Fluffy Kittens!

I'm afraid I might have driven away some of my readers with the tarantula photo in the last post so I will start with one of the most photogenic kittens in the world.



I promise that there aren't any more giant spider photos planned for this blog for the foreseeable future.

It has started to fee like winter here so I've been taking advantage of the cold and getting a lot of spinning done. We worked on 3-ply in my spinning class at Shuttles, so I've been having fun practicing that skill.

This is superwash merino from Funky Carolina



And this is BFL from Spindlefrog - a gift from my swap pal Holly.



Today I started working on another 3-ply yarn using some superwash merino that Stacy from Tempted Yarns dyed for me in the Fiesta colorway. I can't wait to ply this.





I'm starting to amass quite the handspun collection. I'm considering opening an Etsy shop so some of it might get knitted in my lifetime.

The weatherman is predicting snow tonight. Ugh! October is way to early for snow!

I'll end this post on a positive note with more photos of the most photogenic kitten in the world. These are the many faces of Purl.

Tarantulas!

This weekend Mary and Phil, and I took the Tribeca on it's first road trip. I needed a break after the very successful IABC Southern Region Conference. We picked Taos because it happened to be the weekend of the Taos Wool Festival.

The drive down was spectacular because the Aspens were at their peak and the mountains were bright yellow. So beautiful.

We stayed with Mary and Phil's friends James and Becca. They have designed and built a house in a community that is completely off the grid just outside of Taos. It's called an Earthship and it's built using recyclable materials. It's a beautiful home. Here's James and Phil standing on the dome of the house.



The back wall of the house is entirely made of tires packed with sand. Absolutely backbreaking work! This is an Earthship in progress.



Some use aluminum cans and bottles



This is the view from James and Becca's front lawn. Not bad, huh?



I didn't get any photos of the inside of the house, but Mary and Phil have photos from a previous trip on their blog.

Because we were on a mesa, we saw a lot of tarantulas. They're harmless as long as you don't bother them.



It was a great experience to stay there and Becca and James were great hosts. Such a unique community.



We all went to the Wool Festival. So much wooly goodness!



I brought home some lovely fiber to knit and spin including some cashmere and merino/angora. Fun. But the best thing I got at the Wool Festival was from the Buffalo Gold booth. They had a bin full of matted buffalo fiber that was free to a good cat home. I want them to know that they have made Purl a very happy kitty. I had forgotten about it last night when I got home, but fortunately Purl doesn't mind digging through my suitcase and she found her new toy. It's not the cutest toy, but she loves it.



It was my first trip to Taos, but it definitely won't be my last!

I also received a wonderful swap package from Holly in New York last week. She spun this yarn for me:



And sent me lots of other goodies:


It was a fun swap to participate in. She loves bright colors like I do, so it was fun to pick out the fiber to spin for her. This was the fiber -



And apparently I didn't get a photo of the finished yarn. Let's just say it was a bit more retina burning than I expected it to be. Usually, the fiber color softens as it is spun. This was so saturated with color, it got brighter. I loved it, but I was nervous about what Holly would think of it. She received it this weekend and already has wound it in a ball and is ready to cast on for a pair of socks you can see from space. :)

A picture of health

I've made two visits to the vet in the last couple of weeks. It was supposed to be one trip for our annual checkup and shots, but Xena decided she was not interested in a trip to the vet with the kittens, so she went a week later. I'm happy to report that all three girls are very healthy - the vet even said that Xena, who is 12, had bloodwork of a much younger cat. She's a very svelte 7 pounds.



Ashford went first in during the kitten's visit to the vet. She weighed in at a healthy 8 pounds.



I knew we were in for a scolding when Purl came out of the carrier and the vet made the comment, "oh, she's much bigger than Ashford!" Which in her defense, she is a much bigger cat - look at this giant paw.



Purl weighed in at a hefty 10.2 pounds. The doctor advised us that she needed to stay active to keep her from getting pudgy. It's a good thing she loves playing fetch!

The day the kittens went to the vet, I decided that the Xterra needed to be retired.



I loved this car so it was a tough decision. But the cost of making the repairs it needed almost equaled what it was worth. So, I went car shopping, which I absolutely hate doing, and came home with a 2008 Subaru Tribeca.



I'm very happy with my purchase. It is quite posh compared to the Xterra...leather seats with seat warmers, a connection for my iPod and a control panel that could launch the space shuttle. And the best part - a remote starter! My dream come true during the winter time. It will be so nice to leave my office and get into a warm car.



With all of the vet-going and car-buying excitement, I have managed to get some knitting and spinning done.

This...


(superwash Merino from Pigeonroof Studios)

became this...



I finished a pair of socks. Happy birthday, Mom!



These are Swirls Socks from The Loopy Ewe Sock Club. The yarn is Cherry Tree Hill. I'll be making a pair of these for myself. I love this pattern!

This is the first of 26 squares for my Barn Raising Quilt from the book Knitalong. I'll be making a square each time I complete a pair of socks. My expected finish date is sometime in early 2049.



I've also been working on a sweater for me. This is the Mr. Greenjeans sweater.



