I Love Qiviuk ~

I had forgotten how much I love this yarn. It is really more like a spiderweb made of a silky soft thread. I pulled this out of my assorted bags of projects and fell in love again. How could I have stopped working on this? Especially when the super star of my favorite yarn shop had fixed my mistake last year?

So I started knitting again, with my 3 by 5 cards with each row written out since the chart was too complex for me (I know, I know...but don't judge me). This scarf is so lovely and soft! I am sure it will be super warm too!

Fear of piano wire ~

As I continue to spin this lovely 60/40 alpaca/merino , I worry about spinning "piano wire" which is the term used by my spinning teacher for super hard and tough singles that sometimes occurs with alpaca. I have tried spinning alpaca and did get piano wire, and yet I am hoping that this time I am spinning with more loft and air and less tension in my singles.

This fiber is from my newest favorite Taylored Fibers, a local couple from Washington, and I love their fiber and cannot wait to start on the next bump.... not sure which bump it will be as they are all so GREAT!   Oh, first I have to finish spinning these singles and then ply them into soft and lovely yarn...please, no piano wire!!!!!  Please!!!!!

Lovely yarn ~

This hand spun turned out so very lovely!  I thought I had two different 4 ounce bumps (can 4 ounces be a bump??) from different fiber places, but the colors looked so similar. Well, one had more white in it, so the yarn is a bit different. The fiber content is 50/50 merino/tencel and was lovely to spin and ply.

I love it.  I need to find the perfect pattern for this yarn. So lovely!  So soft!  Hurrah for my hand spun!!

Koigu linen stitch again ~

I am having some trouble with my Koigu linen stitch scarf that I started on our great weekend at Fort Worden. Sadly, it does not look like linen stitch, however lovely these colors are together....they are not looking like linen stitch. 

After much pondering, and sadness, I ripped out my sweet Fort Worden "not-linen" stitch scarf and began again, using the pattern for the linen stitch cowl which I had great luck knitting!  We will see how this venture turns out....This picture is the "not-linen" before ripping out...

Sunshine 2013 ~

My oldest had informed me before Christmas that her, "new favorite color" is yellow...so she was asking that her new socks be yellow, and she would like a knit cowl out of yellow.  This is great, as who doesn't love knitting with such a happy color?

Our favorite local yarn shop, Serial Knitters was having a lovely sale, and I picked up a skein of Black Trilliam and knit this cowl very quickly...as I wasn't sure how long her "favorite color" would stay yellow!

Happy New Socks ~

What could be more fun than celebrating the new year with a new knitting project? Possibly, more fun could be starting more than one knitting project!  Let's do that!  I am a bit behind in telling you about my projects in the new year, and I am not sure how it can be January 21st already.... time is already flying this year.....

I have cast on new socks...that must be a surprise to you, since I only have four pair of socks on the needles, so apparently I needed to cast on another pair.... and perhaps having an odd number of socks on the needles is not the best way to start the year, so I should quickly finish a pair, or cast on another pair..... but, looking at the four (now five) pair of socks on the needles, only one pair of them is in the gusset stage, so I am not going to finish a pair of socks anytime soon....... so, perhaps I need to balance out the new year by casting on another pair.... so I would have an even number of socks on the needles... I do have a knitting resolution of knitting at least six pairs of socks this year....and those are just the "required" ones.... I better get busy!!!