Im Full of People!

Well, technically, its just one person but....Phew! I feel incredibly full. Mad is about 16 inches long now and 3 pounds, though to look at me you'd swear she was 20 pounds. I'm amazed at how nifty the body is and how it can adjust and change and morph shape. I'm amazed at how weird it is to have a thing inside me, a whole being who's moving, thinking, starting to see, has hair and fingernails and so many other things. Gads, its sooo neat!

Shes getting big now and we can see her in there, moving around. Sometimes she moves so violently, she annoys poor Fiz when hes sleeping on my belly! He gives me the dirtiest look, like *will you quit moving! Im trying to sleep here!* We can see her bump out and see her wiggle around in there. It feels just like I imagined it would feel like to have a thing in there moving around. I was playing EQ2 the other day and she was kicking and wiggling and jabbing so much that I was like *Im growing a Monk!* But thats only funny if you play that game, I guess :)

Since my boy, Mike, is getting old and not in to trying to eat my bunny anymore, we've been letting Burr out to play. He loves it sooo much! Its so nice to see him running around and having fun. He adores the cats and snuggles as much as they will let him. Here is a pic of Burr with Vivi. Arent they too cute??

Baby News-Fiber News

Again, its been ages since I posted. I dont know whats up with me, but its been really hard to make myself sit and write. Once I get going, I enjoy it, but dang, its so hard to sit here and DO it!

We're having a girl!! A wee girl... and her name is Madelyn. I adore my Granny (maternal) and her name is Madelyn and Shane and I love the name and love the nickname Mad, sooo, its perfect! Little Mad is growing like mad. Shes about 1 1/2 pounds now and 14 inches long! I feel like shes twice that big. My belly is enormous. Or at least it seems like it to me! Shes squashing everything. Its hard to breathe sometimes, depending on how Im sitting/laying and I cant eat much at a time. But its nothing bad. The awful part of it all is the hip pain that Im having. I swear, its some of the worst pain Ive ever felt in my life. It makes most movements incredibly painful. Even putting socks on is an ordeal. But its all good! Makes me stronger, gives me character. I know now that when Im old (or young!), if I have bad, chronic pain, I can take it. I can still do what I need to do, even if it hurst so much I cry.

Yesterday Shane and I went out and took some pictures. We both wish we could see what our mothers looked like while they were pregnant with us so we want to make sure Mad has plenty to pictures to see later. Heres a couple of my favorites -

Ive been doing a bit of spinning and knitting/crocheting. I bought some loverly sage green roving from Copperpot Woolies, spun it in to a worsted weight ad am knitting it in to some mittens for my mother. They were supposed to be done for her bday last month, but I got sick and was only able to get one done. So Im finishing up the second now (just got a thumb to do!). She seems to like them, at least she loves the color. Ill post a pic when Im all done.

As for spinning, Ive spun alot! Heres a pic of just some of the yarn Ive made -

Theres more than just these, but I got tired of taking pics of them all. On my wheel I have some misc roving ends from The Sheep Shed. Its a beautiful mix of caramel, dark chocolate and white. I think there is some mohair in it, but Im not sure. Its very pretty!

Ive got some news!

Been ages since I last posted, but I have a fairly good excuse. Im pregnant!! EEP! We found out for sure around the 7th of June but we had known for a few weeks prior. Shane was in Florida visiting his family when I had my dr appointment to get tested. Mom took me and boy she was so excited! I was nervous, but happy. I peed in a cup and sat in the little office on the table waiting to hear.

My dr (her name is Dr Quinn, how funny is that?) creeped in to the room with a scared look on her face. And she told me, in a very 'im sorry to deliver you bad news' voice"It looks like you are pregnant" WEEE!! I hollered! She looked surprised for a sec and then visibly relaxed and beamed a big smile at me. She told me that she was very, very happy to give me good news. That it wasnt very often that folks were happy to hear they were pregnant. Isnt that sad? We hugged and I was smiling so much my cheeks hurt, lol! We talked for a while and she refered me to a place in Saratoga.

