Dizzy Yet?

the Mellon Shawl is blocked and needs pics. the Shetland Tea Shawl is coming along--so much that i think i don't like the Madiera Diamond portion and am contemplating ripping out 15 rows of 574 stitches to do something different--eek! not that i'm afraid or anything...i ain't scared of no lace!

since the Homespun Yarn Party, i have been obsessed with spinning laceweight on my spindle. its all i can think about--finding the perfectly dyed roving, hoping to experiment with different scanning the internet for spindles carved by old men from woods the gods would covet, reading and reading and reading, drooling over Miss Alice Faye's absolutely stunning handspun yarn that she skillfully crafts into exquisite pieces of lace. if i can spin a smidge as well as what i've seen, then i'll be giddy.

everything i have learned so far, i have learned on my own...never been one for hand holding. of course, with wonderful crafters all over the internet, it makes learning so much easier. with that said, here's what i've been spinning along with the goat angora:


my photo skills are horrible but this is a pretty good representation of the colors. roving is from Hello Yarn 2-3oz bag of leftovers (feels like BFL but could be Corriedale)from Adrian Bizilia's dye club (i'm still on the waiting list to get in!)She's a wonderful fiber artist and is the person who introduced me to spinning. She was so kind to steer me towards really good sources to get me started.


here's what the roving looks spun up. i pre-drafted the roving into long strips, in keeping with the dye pattern. they look like this:


most of my learning has been from a SpinOff booklet on spindle spinning, so i think i focus more on results than technique.


as i've mentioned before, i'm a fairly thin spinner--anything above fingering weight and things get uneven and scary. in this pic, the needle is a size US1 just to show the thinness. i've ordered some lighter spindles--in the .4-.6oz range--one from Greensleeves and two from Butterfly Girl Designs and some roving from Woolarina. my mind says, "if i spin this thin now, imagine how much thinner it will be when the lighterweight spindles arrive?"

Mental note: Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival is coming up REAL soon!


along with the spinning and the knitting, i've been doing a lot of cooking--trying to come up with really good vegetarian dishes. dishes that will become staples in the home. in a forum that i participate in, we decided to have our own little Iron Chef competiton. the main ingredient? eggs. here's what i made:

Omelette with Roasted Vegetables, Carmalized Onions and Guyere Cheese


this is sort of a 'morning after' dish. its a great way to use up leftover veggies. for the meat eaters, try beef, pork, shrimp, lobster...for a vegan version, prepare as a tofu scramble with soy cheese.

Ingredients

3 eggs
buttermilk
EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
herb de provence (blend of rosemary, thyme, marjoram)
1 small yellow onion
guyere cheese (can substitute swiss or provolone)
roasted vegetables--fennel bulbs (anise), red, yellow, green and orange bell peppers, baby potatoes (red or gold is fine)

Roasted Veggies

cut fennel bulb into quarters and all other veggies into 1-2inch chunks. place in mixing bowl and drizzle olive on veggies. liberally add herbs de provence, a bit of salt and peppers. you want to season well, but not over do it. toss until veggies are well coated with the oil and herbs. roast in oven at 350 degrees until tender.

Onion

slice one small onion and seperate rings. saute in olive oil and very lightly season with salt and pepper. cook until tender and golden brown. set aside.


Egg mixture

pretty self explanatory. beat eggs in mixing bowl and add a small splash or two of buttermilk. you don't want it too runny--just enough to add a bit of richness. pour mixture into nonstick pan. add roasted veggies and shredded cheese in center.

when done, add onions on top and enjoy!

Crowds and Fiber and Knitters, Oh My!

this weekend, Sue and Diedrick--two wonderful ladies at Knit and Stitch = Bliss in Bethesda, MD--convinced me (as if i REALLY needed convincing)to ride out to Savage, MD to go to the second annual Homespun Yarn Party. the party was held in a large section in what looked like an old mill. a beautiful rustic building with LOADS of antique shops (of which we've vowed to make a second trip). but today it was all about the the fiber and the knitters. speaking of knitters, i got to meet the ABSOLUTELY delightful CiCi and CajTalk of the blog Sistahs That Knit. lots of indie dyers, some alpaca and sheep farmers, and lots of painted sock yarn. actually, most of the inventory there was sock yarn. me? since this was a last minute trip, i kept it simple and got two of each:



the colors are natural and the vendor had it listed as goat angora. it is absolutely scrumptious, and sooo soft. i've only spun dyed/painted Corriedale and Blue-faced Leicester wool, which is nice and pretty easy to spin. once i got home and got comfy, i started spinning right away and:



this is the dark roving. once spun, it has a lovely rustic look and you can see the variations of color in the fiber. i'm getting a solid single ply equivalent to a 2ply laceweight like Knitpicks Shadow. as i'm still a fairly new spinner, i plan to knit a single ply swatch and see how it looks. not sure if i will ply this. i may keep it as a singly ply because i really like the thickness i have now. if i ply it, it may be a little thicker than what i want--unless i pick up a lighter weight spindle to spin thinner. i spin pretty thin as it is...even with plying, i've only gotten heavy fingering to sport weight. once i try to spin thicker, i somehow lose consistency. go figger.

i've finished the edging on the Mellon Shawl and just need to block it. my focus will then be on finishing the Shetland Tea Shawl--i'm on round 13 of the Madeira Diamond chart--23 more rounds to go before the edging!

Unpacking, mistakes, and humility

as i get settled into my little space here, i'll try my best to post photos of the projects i'm working on. matter o' fact, here's one that has me a bit stumped. it's originally a vintage doily pattern by Marianne Kinzel--Valentine Doily. it has a star-like center with a ring of hearts on mesh. i decided to take the Kinzel pattern and use the Elizabeth Zimmerman Pi theory to turn a 12-inch doily into a 72-inch shawl. i got thru the doily pattern with no problems. the doily pattern ended with 342 stitches so i increased to 350 and then k3 rounds (k=knit). i then plugged in the horseshoe lace pattern (Barbara Walker's First Treasury, pg.209) and got into 3 pattern repeats. somehow, on the final repeat, the stitches aren't adding up. i am short a stitch and can't find the mistake. i planed to do 3 pattern repeats and then do a proper increase round to 700 stitches and continue the pattern, but now, i'm sooooooo disgusted with myself (yeah, i left out the lifeline) that i can't bear to look at it right now. plus, tinking back will take quite some time with the Cashwool as its very clingy. so what looked like this:

is now sitting, untouched like this:

so i set it down and moved on to this:

and got up to 576 stitches with no lifeline, only to realize that i may have screwed up again. so i set it down to mull it over and started this:

which, ironically, is the exact same pattern, just in silk. i'm at 288 stitches, and yes, there is a mistake-but i can fix this one. just tink back one round and move my marker over one stitchthis is not a difficult pattern. i have learned that i'm just a difficult person. so i now beg the deities of knitting for forgiveness and i will sew in the lifeline right away.....i promise.

at this point, i am considering tinking back to the end of the doily pattern and starting over. i could just knit the whole thing over again (more like me) or i could let it taunt me, over and over.