My name is Jen, and I am a fiber-aholic. . . .

So, much fibery related goodness has been going on here in the last few days. I finally got back into spinning. Ah, my spinning wheel, I forgot how I loved thee:

Delicious!

Mmm, handspun.

The above yarn was spun from some roving I got from Fat Cat Knits. It's lovely. I am loving the way it turned out. I ended up with two skeins, and about 200 yards of a 2-ply. Slowly, slowly I am getting more yardage out of the yarn I spin. Ah, I am getting closer to sock yarn, I can feel it. :) I did start another spinning project (which I don't have a picture of, as Alex is sleeping on the couch, and I don't want to disturb him with the camera, but I digress). This project I am going to go with a 3 ply, as I know I will want my socks yarn to be a 3 ply. We'll see what kind of yardage I get this time.

I also finished up some knitting. I finally finished my Reclamation Scarf, Part II:

The Specs:

The Pattern: Reclamation Scarf by Stefanie Japel
The Yarn: Pagewood Farm Alyeska Hand Dyed Sock Yarn
The Needles: US Size 9
The Time To Knit: About three weeks of on and off knitting.
The Verdict: A quick easy knit. Mindless knitting for when you need that kind of thing. Beautiful result.

Another project off the needles. So what's a girl to do but cast on for another? With all this talk to Sock Summit, it seemed like socks were the obvious choice:
It's a Nutkin sock! I am knitting this out of STR Mediumweight in the Kaw Kaw colorway. Holy crap, do I love this sock. I don't think there will be second sock syndrome here. :)

Other than that, things are busy. Busy, but good. I have started toying with the idea of doing a podcast. I have been thinking about it for awhile, and I have decided that my obsession with knitting thus far has not gone quite far enough. Perhaps a knitting podcast is needed. I threw the idea out there to Alex today and he told me that he already had researched and comparison shopped microphones, because he had been thinking I should do one. I don't know though. Would people listen to me babble on about knitting for 20-30 minutes every two weeks? Would I be interesting or just sound blah? Hmm, so much thinking to do on this one.

Happy knitting (and spinning)!

Sock Yarn and the Sock Summit

Ok, so I have been painfully awful about updating my etsy site. But, today I finally got around to updating it with some new yarn (and new colorways).

First, there is Sometime Around Midnight in a bamboo/wool blend:

Can you say delicious?

Then there is some Kona Superwash in the colorway Staring at the Sun:

Yikes! I am bright, but a complicated stitch pattern would look mighty fine with me!

As always, you can find both of these on my etsy site.

Ok, enough of the shameless plug. Can we please just talk about Sock Summit for a moment? I am so going to this thing. A weekend surrounded by sock yarn* and people who love to knit socks!? Yes, please! My friend, Jenni, and I are definitely going to go and I am pretty sure we have roped in a few other people into our little sock knitting adventure. I cannot wait. The hotel has been reserved. The days off work have been requested. Extensive research is being conducted on cheap flights to Portland. This is going to be epic.

*yes, yes, I know my New Year's Resolution was to not buy sock yarn until Stitches Midwest in September and Sock Summit is in August, but c'mon. I did not know that SS would be a reality when I made the aforementioned resolution. And, if I make it all the way to August without buying sock yarn, that is a pretty big accomplishment.

She's a Lady. . . .Oh, Oh, Oh, She's a Lady. . . .

. . . .a February Lady that is:

It's lacy! It's seamless! A knitter's dream!And knit in a nice cotton/wool yarn! Yum!I heart lace like I heart cake....that is a lot.

I didn't think I would knit this is as fast as I did. Granted, I did make this short sleeved, but still. 8 days and done. I am slightly impressed with myself.

The Specs:

The Pattern: February Lady Sweater
The Yarn: Cascade Sierra, 5 skeins
The Needles: US Size 7
The Time to Knit: 8 days
The Mods: Just the short sleeves. Everything else I did according to the pattern. Well, there is that random k4tog I did in the armpit of one of the sleeves because my stitch count was off. :)

So, what's the new project going to be? Something lacy and shawl-like, I think. Perhaps in a color that matches my bridesmaid's dress for my sister's wedding in October.

Happy knitting!

Oh, Camellia

Yesterday proved to be a pretty good knitting day. I finished weaving in ends and bought a button for my current love affair--Camellia:

Look I am all seamed up and ready to go!

Hmm, I think I look pretty good.

It fits! A success!

The Specs:
The Pattern: Camellia by Stefanie Japel
The Yarn: Cascade 109 in the Arctic Ice colorway, 6 skeins exactly
The Needles: US Size 11
The Time to Knit: About a month. This sweater did have to sit in time out some of that time though.
The Verdict: There was a moment when I first tried it on that I wasn't sure about it. But, I am really starting to love it. I think it's cute!

So, that's one sweater done and I am 20% of the way to meeting my 5 sweaters in 2009 goal. What's a girl to do but cast on for another sweater, right? Hmm, well, since it's February and I am a Lady. . . .

