sugar, sugar

OK, back from bureaucracy and on to the good stuff.





Here is my very first skein of handspun. It is so beautiful, I could not be more pleased.






I have a bit more of this fiber left. It is a braid from Fleece Artist.


Then there is this







and this.





The fun never stops!

i'm not real fond of the phone company either

So there is a certain phone company. AT&T, that stands for Assholes Through & Through in case you did not know. MANY years ago we had a issue with them, I will not go into it, it is too horrible to revisit. So imagine how upset I was when our current phone company was purchased by said Assholes. I tried to switch, no other company serviced our area. This is a city people, not the boondocks! I was pissed off every time I saw the AT&T bill in the mailbox. But then, one day, there was a ray of hope. The company from hell informed us that they would no longer be servicing our area. Again, this is a city! With joy in my heart I called our new phone service provider, set up the switch and went on my merry way.

Well, first they new people tried to over charge us by $50! We finally get that resolved and then proceed to set them up on automatic payments. That is not working either. Because they are "Your Entertainment Company" they are are not able to deal with my no cable or internet or long distance or cell phone, just a basic land line please, plan. The punch line? They disconnected our phone! Without so much as a "you might want to stop what you are doing and take a look at this" notice.

I can only imagine what people are thinking when they call and get a disconnect message. I am off to deal with that now.

Knitting and fiber pics later.

double the fun

2 socks in progress this morning. First up

a pair of plain socks for Husband to wear to work. While I have made him many socks with all manner of patterns and cables, this time he wanted plain ol plain ol. That is fine. I am using Dream In Color Smooshy in Jungle Cloud. I love the colors. They are subtle and downright beautiful next to each other. I will be trying more of this yarn.

Second up

STR Firebird. This is the yarn from the June club shipment. You know I love the colors. I have more pairs of socks that include these colors than I can count. I have followed the pattern that came with the kit for the leg but I am thinking I will do the foot plain. I am anxious to see how these colors knit up without patterning. So pretty!

The club pattern calls for cables. I did mine without a cable needle and they look great! Let me know if you want specifics.

A long orthodontist appointment today = lots of knitting time.

dead man's curve

You will not believe what happened yesterday. I got sunburned, in Seattle! I have a patch about 4 x 6 on my calf. I will spare you the pic. I was out on the deck knitting, wearing capris and wool socks. Don't laugh, this is totally acceptable in Seattle. That one little patch in between the two is now pink. It made me laugh when I realized what had happened.

Also, look what fell off my needles yesterday afternoon






I am not even sure how it happened, it was so fast.
All Things Heather, Bamboo, knit with #2 bamboo needles. This yarn began as a different sock with Knit Picks needles. No to both. Stick with the wood so you do not have to deal with the yarn's splity nature and this is a fine soft, satisfyingly squishy yarn.

Yesterday evening I was at Oldest Son's baseball practice. Coach was trying to collect paperwork and looked to be in eminent danger of pulling a groin, when I stepped in to help. He looked much more at ease out on the field. I was sitting on the bench, checking this and that when my phone rings. It is Oldest Daughter. She is concerned because there are 2 people drag racing up and down our side street. Our side street is 12 feet wide, so this is not an everyday occurrence. I told her to keep everyone inside and that it was certain the neighbors had called the police, just hang tight. We live in a neighborhood where we have been reported for having a toilet and tarp in the backyard during a construction project. Having this knowledge I knew that every neighbor on the street had speed-dialed in to request immediate Police action.

Later in the evening, the girls pointed out one of the cars that had been racing, it was turning onto our side street. I of course hot footed it outside to give the driver the stink eye. He pulled over to talk to me, acknowledged that what he had been doing was scaring the kids and apologized. I thanked him. Nicely even. Even welcomed him to the neighborhood. They are renting the house that is slated to become a 16 unit condo project. While I am not planning to bake cookies, I certainly hope we will be able to all get along. He is WAY old enough to know better.

Dear Husband,
I hope you are having a nice day at work.

The hammock has been returned to Costco, be sure to look for a credit on the AmEx bill. You will probably find it right under a charge for The Loopy Ewe. Would it help to know that one of the skeins is for you?
XO

let's get serious

Not only did I finish that sock yesterday, I knit a couple inches of its buddy. So this is how it is? This means that some serious knitting can get done around here. Specifically on the Faux Russian Stole. I had accepted that it would probably be the end of the year before it was done. Now? Now I do not see why it can not be done by the end of the summer. This is what it looks like today.

Check in tomorrow.

More knitting surprises? I learned how to knit backwards. It is SO COOL! The Airy Scarf has 23 stitches and it is getting long and becoming hard to deal with all that turning back and forth while sitting at the ball game. So I stopped turning and just went backwards. I feel so smart. That project lives in the car, I will pull it out for pictures tomorrow.

With any luck there will be one more knitting surprise today. The June kit from Rockin' Sock Club. I have looked at the spoilers and can not wait to see it in person!!!

who knew?

Look what I did in my spare time

Did you people know that it only takes a little more than a day to knit a sock? I was always under the impression that it was closer to a week per sock.

This changes everything.

this is going to take some getting used to

I guess what I am experiencing is called "spare time". Yes, I have heard it spoken of, but really I thought people were exaggerating.

