A Pattern!

I've gotten a few requests for the Wager's Hat I made for my friend Pam for Christmas and so I'm going to post it here - the best I can remember. I think I wrote it down somewhere (how many stitches to cast on and then increase but as usual, I can't find it!) but I'll give it a go!

I think the stitch is based on Barbara Walker's Wager's Welt pattern but I'm not so sure.

Wager Hat
You will need:
Bulky yarn (about 140 yards) I used a little more than half a skein of Lion Brand Homespun yarn since I didn't want Pam to have to worry about washing wool when she's got all that chemotherapy to worry about!
Knitting needles Size 9 AND 10 16" circulars
Size 10 DPN's
Stitch Marker


Using #9 needles, CO 56 sts and PM, join, making sure not to twist the stitches
Work 1X1 rib (K1 P1) for 6 rows (I like 1X1 rib because it is just a bit more elastic than 2X2, however you can also use that if you want)
Increase row: Using #10 needles, K1, M1 all around (112 sts)
Pattern rows:
1: K all around
2: K all around
3: K all around
4: P all around
5: K all around
6: P all around
7: K all around
8: P all around

Repeat Pattern 3X, ending with Row 8

9: Knit
10: Knit
11: *K14, K2tog, rep*
12: Purl
13: *K13, K2tog, rep *
14: Purl
15: *K12, K2tog, rep *
16: Purl
17: *K11, K2tog, rep *
18: Knit
19: *K10, K2tog, rep *
20: Knit
21: *K2tog, rep *
22:Knit
23: *K2tog, rep *
Gather and BO, weave in the ends

Pam sent me an email a few days after we met and she says she loves her hat! I'm so glad I made her a hat this time instead of the scarves I normally make her each year. I'll update my photos to show the same pattern on some pretty nice wool yarn!

Loom Knitting Isn't Exactly Cheating...Right?

This week marks my 29th week of pregnancy and there's less than 2 months to go! It's an exciting time - and already I'm running out of time to knit everything I want to.

Unfortunately one of the banes of pregnancy is swelling, whether it's getting cankles or carpal tunnel syndrome (which causes the ligaments surrounding the wrist to swell up and cause pain, numbness or tingling). Lately, knitting with smaller needles causes pain in my hands and while there isn't any swelling visible, it makes knitting uncomfortable sometimes.

And so I went ahead and ordered a 10" knitting board from Authentic Knitting Board. I used to have the 28" knitting board about 2 years ago but destashed it when I found that all I wanted to knit then were scarves and having a 28" board that you needed to turn again and again on short arms became annoying. So, fast forward 2 years later and here I am with my 10" knitting board and I'm now working on a test scarf with some leftover yarn, which I'm probably going to end another skein of when I run out of the leftover yarn because I have no clue what to do with a less-than-a-scarflette-length-scarf hanging around.

It's not exactly cheating though, right? It's still knitting!
One thing that's pretty cool is that the scarf is so squishy soft because knitting boards create a double-knit fabric. I'm using a bulky yarn and I find myself admiring and squeezing the darn thing again and again it's so squishy soft.

I'm actually planning on knitting my adopted brother a thick dark scarf since he starts work at 4:30 am in Manhattan (brrrr!) and he needs a thick long scarf for sure! So hopefully I'll get a loomknit scarf to him before Christmas.

While I'm still on the subject of knitting boards, while I was at Nancy's house last week, she had an old copy of Interweave Knit which had a page devoted to teaching rehabbing WWI soldiers at Walter Reed Hospital how to knit. It featured a photo of some soldiers knitting with needles and with the knitting board! It was awesome - wish I could have had her scan it since I can't find anything like it online.

One thing that I did finish last week was this brioche-stitch scarflette (missing buttons since I have no clue what colors to buy) made from some acrylic yarn. I've been on an acrylic-yarn-kick lately since I don't have any bulky handspun (well, I do but not your normal scarf material - more like art-scarf material) and I figure, with my painful wrists, maybe bulky isn't as bad as fingering weight yarn...

Being an expectant mom has also made me more thoughtful about my decision to use cloth diapers. Leo thinks it's a great idea - until I told him how wool soakers don't need to be washed everyday since lanolin + pee = organic soap (for a time...it does stink and need a good wash and lanolizing eventually).

His family is into everything convenient, which means baby formula and disposable diapers. They think I'm crazy for considering cloth diapers but I am the one having the baby, right?

