Monthly Archives: February 2010

Spinning and Cooking

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Wool Coils

I’ve managed to eek out about half of the first sleeve of Calluna but it’s just a moss stitch tube, boring, no pictures.  I did some spinning yesterday, I had a tiny little batt of merino from Corgi Hill Farm, she sent it when I ordered the merino/silk batts, so I tried out some coils with it.  There’s only maybe five or ten yards here and it’s horribly over spun but it was fun to try out.

Scones

I’ve been more in a baking mood this week.  Monday I made some butterscotch oatmeal cookies, just basic oatmeal cookies with butterscotch chips, and they were so good we ate them all before I had a chance to photograph them.  Then yesterday morning I was craving scones, so I made some.  I used a recipe for Irish Soda Scones and they were dead simple to make, really fast, and and they taste great with some butter and a little apple butter or jelly, they’re a bit bland on their own.  I got too much flour on top of mine, but it doesn’t seem to make much difference.  I love scones and always forget how easy they are.  These took about five minutes to mix up and twenty to bake.  It actually took longer for my oven to heat up than to make the scones.  Nice.

Sally

Have a great weekend!

Getting Closer

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Calluna

I feel like I’m inching towards the finish line on this sweater.  My right shoulder has been sore for a few days so I haven’t made much progress at all.  I finally managed to finish the back of the cardigan this afternoon and I cast on and knit one row of the first sleeve but that’s all I could manage for today.  I really need to finish the first part of my KnitPicks project so I’m going to set the cardigan aside and work tonight.  I’ve pretty much given up finishing the sweater before the end of the Olympics but my mom’s birthday isn’t for another month and I’ll have it done by then, no problem.  I still really love the pattern and the way the sweater looks and I think my mom is going to like it, too.

New Uke

I mentioned at the beginning of January that I ordered a new ukulele and I finally got it Saturday.  I bought it on Ebay from Musicguymic’s Room and the service was spectacular.  I made my order on December 30 and waited and waited and waited for my ukulele to get here, I waited about a month and a half.  I figured it should have been here by then so I sent off an e-mail asking if it had been shipped or if I should have it, and he just sent me another one, no questions asked.  I had it less than a week later.  I’m having a lot of fun playing with it and learning a few songs.  This is a Makala Dolphin ukulele with a plastic body and Aquila strings.  It was cheap, $50 with shipping, and sounds great and plays really good.  I like this so much more than my Baritone uke I got a few years ago.  It might be a cheap little thing but it is definitely not a toy.  I’m really happy with it.  And it’s black and sparkly, there’s black glitter in the finish, how cute.

Quick Check-In

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Progress on my mom's sweater

I had hoped to be done with the body of my mom’s sweater by Sunday but that, obviously, didn’t happen.  I didn’t have much knitting time at all over the weekend, I only managed a few rows on the fronts.  Last night I finished both fronts of the sweater and today I’ve knit most of the back, I have about ten rows left and then the shoulder shaping, maybe sixteen rows total.  I guess I’ll finish this up tonight and start the sleeves tomorrow.  It’s looking like I may not finish by the end of the Olympics but I don’t really care.

New nail polish

Last thing, I have a new favorite nail polish.  I love gray, I could wear nothing but gray and black, maybe a little white, and be happy.  I’ve been looking for a good gray nail polish for a long time, something not too light, no sparkle and thick enough that I don’t have to use more than two coats to cover my nail and I think I’ve found it.  This is a new polish by Rimmel, so it’s cheap, it was a little over $3 for this bottle, this is Lasting Finish Pro in Steel Grey.  The polish says it will last up to ten days with no top coat, so I’m trying it out, I polished my nails last night, only two coats and I’m just going to leave it on for a while and see how it holds up.  I love the color, it’s a nice medium gray with a slight purple undertone.  I got a bottle of the same polish in Purple Rain which is a dark, almost black, purple that I can’t wait to try.  I really like the brush on this polish, it’s very thick and wide, I could cover most of my nail in one stroke.  I think I’ll pick up a few more of these.  I’m very happy with them. 

Yummy Spinning

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Handspun

I don’t know what the deal is but my brain has been all over the place this week.  I can’t seem to focus, I’m wired and fidgeting all the time, I haven’t been able to sleep even though I’ve been getting dead tired at night, my mind just won’t quiet down.  I’ve been doing yoga every day to try to calm down but it’s not helping much, I just don’t know what the problem is.

Anyway, spinning, I’ve been doing it.  The light is crap today, it is so dark outside that I can’t get a decent picture, but this is pretty close to how my finished yarn looks.  The color is decent but you can’t really see the sparkle.  So, this is about 4oz. of 50/50 Merino/Silk from two batts from Corgi Hill Farm on Etsy, the color is Moss Agate and you can see the exact batts I bought here.  As for the batts, I love them, they are beautifully blended and soft, soft, soft.  They draft and spin like a dream, too.  I want about 1,000 more of them.  The yarn itself came out at about 22wpi, a good lace weight, with a few thick spots, and I wound up with 690-ish yards.  The yarn is soft and sqishy with a nice luster from the silk and tons of gold shimmer.  I’m quite pleased with it.

I didn’t bother taking any pictures of my mom’s cardigan today but I’m about to the bind-off for the underarms which is right where I wanted to be right now.  I really think I can have the body done by Monday. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

Sally

Checking In

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Progress Shot

Here’s a quick check in with my Ravelymics sweater.  I had set a goal with myself to have the cable section done before I went to bed last night and I made it with time to spare.  Today I’ve knit the waistband and just started the bodice.  My new goal is to knit the bodice this weekend, might be a little ambitious but I think I can do it, and then I’d like to have it washed and blocking Monday when I can start the sleeves.

I’ve been only knitting on this during the day and at night after everyone goes to bed, since it’s supposed to be a surprise, so in the evenings I’ve been plying the singles I finished last week.  Last night I plyed the last little bit and washed the yarn and hung it outside to dry in the sun today.  I’ll try to take some pictures tomorrow, it will depend on the light, I think it’s supposed to be cloudy again tomorrow.  And yesterday I got the yarn for my new KnitPicks test knit so I cast on last night and knit a bit on it.  That project isn’t due back until the beginning of April and it is a quick project so I’m not too worried about it yet.

But for now I need to go make some coffee and have a little after