Spinning WIP's

What am I spinning at the moment?

Meriboo - 70% Merino, 30% Bamboo, 8 oz, spinning cobweb weight for a shawl.

Superfine Merino - 4 oz, spinning light-fingering weight, possibly for a gift

 

Projects past and next

I am sitting in training today and as usual we began late - about 1/2 hour late.  So, I was killing time on Ravelry and when I went to see what I'd finished in October, I realized I haven't finished a single thing this month!  NOT ONE!!!  I think that explains the BLAH I've been feeling. 

I did finished spinning two skeins of yarn though so that's something. Here they are:

4 oz Tencel/Wool blend by Creatively Dyed, 94 yards, Navajo plied:

 

4 oz Wool/Silk blend, 100 yards thick-thin, andean plied:

 

Here's another skein (finished earlier in the year), 4 oz superwash merino, 400 yards, andean plied:

I was also thinking about the reward system some more and the only things I can think of that I'm "denying" myself are a drum carder and fabric for the flannel pjs.  I can't imagine getting a drum carder even as a reward though because of the space issues.  I would consider renting a carder or borrowing someone's carder so I'll have to explore that some more when I'm ready to start working with the fleeces.  So fabric is looking to be more and more likely as a reward.

Since my post a few days ago about my spinning stash, I've been thinking of all the sweater's worth quantities i have.  I think i should start spinning with the yak roving since that is professionally processed and would be a better way to learn to spin for a sweater.  Spinning from a scoured fleece comes with it's own challenges and I would prefer to tackle one new thing at a time. 

I am thinking of making a cabled yarn for the sweaters.  A cable yarn is a 4 ply yarn (nice and sturdy for sweaters) where you spin a single, 2 ply it, and then 2 ply the 2 ply.  I also think this would be an appropriate yarn because my preference while spinning singles on the wheel is something that turns into fingering weight or heavy fingering weight when 2 plied so when cabled, I think I should get a sport to dk weight yarn which should work out well.

Reward System

I'm a fairly active participant on the Stash Knit Down group on Ravelry which is, as the name may indicate, a group of crafters who are choosing (or attempting) to stash dive as much as possible into their many different stashes (yarn, fiber, fabric, beads, etc.).  I've joined the "100 Skeins in 2009" challenge on this group which I've discussed in the past and am currently tracking on the sidebar of this blog. 

Well, I also like to read threads other than the challenges I'm involved in and have been reading the fabric stash down thread; one of the most recent things being discussed is a reward system.  Now this is certainly not some new system that I've never read about but this particular post struck me because the writer said that she would reward herself after she finished "6 or maybe 10 projects".  Whenever I've read about reward systems its always been an amount of accomplishment that I never felt was sufficient so I would dismiss the whole system or wouldn't stick to it.  DUH!  How obvious is it that you can set how much you would like to accomplish before allowing yourself the reward!  I have no idea why this never clicked in my brain before but it has this time!

I think that at the rate I'm going with my projects, if I tell myself that I will give myself a treat after 10 projects - that's a huge accomplishment!  I can use the Rhinebeck trip as a starting point but I have no idea what my reward would be.  Considering the severe storage space issues I'm running into, I've actually LOST the desire to buy yarn or fiber!  My shopping mojo is gone.  I need Yarn-Viagra!  I suppose though, my reward does not have to a crafting thing, it could be something entirely different.  I'll think about it though and in the mean time, i'll let the reward system motivate my to finish projects.

Speaking of finishing...does this look like two strips of the blanket sewn together?!?  :::gasp:::

November Goals

I've gotta have some goals for November.  I usually just post my monthly goals to the list on Ravelry but perhaps I should add them here as well.  I am considering what would be the best way to track this - adding another panel to the sidebar would mean...another panel in the sidebar and its a bit crowded over there at the moment.  I'll just post updates for this month and see how that goes.

Goals (In order of priority):
1) Spin up 1 skein of yarn (B/G)
2) Finish the granny squares blanket
3) Finish OFA Scarf
4) Finish the Edging Setup chart on Aeolian Shawl

Bonus Goals:
1) Start the Aran Sweater
2) Finish Cashmere Leaves Scarf
3) Finish 1 skein of the meriboo fiber

A blah moment?

