Wednesday on the Wheel: The proof is in the ...yarn.

Never let it be said that I do not (most of the time) put my money where my mouth is. I said I'd finished the fall Creek Fibers wool, and I have, but there have to be pictures or it didn't happen, right?

Well, here, see for yourself:

250 yards of a fingering to light sport weight yarn, chain plied. Go me!

It seems, in looking at other people's stash pages on Ravelry, that we all have a comfort zone when it comes to spinning. Mine appears to be the ability to get about 250 yards out of a 4 ounce bump of fiber. I won't complain. It helps me to know how much I'd need to buy if I wanted enough for a bigger project.

What about you? Do you have an average? Are you satisfied with it? Inquiring minds want to know!

Make It Monday: The bare bones of knitting

It's Monday again. That keeps happening and someone should figure out how to make it stop. Who doesn't think the week would be helped by jumping straight to Tuesday? Hands up.

Not that voting changes the fact that it's Monday and Monday means another Make It Monday posting. Except... I don't have anything to share with you. Well. That's not exactly true. I don't have anything of mine to show you.

But I was reminded of this particular piece of amazing art while reading my Interweave Knits this weekend, and if you haven't seen it before, take a gander now:

Your eyes are not deceiving you. You are looking at a knitted skeleton. I'm astounded. What about you?

This fellow is part of Ben Cuevas' Transcending the Material piece and it's even more amazing when you get a look at all the little details. The teeth. The hands! It makes me seriously debate complaining about the time spent on any of my knitting projects. None of them turned out like this.

I'm awed and inspired and just a lil' bit jealous. Way to go, Ben!

Speaking out on Sunday: Knitting for a Cause

Week Five is here and available for downloading now!

A short week and then a long week. This is my longest episode yet. Y'all said you wanted me to talk, and baybee, I talked this time. I think there's some good stuff in there along with the usual Sarah-chatter. You'll have to let me know if you feel the same way.

The big thing this week is that I'm talking about knitting for a cause, or knitting for charity. I've seen a lot of calls for donations and a lot of donation drives happening lately, and I got a bit caught up in it.

There are of course updates, and the big news -- that my Radiance Shawl is finished!
All right, that's not all the big news. The winner for my inaugural contest has been chosen! Want to know who that is? You'll have to give the podcast a listen!

I've also decided on a play to break down for you, starting with the first episode in July. We're going to go in chronological order, so grab a copy of Henry VI, Part One, and get reading! :)

New patterns I talked about:

In Dreams Mystery Shawl by Susan Pandorf -- Part of the Two Towers series of objects, based on the Lord of the Rings series. Beautiful if time consuming.

Magazines I mentioned:

Interweave Knits, Summer 2011 - Lots of great quick-to-read articles and patterns inside. Check it out!


All That Other Stuff:

The event at the Retzlaff Winery was canceled this weekend due to inclement weather, but there's a possibility that it's on for the 18th, instead. Keep an eye out for updates about that.

World Wide Knit In Public Day (WWKIP) is on Saturday, June 11th. Check in with your local knitting groups and LYSses to see what they have in store!

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: Ready, Set, Spin!

I can hardly believe it's June, and yet I'm already thinking ahead to next month. Are you a spinner? Spindle, wheel, stick, it doesn't matter. If you spin, then you should know about the Tour de Fleece.

Every year, to coincide with the Tour de France, spinners around the world sit at their wheels and spin their spindles en masse, spinning pounds of fiber and miles of yarn as they watch the cyclists compete.

Of course, there's no requirement that you watch, or that you participate in a group. If you're a member of Ravelry though, (it's free!), there's an entire group devoted to the event. Indie Dyers often have discounts, spin-a-longs and special colors that are offered to help encourage participation. Prizes are given out. It's great fun!

And this year I'm no exception. I will be offering various fibers in my TdF2011 colorway, which currently looks like this on polwarth:

Different fibers and different dyelots will vary somewhat, but the basics are grape-y purples and greens were the inspiration. I'm calling it Wheel-Time Wine. Bikes, France, it seemed appropriate.

Wednesday on the Wheel: Progress? Knock me over with a bobbin!

It's Wednesday again, which means it's time for another wheel report.

Also...It's June 1st. That means I've been officially actively blogging for a month. Holy carp, does time fly. I'm still reeling over the fact that it's June at all (which you wouldn't know if you judged solely by the still-rainy weather in NorCal) and now this? Happy anniversary to me!

Slow though I am, I do occasionally make progress. This week I'm happy to report that I have finished spinning the Fall Creek Fibers superwash wool. It is not yet yarn, but it is a plying ball of singles at this point. This is what the very full bobbin looked like before that happened:

And now I'm on to yet another bump of fiber that I bought ages back and have shamefully not yet spun. Say hello to rambouillet in the "Saigon" colorway from Cloudlover.

Natalie has an amazing color sense and her fibers are always gorgeously prepared. I think this may be the first rambo I've spun, and I'm extremely happy this far. If it's going to take me a while to spin, it's always better when I really enjoy the fiber.

I think I pretty clearly have color family favorites, don't you? Sakura sits in there quite nicely, thanks.

Make It Monday: Sock It To Me

Can you tell that I have way too much fun coming up with titles for my blog posts? That, or I have a horrible sense of humor. Maybe both.


Ahem. Anyway!

Today, I am sharing my socks. New socks. Socks because I was bitten by the sock bug and I have not attempted to knit any socks for quite a while. I don't like the thought of tons of work going into things that will be hidden on people's feet, but I know that socks are appreciated and they're relatively quick and hey, it's new and it's shiny. For now.

These are the Traditional Gansey Socks by Wendy Johnson of Wendy Knits, and out of her Socks From The Toe Up book. The yarn is Springvale sock from Three Irish Girls in the Smoke and Mirrors colorway.

If the boy doesn't want these, I'm keeping them. But I think the sock bug may be here to stay.

Speaking out on Sunday: Bringing in the Bard

Week Four is here and available for downloading now!

(Sadly I deleted the show notes from this page by accident. I will attempt to recreate them again when I'm not worried that I'll just make things worse. ) :)
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!