Happy Anniversary ~

Happy Anniversary to my man of 24 years! We celebrate our anniversary weekend by working in our garden, and this year he rented this little beauty to help out!

This is one happy guy and his tractor!  Looking forward to many many more fun adventures in the years to come!

Silk and Signatures ~

Look at this lovely shawl!  The yarn is so beautiful and soft and the colors are so yummy.  Knitting with the Signature Needles is amazing, it is like the silk and needles are made for each other!  Several rows in, and I still have the correct number of stitches!  Way to go!!!

The wee points are starting to show and they are lovely, I can't wait to get back to knitting this shawl! On Ravelry, there are several Annis shawls knit out of this yarn, and they are all lovely as well...

I love these colors!  Thanks again to JitteryKnitter for bringing back the BEST yarn for me from I Knit London!

Cast on again ~

Well, casting on 363 stitches was not as easy as one would think.  I counted and recounted, and after the first row was done with its directions, I still had stitches left....so, I devised a better way to cast on the stitches.  I used a size 10 straight needle and a smaller straight needle along side it, and when I'd cast on the 363 stitches, I pulled out the smaller needle and was able to start knitting with the correct size Signature Needle off of the size 10 straight (does that make sense?  Picture shows the cast on with the size 10 straight needle)

This worked much better, and by the end of row one, I had the exact amount of stitches!  Hurrah!!!

Cast on Silk ~

A bonus Friday night with the JitteryKnitter, as she needed to stay awake until getting her family from the airport...hmmmm, how could we pass the time with something exciting? We decided to go to our favorite local yarn shop...I decided the night before that I was going to rip out my lovely birthday shawl I was knitting with the silk from I Knit London that JitteryKnitter had brought me from her trip there.  The most lovely silk in the most lovely of color combinations.. I really really want a shawl out of this yarn, and I want it soon.... and the other pattern was not working out for me.... so time to switch gears.

So I cast on for the Annis shawl, as I have wanted to make that one for a long time... the casting on 363 stitches was a bit scary, but I knew I could do it....really....especially with these Signature Needles...

Fraternal Twins ~

On Mothers' Day, I cast on a lovely shawl for myself, out of my super deluxe handspun that I am oh-so-proud of... and I also cast on a pair of socks for my oldest daughter, as I had just cast off her Zebra Socks and needed to have some on the needles for her....never mind that her younger sister has two pair of socks on needles at this moment (these and these), and I know I need to focus on one pair of them... Well, the socks I cast on for the oldest is from the yarn that I received from my secret pal earlier this year... a lovely Regia called...World Circus...very colorful and fun....so I separated the ball into equal halves and felt very clever that I separated the yarn so that both socks would start with mint green.......

However, the stripes are not going along the same way, and I realize now that they will be fraternal twin socks instead of identical....and I've checked with oldest daughter and she is ok with fraternal twin socks, as long as I keep knitting on them so she can wear them some day soon!  Good to know!!!   I think they are very fun, and I get excited wondering what the next color on both socks will be!!!

Yarn Tour Inspiration ~

On Saturday, the JitteryKnitter and I did our Yarn Store Tour and were very excited to visit five shops out of the twenty one that were part of the tour.  We talked to several ladies that had been to all twenty one already, and some that would finish the twenty one by Sunday. Wow, that is a lot of driving and a lot of knitting shops, and free patterns and inspiration, and visiting with many many fun ladies!  My favorite part of the Yarn Shop Tour was spending it with JitteryKnitter, as we have such fun together. We get each other excited about more projects and more yarn and more patterns and....the need for more knitting time!!!

 

The items that inspired me the most were knit out of super fine cob web lace weight...perfect to wear in the summer as they seem to be made out of cobwebs... and best of all, I knew I had a project of my own made out of the very same yarn... yarn that JitteryKnitter had bought for me on one of her trips!  Hurrah!

Mothers' Day Cast On ~

I had a super deluxe Mothers' Day because I spent time with my family, talked to my mum and was able to do some delightful knitting with some super special yarn!  Yes, this is the 50/50 silk merino that I spun and plyed and measured to be 125 yards.  Since there are not many shawls on Ravelry that use such a little amount, I cast on my go-to Lake Champlain pattern....which I think may have another name in some circles...

