Remember Zaphod?

To refresh your memory, when last we saw my lovely new Hitchhiker wheel Zaphod, he looked like this: And now? Well, after a Saturday afternoon with Carrie and her new Hitchhiker Ford, Zaphod looks like this: And yes, the back of the wheel says "Don't Panic!" What else would you expect it to say? Be sure to check on Carrie today. Zaphod's semicousin (They share 3 of the same mothers, don't you know.) should also be making his debut today. And because Zaphod was being painted, I didn't get a chance to do any spinning on him just yet. So, I dug out some in-progress handspun from the stash for today's post. This is some Gypsy Girl silk roving that I picked up at MDS&W last year, being spun on a (*gasp*) drop spindle. I couldn't tell you the last time I spun any of it, though. And yes, Carrie, I DO still have "So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish" stuck in my head. And JavaJem - sorry that these are back on Photobucket. I'll make the switch to fulltime Flickr eventually, I swear. :) Stuff that is going in Ravelry may start getting doubled up to both of them until then.

I <3 My Hubby

Seriously, I have the best husband in the world. Not only does he let me invite crazy people to stay here for the weekend so we can go to MDS&W, not only does he come WITH us and take lots of awesome pictures, he encourages my fiber obsession. Specifically, check out what he gave me for our 9th anniversary (which is tomorrow) (And if you are wondering, he got camera accessories and new noise-blocking headphones.) A Strauch heavy-duty ballwinder, to replace my poor dying plastic one with the slipping gears, and now able to handle the big hanks of Schaefer stuff in my stash.: And... meet Zaphod: That's right, I am now the proud owner of a Hitchhiker wheel! Isn't he a cutiepie? I'm going to do a little decorating, which will of course be themed around the "Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy" series, but I have to decide the specifics yet.

Ketchup!

