Send help!

I will have a huge update when I actually have time, projects, and a camera in the same place, but I can't seem to get everything to come together. I haven't crafted much this week, so almost all of the progress is from last week still. I did spin on Tuesday. I tried some of the Hog Island wool and...it didn't go very well. It spins very thin and it seemed to be doing fine at first, but then when I went to switch hooks the strand broke. Not only did it break, but the end completely disappeared, and I had a lot of trouble finding it. It just kind of melted into the spun fiber on the bobbin. Every time I tried to pull out enough length to get started again, the strand would break again. I guess I needed to flip to the smaller whorl on my wheel, because the single didn't have enough twist to hold together.

After a while, I switched to the BFL that was in my Spunky Eclectic club package. I had started spinning it a while ago and then been distracted by other things. It was an absolute pleasure to go back to it. The wool itself is so soft and it spins really easily. Love it. Will definately have to try BFL again in the future.

Other than that, I've done a little bit of work on my featherweight cardigan and not much else. Everything else is going so fast that the knitting is very slow.

Under Pressure

Na na na nanana...na na na nanana...

I have a ton of stuff to show and no pictures of any of it. I knitted two dish/washcloths this weekend (if I had known what instant gratifiction they provided, I would have knit some long ago) to give away as part of a church event in a couple of weeks.

I've also been experimenting with my copics and I spent some time this weekend just stamping and coloring and thinking about card designs. I did make one complete card, and have components finished for several others. I rarely make cards without a specific recipient/occasion in mind, and it was actually pretty refreshing to just see what would come together when I just sat down and played.

I do have a couple of important projects that have to get done for other people. One is particularly stressful, a memory book for the coworker that passed away. Very difficult to work on, and it has to be done by TOMORROW.

The other is a card for my boss's grandkids. I make one for him for each kid's birthday and Christmas. These are long cards with a pocket made to hold savings bonds. I actually thought I had a pretty good plan, and I made the card this weekend, but - I don't really like it. I may get the UnDu out and see if I can place the components more attractively. I loved the background paper but I think it is really just too dark.

Rollercoaster

It's been an emotional and chaotic week and change, but let's skip the personal drama in favor of a little knitting.

First up: 1 completed moody mansock.



Next, 1 featherweight cardigan in Knitpicks Shimmer Lilac Dream



1 Veronique circular shrug, only a couple of inches short from the decrease-and-cast-on section that creates the back ruffle and the sleeve holes.



And finally, one bane of my existence (you want to know another? spelling. I typed that word three times and I'm still not sure it's right). Sorry about all the hair in the photo, I put my hand up against my shoulder to model the shot (since laying my hand down on the arm of the couch had not produced very good shots) and didn't think to flip my long frizzing flowing locks out of the way (I love parentheses).



This is a twice-knit spiraluscious mitt. I keep screwing up the pattern. Saturday I knit almost to the point where it is in that picture, only to find that I had made a mistake one or two rows after starting the thumb gusset which was very obvious (see those diagonal lines that go across the back? kind of obvious when you get a yarnover in the middle of one) and I had to rip back and reknit. I made a similar mistake Sunday night, though I caught it sooner, and had to pull it out and fix it. And now? Now, my friends? Now it is TOO SMALL. I am royally irked, but I have pretty much accepted that I'm going to have to reknit on bigger needles. It is possible that my mom's hands are smaller than mine, but it's so tight on me that I wouldn't wear it, and if by some freak occurence her feet are smaller than mine but her hands are larger, I will have sent her some very pretty tourniquets. Sigh.

The yarn is Fly Designs Nymph, their merino/tencel blend, which I chose because I love my merino/tencel socks and because it is a nice soft but strong blend that can put up with a fair amount of abuse. I did, I admit, expect the color to be a little more saturated, but I don't know why because it looks just like the picture on the website. Anyway, it's still pretty.. But, this overdue mother's day gift is going to be even more overdue because I have to start over. SIGH. No, I didn't knit a swatch. Look at that thing. Why would I bother? I did actually try it on sooner and find that it was coming out a little tight, but the bottom of it is actually fine and it is only the part that goes over the hand that cuts off circulation. SIGH.

In other news, I took a class on coloring with Copics from Laura, and had a very educational and interesting time. I went home that night and practiced.




I think I need more practice. And more markers. And better paper.





Why didn't I crop that last picture better? I think I uploaded the wrong one. Anyway, I think it actually went pretty well for my first solo adventure. I'm particularly find of the rose, although I need to get a more intermediate color. The shading is rather dramatic as one of these was a 2 and one of them was a 7 (was it R32 and R37? or was it 22 and 27? or was it 29? I can't remember). Anyway, expect to see more Copic experiments in the future. I have a wedding shower to go to on Saturday and I have the perfect plan for a card for it, and one for the wedding.

Sadness Chez CraftNinja

Treat me kindly, my beloved friend for no heart in all this world is more grateful for kindness than the loving heart of me.

Do not break my spirit with a stick for though I should lick your hand between blows, your patience and understanding will more quickly teach me the things you would have me learn.

Speak to me often, for your voice is the world's sweetest music, as you must know by the fierce wagging of my tail, when your footsteps fall upon my waiting ear.

Please take me inside when it is cold and wet for I am a domesticated animal, no longer accustomed to bitter elements.

I ask no greater glory than to have the privilege of sitting at your feet beside the hearth.

Keep my pan filled with water for I cannot tell you when I suffer thirst.

Feed me clean food that I may stay well, to romp and play and do your bidding, to walk by your side, and stand ready, wiliing and able to protect you with my life, should your life be in danger.

And my friend, when I am old and no longer enjoy good health and sight, do not make heroic efforts to keep me going, I am not having fun.

Please see that my trusting life is taken gently.

I shall leave this earth knowing with the last breath I draw that my fate was always safest in your hands.

Author Unknown

A year and a half after coming home with me from the rescue, my little Lulu has left me. Regular blogging will return next week.