Tag Archives: boh

rain encourages worms (wurm?)

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Apologies for my lame attempt at connecting this evening’s steady rainfall with my current handspun hat-in-progress, the oh-so-lovely wurm. This is the knitting that lives in my bag, which means I mostly pull it out before yoga, or when I have less than 15 minutes between obligations. (More than 15 minutes, and I’m probably reading.)

It was a long Monday, so I came home and put on my cozy green sweater and my super-ripped up jeans. I actually did the same thing when I got home today. Sigh.

Boh curled up on my toes while I finished a book for a discussion tomorrow, and then he settled into a deep snore-laden sleep. Sweet, sweet pooch.

FO: loch (and more spinning).

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Swoon. 506 yards of laceweight/light fingering in a stunning mohair/nylon/merino blend from the Hello Yarn Fiber Club, colorway Loch. I took A LOT of photos of this stuff, which are all on flickr, if you want more. See, I was feeling so pumped about how these singles turned out that I just had to get something else on my wheel.

I decided that I wanted to try navajo plying a whole skein of something. I mean, I practice navajo plying with my leftovers every so often, but I haven’t put the time in to really get comfortable with the technique. So I dug through my fiber stash, and pulled out Magic Chip, a lovely pastel colorway from the AVFKW Woolly Wonders Fiber Club in superwash bfl.

Here’s the bobbin in the afternoon sunshine.

And here’s Boh, resting in one of his cutest positions: legs out straight in an X.

And here they are together — Boh snored right through all of my navajo plying.

I wound this onto my niddy noddy, and marveled at how different navajo plyed yarns are before finishing — way more balanced, because the twist can’t travel the length of the yarn, only the length of the loops.

I showed it to Boh, and after giving it a good sniff, he decided to snuggle it, eyes closed. That’s my dog. Now it’s hanging to dry.

Next up? Well, tell me if I’m crazy, but I found these two skeins of super happy turquoise Cascade 220 while I was digging through my fiber stash, and I would love to have something like Shalom to wear as spring approaches. Some knitters have managed to eke out a short-sleeved cardigan in 450 yards or so, and I’m tempted to try it. Other thoughts on patterns? I’ve moved these skeins to the kitchen table to keep me company while I grade.

(lots) more of those singles.

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But first I have to share this photo I snapped of my lunch yesterday: leftover dumplings, new music (checking out the Broken Bells album), natural light. Yum! (And necessary sustenance for all of the spinning I have been doing this weekend.)

Finished singles, on the niddy noddy. No breaks in the winding process, which I was super happy about. I was aiming for a low-enough twist for these to be reasonably balanced after finishing. With trepidation, I took them off the niddy noddy.

And snapped another picture. So far so good — the singles are not too twisty! Into the bath they go.

Post bath, admiring the sheen of the mohair.

Boh lays claim to the towel used to squeeze out the excess water. (Can you blame him? It smells like wet woolliness.)

And now the singles are hanging to dry. It feels good to be spending so much time at my wheel!

spring singles.

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Inspired by a whole host of handspun citron shawls, as well as too many stunning skeins of handspun singles on ravelry to mention, I decided to work on some singles of my own. This fiber is a new-to-me blend: 83% mohair, 15% nylon, 2% merino from the Hello Yarn Fiber Club in the Loch colorway. I did a bit of reading in the forums, as well as in a few spinning books, to learn more about spinning mohair, and found that the long staple length makes this a great candidate for thin singles. First, I thought I’d need my very fast flyer. When I went to adjust the mother-of-all to a different height, I found that it was stuck — I think the humidity must have encouraged the finish on the mother-of-all to fuse to the wheel base. I decided that dental floss might help, and with my fingers crossed, I forced the floss between the mother-of-all and the wheel base — victory! Now my wheel is minty fresh. (Turns out, actually, that my regular flyer is what I want in order to have a bit more control and to spin lower twist singles, so I re-swapped my flyers.)

I did a bit more spinning this morning, and snapped some photos of the bobbin in natural light. I am in LOVE. (I realize I say that a lot, but it is true.)

I had a slice (or two) of this pie for breakfast, and Boh continued to lounge.

In order to be comfortable with the windows open this morning, I added a few more layers, including my simple things shawlette. Here is an official knits-in-action shot:

Hello, spring.

flowers + pie crust = spring break.

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And that was today. Windows open, music loud, pie in the oven. Boh spent the morning in a pocket of sunshine on the comforter, and I played in the kitchen and sat at my wheel. We are on spring break. (Which mostly means longer chunks of time to grade exams, read, write a conference paper — but also means we can justify things like longer, more leisurely walks, elaborate kitchen experiments, and having another beer — which is code for not working late into the evening.)

Happy weekend!

FO: patchwork (future legwarmers).

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Three skeins of worsted weight 2-ply — 150, 140, and 80 yards, respectively, for a grand total of 370 yards of Hello Yarn Fiber Club merino in the patchwork colorway. (Also known as future legwarmers. I can’t wait to cast on.)

