I Am Capable of um, Learning

I have been trying to really challenge myself with my knitting. As I said I went through a bit of a slump and am fighting my way back. I have had so much on my mind that I decided I really needed to find something more challenging to re-engage me with my knitting. I dear say- it has been working! My first project was an intarsia sweater the pattern is from Sheep Shop and the yarn is Cascade Eco Wool which was really nice to work with. This has been my most sucessful sweater to date- it fits well, went quickly and was really fun to work on.

I had also bought some lace from KnitPicks a million years ago. I was trying to use up some of my giant and rapidly growing stash- so I opted for a more traditional lace pattern. I am knitting the Swallowtail Shawl . I am super dyslexic and have been avoiding knitting charts for years. My friend suggested that I color code the charts- and it has been working great!

The Suckiest Blogger of the Year

Well its been 5 months since my last blog post. I guess we did make it across the country. We are settled in here. I haven’t been blogging very much. The adjustment from North Carolina to Portland was a but rougher than I expected, emotionally speaking. I haven’t been in such the mood to share. I have been knitting tons, but not spinning much. Actually it has been like my wheels are like high school ex boyfriends (not that I had many of those). I see them everyday. I nod at them, and then pretend like I don’t see them staring. A couple of things have happened. I took a sewing class over the summer and have been loving making stuff. Mostly I have made bags but have moved on to some baby stuff for my friend Gigi. Here are a few photos of the stuff I have sewn:
This is my donkey bag- it reminds me of Bella

I made an organizer for my sewing stuff

A little backpack to use when I take Bella on loooonnngg walks

I also have been knitting tons of stuff and FINALLY started spinning again! Hurrah!

Started a Cardigan!

I started knitting a sweater. The yarn is stuff that I got from the scrap exchange a long time ago. The arms seem super baggy but the gauge is right. Dunno what the deal is. The pattern is the Roll Edge Cardigan from knit picks.

The Road Day 2

The travelling is going well so far. We just passed into Kansas. Georgia and Bella are doing great! Georgia loves to be on the road. She spend hours looking out the car window. Bella is a little car sick. When we stop she is a total spaz. It’s pretty funny!

Today is the day!

The house is packed up and we are ready to head out. Georgia (am avid travelor) totally has her game face on. We are taking about 6 days to get to Portland. Mom is spending the week with my brother in LA and then will fly out to meet us.

Iphone ap

Hey I am testing this out! Just a test and photos of booze

Some Actually New Stuff!!!

I did do a tiny bit of dyeing when my mom was visiting. I dyed some cheep lace yarn I bought and some roving which I spun for her. The colors that I used were the Cushings “Black” which is really a lovely purple and Jacquard’s “Burgundy” which is really a rosy pink. I like the way both of them came out. I am super excited to knit the lace!!!

The Final Two

I just wanted to do some plain-ish yarns to mush into the urban decay project- so the crazystuff will pop more. The first one is a cable-plied ditty. The second in is some crazy-ass boucle.

Big Yellow Taxi

I am almost finished with the Urban Decay project! I am frankly, sad to see it go! It has been so much fun and has really enabled me to think outside the box of my own spinning constraints. I really want to thank LYNN for giving me the opportunity to work on this- it has been SUCH a pleasure!

This is the last “theme yarn” I spun. I was trying to evoke Taxis- I had such problems with this yarn! First I couldn’t get the right color- then I went out and bought the pine tree car fresheners and they immediatly gave me a flashback of every insane cab ride I have ever taken. I get super motion sick in cabs. We call it the “holy trinity of barfitude”. I am guaranteed to vomit if all these of these centrifical forces collide:
a) lurchy driving
b) pine tree air freshener
c) another mystery smell

Anyway- I went to the dollar store to pick these puppies up- and they truly made me queasy every time I went near them. They lived in the garage for a while- survived a rainstorm- spent a couple of week on the porch. They still stank. Yup, uh huh. I think they will stink forever. I am sorry Lynn- feel free to rip them out if you can’t stand it. I sealed them in two plastic freezer bags to keep the house from smelling. I like the idea of Smell-o-Vision yarn. This is truly suffering for art!

So the yarn itself is spun thick and thin with little pieces of black plether spun in, to represent the car seats. I also created little beads out of photos of taxi receipts and coffee cups. I plied the whole thing with a silver thread and added the air fresheners after it was done.

This is Garbage (not really)!

I was gifted some really cool yarn that is made out of spun garbage bags- really genius stuff! I added my personal touch to it by spinning some of the Icelandic fleece and the plying the whole thing with Cassette Tape!