Rainbow and mail call







This picture is the result of lots of rain, wind and gloom on Monday and this was the end result on Tuesday when it finally decided to be nice. It was the most pretty thing I have seen so far this Spring. Yes, it is Spring and this weekend we are going to get another snow storm. I guess that Queen Spring forgot to tell King Winter that he was FIRED. Well this is what we get for living in Iowa.


Ok That's the Rainbow so now to the Mail Call.


I placed an order with Carol at the Sheep Shed Studio in WY because she got this huge 600 pound bale of fiber from the Brown Sheep Company and then sells the fiber to all us crazed spinners in the world. I have heard many great things about this Big Bale sale before and I just had to see what all the hype was about so I place an order for 10 pounds of Big Bale Sale roving and 1 pound of nylon because I had heard that there was some superwash in there and then I could get out my Louet junior carder and make up some sock batts to spin for sock yarn. So it finally arived yesterday by my very pregnant mail lady and I went out to get it from her and she said,"what the heck do you have in these boxes, this is the 3rd one this month?" I explained that I spin and knit and she just didn't get it. Oh well, Soooooo you'r probably wanting to see what the heck was in the package. Ok, I suppose I'll so you but first I had to organize it by putting all the like colored rovings together.






Pictures.......... Are you ready?????














Are you Sure your ready???????


















OK, OK, I'll stop messing with you all here they are....














Sorry for the picture being upside down but well that's what I get for trying to take pictures with Trinity at my heels. This is the 1 pound of nylon and the little blue bag is the thank you roving and it is a beautiful blue superwash.


This is just a small pile of scraps that just don't fit into the other piles of roving so they will go into the scrap bag for later.



this is blue and red superwash pin drafted roving that is a tangled mess and will be carded into batts and I'll add some nylon to it and spin some sock yarn. It will take alot of work but it is very doable.




The rest of the pictures are excellent super soft wool roving that I have yet to test to see if it is superwash wool or not. there were two piles the one in the chair and the very last picture that had at least 2 pounds or more of roving. I think I will have to spin this and make myself a couple of sweaters for next winter. The others are smaller piles but most are 4 oz or more of fiber and it is all wonderfully soft. I look forward to getting to getting a chance to spin it up but first I have to finish my swap fiber that's on the wheel now and then I am going to spin some lace singles for a Knit a long that I'm going to do on the Spunky Eclectic Ravelry group and there is also Sock madness that will get me all distracted when round two starts.

SOCK MADNESS 3 round 1 socks and MAIL CALL

Sock Madness 3 started on March 19th with round 1. I received my pattern at an unknown time in the morning but it waited till I got around to it at 8:30a.m. I was able to get both the cuff and legs done before I had to go to work on Friday and then did not touch them again until Sunday on the car ride to my SIL house for a birthday party. I finally managed to get them finished today. I personally would not have picked this particular pattern for myself but It is a well written pattern and had a very unique heel that I have never done before. I'm sure that I will attempt this tye of heel again someday on a sock that will be long enough to fit my foot so your probably wanting to see a picture of these socks Huh, well here they are cramed on my huge feet.




I decided to go with green in honor of St. Patricks day. I know wait for round 2 to begin which is sometime after the 2nd of April since everyone has a two week time frame to finish round 1.

OK, Time for MAIL CALL


I received lots in the mail on Friday right before I left for work and boy was it hard to leave it all behind. so let's see what I got.

first I received the Spring 2009 Spin Off Magazine and there is some really great articals in this one that I have yet to read.

Second is the Not Your Mothers slow Cooker Cookbook by Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufmann. I had heard about this cookbook on a Ravelry group and I just had to see what everyone was raving about. I have to admit...... I have not been able to make it through the breakfast section because I tend to read cookbooks like others read novels and all the recipes are looking and sounding like they will be very tasty.

third is my knit picks order. I got 2 pairs of size 1,2 and 3 needles in the 16" cable length for knitting socks. It never fails that I always want to start another pair of socks because I'm getting bored with the current one and don't have another set of needles. With these I know can make many differnt socks all the time. Can you tell I love to knit socks!!

