Life in pictures

Things have been rough around here. Emotional crap and losing faith in my own abilities. This is me not wanting to complain - have some pictures instead.


Sweater for the Imp's birthday. Ravelry notes here.


Two months worth of Phat Fiber sample tags. So much stamping.


Feral mama cat. We're at our wits end with these cats. They aren't adjusting and we can't keep them locked up much longer. We can't get them fixed if we can't touch them to get them into a cat box. It's.. ugh. It's part of the frustration.


Finally finished spinning for the Nerd-along with Hobbledehoy. Ravelry notes here.

Madness.

I'm fairly certain that all of my kids are going through some kind of.. phase. I keep telling myself that they will be calm at some point. They'll stop screaming about everything. Things will "normalize" - whatever that is.

I haven't had the emotional/mental energy to blog. Nothing *bad* is going on. Just the everyday life of three boys. Which is enough, believe me.

Here's what I've been doing when *not* tearing my hair out:


This is a spin along (spin-a-long? I just don't know) from Hobbledehoy. I've started spinning it as a fine single to be chain plied. Mine is the 4th Doctor's Scarf colorway.


I've been making rolags! These aren't great looking, but they're only attempts two and three. Unlike the ones I pulled from the drum carder, these are skinny and long. How am I making them if not on the drum carder, you ask? (Okay, I know you didn't ask.)


B and I finally made a blending board! I've been obsessively thinking about, plotting, and planning this thing. It didn't work out quite how I'd wanted - the keel is majorly hacked. But it works! I wish we'd put the cloth another inch or so from the end and cut the board shorter. But these things are doable, though not high on the list.


This is one of the Elf's birthday gifts. It's my attempt at a intarsia/woven stranded hybrid. It's knit entirely from handspun. Not perfect, but I'm proud. I'm also making him some small crocheted Spartans (not historical but rather from Halo) but couldn't be bothered to take pictures.

In addition, I've been dyeing for the shop. I posted a large (for me) update today. And here's the admission, I've been spending more time than I should playing Borderlands. We finished all the DLC yesterday and started Borderlands 2. Yes, it's an addiction.

Oops

It would seem that I've been neglecting this blog. Here's a smattering of pictures to prove that I haven't been slacking elsewhere, too.


Muddy Rainbows - TdF13 spinning.


Super Heroes and Villains (from the Phat Fiber boxes) - TdF13 spinning.


Batt carding, spinning, and the Beast - more TdF13 stuff.


Campfire batt


Rainbow roving


Larger version of my Phat Fiber contribution this month - Sun Dappled

I've also dyed a mess of things in the last few days, but I haven't edited the pictures yet. Basically I've been wool obsessed (shocked, aren't you?) for the most part. We're working on the Elf's homeschool evaluation, the Imp's amazing transition out of diapers, and all the usual Summer craziness.

Tdf13 day 3

Today's spinning:

"Good Red Dirt" by Three Waters Farm
"G-Man Gideon Graves" by Luthvarian Fiber Arts
"Spike" by Hilltop Cloud
"Drawn to be Bad" by All for Love of Yarn
"Absolute Zero" by The Dyeing Arts
100% alpaca by NorthStarAlpacas
"Detective Superintendent Hannasyde of Scotland Yard" by Bitsy Knits
50% baby alpaca 50% fine moorit wool by Catawampus Farms

Tdf13 day 2

Last night I ended up spinning more. "Long Hair Loki" and "The Dark World" by Things Liz Makes and and unnamed bit of top by All for Love of Yarn.

Today I've spun "Hexadecimal" by Llady Llama Fiber Co., "The End of Rorschach" by Luthvarian Fiber Arts, "Psychedelic Powers" by Alma Park Alpacas,"Hero 2" by Shades of Light, "Regina" by Kitty Mine Crafts, "The Doctor" by Inglenook Fibers, and "Wonder Woman" by Six Fingered Kitty.



We finally got Mama Cat and her three kittens into the house today. They're scared but contained. In the next day or two we'll get them to the vet. Mama may need to be a spay-and-release. She's *really* not thrilled about being inside.

Tour de Fleece

So, I did it. I joined the Phat Fiber Tour de Fleece team. For those of you who don't know what that is, here's my understanding: While the people in the Tour de France ride, we spin. Not all day, though. The goal is to spin every day that they ride and to do something difficult on their challenging day. I know nothing about bike races. And honestly, I don't care. But an excuse to definitely spin every day? I'm all for that.



I'm spinning my samples from the last two Phat Fiber boxes (super heroes and villains). I'm having the boys pick (from youngest to oldest) which sample I spin. So far it's been "Storm" by Fiber Faire, "The Man of Steel" by Woodland Hills Alpaca, and "Joker" by Hello Purl.



And how could I resist a picture of one of my cute helpers?

Otherwise it's been a stormy, stormy day and we've been trying to coax a feral mama cat and her three kittens into the house.

Friday + Wool

This was Friday for my youngest:





With everything I've done since then, I feel like taking a nap, too. Here's what I've been up to:


I spun this from a gorgeous batt by Hobbledehoy. I have honestly never enjoyed my wheel as much as I did while spinning this. It was nothing less than perfection.


"Cable" plying. So. Much. Work. Never again.


Corriedale rainbow.


Superwash BFL Princess.


Superwash BFL Hawk.


Polwarth Flame.

I've added all of these (minus the first yarn - that one's mine!) to my Etsy Shop.

Phat FIber

I've made a last minute contribution to this month's Phat Fiber box. The theme is villains and I will admit that I took a bit of poetic license.



