And a good time was had...

...by those wearing little pumpkin hats, of course! I would tell you to try and ignore the funny looking lady in the black shirt holding Pierce but he's so cute you won't notice her anyway.

I've been...busy.

We all remember the deco ribbon purse. I was at AC Moore helping a friend pick out yarn for her first knitting project and I picked up this ribbon because I wanted a more spohisticated bag. As it turned out, the bag was a perfect match for my Halloween costume:



Arwen, from Lord of the Rings. Where did she buy that AMAZING costume? SHE MADE IT FOLKS!!! Yeah, I spent many hours cutting, pinning, sewing, and otherwise constructing this bad boy. You can't see them very well, but I'm wearing elf ears too. It was a fun night.



Sam, my roommate, was Galadriel and also made her costume. Patty is a van Dyck portrait, Alison is a dead woman, and Sarah is a pirate.

Other than that...I've been really busy with school and traveling. I went home 2 weeks ago and last weekend I went to...

Boston! I love it there! I got to see Harvard's campus and I'll definitely be applying there for PhD programs. Exciting! I visited 2 yarn stores in Boston but didn't bring anything home with me because my finances just don't allow for impulsive yarn purchases these days. I think that about does it for updates...

What she was waiting for

I don't have time to post pictures now, but if you went to the link we sent you, you already know that I finished the blanket.

I finished the blanket Friday morning and labor started Saturday night.

it's rainin' pumpkins

I went to the Sept. spinning meeting determined to buy no fiber. I chanted 'no fiber, no fiber' all the way there and then Erin, one of the spinners who also happens to be a fantastic dyer and who also happens to stock Cloverhill with her phenomenal fiber, had made seasonal colorway rovings for the shop. I was utterly helpless in the face of it, truly. Before I knew what I was doing I was buying up 4 oz of merino/tencel gorgeousness in "late harvest". It was like an out of body experience. I could see what I was doing but had no control. The colors are so lovely (of course the pictures can't do justice, again). I spun (rather badly but slowly I improve) all of it up that very weekend and started knitting without even stopping to scribble any sort of plan, just had to knit. Wanted something simple and small that looked kind of "viney". Couldn't finish last weekend because of Robin's visit and of course the now legendary "illness" of which we shall not speak had to pass, but today...today is pumpkin patch shrug day! I love it so much today really should become a national holiday in it's honor.

fanged sheep pumpkins and other things

Seems appropriate for Friday the 13th and all...but first,
whole lotta finished objects going on! Actually many of these were completed a while ago but only now can be revealed because they have found their true home at last.

Much knitting for the much anticipated baby McD.

Loved these kinds of warm-up tops when I was a kid. Thought they looked so cool. So here's a little knitted version. It turned out a little wonky. Had to reknit the sleeves and back a couple times to make it right and then still didn't really work. It's what I get for making it up as I go along.


This is actually the MasonDixon knitting books warsh cloth turned into a bib. I love the texture and don't we all know that baby bibs really just hang there doing little good while the kid eats and then, afterwards, get used as washrags to wipe down the kid, the highchair, the floor around the highchair, uh...the walls...the ceiling...the walls in the living room...



The MasonDixon knitters claim that a baby that has a burp cloth with an interesting pattern is 40% more likely to go to an ivy league school. It's hard to tell in the photo but I used really bright lime and yellow for this...I love it! But with Caleb and Brandy for parents the kid has no choice but to be a kind, wonderful genius anyway. The pattern is even more "interesting" than intended because I actually screwed up the color repeat and didn't notice for inches. That's what I get for knitting during my student's screening. Honestly, by the light of an old black and white movie that green and yellow look exactly alike. So like any knitter worth her rosewood doublepointed needles I made it a "design feature"!



But here's my favorite...I almost couldn't stand to stuff him in the box to mail and thought I'd have to hand deliver him!




But lest you think that I've been sitting around doing nothing since completing the mcd load, there's been other fibery happenings but I'm still too puny to go take pictures. So here's a few shots of the pumpkin carving at my house last weekend to entertain you as we close...ah last weekend, when my best friend in the world Robin was in town and life was good and there was no hint of the stomach flu that has made my week a blur and I even felt well enough to try a big fried worm from Zimbabwe (no it's not what made me sick) and I carved pumpkins just like we did in college. No they aren't your traditional jack o'lanterns and they are only minutely relevant to a fiber post because of the fanged sheep but here they are...scared aren't you

Brest dressed bear

You read the title right.

So when you are pregnant you have to take lots of classes. Even though I'm pretty sure cavewomen knew nothing about a "focus object" or breathing techniques when they delivered, you just aren't a good parent now if you don't do these kinds of things.

So last Saturday was our breastfeeding class (called feeding by those too uncomfortable to mention the first part). When we got our registration confirmation letter it informed us we were to bring a baby doll or stuffed animal about the size of a baby.

So I took the little black bear in the purple sweater that I knitted. We definitely had the best dressed, if not the most lifelike baby in the room. No one commented on the cute sweater and I did my best to be offended.

You really haven't lived until you have spent your Saturday morning with a bunch of other pregnant women, their ill-at-ease husbands, and a bunch of animals propped up on Boppy pillows. And, oh yeah, the class was taught by a lady who was clearly from Minnesota.

