two FO posts in one day? I'm on fire!

I finished my aunt's Hitchhiker a little while ago, but just got around to taking photos (I remembered right before I sealed it in the envelope!).





The History: (if you're interested!) A few months ago she asked me to knit her a shawl but for me to choose the color. Originally I had Great Divide Shawl in mind but once I cast on, I decided the colors and pattern weren't for her (they are becoming Pendulum instead!). Then at the closing sale of one of Missoula's yarn shops, I found this gray MadTosh and knew it was the right one. To knit her a Hitchhiker with this yarn was a no brainer  :)








It's pretty official that I adore Madeline Tosh.








Happy weekend!!


(this one does not count towards Andi's Get it Done KAL because I finished it before the KAL started!)

FOs

I've recently finished some projects!

I knit this little bunny nugget from my hand spun yarn. It was so cool, I can't wait to knit with more hand spun:




and Harriet the Hippo:



both are Rebecca Danger patterns :) and they are both heading to their new homes soon.

These projects count towards My Sister's Knitter's KAL, yay! It has been a huge motivator to finish WIPs and seeing everyone's finished projects is encouraging :)

The next WIP I am working on is the One Row Lace Scarf; it has been on the needles since September 2011!! The yarn is Cascade Prints and was purchased at a local yarn shop on our way to Yellowstone National Park... so there are some fond memories attached to this project.




Since I finished two projects, it means I could cast on something!!



:)

Tom Beal Peak, Idaho

We spent this past weekend camping at Tom Beal Peak, Idaho, and it was gorgeous. It was the first time we've been camping since last year, so it was overdue! There is something so rejuvenating and uplifting about being in the wilderness.





We hiked to the lake on the left several years ago (actually, I didn't quite make it...the trail was very steep as I remember, but Scott did!)

Of course there was knitting:



and beautiful views on our hike:

At the peak

We picked huckleberries by the road; it was my first time eating one! We also had some deer visitors at camp, one night there were three and they kept following Scott and his dad around. The mosquitoes were awful - we are still itching! But absolutely worth it :)





Happy Wednesday!!

Woooo!

I can't believe the Tour de Fleece is over! It was such a great experience and my spinning has improved a ton. With everyday practice, I was able to spin more consistently. And I really enjoyed seeing everyone's spinning photos on Ravelry and Instagram. I think we all inspired each other :)

The last skein I spun is Knit Picks Special Reserve Full Circle roving in Espresso:



I didn't have a chance to blog about it until today because we went camping right after I finished spinning it! (that's another post)

The final yarn:







I can't wait to knit all this up! I have a few projects in mind but haven't completely decided...it has to be the right one!

TdF

Woah, sorry for my blogging absence! I have been completely consumed by the Tour de Fleece and will inundate you with photos at the end of this post.

Lately I've been in a serious knitting funk; nothing appeals to me! I think it's because I have too many projects started and they have lost their excitement. So I've told myself that I must finish two WIPs before I can cast on anything new. Right after I decided this, I read that Andi may be hosting a Finish It Up KAL as well! How does that song go, sweet serendipity? :)

(I'm actually not sure the lyrics fit this situation... I'm listening to the song right now...)


The two projects I've most recently been knitting on:



Scott's socks. I like these because they are mindless knitting and am not really in a hurry to finish them because I know they are huge and will take some time. 




and my aunt's Hitchhiker in Madeline Tosh. The color is so gorgeous, I think she will really enjoy it.






Just to give you an idea, the WIP list that I am trying to whittle away at has 16 items ! (four listed are cross stitch projects though) wish me luck?

Ok! Now for Tour de Fleece photos! If you follow me on Instagram, you have already seen these so I apologize!



so far I have finished four different yarns! The top purple I wrote about in my last post, and also, embarrassingly calculated incorrect yardage for it! It actually has 372 yards, not the 500 I wrote. Math and I do not go together. The gray skein is Knit Picks Special Reserve Full Circle in Wolf. I ended up with 122 yards from 3.3 oz. The lighter purple is 100% alpaca and was so dreamy to spin! I don't think I calculated yardage ... And lastly, 8 oz of pure merino love:



I finished reskeining these bad boys this morning! I have 630 yards of a fingering/sportish weight. This is undyed merino that I received with the purchase of my Louet Victoria spinning wheel! I would really like to dye each skein a different color and then knit a shawl! I have Daybreak in mind, but may change to a pattern I haven't knit yet. Who knows!

