Thursday, May 04, 2006

They're finally here!

If you're just here for the pretties then scroll down. If you're here for what's going on in my life then keep reading and you can look at the pics later.

I have taken a second job working graves at Icon Health and Fitness in the plastics department. What does that mean you may ask. What it means is that I'm very tired all the time and have hardly any time for knitting. Or updating my blog. It also means that I get very dirty and have to change clothes in the middle of my day so that I don't show up to be a manager looking like some minimum wage schmoe. The reason for this second job you ask. The position at the Whittier Center is only part time and therefore not enough to pay my bills. I'm getting further and further in debt and if I didn't do something I'm afraid I'd have to declare bankruptcy. Also I'd like to have some money for my cruise in August.

What? I didn't tell you about the cruise. I'm pretty sure I did. Hold on a sec let me check back in my archives. Okay I guess I didn't. Well, it's my friends 20th wedding anniversary and she has decided that we all need to take an Alaskan cruise to help her celebrate. When my idiot ex left last August I decided that I'd be able to take the cruise as I wasn't going on a honeymoon just 2 months before. So we're going to Alaska. I'm planning on hopefully finding some qiviut to be spun, or if I can't find the raw fiber then some yarn to knit. I'm also planning on taking a zip line shore excursion. Sounds pretty awesome to me. I am planning on taking a lot of pictures while on the cruise and if possible uploading from some internet cafe or something. That way I don't run out of room on my card.

Oh yeah I've decided to take up spinning. Yet another craft that I prolly won't have time for but you never know unless you give it a try. I haven't actually done any spinning yet but I have washed my fleece and started to tease it. After teasing is combing and THEN spinning. Next time I'm just going to buy it already processed. I figured that I'd have a greater appreciation for the stuff if I had to do it myself once.

Why am I taking up spinning? I already have enough to do in my life right? Well I have joined a group called the Society for Creative Anachronism. The SCA is an international organization dedicated to researching and re-creating the arts and skills of pre-17th-century Europe. Stole that last sentence from their website. So what does that have to do with spinning? Just wait, be patient I'm getting to that. Anyway, the persona that I have chosen is a late period (closer to 1600) Scot's lass. That means that I can use an spindle spinning wheel and still fit the time period. Woo Hoo! No drop spindle. But wait there's more. The most fabulous owner of my LYS had a woman contact her recently that wants to sell her Ashford Traditional wheel. Why is that so kewl. Well because they sell an attachment that will make it period. So I get a wheel for less than new price and I'll still fit. People won't look at me spinning and sneer.

I'm also doing pretty good on my weight loss. Look to your right near the top of the page. 3lbs week before last and .8lbs last week. I only need to lose .6 more pounds to hit my 10% goal. That means that I get a special prize in front of the whole class. Now if you're smart you can reverse engineer that and figure out close to what my original weight was when I started WW. Just to let you know I had already started losing weight when I joined.

Now without further ado here they are! The previously promised pics! Yeah! Woo Hoo! Everybody jump for joy. I'm still getting used to my new photo storage so please bear with me as I try to figure out sizes.

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this is some beautiful Opal Unisolid #11 Sock Yarn that I'm going to use to make pink ribbon socks for my friend that has survived breast cancer. The pattern that I'm going to use is this one. It's a free pattern by Lisa Lloyd.

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My Next pair of socks will be with this yarn. It's Mountain Colors Barefoot sock yarn in the Elderberry colorway. This picture doesn't so it justice. It's so much prettier in real life.

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This is part of a pair of socks that I am making for my mom. I have completed the first sock since this pic was taken and am at the heel turn on the second one. I did it once but somehow screwed it up so I have frogged the turn and will have to do it again.

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This is one of my UFO's. It's a mohair shawl that I am making for myself. I bought the multi colored yarn first and then found another yarn that would go with it. I had to have it. It was just so purty. Only problem was that there was only one skein left. I didn't care I bought it anyway. Almost a year ago. Now I'm finally making something out of it. There is no pattern for the shawl. I'm just making a simple triangle garter stitch shawl. K into the F and B of the first st on every row.

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This is a bag waiting for felting. I have again felted since this photo was taken. I bought the yarn on ebay. $30 for 11lbs. It was sold as wool yarn but it's not pure wool. I found this out after trying to felt. Didn't get anywhere near the results I wanted. Oh well.

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This is what I have so far on my Rogue hoodie. Doesn't look like much I know but you have to keep in mind that for the size I'm doing it's 196 stitches per round. I have now finally decided that I do not want to put on the kangaroo pocket so I can keep going on it and will hopefully have it done by my cruise in August.

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This is a close up of the cabling on one of the sides. Isn't it purty.

That's all there is for today folks. Come back later. I'll try to update more than 6 times a year.