Finished Object Friday...

...I managed to finish something this month! Yay!

This is The Whale's Migratory Tale yarn:

and the close-up:

Specs:
Started 10/23/10; Finished 10/28/10;
Fiber: 75% BFL, 25% Tussah Silk, dyed with Indigo;
Pro-Verbial Fiber club from A Verb for Keeping Warm;
Yield: 418.75 yards, 2-ply;
WPI: 18

My goal was to get 400 yards of fingering yarn. Well, I got 418 yards of  something closer to laceweight. On the one hand, I'm happy that I got over 400 yards of this. I'll have to check, but I think that's the most I've ever spun from 4 ounces of fiber. On the other, it's thinner than the project calls for, so I'll have to make some adjustments.

It needs a good wash before I try knitting with it. The indigo dye is still rubbing off a lot and my hands get quite blue from handling it.

Up this weekend: I need to buy candy for the trick-or-treaters and do a few chores around the house. I need to look at the organization of my craft room and see whether I can fit in a few more things. Some of my stuff is stored in the Daughter's closet. I think she might want to be able to hand up her clothes when she moves home! If I can find a home for my plastic soap mold, that would help a lot!

I'll leave you with a picture of this morning's sky. Supposedly, there's a rain storm coming in.

Oh, and Jane, this is for you:
Oooooohhhhhmmmm * 3

random Thursday...

...because Wednesday just kinda snuck by!

1. I seem to be losing my blogging mojo along with my knitting mojo.  Or maybe because I lost my knitting mojo, my blogging mojo is floundering. Either way, the blog is suffering.
   
2. My spinning mojo seems to be doing OK, though. I am nearly done plying the Pro-Verbial Club fiber. It's seems like I have a lot of yardage. I'm hoping to get close to the 400 yards that I need for the project!
   
3. There aren't a lot of interesting pictures to take this time of the year. The garden vegetables and fruit are on their last legs and the flowers are going away. I'm not inspired to take many pictures at the moment. (Maybe another reason the blog is suffering.)
   
4. To the driver who was 3 car-lengths behind me in the other lane, who sped up to pass me, to cut in front of me when there were no cars behind me, so he could turn left at the next street (which had no left turn-out): Jerk!
   
5. Change is inevitable and there are big ones coming down the pike. I've already mentioned that the Daughter is moving home, which is one change. We were already used to her being with us for the Summer, so this is not as big a change as it might have been. There are other things happening, too, that I can't talk about yet.
   
6. And Happy Birthday to my niece Amanda! I wished we lived closer so I could help her celebrate!

it was a spinning weekend...

...it was rainy and spinning just seemed like the right activity.

Ever since the Pro-Verbial Club fiber arrived, I've wanted to spin it. SO in between chores, errands, and other activities, I spun this:

This is the first time I've spun fiber to spec—the club pattern requires 400 yards of fingering yarn. Based on a trial ply, a 2-ply of these singles will be a fingering yarn. Now whether I actually got 400 yards remains to be seen. The singles are resting and I will ply them soon.

My hands were pretty blue by the time I finished spinning this. It was not unexpected as the enclosed card explained about indigo and that "crocking" (the color rubbing off) is part of the process. Most of it washed off easily and any remaining color wore away during the day.

The Daughter flew back "home" today. The next time she returns, it's for good! She'll move home before Thanksgiving and only travel East when required. It will be nice to have her on the same coast again!
 

Eye Candy Friday, catching up again...

...wow, where to begin. It's been a whirlwind of activity in the last week!  So, let's start with the most important thing first.

The Daughter successfully defended her dissertation and can now be called "Dr!" We were so excited to be able to watch her presentation to her committee and be there for  this milestone. We'll go back for the graduation ceremony next May, but for now she can put PhD after her name! Our new doctor, celebrating her achievement (picture courtesy of her roommate):

So, how about a few pictures to catch up with Eye Candy Friday?

While we were in Baltimore, we went back to the American Visionary Art Museum to see the newest exhibit and to visit our favorite piece of outside art, the Cosmic Galaxy Egg:

This time, I got some good close-ups of the mosaics.

