Burning the Midnight Oil....Again

So I am burning the Midnight Oil Again.  I bought this lovely Burnt Orange Shetland Roving from a Spinning and Knitting friend whoose sister works at a Fiber Mill.  Since I am almost done with my first knitted projects with 2 of the 3 yarns I have spun so far, I got the inspiration to try my hand at spinning Lace Weight yarn.  So far, so good.  I hope to be able to make a lace shawl or at least a scarf which will be my first attempt at knitting lace too!  Wish me Luck!!!

Finished Fiber

Yeah, I finally finished my fiber, it's dry, ready to be knitted!!!

Poppy Flower Fibers

Poppy Flower Fibers are just STUNNING! The featured Roving Give Away instills in me the serenity that I feel when I am scuba diving off the coast of California. The richness of the greens, blues, and yellow golds are an example of the beauty that lies beneath the ocean surface; the pristine blue waters, the vast deep green kelp beds, and the yellow golds that represent so many of California's marine life. Poppy Flower Fibers equal warmth, peace, and tranquilty! 

I can't wait to get my hands on some!!!

Soak It and Whack it!!!

Whew!  Just got done soaking several skeins of homespun fiber.  My first attempts.  LOL  I thought 'they' were kidding when said to soak it, then whach the 'heck' out of it!!!  The yarn on the bobbin and Niddy Noddy, was my most yarn so far... a whopping 176 yards!!!  Whoo hooo... going to make an Entrelac Rafsta Style hat.

WWKIP Day A Day of Friendship, Knitting, Spinning, and Alpacas!!!

Today I attended WWKIP Day that my local and Yahoo Group 'All Things String' sponsored at El Dorado Park in Long Beach California.  The picture to the left is  Renatta Foster, our founder of our group.  Approximately 70+ Knitters, Crocheters, Spinners, and Spindlers attended the event.  Here is me, above to the right with my Ashford Traditional wheel.  I spent the majority of the day spinning.  I even participated in my first ever spinning contest!  I didn't win, but it was fun just the same.  We also had a 'Mystery Knitting' contest in which we were given a pattern to knit and complete.  The first person done, won a prize.  The Mystery Pattern ended up being a bottle cozy.... very appropriate and useful!  The highlight of the picnic was seeing so many spinners with so many different wheels.  But the biggest highlight was being visted by two Alpaca's!!!  Seven and his youngest sister.  Margo, their owner, also donated a bag of black Alpaca fiber to our Drawing Table in which I happened to WIN!  Yipee!!!  Oh yeah, did I mention that we even had jugglers at the picnic?  Pretty cool!  Everyone had a great time.  The picnic started at 11am and was supposed to end at 3pm.  I think everyone was having so much fun, they lost track of time.  Most of us stayed until 6pm!  What a great way to start the weekend!!!

Navajo Plying, By George...I think I got it!!!

Ok, so it was 3am when I woke up.  Hmmm... no one online to chat with, so decided to spin up some of my new fiber and to work on my Navajo Plying of my Merino/ Tencel blend.  Patience and persistence paid off!  Now I can go back to bed before having to get back up to go to work.  I hate those 4 letter words!  Except, TGIF!!!

Lastest Spinning and Knitting: Merino/ Tencel Roving

MERINO/ TENCEL BLEND   This is my second attempt at spinning yarn.  I had purchased this wonderful Merino/ Tencel Blend from a Fiber Arts Show last November(?) in Redondo Beach thinking to myself that 'someday' I will be a Spinner!!!  After my success with my first attempt at spinning, I thought, why not?!  So I prepped my wool and away I went!  I was fortunate to spin this fairly thin, so my thought is to 3-ply it using the Navajo Method.  I have done extensive search on plying, and for hand dyed fiber such as this, I think to Navajo ply it would be best.

Now to learn to Ply!  LOL  Someone suggested using commercial yarn to practice with first.  I think this is a MOST EXCELLENT idea!!!  More to follow.........

Regarding my knitting.  Well, I was burning the midnight oil last week knitting up a Ewe.   I only got as far as his little body and that is all.  But don't we ALL have WIP's???  I did manage to work on a pair of socks today from Cat Bordhi's book:  Knitting Pathways for the Sock Knitter.  I am using Smooshy Yarn that is scrumptious!

Until another time.  Adios Mi Amgios!

Graduation Day!!!

It's been a very busy month thus far, preparing for finals and graduation!  My oldest son graduated from Esperanza High School last night (06/09/09).  I believe there were over 700 classmates!!!  It was a 'very long' ceremony in which I felt the valedicotrian could have shortened up his speech.  Regardless, I am very *Proud* of my son!!!  He will be attending college in the fall to prusue his degree in Psychology!

My daughter has two more days of finals before she will be out of school, then becoming a Junior!  She is a delight, always cheerful and funny and always makes me smile.  She wants to get a summer job, so that will be next on our agenda.