Spin/Fun-a-long!

I am a proud participant in I Love Sushi Spin-a-long! I received my fibre in only 8 days from California! Why it takes 14-20 for others I have no idea. I am extremely excited to use these batts to make some really inspired yarn and knitted up crafts. This goes to the end of march so get yours today!

Living so far away I decided to get ALL the different types of sushi batts.
You can add "extras" to it to make the batt go further, but I wanted to play with these as they are featured.

The Tuna rolls will be my last thing to spin up. But come-on
When can you spin wool, bamboo, banana, kid mohair, and silk all at once?

I think the Veggie roll will be my first (bottom) which is made of
the same as the tuna. Then it will be the California roll which has Suri Alpaca in it!!

It also came with a card, button, and chopsticks (not pictured)!
How did she know I just LOVE love LOVE sprinkles??
AND I have an idea for the pink flower button.

Rarely, do I get to participate in these things but the batts were super affordable and this was one I just could not pass up!

No Kitty, Inspiration Yarn, and Hand-spun

There will be no Kitty for last week due to a special two kitty one this week! I have been working hard on a lot of things but I will be back to posting later this week. I have been ill for the last week and I am trying to get over it. My normal schedule should resume after this week!

For your viewing pleasure:

This lovely yarn is Manos Del Uruguay Silk Blend called Wildflowers. I have some good ideas on what to use this in as a nice springy project.

The above is my Yak, Merino, and Silk hand-spun used in the hat and scarf I am working on at the moment.

The below is the supposed to be royal purple hand-spun yarn for the tea cozy I am working on. I for some reason couldn't quite get the color, but it is royal purple.

WIP: Eclipse Hat and Scarf

I am using beautiful yarn from Manos Del Uruguay Silk Blend called "Eclipse" and my own Hand-spun from Silk, Merino, and Yak. I am super excited about these two projects. The first one is the hat from Spin - Dye - Stitch by Jennifer Claydon  and the second is a lengthwise scarf using her technique for dropping stitches while binding or casting off then weaving in hand spun yarn. I really do recommend this book.

I saw this yarn and knew exactly what I would do with it.

My hand-spun actually looks pretty decent.

I love the patches of grey in the hat and the scarf is starting to get to be a nice
width. The hat is not finished I am planning on a flower in a hole that is a bit
big on the join. Should be a nice set!

Kitty 8: Spring

I love spring! I have made this kitty in hopes that I will see the lovely tulips blooming soon in the meadows. They appear to be purple and pink ones. I miss walking past the meadows and watching these lovely things grow! Oh one more good thing, since last week I have lost another kg! Must be all the walking I have been doing as of late...

I love the little flower!

Coming up in the week!

I have been extremely distracted busy lately so I have a lot to catch up on here. I will be sending out posts throughout today to Wednesday. But here is an overview:

• WW Kitty for last saturday and this saturday
• Border collie amigurumi
• Gossamer scarf
• Loom
• Teapot cozy
• Spinning stuff
• Hat with matching scarf
• And a few other small things in the works

Phew... If I can do that and put in about 8 hours on my thesis by Wednesday then I will be one happy gal. 

You know what's coming next in this post... Yup, a picture!

You're soo crazy, I am going back to sleep!

Making bread!

I made some white crusty bread today, using a pan not really intended for bread. I prayed that it would turn out alright and I could finally eat some of my apple butter I made a few weeks ago. Man, do I love when a plan works!

You can see it already pulling away from the pan's sides.
 I just lightly greased it with sunflower seed oil.

 Now for some lovely bread pictures. This bread it about 8in long, 5in wide and 6-7in tall:

Kitty 7: Goal and Love

I made my first star weight loss!! It is also Valentine's Day so I made the little kitty with a heart! Thank you PlanetJune for the pattern for the heart. Remember if you want the pattern for the dust kittens they are at ItsyBitsySpider.

Love how the kitten is looking over the heart.
What is that on its head?

Ah... my weight now. It is a star weight loss so I was happy!
Kind of like this picture a lot, with everything in its cuteness.

Now the cute side views!

DONE: Tea cozy

Got a few hours? Want to have something that looks like cables? Well, mock cables in a tea cup cozy is just the thing!

This is a beautifully soft Scottish Angora/Wool yarn done up in slipped stitch cable.

This is not an actual cable but more of a bound stitch. Still pretty.

WIP: Spinning Lessons --Skeins and Singles AND WIP: Tunisian Crochet Afghan

Excuse the long title but I needed to do one entire post for this one. Some people (who shall remain nameless) think that I do spinning on a small basis. A spinning wheel is just a toy for me to do my meager amount of spinning. I laughed, and they did not understand me. Let me show you what I have done since I got my new "toy."

You remember those red wool singles I gave up on?

Look who has plied them on her new spinning wheel!!

Probably, over filled the bobbin, but it did say it holds 100g... right?

Yeah so those were pretty right? Yeah ok confession time...

This is really what I have been doing:

Behold, my new skeins!

If you count that is 15 skeins (1 on the bobbin resting) and 2 singles.
I have a lace weight single on the wheel now.
Minus 1 of the orange skeins in the middle all these were plied on my wheel.
 All the ones in the middle where also spun on my wheel (minus 1 of course).
The two teal ones and the one on the bobbin are done using Navajo plying.

Is spinning all I have been doing? Of course not!!

Say hello to my way of getting rid... I mean using up my
acrylic yarn! This will end up being a throw/afghan using tunisian crochet!
It is a bit on the rolling up side so excuse the sea salt grinder in the picture.

Also, I have been working on a Plarn bag. Oh yes another one of those things... So to my lovely friend out there, yes my spinning wheel may be a toy but it is one that I love, so stop dissing on JULIE!

Kitty 6: I am a Fibre Artist.

At the end of the day, one must be true to oneself. My real motivation is my artwork. Right now I am into fibre arts which I know will be a passion for the rest of my life. So to celebrate that I found some small momentos on Etsy. Becka Rahn in conjunction with her husband made these beautiful ornaments that went well with my tribute to fibre artists everywhere!

Here is my tribute to all fibre artists out there! And how can you dislike such
cute little designs. They are all about 1.0-2.0 inches (2.54-5.08cm).

 Just for a closer view of each, they are all ornaments.

I couldn't resist really with this one.

I saw this one in a blog post which is where I discovered the artist!

Just stunning, this is really woven on!

Look at that cute heddle! 

Just in case you wanted to see the sides of the kitty I made:

Cooking up a good meal

In these cold times a good meal is worth the effort. I made my stroganoff and it looked so lovely I thought I would share a picture of it!

That is beef, garlic, sour cream, lipton onion soup, worcestershire sauce and tagliatelle noodles.

Done: Red/Purple Felted Bag

So my failed attempt at a spinning wheel bag has become a nice fuzzy felted bag. I will find something to put in it.

The red yarn is wool that was my hand spun and the purple is Scappa Scottish wool.

A lot of hot water and a pet slicker brush later...

I love the bottom of this bag!

Done: Spindolyn Bean Bag

Remember that Alpaca yarn I dyed, and redyed because I hated how it came out the first time? If not you can find that post here.

Maybe I was a bit harsh on it. It looks good with those white places!

Bottom is filled with wax pellets.

 So dramatic the scene outside my window!