Poly Yarn

Remember those two yarns I showed you in the last post? When I initially spun them I had visions of plying them together into one epic yarn. But the more I looked at them, the more I fell in love with each of them as individuals. Before I start waxing poetic about yarn, let me explain what you are seeing below. You see, after you spin a yarn, you have to set the twist. I mean, you don't HAVE to, but I think it creates a more balanced yarn? I should probably read up on that. Point is, I'm sort of cheap and very thrifty. In order to set a twist, you have to soak the yarn in warm water, and then stretch it out and set it (that's what she said....). This involves our favorite physics force...

GRAVITY! Sure gravity plays favorites (RIP Dresden Dolls), but it works excellently for setting a twist. What you do is put something heavy on the bottom and the heaviest things I own that easily attach to my yarn are...

 Boots. Lovely expensive boots.

These boots are probably the most expensive thing I own. Long ago in a life far far away, I worked in retail. Retail is probably the worst job anyone could do. If you need to torture someone, I would suggest making them work retail. Anyways, one of the good things about my time working in a dark pit of despair was that I got 50% off really expensive shoes, which is why I bought those boots.

Super exciting right? But yea, they are excellent at setting twist.

After having that hanging in my closet for a couple weeks, I was falling more and more in love with each of them. I mean one was multi-colored and a little shiny and beautiful.

And who am I to make it share it's pretty with an equally gorgeous but slightly less flashy soft cousin?

So I'm thinking of keeping them as singles and loving them both at the same time. I may have an idea to showcase the pretty for both of them. Stay tuned!

Dangerous Passions

One thing you should know about me, when I'm passionate about things, I get obsessed.

Case in point?

*Brushes shoulder off*

The greatest present I'll ever receive.

Ever since I started spinning on my drop spindle, I've lusted after spinning wheels. The allure, the spinning, the whirring; it was all magical. The thing about spinning wheels is that they are really expensive. They range anywhere from $200 to $1200 and I don't really have that amount of money budgeted for fun things. Alas, I figured I would never see the joy of this continuing obsession with yarn and fiber.

But then I had a Birthday (capitalized for emphasis).

My lovely mother suggested that I ask for a spinning wheel. I hemmed and hawwed about price and she calmly explained that it could be Birthday/Christmas present. This is about the time that I screamed in her face.

Luckily she was able to overcome burst eardrums and place an order for....

True love. That is what money will buy you folks. Don't listen to these people who say that money doesn't buy happiness. Because money bought my happiness. My lovely parents bought me the Bumblebee Patchwork Spinning Wheel. As you see from the above picture, some assembly was required.

This is where my prowess in being awesome comes in handy. First, I applied some mineral oil to the wood.

Oiled wood on the left, as is wood on the right

I really debated about if I should stain the wheel, or paint the wheel, or just let the natural beauty shine through (am I the only one who has that True Color song from Save the Last Dance in their head while thinking that?). Lately I've been mildly obsessed with naturally color yarn and so I went with the nakedish look. Plus, I'm a fan of nudism.

Step two was fairly simple. Put slot A in hole B and follow the directions (naturally it took me like 20 min to understand what to do). Then I simply had to attach it all with a screw. Luckily, I utilized free MANual labor... my boyfriend.

And VOILA!

sooooo pretty

What happens next is so good you have to wait for it.

Saturday morning

Want to know why today has unlimited possibilities?

Because of...

Aliens? No just capitalism

Can someone explain to me why it feels like the business executives of the world got together and said, "so this recession thing is excellent for business. Instead of paying people what would be fair for the skills they have, we can pay people half as much and dangle the possibility of being promoted and paid better if they prove their worth. But then (and here's the kicker) we don't ever do that and they'll be so thankful for any job we'll save money!"

Someone please tell me I'm paranoid.

Famous

Know how I've been test knitting for the past year? Turns out it's made me famous (at least in my mind). A couple months ago I got the pattern for this cardigan. The yarn was a cotton, wool, llama mix and the pattern was gorgeous. Don't believe me? Look.

Yup. I made the official sample for a knitting publication. Boss.

Who wants right angles when life is so wrong?

What have I been doing with this non blogging time? I have been knitting an unusual amount of scarves and wraps. Case in point.

Alpaca? Why yes.

Lorna's Laces? Why yes it's the most gorgeous yarn of the universe.

Not my O face.

Where can you find these incredible patterns? At this lovely Etsy shop. For the past eightish months, I have been test knitting for the designer at the site listed above. She sends me the yarn and the pattern, and I create beautiful things. It's a pretty excellent combination. That is the reason for my sudden resurgence in scarves.

I have to admit there was a time in my young knitting life where I was not a fan of scarves. The rectangle... the repetition, the rectangle...

Some shapes just make me not want to knit. Rectangles are one of them. I mean four angles? Four sides? Yawn. Who wants right angles when life is so wrong? (That line was so perfect I had to use it in the title as well.

But I've seen the other side of right angles, the right side you may see (OHHHHHHHHHH). Rectangles are a pretty spectacular way to explore different lace and cable patterns. I like those. I like them a lot.

Tomorrow: We see the other side of my knitting... garments.

Fifty shades of earl gray at work.

Dear readers,
I realize the worst part of reading a blog is when it is updated with the frequency of an alien invasion. I apologize. I could make excuses (i don't have internet at my apartment, I'm too cool for blogging, I've transcended space and time... Etc) but I will not stoop to that level.
Turns out, working in a call center early on a Saturday morning allows for many things. Namely, I get to show you my desk and all the knitting related things on it.
I do a lot of knitting at work. I also (surprisingly) do a lot of finishing. It turns out weaving in ends is not as tedious as doing nothing. Alas, I have collected a number of yarn bits over my six months of full time employment. I've also drank a lot of tea, which had led to one of my favorite desk ornaments: my fifty shades of earl gray box.

I've been finishing projects like crazy, so it's only a matter of time before you get to see actual knitting. AHHH!!!!!!!