Not a handspun Friday

I know it's supposed to be handspun Friday, but nothing is written in stone!

I just had fun watching Chinese crackers unfold in hot oil! (Yeah, I know, I'm easily entertained.)

My son brought home a box of these crackers, which look like colored glass before you throw them into hot oil.  He got them from friends, and I'm grateful for this new experience.

So here's a before picture:



And here's the after picture:



I will try one for sure! :o)

By the way, if you celebrate Easter, or even if you don't, I wish you all a wonderful weekend!

♥

It's THAT time again ....

Yesterday was lovely, sunny, cool, and I was able to sit out on the deck, having some coffee, watching the dogs play in the backyard. They kept running up the stairs to check on me too, quite enjoyable. But then it was time to call them inside. It took me a while to get them cleaned up. No pictures of dirty dogs, but look...

they were running through this



and I thought this looked interesting, the layer of snow turned into ice, that broke, and the melting water found its own way off the property.



Here are some videos of the dogs a few days earlier, when it was still cold, and not as muddy.

Happy finds happiness in a bucket of water, even though there was ice floating in it.







And right now, it rains. :o(

Misae shawl

Alexandra released her newest shawl design today. I was lucky enough to test knit it for her. It was such a fun knit, never boring, because of the color changes, and also the stitch pattern changes. It's well written. The only thing I find hard, when knitting Alexandra's patterns is coming up with a color combo, and not copying her. I LOVE her color choices, and hardly ever can one improve on that. She must like the same colors as I do. :o)



So, here's Misae! I know, I know, my color choice seems to remind a bit of Christmas, but I really love the colors together, so there, I don't care. Besides, I have enough shawls to wear throughout the year, so I can wear this around Christmas time, if I want to. ;o) I came up with several color combos for this shawl, but this one won, because just looking at it relaxed me, and made me smile.



Argh, there are so many white dog hairs on it. I was blocking it in the dining room, and many inquiring doggy noses came by to see if I did a good job, and they were shedding all over it. Sigh.











pattern: Misae by Alexandra Wiedmayer

yarn: Patons Kroy socks (black), Spritely Goods Naiad - Absinthe (green), The Copper Corgi Fiber Studio - Bloody 'hell (red)

size: 92" x 24" or 233cm x 60cm

♥ ♥ ♥

Handspun Friday - FCK Early American

I can't believe it, but it snowed all day yesterday, with a few sunny breaks. We spent a lot of time outside. At the same time it was warm and the snow was melting throughout the day at almost the same rate it came down. This morning though there were flurries again, with the sun coming out at the same time.

That's Happy's ears you see in the picture.



He's squinting a little here. Denny had to stay inside, because he was barking mad, I mean barking like a mad dog, when he saw the camera in my hands, and it was too early for that ruckus. Maggie's still sleeping.




Now about todays handspun yarn.



It's FatCatKnits Fiber Club, October 2011, 5oz Polwarth, colorway "Early American". I made it into 2-ply yarn, 488yds.



 

I'm still spinning away for the Extreme Plying SAL for Southern Cross Fiber, but one of my fingers shows some signs of wear and tear, mostly it's slized open where the freshly spun fiber runs over it, before the wheel pulls it onto the bobbin. Which means I have to take longer breaks to let it heal. Oh well, there's always knitting, right?

Have a wonderful weekend!

♥

Probably the last days of winter fun!

These last few days have been cold. We've still got some snow, but not much, and we try to get the most of it. Here are probably the last photos of this Winter featuring mostly Maggie, our Energizer doggy.

Throw the ball, pretty please!



Wont you throw the ball for me?



Really, I NEED you to throw the ball!



Here's the ball ...


Look, I mean THIS ball!



Throw the freaking BALL!



Now, was that so hard?



Thank God, Happy is not as demanding, and he can entertain himself quite nicely.





Meanwhile Denny is off somewhere eating bunny poop. Sorry, no photographic evidence of that. It's too gross how much he enjoys that.

Afterwards, Maggie enjoys the warmth of the heater. She can't get close enough.



♥♥♥

Handspun Friday - Geothermal

Another spin for the Extreme Plying SAL in the Southern Cross Fiber group on Ravelry. I've dedicated  my full spinning time to this right now, even though many wonderful fiber braids are beckoning to me, but I want to get a few more extreme plied yarns done.

Geothermal a SCF fiber club of  September 2010! The fiber is Corriedale, 4oz.



I thought this colorway would be great for another M-ply yarn (2-ply/chain plied).

Fresh off the Niddy Noddy.



I've got 169yds of it. After a relaxing bath it looked quite good.





♥ ♥ ♥

Maggie spread thin on the sofa

Maggie totally relaxed, melting into the sofa. I had to be very, very quiet, because usually, they hear me move and jump up right away, thinking we are about to do something fun. That shows just how deep her sleep was at that moment. I had to take the picture from all the way across the basement, so it's a little grainy. You get the idea though...

FatCatKnits sock blank socks

If I remember correctly I've shown you sock blank socks # 1 already. I had five of them, and today I will just sum it up. I enjoyed knitting them all. My sock blanks were single thread, not like most, which or double stranded, so that the socks will turn out exactly the same. Mine are similar, and I think Ginny did a great job dyeing them. Here we go:

sock blank socks # 2:





sock blank socks # 3





sock blank socks # 4







sock blank socks # 5







# 5 is my least favorite, but the yarn (Merino) is wonderful. I wash them in the washing machine, and even put them in the dryer sometimes. I love wearing them. I gave a pair away as a gift too. It was fun, and now I'm back to knitting regular socks with wonderful sock yarn from my stash. So much to choose from ....

♥ ♥ ♥

Handspun Friday - SAL yarn-Sweet Wine

For the Extreme Plying SAL at Southern Cross Fiber group on Ravelry (which runs until the end of April) I made this yarn.
First the fiber: Sweet Wine, Corriedale, 3.9oz



I devided Sweet Wine into halfs, and added 2oz Polwarth from SCF FAll/Winter 2012/2013 semi solids pack in pink.



I spun and chain plied each bump.



And then I 3-plied them together.







I've got 130yds of it. Then I had some left over of Sweet Wine, and the pink one. I chain plied it again and got 5yds of the green one, and 8yds of the pink one.



I really like how the double chain plied yarn looks. The green one reminds me of Pesto. Yum!

Last night it snowed again, but at the same time it's warm and thawing. I'm off to go outside with the pups to enjoy the snow as long as it lasts.

♥ ♥ ♥

Just because ...

I was just sorting through my photos file, when I found these two.

Denny on a chair in my studio.



Happy on the sofa in the basement, and Maggie in front of Denny's crate.



I unearthed my cross country skies this winter, but realized, that without the appropriate shoes I could not use them. Maybe next year. I really wanted to do this, but ... time got away from me.

♥ ♥ ♥