Or, if you prefer, "Catsup". :D Yeah, it's another catch-up post. And there are a LOT of pictures. If you're on dialup, you might want to go get some tea. Or possibly lunch. :D First, my overdue Fiber Stash Flash: Across the top, three silk hankies from MD Sheep and Wool. Below that, some lovely roving from my Knittyboard SP6 bylt, and some merino/tencel roving from Blue Moon Fiber Arts (also from MDS&W). The two giant balls of roving are ones I picked up at Springwater Fiber Workshop, and the little bundle in the corner is some Gypsy Girl silk I got at (all together now) MDS&W. So, yes. That's my pitiful fiber stash. ;) ETA: The "beach balls", as Avrienne so accurately described them, are 13 oz (orange) and 16 oz (purple) of fiber. I've got lots to spin there. :D Next, I want to show off the AWESOME handspun that Morgsarah sent me. This was my prize for winning her "Guess The Mystery Fiber" contest. Isn't it beautiful? (And how thankful am I that she didn't spin the actual mystery fiber - it was horse poo) I have to find something really awesome to make for myself from it - per Sarah's blog it's about 490 yards of sport/fingering weight yarn. I'm open to pattern suggestions! Courtesy of Nimrodel's blog post on her Patons SWS Fuzzy Feet, I was doubly inspired. I've wanted to check out that yarn for a while now, and I think I'm the last knitter alive who hadn't made Fuzzy Feet. Besides, Kris is jealous of the ones Turtlegirl sent me (Ack! I don't have a picture of them! Must remedy that!). So, Betsy and I picked up some SWS and knit ourselves silly while the boys watched football on Saturday. The result, post-felting: Fabulously mis-matched stripes and all! There's only one small problem. This stuff felts like a mofo, and these barely fit MY feet, let alone Kris's. So... back to Michael's I went. On the left, the new pair, which actually FIT him. I had to make them almost 20" long before felting them. They looked really, really silly. But they fit now, and he likes them a lot. It's hard to see in this picture, but the stripes actually matched on the second pair - completely by chance! Incidentally, I love the yarn, and I am going to use it again for sure. Possibly for more Fuzzy Feet for the family. And finally, what y'all have been waiting for - Stitches loot! Betsy and I had a complete blast. I had two great classes - The Joy of Steeks with Maureen Mason-Jamieson (LOVED her, LOVED the class, and no longer do I fear the big bad steek!) and Dive Into Design with the divine Fiona Ellis. And yes, I took my copy of Inspired Cable Knits and asked her to sign it, which she did. Yay! Seriously, though, if you have a chance to take a class with either of them, I highly recommend it. They were both lovely, and genuine, and REALLY good teachers. I can't wait to take more classes next year! We spent plenty of time at the Market (duh), both Thursday evening and Friday morning (having met up with Alice and Roxy and Lisa, who doesn't have a blog). We originally debated heading home after our classes on Thursday, but decided to stick around for the Victorian Lace Today fashion show and the Market preview, and I am really glad we did. Not long into the fashion show, we both looked at each other and said, "We are SO getting that book". We also got them signed by the very sweet Jane Sowerby, who was too funny talking to Betsy about the yarn she had picked up. (She was apparently slightly horrified that such a gorgeous green yarn would be called "Pond Scum". :D ) We checked out the Lisa Souza booth (Met her, loved her. She's really cool.), and the Blue Moon Fiber Arts booth (Met Kaci - really fun), where we chatted in line with the two women in front of us, who were absolutely hilarious. So, you wanna see what I got? :D First - books (and patterns). Lucy Neatby's Sea Lettuce Scarf (we saw a woman working on one Thursday morning, and it's way cuter than the picture on the pattern shows), the Top-Down Sweater Unpattern (Recommended by a random knitter Betsy was chatting with while she ran to the Market to get a copy of Inspired Cable Knits to have Fiona sign it. I was looking for a good top-down idea for something for Kris), the aforementioned Victorian Lace Today, Barbara Walker's Knitting from the Top (again, planning the project for Kris) and Cat Bordhi's Treasury of Magical Knitting and Second Treasury of Magical Knitting (I've wanted to check them out for ages, but can never find them locally. So, when I saw them and flipped through them, they came home with me.) The Lisa Souza stuff. Now, I see why people rave about her colors. Left to right, fingering weight in "Blue Spruce", Sock! Merino in "South Pacific", and laceweight in "Emerald City". I blame Betsy for that last one - she spotted it, and you knew I wasn't going to leave it there with that name! I did pick up one other thing there, but it's on its way to Turtlegirl at the moment. Hopefully, it will appear on her blog soon. Blue Moon Fiber Arts! Socks That Rock in "Fire on the Mountain", Seduction (merino/tencel) in "Puck's Mischief", and Sock Candy in "Prickly Pear". I was looking for STR in "Ruby Slippers" or "Emerald City", but no luck. Someday, they will be mine! Interestingly, when I talked to Alice Friday morning as we were heading in, she had just picked up some STR. In "Fire on the Mountain". Great minds think alike, I guess! Habu Textiles Tsumugi Silk in 14 (the deep rusty orange) and 53 (the yummy tweedy purple). Inspired by a couple of patterns in Victorian Lace Today, Betsy and I both picked up some of this. It's really beautiful stuff. OK, this is a story. We left Habu and walked over to the Tess' Designer Yarns booth, where Alice was looking at a tag hanging next to some nondescript gray yarn. When we got closer, she asked us if we thought the tag said "Undyed alpaca, 50 yards, $3" or "Undyed alpaca, 150 yards, $3". We thought it looked like 150, but decided to check. We were right. That's right - 150 yards of DK-ish soft grey alpaca for $3!!! I bought 10. It's going to be something fabbo for me. More undyed alpaca, this from the Yarn Barn of Kansas, in a lovely malt color. It will be something for Kris (hence the looking for a top-down pattern). It's gorgeous, and so very, very soft. Also from the Yarn Barn, their Moriah laceweight. That, folks, is 2520 yards of undyed laceweight wool for me to play with. Hee. And finally, I found this silk scarf kit at the Fiberworks booth. The silver/turquoise combo just grabbed me. So, I grabbed it. :D And never fear, pr0n fans. Kris and I will be working this evening, and you'll get pr0n shots of all of this for the next couple of weeks, I promise.

Too Cute!

