Craft Fair!!

Yay!! We're back into craft fair mode! Last weekend My sister and I did the "Christmas in November" Fair in Windsor, Colorado. I sold some hats and a couple of sweaters, and generally we did pretty well. I'm in the process of filling a custom hat order that resulted from that fair. WooHoo! Baby, we're back!

Introducing...Spud

Finally finished! And to celebrate, we had a little punch in party cups. (He's a sheep, just in case it's hard to tell.) I hope all those dred locks aren't too hot...he'll be going to Houston in the summer to meet a baby. Spud is all acrylic, non-allergenic, and machine washable and dryable. he could even spend the night in the freezer to kill dust mites, if necessary.

Stuff from the last month or two

Soooo...yes, I have been doing a little knitting, spinning, and felting. First up, a teddy bear for my grandson.
And some spinning on my tibetan spindle. I love this spindle! Sadly, the artisan passed away this past winter. No more of these to be made.
And I knitted and felted a little gray mushroom hat. She's warm and toasty, and will be in my Etsy shop this fall, hopefully along with a few other hats.
This beauty is a Rose supported spindle, made by Lisa, of Gripping Yarn. It's heavy and big but spins great! It's got a bit of wenselydale wool on it at the moment.

Spud Project

See that cute little sheep? He's driving me crazy. His name is Spud, and he has hundreds of little twisted, hand-knit dredlocks on his pudge. I started him a month or more ago and I am almost finished with his frustrating, time-consuming little behind. Still to go is his head, legs, ears, and tail.

As hard as it is to stay with this project, I think it will turn out to be a great baby toy. I'm planning to make his friend, Chloe, too. I think she might prove to be a faster moving project...at least I'm hoping so.

Ranch, Knit, Dog

So I'm full time now at the ranch. There are only two guys in my house, but there is a third that could possibly move in. This guy is not retarded (he had a traumatic head injury) as the other two are, and he doesn't want to admit that he is disabled. Consequently, he is nasty and short tempered nearly all the time. according to his parents, he was kind of a bad guy before his accident, and now he is much less of that. Wow. I can't imagine. So, I'm not really looking forward to him moving into the house I work in. I'm hoping that someone else will come onto the ranch, if that is to be an all-guys house.

In other news, I've just about finished my first ever super-chunky sweater project. It's done in Lion Brand Hometown USA yarn on size 17 knitting needles...giant ones! It's gone realy fast, though, and I'm at the stage where I have to sew the pieces together, then do some finishing work. Yeay! I should have a new sweater by this afternoon!

The more I get to know Porter, the more I think he was abused by someone. He has begun barking at people when they come to the house, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but the other day, when the maintenance man, Larry, came to check the fire extinguishers at the ranch house, Porter had a little problem. When Larry picked up a fire extinguisher in both hands, and came walking over to where we were, Porter came unglued. When Larry backed off and put the fire extinguisher down by his side, it was ok, but Porter still kept his eye on Larry and did a few little "grr woof" grumblings under his breath. So I'm not sure what's going on there, but I think something bad happened to Mr. P. in the past. I'm going to continue to do some detective work and figure out what sets him off, at least.

Lion Brand's Knitted Menagerie

You've heard of "The Glass Menagerie", right? Well...


Lion Brand made a wonderful display of large knitted and crocheted animals at the Craft and Hobby Association convention in Anaheim, California last week. Pictures of some of them can be seen here. They even had knitted plants!

I can't imagine the amount of work that went into this project, but I love the results, especially the peacock.

a bunch of random late night stuff

1. I'm still working on the knitted roving bag. I think it will felt very nicely, since it seems to be felting right here in my hands.

2. Still spinning Waltzing Matilda. Gads, lambkins can be spun for frickin' EVER and still have a pile of roving left in the bag.

3. Still spinning on Rough Cut Diamonds...less than 2 ounces of the original 6 to go. Hoping for enough to make some nice long socks.

4. Still spinning on ArtemisArtemis Ginger and Plum...kinda held up while waiting for my new Butterfly Girl spindle to come. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. WHERE IS IT??? I've got the mailman traps baited and set out, but haven't caught anything yet.

5. Have 8 ounces of beautifully rustic rambouillet roving from Fat Cat Knits to spin up into stockings, if I ever get finished with what I've got on the spindles already.

