Cracking the WiP

zOMG! A blog! I knew I had one of these things around here somewhere!

For real though, I have an excuse for not posting. I've been a little busy. I've so far seen Prince Caspian 3 times (if you haven't seen it yet, what are you doing here? Go! Get thee to the cinema!), Indy once, visited Williamsburg with my mom, been increasing my WiP pool, been spinning more than previously (yayz!), and have been cultivating my new obsession with which I've been surely driving my friends and family completely insane. And as usual, I am planning on blogging more often. *snort*

Anyway, I've got fun Narnia-related stuff to show you, but since it's Wednesday, perhaps instead you'd like to see those aforementioned WiPs? Well how about...

A crocheted sock?


Kureyon Sock. Not the softest ever, but just gaze for a while at those glorious Noro colors...


P.S. That is only about 3 hours of crochet, give or take a few minutes. Now you understand what there is to love about being a hooker.


The Knitting Sisters beret. Could not resist this pattern. Yes, it's Kureyon; I can't help myself. This skein seems remarkably soft, though. Same color as the socks:



And the WiP that I started before either of those. I'm knitting Askew from Knitty. But not in Noro. Aha! A non-Noro WiP! Anywho, what I am knitting it in is Tess' Microfiber Ribbon. Yes, I am aware that it is not the same gauge as Silk Garden, and I should've reconsidered my yarn choice and gone with something that's the same gauge. But where's the fun in that? I redid the math. And it came out to me knitting the numbers for the size XL. Ironic? I think we would call it that, yes. But once you see these pics you will know why I had to do this.



See?


Is it not remarkable? Is it not gorgeous?
It's become my Robin Hood knitting, despite brief forays into the above Noro projects. I feel it is appropriate knitting for Robin Hood, it being green and kinda evocative of some of the costuming themes of the show.

Well there you have it. My WiP Wednesday post, and it's still Wednesday! Go me! Now I'm off to debate whether to start spinning, work on one of my current WiPs, or start a new one I have planned...

The Chronicles of a Narnia Scarf

I promised this last week, and it didn't happen. And I was going to post it yesterday but didn't have the chance. So now on my lunch break I finally bring you the scarf you've all been waiting for! Warning: gratuitous amounts of pictures.

I was rather pleased when I finished the knitting.


It needed to be washed, though, to bring up the fuzz and soften the yarn. So I prepared a bath for it with a bit of Eucalan, and set it in nice and easy:


Swooshed it around a bit, hoping that a teensy degree of fulling would bring the fuzz up more:

(I told you the pictures were gratuitous)

It rather enjoyed its bath, and managed to look its very best while underwater:

(Okay so I just liked the way the color showed in the water...)

So after letting it soak a while and squeezing it out very carefully, I laid it out to dry:

Looks a bit more like a banner than a scarf, no?

The wait for it to dry was agonizing. Except for the part when I was asleep. That part I didn't notice. But I waited all day through work to come home to:

Hmm. That's awfully flat.


I see fuzz, but no defined columns of slipped stitches. Hmm.

The feel of the scarf is fabulous. I love it. I just am a bit disappointed in how it washed. The stitch definition was perfect before I washed it; after the wash, not so much. The slipped stitches just settled down next to the regular knit stitches and refused to stand out. So after wearing it for an evening, I gave it another bath. Swooshed it around quite a bit in hot water, by hand (just a teensy amount of fulling, but not significant) in hopes that it would tighten it up a bit and thus (in theory) squish the slipped stitches out from between the plain old knits. And instead of laying it flat to dry, I put it in the dryer on the no-heat, air-fluff setting to dry. Plan backfired. Still rather flat. With more wear, the slipped stitch columns are showing a little bit more, but it's still not the movie look I was going for.

Very elegant, though.


Very soft and comfortable, too. I just wish it had turned out looking the way I had wanted. And who knows, maybe it'll gradually spring back to its un-blocked state. And maybe Aslan will appear in our world. Don't want to end on such a negative note, though, so I will say that it's fabulous to wear and I will definitely be ordering from Stansborough Fibres again. And I will be wearing my Tumnus scarf to the midnight showing tomorrow night!!!

Handspun Heaven

So, last weekend was Sheep & Wool. Two days at the Mecca of fiberness. My bank account is a li'l bit thinner now, after my sacrifices at the altar of wool and fiber tools, but I am very pleased. Allow me to show off a bit (warning: photo heavy!):

My biggest splurge, the Golding spindle lazy kate:


I finally decided that I'd regret not buying it more than I'd regret buying it. As you can see, it also serves as a spindle display stand. Meet the two newest members of my growing Golding family:



I can't resist. It's a good thing I saved up thru the month of April. Too bad I didn't save longer.

I also managed to score a Moosie from Journey Wheel. *drool*


The shaft is bocote wood. Stripey!


Which brings me to the handspun part. What's on the Moosie is merino from Gale's Art, in Cherry Blossom. I couldn't resist, started spinning it Saturday after the festival, and it's been riding around in my purse ever since, just in case.


Nom.

I also have now finished the Earth and Sky colored merino that I'd been working on. Unfortunately Flickr is being a bitch and is giving me trouble with the uploading thing, so pics will have to wait, but I can tell you about it. It's soooo squishy :) Me likey. In fact, me LOVES. Love love love.

...And now there's room on my wheel for Blue Moon Fiber Arts Sheep 2 Shoe. In Valkyrie. Oh. My. GOD.




Is that black enough for you? And yet, not at all black? It's colors! But it's black! But it's colors! I love the Raven Clan. And not only is it beautiful, but if you could feel it thru the screen you'd find that it's the softest thing you've ever felt. It's merino, but it feels like camel. It's the butter of the fiber world.

Yep, I'm a little busy. But happily so. But stay tuned, because tomorrow I will bring you the scarf promised in my previous post...