When I left the office to get the addy for them, my Ma spotted me from the waiting room and she made a face at me, like 'well??' I gave her the thumbs up and she just about flew out of her chair and danced over to me. I swear, she was more excited than I was!

But then I started spotting. Not bleeding really, just spotting a little. I made a sort of emergency visit at the place in Saratoga asap. Shane and I went and I got an ultrasound and we got to see our little bean! It was the nicest thing, ever. Especially since Shane was with me. I cant even explain how good it is to know that hes there for me. For us. Anyway, the bean is ok, but part of the placenta has come away from the uterine wall and a blood clot has formed. But all looked well.

I went again for my normal visit and pap and all that. The midwife used this microphone machine thing on my belly to try and find the heart beat. She said that usually you cant hear them so early (8 weeks) but she wanted to try anyway. "Dont be alarmed if we cant hear anything!' But after some searching, there it was! Lub-a-dub-lub-a-dub!! Fast and strong as you could ever want. But she said not sex, no lifting things, nothing that will strain my pelvic muscles. Whoopie!

Then on Saturday (july 7), Shane and I got in to a huuuge fight with Bruce (my step father). Hes a jackass and I hate him. Im off my Cymbalta so Im much more outspoken these days. And Im going to be a Mom and that has changed me. Alot. So I said what I thought and gave him what for like Ive only done once before. That time he hit me and threw me out. This time he got all huffy and told Shane and I to get out. Ha!! I told him to call the cops and get them to make us leave. If you knew him, youd know that he wouldnt call the cops if the house was on fire. Mom was out with Pip so she wasnt here to buffer. I got really upset, shaking and nearly hysterical. I effing hate him (I want to love him, and him me. I could use a father, but he makes that nearly impossible). I started to cramp and feel sick so I layed in bed with Shane for a while, trying to relax. A few hours later I used the bathroom and saw there was fresh blood. Not the old blood Id been spotting. And the drs said if that happened, GO TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM.

So thats what we did. After ages and years and a lifetime waiting, I got an IV *cries* and an ultrasound. I was dehydrated and I may have a UTI, but the ultrasound didnt show anything too bad. Im still bleeding from that clot, but the baby is great. So far. He/she was flipping around and moving like crazy. It was creepy! Then on the way home a belt snapped in the car. The two houses we were stuck by were full of folks who sleep like the dead. It was 2am and we have no cell so Shane hiked up the road to see if he could find a phone or someone who was awake. He eventually found a house with lots of dogs and they barked and woke up the house. They were nice and let him use the phone. He called our neighbors and they came right out and got us. We couldnt call home because Bruce does have any of his cars legal and even if he did, he couldnt hear the phone ringing if it was sitting on his head. Thank goodness we have one set of neighbors who are there if we get in a bind!!

Now Im on even more *pelvis rest*, which is pretty much the same thing as bed rest because doing pretty much anything uses your pelvic muscles. So no more wrangling the sheep, no more trimming Loki's feet, no more gardening, no nothing. I cant even go for walks. Im soooo bored and frustrated. And all this sitting around has helped aggrivate my sciatic nerve so I hurt almost constantly. And I get these awful stabbing pains in my butt/thigh when I move. Feels almost like the muscle is tearing. It hurts!

But Im getting loads of knitting/crocheting done. Ive finally started a pair of Horcrux socks. But in the fingering weight version. You can get the pattern by joining the Six Sox Knitalong. Im using some fingering weight superwash yarn I bought recently. I dyed it blue and lime. It was supposed to me chartreuse, not lime, but I went a little crazy with the dye amount. Its very pretty though! And much more *witchy* IMHO. Ive only got about 1 1/2 inches done but its striping awesome. Ive lost my knitting calluses :o( and after knitting that much, my poor ring finger on my left hand swelled up where the needle was rubbing on it. That happened before with the first pair of socks I ever made. I have to work through the pain and a nice, tough callus will grow. Heehee!

