I'm on a roll

FO's finally!

Squid socks in Mama Blue Simple Merino - Ink colorway
I purchased this back last winter when Mama Blue had 50 of the original creature kits. I actually scored 2 kits and have since knit one and traded the other to another Raveler. I hope she's enjoying hers!






Sleepwalker Socks in Dream in Color Smooshy - Spring Tickle
These are Boucle Yarn Studio's March 2009 sock club socks. Even though I was done with them within the month, someone else actually beat me to the finish line! These were a great knit, fast and easy pattern.

Spinning round and round

I've been trying to break in the Sonata and have been spinning like a madwoman with some Pigeonroof Studios roving I had bought last month. This is a beautiful colorway and the fiber content is a dream to spin with!

Pigeonroof Studios Merino/Cashmere/Nylon in Bianca
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She's a beauty!

I took Monday off specifically to go to Detta's Spindle in Maple Plain, MN to buy a new spinning wheel. After 3 hours of driving, I got to pet her lovely wheels. Had it narrowed down to just the Kromski Sonata and Lendrum upright. That's it. All I wanted to try.

Detta was such a lovely lady and let me test out the Minstrel, Sonata, Lendrum and a Majacraft Rose. The decision was so hard, weighing pros and cons of each wheel.

So what did I end up taking home with me?

The new addition to our family - the Sonata!



It was a harder decision to make than I thought it would be. Wasn't even interested in the Minstrel, but it was love at first sight. Shiny, deep and rich walnut finish. Beautiful craftsmanship. Treadles were smoother than buttah.

Why did I end up with the Sonata instead? Purely for portablity. It came with a spiffy backpack and folded nicely. The fiber guild in Fargo spins together and I'd like to be able to join them sometime. Hauling around the Minstrel would've been difficult.

But I'm already saving up to bring my Sonata a sister. =)

I suck at this blogging business

As pointed out by Sarah, I'm not very good with this blog stuff, so I am going to make an effort to post more regularly. This will be good practice since I'm much more of a listener than a talker.

So what's been going on in my life? Lots of knitting. Not a whole lot finished, but many WIPs!

This is the Gathered Scarf done in Malabrigo sock, Velvet Grapes colorway.


Cashmere Cowl in Plucky Knitter 2py lace, William James colorway. There's about 400 yds in the hank, so I'm knitting this doubled.

Squid Socks in MamaBlue Simple Merino, Ink colorway

And still chugging away on the Central Park Hoodie v2.o. This time it's going much more smoothly and I'm very happy with the results. Yarn is Cascade 220 Tweed in Pine. I'm actually about 80% done on the project. Back and 2 fronts are blocked already, and am almost done with the 2nd sleeve. Whew! Hoping to be done with this by the end of the month. That seems like a reasonable goal.



I've been feeling a little winter blues lately, just wanting to get out of Dodge and get some sunshine. Maybe a trip to South Beach? Even with the blues, I still like the snow, especially today's. It's rare that we get nice, fluffy, snowman snow in Fargo. Usually the wind gets to it before anybody really gets to enjoy it.

This is the view from my shop.


That giant snowflake isn't real ;).

absence

I just realized how horrible I am at blogging! Life passes by and I barely get a chance to record any of it! So what's happened since summer? Well....

The shop has a ton of new yarns! We've got some Bling, Squooshy, and Yarnalicious sock yarns from Zen Yarn Garden. Roxanne did a wonderful job dying this order and I hope you guys will enjoy knitting with them.

My favorite Bling Yarn - Lake Huron

Yarnalicious Dark (with extra expresso)


There's also been 20 new colors of Araucania Ranco Sock added! Knitting Fever sent over all 12 colors of Kureyon sock, but they're waiting to be photographed and published to the store.

So many crafts, so little time

I'm slowly getting the hang of this blogging deal. I love to read other people's blogs, but I'm horrible at posting on mine! Here's a rundown of what's happening:

I got a spinning wheel from Aunt Cheryl (Tom's aunt). She sent this beauty with a drum carder, lazy kate, and leftover fiber.



I'm learning to spin on it. The fiber is Frabjous Fibers BFL in Moulin Rouge colorway.


It's a pretty mix of reds and oranges and was fairly easy to spin. Here's the result:


I even knit a little:

This hat's for Tom, courtesy of brookyln tweed's Turn A Square.


Elfine's socks knit up in Sunshine Yarn's socks, colorway is Grassroots.

Summer? What summer?

Wow, we've had some poopy weather in Fargo this summer. It's been storming like crazy and then the sun shines 5 minutes later. There was a tornado warning this evening and sirens were going off everywhere. We had some heavy rain and here was the result













We got a big shipment of Araucania Ranco Sock yarn last week and I was taking pictures for the shop. Guess who decides to make himself comfortable in all my yarn?!