I'm throwing a bit of caution to the wind because my gauge is a bit tighter than what I should be getting...wait for the collective gasp from the knitters who read this blog. For the non-knitters, a conscientious knitter measures the number of stitches the get per inch as they knit to make sure the final knitted product turns out the size you want it to. It's really important when you make a sweater. I have chosen to ignore that my gauge is tighter than it should be because the size I chose to make was going to be a little bit bigger than I needed, so I hope it will turn out to be the perfect size. I'll keep you posted on the progress. I should be finishing this sweater at about the same time as the Barn Raising Quilt.



Purl would like to dispel any rumors that might be started because of this blog that she is overweight. While she weighs more than 2 pounds more than each of her sisters, she would like to point out that she is indeed, just a bigger cat. She would like to redirect your attention to the photo of her giant paw above as proof of her weighing just the right amount. She plans to continue her current exercise regime of obsessively chasing her ball or cardboard strip to maintain her toned figure.

Have I really been gone this long?

Over the last 10 days, I have been in Des Moines, Kansas City and Calgary, with brief stops at home in Denver. That much traveling tends to put a crimp in my blogging style. But I'm back and I have photos!

First, I never posted the photo of the finished yarn I sent to Janice for her Team in Training fundraiser drawing. I love how this yarn turned out.



It's about 370 yards of light sportweight yarn. Perfect for a pair of socks.



I was able to sneak in a trip to Des Moines for my annual pilgrimage to the Iowa State Fair. Linda, Megan and I had a wonderful day.

We saw the big pig...



and the big ram...



and a baby miniature donkey.



Megan was a farmer...



twice.


We saw the Budweiser Clydesdales. They are so gorgeous.



Their dalmation has the best seat in the house.



And this photo needs a bit more explanation



This is the llama costume competition. The goal of the competition is to cover as much of your llama as possible to show the trust between the handler and the llama. Many of them had their entire face covered and several were even wearing stockings. Very interesting.

A good day was had by all.



The next day, Linda and I broke out the Kool-Aid and yarn and did a bit of dyeing.





I'm really excited to spin this


The color is basically on the outside of the fiber, so there will be a lot more white than it appears on the outside. It will probably be either really cool or a complete disaster. It will be a fun spin no matter what.

I didn't do a good job of taking photos in KC or Calgary. There's nothing to show - you'll just have to believe me when I said I was there.

The kitties were obviously upset that I was away.

A Swap and the Ravelympics

With the secret spinning project and a crazy work schedule, I haven't had much to post about lately. But that has all changed! The secret spinning project is complete, and has made its way to Deidre in Seattle so I can finally post a photo here.





This is Rambouillet wool, which was a first time spin for me, and it was dyed by The Fox Hop. It is a super soft wool, similar to Merino, but with a much longer staple. It created a squishy yarn that you just wanted to squeeze. The final product was about 780 yards (~4 oz) of laceweight yarn. I loved how it turned out and it was sad to put it in a box and send it off...but I know it has a good new home. And I knew that there was a box crossing the pond on its way to me...



I received my HHHH swap package from Gill in the U.K today. She did an excellent job spinning a Navajo-plied sock yarn for me. It's is BFL which is one of my favorite fibers. See how pretty it is...



The package also included a braid of BFL fiber and some bamboo fiber for me to spin. It also had the book Knitalong (LOVE!)
and a package of Smarties - candy that I love, but can't get in the U.S. Thanks, Gill! You really spoiled me!

Now that this swap is completed, I have moved on to new projects. I've caught the Olympic spirit, and signed up for the Ravelympics, which is a knitting challenge to finish a project while the Olympics is going on. I may have bit off more than I can chew, but I've signed up for three events: the Sweater Sprint (my first sweater for me!), the Handspun Heptathalon, and the WIP (work in progress) Wrestling, where I will finish a pair of socks that have been languishing for way too long. I cast on for the sweater Friday night during the Olympic opening ceremony. I know all of that fanfare was just for me. I'll fill you in on the sweater in another post. And the sock will get some action next weekend. I'll be traveling to Iowa for the State Fair, and socks are my favorite airport knitting project.

For the Handspun Heptathalon, I am spinning some superwash merino from The Dyeing Arts (purchased at The Loopy Ewe, of course). The colorway is Orchid Dreams, and it is a Dazzling Duo, which means it comes with 2 oz of two different color combinations that compliment each other. In this, one bobbin is mostly green, with a bit of purple,



and the other is blues and purples with a bit of white.



I'm really excited to ply this together. It is going to make some cool looking sock yarn.

Once this is finished, it's not staying with me either. I am donating it to my friend Janice from the Loopy Spring Fling for a fundraiser. Janice is training for the Rock and Roll Marathon in San Antonio this fall as a part of the Team in Training which raises money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Since my family has been touched by lymphoma and I've seen how the treatments developed from recent research can save lives, I wanted to help her raise some money. You can see some of the other prizes (Wollmeise!), and how to donate by clicking here. The yarn should be on its way to her by the end of the week.

It's not a blog post without a photo of the kitties. My Ravelympics cheering section likes to be close to the action.