I know it doesn’t look like it, but Boh is hard at work in this photo. Boh is breaking in a new, better-fitting slipcover for the couch — this small change makes me feel so much better about my space.

And this is warming in the oven. I have managed to make a peck’s worth of apple crisp in the last few weeks. Clearly, I am in the midst of a scientific experiment to test the following premise: apple crisp fixes everything. (I have not yet disproved my apple crisp theory.)

patchwork.

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It’s official. I’m spinning for legwarmers. I acquired a second bump of Hello Yarn merino in Patchwork expressly for this purpose, inspired by these. When Stacey made these out of her Patchwork last month, I knew it was a good idea. I wear my Cascade 220/Madil Kid Seta aqua legwarmers all the time, and with spring around the corner, I’m going to need at least one more pair to keep my ankles warm when I wear flip-flops…

Boh thought he heard something outside while I was spinning.

But then he decided it was no big deal.

This is maybe the 9th baby casserole pan full of apple crisp I’ve made in the last week. And I’m not sure I’m exaggerating. I took the recipe from last week’s apple crisp and essentially halved the apples and quartered the topping to make a less sweet, more apple-y crisp, and I’ve been making this in the evenings, eating a bit for dessert, and then warming up the rest for breakfast. I love it when apples are buy-1/2-a-peck, get 1/2-a-peck free at the orchard!

And here’s my simple things shawl, fresh off the blocking mats. I got a bit more width out of it, and the fabric is so nice and drapey. Win.

Okay, back to work. And apple crisp.

super boh?

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This is what my simple things shawl looked like on Tuesday morning.

And here it is today. I struggled with trying to get it to lay flat enough to take a good, representative photograph. And then I decided, why fight it? In this stage of the knitting, my simple things shawl might work better as a cape for Boh.

That’s more like it.

He’s a good sport — and good company. We spent most of the afternoon curled up on the couch reading and knitting. (Well, Boh mostly slept.) I’m hoping to finish this over the weekend!

A box o’ yarn arrived yesterday, along with a little bit of fiber. There was a great sale (50% off, though for a sad reason — after three years, they are going out of business) over at Sonny and Shear, and I decided to celebrate getting through the colloquium with some truly gorgeous yarn. This is Shalimar Zoe sock yarn in Saffron, Pagewood Farm Denali in Navajo, Hazel Knits Sock in Greenlake and Sailor’s Delight, and at the bottom, a skein of Madelinetosh Worsted in Malachite. (I also acquired a few bumps of Pigeonroof Studios merino.) I think I’ll be knitting socks and shawlettes for spring!

a mild case of startitis.

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(Sudden Saturday onset, as a result of sunshine and a 100 degree reading on the sick-and-tired-of-all-this-work temperature scale. I’m hoping it was only a 24-hour bug…)

Here’s the first bit of my wurm hat. I decided to cast on the medium (100 st), and I’m using a size 5 circular, instead of 4s for the hem and 6s for the rest of the hat — not for any good reason, but because I was able to locate a size 5 circ. I love the color transitions, and I think this is going to be a fantastic yarn match for this pattern. I’m a little concerned about my turned hem — about a third of it is really smooth and well-lined up, but there are places where it feels a little wonky. I wasn’t super meticulous about this, but I did rip back a little bit to try to improve part of the hem row. I think one of the issues is just that the variation of my handspun makes it hard to have even a perfect 1 to 1 match up result in a folded fabric that lays perfectly flat. I can’t exactly see how it will look on my head without taking it off the needles, so I’m just going to go with it for now and trust that it will look fine — or that I can block it into looking fine.

I also cast on simple things, by Mary-Heather Cogar of ravelry fame, whose gorgeous sunset photos help me deal with my southwestern withdrawal. I’m using Blue Moon Socks that Rock mediumweight in the Gypsum colorway, and I love how this feels in my hands. This yarn was a gift from Laura, and I am excited to be able to wrap these colors around my neck. This is going to become my in-the-bag knitting…if I put it down long enough to place it in my bag.

Yesterday Boh and I took a nice long walk along the creek and reservoir near my house. I think he is still sleepy from all the sunshine and playtime — he didn’t move when I pulled up the covers.

And here’s where he was about fifteen minutes later. I ground the coffee and got my french press ready, snapped a few photos of yesterday’s knitting, and then went back into the bedroom and found this. Sweet, sweet dog.

Alright. Time to get to work!

FO: sour fig.

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Boh decided that he wanted to pose alongside my finished skein of Hello Yarn shetland in Sour Fig. This is 201 yards of 2-ply, and I have a second, smaller skein of 85 yards. This stuff looks to me to be mostly sport weight, and I’m wondering if it would make a nice wurm hat. Thoughts? (Too variegated? I am also craving another set of mitts.)

Yesterday also involved this:

And this:

Friday. I managed to eat ALL of that apple crisp last night, this morning, and as a late lunch today. Boh and I just took a nice, sunshine-filled walk around the neighborhood, and I’m hoping that I have energy enough to do a bit more work this afternoon.