I love lists!

As promised, a boring list of active WiPs. I might get fancy-pants and eventually do this on Ravelry, but I'm not holding my breath. Keep in mind, these are just projects that I'm actively working on. There are a bunch of things that have been benched for various and asundry reasons. These are in no particular order.

- Grey & Black sheep One-in-all - 6 mo size. One leg and one foot done. Mostly parked for the moment, as I'm doing a modified version and knitting the same thing in different colours at the same time would drive me insane.
- Multi-colour fish hat. Only the tail, fins and eyes are left. This is my WoW knitting, but I've not been playing much lately, so it's stagnated. Stagnant fish, eww.
- Crocheted baby duck blanket. This is about 1/3 done in terms of crochet, and needs all of the embroidery to be done. I occasionally poke at this due to my sister really wanting it for the nephew Smurf, but making the same blanket more than once is tedious business, even if it's been a couple of years.
- Seekrit modified version of the one-in-all and matching hat. The main portion is about 2/3 of the way done, and the hat basically has just been started. This is in the 6 mo size, and I've been informed the nephew is growing like a weed, so I need to pick this bastardly thing back up again and finish it off, or it'll never get done.
- Pink & blue chunky braid scarf. I think this is about 1/2 way done, as I've only got one skein, and when it's gone, I'm done.
- 1x1 rib stripe'y scarf that is normally done in Noro, but I'm an infidel and using something else that doesn't offend my "This is really expensive, but itchy" sensibilities. Hey, more for those of you who like Noro!
- Sproing'y socks in my hand-dyed green/blue/purple colourway. One is done, the other is just past the gusset. These are my most active knitting, as the pattern is stupidly easy to memorize.

Hey, that's only 7! As long as you don't look at my dyeing, spinning and weaving habits, that's almost reasonable! :)

Oh, hey, a blog!

A tragically neglected blog! Sorry about that.

There were a couple of weeks in ND that involved a bit of knitting (made a pair of socks for my dad, got a pair requested from my mother, worked on The Baby Project, and knit on another pair of socks that I'm still pokin' at), a bit of spindling, but mostly socialization and sickness. These things happen.

Once we got back, I had a couple of weeks of solid funk that didn't leave me terribly creative. That has now passed! Yay! The previously mentioned socks are around the heel, and slowly creeping down the foot. I went on a yarn crawl with HappyGoth yesterday that was a heckuva lot of fun. It was fabulous, especially since it followed directly on the heels of a Christmas Day spent drinking and fibre geeking with my lovely sister-in-law. Plots are in place for more visitation, as we always have a smashing time together. (And that goes for both of them; hooray for having friends to geek with!)

I've been back in front of my spinning wheel. Though my PT hasn't been fantastic, and has often left me exhausted and in a lot of pain for days on end, there is one excellent result: I can spin with both feet again. Woo-fuckin'-hoo! About damn time, I've been spinning with one foot for the last umpteen months, and that's just sub-optimal on a double treadle design.

I've also started dyeing fibre. A Lot. I ordered a ridiculous amount of fluff that should be arriving in a couple of days. As Darcy happens to have good connections, I'm also getting my hot little hands on a drum carder. My house continues to devolve into the Den 'o Fibre, and so long as Daven keeps being supportive (which he is, amazingly so. Love love love!), I'll keep on rolling along, embracing my crazy. :)

One thing that I need, however, is accountability. I tried this a while ago with Ravelry, and that got messed up when I moved. I'll try to get a running tally of projects updated in the very near future so that I can know what I've got on the needles already before casting on another forty Neat New Things. We'll see how that goes.

I'm crafting, honest!

Mental note: do not hit enter when in the Title, or it posts. Stupid interface.

Anyway!

I know I've been very quiet during my recovery time, with just the occasional jackass post from some horror that I've found on Ravelry. Fret not; I am also making with the creation process.

As HappyGoth found out for her birthday, I had evil plots involving neon coloured roving. Now that the gift has been delivered, I can make little happy noises. I admit, this didn't turn out quite as I wanted it to be; you can really tell the difference between the two bobbins in the colour changes, and it really fluffed out a lot when it was washed, but it's soft and petable, so I'll count it as a win. I've mostly spun very tightly thus far, I wanted to try something a little different. Of course, I'm a bit short-bus in that I decided to give that a go on some superwash, but with the amount of mohair in the blend, I couldn't resist letting it fluff a bit.

I'm currently spinning this, which I have plans for, if it works as intended.

Aside from the spinning (I only got back in front of the wheel yesterday), I've been knitting, of course.

My post-surgical knitting was an all-garter stitch extravaganza blanket wherein you change colours every row. It's a good way to use up a lot of crappy acrylic that I'll never use otherwise. It's also a fine project for those who are totally flying on Vicodin. Just sayin'. (Daven got to be amused at my tendency to fall asleep halfway through a row, and when I'd wake up, keep knitting like I'd not had a little nap. Drugs are fascinating.)

