2015 Fiber Goals

Ravelry and Instagram are the best but everything is limited by context.  I've spent a little time thinking through what I'd like to do this year.  I've read through other crafting lists and accountability seems to be a trend.  This is the best place for all of that.

Knitting

• Stash Knit Down Challenge Goal: Total yardage is negative by 12/31/15
• I really like this idea.  Anything purchased is positive yardage and anything knit up is negative yardage.  The object is to knit more than I purchase throughout the year.  I'm still free to make splurge purchases but this way it happens in moderation.
• KALs: Join in all year long
• These are so much fun so I want to continue joining in as much as possible.  If I can use stash then cool but if not I'm going to buy what I need and just enjoy knitting socially.
• Deep Stash: An archeological dig
• I have purchased some gorgeous yarn and I eventually forget about what I own.  Any new projects will have deep stash items considered first.
• Obligatory Knitting
• I have 2 more baby blankets & 2 more family shawls to go (1 shawl is already on the needles)
• Fun Knitting
• Older Wooly Wonka Fiber kits (mainly Shakespeare) and new patterns as they are released this year for the pattern only subscription
• Knit More with Handspun
• I only knit with handspun twice in 2014 so 2015 should be at lease 4 projects 

Spinning

• Stash Spin Down Challenge Goal: Total ounces are negative by 12/31/15
• Similar to the knitting goal only measured in ounces instead of yardage.  I really need to spin up about 2 bins worth of fiber to make my storage less overflowing.  
• SALs: Join in all year long
• This helps with inspiration as to what to spin next and with having a deadline for motivation to finish it eventually 
• Spin Gifted Fiber
• My parents bought me 3 pounds of BFL that I had Jennifer at Holiday Yarns dye up for me.  I would like to get started on this fiber sometime this year and figure out how I want it spun up after sampling first

Crochet

• Improve Skills & Comfort Level
• I can only do this if I crochet more projects.  I only did 2 last year so I'd like to do at least 4 this year and using handspun preferably. 

That's it.  Nothing major.  Nothing fancy.  I'm going to leave myself a reminder to check in every month or so to see how I'm doing.  It's going to be a fun year.

Lady Bathory Shawl

I had just finished a project and was in that weird period of indecision of what to knit next.  It doesn't happen often.  I ended up grabbing a kit that my parents got me for Christmas last year: Lady Bathory Shawl from Wooly Wonka Fibers. 

It's red fingering weight yarn with black hematite beads and couldn't be more perfect for me.  I am in love with crescent shaped shawls as well.  The pattern was engaging yet very easy to memorize.

My only disappointment was that I didn't have enough yarn.  I had to skip the last pattern repeat and decrease a bit faster but I don't think it affected the over all look of the shawl.  I probably should have paid attention to my gauge but I was lazy.

Because this was a gift to me I'm keeping it for myself.  It's long enough to wrap around my shoulders and not fall off - I'll definitely be wearing this to future festivals.

Splurge!

I've thought about yardage counters and skein winders in the past from time to time but never put much energy into researching them until Spinzilla.  During that week I spun up 13 skeins of yarn and winding all of those by hand on my niddy noddy wasn't fun.  I'm not a commercial dyer or a professional spinner so purchasing a better solution wasn't really a pressing need for me.  After Spinzilla it became a bigger "want" and I figured I'd look into something better eventually.

Well, I came across the Ball and Skein booth at the New England Fiber Festival.  My friend pointed out that they had the Modular Spindles from KCL Woods that I had recently put on my wish list.  Seriously though, such a great idea!  I can't believe someone hasn't done this before.  So practical and beautiful at the same time and I love that celtic whorl design.  While I was checking out the spindles, I saw that the skein winders were being demonstrated.  Such a simple yet sturdy design AND it had a counter include for counting your wraps. 

It was like a light bulb went off in my head.  This was the solution I was looking for!  No more sore arms and shoulders from winding the niddy noddy!  You just wind the yarn from your bobbin onto the skein winder and it counts how many revolutions.  You pre-measure how big the skeins will be and just multiply the number on the counter by how many yards the skein is. 

The one I wanted was called The CrankWinder and cost $175.  I wasn't prepared to spend that at the festival.  We sat down for lunch and I kept thinking "I really want that skein winder".  My friend Melanie sat down with us for lunch and I asked her about it.  She gave a rave review of both the product and the customer service from the company based on personal experience.  That was the final point for me.  I called my husband and asked if he would like to get it for me for Christmas.  He said "just buy it babe and we'll figure it out when you get home".  I ran back to the booth and quickly bought it.  So beautiful:

Look how perfectly it fits in right next to my heavy duty ball winder! 

