Fiber Slothdom?

Lest anyone think I have devolved into fiber slothdom, I have things to show you. Not big things, not "alert the media" type things. But I HAVE been doing things with fiber over the last couple of weeks.

First, preemie hats for a boy. Friend of a friend; hospital only had white and pink hats. Friend knew where she could remedy the situation, and appealed to me for some blue by golly hats! So here they are. And send positive thoughts, too. The little guy is just holding his own.














Finished socks!! For Jenny. They went into the mail. From Austermann Step, in the "whiskey" colorway. I loved working with this yarn. I found the color repeats and combinations a little surprising, but they were fun. These are "Dobby" socks - can't have two alike!














Great American Afghan. Ha, didn't know I was working on that, didja? It was a spur of the moment inspiration. The new LYS started an Afghan Club in August. I decided I need an afghan, and meeting other knitters twice a month is appealing, too. Even though I am generally a solitary knitter, I like to connect once in a while. And support the LYS because it's great and deserves my support. And knitting help is free and unlimited to club members. The pattern book was included, too. Sooooo..... Encore, bright colors. Three squares so far; red and blue post blocking, pink just finished. The blue square will have some knitted trees on it - I was just waiting for the ordered colors to arrive.














Spinning. Rudimentary first efforts. I'm learning..... This is a full spindle; fiber included in Nancy's Knit Knacks Learn to Spin Kit. The bottom of the cop decided to start falling off just as I was done. Plying is next, but I'm afraid the new yarn will live on the spindle until I return from our raft trip on the Colorado (not the BIG Grand Canyon trip, but a shorter one from the usual take-out at Diamond Creek down to South Cove in Lake Meade).














David is rowing his cataraft; I'm riding. Not used to riding a raft on the Colorado, and sort of looking forward to it. My previous 4 BIG Grand Canyon trips have been paddling my kayak, and I'm such a big water weenie that it was always a bit stressful. No stress this time.

Finally, short row heels have kicked my butt yet again. I'm learning to install a lifeline. I'll get it sooner or later, I know it! But until I do, I keep making some stupid mistake that I can't recover from without ripping. I do the first half just fine - it's the pick up the wraps second half that beats me. Here's the sock, about to try again on that second half of the heel.














And that's all for a while. I'll be gone having all kinds of fun. Thanks to Kari's heads up, fiber fun will include attemtping to get a pair of Socks for Soldiers knitted on the trip. With 14" cuffs, I need lotsa luck. Think positive thoughts on it, please!

Not Much Knitting

Or quilting, or spinning. I've been organizing and packing for our upcoming 7-day raft trip on the Colorado River (from Diamond Creek to South Cove, Lake Meade). There's river trip gear, and travel to and from clothes. Things to take to the kids in Oklahoma City. Takes a while to think, lay out, plan. Sooooo, instead, how about miscellaneous photos, mostly kitties? It's amazing to me to realize that BC has become such a big girl. Compare when I found her on July 15, 2005, to today:





And here I caught her in one of her more creative leisure poses.


















BC and Terry are playing, and I wonder if BC realizes this is a lot what she looked like last year trying to play with Cali.














Finally, David's improvised greenhouse; he's experimenting with growing day lilies from seeds collected from our plants this year.

Too Many Bugs!

That's what David says about the vest and skirt I just finished for Gillian. But he picked the fabric! And once you add a plain, solid t-shirt, it might be toned down a little. Also, she can wear them as separates. Actually, I think they might be a little big for her right now, anyway. We'll see the kids on our way to Arizona at the end of next week, so a try-on will tell me whether to continue with this size, or go smaller. Here's the fabric I chose to make the skirt, vest, and a jumper:


And here's the jumper for Annabelle. It's green, which means you know David didn't choose that fabric; I did. I hope Annabelle looks good in green. It needs a t-shirt, too.

And there's my spindle with my efforts so far. Now that I'm through sewing for a while, I think I'll practice spinning for a while before beginning to address packing for the upcoming trip (and for this weekend's paddling trek to the Ocoee for that matter).


And finally, to end the week grandly, David's star quilt is finished:

Family and Fun

This is Kathy Oliver of Holly Spring Homespun, located in Powhatan, Virginia. She taught me to spin with a drop spindle! In less than an hour she had me making yarn - what fun. I was also able to learn how to ply my yarn. Spinning is a skill I've tried to learn on my own, but there were just some things I wasn't getting. Kathy made it clear and I'm on my way. I still need to practice, practice, practice, as with any new skill. But it's fun and addicting, and I've been able to spin some each day since.





















This is the spinning room at Kathy's shop, which is a well stocked and cozy fiber shop catering to knitters, crocheters and spinners. Holly Spring Homespun was easy to find and easy to get to - no city traffic to deal with!















Most of my visits to my family (brother and cousin) in Virginia's Tidewater region are short, due to the distance and the fact that I don't usually have a lot of time. But I've decided that each time I go, I'm going to see a new historical site. I missed out on so much of that when I was growing up in the area. And also, many more have been developed and/or opened to the public since I was a child. This visit found us at two plantation sites along the south side of the James River: Chippoakes Plantation















and Bacon's Castle, where my cousin's father lived as a teenager (his family were caretakers here). Nell and Frank (my cousin and her husband) are a wealth of information about the local area. And of course, since my Uncle Andrew grew up in the area of the plantations, they're privy to lots of inside information and ancedotes that made it even more fun to visit.

Ribwarmer

Ribwarmers are my favorite vests. Noro Silk Garden and Kureyon are among my favorite yarns with which to knit ribwarmers. I like Sidna Farley's version (from Knitter's #48 - long out of print and the best issue ever, IMHO) because I have such a short neck, and her version has no collar. Since I haven't finished anything lately, and I'm about to go to SE Virginia to visit my cousin, I decided I'd show you the ribwarmer I knit for her a couple of years ago. I'm modeling. If I remember to take my camera with me, I'll get a picture of her wearing her own vest.