Ten on Tuesday

I know its been a little bit quiet around here lately.  No one thing is keeping me from blogging – just a lot going on.  Work has me hopping, weekends are filled with Painted Sheep stuff (no dyeing yet – this coming weekend), get togethers with friends, all manner of move-prep and other assorted stuff.  My downtime at home largely alternates between knitting and collapsing in my chair in a kind of happy-exhausted state that comes with being really busy and incredibly content with the frenetic pace.  Such as it is, blogging gets back burnered – not even because of a lack of time but a desire to not bore anyone with the details of my day to day craziness.  So I’ll pop up here when have something interesting to post, along with my usual weekly posts that have become kind of routine.

Thankfully, Carole has done it again – come up with a great topic for this week’s 10 on Tuesday – just the thing for breaking my silence. Yet again, my first thought – just 10?  Really?  Picking only 10 was no easy task, but here’s my go at it:

Ten Favorite Yarns

1. Mountain Colors Weaver’s Wool Quarters – my favorite sock yarn, by far.  I think its targhee or some blend of fine-ish wools and its not superwash*.  Just good old wool that felts a little bit to your foot with some wear.  Its nicely spun, durable and just soft enough for socks.  The other reason to love this one – the colors!  So heavenly.  Mountain Colors was my first introduction to indie dyers – I take a lot of inspiration from this small woman-owned company in Montana.
2. Malabrigo Worsted – mmmmm!  Need I say more?
3. Morehouse Merino – all of their yarns.  I’ve got just about every weight either in the stash or used for something.  From my most used mittens in the 3 ply to my big comfy pullover in 3 strands of the 2 ply to my Melody scarf in the laceweight, some of my most often worn knits are in yummy Morehouse Merino.
4. Rowan Kid Classic – soft, fuzzy mohair and wool.  I love the halo that this yarn gives and the fact that it makes such warm but lightweight garments.
5. Cascade 220 Superwash – my favorite for kids’ stuff, as it knits up beautifully and wears so well.
6. Harrisville Designs New England Shetland – my favorite yarn for fine color work projects, with its great hand and just enough wooly “stick” that you can block it and steek it without reinforcing first.  Plus, the color palette is gorgeous!
7. Manos Silk Blend -sooo soft and yummy
8. Silky Socks That Rock – my other favorite sock yarn.  Its the silk blend and the colors that make me swoon.
9. Mission Falls 1824 Wool – I love it in spite of itself.  It stretches like a mofo (inherent in a superwash yarn) and pills like crazy (my stash is all from the “old” incarnation – hoping this has improved since it changed mills and distributors a couple of years ago) and yet I love it.  Its soft and squishy and warm and comes in great colors with wonderful pattern support.
10. The Painted Sheep – I say this not to toot my own horn or try to sell you more yarn (though feel free – once I get the shop back up, that is).  Its because I create it and I’m proud of what I do.  There is nothing like knitting with one of my own yarns.  The Painted Sheep is my baby – there is little more gratifying that watching my creations come to life in a knitted piece.  My favorite yarn, if I had to pick one, is Alpaca Handpaint – I love how it takes color in a subtle sort of way.  It has an amazingly soft hand too.  So yummy!

*For those of you who shudder at the thought of not being able to toss your socks in the wash, relax!  Every week or two, I fill up the tub of my washing machine with lukewarm water, add small glug of Eucalan, toss in my socks and let them soak for 30 minutes or so.  Spin out the water, hang them up to dry overnight and they’re done.  No biggie!

Lastly, a quick note – I will get the shop up Tuesday, maybe early Wednesday.  Life intervenes, again…

Happy Tuesday!

Nutmeg Spinners Guild

Its that’s time again – the Nutmeg Spinner’s Guild meets this Saturday.  Its time for our bi-annual fundraising auction and potluck.  Come out to support the Guild, treat yourself to some wonderful yarn or fiber and enjoy lunch and spinning with friends.  Full details on the meeting can be found here.

Of course, The Painted Sheep will have a booth-ful of yarn, fiber and patterns for you to choose from.  Please note that the shop will be on “vacation” for the next few days while I’m at Guild.

Saturday’s meeting is from 9-3 at Asnuntuck Community College in Enfield.  Hope to see you there!

WIP Wednesday

(again with no pictures – sorry!)

This week marked the return of the sock mojo.  My Crazy Woman socks were making me, well, crazy.  The heel placement, which was way off the first time I knit them, had me stumped.  So I put them aside, considered ditching them and came this close to starting something new.  I can’t go for long without working on a pair of socks – they’re my go-to project.  I must have a pair going.  So Sunday I pulled them out again, determined to figure out what was wrong with the heel placement and work my way through it.  Searched online for errata, went through Ravelry projects, studied close up pictures of the gusset – and found nothing.  So I tried something novel – I went back and followed the pattern (again – let me point that out).  And it worked.  Clearly, the huge heel placement problem was the link between pattern and sock.

Problem solved, I’m moving along through the gusset and really hope to finish the first one this week.  That’s the goal, along with finishing up the panel of my Blankie that I’m working on.  We’ll see how far I get…

(pictures will return to the blog soon in a big way – my photography class starts tomorrow!)

Ten on Tuesday

Thanks again to Carole, who came up with a topic again this week.  Probably the easiest one I’ve ever written, at that…

10 Household Tasks I’ve Been Avoiding

1. Cleaning – generally speaking, all of it.  Not really my thing.  Not to say that I’m a slob – I clean up when I need to.  I just prefer to avoid it.
2. Cleaning up my desk – it was organized for a few days, then random paperwork started to pile up again – tax stuff, receipts, patterns I printed recently.
3. Organizing my office – like the desk, it was neat for a few days during vacation.  What can I say?  I’m creative.
4. Cleaning the bath tub – it needs it but ugh, its one of my least favorite tasks.
5. Washing the windows – this one’s going to get left for the new owner
6. Shoveling that patch of sidewalk that the snow blew back onto.
7. Cleaning out the last of the junk – I’ve pretty well cleaned out what I need to – at least until I find an apartment and know just what I have room for.  Its those last few things that I’m just too lazy to dump – a pile of stuff in the attic, some random kitchen stuff that needs to go to Goodwill, little things here and there.
8. Laundry – another one I perpetually avoid, usually until I run out of clean towels or underwear.
9. Wiping down the icky spot between the stove and the fridge.  Its gross – and yet it needs to be done.  Pulling out my toenails seems more appealing.
10. Packing – even with the move at least a couple of months away, I know there’s stuff I could easily pack now – things I don’t use regularly.  Its just the thought of living among boxes.  Hate that.  So I keep putting it off by justifying that its a local move, hopefully done over a few weeks – the goal is to have enough time to pack stuff, move it, unpack it and then come back for more.  So I have plenty of time.  No need to pack anything when I can’t even start apartment hunting, right?

Handspun

Newly finished handspun – from the Extreme Spinning Art Batts that I’ve been spinning up.  Its a 3 ply, close to a worsted weight, about 110 yards per skein.  Just enough for a pair of toe up socks with short-ish cuffs.  Yum!

Onward to the next set of yummy batts – I can’t get enough of them.

ECF

One for the spinners…

next up in the spinning queue – more art batts from Extreme Spinning.  I need color so the pink is up first…

Happy Friday!