Handspun Friday - Jewelled Sea

This fiber was Southern Cross Fiber club November 2012, Falkland, 110gr, colorway "Jewelled Sea". This is a color combination I like a lot.



Hard to believe it became this yarn:



To make it even more fun I decided to add a little splash of red. LOVE it!
I can hardly wait to see how this will knit up. I have ~ 426yds, 2-ply yarn of it.



♥

Great mail day!

Today my Southern Cross Fiber club arrived, along with my FatCatKnits Studio Fund Donation swag. Oh wow! It feels like Christmas!

Here's the fiber: Corriedale, 110gr each

Sweet Wine


Distant Thunder



Both are so pretty! I haven't spun Corriedale in a long time. I'm looking forward to it.

And here's more wonderful stuff. I've got 16oz "The Sky is the limit" studio colorway on Falkland. Tote bags, a mug, cards, a batt pack. Oh my!



I need more hands! So much I want to do, not enough time! ♥

Long Day

We just were outside for the last time today before we call it a night, and it's snowing heavily. This looks so much better in real life. My poor little camera couldn't cut it. I love how you can see the heavy snow fall in the flash light.

The morning after a snow storm

Last night we had a snow storm. Since I didn't have to be out and about, I was looking forward to more snow when I woke up. It wasn't all that much, but it's sticking to every surface possible. It's the best snowball snow EVER!
At 8AM this morning, we were outside enjoying ourselves.







Hehe, that's Maggie's tail making it into the picture - just.









They say there is more of this on the way. :o)

♥

Voodoo you love me?

What can you do when you don't have a lot of yardage when counting your handspun yarn?

Make a toy! They don't usually need a lot of yardage, like this little guy.

pattern: Voodoo you love me? by Susan Claudino
yarn: SCF January Fiber Club Fuego, M-plied, 112yds (had a few yards left over), chunky yarn
needles: 3.75mm (only because it's a toy, that had to be stuffed, otherwise this yarn would need 5mm needles, when used for a hat etc.)





This guy wears an ear ring, which has "Happiness" stamped on it. And he wears a leather necklace with a paw print. Fancy, fancy! ;o)

He`s my Voodoo monster, guarding my yarn!

Fun!

No need to say more. Have a wonderful day!

Handspun Friday - Vista

The second colorway of SCF January fiber club was VISTA. I spun and plied it the same as FUEGO, and I love it.

Here's the fiber: Vista sw BFL, 110gr



M-plied: 2ply/chain plied, 113yds.





Here they are together: Fuego and Vista



Have I told you lately, how much fun spinning is?

Have a wonderful weekend!

♥ ♥ ♥

Pickled eggs and Birthday socks!

Last week was my mom's birthday. I made her a pair of socks. I really like girly colors, especially pink, but I don't wear those colors, I don't know why.







The yarn is Wandering Cat Yarns Barn Cat. The colorway is "Rose Garden". It's self striping, and I think Rhonda did a wonderful job in dyeing them. Look how nice they matched up!

I've also had success with my beet pickled eggs. They taste good, and look great.



I was a little scared cutting into them at first. But look - so pretty!



I did the simplest recipe, only vinegar and the hot water of the beets I boiled, including the beets. I was going for color in this one. But, next time I'll try this again, I'll at least add salt, and maybe other spices. Even with salt sprinkled on, the tasted bland. One thing's for sure though, I'll try this again.

Handspun Friday - Fuego

I've finished this yarn recently, made with Southern Cross Fibers Fiber Club January 2013 fiber - Fuego. It inspired a spinalong over on Ravelry in the SCF group. It's called Extreme Plying: The SAL, and you can use SCF fiber, Hello Yarn fiber, and Spunky Eclectic fiber to join the fun! There will be prizes as well! Entries must be 4-ply and up.

Here's the fiber: sw BFL, 110gr - Fuego





David of SCF called it "m-ply", and of course I like it. What I did is, I made a 2-ply and chain plied that too boot. I love how the colors blend well together. I'm already working on the second colorway Vista, to do the same with it, hoping it will turn out as great as this one. There's only 112yds of it, all that plying eats up the yardage, but I don't really care that much. Maybe if Vista turns out compatible with Fuego, I will use them both for a hat.

O.K. off to spin some more to get an entry ready for the SAL.

♥ ♥ ♥

Pickled Beets & Eggs

I saw this at  Cavewomancafe blog online, and had to give it a try. This is day one of soaking and pickling for the eggs and beets.



I like pickled eggs, but don't like to buy them. I have never made them myself. I can't wait to taste them and see if they really get all purply!

sock blank socks # 1

I'm not sure I've shown you these socks. I've put them on Ravelry ages ago. A long time ago I bought five sock blanks, but never got around to dyeing them. Then I sent them to Ginny of FatCatKnits and asked her to do it for me. Those are not colorways she has in her program, just something she did before she carried sock blanks in her shop. Slowly I've been knitting them up, one by one into fun pairs of sock. Only one more to go. But for today here's pair # 1.

The sock blank:


That's how the sock blank looked wound into a cake:


And the socks. I really love how they turned out. My sock blanks were single strand, so I think Ginny did a great job in dyeing the blank to get fairly matching socks.







And I wanted to show you a reason why Denny loves snow. He's a big digger, and hides things all the time. Snow is just so easy to bury things in, but he has no trouble using mud, dirt, leaves, blankets, anything he can nudge around with his nose, to bury toys, bones, or other things he holds dear. The videos are only a few seconds long.

Here he's doing a half assed job in burying a bone, he was distracted by our neighbor shoveling snow of the porch, so he was in a hurry.





Once I wanted to see what he would do, when I buried a bone in front of him. I dug a little hole with my shoe in the snow, and pushed a bone into it, then put some snow on it, and stepped on it, so you could not see the  bone anymore. He watched closely, when I was done, he went there, sniffed around, looked at me, and went on his way, tail high. I must have done a good job, or he would have dug it out again, and hid it somewhere else.  Hehe.

 

Here he's hiding a pin. I had already put away my camera, when I saw him hiding the pin. He was halfway done by the time I got it out, and turned on. He was more careful with it, then with the bone. After he was finished he checked if the neighbor saw him doing it. But I think he thought no one saw him, because he didn't go back to get it, to bury it somewhere else, which he does, if he catches me watching him, or anybody else for that matter.