Mission Possible 2013

Mission Possible 2013 has begun.  My list is made and a few things are already in progress or completed.
The list

1. 12 hats for MT25
2. Silk top for me
3. Socks for Elmer
4. Monster
5. 3 pair of mittens
6. Baby Blanket
7. Monster
8. Handspun cardigan
9. Mother Bear 2/21/2013
10. Hexagon Blanket
11. Mother Bear
12. 6 pr of fingerless mitts

 I have four of the 12 hats complete and several more that only need the seaming done.  The socks for Elmer are on the needles and the first sock is done and the second is over half complete.  As you can see I've finished one of the bears for Mother Bear.I've cast on a sweater for myself, although it isn't the handspun one yet.  That one will be a cardigan for the fall.  (I know it will take me until it's too warm for it here to finish it.)  I can't help but wonder if the hexagon blanket will ever be finished.  I seem to have lost the love for working on it at the moment.

I also have goals on paper for my spinning and weaving.
I'm in the process of weaving simple curtains for our spare bedroom and I want to make a set (two sets actually) for my kitchen.  I also have some lovely cotton for napkins. I want to spin a fingering weight yarn and I'd like to spin 400 yards from a four ounce braid.  I've not made it to that amount yet although I have gotten to over 300 yards so maybe I will get that one accomplished in the near future.

I want to move at least 5 pounds of yarn out of my stash this year. I have a good start since I’ve been working on the hats since the 3rd and have over 30 ounces out already.

I'm planning to update at least monthly for the amount of yarn used and the progress on the list.  Now I'm off to work on the second Mother Bear which is actually the twelfth one I've made for them.

Posting is my nemesis

I can't believe that I haven't written in over five months.  My life has been busy.  I have a new grand baby on the way.  I've spent time knitting, spinning, gardening, and visiting family and friends.My local yarn store recently got sold.  I haven't been in since the store changed owners and names but I did some damage when they thought they were closing for good.  Elmer went with me and told me to fill my basket (repeatedly).

  I got yarn for sweaters for me, yarn to make hats for MT25 for the next couple of years, and yarn for monsters for my daughter's class.

I read a story (Annie and the Swiss Cheese Scarf) to the kindergarten class that my daughter teaches, went on field trips with the daughter that home schools her children, and visited friends at my favorite not so local yarn store Knitting Today.

I've started the plants for this years garden.  I'm going to have broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, tomatoes, asparagus, bell peppers, cucumbers, onions, garlic, strawberries, lettuce, spinach, beans, squash, zucchini, and eggplant.  Hopefully, my peach and apple trees will produce this year, but it's still early for them so I'm not holding my breath. I only planted them last year.

I recently started a new sweater for myself. I'm knitting it from Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool. I'm looking forward to a nice spring sweater.



I hope it fits like I expect.  I guess we will see in a few weeks.







I also plan to knit a cardigan or two for the fall weather.

I'm still spinning on my Ladybug and loving it.  I need to start using some of my handspun.  Soon I hope.
Maybe I can manage at least one post a month this year from here on out.  We will see.

Stash Dash 2012

So, I'm doing StashDash with the Knitgirllls again this year.  The set-up is a little different this year since we are going by grams instead of yardage.  My first goal was 907 grams.  I blew that one out of the water.  I spun this yarn for 113 grams

along with knitting two more bears for Mother Bear, spinning this Colinette Merino

and two more of the Frog Tree Meriboo rovings (brown and gray), knit a pair of socks, finished my February Lady, some knitted cupcakes for Carin,dishcloths, some hexagons, and a hat from my handspun.  I am officially at 1592.3 grams.  That's not where I actually am though because I have some things that will go into Checkpoint 5 when the thread opens. (I also found something that I listed in a post, but didn't add the weight, oops) I haven't added four dishcloths or the brown Meriboo roving.  That's not all though.  I have another pair of socks on the needles, am currently working on my ten stitch blanket that will be a really cute baby blanket when finished, and am still making hexagons.
I upped my goal to 2000 grams.  I think I will make that and have some to spare.  It's been really productive for me to have a goal and work toward it.
I did "compete" in the Tour de Fleece and got to know my wheel.  That was my goal and I've enjoyed it.  I'm on a team for the Ravellinic games, but I'm only WIP Wrestling on that blanket.  Nothing exciting.
I was going to add more pictures, but blogger and I are arguing right now.  More later.

Tour de Fleece progress

I haven't made much progress in my knitting lately, but I have been having fun with my new Ladybug wheel and the fiber that I'm spinning for Tour de Fleece.  I've completed a few things and bought some more to play with while on vacation during the first days of the tour.

Mountain Colors Roving

The Colinette is finished and I'm really happy with it.  I worked on part of it sitting in the back of our van while my husband was driving while we were on vacation.  He even got a short video of me spinning while we were at a rest area.
I had a really fun time shopping at The Woolery while we were on vacation.  After that we headed down and I got to shop at Smoky Mountain Spinnery too.
I wasn't sure that I would love spinning on the wheel even though I was fascinated by the idea of it.  I was wrong.  I have been having tons of fun spinning and can't wait to do more knitting with my own handspun.  I even bought a pound of Potluck Roving so that I would have more than my usual four ounces to play with.
I am still working on my February Lady sweater and hoping to finish it sometime in the next week.  I have a pair of socks on the needles for the husband, but other than that I'm not sure what my next project will be.  I need to finish my ten stitch blanket that is going to end up being somewhere around crib size instead of a bigger one simply because I want it finished. 
I haven't made a hexipuff in ages and guess I really need to get back to those too.  I have decided not to stuff most of them and may go back and take the stuffing out of the ones I've made that I did stuff.  I can always use the stuffing for Mother Bear bears or Monsters.  I've completed a couple of those lately too. Pictures to follow. 

