Speaking out on Sunday: Knitting Along

Week Twelve is here and available for downloading now!

This week, you get a relatively short, fairly rambling episode. It's one of those days, you know? Sometimes, you have brilliant insight to share with the knitting world, and other days (like today!), you're just sort of boringly, mundanely...you. Thanks to all of you who put up with me being me. :)

A couple of things this week, though. One, hey look, a podcast that's released on time. A little early, even! Don't faint. And second, show notes, from the moment the podcast goes up. Yep, that's right. This is me, trying to be a little more on the ball. Let's hope it sticks.

I'm talking about knit-alongs, more Shakespeare, and my project updates this week. For the curious, I will do the contest prize drawing announcement in next week's episode. Come back and find out whether you've won!

And, as always, thanks for stopping by.

Enabling that I mentioned:

WestKnits Mystery KAL: Earth and Sky - want to join in on the knit-along? The pattern is here! Come on, join us! It'll be fun. :)

Dripping Fiber Studios - Kim is still at it with her amazing batts. I finished up a yarn from one of the Game of Thrones batts this week. She's moved on to True Blood inspirations, but they're still amazing. Go check her out.

The finished yarn:

Into The Whirled -- Cris at Into the Whirled continually and consistantly comes up with fantastic color. I couldn't resist picking up more of her fiber to feed my spinning obsession. Make sure you check out her Ravelry group to get in on her fiber club and inspiration contests, too!

All That Other Stuff:

Lynn Zimmerman -- Though I failed to mention it in the episode, check out Lynn's blog and think about donating to her team for the Denver Oyster, an Amazing-Race-esque triathalon happening in August. A $5 donation to the Make-A-Wish foundation gets you a copy of Laura Linneman's (LaLa of the Knit Girllls) My Wish pattern and 10$ gets you an entry in the raffle for a huge list of other amazing prizes.

Henry VI, Part II -- Here it is, your link to Henry VI, Part II. Read on!

How to Contact me:

iTunes: Slinging Stitches...in Color
Ravelry: creaturecomfort
Ravelry Group: Creature Comfort Craftwork Fans
Etsy: Creature Comfort Craftworks on Etsy
Email: sarah.hawke [at] gmail.com
Twitter: creaturecmfts
Facebook: Facebook
Plurk: Plurk

Talk to you next week!

A post on Saturday? What?

It's Saturday, and I'm posting. I know, what? How did that happen?

Well, it happened because I meant to post yesterday and I forgot. Yep. Classic case of space headedness.

At any rate, there was another weekly shop update yesterday. These are my new additions:



And! I'm eight sales away from 100! If you're one of the next eight shoppers, I'll enter you into a drawing for 20% off your next purchase. Pretty sweet, right?

Come check it out!

Wednesday on the Wheel: All that's fit to spin.

Or everything spun during TdF that's fit to show you, anyway.

Last week I showed you the first yarn I finished during Tour de Fleece. Now I'm showing you everything else.

These are all mini skeins from sample fiber. The largest (the blue-green awesome) is only 85 yards. The rest are more like 20.

But they kept my spindles (and me!) happy, so that's what counts.

Maybe next week I'll have something more substantial.

Maybe.

Make It Monday: Wants and Haves

I was going to actually post a make-it picture today, because I have half a pair of socks finished! That's what I wanted to do, because I assumed that I'd actually have the podcast up yesterday.

And then the gremlins got in to my equipment and, well. What I *actually* have is a new podcast, today.

It's here, all ready for downloading. I will get the show notes up later today, perhaps. It's due to be a busy day in the SSIC household.

What's that saying about the road to hell? Right. Good intentions. I have them! :)

Fiber Friday: This is kinda what I do.

So I try not to simply pimp myself or my shop in blog posts or my podcast, because I figure, hey, you all are smart people. I have made occasional mention and I have linked and there are ways to get to where I am, so if you wanted to, you would be there.

And mostly, I leave it at that.

But then I have this here Fiber Friday thing, and I did a -lot- of dyeing (for me) this week, and it -is- my blog. Soooo...

Fiber Friday may become my weekly 'new and shiny in my shop' post. I hope no one's terribly offended. This stuff takes work, though, and the more people that look at it, the happier I am. No reason to be coy about that.

So here's most of what I dyed this week. It's all over there *points* in my Etsy shop.

And my TdF sale is still on until Sunday. 15% off with the FILLMEUP code.

Happy Friday!

Wednesday on the Wheel: A finished yarn!

The thing that kills me about Tour de Fleece each year is not the spinning every day. I can do that, handily. It's the taking pictures. That's where I bogged down last year, and it's where I've fallen down again this year. Feh. I am so very glad I never wanted to be a photojournalist or photographer.

