I don’t know if any of you who read my blog are interested, but I started writing a Twilight fanfiction.  It’s called A Different Direction. <– Follow that link to read. :D

So, I have this Grafton Batt…

I started to spin it a couple days ago, and now I have about two thirds of a bobbin filled with it.  The fiber doesn’t look shiny, but it really is!  Just look at this picture of the yarn!

There’s only wool in there.  No sparkle fiber, no glitter.  The corriedale is just… naturally shiny. :)  I like it.  The fiber is so smooth that it sparkles in the light!

Enough about the shinyness of the fiber, now look at the actual yarn!  This is one of the smoothest, most even yarns that I’ve spun.  I haven’t measured the wraps per inch of it yet, but I’m guessing it’s somewhere around fingering or sport weight.  This yarn will be left as singles when I finish spinning. it.  The singles are slightly overtwisted.  I’ve seen a lot of things knitted with overtwisted singles, and I wanted to give it a try myself.  So, here’s what I’m doing. :)

The batt seemed to go on forever when I unrolled it.  It is The.  Biggest.  Batt.  That.  I.  Have.  Ever.  Seen.  Seriously.  Biggest batt ever.  The thing was about a yard square.  But it’s spinning pretty fast, I have around a third spun.

What I did to spin the yarn was this.  First, I stripped the batt into strips about 2-3 inches wide.  Then I pre-drafted each strip just a tiny bit to straighten out the fibers a little more.  I wanted to spin the yarn worsted style.  So, that’s what I did.  starting at one end of a strip, I spun the fiber with short backward draft.  And I just kept spinning and spinning and spinning and spinning and…

And the color!  It’s so pretty!  It’s different shades of blue and black carded together into the batt.  The bright blue is shinier than the rest of the colors.  And the black really makes the yarn look pretty.  I think it evens out the brighter colors a little. :)

Um… I don’t know… We just need pictures of yarn! :)

Dream in Color Smooshy

Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock

GGH Tajmahal

Noro Silk Garden

Right now I’m without power.  There was an ice storm last night that covered everything in ice.  A few trees around here fell down.  No power and ice might not be too great, but icy trees make wonderful pictures!  This morning, after I ate breakfast, the first thing I did was go outside to take some pictures. :)  All of these are from our yard.

Wow.  It’s been a while, hasn’t it?  Well, I have some things to tell you about that happened… in the time my blog was… neglected. :|

Thing the First: I never finished my NaNoWriMo novel.  I stopped at just under 25,000 words on the 15th of November.  The novel will get finished, but I won’t be working on it until at least January.  I need a break from writing… and I got stuck in my plot.

Thing the Second: I started reading Twilight (you know, the book about vampires :D) and saw the movie twice.  It was a great movie!  I also read New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn.  Those books are so fast to read.  Really, I finished Twilight in only two or three days! (Finished it the day before the movie actually)  Anyway, the books are really good.  You people should read them. :)  Oh, and for you Twilight fans, my favorite part of the movie was the baseball scene. :)  And I like the movie soundtrack. :D

Thing the Third: Knitting!  You know that Tilited Duster that I started knitting a few weeks ago?  I have the back, right front, and left front finished.  The sleeves will be started soon.  I’m knitting the whole thing mostly according to the pattern, but there are a few modifications that I plan on doing.  First, I will be knitting the sleeves in the round up until I have to shape the sleeve caps, because I hate seaming.  Hate it.  Hate it, hate it, hate it!  Second, I’m not using the recommended yarn.  This is hardly a modification because I almost never use the same yarn as the pattern says to use, but I thought I would mention it anyway.  The yarn I am using is a discontinued wool from Rio De La Plata yarn called Three Ply Thread.  I really wish it wasn’t discontinued.  I love the yarn.  Almost like a… a combination of Malabrigo and Cascade 220.  It’s so soft, almost rivaling Malabrigo, but it feels so strong and smooth like Cascade 220.  Best.  Yarn.  Ever. :)  When I started knitting, I expected the yarn to knit like a worsted weight, but it isn’t.  It’s a lot closer to aran or heavy worsted.  I was a little worried about the gauge, but it’s knitting up perfectly now.  Here’s some pictures that I took of it.  And yes, I did drag out my light box for them. :)