(sorry for the sideway's pic)




OK, I saved the best for last. I also received my swap package from the Sheep Shed Studio's Ravelry groups swap. I am loving this package and can't wait to get some spools empty so that I can start spinning this up. So here is what I got

1. black/white roving dyed by Wendy
2. Angora goat fiber (super duper soft)
3. a bath bomb
4. 1 silver and gold thread
5. a tiny crochett hook that I personally use when knitting and adding beads
6. 3 oz glass beads
7. bag assorted spangles
8. peacock hot fix glitZ
9. Dove chocolate
10. a little baggie with tea
11. and last but not least a item that my children went crazy over......... a autographed poster by the Designers of the Phineas and Ferb cartoon that my kids love
to watch.

So here are the pictures of the package.
















Thank you so much Wendy I loved every bit of it.

MAIL CALL Loaded with pictures

I received 4 books in the mail yesterday and thought I better get them posted before I get to involved with spinning some sock yarn. So here we go

Book 1 is Cooking Light Slow Cooker cook book here are some pictures.












MMMM Tiny french beans with smoked sausage and Picadillo



I think that this will be a cookbook that gets used frequently.






Book 2 is Ready Set Serge I really need to read this one closely while sitting in front of my serger for it gives instruction in threading it which I really need considering my children pulled all the threads out:( Here are some pictures.






Now who need's a rice bag for those soar stiff muscles from to much knitting or spinning or soon to be gardening aches and pains







Book 3 100 Flowers to Knit & Crochet





OK so if you don't garden but want to have one why not knit yourself one!







Finally book 4 I saved the best for last


is Dozens of ways to repurpose a Pillowcase












Are these projects cute or what. Now I need to go raid the Goodwill stores in the area and see if I can find some pillowcases worthy of the projects. HEY, anyone have some they want to unload??? I'll be happy to take them off your hands for you.

The socks that took me FOREVER to finish and Mail call

This is the sock that took me forever to finish. Why you say! Well, I got side tracked by spinning, Ravelry and well it was boring to knit. Now I know why I don't like to knit plain old stockinette socks..... Boring. But I like them and did learn alot from this pair of socks but first let me tell you about the pattern and sock yarn.

Pattern: Fingering Weight toe up socks with gusset and slip stich heel by Wendy Johnson
Yarn: Whimzy Pinzy Creations 100% merino superwash wool sock yarn in colorway Chocolate & Love.

Ok so what I learned other than the fact that it's a boring knit.
1. I need to add more increases into the upper part of the leg before the cuff it I want them to not cut the circulation off to my feet.
2. I hate the way the heel and heel flap is constructed. This is just my own personal opinion.
3. I do like toe up sock. What a great way to try them on and make sure they fit before being commited to 3/4 of the sock.
4. I will not do a 1x1 twisted rib again if it is at all possible that the sock will be tight. I do believe if I had done a stardard 1x1 rib or even a 2x2 rib that the cuff would not have been as tight. Not to mention that crazy me thought that I would want to go to a size 0 needle for the cuff. The rest of the sock was done on a size 1 addi turbo's.
5. I love them anyway because I do not mind the fact that I slouch them down on my leg as I don't want to cut all blood flow to the feet off. That would make fore even more intersting conversation at work.

Ok enough about the socks on to MAIL CALL

So Mail Call is basically me sharing what fibery/yarny goodness that has come to me via the USPS/UPS/FEDEX carriers that dare try to come near my door. ( For the German short hair named Daisy owns the front steps and they all know it)

Ok so here's the pictures .....








the first picture is of 3 4oz braids of Panda in colorway forcast and tahiti. the last picture is some sock batts each about 1 oz in superwash BFL heathered in colorway mermaid.

these are all from Spunky Eclectics March update. I love her dyeing and all her fibes and I will be getting more from her.

So the next Mail Call will have either Souther Cross Fibre or Spunky Eclectic club shipments or my books will be here. So keep checking you'll never know what I get in the mail.

SOCK MADNESS 3

I did a crazy thing (which really is not all that crazy for me) I joined the Sock madness 3 competition this year. You know how I like socks! Ok so I thought that I would share what yarns I have picked from my stash to use for each round I gave myself two options for each round so here they are.