I do have pictures today, though, because hey, that's the point of Wednesday on the Wheel, right? But before that...

I realized that I forgot to put a link in last week's show notes to Lori's podcast, Happycrafter207. Apologies, Lori! Those of you who are not Lori, go check her out!

And now, the pictures.

This is what I have on my multitudinous spindles, still in various stages of progress. The blue on the end is being chain plied, and the two teeny balls are waiting for their turn.

And then I washed, whacked and dried the Old Sheep yarn that I've been working on for approximately ever. These three little skeins are not at all the same weight. The two on the left are, combined, about 110 yards of worsted weight yarn. The one on the right is about 160 yards of light fingering to laceweight. Oh, the joys of spinning one fiber for more than a year.

Still, progress is progress. And I get to add the yardage to my Stash Dash totals, so I can't complain.

Much.

Make It Monday: Making a habit of this...

(See, told you I'd get the show notes up!)

Week Ten is here and available for downloading now!

At least, it's available after a brief issue with iTunes refusing to recognize that I'd added a new episode at all. Fixed now! Apologies if you went looking for it before I caught that. I can, sometimes, be a little dim.

Still trying to decide when I'm going to set the actual official I-will-make-this-every-week podcast day. It may not happen. We may be looking at a perpetual future of either Sunday or Monday. In the grand scheme of things, there are much larger problems in the world. Still, I'll try to nail it down.

A short episode this week, but still plenty of time to cover what little knitting I did, the spinning that is still eating my brain, and my surprise marketplace outing.

Oh yes, and that Shakespeare thing. :)

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Enabling that I mentioned:

Old Sheep - Isn't it funny the difference a few months of spinning can make? Wildly different WPI on the yarn I got from this fiber over time. It's all pretty.

Greenwood Fiberworks -- Where you can pick up a sampler box and experience excellent fiber prep and addicting color, first hand.

The Dizzy Dragonfly -- Creator of my mini nebula roving. So much fun to spin!

Wooliebullie -- She who uses holographic sparkle in her batts. Very cool stuff.

Wild Hair Fiber -- A fellow Phat Fiber contributor.


Distant Star Alpacas - And another, from lands to the far north.

All That Other Stuff:

Midtown Bazaar -- the market in midtown Sacramento, there every Saturday, where you can sometimes catch me life and in person!

Babetta's Yarn and Gifts -- my LYS of choice. I butchered her shop name in the podcast, but I'm making up for it here. Babetta is awesome, my knitting group is a ton of fun, and if you're local, you should definitely stop by.

How to Contact me:

iTunes: Slinging Stitches...in Color
Ravelry: creaturecomfort
Ravelry Group: Creature Comfort Craftwork Fans
Etsy: Creature Comfort Craftworks on Etsy
Email: sarah.hawke [at] gmail.com
Twitter: creaturecmfts
Facebook: Facebook
Plurk: Plurk

Talk to you next week!

Fiber Friday: The CCC show!

That's right, ladies and gents. Guess where yours truly will be (again) tomorrow?

...okay, technically not there, because that is from last Sunday at the Oakland Fiber and Textiles Festival, but I will be in a similar location. I am packing up my goods and going to spend the day once again at the Midtown Bazaar in midtown Sacramento. The event is open from noon to 5pm and I'll be there the whole time, with my wheel and some learn to spin kits and fiber and yarn and ...it'll be a good time. Stop by if you're local. You just might get your hands on some of this...

Wednesday on the Wheel: Still on tour

Lest you think that I have disappeared from the face of the internet, a feat that is highly unlikely to happen, I am here to share the latest mad Tour de Fleece spinning with you, or at the very least, one of my current projects.

I am still on a serious spindle-spinning kick, so most of my productivity is happening there. A great deal of that is the fact that I pulled a mini braid of merino top out of my stash from Greenwood Fiberworks and promptly fell in love. Check out these colors:

That is the Vancouver colorway and I love it. As I said on my podcast, well-prepared merino is a joy to spin, and this stuff is beautifully prepared. It's only half an ounce so even spun super fine won't yield much yarn, but it's definitely encouraging me to stock up a little bit on more of her stuff.

You should definitely check her out!

Speaking out on Sunday: Festival Surprise!

Week Nine is here and available for downloading now!

I apologize one thousand times this week and not for no reason, as I sometimes do. I recorded the majority of this episode on the road, in my car, and boy does it show. I've edited the heck out of it, but the audio quality is not stellar. If you make it through this, you get my sincere admiration. If you want to hear only non-roadsound-audio, skip to the Shakespeare section. That was recorded at home.

That said, I hope that you do stick out the rest of the podcast, because there's a colorwork theory question for all of you and a review of the Oakland Fiber Festival that happened today that I really think you might like to hear. I actually had fun recording this way, but I promise that unless absolutely necessary, I won't subject anyone to it again.