A little of this and a little of that

Wow, I really shouldn't wait so long between making entries on the blog.  Blogger has changed things and now I get to see if I can figure it out.  I just got a new Ladybug spinning wheel this month.  I am loving it.  I made this yarn from some Frog Tree Yarns Meriboo Roving, which is 70% Merino  wool and 30% Bamboo Viscose.  This is about 222 yards from the 4 ounces I spun.

I've also been knitting.  This is one of the Mother Bear bears I have finished recently.

I've finished two and have another one on the needles.  I've also completed Gabby the Garden Monster recently too.  I'm participating in StashDash  again this year.  I set my goal at 907 grams or about 2 pounds.  I think I'm going to exceed that easily.  I'm at 743 grams now and I haven't counted the yarn that's going into my February Lady sweater. (I'm only going to count the 350 grams that I'm in the process of using since Stash Dash started.) That's going to put me over without doing any spinning for the Tour de Fleece or any knitting for the Ravellenic games and I hope to participate in both.
There is also gardening going on here.  I'm getting plenty of tomatoes, some bell peppers, some zuchini and carrots.  The birds are enjoying my blueberries before I can get them, but there will be more next year and maybe even enough for all of us to have some.
We are still working on the new property and it's coming along slowly.  It's just too hot and humid at the moment to spend and length of time outside.
Off to have some lunch and do some knitting.  I have a bear with no arms and a sock that needs a gusset finished.

Total Slacker

Okay, I am apparently a total slacker. I didn't realize how long it had been since I posted to my blog until today. I wonder if I should just take it down and give it up or if I just need more discipline in my writing.
I have been knitting. I finished my Hey Teach and love it.

I haven't had a chance to wear it yet, but maybe on Sunday for church I can. It's been too warm really for a sweater for the last week or so and when it was cool enough I was climbing around under the house and it just didn't seem like a good place for it.
I also finished my Demeter's Shawlette.

I have proceeded to rip back the edging and add some rows to the shawl to make full use of my handspun. I'm ready to put the edging back on. This is my first beaded project and I enjoyed the whole process from the knitting to picking out the beads I wanted to use.
Then I added two more bears to the collection before they went off to Mother Bear.

Added to that I am still working on my 10 stitch blanket and the Beekeepers Quilt and I started a baby sweater or two.
I'm still considering what my next weaving project will be and thinking about my next monster and sweater for myself and I started spinning some Mountain Colors BFL top in the Peppergrass colorway.
Other than the fiber stuff, I have been getting out garden ready for the spring. I have two tiny little peaches on one of the peach trees we planted earlier this year. I had blossoms on one of the apple trees, but the deer ate them. Oops. The blueberries and the huckleberries are blooming and the strawberries are coming on. The broccoli won't give up so I am still cutting broccoli on a regular basis. I have tomatoes and peppers inching their way up to transplant size to go outside and we are discussing adding more beds to the garden. If we keep going I will have to learn to can some of these veggies. I also need to figure out a trellis for the wild grapes on the property and I'm watching the blackberries bloom. Those blooms make me think of blackberry cobbler and that makes me start drooling.
I'm back on my exercise regimen and hoping to make some progress on that front as the weather warms.

One Month In

Today is the last day of the first month of the new year and it's time to check on what I've done so far this year.
On the knitting front, I have completed a total of four bears for The Mother Bear Project.

I've added almost a full round to my 10 stitch afghan (that top left hand corner is where I started the year),

added about half a dozen puffs to my collection for the Beekeeper's Quilt, (I looked back and only had a dozen in September.)

and I'm working on the first sleeve of my Hey Teach.

That's not bad progress so far.
In the gardening part of my life I'm also making some progress. We added two beds to our garden area this month.

The strawberries are starting to bloom.

I have a blossom on one of my peach trees. (I tried to tell it that it's still too early, but it didn't listen.)

The huckleberry is getting it's new leaves too.

Everything else is starting to show buds, but hasn't done more than pop out a couple of leaves. There are quite a few patches of a little white flower that I am trying to figure out. I have no clue what it is.

I also got a picture of a tiny bit of the creek that runs through part of our property. The creek gets high with the rain, but almost disappears when it gets dry around here.

We've been feeding the birds and the deer (and rabbits, squirrels and other assorted wildlife that hits the deer corn.)
I'm also preparing for my daughter's wedding. I finally found what I'll wear and if I could magically lose 20 to 30 pounds before the wedding I would be jumping up and down. I put on weight while nursing my husband last year and I'm just beginning the process of taking it back off. It will be a slow process and I don't think that it will be complete by April.
Not much more going on around here at the moment. I've spent some quality "baby time" in the past few weeks and enjoyed it. I'm also enjoying being able to give them back.