6. Celeste has a beautiful cushy new bed and where does she sleep whenever possible? (Hint: NOT in her own bed.)

7. No Bubys or Butsys in my classes this month. Only 7 Luises, 5 Maricruzes, 4 Jorges, a whopping 15 Joses, but just 1 Miguel. After calling on Jose 1, Jose 2, Jose 3,4,5, and 6, I'd give my eye teeth for just one Livinton or Wasinton. I'd even settle for a Dooby or a Dohboy, just to break up the monotony. (They're one's in someone else's class. Such a pity.)

Just quickly...

Damn this day job! It interferes so much with my REAL life, my fiber life. Between a correspondence course on line, a presentation and class observation with another instructor, getting evaluated, and a full day of teaching, I'm not getting the proper quality time with my projects. Knitting with the mermaid blue/green/purple roving has become so addicting; just watching those gorgeous colors slip through my finger is mesmerizing. It's been quite an interesting experiment so far. I'm not advancing as fast as I'd like, partially due to a little vegetable matter (VM) that's cropping up as I split the roving and draft it out to the thickness that I want for knitting. And partially due to the fact that I spend a lot of time just staring at the colors and imagining that I'm in a clean, clear river in the mountains.

Septimus Heap is over for now. Wah. It was a fast and fun read, but now I have to wait to get the next volume until I go visiting Barnes & Noble when I go home next month. The SH series is a result of the Harry Potter craze, but these books are a little more gentle and less violent. Not that there's a lack of danger and adventure - there is plenty - but it's handled in a way that's more suited for a younger reader. So it focuses a little more on the fun aspect of the magical imagination than Harry Potter does. Things also take place outside of the walls of the castle, in the forest, in the Marsh, in the Badlands, and in the Ramblings, and things seem a little more verdant and fresh, and not so dark. Plus the characters are kind of different. The story is a little less sophisticated than Harry Potter, and so are the characters. I definitely recommend The Septimus Heap series if you want a fun, quick read! The good thing is that there doesn't seem to be an end to the series looming on the horizon.

And, speaking of going home, I really cannot wait to go! It's been 2 years since I've had a vacation, and I'm ready. It's been 2 years since I've spent much time at all out of the smog and car exhaust. I need a few lungfuls of clean country air, even if it's flavored with eau d' dairy cow, goat, or alpaca. Plus, I need some clothes. My work clothes are getting worn out and I seem to be too big to be able to find affordable clothing and footwear here. My tennis shoes have several holes in them now and the soles are so smooth that I get no traction at all with them.

*Sigh* It's time to get ready for work again. See you later.

a little progress

I've never been able to stick to just one project at a time. I've been playing with the rovings bag, knitting little here and a little there. I've also been spinning on two sets of batts, and I've got a crochet project in the works, too. Project ho, here. And, I've been reading. I'm in the middle of the second volume of the Septimus Heap series, Flyte. I know, it's a kid's book, but it's also a LOT of fun. And I like fun with no strings attached. A kid's book - just what I need for these gray, damp and fungusy, dreary winter days!

So here are some photos of the experiment of knitting with roving, so far (and a little peek at Flyte.) I like it, but I need to devote a little more time to it. This is how it's going so far:

The mermaid roving.

knitting with roving

Well, today's my last day of the Independence holiday. As usual, I've been drop-kicked by a bug too small to see. A head cold. Luckily, today is the first day in a week that I've felt half-decent. I've had WAAAY to much caffeine and have too much energy for my own good. I've had a ton of projects bouncing around in my head, but so far, all I've managed to do is get groceries, get some laundry washing, and take the latest spinning project down from the drying rack and bag it up.

So I have some really gorgeous wool roving - mermaidy colors in blues and greens and purples - that I've been working with. There's a LOT of it and I'm kind of spun out on it for the time being. And I've been, of course, reading a lot on Ravelry and getting a hankering to felt something. I want to make a bag with this roving, but I'm so sick of spinning it that I've decided to go with just knitting the roving. I've pulled some down to pencil roving size, more or less, and begun to knit it on US size 11 straight needles. They're the biggest needles I've got for now. It's going surprizingly well! I had some misgivings about it at first, envisioning the roving falling apart, but this fiber still has a little sheep grease in it, I think, and it's kind of sticky. That makes it a little hard to spin, but it's making it fabulous to knit with! So far, no falling apart, and when I was pulling it into smaller sections, if it broke, I just rolled it between my hands a couple of times and PRESTO! it's whole roving again!

