Fiber Pirate

On my street

2005-08-03T10:26:00.000-05:00

For the last few weeks we have had road construction on our street. The city is putting down new storm drain pipes and sewer it seems. What a mess this is, they are now right in front of my house and I am not sure I can get out of the driveway today. It looks like a great day to sit around and spin and knit.

I have been working on the purple socks some, the second one is almost ready to turn the heel. Turning the heel is one of my all time favorite knitting things to do. It seems like magic and is so much fun to see it become a sock. My cats love yarn. This one is Ginger. Sydney did not feel like posing today.

Here are the Opal lace socks I have been working on. I started these as 2 socks on one needle, but the pattern just will not work that way, so I am doing one as magic loop, my favorite way to knit socks and the other on dpns, since I only have one size 0 circ long enough for magic loop. I have been busy all week, I have done some more spinning, boy do I love it, and I have started knitting a hoodie for boy herd #4 with my spun yarn. I like the way it is turning out. I also painted 4 new spindles. I am going to start selling them on ebay.

I am pretty happy with the spinning, here is one of the skeins, I have 3 so far each is about 80 yards of 2 ply bulky. It is think and thin, I really like the look and the way it is knitting up. I will get some picutres of it going soon.

Lace the day away

2005-07-29T09:24:00.000-05:00

If anyone hasn't noticed it has become a lace obsession this summer. I love lace, its amazing that creating a few holes can make such beautiful fabric. I have several lace projects going right now, a pair of lace opal socks, 2 lace tops and I am starting the mystery shawl along. I have never knitted a shawl before and I like the mystery concept. Here is my test swatch. I used silkessense microfiber, which feels very much like silk. It is more of a sport weight, on size 8 needles. I wasn't sure if it would block but it seems to be ok. The blocked size is 6.5 X 3 with one repeat. I like this pattern I think with another repeat it would make a lovely scarf, I just may do that.

Here is one of the lace tops I am working on, it is from Knitting magazine. I am using Patons Grace on this. I like this cotton yarn.
Someone on the knitting list asked about the bernat cammo sock yarn, yes it stripes this is what it looks like.

Beat the heat

2005-07-27T14:51:00.000-05:00

It has been hot, hot, hot. Last week was around 103 every day, so that makes it a perfect for the AC unit to quit, and since it was so very hot we had to wait in line to get it fixed. It was going to be days so we went away for the weekend. My parents have a little place near Flaming George. That is where we went. It was rainy and cool, just about perfect as far as I am concerned. While we were there we took a hike below the dam along the green river. The day was overcast so picture taking was excellent. Without sun reflection on the water you could see how clear it was, and the bonus was we could see the fish! We were even able to photograph a few. I got quite a bit of knitting done, pictures of that will be coming tomorrow as well as a few pictures of my spinning. I am really enjoying the spinning, it is very addictive.

Don't Blink

2005-07-20T10:34:00.000-05:00

All I did was blink, I am sure of it, I blinked and 4 days were gone. Poof just gone. I have no idea where they went. It was Friday last night I am sure of it, I don't have a clue how I woke up to a Wednesday morning.

I decided last week to add some spunk to my plain little hand made spindle. So I painted this.

That was so much fun I decided to paint another and another......

Pretty soon I had this.

It was fun. What can I say I tend to be a little compulsive. I used to do decorative painting in the day, I taught classes, did craft fairs, designed a little. So that might explain where a bit of the time went. And then.................................
I got this in the mail Monday. I guess that pretty well sums up my lost time.

I did What??

2005-07-14T12:07:00.000-05:00

I am so amazed with myself today. I got up at 6 am this morning, to ride my bike before it got too hot. I really should say we since the better half got up with me. We had a great ride, a little windy but good. It was short only 12 miles. Oh and did I say, I did it without having a morning cup of coffee. Yah, I was really shocked too.

The only bad thing was I forgot to grab the camera dang it. So....Today from the bike will really be from the Sunday trip to the gardens.

I had to include this one of the boy herd. They actually seem to enjoy the gardens, even though they would never admit that.

My knitting is getting nowhere. I really have too many projects going. My first thought was to assign each project a day, but I realized that I have more projects than days of the week...So...
I am going to have to pick one, well maybe two projects and FINISH them, before I move on to the others, and no more STARTING. Nope no new projects until I finish something. Purple sock is half way to being a pair. I really need to finish it first, then there are my opal socks, and the orange socks, and the tank top, and the lacy pullover....Oh and the spinning.....See it never ends.

