Friday, January 23, 2009

And in fiber news...

Lest you think my gym obsession has unseated all things fibery in my life, think again! We're still in the wool here and going strong!

My latest FO (bringing the WIP count down to 11!) -- the charity hat I started back in November:

nov hat

I used up a lot of yarn leftovers on this one, and the color work design was completely done on the fly, so I'll never be able to replicate it. LOL 

I love doing left and right leaning decreases on hat crowns because you can get this cool star shape on top (I wonder if there is an actual name for this technique?):

nov hat 2

And there's some spinning going on, though not that much. I started working with the Bunny Patch merino/angora last weekend:

bunnypatch spun

Oh my goodness! It is soooo incredibly soft! It feels lovely! However, it is much different to spin with than anything else I've done so far, so it is taking some getting used to. Hopefully I'll have some time to play more with it this weekend.

And can I just say that buying roving is an addiction in itself? Holy cow! The Lime & Violet's  Daily Chum blog has become a major enabler for me, too, because they feature so many great fiber vendors on there. I know I should just avoid looking...but I can't. :::sigh:::

So, new rovings that have come to live with me this week (I mentioned some of these before but now I have pictures!)...from CJ Kopec Creations:

secrets

A totally delicious wool/bamboo blend, colorway Secrets...honestly, it may be softer than the merino/angora! I can't wait to play with it just to stare at the color as it goes by! Also:

A masham roving, colorway Candy Corn. Fun! :)

candycorn

From SlowCOLOR, I got this awesome, color-tastic sampler box of plant-dyed wool and wool/mohair blends:

slowcolor

It reminds me of sushi! Roving sushi! It's so pretty, I hate to think of disturbing it by taking it apart and spinning any of it. But I will. Eventually. LOL

Lastly, this BFL prettiness, from Briar Rose Fibers:

briar rose teal

I guess I'm not completely over my teal obsession. I kept going to the BRF site and looking at these two, and then I'd say to myself, "No. You don't need more!" But then I finished spinning that other BFL from them and it was so nice, so I'd go and look at it again, and tell myself, "Wait a few days...if it's still there when you come back, then you can buy it." I did that to myself a couple of times. And, well, you see what happened. I'm glad I did it, though. It's beautiful, and Chris is just a the loveliest person to do business with. I highly recommend her business to you! (She sells lots of beautiful yarns as well as the roving, and she's got a wonderful collection of handmade buttons, too.)

Now here's my big dilemma...what do you do when you've got all these pretty fibers staring at you, wanting your attention? See, with yarn, when you get something new and pretty, you can just sit down, knit up a swatch of it just to play with it and see what it will look like...no problem. With roving, though, it seems a bit more of an endeavor to just spin a sample of a new fiber, just to satisfy the whim, you know? Do you other spinners do this? Or do you just behave yourselves and wait until you're ready to spin up the whole batch?

Anyway, it's the weekend...unfortunately, its going to be a busy one, I think. Not sure how much knitting/spinning time I'll be able to get in. I also have a non-fibery assignment I need to finish up by Sunday, so that will be taking some of my time. Honestly...I wish I could learn to function without sleep. It would solve so many problems. LOL 

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