This has been a blah sort of week for crafting for me.  I find myself spending all my time on the computer doing anything from browsing youtube to Ravelry and yet nothing on my projects.  Granted its been a bit of a mess at home but I'm waiting for Mom to remove her things out of my storage space so I can sort things out.  I may end up pulling her things out as it is the only way she will look at them.  Once I have breathing room again, I'm certain I'll get my mojo back.

Tonight is SnB night.  I am bringing my blanket and pjs (if I can find them) only.  Oh yea, btw, Jenna has been talking about her sewing stuff so much that I've been considering learning to sew.  Evil Jenna!  So now I'm thinking of sewing flannel pjs patterned after the black and white ones that I have.  I have to find them though since they probably got put away with the summer stuff.  All I can see is yet another stash building up!  yikes!!!

I went out with Heather last night (unexpectedly) and she showed me some cool new yarn she picked up at Stitches East.  I never made it to Stitches East so it was nice to see some of the yarn.  I guess she's really into novelty yarns.  Here's a cool one she had:

I found out that Stitches East will be held in Hartford again for the next two years so I guess its not so bad that I skipped this year.  I hope I've used up most of the current stash by then though.  Honestly, I need to finish at least one project, and SOON!!!

Speaking of which, I picked up the vendor cards for the Shoppe as I said I would and have to put together notes for each one because i'm meeting Terri tomorrow.  I need to do the print outs and stapling as I'd planned and it's gotta get done tonight at some point - so many things to do today!  In payment, I'm getting a bunch of Blithe yarn - which is baby camel and OH SO SOFT!

A Collection of Fibers

It occurs to me that in order to get perspective on the shear amount of spinning fiber I have, I must view it all at once (this happened when I found myself scouring Ravelry and Ebay for more raw fleeces).

So let's start with the big ones:

3 lb White Cormo Fleece
3 lb Chocolate Merino Fleece
2 lb Silver Cormo-x Fleece
1.5 lb Yak Roving

Other rovings:
Angora Batt
Foxfire Cormo silk roving - natural
Foxfire Cormo silk roving - dyed
CD Seawool
CD Bamboo/Wool
CVM
Cashmere Top
Orange Merino silk
2 Merino Tussah
Mocha Java
Spice
Redwoods
2 Wool/alpaca rovings
Yak Alpaca bag
4 Etsy rovings

WIP Control

Oooh the WIPs are getting extremely out of hand! I've got way to many things going and nothing finishing!

The oldest WIP of all is, of course, the blanket which is going to be about a year old soon. It is almost done, 6 out of 10 strips have been sewn. Once the strips are done, they will have to be sewn to each other and finally the border. I'm concerned about running out of yarn for the edge; fortunately, I received a very generous gift certificate to Knitpicks for my birthday so I can order more if need be.



A couple of the newer WIPs are the recently started scarves:

Cashmere Leaves - being knit with the cashmere I purchased at Rhinebeck.



OFA Scarf - this is stash yarn, the bamboo yarn that i'd gotten in hopes of knitting an accessory scarf but honestly, who knits accessories in such a drab color! I'm also holding a strand of some sock yarn from Sunshine Yarns along with it to give it a beautiful splash of color.



Then there is of course the Aeolian Shawl, such a beautiful shawl but it has taken a back seat lately because of the blanket and all the spinning.



There is also the Aran sweater which has gone through a couple of transformations. First I was going to do the St. Brigid pattern by Alice Starmore but decided against it after MANY iterations of it failed. Then the yarn was stashed out of spite. I found an Aran Sweater pattern on the Lion Brand site and am considering it. The other option is to do the Wash's Sweater with this yarn but I need to check the yarn requirements and such for that pattern.

There is also the sample sock for the shop which I've actually made a bit of progress on. Though, I don't think i want to be devoting a majority of my crafting time to the sample knitting as I've got the overwhelming stash/lack of space issue to be worrying about.

Rhinebeck 2009

Rhinebeck was this past weekend. They'd been predicting dire weather - rain AND snow and really frakkin' cold! The day turned out to be cold and cloudy and nothing else - YAY! I picked up a LOT of fiber for spinning and some yarn as well.
























I also picked up some more of the cashmere from Springtide Farms - the same stuff I got last year and made the Abby Cowl with. This year i got a beautiful burgundy colorway and am planning on knitting the Leaf Lace Scarf with it.






















Lastly, I also picked up 2 fleeces!!! That's right, 2 fleeces! Both color fleeces - chocolate brown merino and a silver cormo-x. I've already scoured them and they are drying. Will take pictures later and post them up.