Trying to Reason with Tour de Fleece Season

Alrighty, let’s try this one more time! Hopefully I can stick with a regular blogging schedule. The day may have to be altered with my schedule this fall…but for now I’m going to stick to a Tuesday/Wednesday goal. I’ve also added a new category…Recipe Recommendations! More on that below. Go check it out!!

Knitting News

Oh so much to discuss!! I’m working on my first-ever patterned sock. Typically I’m a plain vanilla kind of girl…and I like to let the yarn do all the work…but…Cookie A tempted me. Darn her. This is the Elm Pattern available in Knitters Book of Socks. To me it looked more river-like than tree-esque…so I’m doing it in some Madelinetosh Baltic. *swoon* Also…I took up crochet. Just a smidge…I made these guys for a bowl in my kitchen. Could not help myself…   ARE THOSE NOT ADORABLE?!!?! There’s also a garlic clove and a squash not pictured. A peach went to my very best friend whose favorite phrase is “You’re a peach”. Awesomesauce. Except for the slight finger numbing in my ring finger but shhh…we will just pretend that doesn’t exist.

Spinning Stuff

Well…it’s Tour de Fleece…so of COURSE that’s happening. Some serious spinning this year…and some serious falling off the “being responsible with my money” bandwagon. DARN YOU ITW AND 2IBH!!!! Seriously…2ibH has nerd-erificly named colorways. HOW DO YOU NOT LOVE THAT??!?! Fiscal frugality falls to the wayside when I’m faced with deciding between Bertie Botts and Wolowitz. Come on now. What’s a nerdy girl to do?!?! But on to the pictures. Here is the TDF progress thus far…   First we have some Hedgehog Fibres that I started the week before TDF. What? I needed to…ya know…practice…warm up… So during TDF I finished and plyed it. LOVE IT. Wish I had more. Really wanted to do a hitchhiker with it but…alas…only 200ish yds. MUST SPIN THINNER. However I did learn to chain ply at the end of this plying. Kind of horrid at making even bobbins even if I weigh it. *shrug*   Then I started my first fractal ply! This is some locally dyed Finn from Misty Mountain Fibers. It shall become mittens of amazement. Oh, what’s it called, you ask? Rainbow Sherbet. LOVE IT.   Then of course I had to dye some of my own. I call this Trying to Reason with Hurricane Season. Ya like?? I like so that’s all that matters. HA!     Here it is spun…MUCH THINNER than the Hedgehog!! GO ME!!!

 

Workout World

 

Well…big announcement time….I signed up for my first full marathon. Mainly…just to get that 26.2 sticker for my car. But…partially because I have a great need to do the big M before I turn 30 next April. *moment of panic, screaming, kicking, and passing out* OMG. Anyway. Let’s pretend I didn’t just publicly shame myself. Ahem. So…the big 26.2 will happen October 12th in Baltimore with my awesome friend A with whom I share a brain. And maybe a parent. We are fairly certain our moms are the same person and that we are actually the same person, mildly genetically modified. She got the brown hair, I got the blonde…but mostly she is me…and both our mothers are insane. So…there’s that. Serious training. Mild IT band injuries…and some of the worst storms I ever remember. I’ve dodged more downed trees this summer than a blind lumberjack. Insane. But let’s get on to my new segment that I hope you will all enjoy.

 

Recipe Recommendations

 

YAY!!! So…I started getting a local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture…think of the stock market…but instead of money returned on your investment, you get food.). LOVE IT. Love. So hard. Splitting it with A…and hoping she agrees to it for next year as well because I’m officially addicted. I mean….I get awesome, mostly pesticide free, locally grown veggies AND fruit EVERY WEEK. FOR FREE (Minus the $$$ we paid at the start of the season…but since I paid in one lump sum….now every week it’s like FREE VEG OMG!!!). Seriously amazing. PLUS…the CSA exposes us to new foods that we have never tried or would never pick up in the market…like Kohlrabi. WHO EATS THAT?!?! Yeah. I do, now. And it’s pretty tasty. So my thought with this segment is that I will try a new recipe…and let you know how it goes. I see ALL these things on pinterest but…you never know how it will turn out or if…something needs to be adjusted. So…basically I’m going to review a recipe…hopefully weekly….we shall see. I used this recipe for Oven Roasted Kohlrabi. It turned out rather fantastic, if I do say so myself. It was basically like roasted parmesan potatoes. Pretty darn tasty…and SUPER simple. Garlic, olive oil, salt, parmesan, kohlrabi…GO. This + salad = Awesome summer dinner!   Except for some people….I told the DF to pack his dinner for work…and he put this in a bag… REALLY!?!?! REALLY!?!?! I make you spaghetti…even put it in a single serve container for you…I make chocolate chip muffins…pointed out the blueberries and apples…and you try to take THIS?!! Men. *eyeroll* Anyway….

 

General Chatter

 

So…I don’t have a lot of other news…except a small request. We have been having ridiculous trouble with both my and DF’s car…and now my poor sweet baby has a hurt leg. I’m worried it’s hip dysplasia…which won’t be fun for anyone. It’s a whole lot of expenses that we…really can’t afford…plus a wedding?? ACK!!! So cross your fingers (and paws) that DF’s car is magically all better after poofing smoke and shutting down while driving (HA!) and that the pup is easily healed. We head to the vet on Friday…send good vibes! Happy spinning!!!!

