Hope everyone has had a fantastic summer!

Mine was pretty good, though it’s far too close to being over. My husband, the baby and I took a family road trip with my parents and sister down through BC and along the Washington and Oregon coasts. It was a great trip!

However, it’s back to the grind now that we’re home. Getting back into the knitty-swing of things (and of course, all the household chores that piled up while we were away!)

There’ll definitely be some knitsy and yarnsy posts in the future. Hopefully I don’t disappear again for quite so long! Heh.

Shorties that I did as a test knit for the EviePants pattern using Comfort Wool’s “High Tide” on Nova (Gaia) Bulky.

And a sun hat! (pattern by Kristi of Tree Frog Knits)

I buy fiber.

I knit, occasionally. I was in a bit of a slump, but it’s all comin’ back! These are a pair of shorts for A and also a test knit for Marilyn of EviePants for her all-in-one pattern coming out this summer. Yarn is Comfort Wool Co. “High Tide” on Nova Bulky dyed by Lauren.

And, I spin.

And then I spin some more.

And some more.

I spin so much, that my son has resorted to feeding himself with the bones he finds in the dog toy basket. I am a fail mama!

Okay, so it’s not that bad, but I needed to share that photo because it cracks me up. But yeah, I’ve been spinning like a crazy person. I’m having a hard time finding a good balance between knitting and spinning, hence the slight break taken from knitting. That said, though, the knitting is coming back – maybe my blogging practices will, too!

We’ve been pretty relaxed around here, to be honest. I’ve been stashing up some more gorgeous spinning fiber and finishing up my straggly WIPs.

This isn’t quite a final photo, but here’s a pair of YYMN longies that I’ve finished up for a customer in Nurturing Threads’ “Starling” colourway on Cestari. They felt like they took ages, but I’m so pleased with the results! I think that they turned out excellently. She was hoping for something a little different, so we went with a textured stripe pattern, utilizing the quilted lattice stitch also seen in the Springtime in Hollis sweater. I think they’re loads of fun!

I’ve also finished up a project for me! This is a wurm hat knit up in my own handspun. Original fiber from Funky Carolina, “A Different Exclamation” on BFL/Silk. Delicious to spin AND to knit. I need moar.

Some modeled shots for your amusement.

I dyed yarn last week, too! Just the beginner-ish kool-aid & a crockpot method, but I think it turned out pretty well! The skein on the right was the first one I did and came out reaaaaallly semi-solid, rather than the variegated look I was going for. The Law of Red learned, (which is the fact that it eats everything and goes a lot farther than any other colour) I went back and came out with the skein on the left, which went much better. Now I’m out of blank yarn, though. I have a sad feeling this could be an addictive habit. Oi.

And finally, here’s my lastest spinning WIP. More FLUFF – a merino/silk blend this time in their “Explore” colourway. Very yummy!

Anyway, going to go work on the second bobbin of that, so have a wonderful Wednesday!

Not a lot, since my last post. Although, the dotCA and Comfort Wool‘s Knit Night stocking are both live! Lots of goodies still available.

Anyway! I’ve come to a realization over the past little while. I need to cook more. Well, we need to cook more, to be perfectly honest.

So, blogland! I cry out to you for your favorite recipes! We’re not a big seafood family, fish is okay, but beyond that I’m pretty open to ideas. I’ve got The Pioneer Woman on my shortlist, so I’m going to try out some of her stuff hopefully this week, but I’m on the search for more ideas! Share with me, my lovelies!

In shop news, I’m stocking a springtime in hollis sweater at Comfort Wool on the 29th for Knit Night, which involves a really amazing group of ladies, and I must admit that I was totally honored to be asked to participate. <3

The May stocking of dotCA is also just right around the corner and there’s some great stuff going up over there, as well.

In more local news, spring has definitely shown up to stay. It’s been absolutely gorgeous the past couple of weeks! The kick off of barbeque season for sure! My perennials are starting to pop back up for the year and the plum tree that I planted last spring looks like it’s going to have a gorgeous flowering sometime in the next little while. I’m really stoked that most of my trees and shrubs look to have survived the winter. Score one for me!