2005-07-13T11:27:00.000-05:00

Salt lake valley from the Red Butte Gardens

Summer Garden

2005-07-13T11:01:00.000-05:00

Sunday we took a family trip to the Red Butte Gardens. It is a fantastic place full of flowers, herbs, garden ideas, ponds, ducks, fish. It also links to the Bonneville Shoreline trail, and several other wilderness trails above Salt lake City. It was very hot but enjoyable. I got about 2 hours of walking and looking out of the boy herd, which is pretty good for such a hot day. I would love to transform my yard to gardens like that with very little grass. We have a good start in the back yard and we have a lovely pond. Now all I need is money, which at the moment there is never enough of. Here is a picture of the boy herd having "negotiations" as they called it. I think they were scheming on a way to get home early. This is in the childrens garden area.

I am learning all kinds of new things. I have figured out links, pictures, now I need to figure out how to add buttons. For fun I added a picture of my first attempts at spinning taken out by my pond. the skeins on the left are my first attempts at plying, the rest are my singles in progression. It is getting better, I wish the roving had been nicer, but I have more on order that I should get the first of next week. I think its not too bad for my first attempts with a drop spindle.

2005-07-12T09:49:00.000-05:00

From the bike. I wish I could spin like that

Time?

2005-07-12T09:35:00.000-05:00

I would like to know who keeps stealing my time away. I swear I was only learning to spin for an hour. Not five, really, I swear ! I am not good at time management, I am not good at organization at all. I am very good at starting projects, but not at finishing. I try, I really do, but somewhere in my right brained self I just get lost in the process.

I am learning to spin with a drop spindle. I love the process, I can do it until my arms are about to fall off. I am doing a decent job of it too. I still need to learn to control it better, my singles are a little overspun, but getting more consistent. My first attempt was very bad. I seem to be able to spin thinner now. I have not decided which spindle I like better, bottom whorl or top, I made me several. I can spin longer with a bottom whorl, but thinner and more consistent with a top.
Once I get some decent roving I think I will do a good job of it.

Anyone who has good suggestions on time management let me know.

Natural Utah

2005-07-06T11:01:00.000-05:00

As a family we spend a lot of time outdoors. Utah is a fantastic place to enjoy it. Right out our front door we have so many options, the Great Salt lake is 4 miles away. There is a great nature preserve called the Great Salt Lake shorelands preserve, just 5 miles from the house. It has a mile loop boardwalk and an observation tower. If you like to see birds this is a great place. Just bring some bug repellent, the horse flies are very bad this time of year. I have included a permanent link for it. ( yay, I figured out how to link today)

I think I finally have the blog fixed so you can now leave a comment. I have messed with it, and hopefully it will quit reverting back to the default settings..grrrr.

Tonight is the first meeting of our new knitting group. I am very excited as this one will be so close to home that I can bike there.

No new knitting pictures today, but the purple sock is 4 inches now. I will have some new ones soon.

Happy knitting !

2005-07-06T10:55:00.001-05:00

From the bike today, of the bike

2005-07-06T10:55:00.000-05:00

Shorelands Preserve visitor center

How many socks

2005-07-05T12:17:00.001-05:00

How many socks can a sock knitter sock, if a sock knitter could sock, socks. Without interruption. I had to start the opal socks as soon as the yarn came. Those are MINE. The others are out of guilt. The purple sock has to have a mate, boy herd #3 is taking to wearing it alone. ( He wears mismatched socks and shoes all the time anyway) and boy herd #2 is feeling left out, no fair that #4 got his cammo socks first, then the purple. He said were are mine, I can't meet Bill Gates with out orange socks. Not that he will ever meet Bill Gates but well, he has to be prepared. He ( My Corbin) is a computer tech after all. So I have 3 sets of socks going now. I work a little on each. The next question is, when am I going to work on my summer sweater? I need 4 hands and a 28 hour day. What I really want is medical science to find a way to not need sleep. Maybe one day of sleep out of 7 that would be great.

2005-07-05T12:17:00.000-05:00

Got Socks?