Thing the Fourth: More knitting, actually.  I got my issue of Spin Off Magazine a little while ago.  One of the things in it was about knitting with unspun wool.  Handcarded rolags actually.  There was a pattern for a lace baby hat that of course, I had no use for.  But on the next page, there was a picture of this adult size fair isle tam using .75 ounces of Shetland wool.  Really?  Only .75 ounces?!?  The tam was so pretty, but there was no pattern for it.  I searched Ravelry, looking for a similar pattern.  There was nothing.  Very disappointed, I found a pattern for a Lace Tam and Scarf set.  Okay, this would work.  I opened up the PDF and printed it.  I walked to my fiber cabinet and found some Columbia wool roving from the New Hampshire Sheep and Wool earlier this year.  That would work.  It was bouncy, fluffy, and still seemed sheepy, despite being washed before carding.  And it was this pretty chocolate brown color.  Soooo pretty!  I pulled out my wool carders and got started.  I carded three tiny rolags (the magazine said smaller sizes work better) and cast on.  Right now, I’m only about 8 rows into it.  Knitting with unspun fiber goes veeeerrrry slowly. :P

Thing the Fifth: This is actually old news… really old… a couple months old. :) I finished spinning that BFL roving from Spunky Eclectic.  This roving. It ended up being sport or DK weight, too thick for the fingering weight sweater that I wanted to make.  And I only have just over 350 yards, not the 450-500 that I needed.  Oh well, It’s still pretty and I can make something out of it.  I think the color looks even nicer when it’s spun.  Can’t wait to see what it looks like knitted up!

Thing the Sixth: Newer news, but still kinda old.  I spun some yarn out of a Corriedale wool batt that I bought at a Webs sale earlier this year.  First, I blended it with a little silk noil on my hand carders.  I wanted to spin the fiber so it would look somewhat like Manos wool yarn.  I think I succeeded in that, but I’ve never actually bought any Manos, just looked at it in stores.  Tell me what you think, oh Manos experts.  :) I have about 160 yards of it.  It actually seems a little softer than Manos (the reason I never actually bought any) but it looks pretty close to me.  But it has a little silk noil in it.

Thing the Seventh: Versatility!  I started this quite a while ago, but ran out of yarn.  I’m running a knitalong on Ravelry for the pattern.  I’m using two skeins of Malabrigo Worsted in the VAA colorway.  Less than halfway through the scarf, I finished my first ball of yarn, so I knew there wouldn’t be enough to finish.  I’m going to wait until I can find some somewhat matching Malabrigo to finish it. :(

I think that’s everything!  I’ll try to keep up with my blog now.  I haven’t even read a blog in weeks! (Getting back to that now, actually…)

I was at my LYS yesterday for a HUGE sale.  The store is moving to a smaller place down the street because rent costs so much money.  At the old store, they have a small upstairs section about the size of a small room with all of their sale yarn.  It used to be 25% off the regular price, which was pretty good if there was a nice yarn.  But yesterday was the last day at the old store.  Most of the yarn was already moved to the new store, but the sale loft wasn’t.  So, the sale loft was 75% off for one day only, and of course, I had to go.  I spent almost $100 on yarn.  And bought enough for two sweaters and a few small projects. :D  Some of the books were on sale for $5 too!  I bought three.  All by Jane Ellison.  And I didn’t even notice that until I got home!

Tons of yarn.  This is what I bought.

8 skeins of Rio De La Plata Yarns Three Ply Thread – Kettle Dyed

2 skeins of Misti Alpaca Lace

1 skein of GGH Tajmahal

1 skein of Misti Alpaca Chunky

12 skeins of Mirasol Yarn Cotanani

2 skeins of Malabrigo Silky Merino

2 skeins of Reynolds Rapture

3 skeins of Trendsetter Yarns Super Kid Seta

2 skeins of Mirasol Yarn Cotanani (being mailed to someone :D)

And today I made a light box with foam board!  (EDIT:  I’ve been asked about how I made the light box.  Here’s the tutorial I used.  Not my idea. LOL)That’s what I used to take all of these pictures.  I like it.  I already started knitting a Tilted Duster with the Rio De La Plata yarn.  Here’s a picture of that too.

