and then it all went in a handbasket

It started off as a pretty productive knitting summer!

I finished Quicksilver, my Screamin Baby sweater, a small cat, and my night sky socks. I worked a bit on my clapoktus, and did a LOT of work on a brand new Find Your Fade in pinks.

And then I really got into my spinning. I spun and spun and finished the second bobbin by mid june. And then I spun, and spun, and spun, and spun some more, and the third bobbin was done. By halfway through July I still hadn't plied it. and in the meantime, a bunch of travel came up that was going to take me away from my wheel for THE ENTIRE MONTH OF AUGUST. plus five days of july.

I cracked down, put the knitting aside, and put in a couple of hours every night. By the 25th, when I was going to leave---I wasn't done.

so I had to put my wheel away and wait a whole month. Let me tell you, the first thing I did when I walked in the door was call out for my cat and pet her and the second thing I did was sit down on the couch and bring the wheel over! It took an additional week of plying and a lot of effort to cram it all on one bobbin but I finished it! it needs a soak and a block before I can finalize it, but my conservative estimate is it's 680 yards of a 3ply light fingering weight. WHOOOA!  no wonder it took so damn long to spin and ply--this has been in the works since february!

of course I immediately pulled it off the wheel and smacked on my next spin, a brightly colored fat and uneven rambouillet that I want to turn into hat and mittens. I get really impatient waiting to spin what I want to spin next!


(August wasn't entirely bereft of crafting--I finished 2 pairs of socks and a toddler pair as well to polish off one of the skeins.)

progress, progress, progress.

Now that I am back home, the rest of my summer plans look a bit silly. a whole new shawl, and the sweater/tunic? I was supposed to finish that as well as the spinning and the traveling?

oh well, much to knit, not enough time to do it all.

I got caught by the autumn bug and now I'm casting on fall-y witch-y mitts to wear when the weather gets chilly. Maybe with a bit of luck they'll get done before this halloween. And I started a halloween garland--knitted pumpkins, eyeballs, bats and hats. We'll see if I add any more little fiddly things to it this year.

as for all the other projects? psssh. who cares. new shiny things. A baby blanket. fresh socks. A new FYF in purple (I am however sane enough not to start that until the pink one is finished). And I want to knit about 40-hundred hats, too, all of a sudden.

Stash Dash 2018

Stash Dash is coming! It starts May 25th this year and ends... uhhhhh sometime in August. I never remember the ending date, I'm sure it'll be mentioned in another Knit Girllls episode later on.

What do I want to finish this summer?

1) spinning and plying the Muddled Brown Stuff
2) quicksilver
3) night sky socks
4) screamin baby sweater
5) another pair of socks
6) at least an additional 4 oz of fiber
7) clapoktus
8) the silver tunic

that last one is a real stretch cuz it's a huge garment, but it's a good goal.

I also intend to keep my 'new project a month' goal. What's on the list to start this summer?
-witchy mitts
-yellow shawl
-pair o socks
-more socks

busy bee me.

Busy bee

Life and work has kept me quite busy but I'm squeaking in a lot more knitting time in the evenings these days. Or the mornings, before I drive up to work.

Lately the kick has been newborn/baby hats. Why? I don't know. I guess I know a couple of people cooking up offspring, but I usually don't knit these little hats because they can't be used for very long.

I guess it's just a matter of what yarn is in front of me, and what needles, and what I feel like. I'm on my fifth.

Actually it's a very hatty mood around here, because in December I knitted 5 hats and I did 2 in January. So that's probably the reason. Suddenly, hats.

I've a few shawls on the needles as well, concurrent with my 2018 plan. Actually the plan is going pretty well! I've completed a pair of socks from the list, have 2 handspun things on the needles from the list, finished the momcho, finished the hurricane socks too. And I'm working on my second spinning project of the year--though it is slow going.

Webcam is failing me so I'm afraid we're out of pictures today