Ready to be finished...

Please ignore the cobwebs sticking to the basement wall behind my washer and dryer. Ick.

...felting.*

Seriously...these bowls were fun, quick knits, but the felting process? So not my thing. I love seeing how the knitted item transforms during the process, but the process itself? Too slow for my liking! LOL Each of these bowls took at least 15 - 20 minutes in the machine to felt and shrink down to the desired size. (This is about par for how long other felting projects have taken for me.) But since I hate to waste water, I was trying to have at least three bowls to do at a time. But because of the fiber migration that takes place during felting -- and especially with this furry Lopi! -- I was only doing one bowl at a time to minimize how many errant strands I'd have to pick off each bowl in the end. Thus, I spent over an hour on this today, doing these last three bowls. (And let's not even talk about the drying time...how I wish I could just pop them in the dryer! :})

It's so interesting how each one, despite being made in the exact same way with the exception of the yarn colors, turned out slightly differently during felting. Some are taller than others, some have more of a turned in rim at the top -- the black and gold one above really has a nice shape because of the black yarn at the rim (black always felts much tighter for me than other colors). The purple bowl? It took forever to felt and never did get very tight...it's shape is more of a flat basket than an actual bowl. This is the one I knitted Stacy Charles Ritratto in with the Lopi as an experiment...which I assume made the difference in how it felted, as the purple felted just fine in the other bowls it was in.

So...felting...fini! Just have to wait for them to dry and I can fill them with their goodies and give them to their intended recipients! Hopefully this weekend.

*For any purists out there, yes, I realize that when you apply this process to an already knitted item, the proper term is actually "fulling," not "felting." Felting is what is done to unspun fibers. But most people today use "felting" interchangeably, so who am I to confuse anyone this close to Christmas? ;)

Spinning...spun...

I've been trying to teach myself how to spin with a drop spindle for several months now, and while I'd read about it and comprehended the basic idea of it, my results were less than stellar. Thus, my roving and spindles found themselves hibernating in a container under my bed.

On Sunday, I went to a drop spindle class with Cosy at Knit One. What a difference it makes to have someone to show you how to do something, someone to give you little bits of advice that make a huge difference in your finished product!

I'm so excited about my first tiny skeins. The one on the right is what I came home from the class with...the purple in it was my very over-spun yarn that had been on my spindle from my solo attempts, and the blue was what I spun there. Before I left for the day, I was able to ply the two together. How cool is that? The other two little skeins (which would have been one if I could get over this over-spinning issue and thus having my yarns break on me as I'm trying to ply) I did at home yesterday.

I'm spinning some Corriedale top that I bought a while back from Halcyon Yarn. I went by the description of it being good for beginners, but then I learned about staple length on Sunday, one of those little things that matters. The staple length of this fiber seems to be significantly shorter than the merino that others were using, thus affecting my ability to draft the fiber without breaking it. Still, I figure it is good for practicing with. I've got a lovely braid of merino roving that I bought in April at KnitWitz in Jacksonville...I'm anxious to try it out and see how it spins.

And thus begins a whole other obsession, I fear.

My ultimate spinning goal is to own a spinning wheel, but probably not until mid-2008. By then, I hope to get to at least one fiber festival and also to at least one vendor who has wheels on site that I can try out. Until then, I will dedicate myself to perfecting (ahem) spinning with my little drop spindle.

Snoopy vs. the Red Baron...

Why is it, of all the songs played at this time of year, this one always makes me cry?

Odd bits on a Sunday morning...

Last night was the hubby's work Christmas (er, holiday) party. The obligatory "good time was had by all." No, really...it was nice. Huge. Over 400 people this year. I remember the first one we went to 14 years ago...40, 50 people maybe? The company has really grown. It's a good thing. Anyway, after a crazy-busy day at work yesterday, I got home a half hour late, got ready to go (thankful for the good hair day I was having!) and forced myself into small talk mode for the evening. We were home around 11:30, when I promptly changed into my jammies and curled up to knit and relax.

My latest pair of mitts...love 'em! My favorites so far...