Wishing all of you a happy Wednesday :)

FO, pair #5

Pattern: Hermione's Everyday Socks by Erica Lueder (because I am OBSESSED with this pattern)
Yarn: Lynai Yarns in Loch Nessa
Needles: US 2.25 mm magic loop
Pair 5/13!

Yay, a finished object!! I hadn't been knitting very much the last few weeks because of my increased work hours. Thank goodness my shifts are back to normal. I even cast on a new pair of socks! It's a pair for Scott, and they're supposed to be a secret...but I'm really worried they might not fit. I'll post a photo as soon as they are long enough to be interesting :)

I've been busy this week spinning for Tour de Fleece! Here's a link to my Ravelry progress page, where I say a few words on the day's spinning. So far I've been able to spin everyday :) aaaaaand I finished spinning this:



I am so excited to knit with this yarn! Initially I wanted it to be a scarf/cowl, but now I can see it as a hat... ohhh!

I hope everyone has a fun and safe Fourth of July!

a post mainly about Philipsburg

I have a four day weekend - woo hoo!!

It comes with a heavy price though; seven full days of work spread out over two weeks -a full day is 10 or 11 hours...I normally only work four and a half hours/day!- I have worked three of those seven, just four left. whew

Scott also had a four day weekend, so we've been enjoying our time off together. On Friday we had a mini road trip up to Philipsburg, MT. My high school English teacher always told us to travel as much as possible, to always see as much as we can, even if it's just the next town. It certainly makes me appreciate Montana: the open skies, the valleys and mountains, the wide fields of alfalfa, and stacks of hay rolls.



I knit on my Hermione socks ..didn't make much progress :)





We walked around downtown of course, but also walked up the hill into a residential area. We were really lucky that it didn't rain on us because it was in the forecast! There were quite a few houses for sale, so we picked up a listing and walked to many of them. It was fun to imagine living in each (well, some were really run down and needed a lot of work) - a few were so cute! I'm not sure I would want to live in such a small town; Missoula is nice because it's not too small, but definitely not too big. (According to Wikipedia, the 2010 census had Philipsburg at a population of 820 [compared to Missoula's 109,299 in 2010]).




from bottom left clockwise: this dog at Philipsburg Brewing Company was comfortable laying anywhere, we had a pale ale and a porter, candy at the Sweet Palace!, and lunch at UpNSmokin -excellent pulled pork sandwiches! Scott had a jalapeno and cheddar dog with pulled pork on top. We went on a recommendation and it was definitely worth it!

The late poet Richard Hugo wrote Degrees of Gray in Philipsburg. I really hope you listen to it, he was such an amazing writer.


Yesterday I finished spinning this:



and washed and dried and skeined it:

I built a two yard niddy noddy too! So easy. I looked at several tutorials but basically you need one 16" piece of PVC, four 6" pieces of PVC, two tee connectors, and three or four end caps. One tutorial said to use 18" so I originally had someone at Ace cut it that size, but it made my skein much longer than two yards. At 16" it's perfect! The total cost for materials was around $3.15.

Today I am enjoying Agatha Christie's 4:50 from Paddington, a Miss Marple mystery! I have Andi to thank for turning me onto the Miss Marple tv series, and the book is just as great!



and that is the wee start for a Hitchhiker for my aunt in MadTosh.

Plans for Monday are not set yet, but I would not mind spending the entire day, reading in bed ♥

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend :)

just a drunken note...

I typed "by the beach" to make a new Pandora playlist, which brought me to "beach/shag" and the songs have been nothing short of AWESOME!!

♥

Proposed knitting

My dear knitting and Instagram friend, Jenn, is celebrating her one year blogging anniversary on Knitwise, Purlwise! Congrats Jenn!! To celebrate, she is holding a pattern giveaway each week (so go enter and check out her blog!!) :)

I won last week's and Jenn gifted me Pendulum! It is a gorgeous, swoopy shawl that will be perfect to cover my shoulders this summer. I already have yarn for it too.








