Spunday 6/22

So first let me say I have been a bad blogger. Wednesday was super busy for me. We are in the process of buying a new house and putting our current house on the market. It was also graduation week for the residency program so we had happy hours, parties and graduation itself.  I have definitely have WIPs on the needles but not a ton of progress on anything since I have not been knitting much. I try to make sure that I have time to knit or spin at least a little every day, just for stress relief if nothing else.  So I have some spinning that I have finished up to share.  In February I spun up a braid of Malabrigo Nube.  Now normally I am not a big fan of merino.  I like spinning it up, but I would rather spin BFL or Polwarth.  I loved spinning up the Nube.  It was soft and lovely.  I love that after you spin and ply it, it blooms in the soak.  With that 4 oz braid I achieved about 250 yards.  That was one of my projects from the Winter Ravellenic Games.  

Malabrigo Nube - Aguas

So I bought a braid of Malabrigo Nube in the colorway Indiecita to spin up next.  I loved the purples and greens in the braid.  

I am still new to color control in my spins.  I am hoping to try an N-ply in the next few months which should keep my colors together when I ply rather than diluting them.

Malabrigo Nube - Indiecita

The most exciting part of this handspun is I got 348 yards of a 2 ply yarn in about a sport weight! That is almost 100 yards more than the first time that I spun up the Malabrigo Nube! It is the most yardage that I have ever gotten from a single braid! Now I just need to pair it up with a pattern.

WIP Wednesday 6/18/14

For the past week I have been focusing all on my sweater and cross-stitch.  I finished the sleeves on my Adrift Cardigan and am about an inch past the raglan into the body.  9 more inches to go and then I'm done!  

I need to pick my June socks back up and get them finished before the month is over, but I want to finish my Halloween Sampler first.  I have one more square left and then it's done!  

FO Friday 6/13/14

With being sick and trying to catch up on yard work I don't really have any new FO's to share.  The only thing I have to share this week is a hat I finished last week but didn't photograph in time for last week's post.  A co-worker asked me to knit a hat for her baby grandson.  After knitting this hat, I was reminded that I wanted to knit some cute children's hats for church this year so expect to see more hats in the future :)

I have been working on mostly big projects, so the only FO I have to share for the week is a Harry Potter theme washcloth that I am sending to a fellow Hufflepuff who is expecting her first baby in September.

Extra special thanks to the hubby for taking the picture for me. I didn't realize how hard it would be to capture the pattern when knit in white!

WIP Wednesday 6/11/14

This past week went so fast!  Friday & Saturday I had plans and didn't get much time to work on any knitting.  Sunday, rather than knitting I decided to pick up my Halloween Spooky Sampler and work on that.   I made some progress and will be trying to work on that each week so I can actually be done before Halloween.  I really want to buy the Halloween Town pattern by The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery, but I am trying to finish the projects I have started before starting a new one.  

I haven't made any progress on my June socks in the past week.  They are currently sitting in the WIPs basket until I make a little more progress on my sweater.  
I finally started the sleeves.  Monday & Tuesday I was home sick so I tried to spend an hour a day working on it.  At this point I don't see myself finishing by the end of July and finishing my OWL.  I'll still work on it, but I can't let myself stress out over it.  

I was traveling this week so I really had to make some crafting choices before I left.  Since my OWL scarf is getting so long, and it has 7 different colors, I decided to leave it at home.  When I got home last night I finished the last two stripes that I needed to do to hit my 50% mark!  Now I can submit that for 75 points and keep working on it.  I have 26 stripes to go and the tassels, but I think I can totally do it.  After I block it, it will feel so good to trim all those woven in ends!

I brought two projects with me, one was a pair of socks. When I left last week I had the cuff done on the sock, now I am on the toe of the first sock.  This is the Simple Skyp Socks pattern by Adrienne Ku.   It is not a pattern that I have done before, but I knew that Jess had, so I decided to give it a try.  The colorway is the funnest part of these socks though.  It is The Cyborg's Craft Room Assockilate in "Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock." I am a sucker for anything that can be connected with another fandom that I love (this should make sense since we are the Fiber Fangirls!)  So I knew when I saw the Big Bang Theory colorway that I just had to have it! These socks will be a Christmas present so I cannot tell you who they are for, but I love them so much. Too bad they would never fit me!

