Back to regular programming

Well, I'm a sitting duck in Sock Wars right now. No one's come forward to kill me and I can't get the dossier for my next target. I have my second weapon at the ready, but I may use it to commit Sock Wars suicide. So I'm just going to leave the war on the back burner and go back to my semi-normal life.
I'm halfway up the hood on Rogue and the back is almost finished on the monkey's anniversary gift. Our anniversary was Tuesday, but he understands. We went out for possibly the worst meal we've ever had. I admit, there were warning signs which we chose to ignore and in my defense, I did suggest that we leave only minutes after we sat down, but we stayed.
Here's how it went down:
We arrived at the restaurant which is a little place on the beach, very lovely view of the sunset and moonrise. We had reservations, but there wasn't anyone at the maitre d' stand when we arrived. Hmmm. We waited there for a while and then the monkey thought we'd better just go in. We had to walk past the kitchen pass thru and I noticed that the only person working in the kitchen looked about twelveteen. Hmmm, that's not good. The guy behind the bar (who looked shockingly like a male prostitute) said, "Reservations? Aw just sit anywhere." Hmmm, that's not good either. We sat down and discovered that the table we'd chosen switched time zones everytime something was removed or placed on it. Hmmm.... After 5 minutes or so, the bartender(?) brought us menus. Another 5 or so minutes later he brought us water. After another 5 minutes he asked if we wanted anything to drink. Oh yeah, I forgot the giant kareoke screen behind the bar and the fact that the music from Flashdance was playing very loudly through the restaurant. At this point I leaned over the table (making it go thumpity thump) and gently suggested to the monkey that we could probably get a table at our favorite restaurant which wasn't far away. He wanted to, "give the place a chance". I wanted to avoid food poisoning.
We were entertained while waiting by one of the servers making out, with the guy who'd been walking up and down the restaurant with a beer bottle, outside for about 10 minutes. Hmmm, I didn't know there was a floor show.
We ordered and the appys were okay, but our main courses left a bit to be desired. For me, I guess they'd run out of artichokes or possibly Opie in the kitchen didn't know the difference between an artichoke and an avocado. Hey, they both start with the letter "A", he was close. I strongly dislike avocado, so that kinda sucked. The monkey's looked okay, but they had managed to make the asparagus chewy. I'm not sure how you do that, but I could barely cut through the stuff.
We were out of there in less an hour and we're the types that like to linger. We have drinks, we talk, we have desert and tea. We couldn't get out of that place fast enough. The coup de grace was the "We're hiring!" on the bottom of the bill. Charming.
As you may have guessed, not a place we'll be frequenting. Next week we're going to pretend it didn't happen and celebrate our anniversary properly at our favorite restaurant, Giraffe. Those of you who live in White Rock will want to avoid Sideshows.


The spindle fetish continues! This time with the help of Angela and all those who met up with her at OFFF. From left to right: tulipwood by Spindlewood; Mongold; a spindle I got off ebay that is of unknown origin; a Dave Larsen plexi. I plan to give them all a good workout tomorrow.


This a crossbreed lamb fleece I got from an Alberta breeder. It is so pretty. I plan on actually processing this sucker myself. Should be interesting. Might comb it. Stay tuned for the inevitable bitching and swearing this will cause! Non-PG fun I'm sure.


This fleece is part of the reason I'm going to start doing more of my own processing. Don't get me wrong, it was done beautifully and for a good price, but I sent it to the processor in March. I got it back yesterday. They never called or emailed me. I had no idea what was going on. I'm very happy to have it back. It's a New Zealand Polwarth and I can't believe how soft it is. I just want to sink into it. I have almost three pounds so I should be able to make a couple of sweaters. Or maybe a big soft shawl. Mmmm, so soft! I wish the blog had touch-o-vision.

