Icky

Monday, October 08, 2007

For the last week I've been in pain. Like pain as if I'd been punched in the stomach. Or like I had *coughcrampscough*. It makes no sense. Today it got worse and it's annoying. All day I was in pain, and suddenly, nothing. I still feel cruddy, but the pain is magically gone. And whatever you're thinking it could be, trust me I have though of all the reasons, and not one is a possibility. Chad though suddenly felt bad today, so maybe it could be something we ate? Who knows.

Today was the last day of the school term and I failed two of my classes for sure. I feel crappy about it but with all the other stuff going on I am not coping well. I have every intention of doing better next time but I'm still a bit upset. I am not the type to take these things lightly and especially when I'm paying so much for it. It sucks. I did so well for the first year and a half. It's just been tough I guess.

To follow up my crappy mood/day/MONTH...

I was spinning earlier and it broke. Much cursing and whining followed. I got it reattached. 5 minutes later it broke again. More cursing and whining. No luck. I put the roving down before I got really mad. To feel better I cast on a sock. I love the simplicity of the Retro Rib in the Favorite Socks book so I cast that on. I got into the pattern repeat for the cuff and realized you couldn't really see the pattern. So I took it off the needles and started over with a lighter color. It think it's turning out well. Of course the following pictures aren't as good as in person. I promise it really looks better the second time around. The purple and green was the first try. I'm going to use that for regular ribbed socks since I think the tones would hide most patterns...

Roving Pics

Saturday, October 06, 2007

Ok so hubby ran to the post office today for me, so I didn't have to. This is what he brought back. I'm so excited about all of it!

First up was an impulse buy from Fat Cat Knits. I really didn't mean to buy any more roving but I saw this and had to get it. It's 4.3 ounces of merino tencel in the color Seaweed. Her merino tencel is gorgeous and soft! I will be probably impulse buying more of it in the future. ;) Also the pic is a little dark, the colors are just a tad brighter than this.Next up are the rovings I bought last Saturday from Funky Carolina when she did her shop update. She did one today as well, and it was hard to not buy anything!

4 ounces of superfine merino that is SO soft. Softest merino that I've ever touched I think. It's like malabrigo soft. The name is Fern Gully. That alone made me want it lol. Love that movie.
4 ounces of superfine merino in Pirate:
4 ounces of regular merino in Little More:Lastly there is 4 ounces of superwash merino in Runs Deep. It's really soft superwash!
I seriously can't wait to spin all this. I am going to have a really hard time deciding what roving to spin after I finish the pink merino and the dusty melons merino silk. I have to say as well that her rovings smell really really good. Seriously. I wonder what she uses...I may have to ask her.

I'm still waiting on the roving that I bought from The Sweet Sheep. They are in Canada so shipping takes a little longer. I am not sure when they shipped it but I should get it next week. After that I will not be buying much roving for a while. Or at least I'm going to TRY not to. I'm going to save for a new wheel. And probably sell my current one.

On the knitting front, I didn't get much done yesterday. I brought knitting because we thought things would be slow, but girls and purses...yeah. It was fun though and I will probably be helping out more, maybe next weekend.

Quick one...

Friday, October 05, 2007

Just to show what I got for all my hard work today. It's not real but it's totally cute! Brighter than this crappy pic and there is shiny threads in some squares. It's PRETTTTTTY. Better post tomorrow. My roving is waiting at the post office, so I'll have more to share and pics!

Oh what a day! (aka, more fun stuff for me!)

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

WARNING: The following post is image heavy. Due to all the fibery goodness you may experience some lightheadedness, lust, and/or the urge to go buy yarn. In my expert opinion, I recommend you give in to those urges.

Today was a very good day for buying stuff. And getting stuff in the mail. I'll start with what I got in the mail. My very first secret pal package! My awesome pal has spoiled me absolutely rotten. Here's what she sent!

