Tour de Fleece

A while back, I had bought a spindle and some fiber. And that was it. I never did anything else with it. (eyeroll)

So this year, as motivation, I've signed up for Tour de Fleece on Ravelry. I have my Respect the Spindle book by Abby Franquemont and have started reading up to get myself prepared for TdF.

My plan is, since this starts the day before I leave for vacation, is to take my spindle, fleece, book and Kindle Fire with me so I can practice practice practice! I'm sure I'll need videos to show me what the heck to do, but at least now, through the book, I know I bought a top whorl, suspended spindle. That's really more than I knew when I bought the thing!

Stayed tuned for spinning goodness!

On the podcast front, I've been slacking! My iPod is full of podcasts and I'm hoping to get back into listening on vacation. One of my favorites though is Science....Sort of. We have a bunch of scientists who set out to prove that scientists are not dull people. There's not much wrong with this podcast, from the science topics they discuss, to the beer drinking segment, to the trailer trash talk segment. You don't need to be a scientist to listen!

And away we go!

It's amazing how, when the thyroid medicine is right, things are so much better. I finally feel like I have energy again and my brain-fog is gone. Thank goodness!

I haven't been as busy as I wanted to be while in the thyroid fog, but I'm making up for it!

I just finished a baby blanket for one of the partners at my firm (and the man who hired me 14 years ago). I just did my standby blanket, the Diagonal Comfort Blanket from Lion Brand. It's super simple and makes such a nice blanket for the kidlet. I always make my baby stuff out of washable yarn, because really, the parents don't need handwash items at this time! I stashdove and found Cotton-Ease in Seaspray and had enough to make a nice sized blanket! I love this yarn, once it's been washed and through the dryer it's so snuggly.

Vacation is coming up so I'm doing the most important thing...which projects are my travel projects?? I've decided on my first pair of socks, vanilla socks, made with Gnomeacres To Be Jolly holiday sock yarn. I have lots of pairs of cartoon Holiday socks and figured a handknit pair for Christmas morning would be ideal.

Amanda from Gnomeacres does the best work. I have WAY too many skeins of yarn from her. Plus, she responds super quick to questions. Great indie dyer!

I also started the Viajante by Martina Behm. I've already knitted her Trillian and Hitchhiker and really enjoy her patterns. I had purchased a skein of Gnomey Nights with sparkle from Gnomeacres and was trying to find a pattern for it. This was it, except I only purchased 1 skein of yarn! Oh darn, must buy more....

It's knitting up beautifully! But such fine yarn and such small needles, I think this will take me awhile!

Next up is my Iced cardigan. I might have found the yarn I want, it's just not in the proper weight. So I need to knit a swatch (I'm thinking double knitting with 2 strands to get the right weight but need to see how heavy it will be). Stay tuned.....

Finally, a basic prayer shawl for the Firewalker Project. Plus some materials for some chemo caps. I think those will be the car knitting, with the others being the evening knitting.

Onward to the domestic side......

My rescue dog is doing really well now. We've pretty much bonded and are good partners.  She is an older dog, approx 9-10 years old, so she's a sleeper and lay around type of pooch. Right up my alley! She's the sweetest dang dog ever and I can't imagine who would have given her up. But she has a home now and I love her to pieces :)

And lastly for today, a good standby recipe for banana bread. I keep it on hand because I rarely finish my bunch of bananas in time....

More in the future...I learned to can! And actually made strawberry preserves!

Podcast of the Week - CraftLit

I cannot say enough good things about this one. As much as I love to read, I don't always delve into the classics. So many of them are free for the taking at Librivox and I do grab a few sometimes. I think my main problem with the classics is the lack of conversation about them with someone. I miss nuances sometimes with them and just don't get them.

Heather Ordover is a teacher who hosts this part crafting/part classic audiobook podcast and it's exactly what I need. I jump around (and she handily offers a guide on which podcasts have which books) and I just love it. CraftLit is a worthwhile podcast to listen to just to get your feet wet on the classics.

