July Wrap Up - Tour de Fleece and other things

My July was mostly filled with Tour de Fleece and all the focus went there.

I bought a couple books, and I'll talk about that next month, if I open them.

So with that Let's talk Tour and FO's and WIPs.

Tour de Fleece is an event that takes place along side the Tour de France bicycle race.  All meeting at the starting line at Ravelry.com we set our personal goals and support each other with each leg of the race.  I can't tell you why I haven't done the Tour in previous years, but this was my Rookie Year on the Tour.

I had goals, oh yes, the Tour is about personal goals and mine were lofty.  I wanted to finish the long term projects on my bobbins and spindles.  I had 8 ounces of Mixed BFL from Blue Moon Fiber Arts that I got at The Fold when they were at the Sewing Show in March of 2012.  I had 2.7 ounces spun on my spindles.

I decided to spin 4 on the wheel and 4 on the spindle.  I finished up my 1.3 ounces on the spindles and completed the 4 ounces on the Sidekick.  I worked a 2 ply on the Sidekick and got a delicate fingering weight.  It's so pretty - in reds, pinks, and greens.

So soft and lofty.  When washed it blossomed!  Oh, I love it.  Aprox 690 yards.  :)

I also have some BFL from Miss Babs I got from her website and from Loopy Yarn in the Loop.  Some in the color Dew and some in the color Envy Me.  They were both BRIGHT GREEN, I love that color.  I spun about half of it up on the Vespera espinner and I was a little green myself when I spun it.

I finished the singles on the Sidekick and plyed on the Vespera.

I worked a 3 ply and it is puffy and glorious.

I then tackled the last long term project.  I have about 5 lbs of llama to spin up.  I'm really struggling with it.  I don't think it's well prepared.  The spinning guild helped me find the problems with it and what to look for next time.  It's full of veg matter, and there are second cuts.  It makes it hard to draft properly without stopping regularly to clean and pick.

So to combat this disheartening task, I SWEAR I will do 3 bobbins of llama between other projects.  I did my 3 bobbins and like it.

The last thing I did was start a new project!  Yay!  It is Corridale from Gale's Art in a Random Colorway - it's blues and purples with a pop of red.  The red is slightly out of place, but I will spin it up and gift it at Christmas.  Here's some pictures:

Love it! I will post on Friday about my WIP's and FO's.  Are you excited?  

July Spinning and Classes

I have finished a couple classes on Craftsy while finishing my Stoker Pullover.  I think I finished them both ... hmmm.

I finished the Fit to Flatter class with Amy Herzog.  A nice follow up to that class would be something on Arm-hole math.  I would love that.  Seriously.  I need that.  Well, her class is pretty great.  The only improvement I could see is that in the beginning we look at pictures and analyzing shape.  We are given the tip - contrasting outfit for your background.  What does she do?  Models in black against a dark wooden background.  Behind Amy?  A pale blue wall.  *shakes head*  There is a lot of tips on math, and some practice.  It was really helpful.  And then - you really only have to do this kind of math once, then you will know what to do for EVERY SWEATER you will make for yourself again.  Assuming you don't change too much.

Well worth it.

I also signed up for the free class - Know your Wool.  And it helped me get my sheepy fix after not seeing any at the Midwest Folk and Fiber.  :)

With the sheep - it's Tour de Fleece!  And Bright Green BFL from Miss Babs is almost complete.  I will wash and set right after posting this!

Pictures:

June's Projects in various states of complete

I've been working fast and furious on my projects.  A lot of KAL's - per usual.  I like to do Camp Loopy with the Loopy Ewe in CO.  I knit swiftly and the 1 project in a month is not too difficult for me.  I like the crazy challenges.

So:

I finished some projects I love.

I have a new pair of socks that have a TARDIS theme!  I worked on them while THE BLACKHAWKS were WINNING!

They are in my Garter Chevron pattern - available BOGO Free right now - use coupon code: FUZZYSOCK2013 use it wisely.