It's Cascade Heritage in Turquoise and Charcoal. Originally they were to be a Great Divide shawl for my aunt, but the more I knit, the less I thought she'd like the color combo (the turquoise is really hard to photograph!). BUT, I think these two will be perfect as Pendulum.......for me....





I'd love to cast on right now but I know that's not realistic. As soon as I tame the WIP pile I will cast on immediately!


(and just so you don't think I left my aunt without, she will be receiving a Hitchhiker in MadTosh instead...in a lovely light gray that I think will suit her much better :) )

Thank you again, Jenn!!!

socks alive!

It's been such a productive day that I can finally feel like I've earned this beer :) ok, just to gush a little, I did my first ever Click-n-Ship from the USPS website, it was so. cool.!!! We dropped the package off at the post office an hour later, and they said it will arrive on Monday! How fast is that? It's Priority mail, but still, I feel that's lightening quick to get across the country. It's the little things, right? :)

I better share my last two pairs of socks. I finished them both last month but didn't blog about them.

Pair 3/13:



Pattern: a nice vanilla one, 64 stitch, toe up, 2aat, Eye of Partridge heel 
Yarn: Zwerger Garn Opal Vincent Van Gogh in the Sunflower colorway (sonnebloom I think?)
Needles: 2.25mm

I bought this yarn last summer in Portland ♥ the gauge is slightly stiff, and from what I hear about the durability of Opal yarns, I think these socks will last a long time :) the colors are beautiful, I just love this pair.

Pair 4/13:



Pattern: another plain jane!! though, the idea for this pattern came from a KAL Susan B. Anderson held last year, in which you switch colors every ten or so rows
Yarn: all scraps! There's Knit Picks Tonal, Berrocco Sox, Mountain Colors (two colors), Lynai, and Regia (two colors)
Needles: 2.25 mm

They are kind of a pain to knit because of all the color changes and tails to weave in at the end! I like the Russian join because it does a good job securing the tails and requires less weaving in. It's so much fun choosing the colors and the order they should be! I keep a bag filled with sock yarn scraps and when it gets too full, I know it's time to knit some scrappy socks.

Ok, are you ready to see pairs 5&6??



Cadence in Knit Picks Stroll Tonal (springtime)! I am knitting these two at a time (and am past the heel actually) but in this photo I separated them in order to move stitches around to change the starting point. They are super fun to knit and after two pairs of plain socks, the pattern is a great change of pace. The only problem I have with them is, I can't read and knit!! There are three charts and it requires too much of my attention.




This last pair is, yes again!, Hermione's Everyday Socks for a summer KAL :) I couldn't resist; I love this pattern! Yarn is Lynai Sock in Loch Nessa ♥ I love how it is knitting up!! I am obsessive with new yarns and patterns, I have to check Ravelry for projects to see how the yarn/pattern looks. But Lynai is so new that it doesn't have projects in this colorway listed. So it was pretty exciting to see the colors emerge in pattern :)

Let's end with Berny:




and this one I love <3>

spinning!!

my hand spun yarn!

I was never going to spin yarn because I always said I could just buy yarn all ready made. And then I bought a drop spindle and spun these...

and then I had to have a wheel...

This is a Louet Victoria I purchased from one of Missoula's local yarn stores. She is petite, folds up so nicely, and is wonderful to spin on!! I always thought spinning wheels were heavy and immovable, but not so.

My first yarn spun on my wheel!

This one I started on the drop spindle and finished on the wheel. I over plied it, but I still think it's my best spinning yet!

I. Love. Spinning. So much. Each time I improve and learn something. I just cast on with some of my hand spun, a bunny nugget:

and it is so cool to knit with it! One of the coolest things :)

I also said I would never own a Kindle (love mine), never knit a sweater (in progress, but am loving it and have purchased a quantity of MadTosh for an Abalone), never knit socks (well, you know how that one's going) ....

my updated list of nevers is, I will never knit color work socks or a fingering weight cardigan ;)

Happy Weekend friends!!!!!