How many people does it take to have a war

The remaining assassins from Sock Wars are now discovering some interesting things:
1. People have decided not to play and not told anyone. So there are folks out there receiving socks with absolutely no intention of making any for anyone else.
2. Due to forces of nature beyond anyone's control, not everyone got the mailing info for their victim and some of those victims refused to give it up. A lot of warriors wound up dead too soon 'cause their victims were asshats.
3. An online swap of this scale needs more than one person to run it. Poor Yarnmonkey must be cursing herself for starting this by now. There were upwards of 780 people signed up and with the dropouts and flakes, it's becoming a it of a cluster-you-know-what.
I don't know what will happen with my role in this right now. I've killed my initial target and am in the process of trying to get the dossier for my next victim (this actualy made me want to bang my head against the keyboard last night as the person I was dealing with (see 1) couldn't seem to pull her head out of her butt). I haven't heard a peep from my assassin and I suspect she's also a see 1.
It's been mostly fun. My victim's very nice and is taking her socks of doom to guild tonight.
That Motorhead song "Killed by Death" keeps going 'round in my head, only it's "Killed by Socks"...

Say hallo to my leetle friend

Here is the completed assassination weapon. It leaves tomorrow for it's intended victim. I keep gettting this mental image of sock knitters all over the world not wanting to get their mail. Telling their posties that they won't sign for that package. Game on beetches! Viva la sock wars!

Such a fine line between clever and stupid

And sometimes that line is an eight lane freeway. I love my new niece, but I just had to her get her this:


I know it's awful, but it's awful in that, "OMG what the hell is wrong with that child", funny sort of way. I think my brother and his girlfriend will get a big kick out out it. Not to mention the great pics they'll have to show prospective boyfriends in about 15 years.
"Oh yes, the overbite was quite extreme, but she's managed to grow into it."
Bwahahaha
Yeah, I know I'm evil. It's the mild snicker-behind-your-hand evil though, so that's okay, right?


I've finally started Rogue. I tried to sign up for the Fall Cables KAL, but I guess they don't like me. Lavender is doing hers so I thought I'd join her. I love knitting this thing. I want to work on it all the time. I wake up in the night and want to go knit on it. I've only been working on it for a couple of days and now I just want finish it and wear it. The weather is back to it's normal blecky self around here. Grey, drizzley, cold and damp. So it's perfect for Rogue. I want to wear this puppy now!


Calliope is almost done. Needs a good blocking, but came out fairly well. Should be a good tank for when the sun comes back around this way in another eight months or so. Timing is everything. I, apparently, have sucky timing.

Diary of a Fat Loser

My doctor's a sneaky bastard.
I went for my regular physical last week. Oh joy. At least he moves through it at warp speed, so the embarrassment is kept short. All was within acceptable parameters...or so I thought. He came back in after I was clothed and feeling human again.
This is the gist of the conversation:
Dr: "Your weight is down since your last visit. Are you working on it?"
me: " Off and on."
Dr: "What are you doing?"
me: "Oh you know, trying to eat better, walking the dog. Nothing drastic."
Dr: "Hmmm. I think people are more motivated by goals and deadlines. Don't you?"
me: (ohcrapohcrapohcrap) "uh yeah, sure."
Dr: "So how 'bout you come back in 6 weeks and we'll see if you can lose 5 lbs by then."
me: (you sneaky bastard!) "Uh, okay, I can do that."
Don't get me wrong, I know how lucky I am to have a doctor that takes an active interest in my well-being. I know it's rare these days. But he just slid that right in there. Damn. So I've been working out and eating less and I've taken about 2.5lbs off since last Wednesday. I'm aiming to get 10lbs off by my next appointment, a bit of the, "I'll show you" in me I'm afraid. Yeah, I know, I working on it.
On to knitting stuff. The Mystery Stole is done:


I lost a lot of the color as I don't think the Zephyr had been set properly. It's still a nice color, but it's a lot grayer than it started out.
I also finished the Lavold tank. It fits great and I love the color.