My last WIP for the week is my Wintry Mitts that are for my Order of the Phoenix Mission. I have about 4 colorwork rows to go, and then the ribbing on the top of the mitt, and the thumb and the first mitt is done! I don't think I am going to be able to match the two mitts, but I think that the mitts will still go together well.  

FO Friday 6/6

I only have a few FOs to share, but one of them I am super excited about. Last week I shared some blanket squares that I made for a friend who will seam them together and donate the blankets to a hospital.  I was asked for a link to the chart so I wrote up the pattern and published it on Ravelry! I am offering it as a free pattern, but feel so excited to have designed something that someone else wanted to knit!  So here is a link to the pattern if you are interested in checking it out.  Here is the most recent square that I made.

Giving Hearts Blanket Square by Jen!

For quidditch, we had to knit a project that was at least 200 yards for Round 3. I decided to finally knit a pattern that I have had in my queue for awhile. I have no baby in mind for this adorable sweater, but it is ready for when the next sweet baby girl comes along.

This is the in threes: a baby cardigan knit up in Dream of Color Classy "Cool Fire." I love the colors.  This sweater was a quick and easy knit, and I see more of these in my future.

One more FO to share. We have a Puff whose son is going through chemotherapy. She is collecting chemo caps to donate to the hospital.  They have kids from age 2-18 there, so I made this cap a little on the larger size.  

They requested that the hats be made of machine washable yarn, so I knit this up in scraps of Vanna's Choice. The pattern is Scrap-happy Celebration Hat and I also see making more of these!

WIPs Wednesday 6/4

Still working on the Dr. Who scarf.  I am at 25 stripes so far.  I was taking a picture of it and the hubby asked, "Are you done?" I responded with, "Almost halfway." 

It is too big to photograph on the table so my pictures from now on will be on my carpet.  I am almost to the point where I will have to climb on furniture to fit the whole scarf in the shot!

A few nights ago I binge watched Gossip Girl (thanks for introducing me to that wonderful show Jess!) and worked on my mitts.  They are feeling pretty snug, but I can still get them on my hand so I think that they will work.

So sad that I will not be keeping these mitts, I see another pair in my future.

I cast on a pair of socks today too, but since I am only three rows into the cuff I will wait and share the progress next week.

I finally got finished with the raglan increases on my Adrift cardigan!  Now I just need to knit the sleeves and I will be at the halfway point.  After that, just 10 more inches (ha!) of stockinette and then I will have a finished wool sweater just in time for a heat wave!

I started my June socks.  This month I am knitting Rainbow Explosion by Lauren McMordie.  I am using Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Slushie Facial.  The pattern is easy to follow, I love the textured panels on the side.  I just feel like my tension between knit and purl might be too loose so I don't think my rainbows look very rainbow-y compared to others that have been knit.  They are still neat looking though :D

We have a new contest up on the Ravelry group just in time for Tour de Fleece!  To celebrate our first ever TdF as Team Fiber Fangirls we are giving away a top whorl drop spindle and a sampler pack of Gourmet Stash punis!  To enter, just go to the thread in the Ravelry group and tell us what one of your spinning goals are.  The thread will close at midnight on 6/25 and the winner will be announced on the 26th.  

Spunday 6/1/14 and Contest Winner

On Friday, Jen came over so we could celebrate her birthday.  She brought over a drill and an extra bobbin so we could divide my single in half for plying.  After some yard work on Saturday, I sat outside plying for a bit and just enjoying the sunshine.  I am hoping to have it done sometime next week.  

I selected my Tour de Fleece fiber and will be spinning Shadawyn Fiber Arts Merino/Silk in Severus Snape. I have never spun anything with silk in it, so I'm excited and nervous at the same time. My personal goals for this year will be to spin for at least 45 minutes a day.  

On a non-spinning note, we have a winner for our Modular Mondays in May giveaway!  The winner, chosen by random.org is...

Congratulations, MKmaineknitter!!  Please contact me (sameoldknit) on Ravelry and I will get your mini skeins in the mail!