Oh Baby!

Long time no blog!

I've been busy, lots of spinning, knitting, weaving and being a mama going on over here. Not a whole lot of cooking going on though. Summer is usually too hot to make anything more then BBQ. But for me that hasn't been the issue. Morning sickness has! We're expecting a little girl in October.

Morning sickness and generally pregnancy woes have really taken a toll on my energy levels in the past couple of months. Now that I'm in my 25th week, my energy finally seems to be recovering and I can get back to knitting and crafting like I'm used to.

I've been on a baby knitting jag. Lots of baby stuff flying off of my needles. I've been spinning a good bit and am starting to be able to spin really fine singles. I'm super proud of that achievement .

Here's an adorable little sleep sack I knit. Pattern is Owlie Sleep Sack, I used Knitpicks Brava in the Paprika colorway. For this yarn being 100% acrylic it's really soft and shows the cabled owls off.

Easy Peasy Newborn hat in Lion Brand's Sock Ease in the Red Hots colorway. The yarn is a little itchy, I hope it softens after I wash and block the hat.

Spring Time Baby Cardi was a fun and quick little knit. I didn't seem it quite right though but it'll do for now. I used Vanna's Choice in Kelly Green. The yarns a little on the rough side but it's inexpensive and easy enough to knit with.

Here's a neat little knit. The Inca-Dincadoo cardigan. I've never knit a cardigan like this before. Everything is knit in once piece from the back to the front and then seamed up the sides.  It looks kind of funny at first, but once you fold it, you can see what it will look like when your done. I used Viking Balder in Red. Great superwash wool yarn, lightly spun and very squishy to the touch.

Snow Day!

All summer and fall long I've been knitting my children little things. Hats, mittens and scarves here and there, to keep the inevitable winter chill away. We had a hot summer and lovely fall, warm weather was with us for longer than usual. Finally, a snow day came upon us, the perfect opportunity to not only make use of the little woolies I knit but to show off how dang cute my kids look in them. They begged to out in the snow and go sledding. No prob I thought I'll just dress them warm and we'll hit the powder. I open my knitting box looking for the little woolies I know I put there, to my dismay the box is empty. All the woolies are gone and neither of my short people have any idea where they've gone. Little mites not only pilfered the woolie box but they did it without me noticing. A search of the house high and low and nothing turns up, neither hat, nor mitten nor scarf. Dang it.

So, I did what any mom would do. I put socks on their hands and sent them out with their dad. I wisely stayed inside and knit.

Dyeing Handspun

There is nothing quite like hand dyeing your very own hand spun. It's fiber that you have taken from the very beginning, spun and turned into real, usable yarn.

I took that bare yarn and dyed it a brilliant robin's egg blue. I was hoping for the color to be a bit darker but over all I'm happy with the result.

The yarn is out on the patio drying, as soon as it's done I'll take a pic. =)

Silk Hankies

I bought some lovely silk hankies from Fancy Fibers Farm at the Taos Wool Festival. I finally got around to dyeing them. I used dye from the Greener Shades starter kit and I'm very pleased with the way they came out. I was using a beautiful bouquet my husband had sent to me as inspiration and I think I got pretty close. (Excuse the mess in the photo, it was during the "Hurry! Need to get to school!" morning rush.)

I plan on dyeing quite a few more things in the coming weeks. I bought 5 packages of Bare Wool of the Andes roving from KnitPicks. I'm not sure what colors I'll come out with but I can't wait to find out. 

New Spinning Wheel!

My H is awesome. He ordered a new Kromski Fantasia for me! He bought it from The Woolery, Nancy and Chris are awesome to work with. My wheel was shipped quickly and came in perfect condition.

My husband opted for the unfinished version of the Fantasia, so I had the pleasure of picking out my own stain. I've never really worked with wood finishing stain, usually the stains I work with are toddler derived. I was pretty excited about picking my own finish and off to Lowes I went. Dude, I have never been so confused, there were so many primers, stains and pre stains, who knew there were so many varieties? I finally settled on a two in one from Minwax in a shade called "Bombay Mahogany". I came home and unboxed my wheel........I don't think it was until that moment that I realized that I was in way over my head. There were so many little parts and I was really overwhelmed.

After about 3 hours of trial and error I finally had every piece stained. I left it all to dry, hoping that in the morning I'd finally get to put my wheel together. I don't have a picture of the wheel parts after I stained them, I wish I had thought to take one. I had the flyer, the footmen and the bobbins hanging form our dining room chandelier. It was a lovely and odd sight.

Finally, everything for my Fantasia was dry. I gathered my tools and the instructions and went to work. Having put my Schacht Ladybug together on my own, I figured I was well qualified to put together my Fantasia. Oh boy was I wrong. There were so many parts and screws. 

I tried working the with the paper instructions but found them lacking, so I went online and found this tutorial from the New Voyager Company. In the video, the gentleman tells you that putting together a Fantasia spinning wheel is "easy" and should only take around 30 minutes. Let me tell you a secret, that gentleman, with his kind eyes and easy smile is.....well he's a liar. My wheel was not easy to put together, there were parts that didn't quite fit and even though I consider myself to be generally handy with tools, this wheel kicked my butt. If it's at all possible and in your wheel budget, buy the wheel already stained and make sure you know what you're getting into when you put it together.

After 2 and a half hours.....my Fantasia was FINALLY put together. 

I haven't spun much on her yet, I'll put up a review in a few days and let you know how it goes.

Pumpkin bread and baby knits

Last year there was a state wide shortage of canned pumpkin (I know, I know fresh is better, I'm a lazy baker.) On a trip to Santa Fe to visit my dad, I decided to stop at a local grocery store to see if maybe, just maybe they had canned pumpkin. I hit a pumpkin jackpot! I was so excited to finally have found canned pumpkin, that I may have gone a little over board and bought.......all the cans they had. Maybe. Ok I did it. 20 cans of pumpkin later....I still have canned pumpkin.

Since it's finally cooled down outside I feel like baking again. Today I made my simple pumpkin bread. I'm glad I took a picture when it was done because it was gone and finished before dinner.

I hope my family still loves pumpkin by the end of the month, because mama still has 19 cans left. 

We're hoping to add another baby to our family in the next year or so. And being a knitter I like to be prepared. I started a sweet little cardigan called Springtime Baby Cardi by Kaity Von Rader. It's quick, simple and sweet. Everything a baby knit should be. 

I'm looking for a simple baby blanket pattern too. If you have any recommendations, that would be awesome!

-Lea

Fall is here!

It's my favorite time of the year, the weather is getting crisp and cool. It makes me just want to cozy up with a cup of tea and knit myself into a blissed out state.



I'm working on a couple of knitting projects at the moment. I am mostly done (finally) with Lion Brand's Deconstructed Jacket . I have half of a sleeve left to do.

I'm working on my second Autumn hat by Jane Richmond. It's a cute, quick knit. I really loved the first hat that I made, it looked fantastic on me! Unfortunately before I could snap a pic of the finished hat, my niece Delilah commandeered it. So I'm making me a another.

I just finished rewinding the yarn for my Arroyo by Sarah H. Wolf (D'ohmestic on Rav). I had to RE wind it because Aspen our black lab puppy, thought it would be funny as hell to take my yarn and artfully decorate our backyard with it. An hour and a half it took but my pretty gold yarn is safe once again!!

This is Aspen, she doesn't look much like an evil, yarn stealing dog does she? Sneaky pup!

-Lea