And I do think about the mountains of diaper waste hanging around for generations in landfills or oceans somewhere and don't exactly want to contribute to that any more than I need to. If I need to use disposables occasionally, I don't think it'll drive me to the edge, but while I am going to be a SAHM (who needs to see clients probably 2 days a week half the day some times), I think I can handle cloth diapering.

It's just a whole different world filled with so many abbreviations that make my head spin - AIO, TIO, PUL - terms I occasionally have to look up still while I explore this not-so-common world. Today, while browsing some patterns for soakers and reading about how to use them (this is where the wool and lanolin come in), I decided to make one diaper cover, sort of jumping into it instead of just looking and thinking about making one.

Here's my first ever diaper cover! I have no baby yet to model it on, but it's missing some buttons and it's made with acrylic super bulky yarn that I had on hand. But at least it gave me the idea on its construction and how it would work even better on double-knit (using the knitting board) using 100% wool yarn!

My Stuff's on Etsy Treasury!

I don't even know how to start my own treasury on Etsy but today I received an email from GoodLookinTreasures telling me she had included my Oatmeal Knitted Earwarmer in her treasury. So cool!

Happy Halloween! Or Shall I Say...Happy New Year

...if we were pagan or Celtic, that is.

Halloween, All Hallow's Eve, or Samhain - the ancient practice of welcoming the new year and saying farewell to the old, according to the earth-based religions, which is now categorized as "pagan".

Did you know that the word "pagan" originally meant "country dweller?" Someone who recognizes the seasons and feels connected with the earth. Samhain is the last day of the pagan year, when the crops are harvested and brought in for storage during the cold dark months of winter. This is when the fires are lit and people gather around the fire to rejoice the company and a bountiful harvest. This is when we sweep our house of the old to make room for the new.

And out of the blue, an old friend sends you a photo of what you wore during a Halloween party of old. And you wonder...? Who'd want to dress up as a nun?

Anyway, I just realized that tonight is also a full moon and it's beautiful out there! So why am I staying indoors instead of being outside and watching the beautiful moon glow?

Why, knitting, of course! A few days ago, I finished my first Baby Surprise Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmerman. I used Lamb's Pride worsted in yellow, teal and gray - some truly retro colors, or if you're a Miami Dolphins fan (which I'm not) - and finished it in two weeks, with some breaks in between. Knitting garter stitch day in and day out can be pretty tedious, but once it's all done, it's one amazing contraption!

Which way is up?


Once it's folded up, this is what unfolds (or rather, folds up) before your eyes! Truly a surprise!

There are literally thousands of these jackets floating around on the web and they all look adorable. So instead of knitting up booties and caps for my lil' bun, this has been what I've been wanting to knit the entire time. I've yet to make one little baby hat!

Well, I'm knitting up my second BSJ (I'm currently frogging three rows though - got carried away with all my double decreases), and when I get tired of that, probably finish loom knitting a baby cocoon with some of the only ten Lion Brand Homespun yarn I found in the garage. Why on earth do I have 10 balls of this stuff?

I still have some fiber to spin but that'll be for later. For now I'm buried in my stash of yarn - both handspun, expensive and cheap yarns. I used to give yarns away, but then I found myself buying more when they were gone. So now I'm hoping to slowly work through my current stash for the holidays - knitting little things for friends and family. Even for a silent auction to raise money for a friend who's undergoing a long-awaited (try 17 years) kidney transplant.

So happy new year, everyone! And may we say farewell to the old (just not my stash) and make room for the new!

Another FO! I Must Be On A Roll...For Now

You're looking at my second calorimetry done! This time I didn't use any of my handspun though although god only knows I'm drowning in them. But I'm also being overwhelmed by my yarn stash, which I've promptly dragged into the living room (there's still a few bins sitting in the garage beyond my reach because my belly gets in the way when I reach over!) to organize.

Maybe it's time for me to give away certain yarns that I'm not going to be using - but then a time will come for sure when I'll have a project in mind and can't find the darn yarn because I had given it away. Oh well...this must be the life of a stasher...

For now I've got projects crowding my to-do list as I'm wondering what I'm going to do when I can't work anymore. I am getting pretty huge and I'm only 25 weeks along. Pretty soon I won't be able to reach across the massage table! But it happens, so why complain, right? I'm sure with my growing stash of fiber and yarn, I'll find something to do...

First Calorimetry Done!

I'm so excited to have finished my first ever calorimetry pattern from Knitty! It's also my first actual finished object since my dry spell started after finding out I was pregnant - that would be about 4 months or so.

I have about 5 WIPs languishing around the house but having one finished one definitely inspires me to finish all of them. After all, with my craft room/office now turned into a nursery, all my yarn and fiber have been turned out to the garage, while some bags of yarn have been sitting in the living room for the past week or so awaiting their respective projects.

Without much ado, here's the first calorimetry of many that I hope to make for friends and clients! I'm currently working on the second one using smaller needles and some wonderful Poems yarn!

On Babies...Possums and EZ's BSJ

I've been gone from this blog lately although I keep hoping to have something to write about that isn't about my pregnancy or ultrasounds. So when I did find something to write about, it turned out to be another baby story!

"Baby" as in baby possums.

A few weeks ago, I was looking out the bedroom window when all of a sudden, I see two tiny animal faces peering at me from the bushes. I thought they were rats coming down from the roof (Leo's mom has been telling us to trim the plants around the house - she says it's not safe to have them grow higher than the roof) but by the time Leo went outside to check, they were gone. I was wondering though why those "rats" were moving a tad bit too slow...

So a few days later, while Leo was trimming the branches, he spots two faces peering at him from underneath the eaves:


The younger one who's a bit more timid than the other one below...

With one more branch left to trim, Leo felt sorry for the little critters, and we agreed to leave that lone branch so they can come up and down their little nest. Unfortunately their little "nest" is right above our bedroom and so at night, we hear them scurry about as they leave, and right before dawn, they come right back in.

Seeing the baby possums remind me of my friends' recent trip to New Zealand where they excitedly announced to me on their return that they found some scarves made from merino and possum fur. They said it felt soooo soft and were about to buy a scarf when they found out that the possums are killed as a means to reduce their population. Don't worry - I'm not planning on killing any possum just to get some fiber...

Instead, we're planning on waiting till they're all grown up and gone from the nest before we clean it up and seal it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they do leave soon as having critters, albeit America's only marsupial, living in your house isn't exactly a safe or hygienic situation. As for the mother, I think she used to be the one who used to come and visit our little 'vineyard' come harvest time.

For years, we have had grapes blooming by our fence and we've been used to seeing all sorts of critters feed on the grapes that we hardly touched. In the mornings, the resident squirrel has a blast munching on them, but at night, we see raccoons and possums, and once we spotted this possum still feeding on the grapes in the morning.


Must have been the momma possum above the bedroom now. I think back then, she used to live under the gazebo right next to the grapevine, but ever since Leo pruned it almost to extinction in the summer, we haven't had any grapes this year. And I think the regular guests are pretty pissed.

Oh well, maybe next year.

On the fiber front, I have been destashing a bit of my fiber stash to make room for the baby. Since I can't dye anything while pregnant, I destashed my undyed fiber first, followed by loose locks and sari silk, and now I'm left with some farm fiber and batts that I'd rather keep because I just have to spin it, not have to worry about colors and texture and carding them.

I also started thinking about why I had to have three wheels when I can only spin on them one at a time. And so I destashed two of them and am now left with the original go-to wheel for me: my Fricke ST-160. At least now, the craft room is slowly turning into a nursery and in a few weeks, Leo will be painting it and then installing carpeting to further insulate the coldest room in the house.

In case you're wondering, I haven't abandoned my love for fiber though. Just need to make room for baby - you know the drill. But I have been knitting as well. I've started on Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise Jacket in some retro teal and orange colors, and hopefully I'll be done within the week.

With an upcoming glucose tolerance testing due next week where I have to stay in the lab for 3 hours while they take my blood before, during and after I drink this glucose drink, I have to figure out what to knit for three hours. Maybe another BSJ, or maybe finish the baby blanket I started out a year ago for a friend's baby, which now will become my baby's blanket...if I finish it.

So really, I haven't abandoned anything at all. I just have baby on my mind - possums and jackets!

One Wicked Hat & One Sneak Attack!

Yup, my first hand-dyed, handspun, handknit FO to share (on second thought, it may not be the first, but definitely still fun!)!

I started with some Sheep Shed Studio mill ends in black and white, which I kettle dyed (just threw in the colors in layers and prayed), then navajo-plied, and finally knit into this hat that I hope isn't too big for Leo's head.

