What's on your needles?

Must be the cooler temps -- or just being in one place for over a week looking at the stash -- but I got busy and started several projects so if I get bored with one, I can pick up another. Or, if I mess up one, I can work on another while I stew about how to fix it. Unfortunately they all need to be on a size 7 needle. So I have to share, or place an order.

First up is the Bison Shawlette. Probably something I'd never actually wear outside the adobe, but I'm using my hand-dyed, handspun Merino superwash 2-ply in the reptilian green. Everyone seemed to go gaga over the color when I was spinning it (over the course of six months maybe?). The color was sort of a happy accident: I mixed a blue and yellow. The Emerald Forest. Dinosaurs. Call it what you will, someday it will get finished, but right now I'm off a stitch so it's sitting there waiting for me to pick it up when the TV isn't on. Working from a chart, thanks Donny for the lesson on how to do that. Believe it or not, it is easier than working from a written pattern (once you know how).

Bison Shawlette. Size 7's.

Next up are the llama cabled fingerless mitts. I had a scarf made out of this and it was so scratchy I couldn't wear it, so I ripped it out and started these instead. I think I got this at a quilt show years ago while visiting Durango. One more to go.

Llama mitts - still need to add that thumb

Then there's the Fairhope sweater, using store-bought Cascade 220. A somewhat simple sweater in double moss stitch, tho I manage to get confused now and then, but coming along fine. Sometimes it gets a bit boring so I switch around. I have another one for a turquoise Cascade 220 but haven't started it yet -- because it needs size 7's.

Fairhope Sweater - size 7's

Got some "B&B" socks going -- Braid and Basketweave, that is. One of my fave yarns for socks, Regia 6. A good small project to take along places (this went to the North Rim), so it just HAD to have this recycled kimono bag from a local store to carry it in. I'm finding most of us knitters are also avid BAG LADIES. You can't have enough cool bags. Could be a problem...

I'm not crazy about the fiesta colors, but hey, it was on sale.

the bitchin' kimono bag, perfect for the sock project

So ok, now to the fun one: The GATOR SCARF! For Aunt V by request (after showing it to her that is -- been looking for an excuse to make it.) She chose orange and guess what -- Cascade 220 has orange! There are other commercial yarn in the world, but I am mysteriously drawn to it for some reason. Good solid colors I guess (I'm not too into variegated). Anyway, um, size 7's... good thing I have interchangeable needles and cables so one project can wait, needle-less. Did the head last night and can't wait to start his back bumps tonight. What cool table runner this could be for a football party (if I liked football). How did someone come up with these K3tog's to make nose and eye bumps I don't know. cool!

Go Gators.

Here's one I just finished last night: A cowl neck warmer, made of handspun (by me) 75% hand-dyed Silk (not by me) and 25% angora (bunny!). SO soft. Found the pattern on line, used #9 needles and tried to make it loose and lacy. I think this will be warm for a walk outside, and I'm pretty sure I'll be picking angora fur out of my lipstick. Here it is laid out for blocking; you wet it down (I sprayed it rather than immerse; might have made a blob) to set the stitches and it looks better. (It's dry here so it looks good, see? won't get any better, in case  you're wondering-- this is it!) Then it will be in a wad around my neck so who cares anyway. Got two skeins of this at the Estes Wool Market last June and spun away.

A good easy mindless project to take on Knit Nights Monday and Wednesdays.

One I forgot to photograph is a crochet scarf, second time making it. The first was cashmere, nice, but this one is alpaca. Store bought yarn, but it was lace and too thin, so I plied two skeins together on my wheel to get it a little heavier, but it's still lacy. I'll shoot that next time. Only about 6 rows into it.

So there you have it. What happened in October. Tomorrow we Wild Woolly Spinners of the West will meet in Bayfield with our wheels, followed by lunch at Tequila's. Now that's what makes the fiber world fun.

Rainy Monday

Happy Fall! My kitchen ornament casts a shadow. Does this mean one more month of fall, or go directly to winter?

Happy Halloween! Joan Rivers on E's Fashion Police said (odd) colored nail polish is HOT so I tried turquoise. The weird thing is... I kinda like it. Matches my jewelry. Hmm, what color next....

Finally finished spindle-spinning a large batch of superwash merino roving I've had on hand for over a year. Behind the spindle in the sink are a few other little skeins of it soaking to help "set the spin" as it dries. I always took this on the road and would spin at our various camps, usually sitting on the end of the picnic table. I dyed this bright yellow (not realizing how bright it would be), and was thinking of overdying it to tone it down -- but now I have some colorful hand-dyed silk we did at our spinning gathering so I think I will ply it to that. That's the thought thus far anyway.

Waterfront property: This is our new reservoir Lake Nighthorse. Tho several miles away, I can see it from the doorway of my new shed. If I stand in the right place. And squint.

This turd has nearly destroyed my willow tree, rubbing his antlers on it until he broke it in half. Then he started on the aspens so Bill got some cages to put around the trunk. To say nothing of his inhaling the birdseed. But, I know, he was here first.

Snow on the Mountain

It rained last night, lightning lighting up the sky on my way home from knitting, no biggie, but then you open the shades in the morning and -- AGH!!! None down here, but the birds are storing up peanuts for the winter.

We'll see how long this lasts.

Incoming

Hey Vic, hello, these aren't going to last forever. Winter's coming you know.

Like I need another blog

But I did it anyway. Here I will focus on anything I want: knitting (stitches), pixels (photos), or pieces (stained glass, if I remember how to do that).

So until then, here's what it's looking like up in the LaPlata Mountains these days: