Saturday, April 30, 2005
avril showers bring mai flowers
as you can see, we've had a bit of a makeover here at joyfulgirl. my very dearest friend, melanie levi, has given me a gift of a re-decorated webpage (incidently, she had a hand or two in the last layout. i used to design everything myself but i've lost my patience and i'm not above bribing my incredibly talented friend with handknit goods and such for a new layout). i love it. it's like she can see into my head and pull out exactly what i want. so welcome to the new design and hopefully to more frequent updates. since we last spoke, i've been swamped at work, enjoying my beautiful wheel, and finishing up a pair of very late socks which i'll show you next week once they have been received. today i'm going to show you some of my spinning, which is improving every day. it was like starting over, starting with the wheel. i felt like i'd never spun anything before in my life! i don't have my most recent skein photographed (it is natural coloured romney, 2ply at a sport weight), because i'm getting ready to dye it. so here are the previous fruits of my labour, two for previous fiber fridays (one done on the spindle, i just never posted it) and two for practice. ready? here we go!
this was spindle spun and plied for a previous fiber friday- it was my first attempt at navajo plying and dyeing with icing dyes. i named this hydrangea because the theme was garden.
this was also unknown wool, dyed with easter egg dyes and spun on the wheel (this was my first truly successful single). navajo plied it on the wheel and submitted it for the fiber friday themed 'apocalypse'. it's called 'rose coloured glasses looking at the fallout'. i love giving the yarn pretentious names. i'm sending this to melanie as part of her thank you for being awesome package, simply because she likes the colours.
this is 4oz of ashland bay merino, colourway 'endicott'. it spun up to around 211 yards ranging from lace weight to heavy worsted. it's not perfect, but i love it and i am knitting sivia harding's little leaf lace scarflet out of this wool. it won't be very long scarf but i'm enjoying the process. i find i like lace more and more and more. this is what the scarf looked like a few days ago, unblocked.
the last thing i'll show you is the last of the blue faced leicster that mary had given me.
i spun and plied this wool last sunday and ended up with about 100 yards of such beautiful wool. the camera refuses to capture the range of colours in this skein, but there are shades of lavender, purple, teal, sea green, navy blue, periwinkle, and so on. i love this wool. i love bfl, and i'm going to buy some on ebay to dye and spin.
wow. updates wouldn't be this long and boring if i'd just update more often. i plan to try to write more. real things, not just boring 'this is my yarn blah blah'. i used to be interesting. i'm not interesting anymore. can you help me fix that? i hope so.
it is time to clean my kitchen, dye some wool, and put my laundry away.
2:15 PM /
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
she's here!
she arrived around 1:30pm, yesterday, and i had to spend the rest of the work day staring longingly at the box (and wondering how the hell i was going to get that to fit into my car). we got home together around 5:45, i got her in the building and up the elevator and proceeded to rip open the box. my beautful majacraft suzie. mine!! all mine!! how neat is that? she's mostly in one piece (sigh, i know). the handle seems to have just. snapped in half (you can see this in the photo), and the wood around the right hand side bobbin holder cracked and broke off. i've emailed the man i bought her from and we're going to figure out the best way to repair her- he was very sorry. i took it in stride because MY WHEEL IS HERE!
once i got her set up, it took me way longer than i'd care to admit to get spinning. i had to keep reminding myself that i'd only spun on a wheel ONCE and when i did, mary got it started, and then let me take over. i got it though, and by night's end, i wasn't overtwisting and the yarn was coming out a LITTLE more even. i can tell this is going to take some practice! but i think they'd get suspicious if called in sick to work today. i had gotten so good, spinning on my spindle, and now i feel like i've never spun before in my life. but i have faith it'll all come together soon. so there you go. hopefully i'll have some decent yarny pictures for you soon!!! i'd really like to spin up some decent laceweight out of the rosequartz coloured ashland bay top i have, and use it to knit the paisley shawl from the last IK. we'll see! only time will tell. for now? i have my wheel! and i have to get to work, and then (grrr) the dentist.
6:47 AM /
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
bad knitblogger alert.
i am in a serious and all consuming funk. i'm barely knitting, i'm not spinning (in anticipation of the binge that will occur when my wheel arrives - specifically? the first spinning will occur with the BEAUTIFUL top that amy boogie sent to me as a total random act of being the absolute coolest chick ever), my apartment has some serious organization issues, as does my car, and i'm just tired. what is a girl to do? i think instead of working on the organizing i'm going to work on the knitting. eat the chocolate if it makes me feel better. go to bed early, cuddle my cats, wait til my boyfriend and or the wheel arrives (this friday, possibly both) because one of the two could at least make me smile again.
sorry i've been such a bad knitblogger. life is just. it's poopy sometimes, innit?
6:45 PM /
Friday, April 01, 2005
spinny!
this is my latest spinning. i bought an ounce of 50/50 cashmere/merino off of ebay and it spun up into about 150 yards of laceweight. and i love it. my spinning is getting more even and everything!
that's the only available picture i have right now, but i wanted to share. i've got some knitting happening (socks, a sweater that might have to be ripped) and i'm impatiently awaiting my tax refund so i can pay the balance on my new spinning wheel! i got a slightly used majacraft suzie for a VERY GOOD PRICE. i should have the money by next friday and have it in my messy little apartment in just a couple weeks!
i wish i had more time to talk and show you things, but i must be getting myself ready for work now. it is almost the weekend, and i couldn't be happier.
xoxo
6:55 AM /
i'm rachel m, i'm 26 and i live in cleveland, ohio. i knit, spin, and read. i have a steady sweetie, two chubby cats, a full time job
and a messy apartment.
