Topflappen Swappen!

The end of April means potholder swap! This past Saturday was swap day - which included a drive out to snowy western MA - and many many potholders:



Maryse, Cheryl, and I were hosted by Adrian to sort and divvy ~500 potholders. And eat delicious food and laugh, of course.



I managed to come home with lots of great potholders, but also a vicious sinus infection/cold, which left me pretty useless and crabby for a few days. I only had enough energy and concentration to work on mindless things, which was perfect for getting a few more (loooong) rows in on this giant granny square afghan:



This is all sorts of odds and ends of handspun yarn and assorted worsted weight bundles. There's a lot of Cascade 220 leftovers, ends of handspun projects (some are fingering-weight or so, I've been using them doubled up), and things that I've picked up and collected along the way. It's slow going, but I figure it's a great way to deal with some of the ends and miscellany that accumulates around here.

I also finally - FINALLY! - cleared off all of the bobbins. My final bobbin was about 1/4 full of a sweater lot of SCF "Alexandria" in Cheviot wool:



I filled up 4 bobbins and managed to get about 1100 yards of 2-ply out of it. It's quite plump, and has a great drape. I'm debating sweater patterns currently, but I hope to have something completed with this by this next autumn. We'll see. I still need to finish this:



...my "Coventry" sweater. I'm on the second sleeve, but not very far into it. I'm hoping to finish up the sleeve in the next week or two and join up for the yoke portion. This sweater also features a keyhole scarf neck, which is REALLY going to be the pits. My tolerance for scarf knitting is very very very low!!!

I'm trying to stay focused and not wildly cast-on for 264362 projects (which is what I really want to do) - MUST. FINISH. SWEATER! And work on giant granny afghan a bit, too.

It's That Time Again!

POTHOLDERS!!!!!

Get your crochet hooks out! Adrian, Maryse and I will be hosting the THIRD Annual Potholder Swap!

Here's what I got last year:


Here's what I made:


I'm excited to expand on my crochet skills, and maybe come up with a new design.

Interested in joining us? It's easy! There's some extra time to get things in to us this time around (April 16th). This swap is so great because you don't even have to sign up to be a part of it - just send your stuff in! All of the information can be found in the Ravelry Group, or, if you are not on Rav, in our Flickr Group. Please join us! We can't wait to see what you make!

Aim High

I'm aiming high this year for the Ravelympics. That there is the yoke portion of my "Pallid" Bohus-inspired sweater. I'm hoping to complete the colorwork portion this evening. I've tried this on twice so far, and both times it fit wonderfully - why do I insist on doubting my math? It's MATH, I should TRUST it. I should trust IT more than I trust MYSELF.

Anyway - the sweater. I'm using my handspun HelloYarn "Pallid", and I split out the colors of 4 ounces of the fiber. I added a little bit of mohair before carding it, in hopes of replicating the fuzziness of the original Bohus sweaters (they used angora). I'm knitting this on US2 needles, and I'm making up the pattern as I go along. Soon it'll be straight stitch forever.



It's potholder swap time again, as well! Adrian, Maritza, Maryse and I are hosting the 2010 Potholder Swap. The rules, should you want to participate, can be found here. In awesome swap-admin fashion, I have no idea of what I'm going to make, and probably will end up sampling things until a week before they are due!



And hey! I put more yarn in my shop! Go go go get it while it's hot!

I Finished Something

I finished this the night I got back from Minneapolis, but I just got around to blocking it out this week:



That's my "Future George Washington" Textured Shawlette. The yarn is my own handspun - a 3-ply from batts from Enchanted Knoll Farms. The yarn is so freakin' sparkly! The pictures really don't capture how much glitz and glam are in there! These are a combination of Superwash Merino, Silk, Recycled Sari Silk, and SPARKLE. I was unsure of just what to knit with it. I decided to pack it up for travel knitting, and needing somethign mindless for the plane, ended up with the Textured Shawl recipe. The whole thing took no time at all, it's about 24" down the back, and it's quite soft. Fast, easy, mindless knitting. :)

I also received these today:



These are from the hot pads! and potholders! swap organized by the lovely Adrian and Maritza! I had a blast crocheting mine (and even learned to crochet) and it was wonderful to receive these and see everyone else's handiwork. These were made by (clockwise from left) Susan, Kate, deadkat, Donna, and Wendy G. They are all so wonderful - I love the variety of patterns, the colors, the yarns. I'm thrilled!

There has also been a bit of forcing summer to appear:



For those of you NOT in the Boston area, it's been rainy and grey and cold for....well, most of June so far. And about 60 degrees or so. I made this salad last night - crisp, cool, refreshing, and delicious - perfect for summer! It's prosciutto, buffalo mozzarella, fresh basil, some capers, sea salt, and a splash of balsamic vinegar. Delicious and easy.

Maybe Now I Can Get Some Things Done

Ambling through deadline projects:



These are my 5 - count 'em, FIVE - potholders for the hot pads! and potholders! swap 2009. These puppies are made out of leftover/repurposed Debbie Bliss Cotton DK and Handknit Cotton, from a project started long ago, before I knew that I hated knitting with cotton. Glad to have a use for it now!

I joined this swap not really knowing how to crochet. I mean, I knew how to crochet, but really just enough to do 1. granny squares, and 2. finishing on any knitting. That's about all. But NOW! I probably went through about 22 different patterns before settling on this one - it's the Old-Fashioned Potholder pattern (Rav link), and it was fast! And easy to memorize.

These guys are hearty - the double-thick with DK yarn makes them pretty hard-core.

I took a jaunt out to the Massachusetts Sheep & Wool Festival over Memorial Day weekend, where I visited briefly with Amy and Adrian. There were antics, of course:



...and I managed to not purchase everything. Picked up some spices, a bundle or two from Fantom Fibers, and 2 very lovely soft blue batts. The real damage was on the way home - it was the last day of the WEBS sale, and boy howdy do they know how to have a sale. I picked up the Cascade 220 (color 2409!) that I have been drooling over for about 2 years:



I have no idea what it is going to be.....

In other news:
- just finished up a secret project, pictures soon.
- I'll be heading out to Minneapolis in 2 weeks!
- I need to get back to spinning!
- My plants are looking good!
- I'm teaching for 2 weeks in June - Non-Adhesive Bookbinding & Cloth Case Bookbinding.