OK. I'm taking baby steps towards updating my blog regularly. But just because I haven't been blogging doesn't mean I've calmly stepped away from the fiber. Not a chance. Since November, I spun up an Icelandic lamb fleece, 3/4 of a gorgeous white Icelandic fleece from a sheep named Valentine, and knit 5 hats, a scarf and some mittens from them. And the hats were my first foray into Fair Isle knitting! I also bought a Targhee fleece from my guild, but have managed to tear up the fiber pretty good with my home drum carder, which doesn't handle fine fibers well. I have carded and spun about a pound of dark fawn colored alpaca into a two-ply worsted weight yarn, and busted out more of the Jacob from last summer.


I was hoping to make several sweaters this winter for myself- one of icelandic, one of alpaca, and one from some Romney I spun last spring, but so far the yarn is only spun for the Romney. Time to get back on track! Pictures to come I *swear*.

Many many apologies for flaking out over the last few weeks. This has been a busy month. My camara USB cord no longer works with my computer (there were two cords that fit the camara, they were confused with another appliance, and now after hours of trying I've concluded that neither of them work.) I am trying to gear up for Xmas present knitting, but also don't have enough time to get nearly enough done! Hats for everyone! I'm looking forward to a much needed rest in Kalamazoo at my parents' house where I hope to knit and spin and eat a lot.

That's the trouble I have with blogging. I have nothing to write about!

I haven't dropped off the face of the earth but have been too busy to post anything. I have a few days of vacation starting tomorrow and hope to have lots of exciting news about dying, spinning, and knitting projects to post.

I am exhausted after all the Halloween activities this weekend! I'm ready for about 10 days of nothing but staying home in the evening and knitting and spinning. I ordered some Jaquard dyes from a vendor on ebay, and I'm excited about their arrival. I checked out Deb Menz's Color in Spinning from the library. I would like a copy of this book but it is out of print and used copies start at $100. I've checked it out before but apparently the third time is the charm- I'm finally really understanding the concepts of color values, saturation, hue, and how to mix the dyes according to the effects desires. My last dye day was fun but I don't like how the yarn came out. The first time I dyed the dyestock solutions were too pale and I got all pastels. This time, I overdid it and the dyestocks were too dark and the colors too intense, and I don't like them, especially the tomato reds. They look garish. So hopefully armed with a little more knowledge I'll get some results I want! The hard part will certainly be making myself write everything I do down in a dye notebook, as I've been warned that "a lost color will haunt your dreams" if I don't.

Watched Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitting Workshop videos this weekend. My next sweater project is going to be a fairisle yoked cardigan. I've got a lot of Icelandic fleece to spin, and I want to leave most of it in natural colors- grey, brown, and white.

I went on a yarn buying binge this weekend. I bought 8 oz. of rust colored cotton from Blue Heron Yarns (warning: extremely cute website). I also bought seven colors of Mission Falls 1824 Superwash Merino for baby sweaters and hats. I figure that since it's superwash, the parents can put the garments in the washing machine when the kids puke all over them. Can't wait to get started- I've been putting this off for far too long.

Almost finished with the Fortissima knee-highs and the llama scarf. My dad asked for first dibs on the llama scarf so it gets shipped off to Kalamazoo when it's finished.

In the burgeoning "tradition" of watching Jane Austen movies and knitting on Sundays, I had an impromptu stich and bitch this weekend and watched Sense and Sensibility, which I LOVE. Tried to watch Mansfield Park as well, but it was kind of a turkey, but it got better at the end.

Welcome MEOWknitters! I tried to join your group but access is denied me. I hope you enjoy Moral Fiber! Are you visiting for a special reason?

I'm back at work from a six day vacation feeling refreshed and ready to face the wild world of information management again. I was forwarded these awesome T-shirt designs today for librarians:

         

On Thursday I met Maureen of Hairball fame. She left several "llamas" at the local yarn store for me to use towards a discount. I might just have to go yarn shopping soon so I don't "waste" them. Any excuse will do. :)


I had a massive dye day last Friday before going to Kalamazoo for a culture vulture weekend. Friday night I saw Rigoletto with my parents- excellent! Saturday night we went to see "Late Night Catechism", which I was hoping would be a sacreligous take on Catholicism, but to my and my sister's horror it was a bunch of Catholics reminiscing about Catholic school and answering real catechism questions!!! We left...fled...at intermission. We would have left sooner but we were afraid that nun would grab us by the collars and horsewhip us as part of the show. *note: I went to Catholic elementary school for five years and that was enough for me. And somehow I still did not know what the Immaculate Conception was.