Two different colors of mohair roving:Two skeins of wildfoote sock yarn (the colors are actually lighter and brigter IRL):
Some organic cotton that is way soft and two little knit bears:
This book, which has some really organic, cute, and unusual designs:
A sheepy tape measure!
Some very soft dark roving, which wasn't labeled, but it's gorgeous!
And the cutest things ever, two knit bear hats for nick and alexis! I couldn't get a picture of them on yet, but I will, they are seriously adorable in them!
Also in the mail today was a set of stitchmarkers for the current swap. Thank you swap partner! I love these.
Then today I went to Paradise Fibers for bobbins and roving. I got three new pretty bobbins, so now I'll be able to ply and spin more than one project if I want.Here is the roving I got. A pound of superwash merino tencel, which is GORGEOUS and SOOOO soft, omg I love it...seriously beautiful, even undyed. And I got two pounds of merino, just regular stuff, but it's also really soft.Some synthrapol for dyeing. Apparently it is good for washing hand dyed items especially the first time. Also if you put it in the water that you soak your fibers in before dyeing, it makes them wetter somehow, helps the dye spread better, and then helps it to wash out more completely so it doesn't bleed later. I figured it would be a good thing to have.Lastly they gave me a sample of this gorgeous stuff, which is blurry but trust me it's UNbelievable. It's their fake cashmere roving, it's 100% nylon I believe, so it dyes with the protein dyes. It's supposed to be just like regular cashmere, but SO cheap. And it's absolutely the softest thing I've ever touched. And shiny. I will be buying this next time I go in there.Lastly, we have ourselves an impulse buy. I had to wait for pizza hut to cook our food so I went across the way to borders to use the bathroom and since I had time to kill, I looked. I found this great little book with some unique stitch patterns. I already have been very inspired by it and have several new pattern ideas.This next one I blame Opal for. She kept knitting all these great sock patterns, and they are from this book. I love so many of the patterns, and the ones I'm not thrilled with I have ideas to modify so I will still use them. Mostly I like the Embossed Leaves socks, the Retro Rib socks, and the ones on the cover, the Waving Lace socks. Those are my faves anyway. There are other good ones.So today was a great day for that stuff. I'm still waiting on my Funky Carolina roving. It should be here maybe tomorrow, but probably Friday. Friday I will be gone all day helping my aunt so if it's Friday I won't get it then. I could go to the post office early Saturday though. God help me she's having a shop update on Saturday...as if I didn't buy enough already.

Also when I went to paradise fibers today, I got a couple of fliers on some semi-local events. Next weekend, Oct 13th and 14th, there are two separate things going on. BOTH where you can rent tables very cheap and sell your stuff. I'm wondering if I shouldn't do it. The drive would be an hour and a half about for each, and they are in different cities. So it would be a lot for one weekend, but I think at least for one day it would be a good idea. If I can get my fiber dyed up this weekend and next week and dry by then. I'd probably need to go buy more too if I want to have enough. Any opinions? Should I go for it? One day, or both? I need to decide quickly though because I would need to reserve a table for each one or I'll miss out! I'm debating it. (Hint hint...someone convince me to do it!!!)

Ok so I'm tired from all my shopping and I think I'm going to go knit a little before bed to wind down, and watch Private Practice.

Fun stuff for me!

Monday, October 01, 2007

Today I mailed out my stitch markers for a swap. I think I'll pass on the next round. I am getting a little stitch markered out. Plus they were mailed late and I hate being a slacker. Lol.

Anyway that meant I had to go to the post office, and I wasn't expecting anything to be there yet. I've ordered an insane amount of roving. (Trust me you don't want to know) So I forgot that I had yarn coming that I traded for. I traded 4 skeins of merino style and my two skeins of sherbert lornas for a skein of sea silk. I really didn't want to trade the lornas but I can get more. And I really wanted the sea silk lol. So that came today. I have no idea what color it is...it doesn't say on the label, but it's very pretty. Emerald, burgundy, gold, and a few other patches of colors. She even wrapped it up all pretty!I also got some of the roving I ordered. I got this first one off of etsy from Flawful Fibers. I bought it mainly because I'm seriously in love with the colors, but also because I wanted to touch bfl. It's called Amore and I think the name is very appropriate because I love it.I also got two rovings from the Yarn Wench. They are merino and so very soft and gorgeous. The blue green one is called Skydancer 2 and is 4.2 ounces. The other one is 3.8 ounces in She's Not a Shy Girl. I will DEFINITELY be ordering more from her.The rest I will tell you about when I get it. I will tell you though that it's from Funky Carolina and beyond gorgeous.

I also finished up the Ms. Marigold vest that I started not that long ago. Here's a pic. I'm really happy with how it came out. I just have to weave in the two strands from sc around the arm holes.Other than that stuff though, that's about it. Oh yeah I did finish spinning the first half of the dusty melons roving. I really need to get more bobbins to finish up spinning that and the pink stuff. I really want to finish something already so I can knit with it! I'm thinking wed or thurs this week I'll be able to go and get those. On friday I'm supposed to help my aunt with her purse business. I'll be gone all day helping my cousin actually and we have to drive to this big beauty expo thing to sell purses. I'm excited, it should be fun! They will teach me the ropes and when it gets busy, I'll be able to do the "purse parties" as she calls them, on my own. So I won't be around on Friday.

Ok so I'll be around, next time will probably be to show off more roving!