The only drawback to this whole process is that there's no hot water plumbed into the laundry room. I'll have to heat water in the teapot to carry to the washer for my felting process. Plus the fact that every time I pull it into pencil roving, I want to grab a spindle! This fiber is just beautiful! I'll have pictures of this experiment later. Right now, I've gotta get my overly-caffinated brain back down to the ground!

Attention deficit

Poor Celeste. These days have been extra hard for her, because it's finals week at work. I have exams to prepare for and exams to administer, then grade. Not too much time for playing, not too much time for long walks or sleeping on THE BED. And, I have been working on the Garden of Alla shawl (in hand-painted alpaca) and spinning some superwash merino, too, so Poor Celeste has been suffering from an extreme deficit of attention from me. Today, while I was grading exams, she let me know how much of a deficit there was. Whenever I reached for an exam, she bumped my arm with her nose. While I was marking the exam, she paced in circles, and then rested her head on my knee.

After finishing the exam grading, I picked up my spindle to ply the merino, and she paced in circles around the spindle. She reached out and grabbed the spindle just long enough to stop it from spinning. Hmmm. She didn't want to go outside, just be the center of attention for the afternoon. I can't afford to give her all my attention till I'm finished with these exams.

Hold on, Celeste! On Friday, I'll be all yours to go walking with, to play with, and to just give you all my undivided attention!

June's socks

Click on the pictures to enlarge them.

Pixie pick-up stix in action! They work pretty well, but I suspect that these are not the genuine PPS, because the finish on a few of them is terrible. I need to take the sand paper to them for a snag-free knitting experience.

Socks and the Peace Corps

On Monday, I have an appointment with the Peace Corps. No, I'm not joining, but they are in need of people to help with their training program. They need to practice evaluating people who are coming to work with varyinig degrees of fluency in Spanish. My fluency in Spanish definitely varies from subject to subject. I can talk about the house, the market, and work with fair proficiency, but I have absolutely no technical vocabulary at all. So, I'll give themm someone to practice evaluating and they'll tell me what my Spanish fluency level is. I think it's a fair trade, and it should be interesting and fun.

I've been spinning and knitting up a storm this week. Remember this?



Well, I'm in the process of turning it into socks for my dad's girl, June. June thinks her feet are ugly, so she refuses to wear anything except some big clunky tennis shoes, which realy ARE ugly. I'm hoping that with some colorful socks, Junie will wear some sandals or something nicer. Anyway, another pair of handspun, handknit, sparkly merino socks never hurt anyone.

And I've been spinning up "Cabaret" for socks, too. I'm hoping for knee socks. Sparkly, dazzling, jewel-toned knee socks. I'm in the process of plying about 3.5 ounces of it now. Two and a half ounces are still left to spin. I think I'll have enough! :o)

What I've been doing...

These are fingerless mittens made from handspun superwash merino and a few multicolored seed beads. Fun!

This is one of the crocheted skirts I made while I was waiting for the pain to subside. Drawstring waist, worsted weight yarn, size medium. I like it! I've already worn it to work, and it's nice, but it's still a little too hot here for me to wear it again till fall.


These are some shots of the crocheted lace I made from the teal romney. I don't know if you can see the crystal beads in the photos, but in the sun they catch the light and sparkle like raindrops.

Here's Celeste, patiently waiting for me to get out of bed.

Celeste here again

Hi people. The Mom can't write for a few days again. She went to the vet's (just like I did once!) and had a droid operated. I can't write for too long, either, becauz I hafta follow her around the partment to make sure she's okay. She's sittin in the bathroom right now in a orange tub and kinda cryin so I can type a little. I can see her right now, so it's ok. But when she goes back to bed or into the kitchen I hafta go, ok?

But guess what - she finally finished the romney shawl with the sparklies in it. She showed it to me last night. She sez it has to be blocked, but I think she'll do that later. She started a new project while she was at the vet's - a skirt - but she can't try it on yet.