OK, well, Im getting hungry again. Dang tiny bean eats alot! Oh, I forgot to add that Im due on January 25th. The day before my Dads birthday! We even know the day I got pregnant, Yay for Cinco de Mayo! LOL!

Sheep are Naked!

Im very very very happy to say that my sheep have been shorn! They were done on Mothers Day by a nice fellow whos father has sheep down the road (he also has sheep there, but lives somewhere else now). I was a nervous wreck, but Joe was wicked cool with my babies. He could tell right off that I love them to bits and was afraid they would be hurt or scared or something. But he was patient and kind with them and now theyre naked!!

They did some wiggling and I told Joe that I didnt care one bit what they looked like when he was done. I cared more that they were ok. Boy are they all bumpy! Its cute :) Im getting much closer to haltering Nasvitch, so Im thinking that I might get my scissors out and do some trimming. Lymric, now, hes not as lumpy as his brother and hes more timid, so I might leave him the way he is. We shall see!

So now I have two huuuge fleeces to process. I havent even skirted them yet. I dont have a drum carder so Im a little disscouraged. Im terrible with hand cards and they take ages anyway so even if I get the fleeces all skirted, picked, and washed, I still cant spin them. So Im just sort of looking at them for now. But they will get done eventually!

Ive been knitting a bit but dont have any photos yet of what Im doing. But, finally, I have learned to crochet granny squares! Yay me! Ive been making them for a friend and also for a little sweater for my moms chihuahua. Plus Im thinking I would like a big blanket for our bed. Something washable... though I cant see me knitting or crocheting something that huge. So Im sort of fooling myself with granny squares. Theyre quick and sooner or later they will add up to a very colorful, nifty blanket!

No Pictures!

GAH!! My computer has broken. We believe the video card is the problem, but we cant buy a new one for another week or so. Im going mad! I cant do anything on my Mothers computer. This poor thing is old, slow and has none of my things on it *weeps uncontrolably* I may be able to get my camera to upload to this pc, but Im not sure. The cd drive wont read cd's and when we tried to install a new drive, the computer nearly fainted. If I can figure a way to upload with out a disk, yay! But if not... it shall be a little while before I can show you all my new loverlies :(

I bought my first bit of angora fiber and OMG its the softest thing Ive ever felt in my life. Its so soft I almost cant feel it! Its a beautiful pale pink. I wish I could afford enough to spin miles of it. (I can imagine myself in a sweater made from it...with certain movie star fondling it...heehee!)

Ive also been working on my red sweater. It began more than a year ago. Im very glad I got it out again to finish it, though its right on time for the spring. Wont get much wear out of it till fall. Its snuggly and though the arms are a bit too long its coming along fairly nice.

Also, I think I may knit myself a new pair of socks. Ive had this red yarn sitting in a drawer for ages waiting for the right patterns. I joined the yahho group Six Sock Knit Along and Aprils pattern isright up my alley. You see, Im a huuuuge Harry Potter fan and this sock is named the Horcrux Sock and had beautiful little lightning bolts on the sides. How could I NOT knit them??

Well, its almost 2:30am. I need to try and sleep. I think. My sweater is calling me...He wants his hood finished! He wants me to wear him and feel all cozy :) Yesss...knitting a bit sounds good....

EEEP!!! The cats outside just made the creepiest noise EVER!! Im outa here!!

Hibernation and New Yarn

Finally, a new post! I havent felt much like writing lately. Ive been hibernating. Its too dang cold and bummy around here. The weather was nice and spring like for about an hour and then went right back to winter. Im soooo tired of grey and cold! Loki is about sick of wearing her blanket, too. And my poor chickens have been locked up for months. I hate having them in their coops so much. But with this cold, I dont dare let them out.

