Date night

The last two Fridays at our place have been date night. This is a time that Troy, my husband, and I spend together doing whatever we decide to do, as long as we do it together.

The last two Fridays were centered around fiber stuff, believe it or not. It was Troy's idea, but a couple week's ago he decided he'd like to try dying. Of course I was game for this. I dug out fiber from a mill I'd been to that was not my favorite stuff and had been bought to experiment and play with. We opened a bottle of wine (and later a second) and got out the dye supplies. He mixed all the colors up as this was his project.

The first two skeins we used the cold method and then steamed them.


Then we got ambitious and I grabbed some fiber I had bought from the mill. This time we used the hot method and put a dye pot on the stove.


I had a certain color in mind that I was trying to match and wanted to see if I could put Troy's artistic skills to use.

The ball of yarn was the color we were aiming for. Not exactly but at least we were in the right direction.

By the end of this date night we had this hanging in the shower.



So the next week, Troy decided he wanted to learn to spin up the fiber he had dyed the week before. Just so everyone knows, we learned that date night and wine go much better with dying than with spinning. I was a little paranoid he was going to break my wheel and he spun away and I sat beside him trying to control his every move. Not the best situation. In the end though he did end up with something resembling a yarn. I'm not sure who is going to knit with this, I'm hoping it's Troy.

Fresh off the wheel

I switched things up a bit and made a chunky single ply with a 4oz bag of Polworth I purchased at London-Wul dyed by Heidi.







Now back to knitting....

The end has come

The Secret Pal 11 exchange has come to an end which is very sad.

The happy news is that it has ended with a bang with this awesome package from my pal who is none other than Kimber from Trois Oiseaux. She was a terrific gift giver and sneaky too. She told me that her blog had the word bird in it as a hint to find her. I searched all over for a blog with bird in the title. I never thought of translating it! It was fun Kimber :)

Here is my last package which includes Socks that Rock in a terrific colorway called Highway and it's so smooshy. The baby alpaca lace weight is the softest ever. Wish you could feel it. The cocoa is to make hot chocolate which will be really appreciated on those cold nights. The cream smells very yummy and will help keep my hands smooth for spinning. And not to forget the book bracelet which makes a really neat book mark.



I'd also like to introduce you to the pal I was gifting to. Her name is Angela and she has been so much fun to find and give gifts to. She's a fellow maritimer as well.

Playing catchup

It's true, I've been a lazy blogger lately. Manon kindly pointed this out in her last comment :)

Things have been busy (as per usual) but that hasn't kept me from playing with fiber in many ways. Here is a quick update to attempt to get you up to speed.

SPINNING OBJECTS:

This is what I'm calling Autumn Foliage Yarn. It's the Coopworth that I dyed myself and then spun up at the spinning retreat. I really love how it turned out and I think it's destined for a pair of socks for me. Possibly the Tyrolean Socks in Interweave Fall 2007.




Next up we have a bit of a mess up really. Manon kindly gave me some beautiful dyed silk in gorgeous colors (I'm kicking myself for not taking a picture of it). I spun it all up onto one spindle and then wasn't sure what to do with it. I had this white yarn in my stash and it had a silky sheen to it and I thought they would go well together. The white yarn was a single ply so I decided to ply them together. This was almost a good idea because they do look beautiful together. Look closely at the picture below to see the colors of the silk come through.


It turned out though that the yarn was spun in the opposite direction as the silk (I think). I've soaked and hung this skein but the plies don't seem to want to stay together. I'm not sure if I'll be able to knit with it so I have not plied any more. I'll have to knit a swatch and see if it knits up ok. This was an important lesson learned.


I have also picked and washed up the Romney fleece I bought at the spinning retreat. No pictures yet though.

FINISHED OBJECTS:

Using handspun Navajo plied polworth, I knitted a Montego Bay scarf. I love this pattern and this yarn!




Socks for my Secret Pal (shhh). They are knit in Regia bought when I was in Ottawa and it's the Heat Wave pattern (of course).


These are my first pair of toe up socks I made and they are men's size 11 so the foot is long compared to the leg. The pattern is a garter rib and they are knit with a cotton-wool blend.



STARTED and ON THE NEEDLES:

100% cotton socks (yuck). I really don't like knitting in cotton but I have a really good friend that this is worth making for. She can't wear wool so I found some Regia 4 ply cotton that is mentioned in No Sheep For You. I do love the color though. This first sock is completed (no pic yet) but the second is not yet casted on.


Another toe up sock. This is Fleece artist merino yarn and I'm very glad I split the yarn in 2 equal amounts and knit toe up. They are for my step dad who has size 11 feet so I ran out of yarn. I changed to a brown Fleece artist merino and knit the cuff. It's not a perfect plan, but I still think he'll like them. I'm also nervous these are two narrow, but Troy tried them on and width wise they were comfortable. Fingers crossed they fit my step dad too as they are a Christmas present. This sock is complete now (no pic) and the next one is cast on and knit up past the toe.


This is the start of my Mom's cardigan vest knit in BLACK SOCK YARN! I'm absolutely crazy to be attempting this for a Christmas present but I never did claim to be sane.


That's all for now. There are a few more items but I'm going to do a photo shoot tonight and I will try to post those before the weekend. Besides, this catchup post is getting too long already. See up much stuff I get accomplished when I'm not posting.