Weekending

Mostly just trying to get caught up on things this weekend, post-TNNA conference in Columbus. Elizabeth, my partner at Stitch Definition, and I decided to go to advertise our venture, and it was definitely a successful trip - we got a chance to meet several folks in person we only knew from emails, and to reconnect with a lot of other folks we hadn't seen in a while.  I would have really liked NOT to have been stranded in Denver overnight on the way home, but so it goes.

Losing that extra day coming back kind of threw my planned schedule into a tizzy... so.... mostly just trying to get caught up before I head off to Austin this upcoming week to teach and do a book signing/trunk show at The Happy Ewe in Jonestown.  I shipped class materials and samples out yesterday, and Misty ordered a bunch of book copies, plus yarn so I think we'll have a great turnout. Her shop is very fun and so welcoming - kind of hard to beat it!

After this tour out, I'm hopefully done with travel until September.  And honestly?  I'm tired and very ready for a break - this is more travel than I've done in years and with show prep, and still keeping up with dyeing at home - I definitely could use a few quiet(ish) months.

Finally, in this rambling update, I'm very excited as My Book with Interweave is in the final editing stages.  I will have a copy to review on Monday to make any final corrections or tweaks before it moves on to the printer next month.  I have to say my editor(s) have done a fabulous job of it.  The photo proofs I've seen and some of the preliminary layout pages are absolutely gorgeous, so I'm very excited to see the rest of the book!

Spinning Friday: May 29, 2015

I took my Hansen spinner with me down to ABQ, and since we didn't start vending until 10 a.m. each day (and I was up at the "late" time of 5:45 each morning), I actually got a lot of spinning done in the mornings!

This week, I started a summery-colored braid of 60% merino, 40% bamboo from FatCatKnits in the Splash colorway.

I divided this braid in half and then stripped each half into random-width narrow strips (6 per each half), and then spun those into singles.  I then plied those for a lovely, light fingering-weight yarn.

Technical Specs:
Roving:  4 oz of 60/40 merino/tencel roving in the "Splash" colorway from FatCatKnits.
Ply:  2-ply.
Weight:  Light fingering.
Yardage: 450 yards/4 oz.

I'm going to use this as one of two colors in my Andrea's Shawl by Kirsten Kapur.  The other colorway I've chosen is from my Mythical Creatures club this year - Serpent - which I dyed myself a braid of on the same fiber base.

I've already started spinning the singles for that braid - more on that next week!

WIP Wednesday: May 27, 2015

This week's WIP line-up:

Sekret Knitting:

• Colorwork cowl is done!  I need to get the draft off to my TE and send it for a test knit, but the sample is finished. 
• Now I can focus more exclusively on my project for Spirit Trail Fibers.  I'm actually thinking of including this piece along with a few others in a winter Steampunk collection, but mulling over the details of that currently. 

Personal Knitting:
Working on my simple 2x2 ribbed socks.  I finished the first sock and cast on for #2 while I was vending.  While these aren't really my colors, they are very fun and I think will be a great donation pair.  I'm going to toss these into my bag as well to take with me to the TNNA conference this weekend in Columbus.

2015 Reading Challenge: Week 21

I finished up The Joy Luck Club this week.  I enjoyed it - maybe a little bit more "chick lit" than my usual, but it was a great mother/daughter dynamics book and was entertained by the stories of the women of the Joy Luck Club.

I then started The Art Forger which is a fictious account of what might have happened to at least one of the paintings stolen from the Gardner Museum in Boston.  (The theft actually happened - March 18, 1990.  The paintings have never been recovered and I've seen a couple of interesting documentaries on the theft and ideas about the crime, how it was committed and by whom, so I figured I'd enjoy this "what if?" version too.)  I'm about 75% finished and racing towards the ending which promises to be a thriller.  Fun and entertaining - this is a great summertime read.  (Full disclosure: I neglected to pull some books onto my Kindle in my dash down to ABQ for the fiber festival, and since this was already on it for week 44, I just went ahead and got started on it.)  I plan to finish this one up and start my week 17 book for the upcoming week (and maybe see if I've got time to squeak in another week's read, although I'm undecided what to start there.)

WEEKS & TOPICS

1. a book with more than 500 pages: Bitter Greens by Kate Forsyth. FINISHED.

2. a romance: Katherine by Anya Seton. FINISHED

3. a book that became a movie: The Hours by Michael Cunningham. FINISHED.

4. a book published this year: The House of Hawthorne by Erika Robuck.  FINISHED.

5. a book with a number in the title:  The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. FINISHED.

6. a book written by someone under 30: Eragon by Christopher Paolini. FINISHED.