BUT, with my hibernating, Ive been getting quite a bit of fiber stuff done. Loads of spinning and a bit of knitting and crocheting. Puppi's sweater is all done. Yay!! Man, I thought it would never end. I tried to get a good pic of him in it but hes a wiggle worm. This was the best I could do without help!I also finally finished a pair of socks that I started over a year ago. theyve been sitting mostly done in a bag waiting for me to get int he sock mood. They came out pretty nice, though theyre knit with Magic Stripe which I find rather itchy. They fit well and are warm :)In my last post I mentioned this chocolate roving I bought from Blackcat Handspun. I sooo wish I had more. Look at how loverly it is!I also bought some raspberryish roving from her. Its an incredible mix of Coopworth and Chow Chow. While spinning it it reminded me of raspberry icecream and a place in Maine where we used to go when I was a child. So, I named this yarn Shaw's Ridge Raspberry.Another purchace I made was this beautiful silk roving from Copperpot on Etsy. Shes soo nice! And this roving spun up to the most beautiful yarn. I knit the ounce in to little wristlettes. I was going to knit a headband but decided that the colors were so pretty that I wanted them to be somewhere I could see!The last stuff Ive spun up is this two ounces of tussah silk. My cousin, Mariah, wants a skinny scarf and since shes allergic to wool (or at least finds it all quite it itchy) Im going to make it out of silk. I plan on dying it blue with Berry Blue Kool Aid. Loverly color! Though I must say, I love the natural color, too. Its so soft and buttery.

Chocolate Yarn and Desert Batts

I havent posted in a while. Mostly because I just havent felt like blabbing or even being ont he computer. Its been incredibly cold outside, here in NY and that means its pretty cold inside as well. I dont fancy numb fingers for typing so Ive been huddling in our combo bedroom/livingroom with the beasties trying to keep warm. But today was pretty nice out. Bit of a cool breeze, but warm enough to remove Lokis two blankets and open up her yard a bit. Ive been keeping her shut up in her stall because the dang wind and sub zero temps are awful! I cant let her have her full pasture untill the snow melts. The electric wire is lost in the snow. I dont want her wandering in to it and hurting herself.

Anyway, my most recent fiber stuffs have just been some crochet cat toys. Last fall I promised a friend of mine that I would make him some for his kitties, but Im a lazy poop and never got around to it. So during my *hibernation* Ive been pushing myself to get some done. Ive made some odd shapes, a few mice and am getting a nice collection. When I showed them to my Ma she fell in love with the mice. She has a beautiful little chihuahua, Rose, and poor Rose is so small that most toys are just too big for her to pick up. Ma wanted a mouse for her. But before I could give it to her, she found one of the cat nip mice. Wow was she happy! So Ive made her a few more toys, little balls, a square stuffy and a squiggly ball. Shes completely too adorable with them all. Theyre her babies. She hides them in her tent and wont let anyone touch them! I will try to get some pictures of her with them.

I also bought some fiber from a wonderful lady I found on Etsy. Her shop is called Blackcat Handspun. The first two batts I bought were so gorgeous, I went and bought a third. I got 7 oz of one called Desert Morning. Its made from Coopworth and Chow fur. Its wonderful! I havent spun it yet (Ive got a pound of fiber from The Sheep Shed Studio on my wheel at the moment), but I know its going to be beautiful!! The other batt I got is called Mocha Chocolata Yaya. 4 oz of a mix of corriedale, merino, mohair and silk. Its some of the most beautiful colors Ive ever spun. Lovely texture, too. I want more! It spun up in to two skeins, finishing up to be about 80 yards of two ply. I wish I had enough for a sweater!
A while back I bought some silk and used Berry Blue Kool Aid to dye it. The dye didnt make it in to the center of the roving so there was a bit of white left. I was a little annoyed at first but once I got it fluffled a little, I figured it was ok. I had wanted a solid blue, but this didnt look bad.But when I spun it....it just got prettier and prettier!! I'm in love with this blue color. I hope they never stop making Berry Blue!!!Now, Ive got to get off this frigging computer. Our video cards fan rattles and its driving me crazy!!!

