Ok so here goes

I am going to give an up date on what has went on for the past few days. As I have been MIA longer than usual. Ok I on Christmas morning I got up at abotu 5am to make sure that the girls Christmas Presents were laid out and when I went back to bed Anastasia heard me and so she started saying "its Christmas, its Christmas" over and over getting louder and louder so she woke up my DH and Shae and we had to have Christmas Morning at 5:30 am . I did get to go back to bed because my DH stayed up with the girls and let the watch There new movie Cinderilla and SO I got to sleep until about 11:30 lucky me, That never happens in my house. I did get a lot of spinning doen over the weekend also. I spun 4oz of Saphire Merino in singles and I really like the way it turned out so I do not plan on plying it . I also went ona dying spree after I went Shopping on Monday. I picked up a copy of The Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook and I found that it is great even if you are not spinning for socks the dying section is wonderful for any type of spining project. I dyed about 4oz of Superwash Wool with Cool-aid in Lime, Grape, Pink Lemonade, & Strawberry. I then spun in thin in a fingering weight single and I achieved a Barber Pole effect that I think I will call it "Candy Cane" My Girls think that this is a good name.

Our Christmas Tree .

Here we are just after we decorated the tree, I don't like this picture of me though because itproves to me that I need to lose some weight. I like the way our tree turned out and my girls were able to help this year.

Here is another picture of Anastasia helping put the apples on the tree.

Spinning on the brain

As you can see from these pictures my wheel has arrived and I have been going crazy spinning the fiber that I bought on monday. The Purple one is called Jamica and is Merino/Angora and the Green is a 100% Merino Called sage. I love the way they turned out but I think I like spinning the pure Merino better than the Angora blend, I spins easier. I also recieved 1/2 pound of Gray Icelandic wool with my wheel and I have spun about 4 oz. of it trying out different novelty techniques.. I am calling the one below "Anastasia's Candy" because My Daughter Anastasia Helped with the addition of the colored bits of merino that I dyed over the weekend. I think that I am going to keep it as a single because I spun it thick. The one that is still on the spindle on the right is the Gray Icelandic spun with a nylon filament that is multi-colored. I like that way it spun up but it was hard to keep the nylon from being the main fiber and I wanted more wool than nylon, It is about 2oz. woll to 1/8 oz. nylon.

Contest update

Question of the Day ! I really need to learn about the process of Dying wool. I also know that there are other people out there that would like to know the same things. so todays hunt is for the best site to find free information about the process of dying wool. Please provide the link in your comment for all of us to check out. PS. If you have left a comment to any of my questions please email me which prize that you would like to recieve and your correct email address so that I will know how to contact you if you win the posting contest. my email is knitknat1021@yahoo.com A list of prizes is as follows:

1. Striped Scarf Kit with enough yarn to complete 2 short scarves or one extra long scarf
2. A felted Mini Bag kit
3. Simple Chic Book

Good luck . Have a Happy Holidays

My Weekend in Review

I went a little fiber crazy over the weekend and I dyed what natural fiber I had at hand. It is in the lower left corner of the picture. In the bottom right corner is an ounce of nylon fiber in fircracker and I plan on blending it with the merino fiber that is right above it the green multi color. Conter clockwise form the green multi is a Merino/Angora Blend color Jamaca and it has alot of bright colors with jewel tones mixed in. The brown in the green paper is a Yak fiber that I have to de-hair before I can spin it. The Red fiber on the upper left side is a 100% wool with small felted bits added in and I think I am going to spin it chunky so that these will not fly out as I spin it. I spun up about an ounce of it back in october and I learned the hard way that if the roving has thoes little felted pieces that If you spin it too thin they will fly out like little bullets. My Wheel should be in tomorrow or thursday and I am so excited I really cannot wait to get spinning. This weekend we put up our Christmas tree and I have pictures but they are on my camera's internal memory and I left the cord at home so I will post them tomorrow. I also finished this quarter of school on Saturday and I do not start back until January 9th. I so needed a break. . I have been busy on the knitting front. I knitted 3 Mini Pullovers based on the pattern from my Knitting Pattern-a-day '06 Calendar. They were very easy to knit and quick but sewing them up takes longer than knitting them. I knitted then on #6 dpns and I like that they turned out bigger and I found some small bears that they fit on perfectly. I really wanted to have them ready for a little extra gift for my nieces and nephews. I have 3 nieces and 3 nephews, and I have only knitted 3 sweaters. I have a lot of work to do before friday I have to have 2 for each by then as that is when we meet with the ILs. we meet with my family on Christmas day at 7pm so I do not too much of a rush on the others. I took a few pictures of my oldest on Sunday afternoon in her Christmas Dress and I like this one best.

My Wheel

My Spinning wheel is on its way to me and I should have it by tuesday or wednesday at the latest. I purchased mine from www.coppermoose.com and I cannot wait to get it here. I am getting a Louet S17 which is an unfinished weel and I have to put it together but I think the savings of $230 is worth the work. I really cannot wait. I was bidding on one on ebay today and I lost it by $0.02 in the last 2 seconds of the auction. I was really upset until I went to the Copper Moose site and I saw that I could get a S-17 wheel with 1lb of wool for only $15.00 more than the winning bid on the auction one. I am so excited I will be stalking the UPS man until it gets here. I can't wait to get started on the luxury fiber I recieved from my secret pal. I also have about 1.5 lbs of fiber left form the last time I made a purchase so I will have enought to keep me busy for a few days. Ok so here is the question for the day. This is for all the spinners or want to be spinners out there. Where is the best place to find spinning fiber? Please post a link and let us all know where to look for the best fiber the web has to offer.

