Catch Up

 FIBER:  dyed, spun, knitted.  I promise it's been happening in the studio, but, yikes, it has been almost two months since I posted here.  I have no explanation but am determined to get with it again.
My makeshift garage dyeing studio was a favorite hangout during the mild days of fall.  This skein of hand spun evolved from the Heirloom Tomatoes colorway of superwash Blue-faced Leicester roving below.  One of my twisted spinning sisters  bought it, spun it and let me photo her gorgeous work.

 Keeping rovings dyed with crazy Olive colorway in stock as been hard.  They are snatched up before I can get them in the shop.

 This bobbin is  Kate's plied version, spun with kid mohair locks.

 I have been experimenting with unexpected colorways of warm and cool colors mixed as in the Accent 1 BFL roving here.

 I spun and plied it on itself, never got the skein photographed before I took it to Arkansas Fiber Extravaganza at Mt. Magazine where it sold!  There will be more of this look.  One is already in the wings.  Stay tuned.

I am a shareholder at Fancy Fibers farm.  Part of my share was a batt of Border Leicester wool.  I carefully tore it into roving, dyed it with salmon and ercu.  After it was spun, I had about 210 yards of two-ply yarn, more than enough for at least one pair of fingerless mitts.

 I love that they are co-ordinating but not matching.

 I think I have enough to even make one more pair.  Love that!

 I'm back into fingerless mitts again this year, big time.  These two pair are headed off to my SIL in Connecticut today.  I think they are meant to be gifts.  Wish I had time to make dog sweaters, too.  Those are about sold out of the shop.

 This lavender-and-pearls number has been one of my faves.  It's being mailed out today.  Love Christmas shoppers!

Wacky to Wonderful

In our family, to have a sense of humor is to survive. My brother Steve got my Dad's sideways wit. This Christmas, we agreed to not share gifts. Ok, then this box arrives from New Canaan. Really, Steve? You are cheating on our agreement. Then out popped these insane, fur-cuffed, bejeweled (see the ring finger?) rubber gloves. I guess he was channelling a Dallas Diva me. Sure! After all the fingerless mitts (about 15-20 pair) I have knit this winter, this seemed like the perfect GLOVE ending

Then Vicki, who seems to be a caretaker for my ridiculous sweet tooth, arrives with

six of the chocolate beauties above. Melt in your mouth is a cliche but, wow , was it appropriate as far as these cupcakes were concerned. Notice I said "was". They are history.

To carry on with the whole chocolate theme, FedEx brought a box holding these hot chocolate mixes done by Crate and Barrel. These babies have chunks of chocolate in them. I choose to put two spoonfuls in the bottom of a cup and then pour my favorite steaming hot Buckies blend coffee over it. Stir, and you are in chocolate/coffee heaven.

I chose to OD and do it with one of the deadly cupcakes. Oh, the cute strawberry mug was in the box too. I have such great friends.

Ok, enough with the sugar rave. Dia, my fabulous potter friend, gifted me with one of her clay yarn bowls. I love it for taming crazy rolling balls of yarn and as a prop for my Etsy shop. All her info is on the card above. Check it out.

Addicted

Yes, Hello, my name is K and I'm a mitt-aholic, at least this winter. These hunky numbers are super fast to knit. They were done before the new Star Trek movie was over on my DVR. I used my chunky single-ply churro hand spun. This was a skein I was saving as it was a lamb fleece I acquired from Connie Taylor at Cerro Mojino Wools back in the '90's. Churro is not always something that I recommend for

wearing close to the skin, but this is super soft. I think these will be great for wearing on chilly walks with Trinket.

The Fascination Continues: Peggy's Mitts

Peggy just kept pulling her versions of fingerless mitts our of her tote yesterday at Texastwisters Wednesday spinning group. Look at all the gorgeous handspun she used.
According to Peggy she casts on, knits some ribbing, does a little increasing for the thumb, then decreases a little before she knits the garter stitch at the top. I think she has the general pattern in head, don't you, as you look at her work? BTW, these are all for an order she received at a craft show last week. You go, girl!

Shameless Peddler

As promised this is the postscript to "Party for Eighteen". Amazing fun and fellowship (did I mention that it was my guild from church) was had by all. As the wine flowed , talk turned to my fingerless mitts. This shameless peddler (moi) quickly arrayed all my inventory (see December 2 post) on the kids' craft table. At the end of the evening this is the last soldier standing. Wow, who knew? This may be the new venue of what used to be my "trunk show" of my weavings in my New Mexico days. Yours truly used to keep finishing work in the back of my Forerunner just in case someone expressed interest. It was quite successful. Now if I can just translate that into a little less of an effort than a huge entertaining event, I may be onto something here in Texas.

Fingerless Frenzy

The fingerless alliteration goes on as does the knitting. So far nine pair, eight pictured here. Another pair is on the needles. The makings of several more are in the basket. I love these gloves. AND, it's snowing here in Dallas this a.m., so I might just get to wear a pair when I head out to meet the spinning ladies later.
Several of these are going to friends who have ordered them as gifts. I am keeping the ones on the lower right for me. The cuffs are Louet Merlin (merino & linen) and the palm is handspun bought at a wool festival in the last few years. I am so bad about keeping track of purchased fiber. The little ones on the lower left are for Zoe. They are actually an "oops" when I had the gauge wrong. She can't wait to wear them. Love having little people around to take up the slack.

Toes Up Cozy Time

My all time favorite evenings these days are spent in my favorite chair with my favorite PJs' on and these crocheted slippers made for me by Cintia . Tonight I am doing the finishing on about eight pair of fingerless gloves. It has become an obsessive stash buster. Friends want them for Christmas giving, so I'm on it. It's yucky rainy outside and biting cold. Perfect for Trinket and I to catch a little Tivo and enjoy the fire.

Fingerless Fascination

The Wednesday Spinning Girls got me all fired up about fingerless gloves, and I just had to try it. So far I have knit these two plus one more. (More on that one later.)
The purple one is the Knitty.com pattern, Fetching. I chose some Louet Merlin in eggplant that I had in my stash. I refuse to go out and buy any yarn at this point, since almost my whole Etsy store is devoted to destashing my overflowing studio. I washed and dried them two times to "full" them and think they are just about perfect.

The multi-pastel pair is done from some handspun in my stash. I can't remember where I got it. This took more work to get the gauge right. I used Ann Budd's pattern, "Fingerless Mitts", found in Melanie Falick's book, Weekend Knitting. They are sleeker than appears in the photo. Now about, that third pair. It was actually the first pair I knit of these. It matches these but is in a size that will fit my 6-year-old granddaughter. It's that gauge thing.

I know the photos are a little funky, but have you every tried to photo your own hand just holding an SLR camera in the other? Try it and let me know how you do.