Music, Masks and Snow

Ive been steadily working away at Puppi's crocheted sweater. It seems like its never ending! Ive got like 12 more inches to go...*cries* Will definitely post pics when I'm done!!!

I'm also working on a heat pad for myself. Found this pattern on the net for one and thought about making that, but decided to just make up my own. So I rummaged through my yarns to find one I liked. Its hard to use the yarns I like. It was all I could do to not use one of the yarns I don't really care for. But I finally convinced myself that this will be something I will use at least once a month (you ladies know what for) and I want it to be something I like looking at!! So I chose the red sari silk and wool yarn I bought last year. I also decided to crochet it since I'm starting to like crocheting more than I used to. Its coming along nicely!



I also decided to make one out of a piece I knitted a while back. Its some yarn that was like my second ever spun on my wheel. Its very very uneven and lumpy and I love it. Its not much and I was thinking it would make a nice neck warmer. But I never got around to finishing it. I looked at it and realized it would be just the right size for a heat pad if I folded it in half. So I looked for some nice contrasting yarn to sew up the sides. I chose the very first yarn Ive ever spun. It a pretty teal color and I spun it on a drop spindle. The one and only time Ive spun on one, lol. I crocheted all around the edges of the knitted piece and then sewed up the sides. I had first put split peas in it. It worked well for heat but spelled icky. So I got some rice and filled up some pantyhose feet and popped em inside and sewed up the end. Its soft and pretty and works great!


These past few weeks have been terribly cold. I think I got a bit of frostbite on my face! My nose is all peeling like I have a sunburn. I wrap a scarf around my face while I'm out, but it slips and gets wet and everything so I got to thinking...I need a ski mask! So I searched all over the net and couldn't find anything I liked. BUT I did find these horribly freaky ones. They are absolutely nightmarish to look at but the basic pattern is great. I searched more on the net for the actual patterns for them, but couldn't find em anywhere. Sooo I went on eBay and found the magazine they're in, bought em and am now waiting patiently for them to arrive. I don't think I will be knitting in the creepiness that the patterns call for, but who knows.. Maybe Ill knit something even worse!! HEEEHEE!!!

Last week on Carson Daley there was this guitar player, Andy McKee. I don't normally watch Carson (hes a moron and completely bugs the crap outa me. hes also a terrible interviewer, imho) but Carson said he found this guy on youtube (gotta love youtube!) so I decided to stick around. OMG I'm SOOOO glad I did! This guy is incredible. He played this song called Drifting (which you can see HERE ). Its become my new favoritestest bestest mostest greatest song ever!!! The song is so beautiful. Even my BF said that it was hard to believe that it was all done with a guitar, its too sweet sounding to be a guitar. We agreed that it sounds like something from a video game. Maybe a small country town or an area just outside of town (those of you who play any of the FF games or the like types will know what I mean!). I liked it so much I even bought his cd! I cant wait to get it.

We got a nice Valentines Day snow storm. Though we weren't able to be home the whole day to enjoy it. My cat Seamose has a urinary tract infection. He had to be at the vets at 9:45 am. We left the house at 9 and it took a full 40 minutes to get there! Normally its only like 15. Yeck! It was snowing so hard that while waiting in the nice warm office, looking out at the snow, we couldn't even see the other side of the street! Good news though, Seamose will be ok. I almost lost one of my cats, Levi, like 8 years ago to a blocked urinary tract. He had to have emergency surgery. So I was especially nervous about my S'mo! But he will be ok. Hes on meds and has to eat canned food until he is better (oh he lurves canned food!!).

