Knitters Love Winter

It snowed last night!  And it is still snowing.  Sometimes there is nothing better than weather that tells you, "Just stay inside and knit."

And what will I be working on?  Why, my Even Flow sweater, of course.  The last week or so hasn't been all that great, but I tell you what, sitting around and watching movies sure helped me make progress on this sweater.  I'm starting to get excited about it.  I'm not so excited about picking up the stitches along both sides of the front to make the edge, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

And to anyone who is wondering, that curl will come out when the edge is added.  And if there's any left after that, that is what blocking is for.  Wet it down and shape it nicely, there will be no curl at all.

Tons of progress for less than a week.

Last Saturday was my wheel spinning class at Fall River Fibers in the Ace Hardware Store in Hot Springs, SD.  It was great.  I took a sleeping pill the night before so that I could be up in time to make it to the 9 AM start, and then I slept through my alarm.  But I wasn't too terribly late, thank goodness, and it was awesome to be around other people who love yarn.  Ok. it was awesome to be around other people period.

I found out that I am a fast spinner!  I am a productive spinner!  I make "art yarn"!  These are all really nice ways of saying that I should slow down and that I may need some more practice before I can be consistent.  Well, everyone starts out as a beginner, and I really did have fun.  Throwing myself headlong into new things is really how I learn best.

But Fritz thinks it's awesome.

After washing and setting the twist.  I think that little bit of plain white is probably my best piece.

And I am still working on dyeing yarns.  I now have pH paper!  I'm not sure that it makes me a better dyer, but it makes me feel more confident that I know what I'm doing.  This latest skein, I tried coffee and my new neon McCormick food dye.  I also tried a non-immersion dye method. 

I really like the blue.  I am very happy with the food dye results, but I am pretty nonplussed by the coffee.  I think that I will have to overdye the coffee part of this one before I am satisfied.  I think I may go for a purple rather than a brown.

Ooh, blue!

I also picked up a 100g skein of undyed, New Zealand, 2-ply, wool yarn.  It is about worsted weight but I will check.  I was thinking that this skein has hat written all over it and I will have to dye it in colors that I will actually wear. 

Well, that was the weekend for me.  Pretty dang productive actually.  And now I have to leave you to work on the crochet design project that I have become obsessed with.  I have a few more knit designs currently on the needles, but they have to stay under wraps for now.