ROUND 1
A. Wollmeise in Veilchen
B. Superwash 100% spanish merino wool from Tricot Treat on etsy in colorway Grasshopper



ROUND 2
A. Koigu KPPPM in color P538-19
B. Koigu KPM



ROUND 3
A. 100% superwash merino in Green tea by See Jane Knit
100% superwash merino in Green tea como also by See Jane Knit(etsy)
B Koigu KPM 2236-77 with Koigu KPPPM p623L-380



ROUND 4 ( only one option)
Knit picks Essential solids in Dusk and Cocoa



ROUND 5
A. Colinette Jitterbug in colorway Sauguin
B. 100% merino from handgefaerbt.com color way I think is Dark topaz dragon



ROUND 6
A. Claudia hand panted yarns in colorway Hawaii
B. Claudia hand painted yarns in colorway (Unknown lost the tag, I'll have to do some searching)



ROUND 7 ( only one option)
Knit picks Felici in colorway Arugula with knit picks Essential solid in Grass



ROUND 8
A. Lorna's Laces Shephard sock colorway seaside
B. Lorna's Laces Shephard sock colorway Vera




So there you have it all my choices do these look like good options or should I make any changes. Please let me know. Thanks a million.

It's been a while so here is what I've been up to......

Alright I have to get better at posting what I'm working on and doing more oftem because this is going to be one heck of a long picture heavy post put I promise it will be full of goodies for all of you. It will mostly be spinning related because that has been my obsession since the beginning of the year so here we go in no particular order just lots of goodies.


this is an order that I got from www.thesheepshedstudio.com I love Carol and all the goodies that she gets from the Brown sheep company. I got 5 pounds of sock roving that is superwash wool and nylon. I can't wait to start dyeing that. I haven't decided if I want to spin first or dye it first. I also go 3 pounds of brown and 3 pounds of dye soppers that I will use in my Louet Junior hand carder to make some yummy batts. Oh and the Black cat that is Shadow our rescued kitty that came to live with us just before Holloween.



This is a picture (not a very good one) of my first shipment of club fiber from David of Souther cross fibre (formerly Come in Spinner) in Australia. David can be found on Etsy. I can't wait to start spinning this but I have to finish up this first.......





this is my February club shippment from Amy King of Spunky Eclectic I have about 7oz of the 12 completed in a 3ply and am working on the rest of it. I love Amy's fiber club she is such an awsome dyer that she has inspired me along with Carol of The Sheep Shed studio's to dye some of my own fiber. So here are those pictures.......










that's alot of dyeing of fiber. Most of the fiber was from The sheep shed studio. The little cloud like fibers are some white alpaca that I had a raw fleece from and they are ohhhhhhh so soft. The yarn in the last picture is some mohair that I had purchased from Sarah's yarns in a large cone. I have more of the cream and I'll most likely dye the rest of it at some point. I had alot of fun dying all of that fiber and will be doing more in the future. Ok on to the next thing....





Ok of the three pictures above the first one is some Gecko colorway that I spun up in 2ply lace wt yarn. The fiber came from Come in spinner on etsy. ( now is Southern Cross fibre). The middle pic is the coveted Coripaca from Spunky eclectic in colorway thunderstorm; there is 12oz of that all spun up and super dooper soft. the last picture is the January fiber club shipment from Spunky eclectic also the colorway is Twilight adn it is an organic merino and is so delicious that words can not describe it you just have to feel it..... YUMMMMMMMYYYYYYY :)



this picture is of some Superwash merino/bambo fiber from Merlin the cat yarn on etsy. I do have this all spun up and plyed I just don't have another picture of it. I did it as a 3ply and it is wonderful yarn and I will be using it for socks.

Ok I think that is enough of the pictures for now. As for what i will be working on this week is finishing the Feb. fiber from Spunky fiber club and a toe up sock that I only have the leg and cuff to finish on the second sock. Then, I will be getting ready for Sock maddness 3 to start. It a contest that test's all your sock knitting skills and ability not to mention you ability to stay awak and knit till finished before anyone else with a unknown pattern that is emailed to you. This will be the first time of competing in this competition. I can't wait for March 19th.