9.27.2007

That Stuff I Was Telling You About

Knits

My second pair of Friday Harbor socks, a.k.a. my No-Smoking Socks. KPPPM in some of my favorite colors ever. Thanks to everyone for all your encouraging words and good thoughts and well-wishes on the not-smoking thing. Me and the Mr. O'Kitten just made it through Day 12! Woo-Hoo!! No-Smoking Socks for everyone!


Since I'm curtailing my computer time, I still haven't caught up on my email (sorry about that), but I did finish these. Both are knit from the Lacey-Switzer-Shetland blend that I spun. And both look better on an actual human head than in this photo.


I don't know what to say about these, except that it's very hard to photograph anything black. They go on your hands, and there is a right and a left.


I didn't use a pattern, and I had just enough of this super-soft, super-bulky Misti Alpaca yarn I got from PRGE. I think I have all of 8 inches of it left.


They came out looking completely midieval, as I suppose gauntlets should. But they're just as plush and soft as can be.


Spins

I'm really proud of this yarn, the silk-merino I was telling you about. I have another hank of this fiber in a variety of greys that I'm going to work on to make a contrasting yarn, and then hopefully make socks. Socks knit from my very own homespun! I never would've believed it.

Also to file under new and exciting: Mr. O'Kitten has begun spinning himself. Yep, and he's quite good at drafting already after just a little practice, although still in that stage of starting out where you get a thick then thin (then grrr! $%&# breaking) ply instead of the glorious flow of fiber you can see in your mind's eye, and you doubt you'll ever get past the frustration. But he will.


My positive experience with the silk-merino gave me the courage to finally try spinning up a bit of Pepper's cria fleece from our spring shearing. To me it feels a lot like angora bunny, except that the fibers are more like 4-7 inches (10-18 cm) long. Tricky to spin, but how often do you get to try spinning baby llama?


Some Other Stuff

I photographed a bunch of stuff today, while Morgan supervised fron the director's chair.


Sneak preview of cards Mr. O'Kitten and I made. Coming very soon to an etsy shop near you...

11 comments:

historicstitcher said...

Outstanding! On every endeavor!

I love the spinning - I'm so glad I coerced you into trying something new and (seemingly) difficult :) My sock yarn is coming out lovely, too.

Yay for not smoking! It has to help somewhat, doesn't it, that Mr. O is quitting at the same time? It would be so much harder to quit if he were smoking in proximity while you were trying to quit. And don't let statistics be a crutch! You are not a statistic. I don't care what the numbers say about women and depression and quitting smoking and whatever. YOU are amazing, and can do whatever you want! If you want to quit, then I have no doubt that you will.

I'm so proud of you for taking the leap to spin the cria! Don't put too much twist in it...those long fibers don't need much. I tried spinning a cria I have hanging around, and made wire-like yarn from putting in way too much twist for the 6" fibers! I'm thinking of trying it as a lightly spun 3 ply...

Hang in there! It'll be a while before I make it up there again, but I'm going to try for the shop sale weekend, to help you out.

Chris said...

The Friday Harbor socks are gorgeous!

Anonymous said...

Keep up the good work. We are so proud of both of you...

Hey, you can made everyone in the family socks for Christmas. : )
That should keep you busy.

Try making an extra extra large coat of Shea dog. She is 100 lbs last time I head.

Shadkitty said...

Everything is so wonderful! I like the gauntlets. They look yummy and smooshy.

Mr. O'Kitten is spinning!? That is wonderful. My husband tries to act disinterested. But he stares sometimes.

sunneshine said...

Yippee for 12 days!!!

I love the misty alpaca gauntlets - amazing! The socks are great, too! I love the colors!! And that yarn is spun is beautiful!! I can't wait to see what you knit with it! It has to be so cool to raise the animals, sheer them, clean the fur, spin it and knit with it...

Keeping you in my thoughts!

pins&needles said...

OOhhh.... I want that yarn! It's so purdy!

Carrie K said...

Looks good! I really like those hats particularly.

Congrats on all those days! They just keep adding up.

So happy to hear Gandalf & Strider found a home together.

BEESTLYproducts said...

i hear it takes 21 days to break a habit (or form one) you're more than half-way. and look at al the cool things you have to show for your time.

Puss-in-Boots said...

Hey good to hear from you, Mrs O'K. You sound as if you're doing really well with the non smoking bit. Well done...yep the depression will pass but try some Valerian, it's a mild herbal antidepressant. Jane takes it when she gets down like when her father was in hospital. She swears by it.

Anyway, you hang in there, girl, you are doin' reeeeel good!

Hugs

RheLynn said...

You've been very very busy! Glad to hear about Gandalf and Strider as well, hope that 3 yr.old and them are having fun together ;)

Very nice yarns and projects, and making cards together sounds fun!

sienna said...

Congratulations on the 12 days!! (probably more by now) Good for you.