7. a book with nonhuman characters:  The Greyfriar by Susan Griffith.  FINISHED.

8. a funny book: Bossypants by Tina Fey.  FINISHED.

9. a book by a female author: Fever 1793 by Laurie Anderson.  FINISHED.

10. a mystery or thriller:  Séance in Sepia by Michelle Black. FINISHED.

11. a book with a one-word title: East by Edith Pattou.  FINISHED.

12. a book of short stories:  Tapping the Dream Tree by Charles deLint.  FINISHED.

13. a book set in a different country: The Winter Palace by Eva Stachniak. FINISHED.

14. a nonfiction book:  The Fossil Hunter by Shelley Emling.  FINISHED.

15. a popular author's first book: The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan.  FINISHED.

16. a book from your favorite author that you haven't read yet: Forests of the Heart by Charles deLint.  FINISHED.

17. a book a friend recommended: Botelo by Alyson Hagy.

18. a Pulitzer-prize winning book: Andersonville by MacKinley Kantor.

19. a book based on a true story: The Wild Princess by Mary Hart Perry.

20. a book at the bottom of your to read list: Before I Go To Sleep by S.J Watson.

21. a book your mom or dad loves: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman.

22. a book that scares you: The Blackhouse by Peter May.

23. a book more than 100 years old: Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte.

24. a book based entirely on its cover: Twilight of Avalon by Anna Elliot.

25. a book you were supposed to read in school but didn't: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.

26. a memoir:  Two Rings by Millie Werber and Eve Keller

27. a book you can finish in a day

28. a book with antonyms in the title: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt.

29. a book set somewhere you've always wanted to visit: Iceland by Betsy Tobin.

30. a book that came out the year you were born: Mary, Queen of Scots by Antonia Fraser.

31. a book with bad reviews: Moon People?

32. a trilogy (the first):  Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clarke.

33. a trilogy (the second) Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clarke.

34. a trilogy (the third)  Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clarke.

35. a book from your childhood: Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell.  FINISHED.

36. a book with a love triangle: Muse by Mary Novak.

37. a book set in the future

38. a book set in high school: The Small Rain by Madeline L’Engle.

39. a book with a color in the title:  A Cavern of Black Ice by J.V. Jones.

40. a book that made/makes you cry

41. a book with magic: Grave Witch by Kalayna Price.

42. a graphic novel

43. a book by an author you've never read before:  My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira

44. a book you own but have never read: The Art Forger by B.A. Shapiro.

45. a book that takes place in your hometown: Magic America by C.E. Medford.

46. a book that was originally written in another language: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.

47. a book set during Christmas (or similar holiday): A Child’s Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas.

48. a book written by an author with your same initials: Silver Lies by Ann Parker.

49. a play

50. a banned book: Beloved by Toni Morrison.

51. a book based on OR turned into a tv show: Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs.

52. a book you started but never finished:  The Heresy of Dr. Dee by Phil Rickman.

Spinning Friday: May 22, 2015

Another finished handspun skein to share:

Technical Specs:
Roving: 4 oz of blue-faced Leicester wool roving in the "Single Girl, Married Family" colorway from Two If By Hand.
Ply: 2-ply.
Weight:  Worsted.
Yardage: 187 yards/3.8 oz.

Despite the fact that the two bobbins of singles looked like they came from 2 different braids, I love how this one turned out!  It plied up beautifully with a lovely marriage of colors and since I kept the twist fairly light, it is lovely and soft and squishy.

No specific plans for it.  Probably a hat or some mittens to go into a donation box at some point, but another braid out of the bin for my Stashdown/Spin the Bin 2015 project!

WIP Wednesday: May 20, 2015

This week's WIP line-up:

Sekret Knitting:

• Working away on the colorwork cowl.  I'm about 2/3rds done, so I think with a few more evenings of knit-time, it'll be done easily by the end of the month.  
• Started sleeve #1 of my project for Spirit Trail Fibers - Loving this yarn and I think this pattern is going to be a really fun, wearable piece.  I may have to get the sample back from Jen to keep for my very own wardrobe!

Personal Knitting:
I cast on a pair of simple 68-stitch, 2x2 ribbed socks to work up an extra gradiant skein of Wooly Wonka Arianrhod Sock I had dyed up.  I like to have something simple to work on while vending, and since I'll be at the ABQ Fiber Fiesta this weekend, this is that project. Nothing fancy with this - I just am enjoying watching the colors start changing down the leg. I've got these skeins dyed up in (mostly) matching halves, and I know if I get to the purple section in the ball, it's time to get the toe finished up - since that's the halfway point (although I will probably not need to knit the foot that long.  I'm thinking these will be a great donation sock for a female person based on the colors, so I don't need a huge pair.)

