by Sarah

Look at THIS...

I have to interrupt my promised WIP posts to show you a preview of the GORGEOUS yarn I spun yesterday.

Here is a closeup of the first set of singles with the fiber underneath:

The two ply came out to be 168 yards of loveliness.  Its all plied up and washed and is drying right now.  I can't wait to see the yarn's final weight, and show you pictures of the washed version all fluffed up.

 This fiber is a special blend from my friend Sandi (ravelry link).  Sandi has her own sheep, and they produce their own beautiful wools, but Sandi also has special skills when it comes to blending fiber, choosing colors and dying yarn and fiber.  I have never seen a fiber Sandi blended that I didn't love!  This blend is called "Into the Now."  It is Cotswold, Alpaca, Silk, Tencel, Mohair, Merino, Firestar, and Angelina, and on my computer screen, the colors of the yarn and fiber are showing up exactly right.  You can even see some of the firestar glinting in the sun.

WIP and rip...

Thanks to Mrs. Pao for inspiring me to pull out and look at some of my WIP's.  Today, I am displaying the ones from the bottom of the basket:

Colorwork sweater in worsted weight yarn, with just the cast on done...languishing on the needles, not feeling the love. 

Rip.  Now I have my needles and yarn back.

I love this yarn and this pattern, but they are not working for me... I am going to use this yarn to make a raglan pullover or maybe a cobblestone instead.

Rip.  Now I have my needles and yarn back.

This Baby Shedir has been in my bag forever. I am not going to finish it. Plus, I really like this shade of rowan cotton wool.

Rip.  Now I have my needles and yarn back.

A few years ago I got several of these knit with fabric kits. I knit a cute red hat, but didn't enjoy it at all. For some reason I still cast on this fabric purse.

I'm not going to rip this.  I am going to throw it in the mail, needles and all, free of charge to the first person who says they want to finish it.  (I have knit about 3.5 inches of the suggested 20 inches.)   Just leave me a comment, and I will email you for your address.

Surprisingly, I am not going to rip the next project.  It is a smaller version of the money bag I made Jody a while back...I am making this one for myself.  It will continue to languish until I get the urge to crochet.  It could be awhile.

Next time I will be reviewing some of my more recent projects, you know, the ones I am actually WORKING on.  Plus, a whole separate day on socks in progress.

It has a SLEEVE!

I finished the body of my mom's Acer sweater this weekend.
AND now it even has part of a sleeve!

I couldn't be more pleased!

In other news, my aerogarden lettuce is getting BIG!

It would be perfectly normal to start picking it on the edges and eating some baby greens now.
However, we seem to have an excess of lettuce in the fridge, so the aerogarden will be allowed to get even bigger.

Last Night...

I went to knitting, and then to get a haircut.  AND I FORGOT THE SWEATER.

Oh well, I finished a sock instead.





I will work on the sweater tonight.

Spinning Report...

I Navajo plied and washed my FatCatKnits Falkland Wool.  The yarn fluffed up great after the washing if I do say so myself.

The colorway is called Taos.  I purchased it at Cloverhill Yarn Shop.

In other news...Acer continues along at lightening speeds.  I am now only 3 inches from the bottom of the body, which I am hoping to complete this evening, so I can start the sleeves.  Here are some new progress pics:

It is really great having a build it model around to take pics of the sweater progress, even if the sweater is a tad too big on her.  AND, I think she wants to knit an Acer of her very own, probably out of the leftover peace fleece from this sweater, because I have 8 balls allocated for this project, and so far, I have just broken into the third one.

You knit HOW MUCH??

I have an amazing thing to report...I started knitting this Acer sweater for my mom officially on Friday.

Look where I am now:

 

I just finished the waist decreases last night, and will do the increases tonight.  I am knitting this with some gorgeous dark teal peace fleece, on size 8 needles, and I can't believe how quickly it is flying along.  (Thanks to Nean for modeling.)

The aerogarden is growing quickly too...we should be able to pinch some baby greens off the edges in another week or two!

The pup is growing quickly too.  Check out Nean's blog and flickr for regular puppy updates and pics.

Knitting Update...

Right now, I am test knitting a little something cool (which will be done soon).  I'm not going to show it to you, but I will say it is soft and plum-y lavender, and it involves beads. 

In other knitting, I have a bunch of stuff on my needles and a bunch of stuff in mind.  I am plodding along on a couple of project, but not really knitting on anything I feel excited about. 

I just reassessed a couple of things, and decided even though I love knitting on the top-down-raglan-cardi I am making myself, it just isn't completely working so...RIP!  I am going to pull out the 3 balls of yarn I have knit so far, and either make a plain raglan pullover, or a cobblestone pullover (Which is originally the sweater I had in mind when I purchased the yarn.).

I also picked up some gorgeous dark-turquoise peace fleece at maryland sheep and wool last year, and designated it to be a sweater for mom.  The color was really hard to capture, but above is a picture of my swatch in the icy-snow.

I was going to knit the Harrisville Designs Diamond and Lace Aran Cardigan #P703, but the color was just too dark to really highlight that pattern.  (Swatches are GOOD.)  Instead, I am all swatched and ready to do on Through the Loops' Acer sweater.  I LOVE this pattern, and can't wait to knit it!!  As a bonus, its also a top down raglan cardigan. Here is the Ravelry Link to the sweater if you want pictures, plus a link to Kristen's Pattern Page. 

Hopefully I will get it all cast on and started this weekend!

Healthier in 2009?

In 2008 I did something for myself.  I stopped drinking soda.  Diet and regular.  Since 95% of the time I was having diet, I cut out lot of artificial sweeteners from my diet.  I also stopped drinking caffeine.  Once I got over the initial hurdle of wanting my diet coke all the time, it has been great.  I still have some artificial sweetener in the form of an occasional crystal lite (watered down to about 25% of the recommended strength), but mostly I drink water and herbal teas.

In 2009, I am thinking about what small change in my diet could next make a great impact on my health.  I have read a lot of stuff, and I am not sure what I will do yet.  In the meantime, I have decided to pursue some fitness goals too.

I am going to try and follow the 200-SitUps and 100-PushUps programs for the next 6 weeks or so.  (I am pretty out of shape, it may take me longer to get there...that's ok.)  Check out the programs.  10 minutes a day, 6 days a week if you do both, or 10 minutes a day, 3 days a week if you just select one.  I will be Pushing myself up on Monday Wednesday and Friday, and Sitting myself up on Tuesday Thursday and Saturday.  I wont be blabbing about it all the time, but you can expect an occasional updates.  AND...You are welcome to join me.  If you decide to join in, leave me a comment.  I will send some encouragement your way. 

Now I start the armholes...

I am back to working on my Ariann Sweater - And finished knitting the part below the arms last night.  Guess I will have to get the directions out again.

Special thanks to a sleepy murph for his modeling.

still no knitting...

I still have no energy for knitting, and I'm not even one of the proud new parents.

He is damn cute though: