new idea

while listening to canadian voices today i got a great, well i think so, idea for a mitt pattern. a few strands are knit together to create the idea. to start i do these drawings, subliminal sketches, that my friend rose elaine thinks i should put onto t-shirts and sell. she told me this years ago. then add these amazing mitts designed by muffinm that i saw while surfing the forums on ravelry . then add a stash of great sock and mitt yarn for christmas presents. then sit and knit while listening to someone talk about journaling and begin to muse on past journaling efforts and remember the journal with the drawings and think about transfering the drawings to graph paper and working up a pattern for mitts. i'm very excited about this idea. i'm sure i can do this. here is a picture of the pattern i'll try first. please ignore the smudge. i think it is chocolate, okay, like as not it is chocolate

we shall see...

i've not been as productive in the last while as i would have liked but i did manage to work on most of my projects. i did knit another row of squares on the mitered squares vest but will be putting this project in the ufo stash for awhile. instead i've started a pair of socks for rose elaine. she was over for dinner on thursday and we decided she needed a new pair of socks. we settled on the knotty pines pattern in a very brightly colored lana grossa variegated yarn. i'm hoping to hand them to her in a week or so. we shall see...
i got a fair bit done on the crazy dreams canvass at the ufo club
also on thursday. i'm pleased with how it is coming along. i'm a little concerned that i have chosen to use too many colours and that the finished work will look a jumbled mess. once again we shall see... no pottery class this week as there was a fire two storefronts down from the studio. i must say i did miss playing with clay. my plan is to go to the studio early in the week and at least trim the pots thrown during my last class. sorry to admit i didn't spin anymore alpaca after the initial session on monday. i will remedy this situation later today as i'm curious to see what the alpaca will look like plyed with the aurora roving.hopefully i'll have a picture of this pairing in the next post. we shall see...

bad weather day

well the icy conditions kept me at home all day yesterday. as a result i was able to dedicate the day to my various crafts. in the morning i worked on crazy dreams while i got the laundry done. i put all the borders in for the top left corner and started the next block. in the afternoon i finished inputting my wool stash onto my ravelry notebook stash. ravelry is an online knitting and crocheting community. next i'll input the projects i have in mind for all this wool. many pairs of socks and mittens as well as a few vests. i'm glad i joined ravelry as i have yet another incentive to get knitting and spinning. one of the goups i joined on ravelry chooses different fibres to spin up each month. one of the fibres this month is alpaca so i went to my stash and pulled out this beautiful natural black/brown suri alpaca roving and began to spin using the long draw method. well my take on the long draw. i was surprised and very pleased at how easily and quickly this silky soft alpaca spun up. i'm planning to ply this with the aurora hand painted polworth that i had been plying with the aldo/polworth. i think the colours in the aurora singles will be clearer when plied with the lustrous, dark alpaca.if i had not joined that spinning group on ravelry it probably would have been a long time before i spun up this beautiful alpaca fibre. long after spinning up the aurora roving to be sure.
in the evening i picked up my knitting project, the mitered square vest. much to my delight i got quite alot done on the vest. i am enloying very much knitting with the fleece artist seawool. the colours are so vibrant and the wool is silky and easy to knit up. the seawool slips easily through my fingers allowing me to knit fairly quickly. i am quite pleased with how the vest is coming along. the mitered squares are creating an interesting texture/topography, a plane of ridges and valleys. i'm still working out how i will finish off and join the two squares of squares to turn them into a vest. beautiful buttons will likely come into play and definitely a decorative edging from "knitting beyond the edge", a splendid knitting book from my sister. all in all a great day for creative activities.

recent headway

i have been remiss in posting these last few days. i will blame this on millerfest as i have attended a few productions and screenings of late. on thursday i attended the ufo club at the stitching studio. once again a most splendid afternoon spent with the ladies. i actually got a fair bit done while we chatted. sometimes the distractions are too compelling to ignore and not very much stitching happens.
on friday i went to pottery class and was very glad i did so as we were only two in class that morning. suzanne was able to give us lots of instruction as we threw our pots. she showed me how to blend two different clays together to create very interesting patterns in the bowls i threw. i also started to use danish white stoneware instead of the red stoneware i started learning on in november. oh my but it is lovely clay, like butter compared to a hard cheese. so much easier to cone up and shape. my first attempt ended badly as i was a bit too macho while pulling up the walls. like a house of cards the walls collapsed. the next try yielded a quite respectably shaped bowl. i love working with this danish white clay. when i got home from pottery i continued on with the plying of the aurora polworth and the aldo/polworth blend. in the evening i plugged away at the mitered squares vest. i'm quite pleased with how it is knitting up. saturday came and went with the plying finished and made into a skein in the morning and more knitting in the evening.
this morning i signed into ravelry and read about a retreat happening in june in new hampshire. although i won't be attending i thought i would check out the classes being offered. amongst the very interesting classes was one called "universal mitered bag". there before my eyes was the pattern i was using for the seawool vest. i am so pleased i was able to find the real name of the stitch i was calling diagonal decrease squares. small things...

zeke naps elsewhere

well i managed to sneak in some time on the wheel while zeke slept elsewhere. i was able to fill a spool with the handpainted roving and start to ply it with the aldo/polworth blend. i'm tossing around ideas for this yarn right now. maybe a vest or a sweater depending on how much yarn the handpainted roving produces. i like the idea of making another gansey as this yarn will make a very warm sweater due to the aldo fur/hair. i've been inspired by all the posts by all the spinners in the spinning groups i've joined on ravelry. they are all so productive. i'm aspiring to follow suit in productivity and creativity.

oh zeke wake up

i just joined two spinning groups on ravelry and felt compelled to spin only to find zeke in one of his favourite nap spots. i'll wait till he awakes from his reveries. i'm excited about joining these spinning groups. one of them is devoted to rare breeds. i would love to spin up some new fibres. i also like the idea of doing my bit to help keep these rare breeds viable in this world of ever decreasing possibilities.i've decided to purchase more of the sea wool as after weighing what was left after doing three rows on the vest it became evident that two skeins will not do the trick. if there is no more of the hercules colorway i will hopefully find two skeins of complimentary seawool. we shall see.