I usually use the Yarn Harlot's notes for knitting generic hats and socks, so this was pretty easy!


In other developments, I was sneak-attacked yesterday from The Handmade Movement (thank you so much, Heather!) and my shop Liz and Leo got its first seven sales (that's what happens when one has too many shops to begin with - but Liz and Leo on etsy has proven to be most representative of Leo's and my my work) so basically my earlier shops are going to fade away soon.

So all in all, it's been a good day! It's been slow for my practice but it works out because I'm helping Matt, my son, get all his stuff together so he can find himself his first job (he's 19) and today we went to DMV so we could get him his drivers, er, identification card. He says he's not driving yet because he doesn't want to be saddled with the expenses tied to owning a car. Good for him!

At least, he's going to look for a job locally so he can take the bus and the metro easily. Thank goodness we live in a central area with transit within a block or two away...

I have to constantly remind myself to be more patient with him since he's only 19 and being raised overseas where he had everyone doing everything for him, coming the US is a huge leap - especially when there are no maids here. Hehehe...heaven knows I need one in this little house as it is to control my fiber and yarn stash that's spilling out of every nook and cranny!

Knitting With Friends Over Coffee, Eyeballs, and the Best Knitting Bag...Ever!

Today was the day to knit and catch up with awesome friends, Jamie and Abraham, and new knitting convert, Meka at Coffee Bean in Bixby Knolls, a quaint little Long Beach area right next to Trader Joe's where I promptly went shopping shortly after we were done knitting almost six hours later! Wow, how time flies!

Meka, a new knitting (and spinning) convert, needed some Knitting 101 tips from Jamie and so he presented her with the Reversible beginner's hat pattern using straight needles. Meka doesn't feel ready for DPN's and I don't blame her - it too me years to brave those darn things myself! I had to convince myself to try out circular looms only to find out the DPN's were way faster and didn't challenge my fading eyesight finding those darn pegs.

Jamie showed off his Vitreous Humor yarn from Jacey Boggs of Insubordiknit and it is just so soft and amazing. Next up was a matching pink 'manly' yarn from Manspun, and it even had some sparklies in it! That's the new age manly for ya!

Of course, Jamie had to show off his latest acquisition - no, not the Spinolution Bee wheel (although that is amazingly portable and on-so-cute!) - but his Nantucket Bagg! It has pockets for everything a knitter should ever need! It can unzip so that it lays flat; zips up so it becomes a bag; and by pulling the top straps tight to close the top, use those straps to turn your Nantucket Bagg into a backpack! You can also use this bag inside out, or outside in - they're amazing either way! I consider it the Best Knitting Bag...Ever!


In fact, I just ordered one for myself - and the coolest thing is - help the company publicize the bag, and you get a free one! I could sell these to non-knitters! It's for everything but the kitchen sink, I tell you! So head on over to the Nantucket Bagg website and order one for yourself! It is one amazing, sturdy, carry-everything bag!

I'm so glad I spent most of the day with comrades in arms (and needles) instead of staying home and wondering if Leo was ever going to remember that two days from now would be my birthday - he's only managed to forget it the entire time we've been together (um, four years). It can be depressing, but what can you do? I could hire skywriters, but in this economy, it's out of the question.

But I'll live...

Spinning and Knitting!

I actually spun today! I set out my Babe wheel out on the deck and in between cooking rice and chicken (with some pork simmering in the crock pot as well), I finally started spinning some of the batts I bought from Grittyknits.com a few months back!


Imagine me on that white chair - I can't very well be in two places at the same time!

I spun in some shredded fabric from a beach top I bought while I was in Boracay last year. Boracay is an island resort in the Philippines that boasts many sights and is a place to have fun. The blue and pink top went perfectly well with Natasha's aqua blue fiber and off I went spinning along.


I'd honestly be spinning more if it weren't for the fact that my right calf easily cramps up from treadling on the heavy Babe. The flyer's heavy and so treadling is heavy. Haven't really figured out what's wrong yet - I still have it only as a right treadle since I end up spending more time cursing and fixing the left treadle when it's set up as a DT than actually spinning on it. Maybe one day I'll figure it out.

While we're on the topic of spinning, I've been totally honored by an awesome spinner/knitter/artist extraordinaire Cindy of Studioloo who added me on a Time Capsule Fiber Art Panel! I'm known as "caecolamys phavatius velvetinna"! Check out her latest website, Spin In Public!

