B is for Buffy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer that is!!!

This is week two of the ABC Along 2008. Those of you that know me, already know I am a HUGE Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan!!! One of my e-mail accounts is named "The Buffy watcher" as in I am not simply a Buffy Watcher, I am THE Buffy watcher...

I have several Buffy collectibles, not nearly as many as I feel I need though. Below you see a mug that says "Eat Stake", a pillow with the Buffy logo and many phrases in Buffy-verse, and lastly one of my prize Buffy items - the season five promotional tombstone that was produced as part of a media kit. I got that piece on E-Bay - yea, me!!!

Since school has begun, I feel as if I don't have time to knit or spin, and I am already weary of Legal Aspects of Health Information. I have went back to school to obtain my RHIT - in my case the RH could possibly stand for "really hateful"...

On the knitting front, I am yet to finish the second navy sock, but I am making forward progress every day. I did take time to do a pretty major fix on a friend's afghan. She is a very new knitter, and I took pity on her and took the broken project home to repair. I took out six rows, doesn't sound so bad until you remember it as an AFGHAN!!! All jokes aside, it wasn't too bad. After I ripped back past the error, I re-knit the six rows so she would not feel like she had taken two giant steps backwards. I also rewound her ball of yarn into a neat little yarn cake as Natty got the yarn out of the bag and gave it the old one-two with the bunny kickers. I hope I did not take too much licence with a project that belongs to someone else... The gals/friends I knit with meet on Wednesday night, so I will see if I overstepped my knit-etiquette.

Come On Old Sock!

Even recent projects that are not finished can rapidly become the "old" project when there is something else that you want to work on. I am hoping to have the lion's share of the second sock in the Leaf Lace pattern done by the end of the weekend. I have whined and offered a multitude of excuses why that sock isn't finished including the color is too dark to work on at night, I am too busy, or this is the second pair in a row of the same pattern. The truth is I just want to start my new sweater, I also want to spin, and those two things have led way to the aforementioned excuses. Also, as a last excuse, school starts on Monday...


As far as my spinning goals, I have been forcing myself to spin up the undyed yucko stuff that came with my wheel for practice before I move onto the good stuff, but I am beyond being over that... I have purchased several batts of colored fiber to spin. Starting with the fiber in the upper left corner that looks kind of rainbow-like (Cottage Fiber), then the peach-colored fiber (TerraBella Spun), the the fiber in the lower right (TerraBella Spun), and lastly the fiber in the lower left corner (Cottage Fiber). There is a naughty little enabler who set me on the Etsy path, and now I am hooked. I get kind of a little buzz coming home to a package of something in front of my door that I have ordered from Etsy. Another seller on Etsy that I really like, but have not ordered from yet is
Copperpot Woolies. The next thing you know I will be staying up late to secretly watch recorded episodes of Dr. Who...




This is my "Christmas money from Mom yarn", and it will be my next project as I think I am tired of socks for this minute. However, when I am halfway through the sweater, I will probably be plotting my next pair of socks. This yarn came from Misknits, a "curious little yarn shop" in Kansas City on the Missouri side. Amber, the owner, helped me pick out the colors, and she is just wonderful to work with. She always makes me glad I came into her shop, unlike a few others that shall remain unnamed - at least for now...

In response to FKD's challenge for her readers to participate in in the ABC - Along 2008.

A - A is for afternoon nap (Natty's), which I will not be getting as I am off to work on that "old sock". TTFN and happy knitting/spinning to all!

Too Little Time in the Day...

Leaf Lace Socks by Fiber Trends, Lanett yarn by Sandnesgarn in Navy. This yarn is lovely to knit with, but the color is so dark it is difficult to make much progress without going blind. The red sock blockers really show off just how lacy this pattern actually is.






This is my new orifice hook. Love, love, love it. This tool allows me to draw the roving through the orifice of the spinning wheel without any trouble at all.






This is my first attempt at plying singles. It's not great yet, but I am working very hard at not letting my yarn suck... The ball on the right is what I did in class, and the ball on the left is what I did at home alone.





After much hysteria and a fair amount of screaming, I realized that I NEEDED a tensioned lazy kate. The tensioned kate acts as a second pair of hands for the spinning/plying impaired. I did a little research on the net, and behold my success! You can tell it is nothing fancy, but it has made a world of difference in my plying. The bobbins came with the wheel, the cardboard box is a box that printer paper came in. The only thing I had to buy was size #2 needles that were long enough to go through the box.






I have a pretty wooden niddy noddy from Kromski, but this is my favorite one. I made this from PVC pipe and PVC joints. It cost me less than $10 to make, and it is wonderful to use because it is so small. I extended the length of the arms so I could get more yarn on it.





Here I am with my hair pulled up (more or less) in all my still fluffy glory, trying out my new tensioned kate, and successfully plying. I look a mess, but I wanted to show how easy plying was with the kate. Notice the lack of hysteria??? You can see my wheel in the picture. I still haven't named it yet, but I will. Any suggestions?


I have really gotten into quotes lately, and I will leave you with my new favorite:

"You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you odd." Flannery O'Connor