OF GINA...



(Medium Boogie wrote my name all along the brick wall near the shop. I LOVE her!!!) Go visit Spunky's Shop NOW! (he he)