Happy almost Easter

This not having internet at home can be a bit tricky at times. It's very difficult for me to post from work, so I do most of my blogging at the BBE's. The main problem is that most of my projects and things I want to blog about are at home. I guess I'm having a difficult time with the juggling act that is my life. I work at least 40 hours a week, try to spend as much time with my BBE as our work schedules allow, and spend as much time at home with my son as I can - but there's just not enough time to do all the things I want/need to do.

So there are things that I want to blog about. I received the loom - it's very very basic. But will work for my purposes. I asked the Boo to use his dremel tool to make some modifications to the warping dowels - we'll see if that's been done when I get home or not. I've printed out half a ream of different directions from all over the web, I've picked out my warp yarn.

Remember my Caramel Swirl yarn? I was bummed because after plying up 700+ yards of it I ran out of one of the plies. I thought it was the camel down ply, which I don't have any more of. So for days I researched vendors to buy more camel down from. The other day I picked up one of the bobbins that I thought was left over alpaca. Well, I are a doofus! I still have a good 1/3 of a bobbin of the camel down singles - spun and just waiting to go. I'd used up all the alpaca singles that I'd spun. And that's just fine because I bought 2 or 3 pounds of that beautiful fawn coloured alpaca. So I quickly spun up some more of the alpaca. I was amazed at how much easier it seemed to spin up from my memories of spinning the first bobbin last summer. I think it's just because of all the spinning I've been doing lately. Practice really does make a big difference.
I'm also very low on the blended batt singles so I've been working on spinning that up on my little cut out spindle. I love the way you can se through the whorl to the cop being built up.

I was spinning this at the grocery store the other night, and a woman pushing a cute little boy walked past me saying, "I didn't think anyone did that anymore". I thought it was kinda cool - I mean at least she seemed to know what it was that I was up to. I think the very best comment I've ever gotten was from a friend at work. I wore my Box the Compass sweater that I made out of Rowan Silken tweed, when he heard that I'd made the sweater he exclaimed, "You made that!?!? But, but that looks... real!"

In other doofus manouvers I washed the caramel swirl yarn with my red hat lady yarn, and there was some bleeding. I thought that might happen, yet I did it anyway. I kind of like the effect though. It could still be a total disaster when the yarn is knit up - but hey, I like living on the edge! I'm really leaning towards the top down cardigan done in one piece with set in sleeves and a sideways fluted lace border along the bottom. Full fashioned shaping. I think I'll start some gauge swatches after I get home and wind the finished yarn up. I think I should be able to ply the rest of it today as well.

So I still have to go home, wind the yarn that I've finished - ply some more yarn, maybe play with the new loom a bit, take some more useful blog pictures, and then dinner at mom's house at 6 tonight. My step sister is in town for the weekend, it's Easter tomorrow, and my mom's birthday on Monday. Should be a good time!


The other morning as I was leaving for work, the lillies outside the front door of BBE's house were so beautiful I just had to stop and take a few pictures. There were only about 2 pics that didn't make the cut.