Blogging FAIL

Ahem…….so….after Pittsburgh….I sold a crapton of jewelry and got super busy and….haven’t blogged in over a month.

BAD BLOGGER, BAD!!!!!!

So…here’s an update in picture form.

Riding to Pburg...with roving attacking.

Unpacking the UPP.

Building up the booth

PRETTY!!!!!

Me!

My setup

The proprietor of UPP herself.

I felt the need to dye when I got back.

This one looks like punk-rock-vomit.

It really does...

That about sums it up. Except for the new wheel.

 

Yeah. I said new wheel.

Happy New Knits!

Ahhhhhhh. Freedom.

Are we all free from our Christmas Knitting?!?!

You are? That’s awesome!!! I hate you.

I still have 2, possibly 3 projects to go. But seriously, I completed 14 out of 16 projects by Christmas. I win, ok?

Here’s the final set of Completed Christmas Knitting…

So…from top left, across and so on we have…

1. Beth and Kelly both got purple waffle hats with some super yarn from my good friend Natasha at Unplanned Peacock.
2. Beth’s son got a simple gray hat in Cascade 220. He’s 1, so he doesn’t care much for fashion.
3. Laura’s fiancee, Henry got a nice warm Virginia Tech colored hat. Double stranded the yarn and killed my hands on that little gem.
4. Aunt Connie got a nice Rollin Beret, pattern from Woolly Wormhead, yarn was Malibrigo. She should feel special.
5. Next up we have a simple I-cord hat for my nephew, Miles. Yarn is cascade eco which I then hand dyed.
6. Following his hat is a wash cloth for grandma. Grandmothers have EVERYTHING and mine won’t wear hats, scarves, or anything else I could think of to knit…so she got practical gifts.
7. Carly’s Pink Scarf was my first attempt at cables and has literally been in the works since last year. FINALLY done with that monster. Made with Cascade Eco, one of my favorite yarns. It’s cheap and you get a metric TON!
8. Finishing out the second row we have a hat for my niece, Charlotte. This is the Jester Hat by Woolly Wormhead. The yarn is Cascade Eco which I dyed in my “Skittles” colorway.
9. Now we have my cousin Jamie holding up her new Skinny Scarf. Made with more Unplanned Peacock and Cascade 220.
10. Next is another washcloth for Grandma. Next year hopefully I can get her to wear a sweater I knit. We shall see.
11. Then…we have the bane of my existence. My dad wanted a cat sweater. Seriously? He is a grown, over 50 male and he wants me to knit his CAT a sweater. So I did. The cat was about as thrilled as I was.
12. Then Aunt Sarah, who thinks she’s allergic to wool *HA*, got some lovely hand knit socks which she modeled the rest of the day. Allergic, my ass.
13. Laura…got one of the un-finished projects. She got one sock for Christmas and will be getting the second sock for her birthday which is in January. 🙂 It worked out well for me.
14. Last we have Aunt Cynthia and her new Quick Cowl with, what’s that? More Unplanned Peacock!

So. That’s our Christmas Knit List. Unfinished are Mom’s Citron Shawl, Laura’s Second Sock, and a hat for Kim. Kim may get a different present, because I am all knit-out when it comes to other people.

Seriously, is anyone else sick of knitting for other people? I don’t want to have friends anymore, because I am so tired of knitting things that I don’t get to keep and enjoy!

According to Ravelry, I’ve knit around 40 projects. I currently own 4 items that I hand knit. 4 out of 40. I keep one tenth of what I knit. That’s sad. As a knitter, I have virtually NOTHING to show the world that yes, I knit all the damn time!

I have one hat, one scarf…oh wait…2 scarves. Whoops. Ok but still! One hat, 2 scarves, and 2 pair of socks! That’s it! I seriously need more knit-wear so I can prove that…I know how to do this! My friend Beth now has a scarf and hat for herself that I knit, and two hats for her son. She has almost as much of my knitted love and labor as I do! OH WAIT, she also has a baby blanket which she FELTED. She has waaay more hours of my time in her hands than I do.

What is WRONG with me? Why do I knit and knit and knit and knit…then just hand it off? Why do I give away all proof that I know how to knit? What kind of person spends 35 hours stitching away on a pair of socks that they will never wear?? I knit my first-EVER hand spun in to something (really dumb) for my ex. WHEN WE WERE ALREADY BROKEN UP!!!

Clearly….we knitters have problems.

So this year, I’ve decided to spend at least half my knitting-time making something for ME. It’s MY turn to have hand-knit gifts. It’s MY turn to show off my knitting skills. MINE. ME. MYSELF.

My yarn!

My handspun!

My hand dyed!

I’ve already made the list for Christmas 2011. Who am I kidding?

However I did make my first mitten. And it is mine.

One Mitten for ME!

So we shall see. Maybe I’ll get a few knitted items to keep for myself. Or at least I’ll get a second mitten.

I hope.

Happy New Knits!