My Delight!!!!

 Here she is!! My Jenkins Delight turkish spindle!! She is very petite and so incredibly lovely. She is made of Desert Ironwood with a maple shaft and weighs 1.2 oz (35 grams). I actually got her last week but have been unable to put her down since she arrived. The first picture was taken the day she arrived.....and already I was spinning with her. The fiber pictured is a superwash BFL....the sample fiber that came with her. That spun up into a very lovely 17 wpi 2-ply yarn.....pictured below.

I had finished spinning that up the very next morning so my hubby took me to the local fiber shop where he purchased 4 ounces of a very lovely merino/tussah silk blend....which I'm now spinning. Nearly done with my first 1/2 ounce. The little Delight is supposed to hold 2 ounces of fiber. I'm having tons of fun testing that one out.  :,)

I'm so enamoured with my Delight that I decided to order another turkish spindle from Mr. Jenkins. After days of deliberation.....he has a nice selection of turkish spindles to choose from......and there are so many wood options as well..........I finally decided on a Jenkins Lark which will be made from Macassar Ebony (with a maple shaft) and weigh about 22 grams. Can't wait for it to arrive!!

I'm amazed at how much I enjoy spinning on my little turkish spindle. Love the fact that when you wind on you make a center pull ball. This is so easy to ply from! I pulled out my plying spindle and used that to ply up what was spun from the sample fiber. Worked beautifully!! And I was able to wind this from my spindle onto a niddy noddy. Another thing I really enjoy about the little Delight is how portable she is. I'm able to put her in a small bag which will fit right inside my purse. My square top whorl drop spindle (which I love) is longer making it not as easy to carry as my turkish spindle. That's okay though. I had purchased a small cross the body bag to carry both of my square top whorl spindles in....plus my nostepinne. I simply grab that when I want to use those spindles on the go. Gosh, I love spinning!! So many options and so incredibly portable.  :<)

Flower Basket Shawlette

The pattern is by Evelyn Clark and distributed through Fiber Trends. The yarn used was a handspun, handdyed Shetland/soy silk blend......about a dk weight. Needle size: 8

Finished size: 54" from tip to tip.....25" deep

This was my very first triangular shawl and I absolutely enjoyed watching it come to life. I found a video on youtube demonstrating a garter stitch tab, so knew exactly what to expect there. Pretty sweet!! I still don't quite understand the correlation between number of stitches for the garter stitch tab and number of stitches in the lace repeat. Maybe someday.....


The shawlette was an easy knit and went fairly quickly. It took me less than a week to finish it. The lace pattern was easy to remember. The only thing that gave me any trouble was the bind-off. I didn't quite understand how it worked. So I looked up the bind-off and found it in one of my sock knitting books. The explanation for it was better and I was able to understand how it worked....and why.

Of course, Harley just had to make sure he was part of the whole process. The only thing he loves better than snuggling under a newly finished knit project, is rolling on a newly finished quilt.  :,)

The shawlette blocked out beautifully.....as can be seen in the photo. The embroidered thread portrait above is of Cisco......whose fiber was used to spin the yarn that was knit up into my shawlette. (I've been playing around with digitizing photos and stitching them out on my embroidery machine using only one color of thread.)

Had a beautiful day for photographing. Had a bit of a wind but not enough to hinder anything. The shawlette photographed beautifully and the color of the yarn came through great.  Sometimes I find it difficult to get a particular color to photograph true. Thankfully this did.  :,) 

Haven't decided on a next project yet. I do know that I want to knit another lace shawl.....or maybe a pair of lace socks. The lace scarf I started last month is coming along nicely. I've got a third of the second half of the scarf knit already. It's definitely not a quick knit that's for sure!! I have to confess I will be very happy when it is finally done. Even though a variety of lace patterns is used, this hasn't been the most exciting knit......for me anyway. Love the way the yarn is knitting up though. Very pretty!! The striping is subtle and seems to really add to the lace pattern instead of hiding it.....like I thought it would.  I think it will be a very pretty scarf when done.

Autumn Lace Scarf

I thought I would share pictures of my latest lace project. I'm tickled with the way it is knitting up. The colors are coming through beautifully and the lace pattern isn't being hidden. The yarn I'm using is one of my handspuns......a polypay cross wool yarn that I hand-dyed. The colors remind me of fall.....all those lovely shades of reds, oranges, yellows, and even a touch of purple. Of course we don't see a lot of fall colors around here with all the coniferous trees that are indigenous to the area. But we do get a bit of color. Just enough to enjoy and inspire. I ended up with 2 skeins of this really pretty yarn. About 620 yards total of a sport weight yarn. More than enough to make the scarf.

The pattern I'm using is a DROPS Design. I'm nearly done with one half of the scarf. Only five more lace repeats left to do before I can put the live stitches on a holder and start on the other half. Can't wait to see what the scarf will look like once it is finished and blocked.