2005-07-05T12:06:00.000-05:00

American avocet on the shore of the Great Salt Lake Today from the bike

2005-07-05T11:49:00.000-05:00

I am a Night Elf Rogue. My DH is a Night Elf warrior, we have way too much fun with it

Alternate reality

2005-07-05T11:36:00.000-05:00

I have to admit that I do not always live in reality, ok almost never. This is my game. This is my character in the game. Welcome to my World of Warcraft. I play and knit at the same time isnt that sad. LOL. I love to play games, but I have to be very careful because 10 minutes of game play really means 3 hours. It is amazing how fast I can loose time that way. So I have a system. I have to get my exercise, usually a bike ride and some form of house work before I can play. Once the icky stuff is done I get time to play. The really hard part is choosing between the things I love, do I play, or do I sit in the back yard and knit by the pond. The hard choices in life.

I am going to start a from the bike picute of the day. I ride nearly every day and its motivation to take the camera as I ride. It is beautiful country here, worth sharing.

2005-07-04T09:09:00.000-05:00

She's a Grand Old flag

God Bless America

2005-07-04T09:06:00.000-05:00

Happy 4th everyone!

I love this picture. It was taken by my #1 of the boy herd. So in honor of him and his patriotism I present my son Porter, the sailor

This has been a year of change for us here. The hardest thing that I have ever done is watch my boy turn into a man. Emotionally it has been draining. I thought I was prepared to let him go and start his life, I was wrong. I am very very proud of his choice to join the Navy, he left for boot camp in April. I still can't write about it without tears.

He has done very well and has accomplished much so far. We miss him and we still struggle. Why is it that we spendt the last 20 years wanting him to grow up and become an adult, and now that he has I really just want him home. Besides he is a very good cook...

We get to visit him the end of August. He graduates from A school then, and its his birthday.

Have a great 4th, the weather looks beautiful

2005-07-02T13:28:00.000-05:00

another beautiful shot from the island

2005-07-02T13:22:00.001-05:00

Look what I got today

I was looking for a diversion from the purple sock, I really need to start the orange socks for #2 of the boy herd. But my Opal sock of the month came today. The pattern is a lovely lacy summer pattern which will go nicely with my summer of lace KAL that I want to do but haven't really started. So guess what I am starting today.

One more thing. I am really getting low on sock yarns. I think I need to take a trip to Salt Lake City and visit a few Yarn shops. Sounds like a great way to spend a holiday weekend.

2005-07-02T13:22:00.000-05:00

I am really getting low on sock yarns

2005-07-02T13:21:00.000-05:00

look what I got

2005-07-02T13:14:00.000-05:00

beautiful view from Antelope Island

2005-07-02T13:13:00.000-05:00

It's a beautiful day

We went for an early morning bike ride out to the lake. It was absolutly perfect. We did not see as many birds as usual, but it was still perfect just the same. I hit a milestone today 900 miles on my bike since last Sept when we bought them.

I finished the purple sock. Yay! Of course I still need to make the mate which I started, but I need a break from that purple.

2005-07-01T10:36:00.000-05:00

sock

Posted by Picasa

2005-07-01T10:32:00.000-05:00

I adore this yarn and yes I have a thing for orange

Posted by Picasa

2005-07-01T10:28:00.000-05:00

the orange funnel neck, I think this one is about to be frogged

Posted by Picasa

2005-07-01T10:21:00.000-05:00

I love early morings in the summer.

I like to grab a project, a cup of coffee and spend some time in my back yard by the pond. Its quiet, none of the boy herd is up. Just the sounds of birds and running water and a good yarn in hand. Now the hard part choosing which project to work. I have a few.

I am having second thoughts about the orange funnel neck, its about to be frogged. I have dropped a couple of stitches and now its distorted. I need to do something else with that yarn on bigger needles I think.

The purple sock. I need to finish it and start the mate. Its for #3 of the boy herd, he picked it.

That brings me to Candy. I am loving this yarn. It will definitly make a great summer sweater.
Ok, Ok, finish the sock first all that is left is the toe. After that, its candy all day

Beginnings of a fiber Pirate

2005-06-29T17:34:00.000-05:00

Welcome to my home. I live 4 miles from the shores of the Great Salt Lake. We bike out there almost every day. There is a great variety of shore birds and other animals. It is amazing. Here is a picture from our bike ride tuesday night.

I have been thinking for weeks about doing a blog. I have fallen in love with the creativity and open nature of the blogs that I frequent and Oh, and I frequent them a lot. I have 52 or so knitting and spinning blogs in my favorites list. I browse even more almost daily.

What I love most about the blogs I visit are the pictures. I can not believe how talented so many of you are out there. It is eye candy at its finest.

I have a fiber obsession. I love to see it, feel it, wear it, I have to touch and fondle it, and when I see new yarn I have to have it, especially if it is fuzzy. Texture and color it just makes my heart sing.