I'm not ready for this...

Today marks the first day if snow here! The title is fully explainatory of how I feel about this. It's a total bummer. Where did summer go? 

The only good thing about snow is seeing our Blue Heeler Lola experience the first snowfall of the season. She goes completely batty and runs, jumps, prances, and acts pretty much psychotic when she sees snow. It's quite hilarious and makes me smile everytime. Who knew that a dog that came from Mexico would love snow so much :-)

If you follow me on Instagram you would have seen this already, but I finished my Smokestack Socks :-) 

Pattern: Smokestack Socks by Tanis Lavallee

Yarn: Beam Me Up by Pandia's Jewels on Glitz  

This pattern was a lot of fun to knit. The only minor modification I made was to mirror the front and back of the socks so that the cables ran down the sides. I'm very happy with how they turned out :-) I know my brother will love them. 

I also have some scraps left over of each of the 3 Star Trek yarn so I've decided to use them up in a pair of stripy socks for my brother as well. I just couldn't bear to toss them.  Although I don't have enough to knit up a pair of socks using just the scraps, so a I did some stash diving and pulled out a lone skein of Universal Yarns Pace in Steel.

Yarns: Pandia's Jewels Snug in Resistance is Futile, illogical and Beam Me Up on Glitz. Universal Yarns Pace in Steel.

I really don't have a plan yet on what's going to happen with the stripes. I'm just going to wing it for most of it. I'm planning on using up all the yarn if I can. I'm also considering working both socks at the same time on separate DPN's so I can evenly distribute the yarn as I go. We'll see how they turn out :-)

On the Etsy Shop News : I'm offering free Worldwide Shipping on all purchases over $100 :-) Just use Coupon Code - FREESHIPPING100 when you check out! 

Now I'm off to knit a bit with my coffee :-)

Happy Knitting :-)

Score!!!!!.....

I'm pretty excited today :-) I had one goal and that was to go back to the Red Deer Market today to get more Polypay Arcott Roving from A&B Fiberworks. I was a bit worried that there wouldn't be anymore left but I pushed it to the back of my mind and beelined for the booth as soon as we got there. 

I love all the fibery goodness in this booth :-) The natural colored skeins!

The abundance of roving :-)

That bag is mine :-) I bought what was left of the Polypay Arcott roving, which was 1 lb & 12oz. Although Anne assured me that she had more stashed at their Fiberworks headquarters ;-) So if your interested in procuring some, they should have some at the next farmers market next weekend ;-) Or you can check out their website and contact them to order!

So overall it was a fabulous day :-) I'm going to pull out the wheel now and spin a little!

Happy Spinning :-)

Fabulous :-)

Today is one of those days where I woke up in a great mood! Even though it was a bit chilly this morning and we actually had to turn on the furnace. How can it not be a wonderful day :-) My daughter is full of smiles and gives me big bear hugs! 

I've decided to share the love today :-) I'm offering free shipping until Sunday on all purchases in my Etsy Shop :-) Just use coupon code FREESHIPPING !!

 Now I'm off to knit on my Smokestack Socks  I'm so close to casting off I can taste it. I'm going to dedicate my knitting time to getting these done :-) 

I've already wound yarn to cast on another project ;-) I just can't seem to contain myself! Although I promised myself I wouldn't do any more stash diving today! I really can't be casting on a new project every day!

Happy Knitting :-)

Toss Stash, Wind Yarn, Cast On, Repeat.....

I'm a bit out of control!!  

When I wasn't feeling well I didn't really knit or spin. Now that I'm back to 100%, I'm having a hard time FOCUSING on one project. I have the insatiable urge to cast on project after project. Even though I had 3 projects on the go already. 

There's my Baba's sweater, which has been marinating for a while. I like the yarn, I like the pattern. I'm not keen on the endless stockinette using sport weight yarn. Also, since it's a dark colored yarn. I find I can only knit on it during the day. So I can see the stitches. I really need to get going on this since it's September and I'm sure she wants to wear it this fall / winter. 

