two weeks

Um, yikes. Time’s going by rather alarmingly quickly, isn’t it?

finally off the loom

This scarf has been on my rigid heddle loom (Ashford 24″) for months and months, since before I moved! It was even still in its plastic garbage bag under my desk until I decided this week that it was high time to finish it. And of course once I picked it up again, I was finished in 2 hours!

That led to warping the loom up again, and right now I have 2 scarves have their soak. The loom is empty just now, but I might even warp it up again tonight.

ready for the wash

A knit I’m really excited by, but was putting off because it’s fiddly – Some Assembly Required. Personally I’m not really one for knitting very fiddly things, especially small fiddly things (I’m pretty game for complicated sweaters and things). Toys are pretty challenging for me just because there’s so much finishing and fiddling compared to the actual knitting! Give me a big swatch of stockinette any day.

That said, this is a pretty fun knit so far. I’ve only done the head, but I’m hoping to make a good dent in the torso-knitting this afternoon.

lightbulb-head

Oh, and just in case someone out there needs a yummy recipe to bring to one of those numerous parties this time of year?

twix-alike bars

Twix-alike bars! So good. The only changes I made were to add some sea salt to the caramel (probably about 1/2 to 3/4 tsp) and to cut the squares much, much smaller. Nom.

a spinner is born

So back at Rhinebeck,my travel buddies Cheryl and Andrea both decided on Sunday afternoon that it was high time to look for a spindle and some roving and get spinning! Obviously I was rather pleased, having both of them turned by the wool fumes…buahaha.

With that goal and a tight budget for this whole spinning lark, we set out to find some inexpensive spindles (a bit challenging) and some pretty roving (not nearly as challenging) and I got ’em spindling on our last night at our Rhinebeck house.

Fast forward a month, and both of them have finished their very first handspuns! I didn’t take a photo of Cheryl’s (I should’ve though, it was awesome) but I did take some photos of Andrea on Wednesday night at knit night!

Plying…which is my favourite part;

big-time plying

Stephanie helping Andrea with Andean plying;

andean plying

And Andrea’s very first plied mini-skein! She ended up with about 100 yards or so. (From pretty Ashland Bay merino, in case anyone’s wondering!)

first skein of finished handspun!

Awesome. I love seeing spinners being born.

I’ve been spinning a little bit myself, too – here’s some gorgeous 2ply worsted-ish weight that I spun up from merino/silk batts that I got at Rhinebeck. I haven’t counted up the yardage yet, and there’s another bobbin full that I haven’t wound off yet.

from Rhinebeck batts

I’ve also finally managed to get a few woven scarves up in my Etsy shop. I’d wanted to get more done for this update, but I figure I’ll just add as I go – lots more to come, and you can always contact me if you have a request!

new woven scarves