My first felted bowl...it was a fun, quick knit...perhaps needs to be felted a bit more to make it sturdier, but I like it, which isn't always the case with my felting projects...


And if I turn it upside down and add a tassel, it would make a funky fez, no? LOL


(Please admire the no-make-up-morning-hair- glasses-still-in-my-jammies look I'm sporting here. I am such a fashionista, no? :})

The kids spent the night at their grandparents last night. Kevin got up to pick them up and take them to church this a.m. whilst I opted to be a heathen today and chill at home (and get a couple more hours' of sleep). I'm really coveting my alone time lately, likely because I haven't been getting much of it. At this time of year, I quickly become aware of how much I need it.

Thus, I'm off to make some coffee, tidy up the messy house and try to make heads or tails of what I need to accomplish in the next week. I used to do this regularly...plan the coming week on Sunday. It makes such a difference when I do it. I think maybe I'll try to get back in that habit in the coming year. Right now, Christmas is in just over two weeks, my mom will be in town in just under two weeks, and I need to prioritize.

Wow!

Hey! Ya'll really like to help a girl out, don't you? LOL Thanks to my friend Lain for posting about my scrapbook supply giveaway...Lain's got an awesome scrapblog and, I must add, the girl is really going places in the scrapping industry. I'm so proud of her!

Anyway, all you Lain readers...PLEASE be sure to leave your e-mail address in your comment! blogger does not, for some reason, link e-mail addresses to comments (not sure if it is how Blogger is set up or if it some weird setting issue on my part or what), but unless you have a Blogger blog that has your e-mail addy on it, or where I can leave a comment, I will have no way to contact you about the scrap stuff! So, please leave your e-mail addy for me. Or, if you'd prefer, just e-mail me directly at lmbwrites AT comcast DOT net instead.

Note 12/8, 1 a.m. : I've had way more responses to this than I originally anticipated! I'd love to send stuff out to everyone, but I need to bring the goodie madness to a close now. If you have already received a reply from me, then you're in, as long as you send me your mailing info. Thanks!

To-Do List...

...Send cards
Bake cookies
Hang outside lights
Decorate blog
Finish shopping
Wrap gifts
Finish gift knitting...

The first week of December brings...

...thoughts of getting organized for Christmas. Granted, the decorating is mostly done. (My Dickens-ish village houses aren't up yet, and the outdoor lights aren't up but the weather isn't cooperating for those anyway.) And I have my Christmas knitting schedule in place (and have already deviated mightily from it). Now to plan for the rest of it.

Cookies to bake. Cards to send out. Picture to send out with cards. Presents to wrap. Places to go. People to see. Etc.

My all-time favorite parody version of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" is "The Twelve Pains of Christmas" by Bob Rivers. It's hilarious, even moreso because I think everyone can relate to something in it, even if not to the degree represented in the song. And as the song goes on, the whole thing becomes more frenetic and insane...so much like the holidays can be. Art capturing life! LOL If you're so inclined, you can listen to the song here...it's #10. And if you have a warped sense of humor like my family and I have, you might also enjoy song #2, "Chipmunks Roasting on an Open Fire." Mmm...tasty! ;) (Note that there are some song titles on this site probably deserve at least a PG-13 rating.)

That said, in recent years, I've been pretty good about slowing down the pace of Christmas a bit. There are some things I just choose not to bother with. One year I hardly baked and instead bought my cookies from my mom's Cookie Lady. Several years ago, I decided I would only decorate with the things I absolutely loved instead of every piece of Christmas stuff I'd collected over the years. One year I didn't send out cards -- at all! Last year, I gave up the notion of the "perfect" family Christmas picture and instead made use of Photoshop and put together a collage "picture" using shots of each of us individually throughout the year. (So much better and less stressful for us all!) Some years I put Christmas letters in my cards, sometimes I don't.

This year, for the first time in nearly a decade, I bought my Christmas cards instead of making them. I'm doing another collage picture, but no letter. If the outside lights don't get hung, I don't care. Cookies will get baked, but maybe not 12 different types. And knitting...knitting will get done...or not. It's all good.