Being Neighborly.......

...exactly what does this mean? Does it mean enduring loud music and noise from your neighbors until 2 in the morning? Does it mean allowing your neighbor kids to park in your front yarn blaring their music and drinking beer ? Which they will then throw out on your yard for you to pick up. Does it mean tolerating your neighbor's kids speeding by your house and screaming obscenities at you? Does it mean having to endure the neighbor screaming at you over the phone and telling you to lighten up when you let them know exactly what kind of behavior their "child" is engaged in?  Does it mean having to tolerate all this and more simply because someone doesn't want to take on the responsibilities of being a parent and would rather let their kid (and friends) run wild in the community.....harassing and destroying private property because it allows them to get drunk with their own friends. What exactly does being neighborly entail? If it entails any of what my hubby and I (not to mention the other families living in the area) have tolerated this weekend then I don't want to be neighborly and will be keeping the county sheriff on speed dial from now on.

We live in a very rural area. The smallest parcel of land around here is 3 acres. Most of the local residents have anywhere from 10 acres on up.  So we do have neighbors. They just aren't close. And we also live on a private dirt road....which used to be really nice......until the neighbors moved in and their kids started raising "kane" on it.  We have tolerated the extra traffic.....and the extra noise.....even though we are technically the only house on our road. The neighbors all live on the road above us....that "T's" into ours. They only use our road because it's a shortcut of sorts. We even tolerated the not so kind words when we blocked off the corner of our property that everyone was driving across. But this weekend. It's been something else. We've dealt with loud music until 2 in the morning. We've dealt with kids drinking and racing up and down the road. We've dealt with kids parking on our front yard, music blaring. We've dealt with kids driving by our house screaming obscenities at us. And I know we will be out there picking up empty beer cans from the front yard. The neighbors never pick up after their kids. And, yes, they do know their underage daughter drinks and drives.....and are perfectly okay with it. When my hubby called to let them know what these kids were doing he was told by the mother...."they are teenagers and that's what they do.". When he called the following night about the loud music and the parking in the front yard, he was told "it's only music. Hope you don't end up with any broken windows".  That was Saturday. Sunday morning we get a phone call from the father telling us that we aren't being neighborly and to lighten up. Never even gave my husband a chance to say a word. Just screamed at him and hung up. Funny thing is this. He wasn't even there. He was at work. So not only did he not have a clue as to what was going on, but he didn't want to hear it either.  Well, anyone who believes that engaging in illegal activity is partying really needs to take a good look at themselves.....and grow up. I can honestly say that when my kids lived at home they never did anything that could be construed in the slightest bit as rude or disrespectful to any of our neighbors. It was just the way they were raised. You respect others and their property whether their actions and/or words deserve it or not.  You know, you try so hard to do what you think is right. We both thought that it would be the "neighborly thing" to do by calling the parents first instead of the county sherriff. Guess not. Next time we won't be so nice.

Well, I feel a bit better getting that out of my system. Now to talk about something more enjoyable. Fiber arts!! More specifically, knitting and spinning!!  This year has gotten off to a wonderful start when it comes to knitting and spinning. I have knit up two hats and spun up a few skeins of yarn already. I have 3 skeins of completed yarn drying and have the most wonderful fiber blend on my spinning wheel right now. It's a blend of suri alpaca and shetland. So soft!!!! And such a dream to spin. Plus I have carded up another dreamy blend that I can't wait to start spinning. It's a blend of black alpaca, black shetland, and a touch of icicle. So far I have 4 ounces of it carded up into these wonderfully soft and fluffy batts. I have enough fiber left for at least another 4 ounces. Just haven't decided whether I want to card it up yet or not. I think I will wait until I start spinning it and then see how I feel. I'm kinda leaning towards wanting to knit a shawl with the finished yarn.

A little about the two hats pictured. Both were knitted up this year. The lace beret went rather quickly. I think it took about 4 or 5 hours to knit. Really quick knit. I used a handspun, handdyed shetland/soy silk blend that I had spun up quite some time ago. It was about a dk weight and was absolutely perfect for this hat. The pattern is from the book "Weekend Hats" (Greenery Beret)....although I didn't follow the pattern exactly. I changed the ribbing on it. The pattern called for a K1,P1 ribbing. I chose to do a K2,P2 ribbing instead. I just like the way it looks.

The finished beret is very light and delicate feeling. It weighs just a little over 2 1/2 ounces. Feels wonderful though. Very feminine. Pictured  is a close up of the lace pattern used. It was an easy pattern to remember.  I honestly can't believe how quickly this one knit up. I washed it in Soak wool wash and then blocked it on a 12" diameter plate. Those plastic holiday ones that you can get on clearance right now for less than a dollar work great for this. It's what I used and I couldn't have been happier with the way the beret turned out.

