Uli's Creative Corner

Oh boy, oh boy.................... yup, my boy............ he's such a troublemaker.  It's just in his blood!!!  His sister showing him how to get into trouble but then not knowing how to get out of said trouble finds him often stuck in situations where he then will need help............ we seem to be rescuing hime quite regularly!!!  Behind our sectional last night..................... stuck in the corner:

And here is fingerless glove #1 from the handspun that I blogged about yesterday.  I really, really love how they are turning out.

Second try was a charm.  I could have used 2 extra stitches in the thumb but design lesson #2 (aside from the silly gauge lesson yesterday) is that if you choose to do a 2X2 rib you can't just increase by 2 stitches, you have to go for 4 and that would have been too much.   I hope to get #2 done tonight and then I hope to get back to spinning this lovely, lovely fibre that I picked up from the Loopy Ewe a little while back:

It's a merino and one hank of the fibre is dyed in the purples and the other hank in the pinks.  They coordinatre quite nicely.  It's by the Dyeing Arts - currently sold out.  I'm just taking the basic approach and spinning the purple one one bobbin - almost finished the purple.  And then I'll spin the pink.  And then I'll 2-ply them together.  This spinning project was put on the spinning wheel upon the request of Little Miss - she loves just the right colours - just like Mom. :-)

Sometimes I really want to be selfish.............. sometimes I am a little selfish but most of the time, I consider my family around me and their needs before I stalk off to do something on my own that affects hubby and the kids.   Right now, I'm in one of those funks where I really, really want to be selfish but I just can't get myself to go there.  I already had one selfish day last weekend doing the Arts Alive Festival and leaving hubby to deal with the kids all day etc.   I was selfish when I wanted to go see the various fibre places on our vacation when I made everyone take time out in their day to follow me around aka drive out of our way to check out all the fibre goodies etc.   I do get my share of time.  I do wish I had more time just to myself though.  Anyways, to make a long story short, I REALLY, REALLY want to go to Gibsons Fibre Fest.  Just for the day.  A while ago I thought I could take the Friday off and hop over there by myself just for the day.  Well, I've already taken a couple of Fridays off so I really shouldn't take another day off.  I like to have a nice bank of vacation days available for the school year in case of emergencies or "just needing to have a break".  It's starting to get busy at work.  And, of course, most importantly, I really can't justify the ferry cost for just myself and my car and then still think I could afford to spend some money.  We're trying to save money and not spend it so buying fibre and yarn is all part of that.  Now, having said that, I still keep thinking that it would be fun to head over there with the family on Saturday but of course, there are swimming lessons for the kids and they already missed last week and other stuff like that - so realistically, unless I was really selfish again and went off on my own, Saturday is also not an option.  So having written this all down now, I can totally see how it's not feasible and not a smart idea and so I will just enjoy my weekend at home, spinning and knitting with all the lovely fibre I already do have rather than going out there being tempted by even more.  I'm most sad though that I won't get to see Shelley at Fun Knits.  I missed her in Victoria and was really wishing I could catch up with her at Gibsons and judging from her blog there's some awesome fibre on the way to Gibsons.

Okay, whine over........................... maybe I'll be able to indulge by going for a short little drive over to Port Moody to check out the new yarn store Black Sheep Yarns.  Maybe I can manage that?  Hmmm, it says that they are open on Sunday. :-)

Last night I started a pair of fingerless gloves, my new obsession, using some handspun merino from Copperpot Woolies.  The colourway was called Splash and it's a blend of bright pink and lime.  It started out as this:

We had a bit of a love hate relationship at first on the spinning wheel.  I wasn't quite sure how to blend the two colours well and how to best handle this type of super soft pulled into roving batt.  The first bit was uneven and it seemed to want to be way overspun into little curly bits etc.  Eventually, I did get my act together and we became fairly good friends.  The end result is this:

I was very pleased in the end.  It's about 16 WPI and I have about 222 yards, 2 ply.  So I got the needles out last night.  Of course, I didn't really do a gauge swatch.  Hmmm......... wrong.... I know, I know.... I got past the thumb gussett etc. and once I was working all in stocking stitch (I'm not following a pattern - just from my head), it kind of got a tad big.  I was trying to see if I could pretend they would be fine but no... i ended up ripping.  Now I'm back to knitting some ribbing again but that's almost done.  The lime and the pink are quite toned down now in the 2-ply form and knitted they are even a bit more subdued.  I think it's very pretty though.

Arts Alive was good.  It was HOT, HOT, HOT.  I think it probably slowed down some of the shopping.  People were just too hot to #1 come out and #2 to linger.  I'm not complaining though and it's a festival I would definitely consider doing again.  I didn't get any pictures.

I had one pair of earrings there that I had just made up the night before that I was sure would sell.  Simple, basic, sterling silver, fun, will go with any and every outfit............ but no takers.......... one person who liked them and wanted to maybe come back for them but didn't.  So I'll show them off to you:

I put them in the shop yesterday.  I made a few pair and one of them will definitely become one of my favourite pair for my fall wardrobe. 

I also played with more stretchy chainmaille goodness.  Learning how to do this weave, the Half-Persian 4-in-1 wasn't that difficult once I found a You Tube video but figuring out how to close the bracelet into a continuous loop was a tad more difficult.  With the first few, I spent 2 or 3 hours on each trying to figure out how to get the pattern to flow.  Eventually I got it and now, I've got it down to 10 or 15 minutes to figure out the proper ring arrangment to get it to look perfect.  Here is an array of colours that I've created:

and a close-up detail shot:

I like them............