Here's a side view of the counter:

My last skein was a heavy weight with only 46 turns on the skein winder.  I have it measured out to a 2 yard skein so I just multiply the 46 by 2 to get 92 yards.  It all took about 5 minutes to wind off the skein from the bobbin!  Using my niddy noddy would take around 20-30 minutes of wrapping each skein and even longer for my thinner yarns. 

I am 100% happy with it so far.  I get so excited now when it's time to skein up my handspun because it's fun to do now instead of a chore.  I would absolutely recommend this for any spinner that is looking to upgrade to the next level of tools without getting in too deep.  I can't rave about it enough.

Fiber Weekend Away, Part 3: NEFF

Sunday we had the time change so we were all up early, packed up and ready to go.  We headed over to the New England Fiber Festival and got there right after 9 am when they opened.  The entire festival was inside a huge building.  It was so nice to walk around on level floors and not have to worry about the weather at a festival.  Since I was with friends, we took our time and chatted all day and visited every booth.  We didn't end up leaving until close to 2:30 and while exhausted, it was well worth the trip.

I had some fun shopping and browsing all of the booths.  My first stop was for beads from Bead Biz.  I needed some size 6 beads for future projects and they had a great selection and decent prices:

It's hard to tell but there's 1100 beads per color in that tiny little bag.  I'm going to be knitting with beads a ton moving forward.  I love how it looks.

I didn't buy any yarn at the festival.  Not a huge surprise for me, since I've starting spinning more I've been all about the fiber:

6 ounces of 90% alpaca and 10% camel from Alpaca Obsession

About 4 ounces of targhee from Purdy Thangz

1.3 ounces of silk from Holiday Yarns

4.3 ounces of mixed BFL/silk from Bittersweet

I have been searching for a small Turkish spindle for a couple months now.  I found some great possibilities on Etsy but I wanted to try to buy from someone in person.  I say that the Spunky Eclectic booth had some turkish spindles and when I asked they pulled out the very last one they had in a smaller size.

It's a Jenkins made from Chechen wood and weighs .98 ounces or 28 grams.  I haven't taken the time to try it out yet but I'm saving some of the silk I purchase just for this purpose :)

Overall, I would have to say that NEFF was more enjoyable than Rhinebeck but that may be because I went to NEFF on Sunday and Rhinebeck on Saturday.  This year, NEFF felt like it had lots of vendors for felting, definitely a main theme with many of the booths.  Similar to Webs, I would definitely go again but only if I could connect it to a larger trip with other stops involved.

Next up, my biggest purchase from the festival that was definitely a splurge and then later a handspun knitalong.

Fiber Weekend Away, Part 2: Open House

On Saturday we headed over to New Hampshire to the Northeast Handspinner's Association Open House held at the Lawrence Barn Community Center in Hollis.  The barn was originally located somewhere else.  They numbered all of the wood, disassembled it and rebuilt it on a new location.  It had a great country feel to it with high ceilings and all of the beams showing.  It was a sunny day so we had no problem staying warm and enjoying the light.

The day start with Robin Hansen giving a presentation on "New England Mittens."  She had lots of stories paired with mittens on her how her research developed over the years.  I loved the various personalities that she described with the harsh Maine accents.

After the presentation, we broke for lunch and some shopping.  I bought some copper pressed buttons, some hand painted pins with sheep and hearts on them, and some tussah silk from Cooper Designs:

It was pretty and I need some practice spinning silk so it was an easy purchase decision :)

I also bought 2 of Robin's books.  The first was one I knew I wanted already called Ultimate Mittens: 28 Classic Patterns to Keep You Warm.  There are so many great techniques in this book that I'm seriously thinking about knitting each pair throughout next year.  The second book was for my son called The Ice Harbor Mittens that has a great story for kids on the magic of handmade mittens.  Robin signed both books and personalized the Ice Harbor one for my son.  He loved that!  I didn't realize until later that she was also selling the pattern and yarn as a kit to make a pair of Compass Mittens.  I placed an order for a kit in blue and white and received it already this week.  It's definitely my next social knitting project to get cast on.

The afternoon presentation felt more off the cuff.  Robin demonstrated string stories during her talk entitled "Witches, Whores & Knitting Women" and focused on the mythology (or lack of ) for knitting.  We also discussed knitting stories that have been passed down through the generations.  I found it enjoyable and knit during both sessions.

I enjoyed the day and it really made me want to go to The Gathering in Maine next year.  They recently posted the classes and I'm already working on the logistics for attending.   The cost of membership to the Northeast Handspinner's Association is minimal, I would recommend joining for any spinner looking to learn more about spinning and fiber arts in general.

Fiber Weekend Away, Part 1: Webs

During the first weekend of November, I had the opportunity to go on a fiber road trip with some of my new spinning friends.  We all met through the Golden Fleece Spinner's Society spinning guild which is a great group of ladies to hang out with and learn from.  Of course I forgot to take pictures during the entire weekend but I did grab some later of my purchases.  It was an amazing 3 day weekend so I'm going to break this up into 3 posts.

