July 2011 Blog Posts (20)

I am new to Hairpin Lace.  I inherited a hairpin lace tool, bought a book on how to use it and found holding the tool to be somewhat cumbersome.   Also, when I released the lace when the 11 inch tool was full, I found that the lace got in my way and it kept twisting around and around and losing its shape.  Just as I was about to give up on the whole idea of doing hairpin lace, I though there had to be a better way.

Since I am married to a retired engineer and I can be…

Hi everyone! Hope your week is going well. Mine has been a busy one. Running here and there in my life in progress. Nothing to terribly exciting but the necessary life stuff. So we'll skip to the more fun stuff.

First congrats to everyone for completing their TdF goals. If you didn't complete your goals congrats on great spinning anyway. The pics on the Team KP were awesome!!

In the spirit…

New DDIL, Alexa, and I got to visit Crafts Americana's office in Vancouver. Crafts Americana is home to Knit Picks and Connecting Threads and host to the Knitting Community and Quilt With Us. In the photo above are (from left) Jenny, Kerin, Alisha, me, Alexa and Alison.



Alison met us in the lobby and gave us the grand tour of the company. The ground floor entrance area was manned by the great people of…

It's 106 degrees in Newark NJ... this is Simon on the fire escape panting.  I'm poor I don't own an AC. And I like to imagine that it makes me loose weight to sweat so much.  Don't worry I have a fan for Dino, he told me the other day, "Oh mommy, I'm sweating so much!"

I have been so…

Ever have a hard time writing that first sentence in you blog post? I do sometimes. Especially since I am trying to be more regular with my blogging again. Well now that I have shared that random thought and got a few sentences out the way. Lets talk.

This week has been all about the spinning and a little dyeing. It amazes how many yards, pounds even of fiber that as been spun and plied on this TdF. I so wish I was able to spin as much. These are not only spinning wheel spinners but…

Hi All,

I am doing the Cub Scout Resident Camp thing again this summer, so my knitting has been put on the back burner for the most part.  I am on a two week break, however, and after all my laundry, cleaning, and yardwork, I do plan to get my fingers busy!  Sadly, however, I forgot my main knitting project, a lace shawl I'm working on for my aunt's 80th birthday, in my camping trailer at camp.  I may be able to retrieve it next week, though, and make some progress before I go back…

After a little soul searching I've managed to fall back in love with knitting the Simplicity Cardigan by Mary Annarella. I'm working with KP's Shadow Lace yarn in the Vineyard Heather colorway.

This project for me in one of those dive in projects. With this project; it's the first time I've really knit with lace weight yarn and…

Today you will get to read more about our vacation in Oregon, including the quilt show at Sisters on July 9th.

This was my favorite, but there were a number of quilts that were close to beating this one out! On top of that, some of the ladies from…

Serenity finally had her Maiden Voyage last week. We went to Silver City, New Mexico, about a two-hour drive away, and stayed at the KOA there for our home base. We wanted to see the Gila Cliff Dwellings:

(That's DH walking away in the middle of the photo), and hike the Catwalk National Scenic Trail (I…

During most of this summer, I have had the knitting attention span of a washcloth.  I have turned out many in the odd spaces of time here and there--waiting fot the computer to restart, swimming lessons,  while watching a movie, etc.  For many weeks, I had put myself on a knitting hiatus.  I have recently emerged craving socks.  I have all sorts of sock patterns and even some yarn put away specifically for them.  I have a pair on needles that are not far from completion--if you ignore the…

A while back over in the SAL, Nuttyknitter provided a link to Namaste Farms video of Tail Spinning.  I became very interested.  So I started looking at my stash… I had almost an ounce of Wensleydale locks, but I didn’t think it was quite enough to make any yarn. 

Yesterday at our guild meeting, our guild leader Marlene brought me a gift of a one pound bag of Lincoln Locks.  Not Wensleydale, but I think I can do it.

This is after I sorted the fiber and locks to get…

It is still Le Tour de Fleece time but in an effort to keep posting more and playing catch up. I thought this time I would share my FO of socks. Its been a while since I've done a sock parade race. So on your mark, get set,go!!!

First place FO race winner! This stripy little sock number from KP tilt-a-whirl kit. Knit with my KP Nickle plated…

Has it really been three months since my last blog post?! Jeez talk about falling behind. Goodness I've missed hanging around here. I so need to catch up in SAL, and few other KAL. Not to mention my slow moving CLiC. LOL! OK so this is what I'll do. I"ll show you quick ( this is a spontaneous post ) what I've been up to this week and then slowly fill you in on what's been on or off my needles the last three months. My lip ( life in progress), spinning ect.... Lets try this shorter more often…

This weekend to celebrate our nation's Independence Day I completed my move into my Craft Studio.  I now have all of my yarn, canvases, fabric, scrapbooking, trim, notions, tool,......etc. In one room!  My DH helped by hanging the window shade, which is already helping it stay cooler in the afternoon/evening hours, but still lets plenty of sunlight through.  I have yet to move my cream colored recliner, but that will happen this week. I took some photos of the room before my son began moving…

This is my first year participating in the Tour De Fleece festivities. First I made some goals.

I will dye my own fiber this year. (I have never dyed before)

I will spin up my home dyed fiber

I will work with wools I haven't spun before

I will improve my long draw

I will experiment with diffierent plying methods

I will have fun

First I had to pick which fibers I would dye and how I…

Here's the happy couple:

It was a beautiful day, it didn't rain in Western Oregon, and everything came off without a…