She was gone a long time! 5 days! I hadta take care of the partment and The Dad went to work and to see the Mom at the vet's. Wow, I'm glad I didn't hafta stay there that long when I was operated. I missed The Mom while she was gone, but I hate the vet's, so I'm glad I didn't hafta go, too. I don't want no droids. I'm glad she's back now becauz I get to spend the WHOLE DAY with her on the bed. She's not so muh fun as usual, but I know she'll get better quick.

Oops, I hafta go watch and make sure The Mom gets to the bed ok. Then I hafta get on the bed and watch her. Bye.

Well!

Well, yes...I've been busy, and have several photos to show you, but unfortunately not in this post. O has lent out the cable that connects the camera to the puter, so I haven't been able to download photos for about a week and a half. Grrrr....

But anyway, I have almost finished the lace stole that I've been working on. Teal Romney lace weight yarn with gold glitz spun in and crystal clear seed beads scattered randomly across the piece...sounds nice, doesn't it? Well, I love it, but you know...those photos will have to wait till I can get them on the computer. Maybe by the time the stole in finished, the camera cable will have returned.

And...I've finished up a pair of fingerless gloves made from handspun superwash merino. Shades of blue and purple with seed beads at the upper edges. Those sound pretty, too, don't they? Yes! They are, but you know the story...no cable to download pictures with.

And...I received several batts and rovings to spin up - all in a rainbow of gorgeously rich colors...but...not a cable in sight to download those photos. Wah. And a pair of new lace weight spindles came from Heidi in Colorado, but nope - no photos of them either. Phooey.

And, I have a few photos of Celeste with her "I hate cameras" face.

Several of my students come to class badly in need of a shower. I know it's hot, but when someone arrives to the 7 am class smelling like they've not bathed since last Sunday night (today's Friday), it just about waters my eyes when the student approaches my desk. I have a hard time telling students "Hey buddy, you're a little over ripe. Why not treat yourself to a shower before you go to bed tonight?" Not only would he (or she) not understand, but maybe they don't have access to water on a daily basis. Some people here only have water at certain times of the day, and some have to haul water from the truck that comes once a day. So I feel really bad about telling someone here that they need a shower.

But - today a student came to talk to me and I swear, he must not have washed for a very long time. The body odor was overpowering. How do you tell someone in a nice way that they really reek and need to scrub off a little bit? I have noticed that several student take their daily bath in the institute sink, where there is clean water and soap always available. I know they do this because they walk out of the bathroom soaking wet from hair to shirt to shoes. In the heat it doesn't take long to dry. I know these students are more comfortable, so I wonder why more of them don't take advantage of the availability of water and soap?

Some Beginnings and Some Endings

Okay. Now that the laceweight romney has been spun, I have started to wind it into center pull balls so I can cast on the Seascape stole. I have 810 yards and still have about an ounce and a half left of unspun batts...which is okay since I ran out of fiber to finish Tai's garden socks and need a coordinating yarn for the toes.

Anyway, I am so tempted to go on a discourse about my first real lace weight yarn, but just let it be known that I am completely THRILLED with it! I'll be casting the stole on today.

I'm still spinning the Earth Tweed from Maggie's farm. I think I have about 250 yards of singles, and have begun a second spindle. It's not laceweight - more like fingering weight, I think, but I probably won't know until I get it plied. I've been revising my ideas about what to make with this yarn, once it's finished, and I'm leaning towards a lacy, long-sleeved shrug. For this shrug, I'll need 750 yards.

O and I had quite a discussion this weekend. I'm pretty done with people telling me every time I step out of the apartment that I'm going to get robbed because I'm a gringa. I'm sick of constantly looking over my shoulder and clutching my purse to me like a hunted animal. Everyone talks to me like I'm a robbery just waiting to happen. No, I don't want anything to happen, of course not. I don't want to get robbed, but I also want to move about the city with confidence and freedom from fear. O admitted that as long as we live here freedom and confidence are probably not going to happen. Robbery most likely will. You know, I can take the heat, the bugs, the dirt, the stinking toilets, and slum-like conditions of almost the whole city. I could live with that. But I will not live with the constant threat of being attacked and robbed. I work in one of the most dangerous areas in Lima, specifically Jiron Cuzco, where the institute I work in is located. Thank God I don't live there. O has been mugged and beaten several times since coming to Lima. Last time he was pistol-whipped for his cell phone and 5 soles (about $1.75). Most people who live here have been robbed or subjected to violence in some way. They have become accustomed to it and accept it as fate. I'm sorry, I can't do that.