Summer is also fast approaching. We might be venturing down through Washington state and the Oregon coast in July; any recommendations for must-see-attractions? I’ve been googling, but I want to make sure that I don’t miss anything amazing.

Spinning is really just an excuse to love colour; to experience colour.

Over the past few months, spinning and I have begun to spend a lot more time together. I haven’t gone for another lesson, but started fumbling my way through with what I remembered from that first lesson, and some great tutorials on YouTube. At that first lesson, the woman who was teaching me recommended a couple of sources for cheap fiber that would be great to learn on. I took her advice, and purchased some.

It was wool, and while I admit that I’m a huge sucker for wool (in fact, I muchmuchmuch prefer wool to acrylic and cotton yarns), when I tried spinning it, I ran into the same problem I ran into when I really started knitting: I’m sort of a snob. Not in the sense that I look down on people for their own choices, but I, myself, much prefer to work with what a lot of people refer to as “snobby” materials.  Though I recognize that all fibres have a place in the fibre community, they’re just not all for me.

I’d simply come to the same conclusion regarding spinning fibre that I had regarding my yarn preferences. I shouldn’t have been shocked; when I first branched out into the Wide World of Wool a few years ago, I was pretty shocked to see that “wool” wasn’t really just “wool” at all. In fact, “wool” soon became synonymous with “erin loves”. So, shortly after realizing that I wasn’t a huge fan of the “learning fibre” I’d bought to practice on, I recalled that I had purchased a braid of handpainted roving from an etsy seller I’m fond of that I had been hoarding away for when I was a “good” spinner.

One day, I said to hell with it, and pulled out the good stuff. What a difference that made. Using a fibre that was beautiful, soft, and really just fun made the experience so much more enjoyable that I started buying up beautiful fibres and never looked back. As the woman who owns a local yarn shop told me when I brought her my second skein of handspun to share my excitement “there’s no such thing as an ugly handspun”; they’re simply unique.

Now, I’m sure everyone has a wool experience that is less than stellar. Maybe an old sweater, or a vest from forever-ago, and it made you think that wool = horriblescratchygarmentofdeath. Well, ladies and gentlemen, I’ve got news for you:

Today’s wool ain’t your grandmama’s itchy, scratchy, rustic wool of yesteryear.

(Well, I mean, it isn’t always your grandmama’s wool. Even rustic wools have their place in my heart.) There’s so many varieties that are really quite the opposite; they’re more the strip down and roll in me naked kind of wools. Blend one of those softer wools (like, say, merino) with silk? Delicious. Bamboo? Also delicious! Cashmere? I’m happier than a teenage girl with a shirtless, sparkly vampire. That’s my weakness.

Blend merino with silk AND cashmere? That's my ambrosia - edible or not!

The funny thing? I have an infant. I live in the oilpatch. I spend most of my time in jeans and simple tops, but show me a luxury fibre or yarn and my brain just doesn’t care. That’s my indulgence. I don’t buy expensive coffee all that often, I don’t get my nails done, or spend much on clothes for myself (though, I will admit I’m long overdue for a post-partum shopping trip); I buy inappropriately gorgeous yarn and fiber, love it out of its mailing envelope, photograph it for posterity, and hoard it away in bins wait patiently until the perfect project comes along.

And then, I love it all over again.

For some reason, everything I touch that involves any kind of code this week has just exploded in my hands.

SO! Fingers crossed, ladies and gents.

Real content is pending.

What a wonderful, wonderful thing to wake up to – my gigantic custom order from Lauren of Comfort Wool – who dyes some of what is possibly the most gorgeous yarn I’ve ever seen. No lies. I’m just going to bask in it for awhile.

Current works-in-progress include the above – a Pembroke Vest for A in Sunshine Yarn‘s Worsted Merino in “Spiced” – as well as a Small Things romper, and the semi-custom Crayon Rainbow longies from my stocking on the 26th which are working up absolutely wonderfully. I hope the customer loves them the way I do! Will try and remember to get photos of them tomorrow when I have some decent light.

So with that, dear interwebs, I bid you adieu for the evening. Stay outta trouble!