On Friday we loaded up 2 separate cars and made the trip to Webs.  I was excited because it gets talked up so much as the mecca of yarn shops.  In preparation I took some time to go through my Ravelry queue for larger projects that would benefit from sweater quantities of yarn at a discounted price.  I wrote down the yarn requirements as well as ideas for some spinning fiber and tools just so I would have a list to refer to in case I got overwhelmed (it has happened before). 

We arrived at the shop and it's a completely unassuming building with easy parking.  While I was there, at least 3 people were working the registers, several people work filling web orders while others were walking around helping various customers.  The shop itself is spacious and it was wonderful to see all of the yarns in all of the colors in large quantities.  Webs has sections for books, magazines, tools, notions, buttons and pins.  I was disappointed that the bags weren't easy to find.  I had a couple specific bags that I wanted to check out and I couldn't find them even with the help of one of the employees.  The bags were used more for decoration on the tops of the shelves all throughout the store.  They were pretty but just hard to find.

Right off the bat, I found some Abstract Fiber in targhee which I haven't spun before.  I picked up 8 ounces total in shades of grey and black:

I just love these colors.  I'm very much in a black & grey color phase right now.  The targhee is very soft and I'm looking forward to spinning it.

Next up I wanted to shop from my list and get a cardigan or two of yarn at a good price.  I went out back to the warehouse and just took a look at what they had to offer.  It was mostly heavier weights of yarns and synthetics but you could get some good deals.  On a rack that you walk right by I found the Fyberspates display.  Man, that yarn is awesome and the colors were right up my alley.  I really want to make the Featherweight Cardigan so I snagged 3 skeins of Fyberspates Scrumptious Lace in a dark midnight blue:

I was able to get this for about $60 which is amazing to think of getting a cardigan for so little.  I'm loving this color but I'm not sure how it will look with jeans.  Maybe I'll just need to pick up some lighter colored jeans just for wearing this cardigan once it's knit up :)

I debated for a while on getting some Fyberspates Scrumptious 4-Ply Sport Superwash to make the Vitamin D cardigan because it was such a good deal.  I ended up not getting any because the color I wanted would have been grey.  Wearing grey is easy to do, knitting lots and lots of grey yarn would probably kill me with boredom.

I was pretty much done shopping and felt satisfied with my items but my friends were still going so I took some time to browse through the entire store again.  We had some fun in the warehouse looking through the crazy good deals and trying to figure out what we'd make with the yarn.  My one bargain was a skein of sock yarn that would be good for socks or for mittens if held double:

So maybe it's more of a black, grey and blue phase that I'm in? 

Overall I was very impressed with Webs.  I was treated very nicely during my entire visit and the staff was eager to help me with random questions.  The discounts are amazing and the selection is just not found anywhere else.  If I were to make another trip out that way I would definitely shop for sweater quantities of yarn again - the prices are too good to ignore for high quality yarn - but I don't think I'll be going back anytime soon.  The almost 4 hour road trip was ok as long as it was combined with other stops, I'll share my next stop soon.

Balance

Balance is a tricky little monster and a fickle beast to maintain.  I find myself teetering one way or the other in all aspects of my life and continually search for that magical point where all things work well.

I recently participated in Spinzilla and enjoyed the 1 week focus on spinning.  It helped me burn through a ton of fiber that I had stored for a while and I was able to improve on my ability to spin for singles.  I still have a mountain of handspun to soak and set the twist but overall it was good fun.

I ended up with 13 skeins of handspun totally 4977 yards.  Definitely not the most spun that week but not the least either.

After Spinzilla was over, I took a week off from spinning.  I knew it would come.  Anytime my focus is on one fiber art my mojo suffers.  The week I took off I used to cast on a fun small project and then finish up a couple knitting projects.  I absolutely love this drop stitch cowl that I just finished up today:

If I were to knit this pattern again I would knit it in the round just to avoid seaming.  It's so comfortable to wear and I love the dark and moody colors.

Today my mojo is back and my balance is restored to spinning and knitting each day once again.  I'm happiest when I do both.  I know I get more accomplished when I focus on just one, and I know I'll do that from time to time but my balance in fiber arts is spinning during the day and knitting in the evenings. 

Battling the Stash Monster

I've been sucked into knitting lately like it's going out of style.  I'm casting on multiple projects, joining KALs and buying yarn like I just don't care.  It's been fun.  My spinning mojo hasn't been quite there but I'm ok with that.  I enjoying spinning here and there when I feel like it. 

I've had an overwhelming feeling that I need to scale back my commitments a bit.  I've promised a few large lace shawls to family members with no deadlines but then I added a few deadlines to other projects so that I can get them done in a reasonable amount of time.  I've also been participating in an awesome subscription club through Wooly Wonka Fibers and knitting along with each of the shipments.  I'm a slow knitter so that means my stash is just sitting here waiting patiently for me to give it some attention. 