It being 10 days since I last posted (the horror!), I've actually been spinning some in the midst of making preparations for my son's arrival to the US. I'm constantly amazed to discover that I have TONS of stuff! I need to get them out of the house so I can make room for my son and my 4 wheels! Here are the other two yarns I've spun the last 10 days:


Far Side of the Moon


Lilacs (yet to add in some lavender flowers later)

Guess what?! I've also been knitting! I found some interesting $1.50 yarn at Big Lots and figured it wouldn't hurt to get a pair. I'm currently making a garter stitch scarf and hopefully I'll get done before Fourth of July!

Twilight Knitting

Yep, I actually knitted something useful!

I knitted this hat using some of my novelty yarn spun from Homestead Wool and Gift Farm fiber and banana fiber (the green yarn) while watching the dvd "Twilight" last night. Since I can't knit and watch a movie at the same time, I ended up having to watch the movie again this morning and I have to say, the darn movie (and Robert Pattinson*) grew on me!

I've never read the books but now I'm curious to see how someone who had never written anything before simply woke up from such a vivid dream of a boy and a girl talking in the woods (and he glowed) and couldn't stop writing till she captured the essence of that dream. Reminds me of a dream I once had over five years ago which involved Chris Noth and I sitting under a tree bedecked with ribbons - and he was pregnant! Talk about dream interpretation, right? That scene sure is ripe for it!

Anyway, finally got my spindle-spun yarn for the Celebrate challenge on Rav's Spindlers group all soaked and dry!


Bellarosa 2-ply handspun. I ended up with 204 yards. Not bad. However, I'm taking some time off the drop spindling...this was a fast spin, and next time I really should just spin on my wheels.

ETA: Now, Cam Gigandet's James has grown on me, too!

Operation Stashbuster

Last week, I collected all the yarn hiding inside my closet and put them all in a 3 large plastic bags. They're more like those lawn bags, so it is pretty substantial. I already gave a few away through Freecycle last year, but this time, I took one look at all that yarn and said, "I need to start knitting again - even though I'm going to be using some Lion Brand Homespun or something."

Yarn is yarn. And thank goodness, I'm not a yarn snob. Otherwise, sure, these yarns would be all gone to new owners.

So today I started on one project. Since I can't knit for long periods of time due to my elbow (I have all the symptoms of tennis elbow, or lateral epicondylitis - it sucks), I found that I can knit small pieces. Not the MIL afghan I have sitting beside me right now. All those yarn overs kill my elbow and I can only knit three rows max.

I found that if I used smaller needles, and pick a small pattern, it doesn't hurt as much because there's not a lot of 'throwing' that I would normally do if I were working on a bulky afghan (I knit English). So I dug into my stash and picked out 2 balls of Moonlight Mohair in Safari colorway. This yarn can be itchy as heck but to some people, it doesn't bother them as much.

I began with a Moebius cast on ala Cat Bordhi and found that I had cast on way too many stitches. It was actually a scarf mobius although on the circular needles it looked like a bunched up cowl. After four rows of a million tiny stitches on such a small work area, I frogged it and decided to just knit a simple lace cowl. It's based on a lace stitch from Barbara Walker's "A Treasury of Knitting Patterns" and it seems like an easy knit.


So far I've only worked about 7 rows, so it's slow going. If I were to sell these things, I'd probably end up working for, like, 20 cents an hour or something. Yup, I'm that slow a knitter.

Oh, and as far as my cool Necchi sewing machine - I finally threaded it correctly and tested the straight stitch (awesome!) and the zigzag stitch (tres awesome!) and it is one fine well-cared for machine and I am so happy its first owner took great care of her. This baby's a treasure, for sure!

Quiet Around Here...

It's been pretty quiet around here lately...unless you count all the sneezing going on.

With the wonderful summer temps hitting Southern California, a little of the Santa Ana winds must have hitched a ride because I'm just sneezing all over the place. It also leaves my head a bit foggy throughout the day - which doesn't help considering that it's all foggy to begin with.

I haven't even been spinning! Instead, I've been knitting. I don't know what to do with all my handspun yarn stash! It keeps growing and I keep moving from one bin to another, trying to cram as much yarn as I can put into one spot.

