Wonderful Wacky Wednesday

Despite the fact that it's been over a week since I posted again (whoops), today is a good day. My girls are home, which makes them very happy. Their school was closed due to illness. I guess yesterday, there were 12 teachers sick and over 100 students. Wow. Everyone stay home and get better, (and quit breathing your icky germs on each other) k?
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We are in another nasty weather pattern. Warm yesterday with rain, which transformed during the night to FREEZING temps, nasty winds, and blowing and drifting snow. The roads are a mess and there are tons of schools closed for weather too. NOT my favorite kind of weather, but I didn't have to go to work right? Bonus! (I would show you a picture, but it looks mostly the same as last time, but with blowing snow.)
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On to the goodies! Handspun! The real thing. Woot!

My own yarn. I did all the spinning myself. Can ya tell I am a little proud? This is before washing.

And here, on my spiffy new niddy noddy. (My kids think that word is so funny.)

Do these look okay? (Be kind.) If you think they're really horrible, don't tell me.

The first skein is 156 grams/about 410 yds. The smaller one is 74 grams/220 yds. I have no clue what I will make with them, but I am just geeked that I can make something with actual YARN that I made myself.

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I have been working on another pair of Thumbelina socks. These are for Cath, in her Monterey yarn. This stuff knits up beautifully. Fast too! Sometimes it's so fun to knit a fast pair. This sock only took two days, and a lot of that time I had major distractions. Parker was home sick, doing some spinning, charting a new pattern.....yeah, I've been a little busy.

Forgive me for trying them on Cath. They look so much better on a foot. I really didn't want to take it off. They're so soft! (How fast can you dye me some Vino in this yarn hehe?)

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I think these will be very comfortable. I hope she enjoys wearing them as much as I am enjoying knitting them for her. I am almost finished writing the pattern for these. It seems like I have been working on it forever. Oh well, that's how some of them go.

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Brodie has been enjoying having us home so much. With the kids sick and the weather forcing us to stay home more, he loves all the attention.....and nap time.

Yesterday he chose the vacuum hose. Dork.

Winter Wonderland?

I'm not sure how wonderful THIS is. Wow, are we getting dumped on! Since the beginning of the weekend, I think we have had about 16 inches of snow here.

The kids were thrilled. School was cancelled. Bonus! I decided to use the day to catch up on some laundry, email and work on a sock. (Not the grey ones, ugh, I am still not done with those.)

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I also finished another little project today. A neckwarmer to match my fingerless mitts.

I took my What-knot scarf pattern and made a shorter version, crocheted on an edging and used a one-of-a-kind handmade button to finish it off. I think it will be perfect!

I will not ever confess how much I spent on the button, but it was so perfect with the yarn that I couldn't pass it up. Plus I am supporting an artisan who works hard to make something very special, which is good for both of us, right?

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Brodie says "take it easy everyone".

Who needs Martha?

Not me. I have my very own "good things".

First up the Regia socks. I am really not enjoying knitting these at all, but the good thing is that I am to the heel flap on the second sock. At least I can see the end in sight right?

The dark yarn is NOT FUN people, but I really want a pair of dark socks to wear with black, so I will press on. Even if it kills me. Ugh.

Good thing #2:

I have been playing with lace again. Ahhh...I could knit lace forever.

It's a scarf pattern I have been working on, and this is my swatch. More info later on this. It's being test knitted now. Yay!

My next good thing is more designing. I have been playing with some sock ideas and finally I think I might have one that could work. I did some swatching and ripping yesterday, but I hope the ripping part is over (at least for this design).

As you can see, I'm not very far yet though. Keep your fingers crossed for me, k?

And finally........I saved the best for last. I have been spinning again! I missed it a lot. I finally hauled out the wheel and got a little bit done. I even attended a new spinning meeting this week and it was exactly what I needed to get inspired to spin again.

I have another bobbin started too, but I think I may have been overspinning a little on the second one. I think I like to treadle fast, so I will have to make some adjustments to prevent it. I am still learning all this stuff about tension, ratios etc. I truly am clueless. I hope the ladies at the spinning group can help me learn, and I think I might call Beth and schedule a lesson or two when I can work out a time to get to her shop.

So there Martha! Ha!

Sneak over

The contest is over. The winners have been chosen. The secrets of the sneak can now be revealed.

I love contests and I love comments. I especially like regular comments. Hence the sneak factor. I chose the first winner from PREVIOUS commenters. I snuck back to the post BEFORE the contest post, went to the random number generator, and chose a winner from there. It picked #1 for me.

The first winner is KNITERELLA! Congrats! Thanks for commenting and I will try to get a prize out to you soon. Please email me (link in the sidebar), or contact me on ravelry with your mailing information.

Now for the rest of you.......I didn't want to be completely evil and leave you out. I can be a lurker (I hate that word lol - sounds so creepy) on some blogs too. I comment very regularly on quite a few, but some I am guilty of lurking on. I really enjoyed seeing who is out there reading, even if you don't comment every time. So....even though I did not get to my hope of 40 commenters, I am going to give a 2nd prize anyway. Without telling her why, I asked my friend Cath to pick a number from 1-33. She chose 23. Well, CHRIS was commenter #23. So she is the 2nd winner. Same for you Chris, send me your info and I will get something to you soon.

Thanks for playing along everyone! I hope to see more of you regularly! (bwahahahaha!)

Sneaky contest

Did that get your attention? Did your ears perk up? Are you ready for free fibery stuff?

Ok, earlier I mentioned a contest. I have finally decided on how I want to do it. I will warn you....it is sneaky. It won't be run in a traditional way, but in a sneaky way. I am also keeping the prize a secret. I love surprises so that's why I am doing it this way. All will be revealed when the contest closes on Sunday night. I will announce the winner then, or on Monday morning. (I'm covering myself here, in case my brain refuses to remember this on Sunday.)

I am hoping this brings some of you lurkers out of the closet. I know a lot more people read this blog than I hear from in the comments. I am hoping that I get to hear from a few more of them! As part of the sneakiness (is that a word?), I have a number in my head. If I reach this number of comments, I will increase the prizes. So leave a comment and good luck!

First FO of 2008

Well, it's only the first week in January and I have already finished something! YAY!

Yesterday I quickly whipped out a pair of fingerless mitts for myself. I have had this yarn in the stash for a while (leftovers from my What-knot scarf), and it was much too pretty to waste. Alex claimed my Fetchings for herself, leaving me without. Plus I used stash yarn. 2 goals met!

Speaking of goals, I have been making lists for myself again this year. This is my way of staying on track. I do so much better with a list to work from. I tell ya, my memory sucks! I mean REALLY sucks. If I don't write it down, I WILL forget. Just ask my kids.

The weather is crazy here. Yesterday it was almost 60 degrees! 60!!! It's January. In MICHIGAN! Weird.

This is the view out my window this morning. Just makes ya want to knit all day on that sock doesn't it?

Brodie thinks it's a good day for napping.

What a life. If dogs could knit, I think I might like to be a dog for a day.