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Happy Friday

Yesterday was the funeral, I went and things turned out surprisingly well. I got to see some friends who I had not seen in almost 10 years, and strangely enough it felt like I had never stopped talking with them. I didn't get in until very late, which was not good because I had stayed out late on Wednesday as well. Wednesday was pretty gross, I had a corporate event and somehow wound up partying with the traders, and their high speed lifestyle. So today I'm dragging my feet and eating greasy food, which is not great for my diet. I seem to have abandoned this one but I'm fighting to give it a chance. This week my weight is 135.6 which means I lost 0.8lbs since last week (woo-hoo) I probably won't loose any weight this week but I know that I can loose it if I try.

I just signed up for the IPY swap at craftster. I'm a bit nervous since this is a big deal. This is the swap that people create insane things like quilts and clothing for eachother. I hope I'm up to it. In other crafty news I bought a drum carder this week (another woo-hoo) from Spunky, she had the best prices I've ever seen and I'm itching to play with it. To paraphrase Veruca Salt "I want it NOW NOW NOW!"

Here's to sleeping in on Saturday have a happy weekend!!

Done!

I finished the clapotis on Monday night.
Here is is blocking

I made a few modifications to the pattern,
2 less increase repeats 2 more straight repeats I used superwash handspun (that I spun myself!!!)Instead of the stitchmarkers I used the method suggested by craftsters in the knitalong to purl the drop stitch.
Here's the finished project

It was a real bitch to finish this because I kept running out of yarn and then I had to put down the knitting and draft out the fiber and spin more yarn and navajo ply the singles to match and block the yarn before I could keep knitting. I ran out TWICE so this process was repeated, which made the project last much longer then it could have if I had the correct amount of yarn to begin with.

I really want to show this off, but it's about 95 degrees in NYC today and not a break in the heat in sight. Oh well, I guess I'll put it in storage until the cold weather comes around. I was going to give it to Rob's mom but its not really her style and I gave her so much for her birthday (this is a blatant attempt to defend me being selfish) I will keep it for myself and if she wants one I'll make it with commercial yarn.

I just found out last night that a childhood friend's father passed away. I am very conflicted because this person did some really horrible things to my family (me in particular) but I never told my friend. I want to support him and show up to the funeral but I don't know how his family will react. I guess I'll just suck it up and go knowing that I'm there for my friend and not his father.

I need a vacation from my weekend!

It was a long week at work, there is much to do, and still more has been done. Sometimes I need my weekends to be a quiet oasis from my daily routine. It's gotten so bad that my mind won't shut-up and I lie in bed praying that I will get sick of thinking so much and finally sleep.

Rob and I were supposed to go out to the lake house on Friday night to set up for Jake's impending party. Six people all under the age of twenty two would be descending on the house ready for booze, music and food. It was my job to cook for the weekend and seeing as most of the visitors would be boys I knew I had my job cut out for me. Cooking and cleaning can be relaxing, but doing so in a harried fury leads only to stress and headaches.

We took them to the waterfall for a hike and sitting under the rushing cold pressure of the bottom fall was enough to release the kinks in my jaw from grinding my teeth to release some tension.

I managed to get a bit of crafting done. Namely I finished the lace weight on the bobbin. I let it soak too long (overnight) and then dry in the sun, this causing some discoloration, but the final yarn is lovely and delicate. Its a bit overspun, but when it knits up I think it will work itself out.


Its about 300 yards of lace weight 22 wpi, mohair, wool top, green firestar, and tencel. I'm calling it "Plastic Flamingos" because the original color was like those plastic lawn flamingos that people use to "decorate" their yards.

I also spun up about 1oz more of the colorway for my clapotis. I want this project to be done already. I'm kind of sick of spinning this color into navajo ply ww. I just want my wrap to be finished so I can figure out what to do with the rest of the roving.

I also cast off the back of Josephine

I'm about 2 repeats into the front and the colors are different. I'm hoping that once I seam it together it won't be so drastic. I'm also hoping I have enough yarn to finish this damn thing. The yarn req's were way off for this pattern. I also don't like the random decreases and lack of clear instructions for the body. I will post all my notes when I'm done with the project.

Cast On Cast Off

I finally finished the back to Joesphine, and I immediately cast on for the front. I get so excited to knit a new item and with each thing I've started somewhere around the middle I get bored and lust after new pieces to CO. It's a bad habit and has resulted in multiple UFO's lying around the apartment. I will finish the Josephine, I promise myself this and I will not break a promise.

I bought Cascade Pima for the drop stitch tank from Fitted Knits, I'm in love with this book and there are so many patterns I will make. This one caught my eye and for the first time I'm making a pattern from the suggested materials, this rarely happens because usually the yarn suggested is way too expensive. I'm going to make this using a mod I saw i the flickr group where I will knit in the round. I hate seaming and this will make me more inclined to finish.