My villain/antagonists/bad guys are: White Witch, mirelurks, Trixie, and the vague idea of djinn) as bad guys in fantasy novels (but I preferred the word ifrit).


All packaged and ready to mail, which I did this morning. Whee!

Weekend.

My cranky old man thinks he's a box of food, apparently. He spent more than half an hour sitting there.


My dye experiment (inspired by this). I used Jacquard acid dyes in not-quite-primary colors. It's an imperfect experiment but it gives me a good idea of how to get certain colors.


Spinning! Yay! I've been spinning like.. a dervish.


This was a lace/cobweb that I chain plied. I think it's gorgeous.


My Black Cat batt. The locks I used were crap. My step mother gave me an ancient package of locks meant for doll hair or crafting or something. But it's what I had. I managed to get a few tips to show through. If (and that's a big if) I list it in my Etsy shop it'll go under a new heading "Handpun Yarn - Experiments" and be deeply discounted.


Another experiment. This was my Master Chief batt. I spun it up all crazy and then coil/plied around an unknown golden fiber (some people think it might be linen, others think it may just be acrylic). It's crazy. I still have half of the yarn left over (not coiled). My core yarn kept falling apart or getting terribly overspun. How do people deal with that? Clearly I'm doing something wrong.

Not sure what I'll do with the rest of my Sunday. Finish carding my Promethean batt maybe. Or spin the gorgeous art batt that B bought me. Whatever it is, I expect it'll be woolly.

Otherwise occupied.

What have I been doing? Well, lots of things - most of them far from my blog.

I carded this batt (I really hope the curly locks stay curly) based on this super hero.


This is the side that I think of as the inside - not on the top of the carder when I'm carding.


The top side.


Rolled up and pretty. It's wool, mohair, and bamboo.


Can you see how busy we've been? This is the Beast. He's four feet away from me in this exact pose right now.


I'm almost done with this roving. I really enjoyed spinning the first half (it's already been plied). This second half has taken *forever* to spin. I have about fifteen inches of roving left (what's hanging from the tension knob in the picture). Then it has to sit for a few days before I ply it. Whew.

I have another bobbin to ply and then I'm have to decide if I want to spin my Master Chief batt, my Promethean batt (which actually isn't finished yet), or my Black Cat batt. Or.. or.. or.. yeah. Such problems I have, right? Well, to be honest, I'm using wool to distract myself from the fact that our oven is broken and has been for about a week. With luck (and $200+) it will be fixed tomorrow. I also had to take the dog to the vet yesterday ($200+ for allergy meds, shots, and flea meds) and the Elf to the asthma specialist ($70+ for the doctor and medication). Right. Look at my fluffy fiber stash! It's so shiny..

Spinning

I've fallen quiet again. I find that I have nothing to post about. We're having the usual homeschool fight - still trying to find our groove. It's practically summer here in Florida and it's hard to think through the heat (though I'm grateful for the sunshine after a week of rain and clouds). What's a stressed mama to do? Spin, of course!


Currently on my bobbin is this. I'm spinning probably lace weight here. I'm thinking about plying it but haven't made a decision yet.


This is the roving that is being spun above. I dyed this quite some time ago.


I spun this mostly over the weekend at the farm. It's near lace weight as well but I think I'm not going to ply it. It reminds me of Calcifer from Howl's Moving Castle - which is what I'll probably name it. (Aside: we have a cat named Calcifer - this yarn is nothing like her. And that tickles me.)


50% merino, 30% bamboo, 20% tussah silk. Scrumptious, in a word. I've been waiting on the arrival of my new toy to ply this.


Do you see this? It's my new, beloved toy. Dervish will soon be outfitted with a jumbo flyer! Score! Of course, I need to finish the blue yarn off before I assemble it. But here it is, freshly polished with beeswax. I'm so excited!

Weekend

In and around preparations for the Beast's third birthday (a week from Monday) I've been.. dun dun duuuuun! Messing with fiber. What a shock, right?


This is a huge wheel of wool. I put my glasses on top to show the size of it. It's also a bit more blue than the image is showing.


My Autumn roving. Or.. my.. Autumnesque roving.


This is the Cheetarah yarn I blogged about here. I think it looks great reskeined, though the hints of brown are hard to see. Also, I've been working on tags for my yarns in an effort to make it look more presentable.


This is older yarn, reskeined and tagged. I love this color so very much.


I blogged about this yarn here. I decided to overdye it a darker green. I'm happier with it now.

I've been reading a lot and playing Bioshock Infinite. This week is going to be super busy. B is taking next week off and there are two birthdays to plan for - the Beast's on the 29th and B's on the 5th. The beast wants a "brownie cake" and B is going to get apple pie, cheddar baked olives and possibly a breakfast with bacon. I'm also going to try my hand at pickling garlic. But for now it's 11:53 pm and I really ought to be in bed.

This week.

How I've been spending my free time:


Carding fiber: 50% merino, 30% bamboo, and 20% tussah silk.


This is around 250 grams all carded and ready to spin.


More commercially dyed wool. This is a black 85% wool, 15% mohair mixed with bits of white. Familiar with Lamb's Pride by Brown Sheep? This is their roving.


These are also Lamb's Pride. I spun this as thin as I could and then chain plied it. I have another bobbin's worth to ply. I think it'll end up being at least 13 ounces of yarn. Wow!


This is the 50% local alpaca, 40% wool, 10% tussah silk that I posted about before. I dyed it with onion skins (and alum mordant). I have to say that I'm less than thrilled with the color. I was expecting.. something else. So I'm left to decide two things: over dye? leave as a single or ply it? I'm having major decision making problems lately.