So, we have decided that I have one more year here and then my Peruvian adventure will come to a close. The good part is that O's Amazing American Adventure will begin! He has about that much more time in university classes to complete and then he'll be ready. That decision lifted a huge weight off my shoulders and, unfortunately, planted the weight on O. He spent the rest of the day researching the US and finding all kinds of terrifying info about tornadoes, snowstorms, floods, and forest fires. I kind of added to it when I said that there were all kinds of wild animals that lived not that far from our house in Cheyenne. Saturday night, he dreamed about moving to Cheyenne, and Sunday we talked some more. He looked stressed all weekend, but this morning, I think he's better.

So, next year, I should be returning to my little "House of Rogue Tufts" in Cheyenne, where the wind always blows and the grass grows long and the antelope live just a few blocks away...along with the rabbits, raccoons, skunks, coyotes, bison, and deer. And of course, the cattle. It is cattle country, after all.

Set in motion

I have started a crocheted jacket called "Sambuca Jacket", pattern by Doris Chan. I have her book, Amazing Crocheted Lace, and it's in this book. This one will be the practice project to make sure I know what I'm doing, then I'll choose another yarn to make the "good" project from. The photo shown is not mine...mine is only partially done. I still have most of the body and the sleeves to do. But it's a top-down pattern, so I can try it on as I go. I hope there's not a lot of ripping out to be done.

And I've finally spun just over 600 yards of the teal romney, and am ready to cast on for my lace stole. After searching through the patterns, I have finally settled on SeaScape, the designer's photo is pictured below:

I plan to add crystal seed beads to it and am marking the chart to be sure I know what I'm doing. And, arrgh! I re-read the pattern as I was placing bead markers and, apparently, I need about 100 yards more of the laceweight, so I'll be continuing to spin while I'm still off work this week. Not quite as ready as I thought I was.

I wonder if this is a good way to start the new year...loading myself up with projects. At least I'll be busy!

A few pics

Well, I've had a long, dry, uninspired spell. Actually, I'm still spinning on the teal Romney fiber, and am working on the 3rd 100 yard skein of lace weight. I like it, and it's not boring, but it's taking a loooong time, especially since I'm working 6 days a week and some odd hours.

It's coming up on Christmas, and I have some traditional Peruvian Christmas ornaments and a little nativity scene. Last year, I showed you my nativity scene, so this year, I'll show you my little New Year's house:




I'm not totally up on the significance of the house and all it's details, but it seems to be a very popular thing for Christmas.

I also have my Madonna and Child, in a traditional ceramic form:


Again, I'm not up on the significance of the form (maybe the Black Madonna?), but I liked her, so I brought her home.

Coming this weekend - more Romney spinning, hopefully some photos from the local artisan market, and some finished projects.

What's the Haps?

WOOOT!!! Look what came in the mail the other day:



This is the only Nicky Epstein book that I have, and it's a beauty! I didn't realize that it was a hardback until it arived and, at first, I thought "Great - a coffee table book," with some disappointment. But after cracking the cover open, I realized that I was wrong.

Wow. The patterns are great. The pictures are great. The inspiration is non-stop. It's true that there are patterns in this book that I'll probably never make, at least in the form that they are presented, but what great ideas!

And I have been spinning some lace weight singles.



I plan to use them in a shawl. Originally I was spinning for the Mystery Stole #4, but decided against it. I'm not up to spinning 1100 yards of laceweight all in the same year, but I do think I can pull off 600 yards. I've done about 100 yards so far in this teal romney and silk, with another spindle filled with about 150 yards. I've started on the second spindle today, but only have about 25 yards on it so far.

So the shawl that I'm spinning for now is the Garden of Alla shawl. I haven't decided if I will edge it in a contrasting color or not, but I've got 12 more batts worth of time to think about it before I have to make a decision. I don't really like the edging on the shawl shown in the pattern.

I'm thinking about beading it with clear crystal beads, too. They're supposed to look like raindrops on the yarn.

I'm still spinning on the Bundaflicka tweed that I was going to use for the Mystery Stole, but I'm re-thinking the project for it.