And for those of you who wanted to know what I found in my friend's quilting stash, you can find a version of it here. Tam's was rather impressive and I still think we should have left it in there for her mother to find. Tam would have liked that.

My pals were...

I got my last package with the reveal in it from my SP8 pal today. Her name's Sarah, go check out her blog. Here's what she sent:


-some great Burt's Bees stuff that will help me get my hands back in shape for all the silk I have to spin this fall
-some tea
-a braid of Felicia's BFL (love this color)
-Inspired Cable Knits which has a couple of patterns in it that will go on the todo list
-a cute tape measure 'cause you can never have too many
-and a vintage pattern book with an interesting way of showcasing hats:


Reminds me of the Farside cartoon about the "floating head of death".
But the best thing of all is the lap quilt she made for me! I don't quilt. I had a friend who quilted and when she died, I had to sort through her fabric stash. Scared the bejesus out of me. You guys think the walk-in stash closet is scary, that's nothin'! Of course it also gave me the most amusing way to remember my friend. You would not believe what she had stored in with all that fabric. It ain't PG kids. It's a late night story over a couple of drinks. That way, I get to see the booze shoot out yer nose when I tell ya.
Anyhow, I'm still attracted to fabric (like a crow to shiny things), but I con, er, sweet talk my quilterly friends into making the quilts I want. So this is very, very cool. Thanks so much Sarah! I had a great time, hope you did too.
The pal I was sending to was Kadi. Go say, "hi". She just got back from a couple of weeks in Europe and is starting to post the pics.

How come he gets to go fishing?

So. The monkey's off having (I'm guessing here, 'cause he hasn't called) a great time fishing and I'm having a great relaxing time at home right?
Um, no.
Yesterday was spent doing laundry and errands. I did spend a few hours with a friend which was so nice, but after that, back to work. Today wasn't much different. But today I had help! Yay!
Lynne came over and spent a big part of her day helping me turn these:


Into these:


As Holly says, the pear tree decided it needed to feed the world this year. We made four batches of jam and barely dented the crop.
Lynne decided I shouldn't loll about and brought me these from the farmer's market:


She is evil!
Tomorrow will be spent making grape jelly from those gorgeous wild grapes she brought me.
Now, I was going to leave you with a wonderful pic of the Mystery Stole blocking in the evening sun, but sadly, the zephyr is leeching dye like a sumbitch.


I am sooo not impressed. This is the third rinse and it's just as colorful as the last ones. It will spend tonight having it's dye set once and for all. Good thing I didn't just press it and throw it on. I'd look like a smurf!
PS: big sale at Knitopia starting Wed. Go help Lynne part with some of that yarn. You know you wanna!

Are we there yet?

Now I know how long it takes me to knit a pair of basic socks. Nine hours.
I don't usually do anything in the car on road trips as I can get motion-sick by trying to read a map in a moving vehicle. I thought I'd give it a go, figuring that just plain knit was something I didn't really have to look at as I worked. I made sure that I had the cuffs done before I got in the car and I finished off the toes on arrival, but still, not bad for time I normally just sit staring out of the window and changing cds.
I'll think of it as a warm-up for this:


Check it out if you're a little crazy, competitive and willing to knit socks like your life depends on it. In this case it kinda does.
Anyhow, our trip to Salmon Arm went well and we got see some of the monkey's family. We had a very nice visit albeit quite short. Lots of food, lots of drink and a fair bit of knitting for me. I got halfway up the back of a Lavold tank. The trekalong sock never made it out of the bag. And I didn't buy any wool. The monkey was shocked and a little pleased.
On our drive home we saw a moose! It was wading in one of the small lakes between Kamloops and Merritt. Very cool! Wish I'd been able to get a pic.
Friday the monkey's off to the island for some fishing. The standard household rule will be in effect: no fish, no come home. I know it sounds cruel given that I'm sending a guy from northern Sask. salmon fishing, but hey, he gets to go fishing and I get to look after the dog. I'll be soaking the cedar plank, there'd better be fish!