I'm also looking ahead to the Tour de Fleece that starts the first week in July.  I'm trying to decide on fibers to spin for the Tour, so expect some more spinning-related chat over the next 6 weeks before the Tour officially kicks off.  (And if you are a handspinner and want in on some casual, low-key fun, please consider joining my Wooly Wonka Fibers team in my Ravelry group here - All Are Welcome!)

2015 Reading Challenge: Week 20

This week I read The House of Hawthorne, which I had been waiting to arrive as it's a recently published book.  This is just the kind of historical fiction I like.  I was engaged with the characters right from the get-go, and I wanted to carry on through the book's journey with them.  The main character is Nathaniel Hawthorne's wife, Sophie, who is a talented artist in her own right but suffers from crippling migraines.  The book starts at the end and then picks up Sophie's story from when she was in her late teens, and just beginning to perfect her painting craft.  The story weaves in all sorts of interesting historical tidbits about her trip to Cuba, the Transcendentalist movement in New England, and the Hawthorne's (she marries Nathaniel after a long courtship) relationship to prominent figures such as Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson, as well as Franklin Pierce, and the political situation of the pre-Civil War years.  An engrossing read intertwined with a good love story.  Well recommended.

I started The Joy Luck Club this week as well and likely will have it finished in a few days, as I'm enjoying it too.  A very different sort of book, but another one that's been an unexpected pleasure so far.

WEEKS & TOPICS

1. a book with more than 500 pages: Bitter Greens by Kate Forsyth. FINISHED.

2. a romance: Katherine by Anya Seton. FINISHED

3. a book that became a movie: The Hours by Michael Cunningham. FINISHED.

4. a book published this year: The House of Hawthorne by Erika Robuck.  FINISHED.

5. a book with a number in the title:  The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. FINISHED.

6. a book written by someone under 30: Eragon by Christopher Paolini. FINISHED.

7. a book with nonhuman characters:  The Greyfriar by Susan Griffith.  FINISHED.

8. a funny book: Bossypants by Tina Fey.  FINISHED.

9. a book by a female author: Fever 1793 by Laurie Anderson.  FINISHED.

10. a mystery or thriller:  Séance in Sepia by Michelle Black. FINISHED.

11. a book with a one-word title: East by Edith Pattou.  FINISHED.

12. a book of short stories:  Tapping the Dream Tree by Charles deLint.  FINISHED.

13. a book set in a different country: The Winter Palace by Eva Stachniak. FINISHED.

14. a nonfiction book:  The Fossil Hunter by Shelley Emling.  FINISHED.

15. a popular author's first book: The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan.

16. a book from your favorite author that you haven't read yet: Forests of the Heart by Charles deLint.  FINISHED.

17. a book a friend recommended: Botelo by Alyson Hagy.

18. a Pulitzer-prize winning book: Andersonville by MacKinley Kantor.

19. a book based on a true story: The Wild Princess by Mary Hart Perry.

20. a book at the bottom of your to read list: Before I Go To Sleep by S.J Watson.

21. a book your mom or dad loves: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman.

22. a book that scares you: The Blackhouse by Peter May.

23. a book more than 100 years old: Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte.

24. a book based entirely on its cover: Twilight of Avalon by Anna Elliot.

25. a book you were supposed to read in school but didn't: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.

26. a memoir:  Two Rings by Millie Werber and Eve Keller

27. a book you can finish in a day

28. a book with antonyms in the title: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt.

29. a book set somewhere you've always wanted to visit: Iceland by Betsy Tobin.

30. a book that came out the year you were born: Mary, Queen of Scots by Antonia Fraser.

31. a book with bad reviews: Moon People?

32. a trilogy (the first):  Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clarke.

33. a trilogy (the second) Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clarke.

34. a trilogy (the third)  Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clarke.

35. a book from your childhood: Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell.  FINISHED.

36. a book with a love triangle: Muse by Mary Novak.

37. a book set in the future

38. a book set in high school: The Small Rain by Madeline L’Engle.

39. a book with a color in the title:  A Cavern of Black Ice by J.V. Jones.

40. a book that made/makes you cry

41. a book with magic: Grave Witch by Kalayna Price.

42. a graphic novel

43. a book by an author you've never read before:  My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira

44. a book you own but have never read: The Art Forger by B.A. Shapiro.

45. a book that takes place in your hometown: Magic America by C.E. Medford.

46. a book that was originally written in another language: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.

47. a book set during Christmas (or similar holiday): A Child’s Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas.

48. a book written by an author with your same initials: Silver Lies by Ann Parker.