Friday night we went to a friends, drank champagne and played cards until very late.

Saturday I gardened, er, pulled weeds. Something that has not been done around here in earnest since 2005.

This morning I lay in bed thinking about the day and I actually had a thought to do more weeding. Youngest Son came in and asked if I would make him Rye Bread. "Yes, I am happy to make Rye Bread." Took my mind right off that whole outside sweating thing. Once the bread was rising, then what? I usually fall asleep at night and wake up in the morning thinking about the most efficient way to get everything on the list done. While I am pretty good at it, it is all consuming. Earlier in the day you could actually find me standing in the living room wondering what to do. Very strange indeed.

So, I ironed shirts and took a walk and knit. Here I am blogging in the middle of the day! Yes Sir, it is going to take some getting used to.

good day sunshine

Too busy to blog this week. I had a big camp meeting this evening and I have been working like crazy to get ready. It went well.

We had planned to be camping this weekend, but Husband's job said, "this may not the best time". So we have pushed that back to the end of the month. We will still be out and about.

Friday is a picnic with Youngest Son and Daughter and their friends at. The link is not exciting. There is a train that runs around this funky old shopping place that my kids friends own and operate. It is next to a large open area with bunnies and chickens, they love it. There used to be a yarn shop, I hear they have closed. But I also see that there is a different yarn shop listed, maybe they just changed their name. I am all over it.

After the picnic is of course Girl Scouts. I have been invited to a friend's house to play cards. I am not sure if I will make it. Such a busy week.

Saturday is the Solstice Parade. Only the lilly-whitest of the tight assed republicans would miss this. -May have lost a few readers there, sorry.

Sunday is, of course, Father's Day. This is what is waiting in the garage. Except I think ours is orange. At least the bag is orange, I have not had time to take the thing out of the bag.

You will notice not a single picture of knitting. Nothing to report, it has been that kind of week.

cold as ice

Why would I spend the morning knitting this?




Because Toothy was cold!




The design juices have been flowing hard the past few weeks. I can not finish one project before I am grabbing the Moleskin to sketch out a new one. Feels GREAT!

Here I had planned to show you an item in progress. Just this evening I learned that if I am planning to submit to Knitty, which I am, then it could not have made an appearance on my blog. SO, pretend I am showing you something wonderful. Really, take my word for it.


All of my recent inspiration has come from the stash. This has been terrific for two reasons. One, because I am able to grab it and cast right on. Two, because it means that I really need to do some stash enhancement to keep those juices flowing. As you all know my stash is puny and may be suffering from a complex.


I have been reading ALL of the spinning books. So far my favorites are High Whorling by Priscilla Gibson-Roberts and Spin to Knit by Shannon Okey. The High Whorling is no longer available, but she has a newer one Spinning in the Old Way that sounds like the same book updated. In addition to those 2 books I have also ordered Hand Spindle Treasury. My library did not have a copy for me to preview, I am hoping all the good reviews are correct.

What are your favorite spinning books?

breath deep

I am feeling the love tonight. My last Service Unit meeting went great! Could not have asked for a better way to end things. Not only was the meeting highly effective, it was fun and relaxing. So many people let me know how much I will be missed. I even got going away presents!
A folding knitting bag,


a wild, bird house


and a gift card to the local yarn shop. I guess they know me. Friday is my exit interview and I am feeling good!

Here is sock progress.



The yarn is a tiny bit splitty. I hear that is to be expected with bamboo. When knitting each stitch it has a nice sheen, that sheen is totally lost when you look at the whole sock. I am not sure why this happens. The picture on the patten shows the yarn nicely variegated. I am getting stripes, bigger stripes,as I go along, so I suppose the pattern sock was made alternating 2, or more balls of yarn.

I was just thinking, as I poured another glass of wine,

that I would sleep in tomorrow. No, we have orthodontist appointments in the early afternoon. Husband wants to be at these, so I will need to drive to his office to pick him up. While I am down that I way I should stop into the Girl Scout office and take care of a few things. Maybe I can sleep in a little. Maybe he could take the car in? I will need to be awake enough when the alarm goes off to ask these questions.

flash the stash

So you want to see the stash? I am a bit embarrassed at its diminutive stature.

This



and this


are the extent of it.





From right to left:

The big balls on top are STR Sunstone and Fire On The Mountain.

Under them are 2 skeins of Lorna's Laces color Lucky Strike

The green and purple, er, lime and violet, is from rubyshapire yarn

STR G-Rocks

Claudia Carousel, 2 skeins

Under and beside Claudia are 4 skeins of Louet Gems, 2 blue, 2 green

Barely visible is STR Pink Granite

STR Knitty Rocks





This is the rest of the yarn for the Russian Stole.



Progress on the stole.




Progress also on the Airy Scarf. This is the doctor's waiting room and baseball game watching scarf. I took this pic a few days ago, it is already much longer. Even though it knits up very fast it may take forever to knit the 400 yards. STR Downpour.



The picture is right side up in my computer, but I can not figure out how to flip it for Blogger. Lean to the left.

Current Socks. Summ using All things Heather. This is the Loopy Ewe sock club that I traded with Tan for a no longer availbale Yarn Pirate.

It is downright electric.


Not what I was expecting, but coming along nicely.