50,000 words in 30 days.  I’m going to try.  I’ve already written 2,316 today!  My novel is called Dreamblade.  I’m probably going to post it her when I finish, but for now, I’ll post my Prologue.  Hope you like it!

Dreamblade – Prologue

Long ago, the prince of Arenta requested a silver knife with bright red garnets will be made. Little did he know, the reject would be the key to the world. One local knife maker was chosen to make the silver knife. He worked for days and days, perfecting every little detail. Late at night on the 9^th day of working at the knife, a palace guard walked by the knife shop window and saw a mysterious glow coming from the prince’s nearly finished knife. Slowly and unsurely, he crept up to the window and peeked in. The knife really was glowing, but the guard kept this a secret. He walked away, and never told anyone of what he saw through the window that night.

The next day, the knife maker dropped the prince’s new weapon on the floor when his carving blade slipped. A small chip came off of the silver, but the knife maker decided to give the knife to the prince anyway. He carefully placed the knife into a small gold-leaf covered box and padded it with velvet fabric. The prince would be proud, he thought.

But, of course, he was wrong. The first thing noticed by the prince after opening the box was the little chip on the edge of the handle. He threw it against the wall in disgust and demanded that another knife be made from the beginning. The knife maker was depressed for days as he created the new knife, but he never realized what he had created with the first knife that would be left for 100 years.

Yes!!!  I was just at Dollar Tree, looking for a bangle so I could knit some to cover them, and there was a small section of yarn.  Mostly Fun Fur, but there was some Lion Brand Incredible.  I usually don’t buy Lion Brand, but most ribbon yarn is nylon anyway, and this was only $1!!  I bought two balls.  I have no idea what to make, though. Ideas?

I haz a new pattern!  Acadia, a lovely soft angora neckwarmer, is the perfect fall accessory.  It only uses 60 yards of worsted/ aran weight yarn too!  It’s free, so just click the download link, or the link to the Ravelry page to get the pattern.  Hope you all like it! :D

Acadia

Yarn: Malabrigo Yarn Angora – 1 skein “Velvet Grapes” (60yd/ 50gm)

Needles: US10.5 24″ circular needle

Gauge: 3.5 sts/inch

I was at Rhinebeck last Saturday!  It was so much fun!  I got yarn!  I got fiber!  I got more yarn!  I met Ravelers!  I went to a Ravelry party!  It was so. awesome. :D

First of all, Small Bob.  The Small Bob.  Like, the one in Casey’s pocket. :D

There’s a funny conversation that goes along with this picture:

Me: Small Bob!  Can I take a pictue of Small Bob?

Casey: Just Small Bob?

Me: Yeah!

Casey: Okay…

I take the picture. :D

This is from the Ravelry meetup at 12:00!

While at the meetup, I asked Mary-Heather, Jess, and Casey to sign my Rav bag.  They did, and it’s awesome. :D  Here it is.

Thhheeennnn, I bought some yarn.  Lots of it.  And took a picture of a sheep.  And a chicken. :D

That night, I went to the Ravelry party!  There were cupcakes with Ravelry and Bob on them!  I was talking to MH, Jess, and Casey a little bit before I left, because we had to go home.  They’re pretty awesome people! :D

This was what was in the bags that were given away!  Yarn! Pattern! Coupons! Sticker!

Now, for the best part! The yarn! Here it is.  All of it.  Whether you like it or not. :D

An 8 ounce bag of Cormo wool fiber

2 ounces of “party in a bag” fiber

A corriedale Grafton Fiber batt!

4 ounces of unbleached tussah silk fiber

8 ounces bleached tussah silk

A flax strick- this is already being spun!

Socks That Rock Lightweight mill end

A skein of STR “Loch Ness”

BMFA button

Brooks Farm Yarn Solo Silk

82 yards fingering handspun angora

600 yard skein of merino/tencel cobweb weight lace yarn (that’s a quarter in the second pic) I’m making a Zetor Scarf with it!

2 50 yard skeins of angora/merino yarn

.3 ounces hand-plucked agouti angora fiber from “Peter”

A cotton fiber sampler

3 270 yard skeins blue/green/gray rayon sportweight yarn

Last weekend was SO awesome!  Oh, that free neckwarmer pattern.  It’s still coming, I just need to take pictures. :)