49. a play

50. a banned book: Beloved by Toni Morrison.

51. a book based on OR turned into a tv show: Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs.

52. a book you started but never finished:  The Heresy of Dr. Dee by Phil Rickman.

Weekending

Courtesy of some not-great weather this weekend, we had quite a bit of quiet time, which was nice!  I was a bit under the weather this weekend, so I didn't mind having some extra hot tea and I made my go-to comfort food recipe of butternut squash soup.

For the first time in a LONG time, I also sat and did some focused spinning.  I plied up the BFL I showed you on Friday and got a nice squishy skein of worsted weight.

I also started singles on a braid of soft and lovely merino/bamboo from FatCatKnits in the "Splash" colorway.

I want to spin this up into a fingering weight yarn and use it for 1 of the 2 colors in a shawl.  I'm going to dye up a complementary braid of the same base - probably using my "Serpent" colorway from the last Mythical Creatures spinner's club - and work up Andrea's Shawl.

Speaking of which, have you seen the fantastic new book collection out from Kirsten Kapur of Through The Loops.  I've been a friend and fan of Kirsten's for a lot of years.  She's done many shawl patterns for my clubs over that time, and I can honestly say that there really is nothing she's designed I haven't loved and wanted to knit, but my time to knit for fun has been fairly curtailed this past year and I really wanted to get back into knitting things without a deadline that just sparked my interest.

I ran into another blogger's post (which I sadly cannot find now and didn't think to bookmark it) in which she is planning on knitting Kirsten's Mystery Shawl-Along 2015 (as am I) and then work her way through all of the Shawl Book One collection.  I thought that was a brilliant idea and once I get a wild hare like that, you know where I'm going with this, right? I thought it'd be GREAT fun to do up a handspun version of each of the shawls.  It'll challenge me a bit with the spinning (for instance, Laight Street is a bulky weight, which I rarely if ever spin) and that'll be good for me AND help me work down my stash, which is another goal of mine for this year.   I'm not putting any deadlines on this project.  I want it to be fun and not work.

I'm really looking forward to this as a long-term process kind of project but I'm also looking forward to a stack of hand-knit/hand-spun shawls at the end of the road too!

And PS - Just for Andi, a Lizzie picture.  She's almost 4 months now and is a bundle of muscle.   I've started thinking of her as "Tank".  Shown here with one of the bazillion sticks she likes to haul around when we go outside to play.

Spinning Friday: May 15, 2015

This week, I've been spinning a pretty 4-oz braid of BFL from Two If By Hand in the "Single Girl, Married Family" colorway.  The original braid looked like:

I divided the braid in half, and then split each half into 6 mostly equal sections.  I've gotten the singles spun up:

I have no real explanation for why these 2 bobbins appear to be so vastly different - they really are from the same braid!  We'll see what shakes out when they are plied together.  One of the fun surprises with handspun when you spin without a plan!

I'm also getting geared up for the Tour de Fleece which kicks off in July.  Anyone else planning on spinning with the Tour this year?  (And keeping my fingers crossed I will actually have some downtime that month.  I have no shows or travel booked, but I seem to keep having work pop up to fill my schedule I wasn't counting on......)

WIP Wednesday: May 13, 2015

Here's what's going on this week with my WIPs:

Sekret Knitting:

• Finished up the next Heroines shawl sample.  I'm finalizing the draft and then that can go to my TE and my tester.  Woot!
• I've picked up the colorwork cowl again and that'll be my focus project for this week.  I'd like to get it finished before the 29th, so I can take it along with me to TNNA to show The Yarn Guys (who I'm knitting it up for as a kit).
• My next deadline project is a sweater for Jen of Spirit Trail Fibers to take to Rhinebeck, so I'll likely try to get some focused work done on the first sleeve this upcoming week as well. 

Personal Knitting: 

I finished up the Dustland Hat this week, using up my entire skein of handspun Corriedale.  I wound up making some "artistic changes" to the stitch pattern - one set due to the influence of a glass of wine and low sleep one night, and a few in the decrease rounds as I was worried about running out of yarn (and it was close, so I'm glad I did a few less rounds of garter stitch.)

This is a very straightforward, easy pattern and a great stashbuster.  I like the matching mitts too - I might make those at some point.  This hat, however, is slated for the Mittens for Akkol donation bin.

I am going to try to knit along with Kirsten Kapur's Through the Loops mystery shawl in June, so I'm thinking about possible yarn choices for that one as well. I'm leaning towards either a set of neutrals in handspun or possibly Arianrhod Sock in foresty colors from the shop. 