Stay tuned.

Book Reviews

I am pretty sure I have never book reviewed on my blog before, but there is a first time for everything, right?

So, a couple weeks ago, I received an advance copy of this book:It's Knitting the Threads of Time by Nora Murphy. In this book, the author tells her own personal story of knitting, and in telling her story she touches on the background and tradition of knitting in many different cultures throughout time. If you enjoy non-fiction with lots of history thrown in, then this is the book for you. It's a quick read, the perfect book for a weekend when you had to put that complicated project in the corner for a time out (it's thinking about what it did to you).

This book is now available. You can get yours here.

Ok, so now a pattern book. A couple days ago I popped into Barnes & Noble to pick up the new Debbie Bliss magazine (some ladies in my knitting group had it, and I was jealous, there are so many cute things in there, but I digress). Of course, I wandered over to the knitting books and this jumped into my hands:
Again, someone in my knitting group brought this book to knitting a couple weeks ago, and I flipped through it and wanted to make almost everything in it. That rarely happens with a pattern book!

I have not knit anything out of it yet, but as soon as some of my 800 WIPs come off the needles, something in this book is getting knit. One skein books are nice, but this one is wonderful. With lace scarves and socks, it's still quick and easy projects, but a little more interesting than other one skein books I have seen.

You can get your Luxury Yarn One Skein Wonders book here.

So, there is my two cents on these books. Happy knitting!

The Object of my Affection. . . .

So what's new in the knitting world for me? What could possibly be my new obsession?

Uh, the Reclamation Scarf!

Could I be any easier to knit? I don't think so!What a pretty little scarf I am!And, I look good on everyone!

This scarf is for my friend, the JC. Well, it's for her birthday next week, and now she will see it on the blog, but that's cool. I didn't have much else to blog about and there is other stealth things for her going on that will not yet be revealed on the blog. I am kind of sneaky like that.

So, here are the specs:
The Pattern: Reclamation Scarf by Stefanie Japel
The Yarn: Knitting Like Crazy Superwash Worsted in the Garden Wedding colorway, one skein
The Needles: US Size 9
The Time to Knit: About a day and a half
The Verdict: Well, I think the next two pictures speak for how I feel about this pattern:

Who's obsessed with the Reclamation Scarf!? Hmm, might be Jen.Yummy! I contain cashmere!

That's right, I started another one. This time with a skein of Pagewood Farm Alyeska Hand Dyed Sock Yarn in the Navajo colorway. This skein I bought at Stitches last year. I knew I didn't want to use it for socks, but at the time, I had no idea what to do with it. It was just marinating in the stash waiting for this pattern, I guess.

Other than that, I have been continuing work on my Camellia sweater (also a Stefanie Japel pattern....I guess I have become obsessed with that lady lately, but seriously, you all know her stuff is awesome). I started knitting on the final piece this morning. I am really hoping to be in the blocking stages of this project by tomorrow. I want to wear the sweater so bad.

Anyway, that's it for the knitting. Perhaps next week some stealth knitting will be revealed. Happy Valentine's Day and Happy Knitting!

The knitting bug just won't quit!

Well, I continue to knit my fingers off. I have not been spinning too much in the last couple of weeks; although I have some loose plans to go back to it this week. Mostly, I have just been happy with the knitting. First, we have some Leyburns, Part II:

Oooh, Panzanite! How pretty!

And, the Leyburn Pattern. How you look so lovely once again!

Since the Leyburn KAL is still going on in Socks That Rock Group on Ravelry, I just couldn't resist starting another pair. And, even though these are pooling in a little more obvious way than the last pair I made, I am still loving them. I really recommend this pattern. It is so easy, and once again, I am loving how my socks look.

In addition to the socks, I have also been feverishly working on my Camellia:

What lace-y goodness!

I have been wanting to knit thise sweater for some time, and I finally got some yarn to do it. That's Cascade 109 in Artic Ice.

And, finally, I finished my Noro Striped Scarf:

I think all of my ones of readers know that I tend to follow the crowd big time when it comes to knitting. This was no exception. I had seen many on Ravelry and on the blogs I read (I mean, seriously, I have been reading Kay's blog for as long as I have been reading blogs and the lady loves the Noro!) but what set me over the edge was seeing Melissa's Noro Scarf (Rav link there) in person. So, I needed one too. It's cool. You can judge me for being a follower. :)

The Specs:
The Pattern: Noro Striped Scarf by Jared Flood
The Yarn: 2 skeins each of Noro Silk Garden (I used colors 226 and 228)
The Needles: US Size 7
The Time to Knit: About a week of on and off knitting
The Result: I have decided to gift this scarf. That means I must love it. (And, I have plans to make another one soon)

Well, that's it for now. I think I am finally caught up on the blogging of the knitted things. Later this week hopefully there will be some yarn pics of yarn I have dyed, and perhaps a finished sweater or a finished pair of socks.

Happy Knitting!