Last (SNIFF) day of summer for me!

So here it is, the last day of my summer. So sad. But it began with fresh veggies! And flowers! And a Molly muffin with home fries from Foxxy Roxy's.

Book group meets tonight where we will talk about The Letters by Luanne Rice and Joseph Monninger. It was a light, quick, predictable summer read.

The heat today is oppressive and so odd for this time of year. I'm off to get some groceries, usually a job I abhor, but today the ac will seem like a treat.

These are five scarves, simple, very simple, that I knitted for a friend who says he never knows what to buy his wife and daughters for Christmas. I'm glad to be done with these so I can move on with my own knitting! 

This is a closeup of the yarn. I died each ply a different color using Procion dye. I didn't get the effect I wanted but love this pastel look. As I plied I remembered a friend whose favorite color is pink. I see a scarf in her future! 

This luscious fleece is from a merino-corriedale X. I washed it and am in the process of carding and spinning it. The bobbin holds the first output of yarn after I dyed and plied it. I need to set the twist and get knitting! 

Knitting today

My knitting for the summer has been fairly prolific! I finished a scarf for my daughter-in-law, 4 felted purses, one little girl's sweater, my daughter's rollneck and started a cha-cha scarf. I've read lots of knitting books, magazines and blogs of others. I've done a bit of spinning and have plans for more. I've begun carrying my knitting into restaurants when I anticipate a wait. I've even moved all of my yarn stash and knitting tools and books upstairs away from the sewing room. I anticipate a small knitting oasis here on the third floor. It needs organization, but that's coming along as well.

I don't know what got into me...I did decide that all of my obsessions center around fibers and it's all about them. My hair has even grown out a bit and the texture of that fiber has changed to a bit of a curl. Strange! We've talked about getting an angora bunny as a pet/fiber source for the family and have discussed outlandish dreams of buying a farm and stocking a few sheep. When an obsession strikes, it strikes hard!

Sadly, much of this will come to an end on August 30. School will restart and make the scope of these activities shrink drastically. There will still be weekends, though and I can work on reading nonfiction. I've got a new Elizabeth Zimmerman book and have ordered Annie Modesitt's Confessions of a Knitting Heretic.

We will be making a journey to Burlington, VT tomorrow and I've read about lots of sheep farms there. I'm wondering about finding some roving before we come home to spin in odd moments. That spindle is mesmerizing.

I've been having thoughts lately about the "correct knitting philosophy." It seems as if many sheep raisers are rather snobbish about folks who knit with anything other than wool. I've caught myself having similar thoughts. There are so many wonderful features of pure wool and the felting process has just captivated me. On the other hand, I committed a felony I read about on the Spin-off list serve. I made a yarn purchase at JoAnn Fabrics! The shame. But who can resist Cha-Cha yarn? The colors, the textures. I guess there are some personality types set up to be single-minded in their outlook on the world: only use natural fibers, only eat plant related foods, only attend certain churches, purchase clothing from a few sources and wear only a given style. In a way I envy them and their simplicity of life. But I don't have that tendency myself and I wonder why I feel that I should sometimes. Why should that old guilt habit persist and even become enmeshed with my purchase of fiber types? And how does one get rid of it? Hmmmm...I'll keep working on it. The trouble with trying to be a purist of any kind is that it's so darn rare to find true purity in any practice, substance or thought. Do the best you can and move on. My advice to myself! Goodnight.

Here is Emily's cotton angora sweater nearing completion. It just needs the ribbing around the neck and down the fronts to be finished and it will be ready for fall wearing. 

Here is Nicole's completed rollneck sweater. It's a Yankee Knitter pattern made with Lamb's Pride yarn in the chianti color. 

Knitting in August

I've finished my second felted purse and am about to start on my third! I've almost completed the luscious cotton angora little girl's sweater as well. Just the ribbing around the front remains. What a pleasure that has been to work on! That's a photo to post for another day.