2015 Reading Challenge: Week 19

This week, I finished my nonfiction book: The Fossil Hunter. The topic was really interesting and I enjoyed that part of it, but here's my issue with the book...... I understand that there is little primary historical data to use regarding the life of Mary Anning (who is the young woman who discovered many dinosaur fossils in the cliffs of Lyme Regis in the early 19th century and is a very interesting historical figure).  My problem is that paragraph after paragraph started with things like "Mary likely did...."  Or "Mary must have been devastated about....."  Well... no... we can't really go there.  If there isn't some diary page or letter, or some other secondary historical source, I don't think you, the writer of a nonfiction book, should make the jump that Mary was devastated about some happening.  Maybe she was, but maybe she didn't care a fig about it.

Fascinating time and a really interesting woman - yes.  For me, I enjoyed the historical fiction book about the same group of fossil hunters in the same time period, Remarkable Creatures, better.  If you are writing fiction, then by all means you can make the mental jump someone was devastated about something.  That sort of writing was jarring enough for me with The Fossil Hunter, I had a hard time pushing past it.

At any rate, this week, I received my auto-download of The House of Hawthorne, for my book published this year selection.  I've become thoroughly engrossed in this story and am about halfway through the book already, enjoying it greatly! When I'm finished this, it'll be on to the The Joy Luck Club (and then I'll only be a few weeks behind......)


WEEKS & TOPICS

1. a book with more than 500 pages: Bitter Greens by Kate Forsyth. FINISHED.

2. a romance: Katherine by Anya Seton. FINISHED

3. a book that became a movie: The Hours by Michael Cunningham. FINISHED.

4. a book published this year: The House of Hawthorne by Erika Robuck.

5. a book with a number in the title:  The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. FINISHED.

6. a book written by someone under 30: Eragon by Christopher Paolini. FINISHED.

7. a book with nonhuman characters:  The Greyfriar by Susan Griffith.  FINISHED.

8. a funny book: Bossypants by Tina Fey.  FINISHED.

9. a book by a female author: Fever 1793 by Laurie Anderson.  FINISHED.

10. a mystery or thriller:  Séance in Sepia by Michelle Black. FINISHED.

11. a book with a one-word title: East by Edith Pattou.  FINISHED.

12. a book of short stories:  Tapping the Dream Tree by Charles deLint.  FINISHED.

13. a book set in a different country: The Winter Palace by Eva Stachniak. FINISHED.

14. a nonfiction book:  The Fossil Hunter by Shelley Emling.  FINISHED.

15. a popular author's first book: The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan.

16. a book from your favorite author that you haven't read yet: Forests of the Heart by Charles deLint.  FINISHED.

17. a book a friend recommended: Botelo by Alyson Hagy.

18. a Pulitzer-prize winning book: Andersonville by MacKinley Kantor.

19. a book based on a true story: The Wild Princess by Mary Hart Perry.

20. a book at the bottom of your to read list: Before I Go To Sleep by S.J Watson.

21. a book your mom or dad loves: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman.

22. a book that scares you: The Blackhouse by Peter May.

23. a book more than 100 years old: Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte.

24. a book based entirely on its cover: Twilight of Avalon by Anna Elliot.

25. a book you were supposed to read in school but didn't: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.

26. a memoir:  Two Rings by Millie Werber and Eve Keller

27. a book you can finish in a day

28. a book with antonyms in the title: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt.

29. a book set somewhere you've always wanted to visit: Iceland by Betsy Tobin.

30. a book that came out the year you were born: Mary, Queen of Scots by Antonia Fraser.

31. a book with bad reviews: Moon People?

32. a trilogy (the first):  Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clarke.

33. a trilogy (the second) Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clarke.

34. a trilogy (the third)  Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clarke.

35. a book from your childhood: Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell.  FINISHED.

36. a book with a love triangle: Muse by Mary Novak.

37. a book set in the future

38. a book set in high school: The Small Rain by Madeline L’Engle.

39. a book with a color in the title:  A Cavern of Black Ice by J.V. Jones.

40. a book that made/makes you cry

41. a book with magic: Grave Witch by Kalayna Price.

42. a graphic novel

43. a book by an author you've never read before:  My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira

44. a book you own but have never read: The Art Forger by B.A. Shapiro.

45. a book that takes place in your hometown: Magic America by C.E. Medford.

46. a book that was originally written in another language: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.

47. a book set during Christmas (or similar holiday): A Child’s Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas.

48. a book written by an author with your same initials: Silver Lies by Ann Parker.

49. a play

50. a banned book: Beloved by Toni Morrison.

51. a book based on OR turned into a tv show: Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs.

52. a book you started but never finished:  The Heresy of Dr. Dee by Phil Rickman.