I finished a sweater that I will love in the cold windy winters of Chicago-land.  The Stoker Pullover from the Fit to Flatter book.  I already want to make another in say ... a wool.  The alpaca chainette construction of the Flicker Yarn is going to be so warm.  Oh but the modifications to fit ... Wide hips, as written above the waist, wider arms, and some armscye math.  Cowl neck as written.  :)

A co-worker that I convinced to start going to yoga classes with me has a birthday coming up.  I made her a yoga mat bag that will coordinate with the color of her mat.  It's an aqua color - this is the Om Yoga Mat Bag from the Stitch n Bitch Nation book.  It's probably one of my first knitting books.  My friend Fluffy had it when visiting me back in 2006, and it really inspired me to try new things.  This book and her influence pushed me over the edge.  I made this pattern back then for my yoga mats, I made it bigger for myself and ran out of yarn.  Mine looks crazy, Ning's looks a lot better.

In progress I have a ton.  Always. I cluster knit.

Still in progress are the hexapuffs - I got sick on Monday and made a couple YELLOW ones.  Yellow is making me happy right now.  I'm still working on the Bittersweet Vines set from Anne Hanson.  That project takes brains, and those projects take me a little longer because I have no time for that right now.

I started a blanket for Project Linus 8 strands of yarn given to me from a friend who lost her grandmother.  It's plain acrylic and it's working up nicely.  (size 50's from Bagsmith)  I was on FaceTime with a friend who called her hubby over to watch me work on them.  (Go Team Squishy)

I started another Sallah Cowl.  I love that pattern, it's a free Knitty.com pattern.  Bristol Ivy did a wonderful job, well written.  The only thing missing on Knitty is the schematic, but I think it is on her blog.  I'm working in Packer Themed yarn - Go Pack!

I've also joined a KAL for my old yarn club - The Mean Girls Yarn Club.  Yarns were themed around a villainess of the month.  My year (year 2) was centered around the movies.  I have worked up one - it was hard to find a pattern to work with that yarn.  It looked horrible worked up, but lovely in the skein.  I am still not happy with it, but too stubborn to rip it out.  This yarn - a 2 ply superwash fingering weight screams SPRING with an olive green meeting purple and coral.  I did not want it to blend - I wanted pooling.  I viewed the Run Amok projects on Ravelry, and found when the colors blended it looked brown from a distance.  No - I wanted SPRING.  I went crochet.  I'm doing tiny granny squares that I will couple with a white boarder.  We'll see how this goes :)

Lastly it's time for Camp Loopy project 2 - I'm doing the Helena for a lovely almost 3 YO.  She picked the color - a Flash Dance Purple in Madelinetosh DK.  Here's the progress shot.

June Books and Events

On the Book front I put down my non-fiction book about the escape from Alcatraz - I didn't like the over-all structure of the book.  I found it hard to figure out who all the players were...  Anyway...

I picked up Yarn: Remembering The Way Home by Kyoko Mori.  I'm about 2 chapters in and she's so compelling.  I hope she lands on her feet, especially since she's a knitter :)

I have been to the Midwest Folk and Fiber.  It is a 3 day Fiber festival and folk art thing.  They had a small display of work, quilting and weaving and things.  There was a market floor with about 2 dozen venders and some outdoor vendors selling foods.  There were bunnies on the market floor.  Sweet angora rabbits some sheered, others a-fluff.  I took no pictures.  It was not really worth the $10 entry fee.  Although I didn't take any, the classes were pretty good with great teachers.

I did take home a small grocery bag full of fiber.  One project for spinning and one for knitting.  I picked up some Gradients in Merino Silk from Fiber Optics in the Fire in the Sky colorway.  I also got some great turquoise yarn from Lost City Knits in the DK base.

On Saturday we start Tour De Fleece.  I am going to try to finish some of the long term projects on my bobbins and spindles.  :)  It includes the Blue Moon Fiber Arts mystery fiber in Briar Rose that I've been drop spindling for about a year and change.  I picked that up at the Sewing Show in Schaumburg in March 2012.  It's a nice prep and the colors are reds and greens.  I am going to have to sample to see what I can do when plying this up.  I worry about the muddying of colors.  I have 5 pounds of llama from Christimas 2011, I talked about that fiber in last post.  I also have green BFL from Miss Babs, in Envy Me and Dew, about 24 ounces of it total.

