Tomorrow We'll Knit

Yesterday and today were spent going into the town an hour away for appointments. Sadly I wasn't able to schedule B's orthodontist appointment on the same day as G's allery testing so I was away most of the day yesterday and until noon today. This has left me with precious little knitting time, since my family would like clean clothes and food too. And maybe a clean bathroom. And some vacuuming.

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B and I make a day of it when she has her monthly ortho apt. We start with the teeth and it gets way better from there. We shop, we have lunch, we shop, shop a bit more and then head off to be home before M gets in from school. It's good mother-daughter bonding time.

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Today I wasn't going to go with G to his allergy tests, but decided at the last minute that while I don't enjoy sitting around in doctors offices, it would be much nicer for him if I went along. Plus when else do I have four hours with my hubby? They tested him for dust, mold, trees, animals, grasses, etc... We've always known G has allergies to cats and dogs, but apparently the only thing he's not allergic to is the negative control.

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The worst news of all: he's allergic to wool!

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Secret Project - Finished!

I've finished knitting the secret project at lunch today! I've still got a few ends to weave in before its photo shoot, but I expect to be able to finish those this evening. Yippee!!!
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Strangely I seemed to have less yardage in the balls of "Cassis" Rowan Felted Tweed Aran than the "Dusty" and "Soot". M suggested that maybe since this color also felt different, that my tension was different as well. It is possible, but in the end I have 16yds of "Cassis" left and approximately 27 yards of both "Dusty" and "Soot". Of the twelve balls of this yarn, two had knots, one somewhere in the middle of the ball and one within a few yards of the beginning. For the price of this yarn, I was a bit surprised by that. It feels good to have this project finished.
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I'm looking forward to the photo shoot with B. I was hoping for snow, usually very normal for this area at this time of the year, but it's not looking good. I'm also looking forward to knitting on something else tomorrow!
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Too Good to Keep to Myself

Here's a giveaway I just had to share...
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Go visit the Spindies Group on Ravelry for details on this:
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Just in time for the holiday season, we are in the gift-giving mood
soooooo we are giving away one of our Plum-Wine Artists’ Paint
Boxes loaded with 5 ounces of fibery goodness in rich plum-wine
shades, each interpreted by various Spindies Fiber Artists.
A $25 Value!

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More Temptations

I'm getting closer to finishing the secret project - I'm onto the last 3 balls of Rowan Felted Tweed Aran. And although it's very hard for me to stick to one project at a time, I'm quite proud of how I've been doing. This may make it more difficult to finish.

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When I first made the decision that I would try felting, I decided that I should order the supplies on Etsy, since the lag from ordering to the supplies arriving on my doorstep would force me to knit on the secret project. But we know how that turned out. The kit I ordered arrived early this week. But I only opened it yesterday. Now that's self discipline!

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Overall I'm quite pleased with this Snowman Felting Kit from Bear Creek Design. It is very thoroughly outfitted - with attention to detail, like ensuring that the wire for the arms have pointy ends to make them easier to push through the felted snowballs. The instruction booklet is well written and well laid out. I only wish that the natural white wool (which I do love for it's naturalness) was more of a snow white color than ecru. Regardless of this one small thing, I can't wait to put this little snowman together and enjoy him. He will look great with my snowman collection that I put out every Christmas - and some of them are ecru too.

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Edited to add: The first snowman pictured is from Bear Creek Design's Etsy shop listing - hope I didn't mislead anyone into thinking I'd made him myself!

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Lest We Forget

It's Remembrance Day in Canada. A day to remember those who have fought and fallen that we could have freedom.