I've been in denial about that stash for a while now.  Plenty of people have much larger stashes than mine.  I have a great place to store my yarn with even room to grow.  Problem is that I have a ton of gorgeous yarn and I want to knit it all.  I am friends with a few wonderful dyers and my LYS kicks ass with great yarn.  I want to make sure that I keep supporting them but at the same time I need to stop feeling so overwhelmed. 

Taking a year off and knitting from my stash only is a very real possibility but I don't like being strict with myself.  My only splurges in life deal with knitting and spinning, taking those away would just suck.  But I think I need to start having a stash project on the needles at all times.  Maybe instead of 2 WIPs all the time, it could look like this:

Evening Knitting - complicated or big lace projects
Handspun Knitting - this would help with reducing my handspun stash
Stash Knitting - most likely smaller projects to work on during the day

Overlapping with the Handspun and Stash knitting could be projects that are using my LYS yarn for knit nights and/or social knitting projects.  I have no idea where to find the time to get everything done that I would like to avoid going on a stash diet.  Maybe I should just limit any new purchases to those that are from my LYS and not sign up for any new subscription clubs.  I love the Wooly Wonka clubs so much.  I can't decide what I want to do next year.  I could sign up for just 4 projects over the course of the year instead of the full 8 but I want to see what she has planned for themes first before making any decisions. 

There's always festivals and retreats to content with but I've become a more cautious buyer now that I've attended these for several years now.  I've also started matching up patterns quickly as soon as my yarn is entered in Ravelry.  Not sure if that is helping me or not but I do enjoy thinking about all the possibilities. 

After all this thinking and planning, I'd like to just retire and get started.  Oh wait, I still have at least 20 years of work ahead of me . . . so maybe all this stash is just my retirement planning for when I'll be on a fixed income :)

2013 Planning

I didn't have any big goals ready to go for next year so I had to sit down and brainstorm.  I came up with all projects and no techniques to learn.  I believe this means I have evolved from a process person to a project person.  I'm ok with that.  

Events - I'm really looking forward to all of the retreats and festivals next year.  Here's my short list of definite ones:

Roc Day, Ithaca, January 12, 2013
Vogue Knitting Live, NYC, January 18-20, 2013
CNY Fiber Frolic, Baldwinsville, April 13, 2013
Yarn Cupboard Retreat, Jamesville, April 19-21, 2013
CNY Fiber Festival, Bouckville, June 8-9, 2013
Finger Lakes Fiber Arts Festival, Hemlock, September 21-22, 2013
Knitter’s Review Retreat, Canandaigua, November 7-10, 2013

That's a great list but there are still several on the bubble that I'm still considering:

Stringtopia, April 2013
Squam (NH), June 2013?
Southern Adirondack Fiber Festival, Greenwich, October 5 & 6, 2013
NYS Sheep & Wool Festival, Rhinebeck, October 19-20, 2013
SOAR, 2013, St. Charles, Illinois, October 20-26, 2013

Northeast Handspinners Association Open House, New Hampshire, November 2, 2013
Stitches East, Hartford, CT, November 7-10, 2013

 Weaving - I finished up my first weaving project of the weekend and have my second one all warped and ready for weaving.  I'd like to finish up that second scarf and then make 8 place mats (2 separate warps for 4 place mats each).  I have the yarn already and just need to have this finished up before my mother-in-law comes back up north in the spring.  Should be fairly easy to do if I work a little each weekend on the loom.

Spinning - I finally have my groove back so these goals were very easy for me to come up with:

1. Spin at least 1 project each month for the CNY spin-along challenges.
2. Spin up the 2 different fibers (Jagger & Hello Yarn) that I received from the Knitter's Review Retreat stash lounge.
3. Get started on the mystery/Finn blend of roving that I got back from Salt City Fiber Mill
4. Get started on the corriedale fiber that I asked Dana at Unwind Yarn Company to dye up for me.

Those last two are large quantities of fibers so I don't expect to finish them but it would be nice to do some sampling and at least get started.  I'd like to figure out some projects once I get a skein or two done from each.

Knitting -  This was the hardest for me to come up with.  I know I definitely want to do these:

1. Knit along with the Heroines shawl & accessories clubs.  Anne is doing a knit-along and a read-along in her Ravelry group.  If you finish a project within 3 months of the shipment & post pictures then you're entered to win a gift card.  I just love prizes.
2. It took about 2 minutes for me to sign up for Clara Parkes' The Great White Bale project.  I have no idea what the yarn will be like or when it will be shipped so it's just crazy.  I would like to knit up the yarn when it arrives so that I can provide feedback and participate in the chat area she's got set up.  Other than that it's just one big unknown for me next year.
3. I have 2 small lace projects (Levada & Swallowtail) that I promised my mother-in-law I'd knit up for her.  She purchased them and decided that lace isn't her thing.  I'd like to get these done by February when I see her again but April/May would work too if I get swamped.