This museum has mosaics on the outside walls and on the stairways inside. Sometimes, you encounter a mosaic piece in an odd place, like this one in a garden:

A street separates the back of the museum and Federal Hill, which we had not seen yet. As we went around the building to climb Federal Hill, we saw this piece of art installed on the side of a building:

I wonder if they hang an ornament from it for Christmas...

Last time we were in Baltimore, I missed going to A Good Yarn because they were closed on Sunday. I made it a point to go this time. It's a cute little store. I caught them at a low stock point and the selection was limited, but I found a wonderful hand-dyed yarn that will make a nice warp for a shawl:

Unfortunately, the dyer did not include a name on the hang-tag so I don't know who dyed this and I didn't get an answer to my question about the dyer's name.

And in the mail when I returned from Baltimore was my first installment of the Pro-Verbial Club! I chose the fiber option, so I got the pattern and 4-ounces of fiber. You can see it behind the spoiler picture:

Whew!

Up this weekend: catching up with some sleep and chores. We have only one car for the weekend, so it might be a bit difficult to go out and do something on my own. (Although, truly, after being gone for 5 days, staying home sounds really good to me...) I'd love to get some spinning done, but I'll have to see how it goes!
 

it's still WIP-it Wednesday...

...at least for another few hours.

I took the Mochaberry Bramble socks with me to Baltimore and managed to get a few rows knit. I've turned the heels, picked up the gusset stitches, and am working on the gusset decreases.

It's interesting that one sock is slightly darker than the other, especially considering that they are both from the same skein of yarn.

That's all I've got at the moment. When I got back to work yesterday, I had a lot of small projects to work on and I haven't had a chance to catch up yet. I have a few pictures I took on the trip that I need to upload.

Soon...

I'm here...

...spent 5 days on the East coast and arrived home late last night. Will blog when I have two brain cells to rub together...

short week and it's going to be a busy one...

...because, of course, everyone wants me to finish their projects before I leave!   I worked on four different projects today and my mind is reeling. I spend more time opening the wrong project files than anything!

Sorry for the blog-and-run. I can't see that it's going to get any better for a few days! It will be a relief to get on a plane Thursday...
 

Eye Candy Friday already...

...and Wednesday just zipped on by without a post from me. The least I can do is give you a picture:

This yellow hibiscus and a peach hibiscus are replacing the plant that died in our courtyard. This time around, The Husband put them in planters instead of in-ground. That way if the weather does not cooperate, he can move them.

Between some small projects at work and my brother being here for a few days, things were not quite the norm. Nothing bad, just different.

My brother arrived mid-day Monday and left on Thursday morning. It was a quick trip, but it was really good to spend some time with him for a change. Usually, I only get to see him for a couple of hours, so this was a treat. If he gets a job in this ares, I'll be seeing him a lot more.

Because he was here on Monday, I skipped Craft Night. I really missed going because I get a lot done there. Instead I worked on my Mochaberry Brambles socks. I am finally done with the cuffs and I'm working on the heel flap. Lats night I pulled out The Beets Go On socks and discovered a problem with the yarn. It looks like someone (one of the cats?) has been chewing on the yarn. there are a couple of places where some of the plies are ripped. I checked a few yards of the yarn and the rest of it looks OK so far.  I sure hope it's the cats...maybe I'll freeze this project for a few days, just to be sure.

Up this weekend: Finish doing whatever house cleaning I can do before leaving on our trip. I need to buy kitty supplies and find the self-feeders. I've lined up a house sitter and need to write up some instructions. It will be a whirlwind around here until we leave!
 

recovering from the weekend...

...it was busy, and not in a crafty way.

It was Extra Dump Weekend for the city, which meant we could get rid a bunch of stuff that didn't (or couldn't) go into our regular trash pick up. We managed to accumulated several old mops, some plastic litter containers,  and a bunch of things that weren't good enough to donate anywhere and couldn't be recycled.

In the course of trying to clean up the loft for my brother, I went through the books that live up there. I culled out 4 banker's boxes of books. AND I logged them into GoodReads as I went. Yay!

The Husband pointed out that we could just put my brother in The Daughter's room, so I didn't get much further with the loft clean up. But it really felt good to go through the books. I still have far too many, but at least it's a start.

I set up the Daughter's room—made the bed, dusted, and cleaned the floor.