Now I've been putting off seaming a sweater long enough, I can't wait to show you my WIPS and FO's.  I do hope that the sweater makes it to the FO pile!

June Classes and Spinning.

A few things are going on while I twirl fluff to yarn.  And they are all very old things.  Currently working on some spindle spinning.  BMFA fiber in base unknown in a color called Briar rose.  Very pretty, about 1/2 way done with the singles.

I started working on the llama fiber from my aunt again.  I was not impressed with the prep on the fiber I was working, second cuts and lots of vegetable matter.  However, about 3/4 through what I was working on my lap, I got to some well prepped fiber.  It was drafting, very little matter, like the first stuff I tested.  Oh my.  I think there's just a bit of 'bad' stuff in the bag.  My attitude has improved.

The first sample ounce I got turned out like this.  So pretty.

I am also working some BFL from Miss Babs in Envy Me and another green colorway that I will be mixing up.  I've been switching between the colors whenever the fiber "breaks."  So bright and electric!

I have finished the Two if By Hand Polworth.  I made a gradient yarn, it moves from gold to purple and back to gold.  About 190 yards of a fingering weight.

Here is my finished work.

I signed up for SOAR this week.  It's in my backyard - St Charles IL, and I might not get to go again.  It's exciting to take a class from another member of my guild, and learn about the mechanics of my wheel.

Oh, I put my Ashford Traveler wheel in the back seat of RachelCables' car last weekend, I hope she's having fun with it.  I know that when I was starting on the wheel I feel pretty self conscious when the owners were watching.  So I hope the alone time helps her and she gets some pretty stuff to come out of it.  

On the classes front:

I'm teaching a navigating ravelry class and a two at a time on two circulars Sock class.  I love both of those classes.  They are both fast paced and fill the time completely.  I really like those kinds of classes.  You can find my classes at Fuzzy Wuzzy in Arlington Heights.

I recently took the Anne Hanson Class on Bittersweet Vines.  She did a great job working through any elements that you might have problems with and walked us over why different executions of the yarn-over might look bigger or smaller depending on the stitches surrounding it.  Very helpful, but I still am at a loss about what to do with that...

Here's some hexapuffs drying...

May FO's and WIP's

So, some knit alongs started this month and deadlines are approaching and rather that post, I knit.

So here's what I've been working on and finishing.

First I've been slogging along on a bee keeper's quilt and have made some great puffs.  Here's a couple in the Rick Goes to Crazy Town color from Knit and Fiber Creation's Walking Dead club.

I finished mom's fun-fur scarf.  She loves it.  And that's what matters, not my pride or my achey hands...

I finished 2 pairs of socks - one in more Walking Dead Yarn - this one in Lori's Ghost and it's very pretty, in a pattern I made up myself.  A cabled slip stitch pattern.

And the other a pair called All Dressed Socks in a color from Unwind Yarn Company, Feriade Valencia, and they are amazingly bright!

Then I went cowl crazy!  I made a cowl in 4 days.  Size 10 needles helps though. ... The Sallah Cowl from knitty.com  And it's amazing.  I may have blocked it a little aggressively, but I thought it was choking me... 

The doubling of the loop means I get a mustache!  Great fun.

I have started the Bittersweet Vines Cowl and Mitts set by Anne Hanson, who came to visit the Windy City Knitting Guild last weekend.  I chose Plymoth Mushishi to knit it out of.  It's a one ply aran weight, wool and silk blend.  And here's my cowl in progress with Anne.  She is so sweet.

I didn't go alone - with DizzieLizzie and RachelCables we worked our cowls.  I love Rachel's - look at that green!

Also on the needles - no photo  - is the Stoker Sweater from Amy Herzog.  I finally did the math and read the 3 sleeve articles from knitty.com to figure my fat-arm-skinny-sleeve problem out.  Conclusions being 1. Lose some weight so I don't have this problem and 2. knitting is all math.  

Conclusions looking at the above pictures, everyone's getting cowls for Christmas!