The other hat I have knit up this year is a nordic ski hat. It was knit using gray and white Finn wool. I had purchased the roving from Paradise Fibers a few days after Christmas. I was looking for something a bit different to spin and this is what Travis (the owner) suggested. We've known each other for years and he knows that I've tried my hand at spinning what seems just about everything under the sun. So it was a bit of a challenge for him to come up with something new for me. I have to say, it was a nice spin. Real fun. Went rather quickly too. I had spun up 8 ounces of the gray and 4 ounces of the white in no time. It made a beautiful dk weight yarn. Absolutely loved the way it knitted up!! It just glided through my fingers.

 This hat took a bit longer to knit because of the colorwork. It was actually my first "real" piece of fair aisle knitting. The pattern is a DROPS Design. Once again I made a small change to the pattern. I opted to make the brim of the hat longer than what the pattern called for. I wanted to be able to fold the brim up so that you got a double layer of fabric covering the ears.....for those colder temperatures that we tend to get around here this time of the year. Besides I thought it would make the hat a bit more balanced. After all, the body of the hat is basically a double layer with all the stranding that is done during knitting.

I love the way this hat turned out. It can be worn either up (as shown in the pattern photo) or slouched. I think it looks really cute slouched. The Finn gives the hat a nice heavy, yet silky feel. Really nice feel. Very luxurious.

Other than doing quite a bit of knitting....and spinning.....I have been slowly learning how to use my new camera. Still need lots of practice.....as you can probably see by the photos. I will figure out how to take a picture of my finished stuff without the shadows. It's just a matter of lighting. I'm thinking I just may have to break down and get an external flash. I've been looking at one with a remote. I already have a tripod for my camera. Hubby bought one just for taking stills.  I may have to think about getting one or two more lenses.....and some different lens filters. Still playing around with all that though. There is quite a bit to learn about this new camera. Thank goodness the dachshunds are so good about having a camera in their face all the time.  :,)

Finally a thought about the new year. I stopped making resolutions quite some time ago. Just really never understood the reasoning behind it. I mean, afterall, if you are going to do something then you will do it regardless of whether it is a resolution or not. I always look at each new year as an opportunity to learn, grow, and enjoy life. Whether or not I manage to lose a few pounds doesn't really matter in the long run. Enjoying life, being happy with who I am, and always appreciating my family and friends is really all that matters. All else will come and go as life sees fit. I'm not going to stress over the things I have no control over. Doesn't do any good. Instead I will simply accept that which I cannot change and continue moving forward. Life is what you make of it. So why not make it a good one.  :,)

Lace, lace, and more lace!!

 December has been a wonderful month for finishing up projects.....especially my lace projects. Pictured is my very first Shetland shawl. It measures 36" square. Not real large, I know. But it was a wonderful beginner shawl. This was made from the pattern that was provided in the online class I took. The one where I wasn't real crazy about the instructor. I'm gaga over the completed shawl though.  :<) Can't seem to quit looking at it....and smiling from ear to ear every time I do!!

A little bit about the shawl. It's knit from a handspun 2-ply sportweight (15 wpi) yarn. Natural color. Compliments of my Shetland ewe, Carrie. The shawl was knit from the inside out. There is no cast-on edge anywhere. I learned how to do a provisional cast on with this project. I also learned how to use my blocking wires and mats.....and was simply amazed at the end results.

There are a few pictures of the shawl. My loving hubby surprised me with a new camera for Christmas....and I can't seem to stop using it. I find that I'm constantly picking it up and taking pictures of this and of that.  So don't be surprised if my posts are more photo intensive than before. This is a really fun camera to use....and there is so much for me to learn. It's allowing me to finally spread my amateur photographer's wings.  :<)

The other lace project I finished this month was an Estonian lace scarf. It was my very first piece of Estonian lace. It took a bit longer to knit up than the shawl did, but was so well worth the effort. Not only did I learn a new technique, but I also learned how to make nupps......and enjoyed making them. A lot!!!

 The scarf is knit from a hand spun 2-ply shetland lamb/kid mohair/soy silk blend.......with a touch of icicle tossed in to give it a bit of sparkle. The yarn is a fine weight yarn (20 wpi).  I had spun this yarn up quite some time ago, but could never find the perfect project for it.....until now.

Nature's Beauty

 I normally don't take nature pictures for a couple of reasons.....(1) I'm usually too busy enjoying it and totally forget about taking pictures.......and....(2) when I do think about taking a picture it's usually when I have left my camera behind.  Well, the other night as I was heading in from feeding I happened to notice the beautiful sunset we were having. Being close to the house.....and remembering my camera......I was able to get a few shots. These were taken from the backyard looking out towards the pasture. Lucky sheep!! They get to enjoy views like this quite often......when they don't have their heads in the feeders that is!