Okay, tell me this is not the cutest thing ever: That's right - my hubby is learning to spin!! And he's pretty proud of himself, too. Of course, I'd say he has pretty good reason. Not bad for his very first attempt, eh? He's champing at the bit to get his hands on my spinning wheel, too. I can just see it now - we're going to have to ration time on it. =)

Maryland Sheep and Wool 2006

For my first experience at the famous MDS&W, I think I managed to behave myself pretty well. =) We got there a little bit too late to snag any of the Koigu Mill Ends or the Socks That Rock, which was a bummer, but there was certainly plenty of other great stuff to keep us occupied. My first purchase was at The Fold. I picked up some Blue Moon Fiber Arts Merino/Tencel roving in "Dutch Canyon", which is just gorgeous. This picture doesn't really show the shine on this stuff (it's stupid and rainy here today), but this one shows it pretty well. I also picked up some Gypsy Girl Tussah Silk roving, which I bought for 2 reasons - I wanted to play with silk (duh!) and I just loved the color: King Neptune. (Again, not the best picture in the world. I'll have to take more when I actually start working with it.) For most of the rest of the day, we just wandered around petting things and drooling. We met up with the too-adorable-for-words alerievay for lunch, and had a great time gabbing with her while munching on some very yummy food. Valerie and I had gyros, Jen had a fabulous looking lamb stew in a bread bowl, and hubby had lamb barbecue and a lamb kebab. And although we skipped the deep-fried Twinkies (despite being strangely tempted), hubby and I did each (*blush*) have one of the amazing HUGE chocolate eclairs from the same stand. Toward the end of the day, Jen found a really pretty drop spindle, since she had already gotten some amazing bright pink and blue roving (also from The Fold) and did not in fact own a spindle to actually spin it. I found the Spinning Studio booth, who had some silk hankies. Since I've been wanting to try spinning them, I had to pick some up. As you can see, I started playing with it a little last night on my Babe spindle. The only thing that I now regret is not picking up another spindle. The Babe is working fine, but the shaft is a little rough and wants to catch on the silk, which is a little annoying. Clearly, I am going to be on the lookout for a new spindle. =) My final purchase was some lovely roving from the Opalessence booth. It's green from a distance, but when you get closer, it actually has a lot of other colors running through it. I can't wait to see how this spins up. The only bad thing about the day was that I got a little sunburned on my back. Nothing horrible, just enough to be a little itchy today. I really had a lot of fun, and I think Kris even enjoyed himself. I know he certainly got some great pictures. I've got a slideshow of them over on Photobucket, or the full album is here. Oh, and I almost forgot - Saturday was the official debut of my Prosperous Plum Tank! And the matching bolero! So, a modeled shot of the tank here. It's not perfect, but I'll see about getting a better one later, along with a decent one of the bolero.

Admit It - You're Jealous

Not of my fabulous spinning skillz (heh) - but of my new niddy-noddy that my darling hubby made for me last night. See? Isn't it gorgeous? It's a one-yard size - he already has plans to make me a 1-1/2 yard one and a 2-yard one. =) There are a couple of tweaks that we need to make to the design, but I really like what he did. Question for those of you who spin: if he decides to make some of these to sell, would any of you be interested, and what would you consider a fair price for one? (No, I won't hold you to buying one, I'm just trying to get an idea.) I'm also pretty happy with how I am coming along with my spinning wheel. It's not perfect, but it is definitely getting more consistent. And it is definitely addictive. My order from Knit Picks finally arrived yesterday. The first shipment must have vanished into the ether of the postal service, so they re-sent it to me last Thursday. I started the Baby Bolero from One Skein last night, and I am getting very close to finishing it already. This one is for Steve and Mindy's little girl Kylie. It's a great pattern, and I love the yarn - the new Shine Worsted in Green Apple. I also have the yarn to make 3 more of these in Crocus, Terra Cotta, and Reef for three more baby girls, all due to make their appearance between now and early June. Good thing I'm enjoying it, no? I've also made some more progress on my Jaywalkers. Hopefully these will actually fit. They are striping differently, too. I think I like it, though. I've gotten some work done on my Serena as well. Gorgeous yarn, and a wonderful pattern by a fabulous designer. It is really coming out well. Interestingly, my good friend GretchenX (who vanished off the 'net for a while) has returned to the world of knitblogging to announce that she had bought the same yarn (Schaefer Laurel) in the same colorway (Helen Hayes), also to make a wrap. Isn't that a hoot? We are definitely some level of psychic evil twins. Let's see... what else? Along with the Shine Worsted, I got some Shimmer to make the tank top from One Skein (originally done in Helen's Lace). I decided on the "Turquoise Splendor" to branch out of my usual green theme. Kris and Jen and I went down to Springwater Fiber Workshop on Sunday to see what they had in terms of roving. I picked up two gorgeous things of hand-dyed roving (the two in the middle) in and orange and red combo and a purple and pink combo. I can't wait to see how they spin up. (The roving on the top is what was sent from my faboo SP bylt, and the green on the bottom is the last of what came with my spindle kit, which is what I have been playing with so far. I really need to finish up my pictures for the Flash Your Stash this weekend, since we've got out-of-towners arriving Thursday and Friday. I was planning to do some of that today, but Kris is having some major issues with his upper back and stayed home today. Thank you to all of you who popped over to say hi to Kirsten. She's on the Knitty Coffeeshop boards now (kstiirken), so you'll get to know what an awesome person she is.