Last Trek in Gibsons

Angela and I went up to Gibsons last week for the annual Fibre Festival. We were taking one of the Olds College spinning classes. We did manage to walk around in lower Gibsons (the Landing) a few times and I took this pic of the trekalong sock with the marina and Molly's Reach (of Beachcomber's fame) in the background.


Here's the first sock done. It's in XXL #108 and I've used Sockbug's Not Cables pattern. I didn't like the pattern at first, but pressed on and it looks kinda nice when it's on a foot. Some patterns just look better stretched I guess.


Trekalong encouraged me to increase my stash with lots of the XXL ombres. I have a serious weakness for them now that I've gotten past the unmatched socks issue. I don't think I'll get that last sock done before the end of trekalong, but I got three and a half pairs done, so I'm happy. We won't talk about the stash increase caused by my ombre infatuation. Be distracted by all the pretty yarn. Yeah, that's it, pretty isn't it?


The place we stayed had a nice private nook with a picnic table which we used almost every night after class to dry fleece and skein samples for the next day's class. If you look closely, you'll see that Angela's working on a trekalong sock. I think Jane's just waiting for wool to dry. We did a fair bit of that.


I have to admit that I got most of the above sock done during slow moments in the spinning class. There were only a few, but I took advantage of them.
Now I have to go do spinning homework. Feh

My KSKS pal kicks ass

Check this out!
This has to be the best kit ever. My pal Lisa, put a ton of thought into everything she sent. I love it all.
There are two skeins of handpainted sock yarn and it's so soft, a pair of patterns that I can't wait to knit, fibre to spin some sock yarn ( that is just too cool, can't believe she though of it), some very yummy chocolate that didn't melt even though it had to go coast to coast in the August heat, grapefruit hand lotion and.... really beautiful sewn cases, one for accessories (it came with needles, crochet hook, emery board, needle holders, and darners!) and the other for the socks in progress.
Thanks for everything Lisa! The rest of you can go be jealous now.


I think I should get a prize for worst run-on sentence ever.

Mofo

It's been a good week for getting stuff done around here. Yesterday the monkey and I went at the workshop and managed to clear a bunch of floor. We got rid of things, stored things away and just generally made great progress. I'm hoping he'll get a little bit more done while I'm away. I can actually see and get to most of my larger equiptment in the shop. This is major. I grin like an idiot every time I think about it.
With the Vogue program done for the time being, I knit a sweater that I really wanted to. I'm not thrilled with the finished product. It's too short and too wide, but the construction was interesting and now I know how to make it in a a way that I would wear it, so it's not a total loss.


I also did a sample for my friend's shop. Cute cotton little kid's sweater. Hope she likes it. Aurora may wind up getting one of these too. Since the sizes start at one year, I've got some time. I started Bee's Knees Ruby for her in what we're calling Kermit green and hope to get it done while I'm away. These spinning courses are pretty exhausting though, so I may not get much else done.


Had a great time with Holly last weekend. We went to the button store, Daiso (the Japanese $2 store), yarn stores and almost made it out to the marker in the middle of the bay. Poor Holly, seems every time we get together, she gets dragged on some long walk ( also known as enforced death marches). If you see her, ask her about The Great Bowen Chocolate March of Doom. Anyhow, much great food was consumed and the time just flew by. She even got a tour of the Stash's new home. She assured me it wasn't that bad and I could still buy more yarn.
And "hi" to my KSKS pal. I'm away till next Saturday, but the monkey will let me know if the kit comes in the meantime (I still can't wait). And I'll email and blog about it when I get back. I'm sure it will come now that I'm going to be out of town!