Just to Break up the Monotony

I have so little to show you on the knitting front. Secret project knitting makes for very boring blogging. Perhaps I can distract you with what I plan to spin once I'm done the secret project.
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Some beautiful batts from eXtreme Spinning. Love! Love! Love! I can't wait until my wheel and I can spend some time together.
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CJ describes these as:

XSive SoX Batts for socks that sparkle and shine. Superfine merino,
bamboo, firestar and angelina have been blended smooth to create
this fun batt of softness that wears incredibly well. It also washes
easily and yet is sparkly and shiny. Navy Blue blended with Grass,
mmmmm, yummy year 'round colors that work equally well for both
sexes, young & old

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I Have No Clue how this Relates to Knitting

I was looking through a fundraiser catalogue from my kids' school this morning and found this! Totally cracked me up. Thought I'd share the laugh!

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The Secret Project

I'm progressing on the "Secret Project". I'm about a quarter into the project. Do you see the papers in the lower left? That's were the WIP is sitting. Here's what I can show you:

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It's knitted on dpns. There are already some ends woven in. And the yarn.
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Now that I've knit a bit with the Rowan Felted Tweed Aran I can give you my impressions of it. The dark grey "Soot" is considerably softer than the light grey "Dusty" and the "Cassis". The yarn definately feels felted, but the plies still separate easily enough. It's easy to break my yarn without scissors when it's time to change colors. I like that! I have a serious problem finding scissors in my house. This yarn retails for about $12 in Canada, and that is probably the biggest deterent I would have in purchasing this yarn. I'm thrifty when it comes to my hobbies. But if anyone wanted to give me more of this again, I certainly would accept it gladly and enjoy knitting with it again.

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More Felting

Just because felting is so much fun!!! I made a felted bead for B to wear. She loves unique necklaces and is always raiding my Phat Box for buttons and stitch markers to convert. I made this one for her. She loves it!

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I felted this bead from some miscellaneous brown fleece that I have kicking around. Once I was please with the shape, I covered it with the pale green and felted it quite firmly. Adding the swirl was fun and I knew B would love it. To make a hole for the chain, I stabbed successively larger dpns through the bead, beginning with a 2mm and ending with a 6mm. It seems to work quite well!

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There would be more felting, but I'm under a deadline for secret knitting. It takes precedence unless I'm getting so bored with it that I'm in danger of stabbing myself with my dpns to end the monotony of project monogamy. There is also Christmas knitting waiting in the wings that has to be done before I abandon all caution and needle felt to the exclusion of all else.

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Some Finished Yarn

I finished spinning this roving several days ago, but kept forgetting to take a pic in the daylight. So here it is!

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I've got about 400 yds, 2ply sport weight. I'm not sure what I'll make with this, but I love it!

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"Crying Over You" - Pattern now Available

The newest PogKnits pattern is now available! Initially an exclusive for Phat Fiber members, it is now available for sale for everyone!
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These onions knit up quickly in worsted weight wool. This will be a fun project if you can knit in the round, make I-cord, increase and decrease, and seam. Visit my Etsy store or download it now from Ravelry.
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This link will redirect you to Paypal through Ravelry's shopping cart.
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It's Not My Fault

I've been intrigued by needle felting for some time. Living in a small town means, however, that access to supplies for any craft is limited. This is a positive thing, if you, like me, have ADHD when it comes to crafts and always want to try something new. I find I make less impulse purchases when I have to order stuff online - something about having to pay shipping & handling always give me pause for objective evaluation of my planned purchase.

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But the arrival of my October Phat Box, started me down a slippery slope. I blame WC Mercantile's Mini Mystery Bag. She even suggested using the little bits for felting. Hmm, thought I, wonder if there are any felting needles in town. So I also blame my LYS - they had needles.

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It started with some little hearts felted onto an ecru wool felt background. Then I watched a few Youtube videos on making 3D objects.

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The mushroom sprang from my table top while the kids were out trick-or-treating. It was such a rainy and snowy and cold night that I didn't get interupted very often by cute ghosties and goblins looking for candy at my door.

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I guess, I also blame Anzula for the perfect mousy grey baby alpaca sample from the October Box. My mushroom needed a little critter to protect and the mouse was next.

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I have got to stop! I have knitting that I need to start! Secret knitting, Christmas knitting, pattern tweeking knitting.

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Keep your eyes open for more felting projects next post :P

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