Yarn Talk

Remember that yarn I was talking about spinning a while back? It's done! Probably... And it's insane. Technicolor rainbow yarn and tons of it. The whole ball is as big as.. like... a really big grapefruit... or something like that.

Norel was over a few days ago and saw the mostly-completed stuff and got very concerned that I was going to make some sort of rainbow article of clothing that I would wear around. It took a couple minutes to assure her that the product of this silly yarn (slipper socks) will not be leaving my apartment.

Miles and Miles

A while back I made some yarn. It was blue wool that I Navajo-plied and I thought it was pretty and I posted about it here.
But this yarn just sat and sat and I tried knitting some mitts but they were kind of itchy and looked weird... So I sent the yarn to Pluckyfluff to be a part of the giant skein of handspun yarn in her Handspun Revolution show in Norway. Videos are being posted to show the progress of the project and it's crazy! So many people donated yarn. An estimated 10.5 miles of yarn. All of it hand-spun. So neat!

Spring!

All I can think about these days is warmer weather, dresses, sandals, sunglasses, ice cream cones... and uh... wool.

I've been spending a lot of time in Central Park, especially by the Harlem Meer and in the Conservatory Garden. It's all really incredible right now.

I've also been working on turning this big box of fluffy stuff (the Phatfiber March box) into sock yarn. I almost can't believe I'm spinning sock yarn. I used to tell myself that I would never knit socks. I just thought they were too silly, too expensive, too time consuming. But I felt like I had to try it just once.... And they didn't turn out quite right so I had to try again. And I love wearing my hand-knit socks (they are really are comfy).

So, I guess I've come to terms with liking to knit socks.... But taking hours to spin wool into a ton of yarn and then hours and hours to knit the yarn and then in the end all you've got is a pair of silly looking socks? Yes. That's exactly what I'm doing. And for some reason... I really like it.

My Estelle

I'm knitting my first sweater! Well, it's my first adult sweater. The first one that I really really intend to finish...

It's the Estelle by Linden Heflin and it's available on Ravelry here. The cardigan is knit in one piece from the top down. I feel like it has just the right amount of lace at the neckline and then the body is all mindless stockinette stitch. Also, the yarn (Araucania Nature Wool) was on sale for half-off so I only spent about $30 for the materials!

I know it's silly to be working on a wool sweater that I'll finish when it's hot outside but well... that's just how it worked out.

Knit Amazingness

This video has been on quite a few blogs already but if you haven't seen it yet... well, you really should watch it.

happy easter!

Fun Stuff

Walking around my neighborhood this afternoon I spotted a new addition to the scenery.

These guys:

They kind of look like a mom and baby to me.... There was another one too and I'm excited by the thought that I might encounter more in the future.

Another nice thing I noticed is that some bulbs I planted in the fall (and totally forgot about) are peeking out of the soil! They're some tulip bulbs that the Conservatory Garden was giving away at the end of summer. Can't wait to see what color they'll be...

And lastly, I'm making apple crisp today. And this makes me very happy. I use Martha's recipe. The only changes I make are that I don't use lemon juice because I don't feel like buying it and I don't peel the apples. It takes so long to peel 3 pounds of apples and I'm a big girl, I can eat apples with the peel on.