After those top 3 items I am very scattered.  I will probably just pick projects based on time and complexity involved and how I'm feeling at the moment.  I have a few categories that I'll look at first (in no particular order):

• Gift yarn projects.  I have been given gorgeous yarn and I'd like to finally get some on the needles.
• Yarn Cupboard KALs.  These are just fun.
• Stash lounge yarn.  If I haven't used it by the time the next retreat arrives it will go back to the stash lounge.
• Color work hat kit for my son
• Lace shawls for my female family members that specified what they would like (mainly kits)
• Baby projects for my BFFs baby-to-be.  We should know the baby's sex by the end of this month!

While all that crafting is going on I need to find time to knit up charity mittens as well for the kids up north at NNCS.  My goal for 2013 is to get as many pairs as I can from the stash lounge yarn that I scored.

Oh - and I have a family and a full time job.  Piece of cake, right?  I'm fine with not accomplishing everything.  I just need goals in mind so I can easily pick the next project when it's time and not feel overwhelmed.  It's going to be a good year!

2012 Wrap Up

I'm working on my goals for 2013 so I thought it might be best to review the goals I set for this year and see how I did.  For 2012 I divided everything up into 3 categories: Buy, Make & Learn.

Buy - This was an easy one.  The kits came and I mainly focused on buying spinning fiber and tools.  No problem there at all.  I shop like a champ!

Make - I didn't do so well with this one.  I made the cardigan for my mom and a few Knitspot kits but I didn't make a cardigan for myself.  I have been trying to lose weight so I'm waiting until my measurements are stable before attempting a fitted project for myself.  I did knit lots and lots of projects this year with almost 14,000 yards according to my knit meter stats.  I still have a large wrap on the needles which should be done before the end of the month so that's even more yardage.  My best friend is pregnant so I was willingly sidetracked for several baby projects.

Learn - I had quite the list:

• Steeking - nope but I have a class at Vogue Live in NYC next month to learn this
• Navajo plying - by far the coolest and most satisfying thing I learned to do this year
• Gradient spinning - nope, not sure I want to do this now
• Alpaca fiber spinning - yes! 
• Using a drum carder - nope, don't have the time for this so it will stay in storage
• Woolen spinning - nope but it's still something I want to learn
• Long Draw - Abby Franquemont tried to teach me this quickly and I did practice a little but I need lots more practice.

Some big accomplishments for me this year was purchasing a storage solution that lets my stash stay organized and continue to grow.  I also joined the Golden Fleece Spinner's Society and have made some great spinning friends there.  

I think I almost have a good handle on what my goals will be for next year so stay tuned. 

Finishing Vacation

I normally take the week off for Thanksgiving with my excuse being that I can have time to gear up for the holidays, get the house together for company and get some projects done.  What I actually do is knit or spin like crazy and catch up on my TV shows that started up in the fall. It's one of my favorite vacations of the year.

First up was finishing my shawl from Sivia Harding's class at the Knitter's Review Retreat.  It turned out much better than I expected.  I second guessed every decision I made but overall I think it will be my most versatile item to wear.  It can be a shawl or a scarf or a cowl type thing based on how I feel like wearing it.  Here's a couple horrible pictures of me trying to model it:

A close up of the edging body and top border:

Not bad overall.  I can see how designers end up spending a ton of time swatching.  I could have kept trying ideas over and over again.

Next up was my first hand spun project.  Other people have used my hand spun in knitting or weaving projects but I hadn't tried it out yet.  Probably my inner perfectionist trying to tell me it wasn't good enough.  I grabbed some yarn that I loved and was far from perfect and figured it was time to dive in. 

A close up of the bottom edge:

I used a pattern from Ennea Collective called Posies Shawl that is meant to be knit in hand spun.  I love that.

Overall I'm extremely happy with what I was able to accomplish.  I'm working on a set of color work mittens from my other class at the retreat and they are coming along nicely.  With all of this finishing going I might actually have some time to spin although I am getting another weaving lesson tonight so who knows!

2013 Subscription Clubs

Life has calmed down a bit so I'm going to try to blog more.  Let's see how long that lasts!

I have 2 clubs that I love and I wanted to share.  First up is from Wooly Wonka Fibers.  I have loved her Shakespeare in Lace themed clubs for the past 3 or 4 years.  Her yarns are outstanding and have so much depth.  The patterns introduce me to new designers and I like the different styles.  For 2013 the theme is switching to Heroines and I'm all in.  There's an accessory club with 2 shipments being socks and the other 2 being shawlettes.  The shawl club will have 4 shipments as well.  All the details for the club is in a group thread and she has information on the inspiration for each shipment.  I signed up for both clubs and hope to participate in the knit alongs and read alongs throughout the year.  I am really looking forward to the first shipment and reading the first book!

