Sleepy day.

I think he has the right idea. Despite my deep desire to join the Beast, I've spent the afternoon weighing, measuring, and photographing yarn for my etsy shop. I still can't seem to get the orange yarn to look right. I've conscripted B to help me tonight, maybe he can do a better job.

The past two weeks

For about a week I did nothing except read and feel like crap. This motion/morning sickness thing is no fun. I've been feeling better recently and have managed to get a few things done. Sitting at a computer is not one of them. Scrolling makes me feel sick. Hence my disappearance. Aside from finishing up all the Outlander books, here's what I've been up to.

This is the fiber I dyed in my last post.

Here it is spun and plied.

This was spun from mill ends. I used Greener Shades dyes for the first time after it had been plied. First in sunset orange and then in a very diluted flame red. It's not as electric-colored in real life but my lighting isn't so great today.

The Elf thinks this looks like a swamp. I'm thinking moss or lichen.

My second dye attempt with Greener Shades. I dyed mill ends in ruby red, carded them with some firestar and spun them up. Not sure if I'm going to ply or not yet.

There you have it, my fascinating life.

Fun with Egg Dye

Linking up with Nicole for crafting on.

Today I filled pots on the stove with water and wool. I dyed one pot blue and one purple. The purple left a fair amount of blue water, which I used to dye some more wool a lighter blue.

I plan to blend it all on my drum carder once it's dry.

I think I posted about this blend. It's a bit of hand dyed wool mixed with white and firestar. I think I'm going to call it seafoam - or something similar at any rate.

That's it. It's been a fairly lazy day.

Weekending

What an epic weekend. Okay. Maybe not epic so much.

There was fiber.

Knitting.

Gift making. Yes, five days before the Elf's birthday and I'm just now finishing.

And then there was some doll making.

I've been obsessed with Waldorf dolls for a while. I've never seen nor touched a real one - just the ones that I've made. In the past week or two I've had this.. insane need to own a real Waldorf doll. It's not to be, as I just can't afford one. So I thought I'd try to make another one. One that would make me happy. I'm still falling short. My dolls lose their chins and noses. I've read a bunch of tutorials, but I just can't seem to get it right.

At any rate. I've been scouring Etsy for Waldorf dolls. Torturing myself with all the lovelies. It's been bothering me. I know I've wanted one for a while. But why this sudden urge? Looking back now I think it might have been an unconscious thing. See.. it would appear that I am very likely pregnant. Unintentionally. Which is a new and scary thing to me. I'm not good at not being in control. At any rate, we're mentally adjusting to this and I will admit that I'm even kind of excited (if I ignore the painful giving birth part of the equation). We haven't told any family yet - not even the boys. We're giving it another couple of weeks just to be sure. But there it is. My crazy weekend.

Adventures in Blending.

I've done it. I've finally gone beyond just carding raw fiber. Now it's time to make this drum carder earn it's keep.

My set up.

The blended batt still on the carder.

These are the three colors I mixed. I was going for a tribute to Aang. But the yellow and blue combined more than I expected. This was my first attempt, after all.

I used a diz to pull the fiber off the drum as roving.

This is one I did today. It's a combination of lavender, apple green, and saddle brown. I was going for something that felt like a field of lavender bushes. But the brown took over more than expected.

And here they are spun (before setting the twist). I'm thinking that I'll name them "Melted Crayons" and "Lavender Fields" when I list them on Etsy. I've been weighing everything and making notes so that I can recreate blends in case I ever need/want to make more of something.

Yarn Along

Joining up with Ginny (well, her husband I guess) for the Yarn Along.

Reading The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon. Or at least, I was when I took this photograph a few hours ago. I have since finished it and am excited to start the next book in the series. Last week I was working on bombs for the Elf's Legend of Zelda bomb bag. I've finished it all and am mostly pleased with it. The colors aren't true to the game, nor is the shape of the bag exactly. But I hope he'll like it all anyway.

And now I'm off to spin more yarn!

More yarn.

Obsession? Yes. Yes it is.

These yarns are slowly being put up in my Etsy shop.

I've finished the Elf's knitted birthday gift. I'll post about it tomorrow. I need to "stencil" some shirts for him and then I'll be done! I'm cutting it close since his birthday is in eleven days. But.. I've been a bit distracted by.. er.. yarn.

Linking up with Nicole.

Weekending

I have been hard at work spinning, plying, weighing, measuring, photographing, describing, and otherwise completely engulfed in yarn. Stocking an Etsy shop is extremely time consuming.

Help! I don't have a name for this yarn - suggestions?

Other than that.. I think I have a stomach bug and would dearly love to sleep for a few days. This is not to be, of course, but it would be nice.

Bombs, Hippos, and a cute Toddler.

Linking up with Ginny for the Yarn Along.

Reading The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon. Here's one of the completed bombs for the Elf's Legend of Zelda bomb bag.

How's this for an adorable hippo head? If you know me, you know that I have a strong dislike for lace weight yarn. It hurts my eyes and makes me crazy. So of course when Emily sent me a new pattern to test (which ought to have been in bulky or worsted), I dove in with size 1 needles and held my alpaca lace yarn double. Can you say masochism?

I listed some new yarn in my Etsy shop and spent the morning taking more pictures of "new" yarns to add. I use a play silk, some pillows, and a patch of sunlight on the bed for my studio. This was my adorable helper today. The Beast, a rainbow dog, and a red lightsaber. Never a dull moment around here.