I have my Vector  which I'm knitting with beautiful one of a kinds from Tanis Fiber Arts  These were marinating in my stash for a few years before this perfect pattern came along. Love the pattern :-) Love the yarn :-) It's perfect mindless knitting! It's just sometimes I need something more than garter stitch. 

That's why I cast on a pair of Smokestack Socks in my last skein of Star Trek yarn from Pandia's Jewels  The pattern is easily memorizable and addictive. I'm working the leg on the second sock but sometimes you just want to knit something new :-)

I just couldn't help myself yesterday. I saw this project on my Rav Friends Feed and instantly fell in love with it! Then I immediately started searching my Rav stash and found the perfect yarn! I'm using 2 skeins of Penelope by Spirit Trail Fiberworks in the Deep Ocean colorway. The base is 50% Bombyx Silk and 50% Merino. Which means that it's 100% AWESOME!! It's so soft and perfect to knit with :-) Sadly this base is discontinued but if your interested there are some skeins being destashed on Ravelry. 

Back to the project, I casted on ASAP after winding up the skeins. The only modification I made was to cast on 70st so I could make a wider scarf. I'm enjoying knitting it so far :-) 

Happy Knitting :-)

Spin, Spin, Spin...

I'm so glad I'm feeling way better today :-) I'm keeping a positive outlook because sometimes you can get caught up in the negative when your not feeling well. 

One thing that keeps me happy and positive? Spinning :-) I was super excited for my toddler to go to bed last night so I could whip out my wheel. I decided that I would start by spinning the Polypay x Arcott roving. It's very beautiful to spin. A short staple that is light and lofty. I'm spinning it very finely to get either a sport or a fingering weight. I have plans to buy some more next weekend at the farmers market. If I'm able to secure another pound or two I would love to spin up enough for a sweater. So far it's coming along great :-) 

Then I can decide what color I want to dye it after :-)

Happy Spinning :-)

Stockpile...

I haven't been feeling well lately. Not sure what's up but I decided to go to the farmers market with my mom and sister today. It was great!! It's been a while since I've been to the farmer's market and I was a bit surprised to come across the A&B Fiberworks booth. I left with a huge bag of roving.

Top White Roving - Polypay x Arcott Wool roving. I got a pound of it and it's very soft :-)

Dark Brown Roving - Shetland Roving. There's about 8.5oz.

Silver Roving and Dark Brown Roving - Alpaca. There's 6oz of each. 

I absolutely love marbled rovings. The 2 alpaca rovings have wonderful marbling. I'm undecided what to spin first. I've been absolutely giddy since buying all this. It only cost me $52 for it all!!!! 

So now I'm counting down the hours until my wee one goes to bed so I can pull out my wheel! In the mean time I've wound them up.

This picture doesn't do it justice. The Polypay x Arcott ball is WAYYY bigger than a basketball. There's some veggie matter in them but they are easily removable since it's pretty much predrafted! 

So.....there's only 1.5 hrs until bedtime.....it's going to drag on forever ;-)

Happy Spinning!!

Spacin' Out...

I can't believe that it's been just under 3 weeks of radio silence!! I'm sorry but have no excuses ;-) 

I have something new to share with you though! It's my new spinning wheel :-) I bought it used from a friend and I'm so in love with it! It's a Majacraft Rose. I absolutely love the engraving on it. It reminds me of my Baba Rose :-)

This wheel spins like a dream! I've been spinning here and there. Then the odd time I'll be glued to it spinning for a couple hours. It's complete heaven :-)

Here's the first skein I spun up on it! I used a braid of Prairie Spring by Be Bold My Love. This my favourite braid so far. It spun up great and I was able to get it fairly even. I ended up getting 370 yards in a sport weight yarn.

The only slightly irritating thing about it is that the rust color wasn't set in the dye. I didn't find this out until I had plied, skeined and it was soaking in the sink for its first bath. Which was a bummer. I rinsed it out real good then let it sit in an citric acid bath for 30 mins then nuked it. That worked very good. There's still a bit of rust in the undyed single in the yarn but I've been reassured by other fiber friends that it's not THAT noticable. I'm still undecided but we'll see ;-)

See... there wasn't that much to catch up on ;-)

Happy Knitting / Spinning!!