Knitting with Intertubes

I saw this on buzzfeed ...

http://www.buzzfeed.com/alannaokun/gigantic-knitted-things-youd-love-to-cuddle-up-with


And it had a link to Phat Knits and this picture:

Yeah, it's made from thread (a lot of them I suppose) but if you made it out of intertube.  It would be so SQUISHY!

May Events!

So at the end of April I went to Yarn School in Harveyville, Kansas with a friend from my knitting group in Green Bay Area.

When you move away from an area, you leave good things behind, Ann & that knitting group was just one of many things I left to move to Chicagoland.  She is probably the only one that has kept in touch.  She reached out about meeting up for a yarny event and finally stars aligned for a road trip to KS!

The drive was a long one, the vehicle was a full one, and good time was made.

We arrived and were amount the first to check in.  The retreat is held in an older rural school complex owned by a fantastic family.  Nikol has a little farm around the schools they live in and runs a little knit/fiber shop out of the old school office.  We had our spinning wheels set up in a big circle in the gym.  

And we had our dye lab taught in the old chem lab.

And the fiber hung to dry above our heads! 

And we slept in the elementary school building.

We visited an alpaca farm where we could buy their locks or roving.  And visit the babies.

And Nikol cooked us leisurely late gourmet meals.  And I knew something amazing was coming when I could smell the smoker going.

Smoked cheese!

I learned so much, met amazing women and feel so blessed to have been a part.  I will be back, you can check out their site where they offer other retreats and can accommodate group activities too!

I have unloaded all my things and started spinning up some of the goodies that I dyed or batted or bought while there...

May: Books!

 I haven't really been devouring books the way I did at the beginning of the year. But have been working on the Craftsy class and book Knit to flatter by Amy Herzog.  The book is very well photographed and the sweaters are great staples for anyone. I opened the book this weekend to look at starting a sweater. I am in a couple sweater knit alongs and I've decided to use the Berroco Flickr yarn that I got from fuzzy-wuzzy yarns. Here is a picture of my swatch

My mom my measurements & Then I could make my final sweater choice and With a Good Plan and the Rest of Amy's Class To guide me I started.  And then I ripped back.  My hips, I need to cast on again thinking of my hip measuements.  The negative ease in my hips would be over 8" otherwise.  It also explains why shirts don't fit both my hips & chest at the same time!

I do need to work more math for my biceps, but Amy's book does not tackle that.  The class makes a point to tell you why you need positive ease in the arms - but then doesn't make any attempt to help you do it :-/  not cool.

The other book I am very excited to come is Botanica Knits. Nature inspired sweaters and accessories from my favorite designer is always a treat. I think I saw on her blog that the books were delivered a couple weeks ago. I think that means that soon I should be seeing my own copy I'm in the mail. I can book on digital for a while but I really love the tactile nature of knitting books.

May Spinning and Classes

My spinning life has taken off.  The trip to Harveyville for Yarn School really did that for me.  Being around 40 passionate spinners rubbed off on me.  It also empowered me.  I feel like I could try any technique and without hesitation.  I have tried some coils - they were fun and tricky and fiddly.

I have spun some batts.  I carded some stuff and it was based on some Miss Babs BFL/Silk blend that I got from the website.  The color was called 'Cats Cradle' and I thought it was great in the picture, but it was a lot more salmon than I cared for.  I blended it with some browns and whites and some add-ins from Yarn School, sparkles and the like.

It looks fluffy and warm.

The next thing on the wheel is the Two if By Hand Polwarth.

It's spinning fine.

It was so nice to spin outside.  Although spinning in the wind is a new sensation.  A fun fun sensation.

On the classes front, I'm teaching the garter class.  I had fun knitting it up, and pinning it out was so satisfying.

I'm taking the Amy Herzog Craftsy class on Knit to Flatter.  I am enjoying it, what I love the most is that I can go at my own pace.  Diagnosing my shape I've learned I need a better bra.  I also am bottom heavy (no kidding) and what kind of sweaters should I have been knitting for myself.  And I have been swatching for a new sweater with Amy's guidance.

It's Berroco Flicker on a size 11 and 10.5.  I can't wait for it to dry!