Annie Knits

Sorry, Guys...

I meant to start up 40 Days, but after Ash Wednesday we got hit, house wide, with the flu.  We're all very sick.  I'm the first to be upright in days and this little post and a pot of soup is about all I can manage.  See you when we're snot free.

I Just Have No Inclination to Blog...

When my camera is on the fritz!  I can't get a good picture of my knitting or my spinning to save my life.  And it's not like I don't have things to say (read gripe/comment/preach about) 'cause I do!  It's just that I usually get motivated to get on here by pictures.

So.  Here are some cruddy, kid-camera pics. 

Motivated by Carole and Margene and their NaSpiMoMo (yay, it's extended for another month!), I spun my little heart out this month.  And knitted it all up! 

Here are the 8 oz of Crown Mountain Farms Yak and Merino mix.  Spun up I think into a heavy worsted weight (I used 9s for the scarf).  The pattern is my own (more on that later) and this yarn is the softest thing ever.  I mean, one of my trademark sayings at the shop when someone complains about wool being a tad scratchy is, "Well, we aren't going to knit underpants out of it are we?  'Cause if we are, then, yeah, it's scratchy..."  Baby, you could knit underpants out of this stuff.  And hoooboy is it warm.  Just in time for it to be 72 degrees here.  Yeah, right.  We are going to get some thumping storms tonight I'm thinkin'.

And here is my short row scarf.  She met Rachel (the roving was dyed by Rachel at Dyeabolical) on her maiden voyage too!  On Saturday night.  When it was still COLD!  Ahem.  I used up every last bit of the yarn I spun from the 4oz of roving and I think that the scarf is the perfect pattern to show the color changes in this yarn.  I used 5s so I guess the yarn was maybe DK weight?  I don't know and I didn't measure the wraps before I used it all up.  I'm a baaaad spinner.

Ok.  The true color of this roving and the yarn I spun from it is somewhere in between the colors in  these pictures (darn kid's camera).  The greens are like what's shown in the picture on the left, but the picture on the right shows the browns better.  Oh well.   It's called Triple Play Roving and the colorway is called Mint Chocolate.  And it is.  Really.  It's wool (they include what I think are the names of the sheep...don't you just love that?) and rayon and tussah silk and silk noil.  I got yarn a lot like Rowan Summer Tweed.   

I got the roving and these two Totally Tubular Spinning kits when I clicked to The Bellwether from Ravelry the other night.  It all came within about 2 days and the service and representation of the products was great.  Go and shop there.  The kits come with stranded patterns too, and instructions on spinning up the tube of stuff to get that approximate yarn.  Too much fun, don't you think? 

And today is Mardi Gras.  Later today I'll get the 40 Days for Others blog up and running and you can sign up and post there to your heart's content. 

I think I'll be knitting up some handspun for charity!