I have been knitting lately, just seems pretty boring working on the eternal WIPs. I’ve been heading down to Burnsville on and off the last few weeks to knit with Nancy & Rina and whoever else happens to be there. I went to Drunken Knitting Night at Merlin’s Rest with Kim and Becky from dance (and we encountered Dave, also from dance. He was one of the musicians, not knitting.) oh, and I knit ’round the campfire at my cousin’s fall gathering last weekend, where I was told that the two petals of the flower washcloth looked more like a bra or bikini top. hadn’t realized that, but he was oh-so-right.

Projects I’ve been working on lately have been the Positive Energy Stole (mostly at Burnsville), seaming the HP POA scarf, the flower washcloth, the short-row scarf of doom (aka Sea Lettuce) and the Zucca blanket. I bought a few needles for needle felting and a bit of blue fiber (I haven’t made anything more than a couple blobs yet) - I blame my sister for that. (ever since she got interested, I’ve had it in my head that I need to copy her. I figure I’ll add some designs to a felted bag or something in the future.) In spinning news, I finished the Miss Babs fiber and have started one of the Seawools from Creatively Dyed.

In non-knitting news, I wandered (well, drove) around the Twin Cities today for a quilting shop hop.
This is what I got:

and this is what the finished quilt would look like:

I only got the fabric for the squares right now (I can buy a kit with all the fabric for the borders and such to finish it up), and I only have 6 of the squares. (missing the yellow & green square in the center right and the green one with the red X in the center top). I’m thinking I might make a table runner or something instead of the quilt as shown.

I also fell in love with one of the shops (located next to All About Yarn) Block of the Month quilts:

It’ll be queen sized when finished - which is perfect since that’s what size my bed is (which is also good cuz the kitties try to crowd me - usually one on either side of me). It started in September (with the medallion in the center), so I’m not too far behind.

and, in parting, some kitty pics…

Wolfie napping (or attempting to, before I found him and grabbed the camera) on the treadle of my wheel

dinner time. Wolfie ways nearly twice as much as Kashka. though most of him is still fluff.

after a rather long hiatus (I think the last time I actually spun on the wheel was early August), I resumed spinning up the Miss Babs wool/silk that I bought at Midwest Folk & Fiber back in July. the black’s been spun up for a while, the green was in time-out (it broke. I get frustrated when it breaks mid-spin and sometimes have an impossible time rejoining things)

This is what I’m spinning:

(I realize I never posted about my overindulgence in fiber at Midwest Folk & Fiber. If you’re on Ravelry, you can see the loot here. um, yeah. I may have gone a bit overboard.)

I think I spun up about half of the green tonight (so around 1 oz). my ‘pinching’ finger is giving me grief now. I need to remember to not overdo it - especially after such a long break.

in good news, Wolfgang doesn’t seem overly interested in the spinning or the fiber. he sat on the arm of the sofa for a while supervising, but didn’t try to play with anything. good to know. he did, however, decide that the alpaca-shaped WPI tool would be a good toy - for all of two seconds until he knocked it off the sofa and into a knitting project bag…

oh, and yes, the kitties are still getting along pretty well. see:

(that’s actually from mid-September. I need to get a better pic of them)

I did good - wore gloves while actually using the dyes (mixing & putting it onto the fiber)
then I steamed the fiber and let it sit a while.

just rinsed it:

bamboo/wool blend fiber bit from The Fiber Studio. dyed in leftover Peacock (Cushings) from last month’s dye session

I think the dye on my fingertips is actually from the main chunk of fiber I dyed - most likely from removing the saran wrap, since the water wasn’t too colored while rinsing it.

so, here it is post-rinse:

the pink spot is leftover from last month too - it’s the Rose Cushings, diluted a bit.
the other dyes are diluted Green (Cushings) on the ends and Teal (Jacquard) in the middle.

I can’t wait to see how it looks dry.

I’ve got some Punta wool soaking for more fun with dyes tomorrow.

DSCF6378, originally uploaded by criosa.

The second half of the Duo.

I started this Sunday during spinning at The Fiber Studio and finished it up tonight.

While I’m not usually a red/pink fan, I absolutely love how this spun up.

apparently a month and a half of not spinning means lots of spinning on my first day back at it.

behold:

Part 1 of the Dyeing Duos is complete

My first attempt at Navajo plying. the singles was spun back in March. It’s Brown Sheep Mill Ends Wool/Mohair that I picked up at Detta’s

and I’m about half-way through the Shawl.