Joy oh Joy

No matter what say below. Bronson is the true JOY in my life! And who can blame me? Look at those baby blues!

Firstly I want to post a pic of my Christmas gift to myself. It was evident I was never going to knit thru my stash and therefore John was never going to buy me a new wheel. I have been "trying" them out and the minute I sat behind this wheel at Birkeland Bros I knew it was going to be mine. Sure I've tried other wheels and the Ashford Traveller came awful close...but the Joy it was. John had no trouble encouraging me either considering he wasn't paying for it!

I've been busy doing the proverbial Christmas knitting. 4 pairs of Fleece Artist "Soft Mittens" They are made with one strand of DK BFL and 1 Strand of Fleece Artist Mo. Very, very nice. Quick and easy too! Here is one pair. This is in the colorway Earth - this photo doesn't do it justice. You can't beat the Fleece Artist's Colorways.

These are Malibrigo worsted weight mittens. I bought the Malibrigo as I have heard so much about it and had never worked with it. I don't usually use worsted weight. But it is nice and soft and knits up quickly using a pattern from Anne Budd's Book of Knitting Patterns.

Some regular- and inexpensive, when compared to the others- worsted in Turquoise and Cream. Knit from Anna Zilboorg Magnificent Mittens. I like knitting mittens with pattern. I just didn't have time to do them all in pattern. Still even though they are probably the cheapest they're my favorite. (John hates the color but I like it!)

These are Fleece Artist Woolie Silk in Hercules Colorway.

Fleece artist again. Cashlana and Peter Rabbit in Rose. These are gorgeous in real life. Soft and fuzzy. Very pretty. These are my next favorite next to the color work pair2 pairs of socks, the Ice Queen (from this months Knitty) for the girls from work. We did the Christmas exchange on the 13th so I didn't get the pics done, considering I just finished blocked the Ice Queen on the AM of the 13th. Darn though, she was a beauty. Easy too. IT was obviously meant to be as for whatever reason when I ordered the yarn from Loopy Ewe for my Modern Quilt Wrap for whatever reason I ordered 2 balls of Kid Silk Haze in Heavenly. Huh! Grace was looking down on me!

I've spun up some stuff I've had around that I had initially bought for the spindle, including Merino from Spunky Eclectic, and some stuff from Lisa Souza (both gorgeous roving's or really tops) I was told when I was spindling that I should use the best stuff I could afford even for practice and you know I think that is good advise. SO I still have about 4 bumps left in my fiber holder and I just ordered MORE from a couple of sellers on Etsy. CJ Kopec Creations and Dragonfire. I love etsy. Just can't keep away. I found both of these sellers thru one of the spinning groups on Ravelry. (Also love Ravelry)

I was so disappointed as I spun up POPSICLE colorway and it was so pretty. But - here you go newbie mistake, when I plied it I plied in the same direction that I had spun the roving! Shucks. I tried to reply it in the opposite direction, however I lost my love for it and I know I'll never knit it. I can barely stand to look at it. (It isn't balanced and even though I wet set it to set the twist it still has a slight wave in it!)

Anyway all I want to do is spin, spin, spin, however life keeps getting in the way! I bought the wheel then I had to do all those mitts etc for work so squeezed some spinning in between life and knitting, now when I have finished all the Christmas knitting my mother asks me about Gwen.! So now I'm knitting Gwen and not spinning! ARGH! If you are going to knit something for your mother it is best you don't tell her or else she'll hold you accountable.

Mom has wanted a red cabled sweater for ions. I started doing one for her last year, thinking I was going to give it to her for her birthday in Nov 2006. Of course Nov 2007 has passed and she still doesn't have it. I realized that may be a lost cause, but discovered Gwen and thought I could do it in the Louet Gems sport weight in red and it is a shell and therefore quick and easy (no sleeves you know). I last knit on it on Nov 4, 2007! However I was crazy enough to tell my mother I was making it and even sent her a picture. Now she wants it and is holding my nose to the grindstone.

I picked it up last knit and unfortunatly I wasn't as far as I thought I was. Only about 4 inches done and have to do 13 before I can start some armhole shaping! Eeek! Oh well. I'll knit only it for a bit and hopefully will get it done fairly quickly so I can spin. My youngest son has gone to Cranbrook for the Christmas Holidays and Rebecca, Bronson and Pierce won't be here until the 26th or so. I took vacation from Dec 27 to Jan 7 and really planned on having some "me" time as John goes back to work on the 26th too. So hopefully I won't have the red cables holding me back from spinning. (oh I wish I had bought her slippers from LLBean like I did for my Dad and his wife!)