Gather, all ye who wish to learn

I just had a flashback to my Israelite Prophecy class. Anyway, I do have sort of an announcement.

As of now, I am on a yarn diet. I intend to buy no new yarn until MDS&W. Roving does not count. Etsy trades not initiated by me don't count either (though now I generally would rather trade for roving).

This is in reaction to the ridiculous amount of yarn I've amassed in our tiny apartment. Everything I bought at Stitches this year is still in plastic shopping bags piled in various places because my stash shelves are really full. I made this decision after I ordered yarn at 3am while half asleep from the recent Blue Moon Fiber Arts online sale. When I woke up the next morning I thought, "What the hell did I do that for?" (well, the answer is of course 'the prettiness' but due to space constraints it's still completely ridiculous).

I'm also going to try to bust through as many projects as possible. This'll be interesting given the vast decrease in knitting time due to the new job, but perhaps I can be better about planning projects, since a good deal of my current knitting time is spent staring at yarn trying to figure out what to make next.

Also, I think I'm wearing the fingerprints off my thumb and forefinger from spinning. I've been spinning every day now, and on Thursday I went over to Spinster Yarns and Fibers for a lesson. According to Andrea I've pretty much gotten the hang of it and I just need to practice. She had a lot of good tips, and it's nice to see someone else do it before you try it yourself. She definitely helped me a lot with my joins, and I'm dying to try Navajo plying, but I only have one bobbin at the moment.

Anyway, I better show off my newest FO, for Helping Kids at Hopkins:

Munchie (#62)



Pattern: MMMMM aka. Mr Mighty Munchie Mouth-pouch Monster by Joan De Lurio (available at this etsy shop)
Yarn: Dark Horse Fantasy (50% acrylic, 50% nylon), in #2 (lime) and #105 (deep purple)
Dark Horse Lovely Lash (some kind of synthetic), in #216
Needles: US #8 (5.0mm)
Modifications: I didn't change this one too much. I did 4 legs instead of 5, mainly because I got tired of making them, and I did fewer rows of novelty yarn--the Lovely Lash is so fluffy that you really don't need that much of it to make it super furry. I also changed the inside mouth-seam to a 3 needle bind off.


Apparently this is how Elvis *really* died:


While I have your attention, I'll throw in some more spinning stuff. This is the yarn I made with the rest of the roving that Karida gave me. I'm hoping there'll be enough for a neckwarmer.


I also tried my hand at plying (since I only have one bobbin I wound the yarn into a center-pull ball and pulled from both ends). Doesn't look too bad.


When I got home on Thursday afternoon after my lesson at Spinster I spent most of the evening spinning. I'm getting a lot more consistent with my tension/drafting.


I spun all this while watching the Muppet Christmas Carol. I love that movie.


Ooh, I also made the most awesome batt at the batt station at Spinster.


The picture totally doesn't capture the awesome--it's a blend of undyed merino, white 'icicle top' (some kind of synthetic), blue/turquoise mohair, and a crapton of light blue angelina (the super sparkly stuff). Carma named it "Unicorns and Butterflies." I can't wait to spin it--but I'm totally terrified I'm going to screw it up. I ordered a few batts from Sugarbee Studios (i.e. Politically Incorrect Yarns and Fibers), so maybe I'll try those first.

I have more to show (awesome Etsy trades) but those will have to come later this weekend. I really should try to go to bed earlier than normal since I have to be awake and lucid at 8am starting Monday, but I really want to keep spinning. Crap.