I'm currently knitting The Darkside Cowl with one of my first handspuns from the Hitchhiker (or was it the Julia?) and as I knit, I find some extremely thin spots here and there and I have to be extra careful...

And speaking of stash....my fiber stash got bigger with my latest order from the Sheep Shed studio of some luscious red roving. And so with the already growing pile of fiber from months past, it just got bigger (as fiber often does) and I haven't exactly done any organizing lately.

But what I have also been doing lately is dyeing some of that fiber. I took a long break from dyeing simply because I got lazy. But yesterday and today, I've been dyeing a lot. It's simply loose fiber, no long tops or roving and no painting involved.

My system's pretty easy. I simply layer dye powder and fiber on top of each other, then pour hot water and then the vinegar. Push the fiber down gently and then set the crockpot on high for about 90 minutes and voila! Some pretty cool fiber!

Yesterday I finished all my red and blue (to create a purply blend) dyes, and today, I'm blending some yellow and gold together. Someday I may tackle handpainting roving...

Though it's been quiet around the house, we all know that it's one exciting time for the country. Tomorrow, we'll have a new president, and I'll be sitting at home watching the inauguration and then in the afternoon I'll be off to the LYS to meet Jamie and see his new wheel and just hang out.

Serious Skillz!

Cindy's got skillz! Cindy is Studioloo and she spins these amazing art yarns!


Last November I was very fortunate to have her as my swap partner and this is what I got! She ended up getting small small skein of pink yarn that I had to spin up in a hurry because the first yarn I spun for her didn't even make it there. My fault though.

I sent it to some state other than CANADA. I must have been high because we all know that Canada is not one of the 50 states of America...

So last night, after two months of staring at her yarn (I hung it by the light so I would see it every day), I finally broke down and knit something with it.

I decided to do something simple that would bring out the special qualities of her novelty yarn. I knit this using size 19 needles and chose to do the Go Diagonal pattern from Lexi Boeger's Intertwined book.

Took 2 hours! It was so easy that the only difficult time I had was trying to take a photo of it without showing all my extra curves that shouldn't be there...


In the meantime, Velma of Colorbomb Creations created a tutorial on how to create corespun yarns on the wheel! She is wild, that woman! I just love her motto - "Color Can't Hurt You!"



And while we're on the topic of skillz, I've been practicing my weaving skills. Here's my rigged warp for that kiddie loom I wove some coasters on. Since the Curious weaving loom is designed to weave small pieces like coasters and pot holders, I needed a way to lengthen the warp. So I rigged a dowel to which I tied the warp threads (gold crochet thread) and then secured the dowel around the leg of the coffeetable.



It made for an uneven warp, depending on the angle of the loom, but it was do-able. I was then able to roll the finished sections around the bottom dowel and continue weaving. I used some of my handspun yarn, and alternated it with some paper ribbon from my wedding bin.



Not too bad.

In the end, I finished with a piece that was about 13 inches long by 5-1/2 wide, kinda crooked on one side because the far right weft yarn was cut too loose. But it seems to have personality. I have yet to add finishing touches to it, but Leo has already agreed that it be hung somewhere in the house, since the place is devoid of any of my artwork to date.

"Red Paper" would then be the first to grace the walls of our little home - warts and all!

I Knit All These Hats...

...and always forget to wear them!

Last night, Leo and I went to Garden Walk in Anaheim to meet up with Sherri and company at CPK. They had spent their third day at Disneyland and were exhausted and hungry. Or was it hungry and exhausted?

Last night was also the coldest night so far here in L.A. at 30 degrees Farhenheit - and for Angelenos, that is cold!

And as usual, I forgot to bring any of my handknit scarves and hats. And so I was freezing while waiting for the buzzer to let us know that our table was ready. It being Friday night didn't help, but it could have been worse. We could have been in L.A. and the wait would have been an hour, not the 25 minutes it only took us to get our table.

Today Sherri and the gang are probably driving their way out of SoCal back to Sac. And hopefully the traffic isn't as bad as it would be if they left tomorrow.

And while they're driving, Leo and I are staying home, enjoying the weekend. Tomorrow we meet up with the the weekly knitters and spinners of All Things String for a nice round of dimsum, and I can't wait to hear all about Jamie's Mach 1 wheel!

"Next week I shall begin my operations on my hat, on which you know my principal hopes of happiness depend." - Jane Austen

In the meantime, I finally got my trusty Amanda to model the hats I finished the past week. Talk about cheap labor...


