Friday, December 24, 2010

The first warp & scarf!

Since I didn't have to go to work today I stayed up late last night. Here is what I was doing..... The new Harp warped for the very first time! I dug around in my stash & came up with this pretty purple elann.com Lara sport weight cotton yarn. I used the Lara to warp my loom with, please excuse me if I'm not using the correct weaving terminology, I'm new at this. he he. I used the direct to loom warping process with my warping peg. It was actually really easy. Kevin did help me when it came time to wind the warp up on the back, he held it tight while I wound. I think I had it ready to go in an hour, I think that's pretty good for the first time. I have an 8" warp, I'm dong a scarf.

 I searched through my stash, I had intentions of using some store bought yarn for my first project. I just couldn't find anything that I wanted to use. I kept going back to my handspun. And I wasn't certain how much yarn I was gonna need for the weft (I think that's what you call it), so I picked out a skein that I had plenty of, this one was over 300 yards. This is some pretty yarn that I spun from one of Beth's (Blue Mountain Handcrafts) batts. Kevin said that my weaving looked a little wonky or uneven, but it's really not, it's the handspun yarn. Some of it's thick & some of it is thin. I think it looks really cool. 
I can see a difference in my weaving already. Where I am at now looks much better than the beginning. I've got to learn to not be afraid of the loom, LOL, I tend to be really "easy" with it. :)  But I'm having lots of fun!
Stay tuned for the finished scarf!

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!!
Be safe & have fun!

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Christmas came early!

I know it's been a while.... sigh. I just can't seem to get everything done that I want to get done this year. I keep running out of dang time. And it's not like I don't stay up till midnight or 1am every night trying either. Here's hoping that I will find all this missed time in 2011, I have big plans for this coming year! :)

In the meantime let me catch you up a little. Christmas has come early to my house!!

First up, I entered a contest on Nichole's blog & won! Woohoo! I received this awesome book from Storey Publishing Co., Sock Yarn One-Skein Wonders: 101 Patterns That Go Way Beyond Socks.

If I hadn't won this book in the contest I would certainly have purchased this one. It's a great book with tons of patterns in it that I will actually knit. Or want to knit, another time issue there, LOL.  Thanks Nichole & Storey Publishing!! I love this book & hopefully I'll have a knitted item from it to show everyone soon. I certainly have plenty of sock yarn in my stash just waiting to me made into something useful.

I also have a few newly spun yarns to show you too, I'll slip those in here before we continue with early Christmas....

More Starr Kitty yarn, made from batts of Starr kitty fur & merino blended on my Fancy Kitty drum carder. This yarn came out MUCH better than the hand blended I did last year. I am hoping to get this knit into a cowl for Beth (Starr's mom) for Christmas, I'm halfway there!


Here is some yarn that I spun from these gorgeous batts from Modern Spin.



Here is the BIG surpise!! Today my boss gave me an awesome bonus. The majority of my other bonuses this year went to pay bills. So this one I decided to spend on myself. :)  Levi is home on leave right now, let me tell you how nice it is to have him around the house for a few days! Even though his room looks like a trash dump once again. Well, while he was making a run back to the base to get more "stuff" (he is bringing all of his things home now before he deploys in January), he stopped by The Tail Spinner & picked up my new Kromski Harp 24" rigid heddle loom!


Isn't she a beauty?!  I can't wait to get some yarn on her. I couldn't tonight, I had 3 chocolate pies to get started. Dang pies, LOL. Maybe tomorrow night I'll get her warped up & ready to go. Keep in mind that I know absolutely nothing about looms or weaving. I've just been reading online about it. We will see what happens.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas & New Year!!!!
Just in case I run out of time & don't get to post again. :)

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Secret Holiday Exchange

I just had to show off my Secret Holiday Exchange package! It was waiting on my porch for me when I got home today. :)  Amy, Bohemia Fibers, put together this fun exchange for the holidays, thanks Amy!!
Darice (DariceMoore on Ravelry) sent me this wonderful package of goodies!! It even had cute little drawings on the package, he he.  There were some prettily wrapped packages inside but I fell earlier & broke something on my camera so those photos didn't turn out. pout.


Darice knit me that gorgeous purple beret, the pattern is Meret by Wooly Wormhead. Totally cute on but you'll have to wait until my hair looks decent before I get a photo of me wearing it. :)  Also included in the package: gummy bears & chocolate (YUM), really cute little bag, pretty & sparkly stitch markers, a large pink jingle bell on a cord, some absolutely silly Santa Flamingo tea candles (seriously! check those funny guys out), a gorgeous purple batt, and some sparkle batts from Modern Spin

Here is a closeup of the pretty beret.


And the pretty batts...


Thank you so much Darice!! I love everything!