I'm spinning again

Michelle at Fiber Nooks and Crannies, my local knit shop has been having a spinning night every other Thursday, and I finally packed up my spinner and went. I have a Fricke electric spinner because of fused ankles which cannot treadle on a real wheel. I took some fiber that I have had in my stash for a while. It was purchased from Dicentra Designs and is so beautifully dyed. I am hooked on spinning again! I tried again to photograph this fiber, it looks so pretty in the sun.
But the colors look a little different out of the direct sunlight.
Anyway, it is lovely and I can't wait to see how it looks when I am done.

Little Pink Silk Shrug

I bought this dress the other day and am not so comfortable showing so much skin, so I thought to knit a shrug to go over it. Fortunately I have a really great book called Lace Style and it had this pattern in it, AND I happened to have a few balls of this yarn left over from my Molly Ringwald. It came out really cute. Unfortunately my photographer (my DH David) thinks that one picture of any FO is enough...so this is it. Pattern: Little Silk Shrug by Pam Allen from Lace Style
Yarn: Classic Silk by Classic Elite Yarns 50% cotton/30% silk/ 20% nylon, 2 balls
Needles: US 8
Alterations: I added one lace repeat to the pattern width to accomodate my arms which are not 10.5 inches around unfortunately (the sleeve width the pattern is written for), maybe when I lose a little more weight!

Black Sheep Gathering

I finally got to attend the Black Sheep Gathering this last Saturday in Eugene. This is an amazing fiber festival that happens once a year and I never knew about it until two years ago. My kind mother-in-law attended with me and pushed Alexa around in the stroller so I could go into the booths and pet the yarn. Alexa was amazingly good. She sat in the stroller the whole time without whining or pulling yarn off the displays. The only picture I took the whole time was this one of Alexa and this very cute sheep. So what did I get? You have to understand that I have been on self-imposed yarn restriction for about six months, telling myself the whole time that I would allow myself to buy something at the BSG as a reward. I had set a limit on the amount of money I would spend and wanted to buy enough yarn to make a sweater. I don't knit a lot of socks, so I thought I would make the Apres Surf Hoodie from Interweave Knits Summer Issue. After looking at a lot of unspun fiber and beatiful yarn I decided on this.
An incredibly lovely yarn. The label says Wolf Creek Wools Toe Jammies. The website is listed as www.sweetgrasswool.com and the lady who made this beautiful stuff is on Ravelry as sweetodie.
In addition to the beautiful colors, this yarn shines a bit..it is 60% Merino/30%Bamboo/10% Nylon. I am very pleased with my purchase.
Next year I am going to have to attend alone however so I can take my time. I just can't spend hours in a place with a 4 year old.
There was also a barn with alpacas and their fleece. Penny (mom-in-law) and I bought some uncarded alpaca so we could put my thus far unused hand carders to use. We will see how that goes!

Alexa's Unmentionables

I finished the Unmentionables in time for Alexa's 4th birthday, and she looked adorable in them. I recognize that I am a bit biased here, but look-


So I am not very good at the formal details post, but here goes
Pattern: Emma's Unmentionables by Lee Wood Juvan published in Knitty, Spring 2008
Yarn: Longmeadow by Valley yarns in lettuce, less than 4 skeins.
Size: 2 year old waist, four-year old lengths for the rest.