What's on the Bobbin

Here's what's on the bobbins: I took hand picked, hand dyed (blue/grey acid dyes), hand carded wool and carded it again with denim waste. The denim waste looks like the stuff they sweep up off of a jeans factory floor. Well, I've never seen a jeans factory floor, but I'm sure this stuff is all over the place. I plied one strand of just the wool with one strand on the wool/cotton combo to create a lumpy bumpy yarn.

Husband asked if I'm going to knit sleeves on to an acid washed denim vest. He's joking. But it does have some sort of 80's look to it. Did they knit with denim fibers in the 80's? I think I remember some sweaters that looked like stonewashed jeans.

The Lack of Light

There are days when it's so dark from the cloud cover you have to turn your lights on in your house in the middle of the day. And you'd want your headlights on when you drive. When I was in Montana I had a perfect system for photographing yarn. I put the black coffee table next to the huge living room window that let in a large amount of indirect light. I laid the yarn on the coffee table and used my old Olympus digital camera. Taking photos is my favorite part about blogging. But now...

The lack of light is making it hard to get good photos that show the details. I've tried the flash and reading lights and indirect window light in different combinations, but I can't quite catch all the qualities of the fibers. I'm going to keep working at it---maybe going outside will do it. For now here is a photo of all the orange yarn that I made. It was taken by the window that lets in the most light.

spinning, knitting, finishing things

Last summer I solar-dyed some roving and now I'm getting around to spinning it. I love the fall colors.

I started Sexy Vesty with some (thrift) store bought yarn. Looks too small on the needles, but I'll have to get a little further before I can tell for sure.

Soaked the #13 Lace Beret and then dried it on a dinner plate like the directions said. It looks great on my daughter...

who was kind enough to model it for the blog.

Back in Seattle

Just wanted to post a quick message to say I haven't fallen off the edge of the earth. We are pretty much settled into the apartment in Seattle. The kids are is school and family life is going smoothly. I've had a little time for knitting and began my next project: Sexy Vesty in turquoise. Once I find my camera charger I'll update FOs and WIPs. Later.

Goodbye Montana

I attended my last birth in Montana this week. It was a lovely home birth in Great Falls. Here's the new daddy with his baby. He is the quintessential Montana man and I love this photo.

It looks like I'll be able to leave tomorrow. I think it's a 10 hour drive or so. I'm sitting at Hastings again using the internet. The Lace Beret is coming along. I can't imagine getting any knitting done once I get to Seattle. I'll be busy hugging my family and unpacking my stuff. I'll be living in a condo so things are going to change for me. Dyeing in the kitchen will probably not be an option. I wont be picking stinky fleece in the yard, because there is no yard. I wont even have access to fleece so much. I'll go back to ordering it on the internet. Even with all the changes on the horizon, I'm happy to start my new city life. Goodbye Montana!

Baby Belle

It's done. Sewed the buttons on last night. I'm going to wait to do the next baby sweater when I get to Seattle and get to my stash. I have some hand-spun with me in Great Falls, but no contrasting yarn. The ruffle took quite a bit of yarn so I had to make the cuffs shorter than the pattern called for.

Knitting Projects Update

I'm still in Great Falls and I'm still waiting on a baby. I made these mittens out of some of the solar-dyed roving from last month. They are so soft and I love the colors. I just made up the pattern as I went and they fit snugly. It was a good project to do while watching movies and passing time.

I'm back at Hastings. Free wi-fi, Woo! Last night I started the #13 Lace Beret from the Fall 2009 Vogue. I'm using some hand-combed, hand-spun natural Shetland that I made a few months ago.

Yesterday I blocked Baby Belle and it dried very quickly because it was in the 90's in the shade. I bought some little buttons today and I will sew them on soon and take a real photo for the finished piece. August was suppose to be spinning month for me, but it turned into knitting month.