My Wish list at KnitPicks

Just love this rainbow of yarn.

 I love KnitPicks. I just love reading their catalogs.

Their pictures make you want to pet the page. I have been drooling over the catalog and on the website again today.

Here is my wish list. Currently they are having a contest  and I am a sucker for yarn giveaway! If I share my wishlist, I am entered win.  KnitPicks wish List

Even if i don't win, It has been fun going through the catalog and selecting great gift ideas. Some of the things on my list are for me personally and others are for some of the other fiber addicts in my life.

Spinning in place

My life is spinning. Some big changes are coming and now my head is spinning. Change is good but I hate feeling the lose of control. When my world starts spinning, I have found myself spending more time at the spinning wheel. I retreated to the front porch to card some lovely grey alpaca. The fleece hadn't been washed and was really dusty...too dusty for the inside. 


And there it was. All by itself waiting for me to take a breath and notice it.The lone surviving tree peonies. 


We have had some major thunderstorms and the heavy rains had knocked all the petals off the tree peonies except one.


These flowers are usually hard to miss, big brassy dinner plate sized blooms.

The last tree peonie of the season.

I'm thankful I didn't miss it. Thanks for waiting!


This past week has been so busy and chaotic that I haven't gotten very much downtime. But when I have had some time I found myself drawn to the spinning wheel and some fluffy fleece. I'm in no way a pro, totally a novice. An enthusiastic novice.


Last weekend during a burst of energy, my husband made me two new tools for my spinning obsession: a lazy kate and spool holder. On the lazy kate are two different types of alpaca; suri and huacaya. I struggled with the suri. The fleece I used was drum carded and very tangly. I ended up predrafting it or in plain English tugging it apart before I spun it. The suri was lovely but still tangly and I should have recarded the rolags. Learning.

My new lazy kate with yummy alapaca waiting to be plied.

I plied the two spools last night into a pretty skein waiting to be washed and blocked. It is soft now and i can't wait until it has been finished. Thinking a cowl or hat. Definitely something decadent worn next to the skin.

I love hats

I love knitting hats. I start them from the brim and work up to the top. I start at the top and work my way down. And one of the best reasons is they are portable and quick. I make them for friends, family and myself.

I finished a couple more hats this week. One has been in my knitting bag for weeks as I contemplated how to finish the brim. It is a great knitted hat with ear flaps and the brim.I have tried different types of plastic for the brim with varying degrees of success. Some have lasted for awhile and other broke in the washing. Today I used a baseball cap brim to make the brim. Everybody gets those free hats that no one will ever wear. Since we had a few sitting around, I tried trimming one to use for the plastic insert in a knitted brim. It worked wonderfully. The hat is in shades of gray and the hat brim was black. I hate when the plastic shows through the holes in the yarn.

Now the hat is off to a ski trip in Colorado. Hope it has fun! I hope to see it in action. Hint, hint.

Green sweater is almost done..

I finished the yellow sweater from Interweave. I added two large silver buttons that we found at Gramma Gray's. I wore it at BAM (Bellevue Art Museum) and it looked pretty good. It is one really, really warm sweater! It doesn't matter that it has short sleeves, it was toasty! I used heavier weight yarn than the pattern used so it is bulkier than the original. That made the sweater heavier as well as warmer. Still cute just not sure about the sleeve cuffs. I added a crocheted picot edging to the sleeves and bottom hem. Thinking about continuing the sleeves longer in the kimono style.

The pattern is "Flutter Sleeve" by Pam Allen. The original used a cotton, silk and nylon blend. I think I could've made a smaller size even though I swatched and matched the gauge. I think it needs less ease. All in all I learned a lot from making it and will wear it again.

I am almost done with the green sweater from Interweave. I am using the "Painted Silk" pattern by Connie Chang Chincio. Again using a warmer yarn, a wool cotton blend instead of the silk. I just need to finish the seaming and the neck ribbing. I really like how it is turning out. I am using a yarn from Jojoland called Bloom. The yarn is actually two strands of yarn twisted together. The base yarn is a apple green wool wrapped with a white and black cotton yarn. It gives it a tweedy look.

I think I will really like this one once it is completed.

Better finish the seaming so I can finish up the neckline. With the cold weather, this should be a nice weight of sweater to wear around.

Okay time to add a post

I may not be posting but I am definitely knitting.
I have a gorgeous yellow sweater that only needs to be seamed up the sides. It is made out of Brown Sheep Prairie Silk in a yellow named as Leveraged Lemon. The pattern is from Interweave Knits and is called Printed Silk Cardigan by Connie Chang Chinchio.
I have to admit that I hate seaming. Really hate seaming. So I started another project.
It is a apple green cotton and wool yarn from Jojoland. I am working on the back now and it is looking pretty good.
Nope, I haven't seamed the yellow sweater yet...