The Stash

Okay kids, here it is the walk-in Stash closet. There are five single wides and one double. They measure something like 23" deep, 21" wide and 90" tall. I can get 11 lidded, stackable boxes in each cupboard. Three of the singles have just the boxes (that slide out on runners like drawers, how cool is that) and one is just shelves, while the last one is a combo of both. The double has 9 boxes and two shelves. It looks like this:


It's got nothing but fibre in it.
I've managed to get the Stash almost completely put away and semi-organized. Now I just have to deal with this:


So that I can get back to making guitars and start making spindles and such. Believe it or not, this was way worse before I got the Stash put away. And yes, I have a wood Stash too, wanna make something of it?


But look! I got the insane cardy done. And it fits!
Year two of the Nihon Vogue is done and I completed my required stuff. Whew.
Looks like there will be years two and three offered, but not till next year. So I've got a bit of time to work through some of the Stash. Think I'll start knitting and spinning some of the bigger stuff first...

New niece pic

Aurora Rose arrived early Thursday morning. Here she is with my brother Thayne, the proud dad. Mom and babe are both doing really well and are back home now. I have to hurry up and get the rest of those little sweaters knit!

Scotch and chocolate

Isn't that always the way things go? I had tried about four times to get Blogger to upload my pics and it wouldn't do it. I post the lists and suddenly, the pics upload just fine. Oh well, guess there's worse things than two posts in one day.


These are the goodies my secret pal sent me. It's hard to tell, but the Silky Wool is a deep purple and I'm trying to decide if I'm going to get more and do a sweater or make the gloves and hat from the Silky Wool book. Probably should do the later as the Stash is of epic proportions and doesn't need increasing. The little gold box had some yummy chocolates in it that went well with the Bowmore I was slugging out of the bottle as I organized the Stash. There's some great notions and a book from my Amazon list in there too. My pal put a lot of thought into this box and I love everything she sent. Thank you secret pal!


This is some of the Stash. This scene sent me into the house for premium scotch and chocolate. It was that or just lie face down on the lawn and ponder what was wrong with me. I thought scotch would be better as the lawn is really dried out and prickly right now. Most of this fit into the cabinets, but I still need one more for the little that remains. The monkey was surprisingly calm about the whole thing. Smiled sweetly when I suggested that I was insane and nodded a little when I said I should never again be allowed to buy wool. He never even asked for a drink! Just went back into what is now the giant, walk-in, wool closet and continued assembling the cabinets. His "get out of jail free" credit is very good right now.
There will be a full (and frightening) tour of the giant, walk-in, wool closet as soon as all cabinets are in place.


I did manage to get a couple of things done this week. The Point o' the Wave stole is finally finished. The color is actually much deeper than this pic shows. More of a deep plum. The insane cardy is also finished and just waiting for buttons. Since Holly will likely want to go to the button store downtown, figured I'd wait and see what they've got rather than start beading buttons. The cardy needs 10 buttons, so I'd rather buy some than make them.
I'm almost caught up again on the Mystery stole. Still have to do two weeks of pattern on one side, but the other side is almost there. Only two more clues and we'll have the whole pattern.

SP8 bonus questions and Holly's Meme

Blogger has finally decided that it's my turn to not be allowed to upload pics, so I give you silly lists instead. The first one is for the Secret Pal exchange and the other is a meme that Holly tagged me with. BTW, Holly is evil and so are memes, but you already knew that.
Evil Holly is coming to visit on Friday. I plan to put her to work sorting stuff in the workshop. I might let her play in the Stash, if she behaves herself.
The Stash is mostly put away in it's new home. I need one more cabinet to fit the rest in. I took a pic of it on the back lawn. It gave me a pretty nice panic attack seeing it all laid out like that. Scotch was involved. Very scary. When I can post the photos I will.
My secret pal sent me another really nice care package and there's a pic of that waiting as well.
On to the lists:

1) What is your favorite season of the year?
Summer
 
2) Where is your favorite vacation spot?
Anywhere screaming hot
 
3) If you could visit any place in the world, where would it be?
It's a long list, I can't decide. See 2.
 
