Ruby Jewel & Jazz Hat

Remember the Ruby Jewel fleece I said I was working with? Well I added some Jazz (see older post about Jazz, the Shetland fleece) to the mix and came up with a hat.

Jazz on the bobbin and Ruby Jewel on the bobbin

I cast on a wild guess of the number of stitched I'd need (turned out to be 96) and I k1p1 for awhile on size 8's. Then I moved to size 6's and did some stockinett for awhile. That's where Jazz came in and added some oomph. I was going to do some large X's around the hat, but changed my mind and made, twigs? Rain? I'm not sure what those are, but it's a pattern and I'm happy with it. I enjoy going with whatever strikes me when I'm combining colors to make a pattern. I never know what will come out of it when I start, but I usually like it when I'm done. The red color comes out in the sun as highlights from Ruby Jewel.

This Monday Sam, Jen, and I cleaned our fleece. While we were waiting for the soaking cycle to complete, we took a look at my fleece that Jen and I washed on Saturday. It had a lot of hay and seeds in it. Look at the industrious helpers I had to shake those seeds and hay out of the wool! When I got home I laid the fleece out for a little more drying, and Missy got into the action.

Happy Feet

Here they are! Wayne's new possum blend socks. Thank you Jen! Thank you Sam! You were both instrumental in this effort.

I still need to dye them, but of course we needed to try them on to check the fit. I leave the toes a bit loose as Wayne prefers them that way. No pointy toes for my dear heart.

I now present to you, the dance of the ha-ha-happy feet! Yes my man, should be a foot model - he's got the moves, and the feet to really show off the socks. No wonder I love him.

Fat Singles

I decided to challenge myself and see if I could spin a balanced fat single. I'm close to success, but it's got a little spin left in it that is hanging on even after washing. This is CVM fleece.

Jen, Kim, and I had a fun day washing fleece today. Jen has some photos of the day, so you should check in with her and see the happenings there. I brought the fleece home and popped it into the top load washer for a rinse and spin to speed up the drying process. Here's the washed fleece drying. This is a Cheviot/Border Leicester fleece, with traits more along the Cheviot breed.

I'm spinning some Shetland fleece and it's coming together nicely. More to follow on Ruby Jewel's fleece hopefully soon.

Wayne's possum socks are almost done. Just the toes to finish on both of them, which wont take long. Speaking of toes, I'm working on the toe of the Tofootsies sock I had on the airplane, and sock #1 of will be done for that project.

What's Up

It's been a busy last couple weeks. I was flown to Georgia for work, and I'll be going back there a couple more times before it's done. The people in Georgia are very nice and I really enjoyed the trip. I thought I'd have time for knitting, but it turned out it was only at the airport and on the plane. I didn't even get any photos taken to share except for on the plane.

I tried to follow directions. I'm knitting these Tofootsies socks on size zero needles. I love how the sock feels being so compacted with the smaller needles.

Blake Lewis is still in the running on American Idol. They had a parade for him here in Bothell, and while we couldn't make it to watch the event we did like the banners they had.

The flowers in the back yard sure took off while I was away. Here's a shot of some of them for you.

Busy Times

Wayne and I put our finishing touches on the pond last weekend. We put some beauty bark around the pond, and added some plants (inside and outside the pond) and 6 fish.

My friends told me of knit along with Sivia Harding's group. I have to smile, I have great friends and they know me too well. Of course I joined Sivia's list! and life is good (I had the yarn just waiting for a project like this in my stash - GREAT planning ahead on my part). I give you almost 2 repeats of the Gothic Leaf Stole with Beads, by Sivia Harding. Double click on the picture so you can see it close up!

The yarn is from Lisa Souza, and it is her yarn called Petal - which is 50/50 Silk/Merino in a colorway she did as a one off called Leopard. It's perfect for this leaf pattern. It's hard to see in the photo but it's a golden and buttery yellow mix with dark spots and a few rust colored spot in it. I'm using Sheila and Michael Ernst glass needles in size 7 - in their colorway Amber Passion. I'm loving the stole pattern since it won't get wider, only longer, and unlike a triangle shawl there is no chance of it outgrowing my knitting needle cable. The beads are size 6/0 with two different colored bead selections: clear black and amber black. I'm doing every other set of stems in the opposite bead color. They are very similar, and they look nice together, but it's not my wonderful planning that brought the idea to mind. It's the fact that the bead store didn't have enough of the same color. Yes, necessity is the mother of invention.

Here is a tip when using small crochet hooks for beading. Do not stick your crochet hook into the ball of yarn pointy side up. Especially if you get up and sit back down where that hook may find a part of your body. Pulling that small hook out, after it is embedded in one's thigh is not for the faint hearted. It does not want to come out easily. Trust me on this. Enough said.