After several false attempts and daylight-savings induced fatigue syndrome I'm going to host my first Ann Arbor stitch and bitch this year. Last night Alex told me that a 23-year-old guy knitter contacted her over Friendster about joining a knitting group, so he will be coming along. Check out his skull-and-crossbone wristband creations here.

In other breaking news: there has been a major spinning equipment heist in Ann Arbor and I swear I didn't do it! I received a message on a Yahoo! list serve today with the following info:

">Don't know if you have heard about this, but we were given your name as
>a local contact for HGA and could really use your help to see if we can
>track down a rental truck that contained a huge inventory of spinning,
>knitting &weaving equipment &supplies that was stolen in Ann Arbor
>last Friday night / Saturday morning (10/24-10/25). Here are the
>details:
>
>Please be on the lookout for stolen spinning wheels (Kromski, Lendrum,
>Majacraft, Bosworth Charkas, Louet, Ashford, etc.), drum carders
>(Strauch-Fricke Finest), combs and cards (a wide selection), drop
>spindles (Bosworth, Vermont Spindle Co, Greensleeves, etc.), fiber
>(Crosspatch, 3 Bags Full, Ewe to You, Windwools, and Blue Moon
>Spinnery), Knitting needles (Brittany Birch, Bryspun, Crystal Palace,
>Denise &Inox), Will Taylor skeinwinders, Lazy Kates, distaffs and Niddy
>Noddys, Harp and Hazel Rose Looms, and jewelry (spinning wheel,
>weaving, and sheep related necklaces, earrings, etc.) that were stolen
>from Carolina Homespun Friday night 10/24-10/25.
>
>Morgaine was in transit between Rhinebeck and SOAR when her rental truck
>and entire show inventory were stolen from a motel parking lot (the Red
>Roof Inn) in Ann Arbor, MI. The thieves are probably unaware of what
>they have, but if anyone should approach you attempting to sell these
>items, please alert us (or the Ann Arbor Police Department, who seem to
>be taking this as just another stolen vehicle) immediately. The missing
>truck is a blue Budget rental truck (15 foot) with Oklahoma plates
>2AN872. They also got most of Morgaine's clothes and personal items,
>and she is quite devastated. She is continuing on to SOAR, and we are
>hoping for quick and safe recovery of the truck and her merchandise.
>We are hoping that someone will spot the truck, which has probably been
>abandoned by now.

In the words of my friend Ben: "Somewhere, there are crackheads trying to peddle drum carders as foot massagers."



Pssst. Wanna buy a spinning wheel? ;)

Wow. I am still completely awestruck by all the AMAZING BOOGIE WOOGIE music I heard last night at the Boogie Woogie and Blues festival in Redford. It was, in a word, unbelievable. It was certainly the most music I'm ever going to hear for $25. We left *early*- at midnight- after five hours of foot-stompin' blues boogie woogie piano genius. After every act, I would think, "Who could possibly follow that? It's impossible" but they just kept getting better and better- after every act I wanted to run downstairs and buy the CD. The show was being recorded for public television- I'm not sure if it is just for the Detroit regional audience or if it will be a national broadcast- but if you get the opportunity to see it don't pass it up! Kelly Hunt, David Maxwell, and Caroline Dahl, and the other-worldly talented genius Henry Butler were astonishing to watch. My review here sounds ridiculous- I can't do the show justice and I typically hate music reviews anyway- but the live performances were an event I will always remember. If you can catch any of these people playing live see the show!

And the icing on the cake is that Caroline Dahl is ont only a boogie woogie virtuouso but also a self-taught award winning textile artist! Check out her work here.

Now for the boring knitting content: I'm making a pair of socks and a scarf: