Secret Pal Questions catchup

I am tardy in posting the answers to the Secret Pal weekly questions.

Week #2:
As a kid, what did you look forward to most about summer vacation/break/holiday?

Summer Camp! I went to a Western week camp every summer where I had my own horse to take care of the entire week. It was the best ever! We did other things as well, like swimming, campfires and crafts, but the best part for me was having to take care of 'my' horse. Everything from riding, cleaning stalls to feeding was required and every minute of it (even swatting the bugs away) was the best time ever.


Week #3:
What would you consider the perfect amount of stash?

It doesn't exist... as long as I am a knitter and/or weaver I don't think I'll ever have the perfect amount of stash. Just when I think I have everything I need in my stash and will only knit from that because why would I need to buy any more yarn ever, I come across a project I'd really like to make but I have nothing in my stash that will work. Sometimes I wonder if subconsciously I'm searching out projects that are intended for yarn I don't have just for the excuse to go search for more yarn. If there is an illness called 'Stashitis' then I have it.

Fiber tyme

I am officially off of my spinning hiatus!

I completed spinning the blended merino I purchased from CJ Kopec creations.

This...


turned into this...


It was pink, brown and caramel but it spun up to have a purple. It's very soft and at a very rough guess I'll have about 400-500m from the 8 oz I bought.

I also finally dyed the merino/sea cell blend from last years Spinning Retreat. It is from the Belfast Mini Mills in PEI and it is prepared in almost a pencil roving.

This ....



Turned into ....


I tried something knew this time and put the dye directly onto the fiber in the pot with out mixing it with water first. I had much more control over where the dye was going to go but as I had had the opposite experience in the past with it premixed I was over cautious with the brown and ended up with way less brown then I intended. Actually less green as well because I had planned for it to be darker. I may dye it again and see what I get but I'm scared to handle the fiber again as the roving is becoming harder to draft.

I've also spun half a 4 oz bag of the cashmere/merino 50/50 blend I also bought at the spinning retreat from the mini mills. It is an amazing joy to spin and is super soft. I plan on plying it with a thin single of silk, but we'll see if I stick to that plan. I'm spinning it natural, pre dying, which is odd for me. Pictures to come, but they are kind of boring since there is no way the beige single in the picture can demonstrate how soft and wonderful it is in person.

Reconstructive surgery

No that is not a grave site, it's the view from my front door today.

We had our sewer pipes and intake pipes replaced because there were roots growing in the very old clay sewer pipes that were there before.



I must admit it was a tad bit nerve racking to see them dig up our yard like that and have the pipes disconnected from the house and then reconnected. At one point today there were piles of dirt on my TV/Craft room floor. Don't worry, I removed all the yarn to a safe haven before the jack hammering began.

All is good now and the pipes have been covered up and water turned back on.

In other news I've progressed to 2 and a half repeats of the Lotus Blossom Tank top. It's slow going cause there are so many stitches and the lace pattern requires me to keep looking at the pattern instructions. I'm determined to get this one done though. The only thing that will get in my way is that I'm making socks for my step dad's birthday which is next Sunday and I only have one sock almost finished. I'll have to focus on those next week.



I'm off to bed ... need a good sleep so I'm bright and alert for my french exam tomorrow.

Á la procaine

Moncton Highland Games

After taking my dad for breakfast for Father's Day, I spent the remainder of the day surrounded by friends, fiber and kilts.



The bag pipes were out in full force at the 2nd annual Moncton Highland Games held in Victoria Park. Heidi had a London-Wul tent set up with samples of many types of wool, hand dyed beauties and some fabulous hand woven wraps. She invited some spinners and weavers to come join her for the day (yesterday too) to demo weaving and wool preparation in the Wool tent.

We had Sherri and Dorin with their drop spindles whirling away (yes that beautiful yarn behind Sherri is hand dyed and available at the shop!)





Next we have Heidi with her caldron (aka Dye pot) filled with wool and some sock yarn being over dyed. The dye is all natural, very natural. It's an insect called cochinea used for dying shades of red and pink. I can't wait to see the yarn when it's done.




Cranking out some polworth blended with soy silk is Karen.



I actually met Karen back in the days when the only wool I knew existed was Briggs and Little (which is a great wool but there are so many others!). Karen told me with great excitement about drop spinning and how I would love it and to come out to LW and see what it was all about. My response at the time, "Why would you want to spin yarn? It will take away from your knitting time and you can buy it". Oh, how I have changed!

Summer

Today I was contacted by my Secret Pal that will be sending me gifts this summer. It's so exciting to hear from her.

We were also asked a SP question which is:
"What is your favorite summer drink?"

I'd have to say my fav summer drink is mojitos. Last summer I grew spearmint in our small little garden and we had a ton of it. I brought some over to CJ's and she made fabulous mojitos with the fresh spearmint. They were so tasty but fresh and light. I could have drank them all day! Probably not a good plan since we were knitting with pointy sticks. We are growing spearmint again, not that we had a choice since it just popped up on it's own. I'm hoping to make lots of mojitos this summer with the fresh mint.

In other news, I finished this cute and useful linen summer bag last weekend.



Line and I picked up the Euroflax Linen yarn and the pattern came with it at London-Wul. I hadn't crocheted in a long time and it was a nice change and I loved working with the yellow. I don't get to work with yellow often cause it's not really one of my colors, but for the bag it was perfect.

Secret Pal 12 Questionnaire

It's that time again! Secret Pal 12 is starting on June 15. Here is my questionnaire to help my pal get to know me.

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
I love alpaca, silk and merino. I'm starting to have a liking to cotton and other plant fibers as well, especially with the summer weather approaching. I don't like acrylic or sparkly bling yarn.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
I received a beautiful Lantern Moon needle case from SP9 but it really only holds my longer needles the best. My double points are spread all over the place and I have a hard time keeping track of them. As well, my round needles are just randomly hanging from things in my craft room. It's not a pretty sight.

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
I think I'd be intermediate to advanced depending on the technique. For example, I'm an advanced sock knitter but I'd be an intermediate fair isle knitter. I have been knitting since I was 5 years old (27 years!) and I learned the very basics from my Aunt. After that I taught myself.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
No wish lists.

5. What's your favorite scent?
Nothing too floral or strong.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
Dark chocolate, especially with nuts.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
Spin, weave, and knit mostly. I've dabbled in scrapbooking, quilting and crochet as well.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
I listen to many different kinds of music but mostly on my iPod I have artist like Jack Johnson, Shawn Mullins, Feist, Theresa Sokyrka. I like hearing music I've never heard before and find new and upcoming artists.

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand?
I wear a lot of brown but can't really say it's my favorite color. I do prefer earth tones of greens, blues and pinks. I really like orange and yellow as well but I can not wear them myself as they look horrible on me.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
I have been married for 5 years and we have yet to be blessed with children but we do have 2 fabulous dogs, Kozmo and Clancy.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
I wear scarves, hats, mittens but no ponchos. I do wear shawls once in a while.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
Socks - you can see your progress fast, there is no sewing and you can never have too many pairs of socks.

13. What are you knitting right now?
It's a long list: 2 different pairs of socks, lace wrap, finger weight shawl, lace scarf, cardigan vest, dish cloth.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
Love to!

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
All of the above have a purpose for me. It depends on the project. I have recently switched to long circulars for sock knitting but sometimes I still really like to pull out my bamboo double points. I do prefer bamboo over plastic. For circulars I like addis but I've recently ordered a set of Knit Picks Harmony circulars and I'm excited to try those out.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
Yes, I own both.

17. How old is your oldest UFO?
About 1 yr old. I typically rip out projects that intend not to finish.

18. What is your favorite holiday?
Christmas

19. Is there anything that you collect?
Yarn and knitting books

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
I subscribe to Interweave Knits and Spinning

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?
Improve on Fairisle stranded knitting; learn some knew weaving techniques with a rigid heddle.

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
Yes I am a sock knitter. My feet are 9.5" long and about 8" around. Size 8 ladies shoe.

23. When is your birthday?October 20

24. Are you on Ravelry? If so, what's your ID?
Yes and my ID is byTanya.

Lot of catching up to do

I've been neglecting this blog and my ravelry projects as well. But that's all over now.

My MBA night classes are now complete until Sept, which is just in time as I will need to be blogging more often because Secret Pal 12 is about to begin!

Let's go way back to a weaving project I completed before Mother's Day weekend. Here are the bamboo and cotton placemats I weaved with my new loom.





I made 5 placemats with the 90" warp. They turned out a little narrow to their depth but they will do fine. We used them for dinner on Mom's day when my parents were up for supper. They were a really fun project and I actually enjoyed all the planning.



That is the last weaving project I have done but I have lots of other ideas swirling around in my head, I just need to get something warped.

I have a bunch of other items going on but I'll share those later.

I'm also trying to plan a summer top to knit. First I was going to knit Isabella but I think I've changed to Lotus Blossom tank from Interweave Summer 2006 instead. For those that know me feel free to leave a comment with a preference for me. Obviously both would be adjusted to fit me (at least that will be the goal). There are lots of pictures of both projects in ravelry here and here.