And, as always, thanks for stopping by!

Enabling that I mentioned:

Old Sheep - I finally finished spinning some of the fiber I bought here, a long time back!

Dripping Fiber Studios - Purveyor of amazing batts, both with sparkle and without. Currently offering a series of batts based on the Game of Thrones books/series. She's still awesome.

Greenwood Fiberworks -- Where you can pick up a sampler box and experience excellent fiber prep and addicting color, first hand.

Girl on the Rocks -- Home of the Sheep bobbin, WPI gauge and owl-shaped needle gauge.

CloudLover Fiber -- As is she! Still! Always!

Wonderland Dyeworks -- I did indeed butcher her name. It's Elissavet and her colors are amazing. Go check them out!

Alpenglow Yarn -- The alpaca names are Blessing and Benjamin, and you can have some of their roving, too!

All That Other Stuff:

Rachael Herron -- Check out her books, her blog, and her in general at her website. She's fantabulous!

Saori Berkeley -- A lot of fun to watch, if not exactly my thing.

How to Contact me:

iTunes: Slinging Stitches...in Color
Ravelry: creaturecomfort
Ravelry Group: Creature Comfort Craftwork Fans
Etsy: Creature Comfort Craftworks on Etsy
Email: sarah.hawke [at] gmail.com
Twitter: creaturecmfts
Facebook: Facebook
Plurk: Plurk

Talk to you next week!

Wednesday on the Wheel: The Tour is on!

As many of you who are spinners may know, the Tour de Fleece (which coincides with the Tour de France) is on. Those of us enamored of the spinning wheel and spindles are madly whirling away for the majority of this month, trying to meet self-imposed goals, finish big or new or challenging spinning projects and get through the mountains of fiber we tend to accumulate.

I'm right in the heart of spinning frenzy myself, which means, at the very least, that I will have things to show off for Wednesday on the Wheel for a while. Yay productivity!

My goal for this and every Tour I've participated in (this will make ...two) is simply to spin every day. As I'm somewhat magpie like, I spin a lot of things at the same time and make small amounts of progress on all of them. So, at the moment, here's what I've got:

The Cloudlover Rambouillet in the Saigon colorway, mid-spin.

The Dripping Fiber Studios Night's Watch batt, mid-spin on a spindle.

Some Old Sheep border leicester x merino from quite some time ago.

And an eentsy bit of Pepperpants silky cashmerino in the River Rocks colorway. This stuff is honestly some of the softest fiber I have ever felt. I crave more in lots of colors. I have been good and restrained myself, but seriously.

What are you working on this week?

Make It Monday: Just when you thought it was safe...

...to look away from your monitors, she's back.

Nothing too shiny or exciting to say. Just kicking myself back to the routine, again, and sharing a little of the knitting I finished on my mini-vacation.

This is the Solar Flare shawl that I'm doing as part of an Into the Whirled KAL. The yarn is my handdyed merino/nylon fingering weight. It's not this dark in person, so the lace shows up better, but progress shared is progress appreciated. At least from this side of the screen. :)

Speaking out on Sunday (Monday, again): Touring with Shakespeare

Week Eight is here and available for downloading now!

It's a short one this week, but that's to be expected, given that my vacation fell right smack in the middle of prime podcast recording time. Needless to say, there's not a lot of craft to this episode, so if that's what you tune in to hear, you may want to skip this week. Next week I'll be better, I swear!

If, however, you're here for the Shakespeare? This is your week, baby. We've finally started on Henry VI, Part I. Let me know what you think of how I summarized it. Want more of the same? Less of something different. Sing out and make your voices heard.

Also, there will be a Make It Monday coming shortly. Really. Packing them in today. Must reclaim my schedule!

No show notes to speak of this week, but as always, thanks for stopping by!

All That Other Stuff:

I did announce the new contest! I'll be giving away one (1) 4 oz. bump of roving in your choice of fiber that I have on hand, custom dyed, one (1) skein of yarn, lace or fingering weight, custom dyed and one (1) copy of the No Fear Shakespeare of your choice.

Entry rules are the same as last time: Comment on any blog post in the month of July, or leave a comment in the podcast threads in my Ravelry group for your entry. This time I want you to tell me what you're working on for the month of July, whether that's a TdF spin, summer knitting, or any other crafty thing that makes your heart and your hands happy.

How to Contact me:

iTunes: Slinging Stitches...in Color
Ravelry: creaturecomfort
Ravelry Group: Creature Comfort Craftwork Fans
Etsy: Creature Comfort Craftworks on Etsy
Email: sarah.hawke [at] gmail.com
Twitter: creaturecmfts
Facebook: Facebook
Plurk: Plurk

Talk to you next week!