The second club that I just renewed this morning is from Anne Hanson of KnitSpot.  She has 2 clubs that run for 6 months at a time.  Fall in Full Color is exactly how it sounds with mainly accessory patterns and gorgeous colors.  It runs from August to January.  Bare Naked runs from February to July and has a range of patterns with undyed yarns.  I did a single dose for the first FIFC then double dose for BNK and back to single again for FIFC 2012.  This morning were the early bird sign ups for BNK 2013 and I decided to go pattern only.  Overall I enjoyed the colors more than the undyed and I want the chance to use yarn from my stash.  I'd also love to spin the yarn for a specific pattern so I'm hoping this will prompt me to do so.  I'm going to see how this goes before deciding what to do for FIFC 2013. 

I am not planning to sign up for any more yarn or fiber clubs for next year since I have a lot on my To Do list but I will be open to the idea if something wonderful comes around.  I wanted to share my favorites because these are the one I will continue to sign up probably for years to come!

Re-Org

I have been slowly running out of room for my yarn stash over the last year.  My knitting and purchasing frequency hasn't changed but I'm spinning now and that handspun quickly makes my stash grow.  A while back I tried to shop for a larger cabinet or a companion cabinet for the one I already had with no luck.  Everything was either too expensive or not appropriate for yarn.  I got some suggestions from Ravelry and then waited until I felt I could make a good decision. 

I finally ended up buying some storage cubes from Target and cloth drawers.  My husband convinced me to get 2 so that I'd have room to grow.  I'm very happy that I did.

That middle cabinet is what my original yarn storage consisted of.  It was packed full and finding anything was a challenge.  The two side units are a total of 24 drawers that are wide enough and deep enough to make storing yarn easy.  I spent most of the morning organizing and labeling but the good news is that there are several drawers that are empty!  I was even able to use 3 of them for fiber braids and that allowed me to actually put the lids on my 3 bins storing my fiber stash. 

I still have some work to do but already I'm feeling better.  I was worried that I would forget what was in each bag but I picked up some dry erase board labels that slide on the handles.  This one is my favorite:

Any yarn that I've received as a gift goes in this one so I can prioritize actually using it so that eventually I won't be an ingrate :)

I'm doing the same for subscription clubs, KR Retreat yarn, charity yarns, sweaters, afghans, handspun categories and random sock yarns that don't have projects assigned.  This has freed up the center cabinet shelves but I haven't completely figured out those yet.   I may use these labels at tags in my Ravelry stash eventually.




 Overall I am very happy now that I can organize easily anytime the mood strikes me and I'm grateful to have such gorgeous yarn in my stash.  Now I just need to win the lottery so I can quit my job and just knit & spin all day!

2012 Knitter's Review Retreat Recap

I had an amazing time at the 2012 Knitter's Review Retreat this past weekend.  It was such a great time that I'm really struggling to get back to normal life and work each day.  I didn't take too many pictures but I did just finish uploading my haul into my Ravelry stash.

I checked in and received my goodie bag:

Very cool stuff here and I loved that there were a couple patterns that went with the yarn included.  That bag has a zipper top too which I love.  I gave the book "Extra Yarn" to my son last night and he actually cheered!  We had read it a while back thanks to our library and he loved it - such a nice touch.  I did gift the hot pink Lopi lace weight yarn to another attendee because I didn't think I would actually knit it up knowing how much I dislike Lopi yarns in general.  Everything else I kept. 

For my first class, I took Mary Scott Huff's Sassy Selbu Mittens and not only do I love the project but I love her too. She is a bundle of energy and good vibes crossed with caffeine and crazy fun!  I ended up ripping out what I did in class but I'm so much happier with what I have knit now since it doesn't have my previous mistakes.  Plus, my picot edge kicks ass!

On Saturday, I was in Sivia Harding's Design Your Own Lace Shawlette.  Sivia is so nice and her designs are now some of my favorites.  I'm seriously thinking about her pattern only Mezzaluna Club for lace shawls, really beautiful patterns.  While I know I will never be comfortable designing my own projects I do feel that I have the knowledge to change patterns when needed.  I left her class inspired to make my own shawlette - I'm just not 100% happy with my choices so far.  I'm very close to figuring it out though. 

Saturday afternoon the market place opened and I got 3 braids of Spirit Trail roving and then debated on a knitting bag from Three Bags Full (I ended up buying it on Sunday).  Sunday morning was "yarn church" and I cast on for my "new beginnings" project. 