I started off with Pride and Prejudice because I was pretty sure I wouldn't like Jane Austen (nice reason, right?). I never liked romantics and figured that's what Austen was. Hello! I was wrong! With guidance and excellent commentary by Heather, it turns out I really like Austen. How about that noise? P&P were the very first episodes she did and I keep coming back.

Right now I've just jumped to Jane Eyre, never having read any of the Bronte sisters (but totally meaning to) and I'm already suckered in and it's only up to chapter four. Heather researches the authors and gives you tidbits to chew on. She lets you know the history behind terms the book uses, like what the heck is a Holland Pocket??

If you aren't into the crafty part, grab the podcast of Just the Books!

I can't recommend this one enough!

Podcast of the Week - The History Chicks

This is one of my favorite, non-crafty, educational-in-a-fun-way podcasts. The History Chicks feature a woman of history with each podcast and go so far in depth, it's astounding.

Beckett Graham and Susan Vollenweider: Two women. Half the population. Several thousand years of history. About an hour. Go.

They cover entertainers, scientists, writers (Laura Ingalls Wilder is my favorite historical woman and their podcast of her was LONG and highly entertaining), royalty, etc. Even some fictional folk are covered (like Cinderella).

I've learned quite a bit about women I knew nothing about, like Nellie Bly. When that happens, I tend to hit the library for a some of the books they recommend to learn more about the Chick. That's right, you can walk away from each podcast with a full list of extra reading, blogs and/or books.

The ladies are entertaining and, while the sound quality wasn't so great in the beginning, it's a lot better.

They have a facebook page as well that stays pretty active and they give fun clues to the next History Chick they are about to podcast on.

Check them out!

Podcast of the Week - Yarngasm

This one sounds dirty but it's really not. Although, now that it's become a video podcast, it's a bit yarn p0rny :)

Kristin, aka Voolenvine, is our host and she has recently switched to video rather than audio (although she does post the audio portion of the video so you still get an audio podcast). Often, when listening to her, I would think "I wish I could see what she's talking about" and it's like she read my mind.

Kristin is lovely and has a wonderful voice. Her enthusiasm for her projects is contagious and she has a knack for picking amazing patterns to work on, all of which I frequently queue on Ravelry.

Her blog is here and her Ravelry group is here. She also has a group that is awesome called StashBustArmy. Perfect projects to use up your stash. She also has a twitter account.

Check her out. This one is well worth sitting down for :)

Iced Iced Baby

It's 2013 and it's the year of changes!

First off, I'm becoming the proud owner of a rescue dog on Friday. First pet in this house and I'm pretty stoked. (That word didn't age me at all....)

Secondly, this is the year I will make a sweater. Not a pullover because frankly I can't stand those. Thanks to thyroid problems I often have hot flashes so I tend to layer and take off what I can when I'm flashing. So I'm making a cardigan because, boy howdy, I love me some cardigans.

My only big problem with them is that I apparently have razor sharp elbows and they wear out fast. But I saw this pattern made on The Knitgirllls video podcast and since it's made with a bulkier yarn, I thought I could do this. 

Behold the Iced cardigan from Knitty.com

I excitedly bought some (sale) yarn from WEBS and was so happy when it arrived. I dutifully did my swatch and washed it.....and it felted right up. Did I really buy 22 balls of yarn that wasn't machine washable? Yes, yes I did.Wow.

I amaze myself sometimes.

So, it's not a total loss. I can make a nice cowl, mitten, hat set out of that yarn for this howling winter we're having. Now I just need to find washable yarn for my cardigan. AFTER I get my new dog settled in.....

Podcast of the Week - CraftStash

This is a video podcast so you can see all the crafty goodness.

The host, Kaystarr, is most awesome. She's so incredibly enthusiastic that I swear I want to KNIT ALL THINGS when I'm done watching an episode. Plus, she's all about learning new things, which in turn spurs me on to learn new things. It's been fun watching her learn to spin and seeing how amazing her yarn is becoming.

Here's the Ravelry group for CraftStash. She's currently doing a read-a-long in the group for Wool by Hugh Howey and I'm so glad she did, because I never would have found this series of books on my own.

She has a Craftstash tumblr and posts a lot of yarny goodness. *swoon*

Watch her!