Knitting in High Humidity

My limp-wristed attempt to knit lately has been pathetic! Aside from the fact that my ahem day job ahem takes up all my quality time lately, by the time I get home from work and whatever else I have going on, I just feel too warm and gross to touch yarn. It's been a mild but wet and stormy summer so far. The bedroom window unit has yet to be installed, and I'm kind of hoping I'll get around to that soon. It's nice to have a cool room to retreat to when it's sticky out.

I completed two of my Tour de Fleece goals. The fist was to spin for at least 10 minutes every day. I did that, and then some- on most days, I would end up spinning for at least an hour. The second was to tackle my spinning UFOs. I completed spinning for my "Fine Fleece" Espresso sweater. That's 1500+ yards of dk weight 3-ply from a CVM fleece. I skirted, washed and carded this fleece myself- it's truly the largest spinning project that I've undertaken.



I spun a 2-ply laceweight BFL for the Aeolian. I though I had spun enough, but I only spun about 250 yards total, and I need over 500. Back to the wheel for this one.



I also spun some beautiful Spunky Eclectic Shetland and plied it to with a dark purple batt that I had made. It's worsted or aran weight. I love how the dark purples line up just. I'm hoping to have enough to make a sweater yolk from this.



Knitting has been slow as hell. Right now on the needles, I have a man's cardigan (wool, ugh, how you have forsaken me in this weather), the ill-fated silk cami, a pair of lace stockins and a pair of wool socks. Slooowly knitting along when I end up in and AC-ed environment for more than a few minutes.

CVM Fleece

I just posted the CVM fleece on my Etsy site. It is washed, gorgeous and in very manageable 4oz portions.



If combing and carding is not your thing, I will soon have some CVM batts up in the coming weeks.

More Fleece on the Way

It's been raining. And raining. And raining. Since I take my photos outside, I haven't had a chance to post some rather amazing gray CVM fleece on the Etsy site. Hopefully this weekend will allow for some sunnier weather.

Huge Shop Update!

The etsy shop update is done! Tons of pretty new spindles, ready to assist you in your yarn making.

Shop Update Soon

I promise I'll have a huge shop update on my Etsy store soon...tonight or tomorrow. I spent my Saturday night eating sushi and making spindles. I just have to photograph those suckers and get the listings made.

My Week Without Blue Cheese

Back from Vacation! I had a rather chill and refreshing week in the far North of Maine. Good times with family and friends, unfussy food, sleeping in the great outdoors, hiking, kayaking, swimming, and most importantly, lazing.



The Katahdin region is beautiful this time of year.





It wasn't all fun and games though...



A pair of socks were finished. These are the Rogue Roses socks. It was the BMFA Rockin' Sock Club shipment from, um, March. I've come to realize that it's okay to not start and finish the club socks the day you get them.

I modified them- i discontinued the rose vine pattern on the foot since the roses would irritate the tops of my feet. I'm thinking about gifting them. I have a lot of family who live in the far Northern Maine, and they need warm woolies more than I do in the relatively balmy winters of NYC. Some of them were eyeing the socks in progress with a bit of interest.



Some spinning was done. Actually, a lot of spinning was done. Much more than I would on a normal work day! Miraculously, I spun every day for at least 10 minutes as part of the Tour de Fleece Goals. The Bee ended up being a perfect travel compainion. It was my carry-on bag and fit right under the plane seat. It survied a couple of boat rides as well.

I finished the BFL for the Aeolian Shawl:



Not sure of my yardage yet since I just did a hasty elbow skein. I need to throw it on the niddy noddy and give it a bath to set the twist. This is my first finished yarn in long draw. It's 2-ply lace weight.

I started some brightly colored Shetland for a yoke sweater. It's a ply of dark purple Lorna's Laces wool top in "Black Pearl" and some Spunky Eclectic Shetland in the "Raisin Wannabe" colorway.





I love how the purple in the Shetland matches up with the purple in the Lorna's Laces, but then transitions to pink and then acid lime green.

Back to reality now, where everything seems a bit too frantic and noisy. At least there is blue cheese here! I sat down and chowed a good portion of a block of Roquefort. There was a noticible lack of it in my diet the past couple weeks.

Vacation!

I will be on vacation next week. This makes me very happy, because I will be here:



I will bring some knitting and my wheel with me. I'm hoping to get some hikes in and some projects done.

Oh, and the whole Tour de Fleece thing. My goal is to spin at least 10 minutes a day and to finish my 3 spinning UFOs that I have going: My BFL for the Aeolian shawl, my CVM 3-ply for the Espresso sweater and some shetland 2-ply for a yoke sweater. If I finish all that, then I will systematically go through my stash from oldest to newest and spin.