The snow is really pretty. But yesterday when we got home Shane and I went right out to check on the animals. Wind was blowin like crazy and the snow was piling up. Poor Loki was shivering all over. So I asked Shane to help me put up a tarp wall. OMG, it was sooo friggin cold. I think I got a little frost bite on my face! Shane is awesome. He moved fence panels around and did all the climbing to tie up the tarp to the rafters. Sometimes I think hes too good to be true. At first Loki thought the tarp was freaking scary! She even ran through a hole in the fence, out in to the yard to get away from it! But once I got her in her stall again, she decided it was nice in there, heehee. In the night it was blown down but I left it for the day. The sun was shining in and the breeze wasn't coming in too bad. But this evening, I climbed up and tied it all up again. The tarp was flapping all over and even flappin on to Loki, but she was completely unconcerned. Shes such a good lady!

The sheep are doing well. Hiding in their house, though! And not venturing out too far. The snow is past their bellies. Poor things! I think we might move them back in to the barn until this cold snap is over. My chickens are all hanging in there. Though I wish I could bring them inside!! Harry is going to lose some of his comb. I had them shut in their house but theres teeny cracks everywhere and with this wind, its still cold in there. Ive moved them in to the sheeps old stall in the barn. Its a bit large for them, but its MUCH less windy. Im also getting them a heat bulb today.

New Knitting and *Ancient Tiles*

Ive been working on a few things! Its been incredibly cold here so Im stuck in the house (cept for my ultra fast runs out to do feed!). Things get boring in here so Ive been fooling with my yarn and fiber alot.

Im knitting Shane (my bf) a pair of mittens, the type with the flip top fingers. This is my first like them. Ive knitted one pair of regular mittens and a few pairs of fingerless mittens, but never these. Theyre coming out well, though! Im using the German wool I spun. Its scary at first, using something Ive spun, keep worrying about screwing it all up. But Shane likes em and Im enjoying the job. Here they are -
Im also crocheting a sweater for my American Eskimo Dog, Puppis. I recently knit a brown and red striped one for my old man, Mike, and hes just so dang cute in it, I just had to make something for Puppi, too. Its my first crocheted garment. Ive made toys before, but never anything like this. Its coming out great, if I do say so myself...
Im also coming out of a funk that Ive been in for like ages. I get very depressed and then I come out of it for a while, then go back in. Its a cycle Ive been going through for as long as I can remember. Its annoying and tiring, but I dont beat myself up about it anymore. I just go with it now. Ive realized that this is how I am and thats ok. Anyway, I havent been cleaning...At all. I mean, Im certainly no June Cleaver, but I do like to keep things at least a little tidy. But when I get in these holes, I just dont give a crap about any of that. I have many pets in here (1o cats, 2 dogs, 3 chickens, a bunny, a cockateil and a turtle) and though they still get fed, watered and have their cages cleaned, well, other than that, I dont do anything. It gets overwhelming. But...with this cold weather and my inability to open up the windows (Im a freak for fresh air) Im starting to clean again.

I started in the hall. Ok, you see, my bf and I share 3 rooms here. Ones his (also for a little storage. No animals go in there), one is our bedroom and the other is for the computer and chicken cages. The three rooms are connected by a small hallway. I chose that because it was a least daunting. Now, we have a rooster living in here. Magnus, hes a great pet, but hes certainly not the most tidy. He lurves dry dog food and always ALWAYS spills the dogs dish. Youve seen chickens scratching around for food, right? Well he does that, but with the dogs food. It gets everywhere and we end up walking on it. Crunch crunch crunch! It collects in the corners and along the edges of things. Also, my bunny eats hay, so that gets everywhere no matter what I do. And my two dogs are unaltered males who sometimes mark. And I have male cats who are the same, so, well, all these things are on the floor and usually its just stuff I can sweep up.

But this time around one area of the floor it all mixed together. It was incredible. Ive read about other cultures who use mud/manure/hair/straw to build houses and things. I guess I never really thought about what those things were like. But I have a new found respect for those people! Its absolutely ingenious. The stuff that was on my floor was SO incredibly hard, it came up in tiles, large, flat pieces. It was so strong that I couldnt break it with my fingers and it took every ounce of strength I had to get it off the floor! Now some of you folks are surely thinking Im out of my noggin. But I dont care, I was fascinated. I even took pictures! lol!