Every year they have a stash lounge where people bring in items that they no longer want and take items out.  No money is exchanged and anything left over is donated.  My stash lounge haul included some spinning fiber, a silk lace kit and then some yarn for the NNCS mitten campaign.  I hope the items I brought found a nice new home as well!  I ended up using 4 Wegmans bags to bring everything out to my car.  You can see just about everything I brought home with me here.

I don't think I've ever knit so much in a 4 day span before.  Pretty much from 8 am to 10 or 11 pm at night I was knitting or chatting with new friends.  I was in heaven and I hope that I'm able to attend next year.

Last Shot

Last week I took some time to air my fiber stash and took the chance to organize.  I have 3 bins and ended up using 1 for coiled braids, 1 for straight braids and the last for balls and batts.  It's working so far and makes it easy for me to know which bin to look in based on the picture in my Ravelry stash. 

Anyway, the purpose was to find some lovely pieces to bring to the stash lounge for the 2012 Knitter's Review Retreat.  From what I gather, you bring in your lovelies and take someones lovelies home with you without money exchanging hands.  Sounds like fun and I filled a bag with odds and ends that should make someone happy.  Overall I made progress but I came across some shame fiber:

This is otherwise known as Mystery Fiber #5 and has the claim to fame as not only being the oldest fiber in my stash but the one that I got ripped off on.  When I was a new spinner I paid $100 for this without having the slightest clue what it was.  Also, the LYS I bought it from was brand new and probably didn't think to ask me if I knew what it was.  The receipt just says "unspun" - so helpful, right?

I did a burn test and believe it's either nylon or polyester.  The ladies at the Ithaca ROC day last year confirmed that it's synthetic and most likely nylon.  I even tried to spin it by itself and disaster followed because of the extremely short fibers. 

After cleaning out my stash last year I decided to throw it away.  One nagging thing kept me from doing that.  I had met the lady who owns the Salt City Fiber Works and she gave me a tour of her operations this past summer.  If anyone could save this fiber it would be her.  I called and brought it down to see what she thought.  She didn't know what it was either other than it's definitely synthetic (it doesn't behave like typical nylon and the blue color is odd) but suggested blending it with some Finn wool in a gorgeous dark charcoal grey/black color.  We decided on a blend of about 20% mystery fiber and 80% Finn and it should be done in about a week.

I'll have just under 4 pounds of fiber coming my way soon.  Let's just hope it turns out to be awesome fiber and I can eventually find room to store it until it can be spun up!

Preparations

Today I'm working on list making and preparations for this fall.  First up is the Finger Lakes Fiber Arts Festival in Hemlock, NY.  This is by far my favorite festival of the year.  It's big enough to attract some of my favorite vendors and worth several hours of time walking around but small enough where the crowds aren't a factor like with Rhinebeck. 

On my list I have directions just in case my GPS has problems, I made a note to visit the used equipment sale that I've missed in previous years and made notes on yardage requirements for a few projects I have in mind.  I plan to pack a lunch this year (stupid Weight Watchers . . .), bring a small cooler for drinks for the ride and bring plenty of cash for shopping. 

For my own personal benefit I have to have a shopping focus.  If I don't have that I will either buy nothing or buy everything - having done both before it really sucks.  Last year my focus was on spinning fibers.  This year I don't have a driving need for yarn or spinning fibers so I will be on the hunt for unique items like stitch markers, tools, patterns, gift ideas, little spinning wheels, etc.  I will say that if I find something that I love I will buy it on the spot because nothing is worse than riding home in the car wishing that skein of yarn or braid of roving came home with me.  I still think about that skein of yarn at Rhinebeck that was $32 to make a pair of socks and I didn't buy it because I thought it was too expensive.   That kind of regret no longer happens because now I just buy it and if years later I don't want to use it someone else will kindly take it in a destash.

I haven't gotten to what hand knits I'm going to wear but that is the best part.  Depending on the weather I may bring a shawl to wear with a t-shirt.  Festivals are the best places to watch for hand knits and it's completely acceptable to walk up to someone and ask them all about what they have on.  Can't wait!

Knitting 24x7

I can finally admit that the Tour de Fleece was fun but totally sucked away all of my spinning mojo.  I feel a bit guilty every time I look at the half filled bobbin of alpaca sitting on my wheel but I don't care.  I knit and spin to feel good and eventually my spinning mojo will come back.

It actually feels good to knit every night.  I started the Spiral Blanket of Awesomeness and made a ton of progress. 

 The center spiral:

 The transition from Bryn to Donagan in Three Irish Girls Kells Sport (looks better in person):

I had to order some longer cables and they won't be here until Tuesday at the earliest (don't get me started on how slow it took Knit Picks to process and ship my order) so I cast on a new project.  I have a new knitting To Do list called "ingrate" and it includes all of the yarn I have been gifted over the years.  I picked some charcoal alpaca that my Dad bought for me from the 2005 Finger Lakes Fiber Festival but the problem was it didn't have the yardage listed.  I did some math, asked from Ravelry friends for help and then was reminded that I have a yardage counter.  Doh!  Last night I was able to get started on it.

