Just left of normal

It's a bit of a crazy week, we are preparing for an up coming vacation, baby girl is starting to get a runny nose and i have work and appointments this week.

I changed the layout (thank you capt. obvious), I liked the last one but i have thing about not wasting space, or at least wasting as little as possible. I found this one and was happy with the additional column. It is a little simple but i may be able to fiddle with it later. I sort of miss it having that girly touch, but it has to be gender friendly for Sam. So i thought this might be ok. We'll see, might fiddle with it some more.

I thought i had shown you the spun party mints. Apparently i haven't been on top of things like i thought, this is it before it the spin was set. And below is my new ball. I am torn between selling these (and future) hands puns, i feel like i should knit some of them. One reason being that i've never actually knit with a hand spun yarn that i know of. Another being that, how can i sell it without knowing what it would be like to work with - meaning i spin to tightly and it gets to kinky and twisty on itself or i don't set the spin well enough or what other sort of yarn woes may come along with a hand spun yarn. But i don't even know what sort of pattern i should use it for. It isn't really a lot of yarn - which reminds me of a question i had... if i want a decent sized skein of yarn how much roving should i be looking to buy?

Ok as promised, an update with added visual stimulation of my newest arrival. When i received it i was so excited i didn't even think about taking pictures before i tore into it. Thankfully it was double enveloped, the outer one had a little snag but no further damage. The roving itself was rolled up in cute tissue paper and secured with a sticker. To be honest i was really impressed with the welcome gift and overall presentation. We purchased it from exclusivelylindalee.etsy.com, she also included a Customer to Friend certificate which included a discount for all future purchases. I defiantly recommend giving her shop a look.

Here is the welcome gift spun (and my eye popping leader yarn) i wasted no time, i even kicked sam off the phone to do so. And let me tell you it is so lovely and soft you almost can't feel it. I am working on building up stock so i can reopen my etsy shop. So i'll keep you posted, for now i will leave you with a few more pics.

I think i contemplate posting a lot more often than i actually post. I think if i had a lap top, being that it's portable then I'd post way more often because i could bring the computer instead of having to bring the stuff upstairs to the computer.

I got the roving Sam bought for me yesterday. I was so excited i opened it all up before i even thought about taking pictures. The shop owner included a 'Welcome Gift' of some extra roving soooo pretty. I kicked Sam off the phone and spun up the extra roving right away. It wasn't a lot a small ball maybe just enough for a hat or a small neck warmer. I did much better on one but that in part is due to how soft and lush it is, so soft you almost can't feel it. I took more time and care to drafting and created a long piece that i could put on my arm. The yarn is more even this time as well somewhere between a sock yarn and a worsted weight (maybe thats the same thing but i dunno). I have pictures of all of this to post but my poor camera died and is currently charging. I'll have to add them in later along with more info about the etsy seller (i was quit impressed).

I am so excited i just thought i'd throw in this little blurb, i talked sammy into buying me some roving off etsy (after a little coercion and bargaining)it's a lovely mix of pastels called Party Mints which it does look exactly like. I pray that it will be beautiful to work with - at least more so than the first. Here is a picture of my humble little spindle.

I had dad drill the whole in the center of the wood which actually worked pretty well. I've had to glue the whorl 3 times though because my dad would see it on the table and fiddle with it. He'd ask if it was working out or what it was for while he'd just pop the whorl loose like it wasn't even glued and slide it up to the hook or down the other end. Then he'd try to spin the whorl on the dowel and make a comment about it not spinning very well, then i'd tell him the whole thing spins at once not just the whorl. Then he'd say "oh, well it slides around an awful lot for that" *smacks forehead* The other two times i wasn't present when he moved the whorl but i know he did because aside from it being loose it was in a different spot than i put it in.

Alright i am off to work on my Ridged Lace Cowel (a pattern from Elinor Brown found here) - which is actually the real reason i came up here to the computer because the pattern was just not coming out like the picture and i had to find out what was going on. I found the exact issue on her ravelry page "Pattern was corrected 6/3/08 to remove a stray YO. New stitch pattern repeat should read ”yo, k1, yo, k2, sl1, k2tog, psso, k2”" I was ending up with all these extra stitches and not enough pattern repeat and then it just looked really wonky. Now it should be better.

P.S. If you have any comments on my drop spindle, maybe i should make the whorl smaller or something... let me know please and thank you :D

A few posts ago i mentioned some smelly roving... well the last 4 days have really been adventures in spinning. I found out through my craftster post how to wash the roving and so i did, it went well. Though i only did two strips at a time rather than the whole mass because i was to afraid of it felting because it's really kinky grabby wool. After having it out of the bag for a while i realized maybe it wasn't as smelly as i thought. It did smell a little but it could have been magnified by the fact that it had been in a plastic under the bed box for at least 6 months. Also the water didn't appear to be dirty at all so i opted not to wash the rest and go ahead and spin all of it and worry about washing it later.

I split the strips into quarters and drafted each one (however at the time i couldn't remember that word for the life of me). I had seen several videos where people were just spinning and it looked easy. What i didn't see was the "pinching it off" then let it run up. Though it wasn't to bad, i didn't expect my first spin to be perfect. I spun it all and then the error REALLY started.
I was completely unaware of how or the need to set the spin of the yarn. Though i thought something should happen i just had no idea what. I ended up wrapping the yarn in a center pull ball and fought with it the whole time. I knew i must be missing a step so i took to scouring youtube again for something more in depth. I finally found these videos by Megan (i am not going to butcher the spelling of her last name). She's adorable not to mention clear and thorough in her explanations. She made three videos that take you through drafting the yarn, spinning then finishing it. Exactly what i was looking for, not to mention it included all the details i was missing. She also has the videos on her site www.theartofmegan.com (adorable as well) so check her out.

I proceeded to wrap the yarn around the chair back and being the so very smart person i am, i didn't notice the issue until i was done wrapping it. Can you see my new dilemma? *sigh* So i carefully wrapped it back onto the needlework frame i had it on the day before from the chair. I successfully tied it, put it in hot water and wrung it out in the correct direction. Currently it's hanging in the laundry room with about 8 hangers hanging on the bottom. haha. Hopefully i left it in the hot water long enough. There are a few more pictures on flicker if you want to flip through. I'll let you know how it finishes up.