 

Using my Signature Needles, so it is a perfect combination!  I am so happy to be knitting on a new project!

Finally Finished ~

Hurrah!  The birthday socks are now cast off!  Just a week late, but still in the month of her birthday, so I think that counts as a wonderful and timely gift!  As she saw me casting off, I asked if I should wrap them for her. She said she would rather just have them now since they would not be a surprise. So, as the first one came off the needles, I handed it to her to be sure the cast off edge was stretchy enough. She tried it on and it was perfect.  She waited for me to cast off the second one, and I handed it over for her to try on, and it was perfect too... and I asked for them back so I could weave in the last cast off bit of yarn, and she said, "Nope, they are done now!!!"

 

I've not seen them off her feet since then!!!  Hurrah for kids that love their hand knits!!!

Perfect Cake ~

I am very pleased at how this yarn has turned out.  Most of the plys are just as I wanted them, a tight twist like my beloved Jitterbug or Koigu.

 

 I still have lots of practicing to do in order to be consistent, however that is the fun part of this spinning adventure I am on - it is FUN to practice and look at the wonderful results!

 

My goal for Mothers' Day is to cast on a project with this lovely yarn!  I have to measure it first to see how much I have....stay tuned!

Almost done ~

With the lovely weather, I was able to knit more on these birthday socks today. I was helped by a very large cup of iced coffee, and thankfully it is one that I kept refilling from my lovely coffee maker!  I still love this yarn, although the dark parts of the multi-color are the hardest to knit with the pattern, so I'm already dreaming about the next cast-on socks for this daughter is going to be some wild rainbow bright yarn....

I just may have some wild rainbow bright yarn in my stash..... (ya think???)

Happy Birthday ~

Happy Birthday and another PR for this one...good times.....:)

Perfect Ply ~

I was finally able to begin to ply this beautiful 50/50 merino/silk fiber. I was a little nervous to begin, as I have been Navajo plying for the last several plying yarns and wondered if I could go back to a two ply with any control.  I was hoping desperately for a Jitterbug twist or Koigu ply, where the two singles are so neatly piled on top of each other, almost like a horizontal stack...does that make sense, can you picture that?

As I started plying, the singles felt so smooth going through my fingers. These colors are so fabulous and they were combining in such a lovely barber pole of colors, and other times the same color would ply together making it a surprise of what colors would end up as the primary color when all was done. At one point when I leaned over to move the bobbin, I stopped and stared..... as there was a perfect Jitterbug ply... for a little bit of length, there was a perfect twist...be still my Jitterbug-lovin' heart!

Perfect ply for me....perfect for this lovely yarn!  Perfect for this spot in my spinning journey!  I am thrilled!!!

Double PR ~

Great day today, absolutely great day!  Thrilling to be standing in the pouring rain for almost four hours and able to watch my oldest daughter run her fastest mile EVER!  Yes, she ran a PR (personal record) in the pouring rain (yes, that could also stand for PR!) and it was beautiful to watch. She passed three other girls and looked strong and solid through the entire race, stunning to watch her fly around the track!  Arriving home to find that youngest daughter had also had a tremendous track meet (so sad I couldn't be in two places at one time!) and she ran her fastest mile EVER as well!!!  Yes, a PR for her too!!!  In fact, she had just run a PR on Tuesday and beat that time by another 7 seconds.....

Oldest daughter decided to break down their lap "splits" to see how fast each lap was..as there are 4 laps in the mile and only 10 seconds separate their times.....as she said, "Yikes, she is catching up to me!"  Good that oldest daughter is still a bit faster....Stay tuned for the next track meet!!

Zebra Bobbin ~

Look how great my single 50/50 silk/merino turned out! Beautiful!  Lovely!!!  This is the second 2 ounces, all spun, and now I get to ply them, hopefully this weekend....

 

or perhaps for Mother's Day weekend I'll get a chance to do something that I want to do....I want to spin!!!  I want to ply!!!!

 

I want to knit with this lovely yarn!!!  I want to see how the colors blend and shine together!!