She spins too

IMG_4305, a photo by kbshee on Flickr.

I'm taking a spinning class in--uh oh--less than three weeks and while you don't have to be an incredible spinner, you do need to know how to spin a constant thread. And while I do know this, I haven't done it for a year.

And as you may recall, I have three or four alpacas worth of fleece to prepare and spin.

So I sat down, oiled the wheel, figured out how it all works, and started spinning with some purple roving that is sitting at the bottom of the closet.

Like riding a bike, spinning comes back pretty quickly. At least I think it did--the spun single looks good, and I'll try to do another single and ply this weekend.

Juneau is maintaining her current health state, and probably improved a bit since Tuesday. Her fever is back down to normal and her appetite is great. She's a tad slower on the walks but still eager to get outside. Our first 'post relapse' bloodwork is next Tuesday so we'll see how she's doing clinically then.

More Affection

IMG_4304, a photo by kbshee on Flickr.

The scarf-of-the-moment, the color affection. Lots of cool examples on the Rav. Mine is pretty bo-ring.

Life here has taken a sad turn as we've learned that Juneau's leukemia is no longer in remission. We're trying the chemo protocol again..hold good thoughts for her please.

Ducks and Cardinals

IMG_4303, a photo by kbshee on Flickr.

These are socks for Tim--made of yarn (duh) from my favorite indie dyer, String Theory Colorworks. I think this is the Resistor Colorway which was part of a sock club but I bought it from someone on Rav.

It has both duck colors (green and yellow, go Ducks!) and Cardinals colors (red and back, go Cards!) so Tim is very happy with them. And no one does a grey like STC!

I hope you're enjoying today; please take a moment to remember those who serve and who have served.

Memorial Day weekend

IMG_4299, a photo by kbshee on Flickr.

You know it's Memorial Day weekend in Oregon when you're wrapped up in a wool shawl while knitting socks and waiting for the rain to start.

I shouldn't complain--we had a beautiful month of gorgeous weather, and a record stretch of no rain for May--I think over two weeks. When it rained earlier this week, I knew the green outside would be incredibly intense, and the weeds would be out of control. All the flowers are mixed up in terms of their blooming---fox gloves should NOT be blooming now--but it is so beautiful outside.

I've never been a big napper (napping does run in my family, both my mom and my Twinster are champion nappers), but I've taken naps yesterday and today. As I mentioned in the previous post, the early part of this week was intense and exhausting, and naps are helping. Yesterday's was only 15 minutes, today's was a bit longer, and I wake up feeling ready to take on the world...or at least sit up on the couch and knit some more.

We're having a mellow weekend--Tim is working from home on Monday, it's not nice out and we still have two weeks of classes AND THEN finals week, so the end isn't really even in sight. But for those of you who live where summer is a-cumen in, enjoy!

Baaaa

IMG_4300, a photo by kbshee on Flickr.

This is the start of my Color Affection scarf, which is very much the Scarf-of-the-Moment on the Rav. It is made with three colors, and you see two of them here, black and pale blue (it comes off as gray in the photo).The third color is pink. It should look good when it's done, I hope.

It's been a busy week here in Lake Woebegone. I spent Sun-Fri in Portland doing some intense stuff for the University, and now spending a lot of time catching up, mostly getting through theses for our students finishing up in the next few weeks.

Two more weeks of classes then finals week, I can do it! But I'm definitely excited about a long weekend!!!

Ho Hum

IMG_4298, a photo by kbshee on Flickr.

So the Wiggle Wrap is done. Here is is, before blocking (with Pilot). It is now stretching out after a nice cool bath so it will reach its full potential.

I'm disappointed in this. I made a bad yarn pick--I should have picked Kauni choices with more variation. Or found a yarn with long changes that aren't as long as Kauni changes.

And it isn't that I don't like it--as a patterned stripe scarf it is cool. But if you look at ones made with other colors they look better. IMHO.

I've started on the most recent scarf of the moment--the Color Affection (affliction?) scarf. Hope that one doesn't disappoint me!

Two reviews in one week! Awesome!

I wasn't that crazy about the first Jane Austen knits...it is just a bit too twee for me. This one continues with the tweeness (the articles include stories about regency era hats, sheep and dressmaking, plus some other literary stuff that I'm just not interested in). But there are a bunch of patterns that are pretty nice, specifically the mitts on the cover (Hetty's Sunday Cuffs). If you can get past the uber-twee names (calling bags reticules just makes me roll my eyes), you might find something to knit.

There are two sweaters I love, An Aran for Annie and the Camden Place Cardigan. Unfortunately, this last one uses a merino/bamboo yarn that is way out of my price range, and its drapey enough that I"m scared to sub a less expensive yarn. Any thoughts?

There are smaller projects that are cute, including socks and Miss Jane's Hat (eyeroll again). I'm skipping the fichu, because it has lace and a twee name.

All in all, a good investment for some sweet patterns.