The Weaselmomma

Another week, another finished yarn!

This one was for the Ravelry Spindlers July challenge, which was to spin a “Renaissance” inspired yarn. You could interpret Renaissance however you wanted, so I went with this:

This was my first challenge, and it was a fun one to do. So many inspiring artworks from that era, but this one called to me because it matched a braid in the stash.

This is 100 percent merino, 4 ounces, hand-dyed by FiberFancy. This is the first of the fiber from FiberFancy that I’ve spun up, and it was very nice to work with. Merino is definitly growing on me as well. At first, I wasn’t a huge fan of merino, but I’m having an easier time with it lately, and I love what a soft and squishy handspun it makes.

I wound up with a little more than 208 yards of Navajo plied yarn, in the neighborhood of aran weight, spun on Little Joe and plied on Monster. I handsewed in about 160 2mm unakite beads and while the final product is just what I was going for, my methodology was…somewhat lacking. Next time I do a beaded yarn with beads this tiny, I’ll try thread plying with them prestrung on the thread. Sewing them on was tedious to say the very least.

I actually have, wonder of wonders, a knitting FO to show soon! Very exciting!

For now, though, I’ll leave you with a little wet mutt.

These beautiful fibers are by FiberFancy, Shunklies and DragonFibers. Photography by yours truly.

Full details available on Ravelry.

Not all of the Big Changes at Casa de Weasel have been good changes. Some have been scary, some have been stressful. And some have been sad.

It wasn’t all completely unexpected. They have huge spirits, but their little bodies…they just have a hard time keeping up.

Whyatt couldn’t overcome ADV, which is a truly horrible disease. Otto and Buddha couldn’t overcome adrenal disease; their age and the severity of their disease made it inoperable.

And Lea…she truly broke my heart. Not one symptom. Nothing I could see. Just days after Whyatt, I lost her too.

So now, my little crew is down to three: Leroy, Spazz and Miranda. It’s almost surreal. Spazz seems sad. Miranda is her sweet silly little self. And Leroy is doing ok, despite the fact that he’s starting to show adrenal symptoms again; at four years post-op, I’m actually a little surprised how well he’s done. He’s been healthy for a long time, but he’s eight years old now.

It’s all just a matter of time.

I’ll have more yarny posts this week, but I needed to give my babies their moment. And I needed to show off this photo of my three little loves and their very sweet, very sleepy group hug.

Well, are you?

How about now?

So, it’s underplied.

And possibly overspun.

But it’s lovely nonetheless.

The colors are much more muted when plied, a good lesson in color for all my future spinning, and it reminds me of a breezy summer sky.

I wound up with three skeins, for a total of 769.5 yards–a fantastic amount of yardage–at 36 WPI, making this a nice 2-ply lace weight. I’m thinking its going to end up as a Waves of Grain scarf; I have some seed beads that will match really nicely.

I decided to skein and wash my first spinning, the Mocha Latte merino from Fiber Monster, and boy what a difference that made! It looks so much better!

The SnBers, in their ever infinite wisdom, said that I should do something with this. So I did. Behold my fiber art!

It looks so amazing on my living room wall! Fits right in with cozy chair and my vase of knitting needles!

Could an installation be in my future? Only time will tell!

I took this….

….and turned it into this…. 

….and I’m deleriously happy with it. I totally had an “oh, crap!” moment, as in  ”oh, crap, this looks so awesome now that it’s off the spindle I can’t even believe it!” And it isn’t even washed yet! It’s going to get even better!

And check this out:

How awesome is that?

I know…so awesome. It’s 36 wpi, I have 315 yards on the niddy noddy and I still have two partial bobbins and one full bobbin to ply.

BTW, I got my awesome walnut, 1.5 yard niddy noddy from The Spinners Emporium on Etsy. The shipping was so fast, and the quality is really great. I’d highly recommend them, and I’m thinking a mini niddy might be somewhere in my future as well…

The past few days have been c-r-a-z-y!

Last Saturday, ‘Lil Bro and I moved Mr. Blue-eyes into his new pad. It’s an absolutely beautiful apartment in a building I have loved since I was a small child. One problem: Mr. Blue-eyes has lived as a nomadic batchelor for a very, very long time…and thusly has, well had, no furniture. I’ve never known anyone else who could pack their entire apartment in exactly four hours. Which, in this situation turned out to be a very good thing, since he didn’t get back from Los Angeles until late Friday night. But this new apartment is empty…or was…but I digress.

Last weekend was also Mr. Blue-eye’s birthday, and coincidently his folks were in New York for the U.S. Open. So dinner at Max Fish (awesome seared yellow fin!) was in order, as were gifts of new artwork for empty, 20-foot-high apartment walls.

Monday was a relaxing Labor Day picnic down on the farm with my family, full of laughs, card games, horseback riding, good food and good beer (not necessarily in that order).

Tuesday was back to work after a week of vacation (in which much knitting ensued), and yesterday was a 5 hour, post-work excursion in a UHaul van here…which ultimately resulted in a soon-to-be-assembled-and-almost-fully-furnished-apartment. Were talking a couch, a chair, a footstool, a dining room table,  a TV stand, a sofa table, and a big-ass mirror…soon to be joined by some leather dining room chairs that were out of stock.

I’d like to say the place is now furnished and awesome, but that’d be a lie. Even the couch has to be assembled…so basically the place is full of cardboard boxes. Can we say, “project”?

While it’s been hectic and labor intensive, it’s been awesome to have so much time with Mr. Blue-eyes. He doesn’t have travel for work again for two whole weeks, and I’m determined to see him as much as possible. Luckily, he feels the same way.

On the knitting front, much has been accomplished. My new adventures in thrumming are going very well… 

…and I totally recommend Fiber Monster for, well, fiber. Her batts really are as beautiful as those photographs. The inside of this mitt is a thing of beauty as well.

 Sweet. The second mitt just needs a thumb, and then the first of the thrumming will be complete.

I also whipped out the first Everlasting Bagstopper….

….and the second everlasting bagstopper.

 I really love the handles on this bad boy too.

Both bagstoppers have already made it to the grocery store and the farmstand, with much success and appreciation.

Finally, I whipped out the second of these bad ass babes in one super-productive knitting day while on vacation.

Wah-bam! How freaking awesome are these?!?! I’m really pleased with the final socks. The short-row heel technique used in this pattern (Ann Budd’s toe-up recipe from Interweave) makes a nice, solid knit with no holes (yay!), but it gave me some trouble on the second sock…but not the first…some synapses were’nt firing in unison, obviously. I couldn’t be happier with these, though, and Big Sis is going to love them.

I just have to force myself to wait until Xmas to give them to her….that may actually prove difficult…