She never complains...and is a great sport.


This is my favorite so far. It's knit from Paton's Rumor yarn and though it's polyester with a touch of alpaca, I love the drape and the fact that it's chunky - therefore a quick knit.

It only took me three months to finish it. That's what happens when you don't have enough yarn for a project and throw away the ball band the moment you start knitting, and you can't remember the yarn name to buy more.

This next one is from Tweedle Dee in Sagebrush and knit from a cute pattern from Earthfae called Jellyfish Tam. I followed it to the letter, and it is just too small for me (well not that small, but not as comfortable as I'd like) - I've got too much hair that I have to make it longer, so I may just have to frog it if I'm ever feeling ambitious one of these days.


Or not.

And finally here's a picture of my antique wheel. I've been thinking of having a flyer made for it, but a part of me is thinking of selling it instead. I'm running out of room in our tiny house and another wheel is coming in next week so I am definitely out of room.




It's a beautiful wheel. I may put it up on my etsy shop (which is where I purchased it to begin with) tonight and hope it finds a new home.

Cafe Au Lait

Cafe Au Lait Handspun Scarf
Originally uploaded by velvetinna

It's not everyday that I get to knit something from my handspun - and actually finish it! Right now I've got two projects from handspun that's been on hiatus.

However last night, while sitting at home and watching Tropic Thunder ("I know who I am! I’m the dude playing the dude disguised as another dude!" - Kirk Lazarus), I decided to be brave and knit something out of the first handspun yarn spun from the now-returned Louet Julia (I miss her, but I've got another wheel coming within the next week - stay tuned).

And speaking of wheels, I am totally envious of Jamie for getting a Mach 1 by Spinolution wheel for Christmas! I can't wait to see it!

Okay, back to the scarf. This was spun from Crosspatch Creations' Little Lassie. I plied the first skein which was spun bulky with some white merino singles while the next skeins were plied with the same roving. But because for the second skein I was following instructions (more like suggestions) on how to spin the roving, I spun it really thin and so I had to double up the second one as I knit with it.

I also thought I didn't have enough yarn (I'm pretty notorious for not measuring yardage...well, I measure, sure. I just don't write it down!), but in the end I still had 2 yards left over. Not too shabby.

Now I just need to figure out how to soften this handspun up since it's pretty tightly plied in some places and not feeling too soft against the skin. But soft enough for now.

My Neurons Are Taking A Break...

Yup...my finals are over! I didn't do as well as well as I thought (overconfident there for a second) since I didn't look over my Reproduction notes at all. And at least 25 questions were about reproduction...so, even though I may have done well in Digestion and Urinary systems, as well as Acid-Base balances...25 answers out of 113 doesn't sound too good right now.

BUT! The semester is still over and I haven't been this excited for classes to be over in a very long time. I can't wait to spin and knit, that's why. Besides, there's this whole Christmas thing to do...I'm running out of time here.

Anyway, I've been knitting very slowly the last few days. Knitting and studying do not go together - you get far in the knitting part, but definitely not far enough in the studying part. In the knitting department, I've been working on a diagonal scarf with my handspun Gallica:


I wish I would have alternated it with some other yarn. It's getting a tad boring - and I can definitely see a difference in the weight of my own handspun from one skein to another since Gallica has two skeins. Oh well...

Now that class is over, I can now concentrate on work since my practice has sorta dropped off the face of the earth since I went back to school, and started spinning and knitting in earnest. Now I can return to the normal scheduled programming and with the impending holidays, I can now cram a lot of gift knitting into the schedule as well.

Yesterday I got a few surprises in the mail, and one of them was this pretty cool fiber from Homestead Wool and Gift Farm. It's a pound of "Cool Beans" fiber and since I don't have a drum carder yet (I keep buying wheels and drop spindles instead of dropping that said money onto a drum carder) and have only a set of hand cards, I carded a few buns out of it, as well as two little buns of Sandy's bag of random fiber:


Cool Beans Picked Fiber


Carded into little buns and sitting in their little basket...

I can't wait to start spinning them as soon as I card enough, maybe 4 - 6 ounces or so. I also got a few flyers to test from a spinning wheel maker I am not naming just yet, and so far, I'm loving all of them.

Which is just another reason I need to spin a bit more, eh?