And It Begins...

Wow, this wheel thing could be seriously addictive. I think I'm starting to get the hang of it, although I am definitely still having some overspinning issues (as you will see). I spun this last night. It's the big thing of roving that came with my drop spindle kit, so I even separated and teased the fiber myself! (And yes, I know that the camera focused on the lazy kate behind the spindles. Unfortunately, I didn't know that until it was too late to take another picture.). Then, I branched out into something new - plying! I had some... adventures with it, but it got a little better as I went on. I soaked it and hung it to dry with a little weight on it, and this morning, I knit it up into a little swatch. Ta da! The color is close to the swatch picture, although maybe not quite so bright. So, this morning, I had to play some more (duh). I spun up some more of the roving from my kit, and I think I'm getting a slightly better grasp on the idea of pre-drafting. It makes a HUGE difference. I spun this up, and then decided to ply it, too. Um, yeah. Oops. This would be that overspinning thing I was talking about. I got that untangled, and finished plying it. It's now washed and hanging to dry. I'll probably knit it up as soon as it is dry. It's getting a bit more even as I work. Happily, I've got some more roving to work with, and I can keep playing for a while. I may see about going to Springwater tomorrow to take a look at their rovings and stuff.

Squeeeeeeeeeee!

At noon today, my UPS man brought me these: I opened them to find this: And an hour later: Now to read the "how-to" paperwork and get started playing!!!! Big thanks to zolzer for the sale. I know I will be picking up some of her awesome roving at some point - it's gorgeous!

Handspun!

Well, I finally did it! I finally used the drop spindle kit that Kris gave me for my birthday (yes, way back in September. I'm lame.). You want proof? Here is is! That was the 6 oz. "start with me" bundle of merino roving that Adrian sent with the kit. Some of it is a little less than neatly spun (ok, or spun at all), but some of it actually looks like yarn! Yay! I think I'm going to knit it up later today to see how it comes out. It ended up being about 13.25 yards when done. And if you were wondering what inspired me to finally start playing with the drop spindle, yes I had an ulterior motive (OK, two, actually). My darling SP bylt sent me some gorgeous roving, and I want to play with it, so that was part of it. The other reason is that I've been really wanting to try working on a wheel, and being me this means buying one. So when one of my fellow Knittyheads posted that she was selling her wheel, and that it was an Ashford Traditional, which was the very same wheel that bylt recommended, yeah, I bought it. And per UPS, it will be here today!!!! So, I decided I had better start getting a grasp on this whole drafting thing. It comes and goes - I'm nowhere near consistent yet, but I'm getting better. Hopefully by not too long, I'll be able to get it to work. And the other thing about said wheel - I joked to Kris that since he had no interest in learning to knit, maybe he should learn to spin. He actually said he might like to do that! When I told him yesterday that the wheel should be here today, he asked if I had enough fiber for both of us to play with. Hee! I already was planning to ask him to make me a niddy-noddy - maybe he'll actually be using it, too! Oh, and my oldest dearest friend on the planet finally started a knitting blog yesterday. Go say hi! ETA: SWATCH! Interestingly, the part on the top of the swatch where the yarn is all skinny and even was the part I did Wednesday night. The bottom part, slightly (Ha!) more thick-and-thin, is from last night. I think I got a little overconfident. Also, if anyone cares, I bought Lee Raven's Spin It to learn from, because the instructions that came with my kit just weren't quite clicking for me. It's a great book!