March Sweater Madness is Done!

Done! Done! Done!

For all the gory details please visit March Sweater Madness (link in the sidebar on the left).

Hmmm. So what's next? Maybe I should get back to the Olympic Sweater.

Knitting and Spinning

I got bit by the spinning bug. I can't get enough. I finished with the two colours of merino that I bought from Gaspereau, and the plied yarn is hanging to dry and set twist. I'm quite happy with it. Today I started spinning fleece from my own sheep. Wow, what a difference. Although far from being as soft as the merino, the spinning is still going well and the singles seem to be more even and not as over twisted. Very excited.

I've got my sock mojo back. I've started another pair of Fleece Artist socks, for me, but the yarn is turning out to be a huge disappointment. I'm only half done the first sock and I've had at least six (6!) knots! Not a happy knitter! The beautiful colour only partially makes up for it.
As for the March Sweater Madness, check out the link in the sidebar for progress. I'm at the underarm portion, with the charts all done. Will work on sleeves today and hope to attach them to the body before lights out.

Progress

Progress comes in many different guises.
For one, this is something I'll call extremely small progress, based on past performance. On the other hand, Monday was for spinning again. I've had to put a yoga mat under my wheel to stop it from sliding on the hardwood floor. Thanks to Tina's encouragement and a full afternoon this is what I will call Major progress. I stopped when my back couldn't handle any more punishment. An almost full bobbin of, far from perfect, but spun fibre. It appears that I prefer to spin finer singles. Tina's final parting words: "For homework I want two full bobbins so we can ply next time." Gee, not asking for much, eh, Tina? Tired as I was, I was eternally more grateful that she has taken me on as a student.
Zeus made only a very brief appearance to check things out while Tina was here. He must have understood in some part of his kitty brain that she's allergic to cats and kindly made himself scarce. Good kitty.

Finally

At long last, I finally finished a pair of Fleece Artist socks for myself. It was a skein that was gifted to me by Karen. Thank you so much Karen. My feet thank you too.
As for the other Fleece Artist pair in deep purple, I've finally reached the heel flap.

I'm planning on two-timing those socks those since today marks the start of March Sweater Madness and I haven't cast on yet. Better get my needles in gear. I'll be knitting Turn of the Glass in Yarn Treehouse Merino Classic, in brown. Turns out that I didn't have nearly enough yarn of the Jo Sharp Tweed that I had originally intended on using. I'm being a rebel too: no swatch. How is that for asking for trouble from the gods of knitting??

Knitting Plans

March is just around the corner and so is March Sweater Madness (see link in side bar). Anyone want to play along? Just pick a sweater pattern and knit during the month of March. If all stars and planets align in your favour, you shall have a finished sweater before April shows its face.
I'll be knitting Turn of the Glass from Knitty Winter 2011, from stash yarn which still needs to be unearthed.
I continue to struggle with my Fleece Artist socks. I want my sock mojo back! I wish I knew where it went. Perhaps it's vacationing somewhere warm and not giving a second thought to my need for woolly socks.

February Blues?

I've been recently told by a friend while we were chatting on the phone that I was being horribly negative. Really? I felt the need to apologize and shortly thereafter we said our goodbyes but that statement made me think. I like to think of myself as a basically positive person, the glass is half-full not half-empty type. I have bad days and I've been known to spend those days in bed with a book, but those don't come as often as they did. Living with chronic back pain guarantees some cranky-bitchy-non-Mary-Sunshine days. Some. As opposed to most. The point? I guess sometimes it's nice to be able to vent with a girlfriend and allow her to do the same. Other times, when your girlfriend listens to you bitch and complain and carry on, it's her job as a friend to call you on your bull and put a stop to the pity party. And if you have a true friend like that, you have to remember to not only apologize but to also say thank you. Because let's face it: all of us have oodles of acquaintances that pass through our lives every single day but true friends are a rare and precious gift. One more thing: those same true friends expect you to call them on their crap. Be brave.

Not Enough Time In the Day

Lately reading has been stealing time from the knitting. I'm not going to list all the different books I've been reading but I've finally decided that I don't have enough time to read crappy books. That is not to say I only read classics or things your Literature professor would approve of, but I have been giving myself permission to not finish a book that doesn't hold my attention or is just plain boring. It leaves me with more time for books that I actually enjoy. Yay! Because there will never be enough time to read as much as I want. Granted, it doesn't help that I'm a slow reader. So it goes without saying that knitting hasn't been getting it's time in the sun, never mind the housework.

On the knitting front, I finished a pair of thrummed mitts I started a week ago during our knit night get-together when I taught thrumming. Brianna decided to claim those. Unfortunately I ran out of yarn, so one thumb is a lighter shade of pink. (Photo one of these days.) I wasn't about to break my yarn diet for the sake of a meter worth of yarn. But since I took that meter from a skein I had in my stash, it became an exercise in stash busting. Yay! Gotta love that. Since I had wound that skein I figured I might as well make something for myself and so I knit myself a nice hat, with yarn left over. Darn those generous Briggs & Little skeins. Grin! With the left overs I started knitting wrist warmers. One is done and I hope to finish the pair today. If I can tear myself away from my latest book, that is!

As Requested

Granny

The granny square is now 62" X 62". Big, but not quite big enough.

As for the yarn diet, it lives on. You guys were NO help in trying to help talk me out of adding more to the already monstrous stash. But thanks for all the encouraging words. In the end my laziness prevented me from having to explain to my dear husband why I was bringing more wool into the house. I had to drive my daughter to a couple functions last Saturday and I was more interested in spending quality time on the couch than behind the wheel driving out to Gaspereau. Long live Lazy!

Confession

I'm thinking of breaking my yarn diet. I know. It didn't take long. But I'm helpless in the face of a sale and there's going to be a good one at Gaspereau Valley Fibres this weekend. They're hosting Winter, Wine and Wool with some local wineries. Taste testing of Ice Wines, and a new batch of Fleece Artist seconds for about 50% off.

Would you be able to resist? Want to join me?