I started a onesie (Gah, is that right? Should that be "an"? That sounds horrid.) for the nephew, when my sister made the tactical error accepting "Smurfling" as a nickname for him. Ho ho! I'm totally re-knitting the onesie as a Smurf onesie instead, stopping at the neckline and knitting a seperate little hat. I just need to find/figure out a Smurf hat. I'm leaning towards using a Santa hat and making it more bloopy on the end and less pointed. It's pretty darn close.

I also have a knitting project dedicated entirely to working on when playing WoW, specifically during flights. (Alright, it's accompanied me to a couple of doctors visits, but not been worked on much there.) It's growing at an alarming rate, letting you know how much I've been playing WoW. What can I say; I'm a gimp, and when one's body fails you, you have to have some outlet for frustration. Killing murlocs fills that void. One can knit only so much.

Oh, and since I was terribly excited about the loom and then entirely silent about it afterwards, here's why: It got too easy. No, really. I was too efficient. So, after doing a length of straight weaving (albeit in stripes) long enough for a small rug, I blocked off some room for edging and started another rug. This one should be challenging enough, though I'm to the portion of the pattern where I only have 4 active shuttles instead of 5. Pish. I think it's turning out alright, for the first time I've ever done colour changes in weaving. Really, what it's all about is being pleased with your own work, and I am at this point. Yay for makin' stuff!

Aww.

More like Roadkill Dragon. (Again, non-ravelry users are SOL. It's sad, though.)

Dear gods.

Do want. DO WANT!

Wow. I'm going to have to buy that. And maybe the other similar shawl pattern she has. Just amazing!

This is normal, right?

I love my loom. I also love my husband for letting me turn our living room into a den of fibre.

We swapped out the leather cords for the new plastic coated metal ones yesterday (with a little bit of a learning curve, but we figured it out). The warp was what came on the loom when we bought it, and though it's old (I had one thread snap, but I was able to work it back in later), it's so damn freeing to be able to do whatever I want with it. This is a bit of sampler type work, though I've settled into a nice herringbone pattern that pleases me greatly. The basket of wool was from some friends who picked up a bunch of needlepoint wool and gave it to me. It was a bit too itchy to knit with, but it's perfect for weaving!

I know that I'll probably be griping later on about setting up the warp, but being able to just weave is such a gift. I'd forgotten how quickly it goes when you're just workin' away.

Glee!

*sigh*

So. Wierd. Friggin' knitters.

I feel like Father Christmas roughed me up.

I was spinning this. It's lovely, but I've never spun anything with angelina before. It sheds like a mad thing, and now I'm covered with glittery stuff. You know the icicle stuff that you use (or maybe used to use...I haven't done it in a while) when decorating a Christmas tree? This is like that, but with a hideous pervasiveness that I was unprepared for. I was even being a good little spinner and using my drop cloth. (IE, folded in half pillowcase.) And yet, it kind of exploded everywhere, like an elf...er...I'll refrain from my usual comparison, but I'm sure there must be a shot for that sort of thing.

I have a feeling that I'm going to be spinning random sparklies into my yarn for the foreseeable future. At least it's cheerful.

What in the everliving hell...

It is knitters who make things like this that give us all a bad name.

If you don't have a Ravelry account, you won't be able to see it. Be glad.

Clinging to the good is important when the bad gets overwhelming.

My new (to me) loom. Except for the fact the one in the link has 6 treadles, and mine only has 4, due to it being...er...38 years old. I'm replacing the cables for the harnesses, as one has broken (old leather cording), and I might as well bring them all up to spec. The folks we bought the loom from were snazzy as hell, dropping $50 from the buy price due to the broken cable and the lack of a crank. Daven has Plans for it, and until such a time as he has time to implement said plans, the website has this to say:

For the older looms where the shafts taper to a four sided point we recommend using vice grips or replacing your beams. We are sorry but that handle company went out of business years ago and the handles are no longer available.

Not a problem. We have vice grips.

The woman who owned the loom before me bought it before she became a mother (her children are all grown and out of the house, and they're looking at retirement), and was describing to me how they were living in KY. She had taken a weaving and natural dyeing class, and was inspired by the whole earth-mother deal. I couldn't help but grin, as her dreams of old sound terribly familiar.

Aside from the aforementioned bits that are getting replaced, the loom is in great shape. Some things, I wouldn't want an older model, but for something like this...if it's made it 38 years, it probably has quite a few more in it. :)

She kindly threw in the warping board for free, as well. Score!

I'm so looking forward to playing with my new toy. Just need the new bits to arrive!

It came with some warping on it, so I can skip that process to begin with. Yay!