I'm afraid I've found another obsession. That seems to be the theme for this summer. I've always wanted to spin yarn and decided to start doing just that. I've got a small amount of roving, a drop spindle and a fabulous new spinning wheel. After watching the video and trying the wheel, it was a bit fast for this beginner, so I started with the spindle. I have a few feet of rather uneven yarn, but it did seem to get more smooth as I spun, so I'm hopeful. I've located a local guild and plan to contact the people involved and see about joining or at least finding a class. How much fun can I have this summer? Well, since it's nearing the end, I may just have to let it spill over into the fall!

Here I am knitting at High Falls Gorge. 

This is the first one I knitted in red, orange and brown. Yummy! 

Here is a brown version of the felted knitted purse as shown in Knit One, Felt Too.  

Fabulous Purple Haze

We know a little girl who is celebrating a birthday soon - my husband's grand-daughter.  She has dark coloring and is just beautiful.  So when I spotted Debbie Bliss' cotton angora yarn made up in that Lola sweater, I had to make it.  We chose a lucious periwinkle for the color.  Anyone who sees me knitting it has to touch it.  As the piece gets bigger, the angora haze shows more and more.  What luxury.  I keep knitting and knitting, almost hating to put it down at all.

Daughter's rollneck sweater is completed:  Hooray!  I look forward to seeing her wear it in the fall.

I replaced the beads which had fallen off my felted purse.   Pesky, expensive things.  I used a different kind of fiber to attach them and tied them individually this time.  So far, so good.  I went to the yarn shop today with 3 friends, very novice knitters, who want me to teach them how to make the purse.  Fun trip but I hope I'm up to the instruction.  It was an easy pattern, but I've never shown anyone how to knit before.

I'm starting to plan some Christmas knitting.  Late for me, but I'm a newly regenerated knitter.  Finishing that purse in 2 days was very empowering.  Now that I've skipped around from one topic to another and displayed the state of my tired and scattered brain, I believe I will take my Debbie Bliss project to bed with me!

Nicole's rollneck nears completion

Hooray!  I have all but finished my daughter's chianti Brown Sheep yarn roll neck sweater.  It has been lovely yarn to work with and the pattern is wonderful brainless knitting from Yankee knitting.  I brought it along on our blueberry picking extravaganza Friday, but was unable to go beyond sewing the pieces together as I had not brought along the short, circular #5 needle to use in completing the neck edge.  Upon returning home I was determined to finish it.  But there were 57 pounds of berries to attend to.  (My husband is a fanatic about antioxidants, read: blueberries!).  So I knitted in between scooping berries into plactic freezer bags.  Thank goodness we don't do anything elaborate with them.  By the time I had finished I was dizzy with fatigue and so didn't attempt to weave in the loose ends. 

Maybe for my next car ride, when I also plan to start my second felted bag.  I can use the leftover yarn from Nicole's sweater and I'm itching to start it.  I carried the first one I made today for the first time today and it feels great to lower your hand inside to fish out some necessity.  It's funny that in my other creative pursuits I almost never repeat creations.  But with knitting, when I find something I like, I make it more than once.  I think I've made 5 of those rollnecks!  Maybe it has something to do with my lack of confidence in my knitting compared  to other things.  I just finished reading the Knitting Sutra by Susan G. Lydon and she asked herself something that hit home with me.  I've been knitting since I was a little girl, so why don't I consider myself an accomplished knitter? I need to strive, as she did, to really master the art of knitting and not shrink from the hard patterns. 

Today when the instructor of my complex cloth class saw the purse she said she thought I should teach a class in felting.  Immediately I thought of how I lack expertise.  Well, it's time I gained some, or the self recognition of what I already have!  

Felted Fun

Who but a knitter would prefer a cool, damp summer?  I've capitalized on this season's weather to knit past spring and tackle a felted, beaded purse.  It came from the book Knit One, Felt Too which I borrowed from the library, then fell in love with and just had to have a copy of my own.  It's full of quick and easy projects which of course are all felted.  My purse was knitted using Brown Sheep yarn in wool and mohair.  I finished it in 2 days which is completely out of character for me, but it was addictive.  Double strands made it move quickly and I enjoyed using one of my circular needles from a vintage kit I recently purchased.  Not being a beader, I don't know how well the beads will stay on, but time will tell!  I hope to post pictures soon.