The Lamb Shoppe

There are no words.

A few weeks ago, we finally made it over to The Lamb Shoppe. This is the knitting shop Caleb had found for me when he was looking for a place to live.

Unfortunately, we forgot the camera. If I had taken my camera you would have a better idea of what it was really like.

You would have seen the white sheepdog with dreadlocks.
And the "coffee baa." It serves coffee and tea drinks in two sizes -- skein and hank.
And the lady that works there? So nice! She visited with me for some time, even though I didn't buy anything (I just couldn't justify it when it is so hard for me to knit right now.)

And gosh, I haven't even gotten to the yarn yet. What a beautiful selection! And they had baby yarn that wasn't so...you know, cheapo babyish looking.

They offer lots of classes and she said people tend to just come and hang out on the couches and drink coffee and knit.

Seriously, I could have cried.


p.s. Abby -- is there a way to get more of the posts to show at once? My sorry sausage excuse for fingers are getting a little behind, and then you don't see my comments.

leave the suspense to Hitchcock

Here revealed is one of the FOs I've hinted at. Not that I really think Brandy's been in suspense. She definitely has more important things keeping her occupied nowadays! And actually I showed it to her in some stage of spinning over the summer before I saw you (Abby) to give it to you.

Yarn spun for Abby!!!




Don't look too close, (not that you could with the crappy picture, who takes pictures with a phone-what a loser) there are certainly lumps and bumps and it is not the sock yarn it had been indended to be, but for a first attempt, I'm quite pleased. I told her she doesn't have to knit with it if she doesn't want to. And of course now, she'll have her own wonderful handspun to knit with. Definitely make something out of the first handspun you've made, whatever it is. And I think the yarn looks great. I couldn't make spindle spun look that good now!

So here's the only picture I thought to take in Chesapeake City. It truly deserved more pictures as it's a very neat little town. But everytime I started to take a picture there was this bridge thing in the background....



You may think she's contemplating this yarn but actually she's thinking, "must. spin. wool. now." It's all this time looking at that spinning wheel I tell ya. She was doomed when she came in the shop. Even I could hear the drop spindles calling her name.

p.s. Speaking of suspense, what about the promised pictures of the "boob toaster"

Spinning sans wheel

Jen and I met at a yarn/spinning/weaving/basketmaking store in MD. Jen bought lots of beautiful fibers - I bought a drop spindle and some "starter" fibers. Perhaps for my own self esteem I shouldn't make these images public...but here they are.

I guess that first one isn't so bad, but that's only because I have mostly covered up the horrendously uneven stuff from the very beginning. You can see a little bit of it peeking out in the second pic.

Oh, and a lot more of it in the third pic. And yes, I will ply ALL of it, even the horrendously uneven stuff for no reason but to keep myself humble. It'll make some really interesting...yarn...for something. I'm reasonably certain that I could make a small bracelet out of it if I really wanted to. I only bought like 1 oz of this stuff...

I was also given a very special present, details of which I assume are to be kept quiet. But, I had to mention it...if only to increase the anticipation for Brandy :-)

Lecture anyone?

I too should be working instead of knitting, spinning, posting about knitting, thinking about knitting, thinking about spinning while I'm knitting...but nevertheless, here I am! This will be picture intense because I haven't posted for a while. Just warning ya'!

I actually have a few more FOs than can be posted here because....ssshh, they're secrets for...well you two!! I will reveal them to all once they have found their new homes!

So you'll have to see not only the FOs I have but the evidence of my summer travels via purchases too!

FO #1 for darling nephew Pierce: he needs to learn right now the importance of Halloween in this family! I haven't actually sent this little hat yet but I assume, and rightly I'm sure, that his parents have much more important things on their mind than checking this page to see if I've knitted Pierce anything!!

FO #2 for darling...me? I'm loving this yarn. My first real attempt at woollen spinning and while it is not very good and is actually probably a bad idea to knit with it, I really want a fuzzy orange/red sweater from it!! In the end there will be around 12 skeins of this crazy stuff. Of course, as always, it's hard to convey the color here. It might not be as bright as this looks but Mark did suggest that the color really "radiates"...hah! radiates/radiator! He's so cute.


Now on to the booty:

Do you know the Chibi needle? Wonderful curved tip for finishing seams/sewing in ends but the size can only be described as "honkin' big". Well, they finally came out with three smaller sizes so they can be used for smaller yarns. I'd heard this rumor but had to travel to AL to discover it was true. I want to finish a sock just to sew in the ends with the tiny little one!!

But Texas was the real score! Brandy is not surprised. Hobby Lobby was having a huge sale. I only ended up there because Loree needed something for the nursery. 99cent sugar 'n cream cotton by gad!! And Patons Katrina (which I made that pink shrug out of) for $2.14, normall $5 something. That's more than 50% off. No pretty colors but who can't use black!


AND my favorite, cotton combs. They are worn but a lovely old patina look and actually being broken in is a plus. According to most fiber people you want them at a point where they've been used some. But here's the best. Not only are they old and broke in, they were $18! I haven't seen nice new ones for less than around $40! WHOA!!

Did you stick to the bitter end? You're so sweet!