SP6 THANK YOU

I really had a wonderful time with this round of the SP6. I had a wonderful spoiler. in my last package I recieved a Luxury Fiber Sampler Pack with Baby Suri Alpaca, Baby Camel, Cashmer, Angora, Yak, Merino/mulberry silk blend, 100% Merino, and one more that I cannot remember at the monement as I left it at my house so that I can play with it when I get home, and I also left the card so all I remember about my spoiler is that she is from San Fransisco. I will post her name tomorrow. I really had a fit when I saw it I can't wait util I get my spinning wheel because I would rather spin on a wheel than a drop spindle. Thank you again. I love it . Edited to add that my SP6 pal was Alix from http://tersacrafts.livejournal.com

New Camera and much more

Ok so I was go over the weekend down to south Florida and 80 degree temps. So what did I have to do but I had to find a Knitting shop. I visited Knitting with Nancy in Naples, FL and I had to buy something, as any good knitter cannot enter a yarn shop and not make a purchase. So I picked up a ball of Crystal Palace Ribbon yarn and a ball of Taki Stacy Charles Cottn and another yarn that I lost the lable for but it is a 50/50 cotton rayon blend. All of them are in pinks and oranges with little lavender mixed in for good measure. I ended up knitting a scarf out of it on the way home and I just love the way it turned out. So here is the pattern for this scarf. Needles: US #13 (9mm) Circular Yarn: Six different types in different gauges and textures. I used a wide ribbon, a cotton, a handspun, a feather, a rayon, and a narrow ribbon. With first yarn cast on 150 stitches then cut yarn leaving a 4 inch tail. Row 1: Pick up next yarn and leave a 4 inch tail, knit across. Cut Yarn leaving a 4 inch tail. Repeat first row with each additional yarn following this color pattern Y1 CO y2 k y3 k y4 k y5 k y6 k y1 k y2 k y3 k y4 k y5 k y6 k y1 BO This pattern can be made a more random stripe by putting all balls of yarn in a paper bag and picking them out one at a time to create a striped scarf and no 2 will ever be alike. I really like making scarves this way as they make it a fun expirence.

Yipee

I am leaving today to go to South Florida and I got some good news I am going to ge tto purchase a Spinning Wheel, and a new Digital Camera, I sold my PRO Camera on ebay and I made enough money to get both. I am so excited, thank you all for post answers to my first question. I think I might start a booga bag on my drive to South Florida. By the Way the drive time to where we are going to 11 hours so I will have plenty of knitting time. Because I will be out of town this weekend I am going to post this weekends question today. Tell us the name of a blog that you read as often as you can? Please include the link for this blog so that we all can check it out.

Contest

I got the idea to have a contest from all the other knitting blogs out there so here goes. I will post a question once every 2 days until January 1st and than I will draw a name from all the comments over all the post and see who gets one of three knitting items.

1. Striped Scarf Kit with enough yarn to complete 2 short scarves or one extra long scarf
2. A felted Mini Bag kit
3. Simple Chic Book

Todays Question is a Scavenger Hunt of sorts.

What is your favorite FREE Felted pattern? Please post your answer and the link to the site. So that everyone can check it out. Good luck and I look forward to your links.

A Very Eventful Weekend

And that is to say the least. I started feel horrible on Friday night and by Saturday Morning I had the full blown Flu. Fever, Aches, chills, sneezing ... You get the picture. Well I stayed in bed Sat, Sun, Mon. and I had to get out today because I do not have anyone to run my shop. We also got a new pet this weekend. A Guinea Pig. This was upposed to be a Christmas Present but the Lady that I was getting him from had to bring him this weekend so they got him early. They ended up naming him Chester. He is Gray with white on his head and he is only 10 weeks old and he is so cute. As you can see by the picture that are loving him. He will be spoiled rotten by the weeks end. I did not get much knitting done being as sick as I was. I started Wavy form Knitty last night. I reall have to get on the ball. I have so much to do and so little time. My FIL's bithday is next tuesday and I have to have him a present knitted by them I am thinking about giving him the Camo Scarf that I knitted last month, He is a hunter so I think that this would work nicely. I still only have half of the second sock completed but I hope that I can get a few inches done on it this evening. My husband had to go out of town today, he is hauling campers for FEMA again and so he and his company are taking 5 out to LA this afternoon. We are still going to FL this weekend, we will be leaving on Friday to Chockoloskie Island and I am looking forward to it. I have to get back to school work now. Here is a picture that I am working on for the class.

My Wonderful Bag

My Felted Bag Secret Pal Is wonderful Here is a picture of the tote bag that she made for me. I have been knitting and I have also created a sock pattern for worsted weight yarn and I hope to have it loaded in the next few days. I hope that you all have a wonderful weekend, and My trip to FL has been put off until next weekend. So I guess I will have to get some knitting done at home.