I cleaned the kitchen, bathroom, and mopped and vacuumed the floors. I'm pretty happy with the way things look right now. At some point, I need to get down on my hands and knees to scrape some areas where the floor cleaner has accumulated on the tile. You'd think that if it can clean up the dirt, it would also clean up its own dregs...

So I spent most of the weekend cleaning or organizing books. I did manage to do a little stitching, but not much! Going to work today was almost a relief!

Tonight, I'm skipping Craft Night to spend time with my brother. We're going to try out our new pizza stone and use up some of our 50 million tomatoes.

Oh, and look what arrived today...my Rocking Sock Club September installment! Picture behind the spoiler...

Not my color, but it would make some great socks for the Husband, that is, if I could get him to wear hand-knitted socks! If not, it is destined for the loom. It would make a nice warp.
 

September 2010 Recap

Still in iPad heaven, but at least I finished a couple of things that weren't books!

Finished:

• 9/12 Ocean Merino-Silk yarn  (spinning) [Ravelry]
  Merino-silk top from Redfish Dyeworks;
  Spun and plied on Lendrum DT folding wheel;
  Yield: 232.6 yards, Navajo plied;
  WPI: est. 12
• 9/30 Arch Rock Evening yarn (spinning) [Ravelry]
  50/50 Merino Bamboo top from Royale Hare
  Spun and plied on Lendrum DT Folding Wheel
  Yield: 234.5 yards, 2-ply
  WPI: 14;
• Books:
  A Fistful of Charms, Kim Harrison
  Every Which Way But Dead, Kim Harrison
  The Keepsake: A Novel, Tess Gerritsen
  The Mephisto Club, Tess Gerritsen
  Vanish, Tess Gerritsen
  Body Double, Tess Gerritsen
  Cleopatra's Daughter: A Novel, Michelle Moran
  1022 Evergreen Place, Debbie Macomber

Started:

• 9/25 Arch Rock Evening yarn (spinning) [Ravelry]

Worked on:

• Happy Pumpkin Scissor Fob by Shepherd's Bush (cross stitch)
• Mochaberry Brambles (knitting) [Ravelry]
• The Beets Go On (renamed, was My Heart Beets 4U) socks (knitting) [Ravelry]
• Turquoise Trail by Laura J Perin (needlepoint)

Works In Progress, did not work on:

• Hexagon socks (knitting) [Ravelry] 
• Jungle Songs quilt, pieced backing
• Natural Dyes batts from Yarn Wench (spinning)  [Ravelry]
• Tealing Groovy quilt
• Sea Foam Wrap (knitting) [Ravelry]

UFOs:

1. Chasing Rainbows Heather--one Merino-Bombyx (2 oz) and one Merino wool (2 oz) (spinning)
2. Dogosaurus Rex sweater (knitting) [Ravelry}
3. Hopi by Susan Portra (needlepoint)
4. Peacock Majesty by Just Nan (cross stitch)
5. Stranded Hearts socks (knitting) [Ravelry]
6. Violet Needle Roll (cross stitch)
7. Wisteria Angora-Merino top from Tactile (spinning) [Ravelry]

it's October, people...

...time is moving too darn fast! I'd like things to slow down just a little...

It was hard trying to find something for  Eye Candy Friday. The garden is in that state where the tomatoes are near the end (and therefore, not very pretty) and the autumn flowers haven't taken hold yet. We do have green beans growing:

They're pretty small right now, but they're doing pretty well. If we can keep the bugs from eating them, we'll have a nice crop.

I did manage to finish one last thing for September. I plied the Arch Rock Evening merino-bamboo singles that I spun last weekend:

and the close-up:

Specs
Started 9/25/10
Finished 9/30/10
50/50 Merino Bamboo top from Royale Hare
Spun and plied on Lendrum DT Folding Wheel
Yield: 234.5 yards, 2-ply
WPI: 14

I'm still not happy with my consistency with a 2-ply.  There always seems to be some sections that are under-plied. Just need to keep working at it!

Up this weekend: Some major cleaning. One of my brothers will be staying with us for a couple of days and I need to get the loft area ready for him. That and the fact that I'd like to have the place clean before we leave on our trip to see The Daughter.  (Still need to find a housesitter!) Anyway cleaning and picking up should take a good part of the weekend!

I'll post a recap when I get a chance.