Sheesh... it has been six weeks since I last posted! My excuse is that I am going in lots of directions, many of them outdoors and most fun. Work has been steady, but I am still only working half time for someone else, so I don't really feel like I can use that as an excuse. Getting enough computer time is really the biggest issue; my time spent elsewhere leads to far less screen time and these cute little posts just won't write themselves!
I do get up at dawn every morning, and have all summer, tending my Natural Dye Plant CSA... you can read more about that project here. Dear eldest son says he has stopped referring people to this blog since I only write over there, so I am going to try and correct that. The good news on the CSA front is that the first shipment was packaged and mailed last week, and lots of other harvesting and drying going on, including another trip to the high Sierras this weekend.
I also have a bit of knitting success to share.
This is my version of 198 yards of Heaven, using some my handspun yarn, made from Wooly Daisy's hand-dyed Blue Faced Leicester roving.
It is the only of my three entries to the Nevada County Fair that I managed to get finished in time to leave with Stephanie, who took it on project admission day, while DH and I took a mini-vacation. Guess you can tell what my priorities are! Actually, I was pretty delighted to win a third place ribbon for this. The handspun I produce is still really only intermediate in quality, and I didn't actually have 198 yards, more like about 150, so that I finished with a picot bind off instead of the edging called for. Amazing what blocking pins and wires can do to improve the appearance of that edge.
I have been working on the same Daisy skirt all summer, and do need to post an update photo; I also cast on for another Two-Summer Sundress for my dear little granddaughter, who will be turning 2 (?!) in mid-September. However, these just aren't exciting objects to share at this point, so I blatently stole this meme from Margene as blog filler, and to remind you I DO still care about knitting!
My Five Knitterly Things
1. My favorite things to knit – lace! I already have way too many shawls, so tend to be on the lookout for a nice, wraparound bit that wears easily. This Woolen Rabbit pattern fits the bill and may well be my next project, even though it isn't lacy! Oh well, they are my rules and made to be broken.
2. My least favorite thing about knitting – Lack of TIME to get to that huge list on my Ravelry queue. I have finally gotten interested in proper finishing techniques, which used to annoy me, so even that has become another joy of knitting for me.
3. My first finished object – I think it was a simple pair of slippers, made from garter stitch rectangles sewn with the toe side overlapping and the heel side sewn together upright. I was five at the time, so please forgive my less-than-perfect recollection. Barbie clothes knitting occupied a good portion of my childhood.
4. If I could take only one yarn brand to my desert island it would be – I'm going to cheat here... enough roving to spin as long as I was there... gives me three times the pleasure. First creating and dyeing the yarn, then knitting from it. I guess that's cheating, though, so I would have to say a beautiful, cushy fingering weight yarn.
5. My current knitting obsession is getting my Daisy skirt done so that I can start on my Knit Swirl coat for the coming winter. I have both weights of yarn dyed with madder root and ready to go, though I don't mind waiting a bit if it means I get to enjoy a few more weeks of summer.
Please feel free to copy this meme or let me know below what your 5 Knitterly Things are.