4) If you were a specific kind of yarn, which brand and kind of yarn would you be?
Huh?
 
5) If you won a shopping spree to your favorite yarn store, what would you get?
When I post the Stash pics, you'll see why no one should ever allow me to do this.

The 5 thing meme:

5 Things always in my purse:
cell phone
wallet
green cards for spinning wheels
breath mints of some sort
lip balm

5 Things always in my wallet:
cash
bank card
cheques
driver's license
frequent reader card for Black Bond

5 Things always in my refrigerator:
mineral water
some sort of veg trying to make soup of itself
homemade jam
salsa
fresh ginger

5 Things always in my closet:
something I'm too bloated to wear
more sweaters than I can wear in one lifetime
shoes
a skirt that will only be worn once 'cause I don't wear skirts
a leather coat

5 Things always in my car:
cds
window scraper
phone charger
tire gauge
umbrella

5 Things always on my desk:
pens
yarn (if you have to ask, you don't know me)
post its
calender
drop spindles (again, if you have to ask...)

5 People to tag:
I'm not going to tag anyone, but feel free to just do this if you want. Hah!

Trekking on the beach

I just finished my third pair of Trekalong socks. I'm completely hooked on the Trekking ombres. I've even managed to get past the fact that it doesn't seem to repeat, so my socks will never be matched. The OC in me hates this, but the yarn is so nice to wear and knit, I'm letting it go. The next pair is already cast on, but I don't like the pattern, so it'll likely come out and be made into something more cabley. Seem to be in cabled, lace sock mode.


The beach has been amazing lately. Incredibly low tides, beautiful, hot, sunny weather and a ton of wildlife that doen't seem to care that there are humans around. We got nice and close to this bald eagle. He buzzed our heads as he came in for a landing.


We found a live sanddollar! I've never seen one before. We find a few dead ones when the tide is low, but never live ones. This guy was on his back, legs wiggling, so we put him right side up in the water. He looked like bumpy purple velvet on top. Couldn't get a good pic of that.


And that is the Canada/ US border marker in the middle of the bay. The middle of the bay! The tide was out past it. We could've just walked across the bay into the US. We didn't have enough time, but Roz's dog, Kelpie challenged authority as she ran unchecked into another counry and back.

Almost FO

Isn't it lovely? Doesn't it just inspire you to go knit?
Yup, that's the heap of finished pieces for the insane cardy.
Yup, it looks like a pile of cat yak.
I don't blame you. If I saw that, I wouldn't want to knit it either.
Maybe this will help...


Okay, I know it still doesn't look like something anyone would want to knit. Ends everywhere and obviously stupid amounts of grafting. And the sleeve seam is off centre. Who the hell thought that was a good idea?!
But...


It has potential doesn't it?


Teaser.
We ordered storage for the Stash yesterday and it will arrive tomorrow.

Spinach Pie porn

This is one of my favorite quicky recipes. I've never met anyone who won't eat it. Even kids. Don't tell them it's spinach, tell them it's pureed kryptonite. They'll eat it. And with the weather so hot right now, it's nice to have something around that's as good cold as leftovers as it is hot. So, here it is:
Spinach Pie
1/4 cup onion (I use less and shallots instead)
1 clove garlic
oil
1 package thawed, chopped spinach with the excess water squeezed out
1/2 cup cooked rice ( just stick some of the leftovers when you make rice into a baggie and then into the freezer and you have it when you want to make this)
1 1/2 cup cheese ( I use old cheddar)
2 lightly beaten eggs
2 tbsp milk
salt and pepper
3 tbsp parmesan
1 package cresent dough (the new whole wheat stuff is really good in this)
1. Saute onion and garlic in oil.
2.Mix together all ingredients except dough.
3. Place some mixture into each cresent and fold corners in.
4. Place around a 9" pie plate and bake for 40 min. at 350.