These pictures were taken this morning before the sun moved in and burned off all the fog. I just loved how mystical everything looks. The sheep were just wondering when they were going to get their breakfast and could have cared less about how mystical the fog made their pasture look.  :,)

Finally..........

 .....finished thread basting my Hawaiian quilt and was able to get a picture of it. So....here it is!!! My very first original Hawaiian quilt.  :,) It measures approximately 88" x 109" right now.  After it has been quilted, then I will trim it down so it measures approximately 86" or so square.  The next step is needle-turn applique. I hope to start that just as soon as I finish up the poho poho quilt (otherwise known as my Hawaiian Sampler). Nearly done with the block I'm currently working on and then there is only one more block to do after that.

On Friday the final lesson in my Hawaiian quilt class was posted. Can't help feeling a bit sad. It was a wonderful class and I learned so much. Not to mention it was so much fun to take. The classroom will stay open until the 10th of December, but I really don't anticipate a lot of interaction other than the final good-byes and general wrapping up of the class. It was a wonderful class. The instructor (Nancy Chong)  was very knowledgeable and incredibly helpful. All the notes were well written and easy to follow. If anyone is interested in learning how to make an Hawaiian quilt I would highly recommend taking a class from her....whether it be in person or on line. You won't be disappointed.

Been spending quite a bit of time making Christmas gifts. Had to rethink some of the things I wanted to do simply because it took so long for the thread I had ordered to arrive (over four weeks.....and it was coming from Nevada!)......and  I won't have the time to get them done.....which didn't make me too happy. I had been planning some of the larger gifts for quite some time. Oh well. Happens. You do the best with what you have and continue forward....which I'm doing. Pictured is a sample tote that I did. Since I haven't had a lot of experience (okay none) in embroidery placement, I thought it would be a good idea to stitch up a sample first. Then I could make any changes that might be needed. Well, I really love the way this little tote turned out and will be doing the larger tote  (gift) the same way. The extra time I took in measuring was so worth it.  Now I hope these same techniques will work on placing an embroidery on the front of a shirt....especially since I have two of those to do and have never embroidered a shirt before. Guess I better find a sample one to do.

The other xmas gift I made was a flannel wall hanging. Can't post a picture of it though in case the recipient looks at my blog. Wouldn't want to give the surprise away.  :,)  Still left to do....a couple of embroidered pillows, two framed embroidered pieces, and a few pillowcases. While they are all relatively small things, they are things that can be finished easily and fairly quickly. I don't want to be doing what I've done in the past........frantically working late into the night on Christmas Eve to finish things up.

The scrappy civil war quilt (now named "Sweet Surrender") is finally done. At least the top anyway. Haven't taken a picture of it yet though. I'm waiting for the snow to let up so the quilt top can be hung on the line outside and a picture taken of it. It's a large one.....108" square. Bought a packaged cotton batt for it yesterday at Joanns. I had a 60% off coupon that I was able to use on it. Yea!! Even splurged and took advantage of the sale on Christmas fabrics. I was able to find some really nice ones to add to my small collection. Some will be absolutely perfect for a few of the Christmas gifts I still have left to make.

Onto knitting:  My Estonian lace scarf has been put on hold for a bit. Just until the shawl I'm working on for the Shetland Shawl class I'm taking is finished. Taking this class was impulsive. I saw it being offered and simply couldn't refuse. I've been wanting to make a Shetland shawl for the longest time. Been collecting books on them for years. The class takes a different approach to knitting the shawl. You actually start from the center and work your way out. There is no cast on edge and no wrong or right side. The knitting has been simple. I'm nearly done with the shawl center. Only have a repeat and a half to go before I'm ready to start on the border. I'm using a 2-ply sport weight (15 wpi) handspun  natural color shetland yarn (compliments of Carrie).

The class itself hasn't been the most exciting thing in the world to take. There is no interaction between the instructor and the students. I did post once on the discussion board....and the instructor did reply. But that was pretty much it. Very disappointing especially after the wonderful experience I have had with my Hawaiian quilting class.  When I told my hubby how disappointed I am with this class (and highly doubt I will ever take another class via needlecraft university), he asked me if I have learned anything. Yes, I have. I have learned how to do a provisional cast-on....and how to pick up stitches with it looking the same on both sides. I am also learning how to knit a Shetland shawl from the inside out. Then he said, "well, that makes it worth taking." And he is right. Even though I'm not finding the class to be a wonderful experience (or even a mediocre one at that), I am learning new things....and I will end up with a finished Shetland shawl. So in the end it will have been worth it. Thankfully next week the final lesson goes up and the class will be done. I will be sure to post pictures of my Shetland shawl when it is done.

On that note, I will end this post by wishing everyone a happy Thanksgiving.