I CO last night for the Market Bag with mods that I saw on craftster. I know another UFO, but this seems like it will knit up quick and then it will seriously cut down on my consumer waste.

Still spinning the batts, I think I have about 2oz done, I'm still, tyring to figure out if I should ply it or not, I'll post pics of the single soon.

I've just signed up for this:

And recommend you do the same if you're a spinner.
Sign up at The Tour de Fleece(on Craftster) or at Star's blog.
Spin every day the Tour rides, if possible. Saturday July 7th through Sunday July 29th. Days of rest: Monday, July 16th, Tuesday July 24th. (Just like the actual tour)
Spin something challenging Wednesday July 25th. (The last hard climbing mountain stage in the Pyrenees - Col d’Aubisque)
Take a button if you want one. Then we can use the button on our blogs in show of solidarity. Take it from here or grab a clean one from the flickr pool.
Wear yellow on Sunday July 29th to announce victory. Why not wear yellow on any day you feel particularly successful? (Yellow is the color of the race leader in the Tour - but here we are all 'race leaders')
Other colors if desired: Green (sprinter - think FAST), Polka-dot (climber - as in uphill), and white (rookie)

Like a Record Baby

I started the batts last night and since I've never spun fine on the Louet before it was a learning experience. Moving from the Babe, who is temperamental yet easy to work with to the Louet who is fine tuned and very precise left me frustrated. If my tension was too loose the wheel groaned like an old plane getting ready for takeoff, too tight and the yarn snaps. So after much fiddling I settled in on a proper tension and spun in the long draw. I didn't want the yarn too thing because I think I may keep it as singles.

I received my magic roving ball package from my partner last night, I decided this was the motivation I needed to work on her package and began dying up some merino/mohair blend. I was using the big pot for pasta so I thought I could use the Wilton's dye method with the microwave. It wasn't as great as the stove top method but it worked none the less.

Wilton's Icing Dye / Microwave Method
Step 1: Soak roving/yarn in a mixture of 2 tablespoons vinegar to 1 cup water (so if you're using 3 cups water use 6 tbsp vinegar) for at least 1 hour
Step 2: Find a microwave safe vessel and prepare dye bath. I used the following method for 6 oz or roving I used 4 cups water and 1/2 vinegar and then added 1 tsp maroon dye. I mixed dye bath and placed roving on top. Then I dotted the top of the roving with blue dye in spots and slightly agitated dye and roving until dye dissipated.
Step 3: Microwave on medium stetting (uncovered) for 4 minutes, take out and stir roving to ensure proper coating with dye and microwave for 4 more minutes, take out and stir one more time and microwave for 2 more minutes.
Step 4: Place hot roving in cold water bath. Drain water and refill roving bath. Repeat this until drained water runs clear
Step 5: Allow roving to drip dry in shower or outside

I goofed and put the hot roving into a cold bath into my bathroom sink. Porcelain and dye love each other to death because they refused to separate no matter how hard I scrubbed. I had to resort to Ajax to de-pinkify the sink to Rob's approval.

I tried drilling some holes in the resin pendants I made this weekend and realized that in the future fresh flowers and resin really don't mix. The pendants won't get hard enough because of the water in the flowers. Oh well live and learn.

Long Weekend

I spun up some more superwash from the sheep shed to finish my clapotis and I realize I'm still about 50 yards short. Oh well, back to the spinning wheel, I really want to finish this project already, of course it's now 90 degrees out and I probably won't be able to make use of it until the fall months roll around, but it was a quick knit and fairly mindless.

I did some wet felting this weekend. It's fun, messy and soapy but fun and good for getting frustration out. It was my first time trying a flat wet felted piece and though I don't think it will become my craft of choice I had a good time.

I'm going to lose weight. I've told myself that many many many many times before but I mean it this time. I bought the "volumetrics" weight loss book and I have the newer one in the mail. I've tried WW before and though I had success in the past it just doesn't seem to work for me any more. My only issue is that the author doesn't reccomend going below 1400 cal a day, I'm a teensy beanser (5'1") and I don't think I'll loose much weight if I eat 1400 a day. I will work out as much as possible and I will be earnest with myself, starting by posting my current weight. I'm 136, I tell everyone I'm 125 and they believe me, but I'm not and I have to face the fact that for my height I'm officially overweight. I will post my weight each Tuesday and I will let you know how this works out.

I handcarded some batts this weekend, about 3 oz of pink, blue, yellow, brown, and green firestar. The finished result is a sparkly peach with flecks of the other colors through out. I can't wait to see how it spins up.

I finished my last mini skien for the H&H3 swap and I will tkae my pics and package it up tonight. I can't wait to see if my partner likes it or not.