Trying to keep up!

I've decided to 'try' and keep up a little with blogging here - there's SO much I'm doing, spinning, knitting and I've gotten really lazy about uploading pictures and messing with Blogger. Sorry about that.

This is Jack and our new dog renamed Sarah..they are howling at the moon together while Kasey looks on in amazement. (and me, I never heard a person howl quite like that)

This is some yarn I spun recently. An Etsy seller named Michelle is on Etsy as Knitkass. She is like the nicest person EVER in my book. She sent me a part for my brand new wheel I'd broken without ever talking to or meeting me! Wouldn't even take postage! I got her first handspindle from her store along with this fiber. It's hard to tell but it has a little 'glitz' in it also, and my technique is getting SO much better! Yeah!

This is my first spindle and fiber from the Butterflygirl Designs spindle/fiber club and I'm loving it so far. It's merino/bamboo/firestar blend and I'm going to do it in a SAL challenge on Ravelry. Again, the pic doesn't do justice, the fiber has this gorgeous blue/green sparkle to the bamboo that looks amazing with the black merino. The spindle is Italian Resin and I adore it.
Here is a picture of Sarah - she is ALL Jack Russell and has adopted me as her forever person. The former owner had her de-barked (ugh, I don't want to know details) but it's made her sound really funny, like she's sucking helium right before she barks, heheheh.

Other than this stuff, you can always find me hanging out around Ravelry, most often on the spinning boards. I'll try to get better about keeping up here!

So...

This is what it looks like around here.

well, actually Emmy always looks that pissy

boxes in the kitchen

what used to be our vintage living room

more boxes

I haven't blogged for a few reasons, all the boxes you see being the primary. Also, I've discovered (much to my surprise) how very intertwined my being has become with Jack's. She has been working in Memphis for several weeks and drives home each Friday to spend Saturday with me (it makes me want to cry) and every Sunday morning she gets back in the Jeep and drives back to Memphis to go to work on Monday. I function here...I mean, things are getting done and I'm knitting and spending time on my beloved beach but it's not "right" without her and when she's here and it is "right", time is too brief to waste it on typing out a post.

I've gotten in the habit of heading for Loopy on Sunday afternoons after Jack leaves and it's been so wonderful. I piddle at knitting this crazy cabled sock that has no business being knit with distractions at all and talk to the people there without haste or urgency (another thing that surprises me in that I never realized I've "always" been in a hurry while there). This means I spend alot of time with the ends of my dpn's either waving in the air or pressed into my lower lip depending on whether or not I'm running my mouth.

I also started The Great American Afghan (as in swatching) in the hopes that I could reduce the size of the WIP box that I currently guard against movers as "must go with Lisa in the Jeep". It seemed (in the moment) that squares out of a yarn that is readily available anywhere was a good idea for a transitional project.

The WIP box is freaking ridiculous in size, not as WIP's but as things I refuse to let out of my grubby little paws to be loaded into a moving van. I mean, why would I entrust nearly THREE THOUSAND yards of Emerald Laceweight from Sarah's Yarns to moving people? (never mind why I have that much of that color of 'that' yarn from there to begin with, if you needed that information you'd be Jack and you aren't)

I've been told it could be 3 days before they appear with our belongings. They can't have my Ott light.

Obsessed

I've come to the conclusion that obsessive and knitter go hand in hand. If this isn't true, I don't really want to know!

I've been obsessively swatching for my first sweater and was AMAZED last night at my LYS when Zoe said "I don't want to bust your bubble but you should swatch again" and I didn't lose it..I didn't get upset, I said "ok, if that's what you think" and here I am swatching again with new needles that I actually intend to USE to knit this sweater.

Never mind the new obsession with Lantern Moon needles and my firm conviction that I must have one of EVERY size possible in Ebony or Blond wood like yesterday.

On a different note, I'm very excited to be travelling to Raleigh, NC next week and an opportunity to meet Cat, the owner of a group I help moderate, I Love KandCAlongs!

Just a short update...I'd do pics but my home computer no longer 'see's' my digital camera so it's a pain..We have new laptops on the way so soon it will be better!

Spinning and Hats!

I’ve signed up for Spinning 101 at Loopy Yarns starting tomorrow night – I can’t WAIT! I’ll actually get my hands on a wheel before it’s over with! I went Friday night to register and bought some of this:

It’s a merino/alpaca/silk blend and it feels like HEAVEN in my hands. I have a deadline on the lace for my mother’s birthday but I had to cast on a hat with this stuff!

I finished my first ever hat yesterday. It’s Noro Kochoran and that’s another yarn I love working with. Below is Jack who doesn’t want her picture on the internet modeling said hat.

I had notice that a wee mousie had inhabited my office at work. We called the appropriate authorities and they came and made decisions about what was to be done. I wanted nothing to do with it so I left the area and promptly forgot about it.

Until today.

Yep, you guessed it. Something smelled funny, I called for help and then fled the crime scene. Bummer.

Yarns and Parties

It’s been a really busy (but mostly fun!) week. Friday night was Loopy Yarns 2nd birthday party and it was a blast! I’ve never seen so many knitters jammed into such a tight space before and on top of that Franklin was shooting for his 1000 Knitters project!
I finally found a free chair and sat down to chat (and knit) with some other like minded folks. The Ravelry conversations crack me up; it reminds me of the early days of the internet when everyone had AOL and the big topic was what your screen name was. Now it’s “who are you on Ravelry?”

I am loving Ravelry, by the way – I just can’t spend much time online at all with my computer in a crash state currently.

I gave in to temptation at Loopy and bought 1 (ONE) teeny skein of yarn. It’s Noro Kochoran and it is going to become a beautiful warm hat (or 2).

The scarf also continues bravely forward – it generated a lot of interest Friday night when folks realized it was a sock yarn.

Jack bought me a prezzie this weekend – she said it SO is me when I’m knitting and it’s the perfect size for a project bag. I think she’s tired of seeing me drag around beat up ziplocks.

Lace Scarf

Again, a sorta grainy shot from my cameraphone. This yarn is working up beautifully now!