Rhea, a crescent shaped scarf:

That is just the border.  You knit the border first, pick up stitches for the body and then knit short rows to make it curve.  The alpaca really hides the lace but this is going to look amazing once it's blocked, trust me!

I'm going to keep going with this knitting theme until the spinning bug bites me.  Hopefully I can put a dent in my stash before the fall festivals arrive :)

Results Are In!

Just a quick recap before my house wakes up and gets crazy:

1. Notifications are mailed out on whether or not my items entered in the NYS Fair placed.

Boo-Yaa!  All 5 entries were accepted and I received 2nd place for lace, 4th for afghan and honorable mentions for knitted accessory and my 2 handspun submissions!  I am so pleased.

2. Notifications are emailed out on whether or not I got in to the 2012 Knitter's Review Retreat

Boo-Yaa (#2)!  At 9:27 pm last night I got word that I have a confirmed spot at this year's retreat!  I will be taking Mary Scott Huff's Sassy Selbu Mittens workshop and Sivia Harding's Design Your Own Sideways-Knit Shawlette workshop. I'm very excited for this but a little nervous too because I've never been to this retreat before.



3. The August pattern for the Fall in Full Color knitspot subscription club is released

Without spoiling too much this month's release is pretty damn cool.  The pattern will eventually be shared here and the yarn is perfect for someone in my family.  I've already got it set aside as future gift knitting.



4. My husband flies home after a week long business trip in Texas

He got in about 10 minutes late but no complaints here.  It's great to have him back and no work trips for a while.

5. Family that I haven't seen in forever are getting in late Friday night

They made it here with no issues other than running into a butt-load (yes, that's a technical term) of construction traffic.  So glad to be able to spend time with them this week.


6. It's my last day of work before a week long vacation

Ahhh.  9 days of no work.  I am so loving this already!


 Last night I went to bed thinking about everything that happened in one day.  It was just an amazing day and I am so thankful.  

One Day To Go

There is so much happening tomorrow, August 17th:

1. Notifications are mailed out on whether or not my items entered in the NYS Fair placed.
2. Notifications are emailed out on whether or not I got in to the 2012 Knitter's Review Retreat
3. The August pattern for the Fall in Full Color knitspot subscription club is released
4. My husband flies home after a week long business trip in Texas
5. Family that I haven't seen in forever are getting in late Friday night
6. It's my last day of work before a week long vacation

I am going to distract myself by diving into work during the day and getting back to work on the final parts of the cardigan tonight.  The problem is I keep getting further distracted by gorgeous yarn that came home with me yesterday:

That amazing yarn is going to eventually become a Spiral Blanket of Awesomeness and I'm just itching to get started!  I can understand why people come down with cases of start-itus.  I am so there.  Thankfully my To Do list is shouting at me louder with due dates so . . . first finish the cardigan, knit up some mitts, then I can dive into spiral blanket of awesomeness.  It's so hard being responsible.

Deadlines Force Progress

Will all of the event based crafting behind me I'm now able to focus on some of my deadline projects.  I loved how Tour de Fleece and Ravellenics are so goal orientated and let me focus solely on what I want to do because for most of the year I'm working on my To Do list.  My list is completely organic and as soon as I cross a few items off I usually re-write the list again.  It's not a looming thing, it's an organizational thing.  There is just so much I want to knit and spin that if I didn't have a list to refer to I would become very overwhelmed.  The best part is that I already have all of my Christmas knitting projects done.  Boo-yaa!

After taking Sandi Wiseheart's class on knitting sweaters that fit at the retreat in March my big goal for this year was to do exactly that.  My Mom was a willing participant and has allowed me to measure her several times throughout this process.  We picked out the cardigan pattern together and shopped for the yarn during the Yarn Cupboard's Black Friday sale last year.  Here birthday is September 3rd and I should have plenty of time to get it done by then.  I've got all the pieces done and they're blocking/drying on my spare bed right now:

It's taking a while to dry and while I could have probably just thrown it in the dryer for a few minutes I decided to let it lay so I could knit another small project:

While I was waiting for my Ravellenics medals I read the description for the "single skein sprint" and realized that I had too much yarn leftover to really qualify for it.  I weighed the first hat and then my leftover yarn so I could make sure I had enough for a second hat.  I had more than enough so I made a matching hat for my husband by adding 2 stitches to each DPN and an extra pattern repeat.  I had only a yard or two of yarn left so I feel much better now about the whole thing.






Tonight while my cardigan pieces are still drying I'm planning to spin some alpaca on my wheel.  I haven't had a whole lot of luck with alpaca in the past so this is definitely going to be a learning experience for me and an exercise in patience!