Hand dyed sock yarn

I miss dyeing yarn. There's something to be said for playing with color, and seeing how things turn out.   So here's a few of my experiments:

Autumn.  I like the mixture of autumnal colors, with the bit of slate blue.  I haven't had a chance to knit anything up with this one, but should be pretty.

First Light.  Bright turquoise really stands out against the lavender, steel blue and chestnut.

Peppermint. Mostly red, with patches of creamy natural white.

Seascape. Pretty oceanic colorway.

Christmas baking is on

I made these pumpkin spice cookies with a light orange icing today. I didn't make enough icing though. They're pretty good, even if they do look like they were decorated by the 2 year old. (They weren't. That's all me, baby.)

Craft fair aftermath

Today is for cleaning up and reorganizing after the craft fair this weekend. Then I need to work on finishing my Christmas presents.

My First Canned Applesauce

A few weeks ago, we went apple picking. At the entrance, you buy a bag, in your choice of the sizes. My companions asked what size we should get, and I said, "medium," figuring that would give us enough to make a pie or two,  maybe a little applesauce and eat a few.

I was distracted by something for a moment and when I turned around,  we had purchased 2 medium bags.

Here we are, three weeks later, with most of a bag of apples nearing the end of their natural lifespan. So I made my first ever attempt at canning, and have 3 jars of sauce cooling on the counter. Yum!

Consistency is a curse

Note to self: re-learn how to spin worsted weight yarn. Feel like I will never finish plying.

Can we fix it?

I've started cross stitching again, and what better way to return to the craft than by charting and stitching a snarky sampler for a friend? Weirdly, tiny hammers were easier to find than tiny liquor bottles, so I had to make do with martini stickers, but I'm pleased with the overall look.

Organizing my space

Now I have room for dyeing and the drum carder has a home. Already working on overdyeing some less than exciting yarns and fibers. Feeling productive this morning.

Spinning BFL / mulberry silk

Some more singles that I finished recently.   This fiber was hand-dyed by me and is probably one of my favorite blends to spin. It's so soft and shiny.

Spinning

I was very productive yesterday.  Spun singles from 8 ounces of fiber in two colors.

First up is targhee in the Blackberry colorway from Abstract Fibers

Next is some BFL in the Twilight colorway, also from Abstract Fibers. 

Companions x- stitch

Working on this little cross stitch piece. All done except for the back stitching. Gah! Back stitching is such a pain.

Handspun yarn

Did a little spinning this week. The green one is cormo with some BFL corespun randomly through it. A bit of an experiment for me, which mostly worked.  The other is merino, cashmere and mulberry silk in the Cathedral colorway from Frabjous Fibers. Yum!

Color Affection

So, summer has barely begun, but I am looking forward to the fall, so I can wear my Color Affection Shawl.
I knit this in Lotus Forest Dew, an angora, merino, tencel and cashmere blend yarn, which was so wonderful to knit, and I did something that fell between the laceweight and fingering weight version to get the size I wanted.
I definitely understand why people are in love with this pattern, it is both simple and beautiful and has a ton of possibilities.  I may even knit another one.

Mindless knitting

Finished my color affection shawl, which is blocking right now and in the meantime an working in a nice and simple striped scarf. I love these colors!

Cabled baby vests

Knitting baby things is so much fun.
Here are a few new items. The first one is definitely inspired by Gryffindor colors.