This is what it looks like from the top -
This is the bottom of one piece. Its hard to tell, but its very smooth. Glossy, smooth even!
Is this piece you can see how it took an imprint of the floor. The X is where the floor tiles meet!This is a pic of one area that was on bare wood. It made an almost perfect cast of the grain!! I may be a total weirdo, but I had fun cleaning. I usually detest it. But it was like an archaeological dig or something, lol! I also found a missing piece of my spinning wheel, yay!!

Yarn Swap, Alpaca and Mittens

Well! I got a very nice surprize in the mail today. (Two actually, but one was a pound of roving that I knew was coming, so that wasnt completely a surprize.) You see, a while back I signed on to be part of a yarn swap Basically, person A spins a (3.5 oz) skein of yarn for person B, person B spins one for person C, etc. We get to see who were making the yarn for, but have no idea whos making one for us. Im very much a pessemist sometimes and thought that surely I would be paired up with the one person who wouldnt spin a skein of yarn. But (*YIPPIE*) I got a person who not only spun a skein, its the most wonderful, funky, and fabulous skein of yarn Ive ever held in my hands!!! I ADORE IT!!! Looky---->

*dances* I lurve it!! Though I have no idea when Ill be able to convince myself that I can knit with it and not totally ruin it. Im just going to stare at it for a while.

Last year I bought myself some alpaca fiber to spin. Ive finally finished it! The first skein came out nice (it spun up wicked easy), but this second one, I even impressed myself a little, heehee! Its the most even Ive ever spun. Also pretty thin for me. Its a two ply worsted (alsmot a sport weight). Its soft and a really wonderful warm brown color.
I ve also been working on the fingerless mittens for Shane. Theyre coming along nicely. I tried to take some pics tonight, but they came out terrible. Its night and I had to use the flash. Ill try again in the daylight. All I have left to do are the flaps!

Over a year ago I bought the book Stitch'n'Bitch. Theres a gorgeous pair of fingerless mittens in there. It calls for two balls of Noro something or other. So we headed out to the LYS and I bought the colors I liked. Well, I get home and am knitting away and soon realize that one ball is a continuous piece of yarn but the other is three tied together. The colors dont match up and I end up with one perfectly colored mitten, green to purple to yellow to orange. The other one I didnt even bother knitting because the colors woudlnt match up, it would drive me crazy! I threw the lot in a drawer and tried to forget about them. But while knitting Shanes mittens, I was almost obsessively thinking of my failed Noro mittens. So I got the one out and re-examined the yarn to see if I could piece it together to at least sort of match the finished one. No go! No amount of splicing would make it come close to being a mate. Ive decided that I must go bat to the LYS and scour their Noro yarn for one ball that will pair up with my finished thing.

I...must...finish...them...

Long Time No Knit

Gads, its been ages since I knit anything real. Ive knit a few little things, like a couple headbands, but thats it. A month ago I knit a hat, sort of thinking I would give it to my Dad. But it ended up way small. I followed the pattern to a T but its even too small for me! Still, its a nice hat.

I decided I needed some more inspiration. So, I asked in Spindlers if anyone knew of a good Knit Along. Well, they sure did! One in particular took my fancy - Red Sweater KAL - I have this red sweater that I started well over a year ago. It was to be my first sweater, ever. And after all this time, it will still be my first sweater! Its a very very simple pattern and also an incredibly BOOORING one. I think that with some people to chat with, whine to and show off my progress to, I might just be able to grind my way through it!

I miss knitting. Ive spun all this gorgeous yarn (if I do say so myself!) but Im afraid to knit with it. What if I knit something horrid? What if I dont have enough? What if while in the middle of knitting, I spill coffe all over it and stain the yarn that I spent so much time spinning? Gah! Ive lost my nerve!