All the Pretty Colors

Thought I'd open my post today with something I found while surfing:


Interesting, huh? I found this on a rug website, a link I can't find at the moment, but it is very educational, that's for sure.

But before I proceed, some bad news: I threw my back out two Fridays ago, and had to take a break off work for a week (which coincidentally, should have been the time for me to study for my midterms in Physiology). I was in denial for about 2 days, thinking This can't happen to me! I'm a massage therapist, for crying out loud.

But unlike the stages of grief, which begins with Denial, I jumped right into the stage of: Acceptance. Hey, I am not getting younger, you know, and Thai Yoga can get pretty hard on your body (not if you exercise, do yoga, eat healthy - which I don't really do anymore these days - I'm too busy spinning and knitting). But there have been more and more days when I think that the fire has gone out in that department...but that's pain talking so I'm going to move along.

When I returned to work this Friday, I saw only two people - which was enough for me. But as the weekend speeds along, I'm finding that maybe the back pain could be a symptom of something else - like the flu or something, since my joints ache continually until I pop a few Motrin. Not good for someone who prefers homeopathic remedies and stuff. I even missed the Greater Los Angeles Spinning Guild yesterday - something I've been looking forward to for months!!! I had been hoping to meet Bee there and maybe check out her Majacraft Pioneer wheel, too. I swear I'm gonna be all cheesed out after all the whining I've been subjecting Leo to!

However, for the good news...I have been busy!

I finished knitting up another slouch hat although this one is meant for a child because a) I used a smaller needle than required and b) I ran out of handspun yarn. But it looks quite interesting. This was my handspun from Copperpot's Beyond the Realm roving:


Now if it had come out just perfect for, let's say, me - then it would have been modeled excellently by "Amanda" my new model-in-residence. Here she is modeling my Don't Be A Slouch hat, and a scarf (well I can't very well have her hanging out in the house naked to begin with!). I think Amanda and I will get along just fine...


I've been meaning to post this photo of a cute drop spindle that Jamie gave me a few weeks ago. It's such a cute lady bug drop spindle and although the dowel is just too light and makes it top heavy, and thus harder to produce a decent spin, it's adorable! Here she is, spinning some carded merino - and she seems be doing quite well.


Yesterday was spent knitting up another slouch using something from my stash, Moda Dea Tweedle Dee in Sagebrush originally meant for hand warmers for my friend Tsuya. However as I knitted away and was on the 11th row of stockinette past the ribbing, I found the end of the yarn. Turns out that although the handwarmer didn't work out, instead of frogging it, I probably simply cut the offending piece (I'm sure it wasn't - just my over-achieving and perfectionist twin not liking it) and threw the remaining ball of yarn into the stash. So now I'm searching for another ball of Sagebrush to complete my slouchy hat!

One thing I did notice is that although I have also lived in Long Beach close to three years now, I still don't know where places are. I could not find a Joann's if my life depended on it - but I can drive you anywhere you need to go in the South Bay still! In fact, that's where I'm shopping for the yarn tomorrow after work!

Today's agenda - have some brunch after Leo wakes up, then head over to the Pantages to see Wicked! If only Kristin Chenoweth were still playing the Glinda...

Pretty In Pink

Let me introduce you to my second successful tam! I could have made it longer but I was afraid I'd run out of yarn and so I finished it according to the original plan. Leo says it looks perfect and I love it.

This is made using the mystery handspun I won at WWKIP Day at El Dorado Park this year. I swear sometimes it felt like dryer lint was included in it, but in the end it turned out great. It's really thick and warm! Perfect for the fall.

Which reminds me...wasn't this morning just gorgeous??? Reminds me of a perfect fall morning, with its crisp fresh air and that slight chill in the air. I love love fall.

I restarted spinning Yarnzombie's Every Little Thing batt last night. Guess who buried herself under its softness!


Poor Truffles...or rather, lucky Truffles - all snug in her woolen mixed batt.


Yesterday while browsing at Borders, I found The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. I've heard about the book vaguely but it wasn't until I turned it over and read the description and I was immediately hooked. Vampires? I'm in!

On the spinning front, I haven't been spinning as much as knitting tams and hats, but last night, I set about to spin the batt I got from YarnZombie. I plied it with gold embroidery thread I found at LisCat and for a minute there I had no idea what I was doing. It takes practice to spin bulky yarn and even this isn't that bulky - but I think I succeeded.


Gallica. 54 yards



I miss spinning fine yarns...