Now it's time to start on a strategy for my fall and winter craft shows.  They will keep me busy in November but of course, I have to prepare well in advance, especially with my busy fall work schedule.

Enjoy the week.  Our summer weather seems to have vanished but Little Miss seems to be in luck with her soccer camp.  So far she hasn't had to endure a downpour.  They've happened late at night and early morning.

Off I go to see if our tires got marked.......... I'm parked in 2-hour parking today.

The Pic-Knit last Saturday was a fun event and I spent just a little bit of money on some fibre aka I took an amount in cash and I didn't pull out the credit card.  I even put one blob of very pretty fibre back when I figured out it would go above my self-allotted cash budget.  I also met some other Ravelers who I had been chatting with on Ravelry for a while.  There's always that moment of recognition and how do you actually find the people that you "think" you know from you on-line adventures.  Well, when I found a group of knitters, and recognized one by a picture and asked her if she was who I thought she was and then intorduced myself with my "real" name, the name that my Mom (actually my Mom's doctor) picked for me at birth......... there was no glimmer of recognition.................. not until I said "I'm Mommyknits on Ravelry" and then there was that recognition and that oh, you're mommyknits, oh she's mommyknits........ Just too funny!!!  Our personas are built around our screen names and the image we portray in our ravatars.  But to say the least, I stepped out of my comfort zone, met a few other knitters and sat and knitted and chatted for a while.  Always a nice thing to do.

While I'm talking about local events, this coming Saturday, I will have a booth at the Langley Arts Alive festival.  I'm not ready for it but that's what I always think.  One of my newest items on display will be a necklace I've been dabbling with.  I have about 4" left to go to finish it.  It's a labour of love.  Here's a glimpse.  It's a dainty chain made from niobium and sterling silver - as usual - in my random colour scheme.

Hopping over to fibre and spinning.................. I've just spun this beautiful merino/silk blend from All Spun Up.  It's my finest spinning ever and I love, love, love the result.  This yarn is so soft.  I don't know what it will be yet but it will be something pretty.

I've also been working on my Norwegian Woods whenever I get a chance.  I'm getting close but yet so far.  The rows are long right now that I get a maximum of 2 rows done every time I sit down.  Silly me.... when I finished my first skein of yarn and had to join, I decided that I should string the beads for the cast off row and just push them along as there wasn't that much left to go but pushing those beads along is slowing me down big time.  I'm trying to work on it a little bit each and every day.

The kids are having a fun summer!!!

This was a fun day at the beach................. eating sand and all. :-)

I don't know if anyone local aka local to me aka the Lower Mainland reads my blog but if you do, I'd like to direct your attention to an event next weekend, August 9th at the Surrey Museum.  It's called Pic-Knit and looks like it might be fun.

Follow this link for the details.

This is a copy of the text:

Join a summer picnic of knitters, crafters and suppliers at the Surrey Museum Plaza. Pack a lunch, watch the experts in action, and learn tips and tricks in our mini-workshops to inspire your own modern or heritage yarn craft. Tour the Museum’s Textile Studio and the Hooser Library to view our extensive collection of looms, weaving samples and rare textile books.

I'll be there. Looks like a fun day and definitely a stash enhancing opportunity. :-) Don't know yet what time but I'll be there.  It will be around noon because we have swimming lessons for the kids in the morning.  I'd love to meet up with some people if anyone is interested.

Well, I'm almost done with the vacation report.  Our first stop was a stop just outside of Merritt, BC at Aurelia Wool Works.  Andrea kindly waited around for us to make our arrival and we enjoyed our visit.  I love her little studio filled with goodies.  I was blown away by the big drums (for lack of a better word) of dyed roving on the top shelves surrounding her studio.  Her stuff is all imported in from New Zealand and there are some absolutely wonderful finds in there from Corriedale and basic Merino to some lovely Merino/Silk blends.  Her  top knots of mixed fibres and colours are also quite fun.  The kids also enjoyed their visit as they got to check out the chicken coop and JR loved that the rooster crowed for him several times.  Little Miss got to collect a freshly laid egg.  It was a very enjoyable visit.  I love shopping for yarn and fibre on line but there is something to be said about the hospitality of the fibre arts community and I trul experiecned that hospitality during this trip.  It was great.  Everybody was nice and tried so very hard to accommodate me and our rumbunxious family........ I felt welcome everywhere and it was worthwhile planning my trip ahead and contacting everyone to find out when I could come see them etc.

So here is my stash that I brought home from Aurelia Wool Works:

So after this trip, do you think I have enough to spin?  I think so....... and there are some goodies that I haven't shared yet.  If you wanna make friends with me over on Ravelry (mommyknits), I have all my fiber stash up to date.  Not all my yarn stash is up to date (only about half of it probably is) but most of my spinning stash.  Oops, I forgot, there are a few more things that I have photographed but not put up on ravelry yet................ fibres........... of course.

Back to regular programming after this post. 

Oh, while I'm still in the past, I should probably show you the socks I made on vacation:

These are the Spring Forward socks from the summer '08 Knitty.  I used some stash Opal Handpainted yarn.  The pattern was the most perfect pattern for a long road trip.  Easy to memorize but interesting enough from keeping me from falling asleep.  I did enjoy this pair.  I love plain old stocking stitch socks but these have kind of inspired me to make some more patterned socks again.

Have a great weekend!!!  It's a long weekend up here for us so I'm happy!!!