#19 and #20

#19
I love these mittens. I think I'm going to enter them in the fair on Monday.
Staghorn Mittens made from Elann Peruvian Sierra Aran in Atlantic Mist. I bought two balls to test the yarn and color. It's a winner. Full bodied, easy to knit, it's holding up well, and I love that the blue gray color is made entirely of purple and green fibers.

I had a cabled sweater in mind when I bought this yarn but I would love the chance to get a whole bunch of colors. So maybe a color work sweater instead, or also.

#20
A little knit from my basket. It only needed finishing and tons and tons of button sewed on.
Presto Chango knitted from Lion Cotton. The buttons are from the $1 button rack. I knit this sweater for the cost of just the buttons on most of my sweaters. It shows.

But it's still cute. The yarn will probably get pilly with washing but it will never wear out even after tons of trips through a hot dryer. I had thought to knit a whole bunch of the bibs fronts for easy changing and to make this a really cool gift but I don't know if I can stand the thought.

I went through a lot of work to knit this completely seamless. I think bulk yarns seamed on tiny little sweater are not a good idea. It was good practice for my mind and I now rock the Kitchener Stitch but I recommend following the pattern and seaming it. It was much more work than I was expecting.

#18

Project #18
Lucky 7 Hat made from handspun yarn, but not my handspun. I bought it from a friend's booth at a craft fair. It's dyed with walnuts and is just the right color to go with some black merino I have.
The zinnias are looking healthy. Sometimes they are not, it all depends on how often it rains since I don't think to water them like I should. They aren't as tough as my herbs. Or maybe they are tougher since every time I think they are 100% dead they pop back with one watering and bloom again. I think next year I'll grow big ones.

Jonsen

Today I went to my LYS for the book club. They had brought in Sally Goldenbaum to talk about her book Death By Cashmere. It was a nice talk. I came in late and got a seat in the back and the AC hum drowned out some of the good bits. I had my knitting and they provided chocolate so I was happy. Now I'll just have to read the book to find out what I missed.

After the talk I looked around the shop. Yes, I am there every Tuesday morning but at those times I make a point of not looking around the shop. So, I looked around the shop and noticed several new bamboo yarns. Now add that to the old bamboo yarns, along with the hemp and linen yarns I have always lusted after I have come to the conclusion that I am very likely buying something at the sale next weekend.

I am well past my 6 month goal of not buying yarn. Or was it a 3 month goal? it's so long ago I can't remember what I was planning when I set the ticker. However, I am so far past it that setting it to a 12 month goal looks like a good idea. It doesn't feel like a good idea. It feels like I need new yarn and I need it now.

So can I hit my goal of half my stash in the next 7 days. Do I really care if I don't quite make it if I'm close?

Project #17

Noro Scarf. Yes, that Noro Scarf. The same scarf that everyone is knitting. Everyone is knitting it because it is just so much fun. I loved everything about it from the earthy texture of the yarn to the banding of the tweedy colors. I could knit many more of these.'

I did some modifications. I cast on 25 stitches and used Noro Silk Garden Light so I could knit my scarf from 2 balls instead of 4.

Oh, what Joey has to put up with for my knitting.

Finish Line

Today is the last day of the tour. I didn't get all of my goals met, especially since yesterday I went on a detour and spent a few hours spinning on a new project. However, I did spin everyday and tackled large chunks of even larger projects. Without something as concentrated as the tour de fleece they would have languished. As it is, all the projects are much closer to completion.
The last bobbin of 8oz of merino. Now to spin something to ply with it since I want it to be a sweater. I went stash diving and I think white alpaca will give it a nice frothy look.

Stash diving for spinning fibers was a bit worrysome. It's getting small. I had to take a deep breath and relize that even if the totes, baskets, and the fleeces stuffed up the chiminy are getting depleated I still have years worth of spinning on hand. I have 2 pounds of cotton. That is a few years of spinning right there.

Project 16
Cast on and all the knitting done in bars with classmates. It seems that other people scrapbook, I knit memory socks.
Stash buster mystery sock yarn that glitters.

Project 15

This one I pulled out of the started projects basket almost done. Most of the knitting was accomplished in April and all it needed was the sleeves.
I am very pleased with how this sweater turned out. I tried out new shaping on it. Instead of narrowing for the waist at the side seams that is so common on sweaters, I put in back darts while leaving the front to hang strait from the bust. This helps cover my tummy while still giving slim shape to the back. I'm going to shape more of my sweaters this way.

The pattern is Cavern and the yarn is Mission Falls from back before they shut down and then reopened. Is that important? Maybe not, but when they shut down my favorite yarn was going to be gone forever so I bought all I could. Even with a few sweaters worth on hand I worried about knitting it since I wouldn't have the yarn anymore. Sure, they are making more but I hear it's not the same. Not really.
I love the cute tie in front. It is just a crochet chain stitch. Now to find a better shirt to wear under it. I picked that one because the neck line shape echoes the sweater, but looking at it in the photos I don't like it. I'll try a collared shirt next.

Squeee

I am posting this from home! Yes, I finally have Internet after years of only using the school's connection.

Blog posts to follow. I'm behind on listing my projects.

Checking In

All the photos are still on the camera. There are now so many it feels overwhelming to deal with them, so I don't.

But I have been spinning every day. Let look at my goals.

Goals for Team Hopelessly Overcommitted:
silk for a handwoven scarf- good thing I checked in today I can't even think of what this is.
cotton for a bath towel- spinning and spinning and spinning and I still have many hours to go.
silk for a knitted lace shawl- working on it, but this is not a project that will be finished this year it is so big

Team All Spun Up
I have 5 bobbins and right now on each bobbin is a different fiber/project. My goal is get as many of the 5 all spun up so I can have my bobbins back. It’s making plying impossible.

Bobbin of soysilk- done. Actually all of the soy silk is done.
Bobbin of lama/angora is done, ok so all of the lama/angora is done.
Bobbin of wool is done.
Bobbin of cotton, see above
Bobbin 5 I'm not thinking about until cotton is done.

And I have 8oz of wool spun. That is half of a sweater. Now to spin the alpaca to ply with it.