Sunny daze

Ever have one of those days where you just can't seem to focus, but it doesn't seem like a bad thing?
I feel like that today.
I was working on the Mystery stole (see pic below) even though I really need to work on the the insane cardy (see pic below pic below), and it just wasn't working for me. What to do? Nothing seems to be ready to be finished. The pile of WIP is massive and I. Can't. Focus.
So. I put on loud, heavy music and clean house. Come on, we all do it. Put on loud music, sing along over the sound of the vacuum cleaner and bop around. Curtains closed of course. Wouldn't want the neighbors calling the nice young men with their clean white coats. Very cathartic. Feel better and now the dishes, laundry, dusting and vacumming are done. Bonus points for me!


This is the aforementioned Mystery Stole. I'm almost caught up, but with a clue a week and piles of other crap to do it's a bit of a struggle. It's kinda cool though. The big medalliony thing in the centre is neat and it's different from other lace knitting I've done. The fact that's it's not a repeating pattern and therefore needs to be knit with pattern right at hand does make me mildy batshit, but I'm dealing.


Yeah.
This is the insane cardy. Progress has been made and hopefully later this week I'll have a "which part of the sweater is it", guessing game. It won't be easy. Hell, I'll be lucky if I can get it right.


On the positive side, I have the nicest and most talented friends. People who make me laugh till I need clean undies, and are amazingly generous with their love and their time. Don't worry, you won't need fillings if you continue reading.
Roz made this for the impending niece. How great is that? Very freaking cute.
And hey, the new addition's name is Aurora Rose. Should be here in about a month. I'll try and get a pic of the bloat she's causing her mom next week.


In case the loud, heavy music mentioned above didn't tip you off, I'm not exactly a "granny" knitter. This is my baby and the monkey and I waxed her this past weekend. Shiny! Nothing says summer like a convertible.
And see what I mean about talented? My brother did the side splash of spideys.
Well, think I'll go read in the sun for a while. The rest of the laundry can wait.
Hey! Almost forgot. My SP got her parcel. You can check out what I sent here, but keep it on the down-low, 'cause she still doesn't know who I am.
PS: I've added a couple more Nihon projects to the gallery. The Effing Oak Leaf Cardy (as it's lovingly referred to) is there now.

KSKS ready to go

I've finally got my sock kit pal's stuff ready to go.
There's the felted bag to cart around all the gear, a hemp wrist bag (that I just finished this morning) for sock knitting on the move, pattern, Fancy image hand-dyed yarn, some funky sheep markers, a chibi with the smaller set of darning needles, tape measure, bamboo needles and some edibles. Hope she likes it!


These are the colors I spent a whole day dyeing in Olds. The color wheel reds we did are pretty sucky and I'm going to redo them. The red is very orange and the separation of colors is almost nonexistant. Back to the dye pot for those.
The blue and purple runs are gradations that I have to use in either my final project or a small project. We only have to use eight colors, so I'll likely take the fourth one out of each run so the separation is more noticeable. I'm thinking of doing a pair of gloves with the blues and a hat with the purples. Neither colors fit into my final project.
The mauvey skeins above the color wheel were injection dyed as balls and then squeezed to blend the colors. Not as dark as I wanted and they may be done over as well.


I did buy a couple of Cotswold fleeces and some suri/silk roving in Olds, but the wood gadgets really outshine the wool. Most of this I bought from Mr Tabachek but there are few things from Forrester as well.
Here's the low-down: mahogany 1yd niddy, purpleheart sample niddy, bubunga noste, maple noste, purpleheart and maple darning egg (thing's huge, I could use it as a sap!), zebrawood diz, lacewood support bowl, bubinga diz, redheart and maple compact deluxe, bubblegum laminate compact deluxe.
I'm pretty pleased with the haul and I hope Mr Tabachek recovered nicely from the scare.