Week 2: After the birthday!

Hello, hello hello! Welcome back if you've come to see (read!) me before, and hi there to anybody visiting for the first time. Be amazed and awed, I'm managing to post for a second week in a row. Well, be amused, maybe. I can handle the amazed part. I am notorious for thinking something's a good idea and then rethinking it until I don't want to do it anymore. I have been looking forward to Wednesday since -last- Wednesday though, so that seems like a good sign.

As the title states, it's now After The Birthday, or 364 days until the -next- celebration. Though technically I guess it's still 365, as next year is a leap year. At any rate, it was a good day! I got lovely gifts from my mother, lots of birthday wishes from my friends, and had a fantastic night out with the DH. My real gift comes in a couple weeks when I travel to Vegas to see Bon Jovi with him and a couple of friends. I'm so excited! And truly a child of the 80s.

But let's get to the good stuff!

What I'm Dyeing

I am still obsessed with lace and I don't see that stopping any time soon. I'm having such a good time dyeing lace yarns that I have considered doing nothing else. I think that's a little too limiting for me, though, so never fear, rovings and sock yarn will be coming in the future. As a matter of fact, I'm getting -back- into sock yarns, since I haven't done much of that for a while.

This week, though, I'm showing off my current favorite of the lacey crop. This skein of laceweight turned out such a luscious shade of green that I just love it. I feel a little sheepish bragging on it so much, but I really do think it's beautiful. I call it Picnic on the Lawn, because it reminds me of thick, soft early summer grass, perfect for spreading out a picnic blanket and spending the day.


What I'm Spinning

Like a lot of spinners, I started out with a spindle rather than just leaping onto the wheel. I wasn't sure I'd like it or be able to figure out how the whole spinning thing work, so I ordered a few spindles, learned to make my own and ...well. I haven't looked back. I still love my spindles as a matter of fact and have almost every one I own loaded up with fiber of some sort.

My current favorite thing to spin are Moonrover Batts. Lacey cards up these fantastic batts from a variety of fibers in amazing colors and then combines them in ways I would never imagine or put together for myself. She has batt clubs where you're guaranteed to get something amazing once a month, but she also puts up one of her limited numbered series or mystery batts in her shops. They're so much fun to work with and now that I've been introduced to spinning right from the batt, I'm even more hooked.

This one is the January Batt Club offering in progress (and the last of the set of batts I got in my 2 ounces -- isn't it gorgeous?) but I have many more to spin in all sorts of colors and I know there'll be more in my future.



What I'm Knitting

My startitis continues. I try so hard not to have dozens of projects on the needles at one time, but something inevitably comes along and breaks down all my resistance. Yesterday was no exception.

I've been wanting to try colorwork for a while, and have been intimidated by it at the same time. Yesterday, I went to my LYS to get some new needles and ogle yarns I might want in the future, and I couldn't help myself. I picked up some Debbie Bliss Rialto 4 ply to make Eunny Jang's Endpaper Mitts. They're supposedly easy and good for colorwork newbies like me. I've looked at other people's projects on Ravelry and I think I can manage. I hope. I'd cross my fingers but it's tough to knit that way.

Since I literally just started them yesterday, I don't really have enough to show you -my- colors, but I'll show you the picture on Eunny's pattern page. When mine are at least a little more showy, maybe I'll share them here. :)



And that's it! Another week, another post. Back to the knitting. I can hear the yarn calling me.

Thanks for stopping by!